Tag: coffee

#2600 The first pram walk

I’m going a bit stir crazy.

A very fresh newborn, sleepless nights, cluster feeding, and living and breathing within the same walls is making me go a bit nuts.

With such a beautiful sunny day, all four of us (👨‍👩‍👧‍👦) went for a walk.

Baby boy got to test out the pram for the first time, while Hubbie stayed close to baby girl who was on her bike.

At first baby boy was fussing, and I did turn around and start heading home. But then, whether he got used to the rhythmic movement of the pram on the footpath, or something else entirely, he settled and fell asleep! And I was able to follow my family around several blocks, using the pram baby girl had used, pushing a baby that I had dreamed of.

Little things. They’re actually big. 🙏💞

#2583 Back for a bit

It was so good to be back here today!

I have been missing our regular Wednesday brunch spot during the holidays, so it felt really good to be back with Hubbie today, doing what we do best… drinking coffee, eating good food, and talking life. 😁💖

And to think… today may have been the last Wednesday we are there as a duo… next time, there might be an extra one under our wings! 🤰🙏🥰💞

#2532 Falling into place

Slowly, slowly.

For ages I was stressed about the barn door for the baby room. As soon as we booked the job for January, I felt a massive weight life off my shoulders.

But that hasn’t been all. Remember it’s been 9 years since I’ve had a newborn, and so we had to think REALLY hard about where we had stashed certain things.

The monitors. The baby chair. The baby bouncer.

How did we get the play mat to play music? Where were the batteries located?

How the hell did I close up this pram? And where was my oh-so-important coffee cup holder that went alongside the pram?

Where was the baby bottle steriliser? Was there even YouTube instructions on how to use it?

Thankfully for me, all of these things have been solved in one way or another. Most importantly, that coffee cup holder for the pram was FOUND. 🤣☕ (Priorities).

The monitors work.

The baby chair is in the midst of a DEEP CLEAN.

The baby bouncer looks perfect and is just waiting for a cute bottom to fill it out.

The old play mat plays music, and we worked out where the battery compartment was after an extensive google search and then an accidental search and find on our own. 🤦‍♀️

Hubbie helped me close the pram up… I still need to practice that one.

The coffee cup holder is waiting.

And there are YouTube video instructions on using the portable steriliser.

BUT… one little, but big thing, was bugging me BIG TIME.

The tripod.

Why would I be troubled over a tripod? Well this tripod, originally used for Hubbie’s camera oh-so-many years ago, it actually housed the monitor we used for baby girl’s room.

There is a screw underneath the monitor that can easily fit onto the tripod, and then by tilting the tripod up and down and extending the legs to the perfect height, you can get the monitor at the perfect position so that it’s watching baby from the best view possible.

This was our Godsend. We had no nearby furniture where we could place the monitor on in baby girl’s old room, and in this room now, baby’s room, the same applies.

We needed the tripod. But where was it?

I looked in many places, but ultimately I knew that it was in a place I hadn’t ventured in since we moved house, 6 years ago… I know this because I have gone through all cupboards and wardrobes of our house, cleaning out and decluttering many times, so I would have known if I had stumbled across said tripod.

I hadn’t stumbled across it.

It had to be in a really weird, odd place, if we just didn’t go there, AT ALL. After cleaning out the shed yesterday of some old stuff, and then Hubbie assuring me it wasn’t there or in the garage, I told Hubbie the above (“I haven’t come across it at all during our 6 years here”) he came up with the most perfect idea for where it could be.

And he was bloody right.

It was with the portable cot. Not zipped within it like he had suggested, but sitting on top of the large bag, camouflaged against other grey and black items, accessories for the portacot, that stray pram coffee cup (that I knew was there!) and then of course, this folded up tripod.

All along. But the portacot was so big, I never picked it up, even whilst folded. That was Hubbie’s job, and so he literally would pick it up, plop it here, and then there, and then wherever else it had to be stored…

All the while, the tripod sitting pretty amongst it all.

I was SO HAPPY! I can’t tell you how happy it’s made me to find this tripod, just another piece in the puzzle of having all of baby’s stuff come together.

Another weight, lifted and floating away…

There’s just one more thing though. We need a wardrobe for baby’s room.

Watch this (baby) space…

#2499 Wednesdays with Hubbie no. 7

Wednesday fun snaps.

Honestly I love this mid part of the week so much. It breaks the working week in two and makes getting to the weekend so much more bearable.

The fact that I have the day off with Hubbie is just gold. We drop off baby girl at school, and then do some things. He helps me with grocery shopping at the moment, lifting all the heavy bags, and then we go and do coffee and brunch.

This time of year, we always walk to the beach.

I took my sandals off to sink my feet into the sand, to ground me.

Then the rest of the day is usually spent doing our own thing… we meet again for lunch, maybe an odd job here and there, and then it’s school pick up.

I often wonder now, as is the case being pregnant, just how our Wednesdays will change, and will be come February next year. Everything will revolve around baby, and we probably will have very limited ‘us time,’ if any.

But still, I know I will count down to Wednesdays happily, knowing I have my partner in crime by my side. 🥰🥰

In the meantime, here are snaps from today. Both make me happy for various reasons. 😅☕🏖️💖

#2480 The return of the coffee walk

How can a coffee walk feel soooo good?

I think because this doesn’t happen that much any more.

Or, it hasn’t for a while, until now.

Me, alone.

Day off.

Weather, acceptable.

Feeling good.

FRIDAY!

It was a mild morning as I set off after school drop-off to get me some coffee in my writerly keep mug. As I started walking, I realised just how relaxed, and happy, and peaceful I felt.

Why?

