#3008 Catch-up school holidays

I look forward to the school holidays, not just because it’s a break from routine and trying to balance out everyone’s schedule, but I get to catch-up.

On housework.

Seriously, so many parts of our home are getting ignored, and it’s driving me crazy. Today baby girl watched baby boy as I deep cleaned the kitchen sink… and I got so much satisfaction out of it, I can’t tell you.

As well as washing (never-ending story) I also tidied parts of the house today.

Tomorrow? Our beds need changing one non-wet day this week, and I’d like to tackle the spare room’s junk sometime soon too… oh, and the bathrooms.

🤦‍♀️🤣🤷‍♀️

#2942 A catch up day

It’s been a while, but I really enjoyed having a catch up day today.

You know, one of those days where you potter around, get stuff done, and just make the house look nicer? 🤣

It’s been so long, what with christening planning and new baby life. In my day-to-day, I only really get to do the bare minimum – daily cooking, dishes, washing, and the end of day tidy-up.

But today, I did extra washing and storing and tidying up, throwing out a bunch of other things, even finding a pile of toys baby girl was happy to donate, making her room a bit cleaner in the process.

It really is true that your external environment impacts your internal state, and so it doesn’t come as a surprise that my mind is feeling a lot lighter at the end of the day.

Can’t wait to tackle more tomorrow! 🤞

#2860 Crazy cleaning days

It’s been one of those days.

I’m not sure whether to be grateful or stressed over things.

Stressed that I was cleaning and washing so much today.

Grateful that compared to months ago, I could clean and wash so much.

Grateful for the beautiful sunny day.

Stressed that we need such routine in our lives that I didn’t go far beyond our home on this sunny day.

Grateful that I’m getting stuff done, slowly.

Stressed that I’m getting stuff done, SLOWLY.

It’s a list of pros and cons, they are all the same, and I guess it’s the way you look at things, your perspective, that changes how you feel about them.

I remind myself this is a part of our lives… we are in a stage. Hubbie reminds me, we are in a stage.

It doesn’t make me feel a whole lot better when I am tired, and lacking sleep.

So where I feel lacking, I try to remind myself where I have gained, especially in reference to the past year.

8 plus months have passed so quickly. I need to remind myself of this fact, and how well I’ve done in the face of repeated sleep deprivation, tiredness, all the tears (ALL THE TEARS) and the iron-clad routine we must adhere to, removing all sense of freedom from our lives. 😅

Here’s to the crazy cleaning days.

#2783 The birthday album

A lot was great about today.

Firstly, our floors are clean again. 🤣

Dishes are washed.

Drinks and food are stored.

Leftover cake was eaten. 😋

As much fun as we had, we can breathe again. 😌

But it was the most beautiful thing going through the album my sister organised for me, that included photos, memories and special words from my nearest and dearest family and friends.

It made me teary in the happiest of ways.

What is life, if not to make memories like these?

❤🙏

#2518 Roof stuff

Another super boring house-related thing, but it needs to be said, because I’m grateful. 🙏

Can I just say, there is nothing like having a big life change, i.e. having a baby, to whip your arse into gear.

We all know about the barn door. That will be happening.

We recently re-painted the two bedrooms upstairs, our bedroom and baby’s room. But in the process the painter identified what might be a leak from somewhere up there, so we set about getting a roof guy.

For some background, we have lived in this house for 6 years. Never have we done anything to clean, check or do anything to the roof or the tiles.

And we strongly suspect, neither did the previous owners who had it for 35 years.

😲😲😲😲

So today, the roof guys came. As I worked from home, there was clanging and pressure washing and all kinds of knocking coming from above. At one point as they walked over the part of the house I work in, I had to press my earbuds into my ear so that I could still hear what I was working on!

Mister F was in the laundry and terrified, meanwhile our bird Orange-cheeks was walking around curiously, wondering if there was a real shower coming from overhead… when he wasn’t napping through the incessant motoring noise, lol.

There is still much to do, in terms of repointing, some more tile replacement, and of course the final thing, the spray. But, it’s already looking better up there… faded, sure (the tiles have been there 40+ years) but CLEANER too!