It wasn’t just that coffee is back in my life. No, it’s something else that makes me happy, and it’s the journey.

The process.

The anticipation of coffee, and the walk to getting the coffee, there’s just something about it, I don’t know…

Is it self-indulgent? Is it because it’s me time? Taking time out? Enjoying life?

It is the smallest of things, and yet it feels like everything. This morning, it was everything.

It’s a good thing I think, when little things can be everything. Let’s inject more little things like this that make us happy, into our lives.

💖💖☕☕

#2478 A special Wednesday coffee

I’ve shared with you that I’ve already had a taste of coffee again, after a 3 month break. All covid, pregnancy, and life induced.

Today, was my first cafe coffee since then.

It was good!

I’ve been happy that I’m not doing what I used to do… that is, drink coffee every day, even when I didn’t really feel like it, only out of habit.

I am really trying to only drink it when I NEED it or FEEL like it. I was actually really looking forward to the cuppa today, and was happy that I indulged as I did.

Also, I’m not getting my coffee headaches anymore, even when I drink one day, and skip the next… or two… or three days.

And just because, here are some snaps I took afterwards, for fun…

The coastline… my pregnant belly overlooking my shoes… beach boxes.

🥰🩴🤰💖

#2473 6 years of the bay

Exactly 6 years ago, on October 14th, also a Friday, we moved our lives to the other side of this city.

It somehow feels like a lot of time has passed, while in some ways it feels like it’s flown by.

There has been a lot of growth though.

We have grown. All of us. Baby girl has grown up here. She’s established her friendships and school life here, and that is something we’ve always wanted.

We finally know the secret back streets, best places that do coffee (priority) have our favourite and then our experimental beaches, as well as our reliable local grocery spots where we seem to spend so much time at.

Our house has changed. We have done a lot to it, renovations and face lifts and improvements, and yet, there is still much more to go.

But, baby steps.

Lastly, our home has grown in love. Years ago we welcomed a feline friend, saved from the local shelter no less, and the love is happily growing even more… we are making way for a new member of the family to make their arrival in about 4 months time.

Yes, things have changed. They are meant to. But our resolve to make a better life for ourself, our child/ren, our pets! has not wavered, and I think we are doing alright.

It’s a forever work in progress, a project I am happily committed to.

To many more years of beach-bum-loving folk. 💗🌅

#2472 Back to (creamy) black

It’s been approximately… 3 months since I stopped drinking coffee.

It had become more than just a habit, it was like a routine I was scared to break because of those ill-fated caffeine headaches if I dared missed a cup.

Yes, I enjoyed it. But there were days I could go without, but never used to, just because, routine.

But I was pregnant too. I was getting increasingly ‘off’ so many things, food, drinks… yes, even coffee.

The almond milk I was used to drinking, subtituting for regular milk, was actually disgusting me.

So I moved to just black. Straight blacks.

But that’s when I caught covid, in week 10 of pregnancy. And one day while lying on the couch, ravaged by weakness, I decided I wanted to stop it all.

I haven’t had a sip since. ‘Til today!

Honestly, I have been enjoying the scent of coffee as it wafts over to me from whoever is drinking it, for a week or two now. Realising I was out of those horrible nauseous months, I decided I wanted to try it again.

But also, realising that I didn’t have to have something just because it was 3pm, realising I didn’t have to get my body dependent as it once was on it… I have the control now.

I had a day off today. I made myself some brunch, a coffee, and proceeded to write and edit my novel on this very rainy Melbourne day.

Guess what? I didn’t get affected by the coffee, even in the 3 month absence of it.

In fact, it was like I never stopped drinking it at all.

That’s unsettling. 😬🤣

#2422 Baby stuff

Today was Wednesday, so Hubbie and I did our brunch thing.

Not only did we share a chocolate-style French toast and scoff it down before I realised I hadn’t taken a photo (🤦‍♀️) but I had a juice (craving again) and he had a coffee… and then he had another, because we had gotten comfortable and were getting into an interesting conversation.

Baby names. 👶🐥

It was a real honest, intuitive, I’d even say thorough discussion. We said things out loud, typed them into our phone, and at the end Hubbie said “if you are happy with (insert boy’s name) then I am happy with (insert girl’s name).”

It felt like a really nice compromise, not even that, a happy agreement.

We are totally open to other names, and will continue to be until the day baby arrives, but it’s lovely to know that we have something already in the piece, brewing.

When he said “Baby girl and (insert girls name) or Baby girl and (insert boys name)” to hear how it sounded, I swear they both sounded so good I welled up with tears.

That was the first baby moment of the day. 💖💖

The second two moments came at the end of the night. I saw a social media ad about a sale on some baby clothes (who says ads don’t work? 🤣) and went online and bought a bunch of really cute baby clothes, ranging from 0000 to 00. There are many months still ahead of me, so I should really control myself… but it’s never too early to start, right?

I CAN’T WAIT UNTIL THEY ARRIVE!

And the trifecta was the Palmer’s cocoa butter. I used this religiously in my pregnancy with baby girl, along with another belly oil I alternated with. I’m already getting a noticeable belly, and today I went and bought the Palmer’s so I could begin my nightly tradition with my belly massage.

We always find ourselves on the couch at the end of the day, even if it’s for a bit. Like I did 9 years ago, I rub the lotion into my belly, thinking happy thoughts for baby and the pregnancy. I did it last time, and I will do it again. Whether the cream helps me as it did last time, time can only tell, but at the very least I am having the most relaxing, beautiful bonding time with baby, and I think that means more and is worth more than anything else. 💖💖🤰🤰

(How many times can I use the pregnancy emoji in the next 6-ish months?🤔😂)