And it all comes back to baby. If baby wasn’t coming we wouldn’t have painted so soon, and then wouldn’t have acted on the roof either… but now, another problem.

We need insulation. And new guttering. And some fascia covers. 🤦‍♀️

The house renovation continues…

#2489 The excess walk

So much excess this weekend.

Excess food. 🍕

Excess cake. 🎂

Excess standing. 🧍‍♀️

Excess baby kicking! 🤰

Excess heartburn last night… ALL night. 😝

Excess fatigue today. 😫

Excess cleaning! 🧹

And so, it totally made sense to take a much-needed afternoon walk…

Not an excess walk, but a walk to balance out the excess. ⚖️

Ohhh.

Now does it make sense?

Yep, back to routine!

(Even if I wanted to eat ALL the cake, the heartburn doesn’t let me!)

#2465 Marvelling at where we’re at

It’s been a quiet week work-wise.

I’ve been using the spare time to do EVERYTHING else.

I make appointments. I go to appointments. I catch up on washing, cleaning, writing.

I think of my passions. I try to fit them in where I can. I write to-do lists, things that need to be done soon, things that need to be done before baby comes.

Baby. I massage my belly with creams. I look at the new baby clothes I have. I step into the nursery and just look around, marvelling at it and where we are and all of life at the moment.

I’ve felt life’s lows, and now I’m feeling life’s highs. 🙏

Baby girl has had a good week too. It’s amazing what a missing person in the friendship group can do. It shakes things up. She’s been playing with heaps of new friends, and I’ve used the opportunity to show here that she has many friends, she doesn’t just have to stick to what or who she knows, especially if respect fails to show up.

I buy presents. For others, for us. I plan outings for the future. I message, and call and email.

I get excited.

It is Spring after all. Now IS the time to get excited. 😁😁

#2459 It’s good to be Friday

This week has just been a really big, full, mind-f$%k of a week.

I’ve already outlined the reasons earlier this week, many times, so I won’t do it again.

But I’m tired. My head is full. There is so much happening. It hasn’t been easy. It’s felt unrelenting.

Yes, it’s also been fun. But so, so busy.

And so to put an end to this week, and go ahhh…

Looking forward to a sleep in. 😴

Looking forward to just, cleaning the house and doing the washing! 🧽🧹

Looking forward to blasting a few (or 8) records from the player. 🎶

Looking forward to the sunshine. 🌞

Looking forward to catching up with friends. 💖

All of this has me grateful that I’m finally, HERE. 🙏

#2412 Spreading good news

Apart from the very slow clean-up today, only because we kept stopping to talk about last night, and then chowing into leftovers, we also had some really great phone calls. 💖

It’s a beautiful thing when you get to share good news. There has been so much shit happening lately, for so long too… the amount of times we heard today that our news was positive, so happy, a change for the better, was too many to count.

We’re feeling the love. We’re feeling like ahh, we did it, we made it, and it feels so good to be here, in this place, this moment, FINALLY. 💖🥰

#2405 Better here than there

Today was a great day. More birthday party prep, just going going going.

You know, the jobs don’t really end when you’re going to have people over. Especially when it’s a sizeable amount. We were tending to all those odd jobs today, writing up lists, making calls, tending to garden beds, washing, tidying, de-cluttering…

As the week goes on, it will be heavier cleaning, targeted grocery shopping, finalising orders, organising dinnerware, glassware, arranging games, presents, decorations, etc…

It is a busy time. Sometimes it hits me and I get tired, but today wasn’t that such day. I was able to go go go all day, and only now am feeling like, ahh, I’m glad I’m on the couch.

It feels like a bit of a nonsense post, but then I remember that for the past two years, we didn’t have any of this. Mine and baby girl’s birthdays came and went, it was just us three, and it was also very quiet, albeit my family and friends made up for it with their loud messages of love and support.

This year is sooo different, and despite the busy-ness and the craziness of it, I am so grateful for it also.

So much to still do, 5 full days left, BRING IT ON!