A few weeks ago Ethan and I started swimming lessons with LifeCare. LifeCare Baby Swim teaches swimming skills and water safety techniques necessary to enjoy the Australian outdoor lifestyle.
The classes are lots of fun, and incorporate skill based activities into games and songs. We do water confidence, floating, kicking, arm action, turning and holding onto the side of the pool and eventually submersion.
Ethan LOVES his swimming lessons, here he is ready to go!The lessons start with splashing water over his face while singing songs with actions. "Look at me Dad, look at me, I can kick"... Ethan is pretty relaxed in the pool, especially when he is on his back!!! The lessons really tire us both out, Ethan is often asleep within seconds of being back in the car! The other great thing is that the pool is just round the corner from Jason's work and he can pop in and watch us!
A couple of weeks ago, after lots and lots of trying I finally rolled from my back to my tummy. Mummy put me to bed and thought that I was going to sleep, little did she know I had other plans. You see, I had worked out that if I held onto the sides of the cot I would be able to help myself roll over. I pretended that I was going to go to sleep so that mummy would leave the room. Once she was got I got down to business. I tried two or three times and I kept falling back but then I put a little more effort in and I did it!!!! I was so proud of myself.
I don't now how she knew but my mummy came in and got a photo of me on her phone, just as I made it over. She tried to tell me she has eyes in the back of her head and can see everything I do... I'm not so sure though. Here is my roll in action for you so that you can see how clever I am.Now that I can roll I do it whenever I can, anytime night or day. Last night I rolled at 2am, 4am and 6am. I even try to roll while I am asleep (top right hand photo below)... Now, I just need to learn how to get off my tummy and back onto my back... apparently its easier, but I haven't sussed that one out yet!
On September 2 I posted about wanting to get fit and healthy again, it that post I noted that my specific goals for the next three months were to lose 10kg and get fit enough to be able to run 20-25km easily in a session!
Well it has been 7 weeks and I have lost 9.8kg of the 10kg I wanted to lose and my running is really starting to come along. I ran nearly 50km in total last week and 10km runs are really comfortable now. So for the next 5 weeks of my three month health and well-being quest I aim to get the running distance up to around the 20-25 km mark for my long run session of the week.
I have found a great gym group that I go to 3 times a week (based at a Thai Kickboxing Gym). We are all mothers and most of us take our kids with us to the gym. The sessions are all different and can be thai kickboxing, boxing, boot camp style (i.e. dragging tyres, hitting tractor tyres with sledgehammers, carrying drainpipes above our heads filled with water etc), a mix of cardio and strength work (i.e. 1km run, followed by 40 pressups, then a 400 run, followed by 50 tricep dips etc) or just plain strength work. It is a great gym to go to and all the girls are really supportive.
Ethan and I then go running with a girl from our Mothers group on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Jason, Ethan and I go running on Saturdays.
If I can't make any of these sessions (i.e. if Ethan is sleeping) then I do a windtrainer/skipping super session out on our back patio.
So it is all coming together and I am feeling great.
Today, 15/10/11, is another very special day. It is my Mum's 60th birthday! I really wish we could have been there to celebrate the day with you!
Its not until you become mum that you realise what being a mum actually means. I am who I am today because of my mother and all that she poured into me during my formative years.
Thank you mum for keeping me safe, for teaching me life's lessons (the good and the bad), for supporting my dreams and for picking me up when I fall. But most of all thank you mum for teaching me to be a mum! I hope that I do half as good a job as you did! Happy Birthday Mum. Mum, I love you so much!
Yesterday, 09/10/11, was a very special day. It was my Dad's 70th birthday! I really wish we could have been there to celebrate the day with you!
Not many can have a father who’s half as great as you. You are the reason, I am. Every year, your birthday reminds me how grateful I am that you are my father.With all that’s going on in the world today, I’m thankful I get to watch you, to look up to you, being an example of a good man. What a privilege it is to observe your strength, your competence, and your kindness. I am so blessed to be under your protection, your care, learning important life lessons from you. If all fathers were like you, the world would be a very different and much better place. Happy Birthday, Dad.
Here are a few memories on me and you over the years!
Of all the men in the whole wide world, there is no man who I respect more, or of whom I am more proud. Throughout the years, you’ve worked so hard to provide us a happy life.
Your hands show us just how hard you have worked to give us a good life! Dad, I love you so much!
Western Australia has an amazing array of wildflowers (see my 2009 blog post for more photos and information: Its wildflower time), here are a couple of shots taken this weekend at Kings Park: The everlastings are amazing! This kangaroo paw was so vibrant against the rest of the bush. I loved the contrast of the pink against the twisted and broken bush!
The Kings Park Festival is a celebration of spring with floral displays, live music, exhibitions, workshops, interpretive artworks, guided walks and family activities during the entire month of September.
This weekend just been Jason, Ethan and I headed out to enjoy the jazz in the park! It was great, the only thing missing was a great picnic! Next time I'll be more organised. Check out the boys enjoying the music!
Well in the case of this blog its going to be the ugly, the bad and the good!! I thought I'd get the tough stuff done first and then finish on a high note! So here goes...
The Ugly
So over the last week I had been feeling really exhausted, irritable and generally off. I assumed it was to do with trying to lose weight, exercising more and coping with minimal sleep... I also had been experiencing a fair bit of pain while feeding Ethan (and in between feeds as well).
On Friday night my joints were aching and my skin was incredibly sensitive, I thought I had a fever but when I took my temperature it was normal even though I was alternating between shivering and being really hot... So off to bed I went at 7.30pm.
Ethan was kind to me that night, with just one night time wakeup (at 3am) but unfortunately I woke up feeling worse on Saturday morning. So I found an after hours clinic and off we went... My blood pressure was pretty low at 90 over 70 and my temperature was high at 38.9 degrees! The doctor confirmed that I had mastitis and prescribed a huge amount of anti biotics for me- 12 a day for a week!!! He did say that I would start to feel better after the first few doses and he was right.
The Bad
Sleep - or lack of it (and the associated side effects of limited sleep)!
For the last 6 or so weeks Ethan's sleeping has been unpredictable to say the least... for a while there he would wake at 3am every night and then sleep through to around 7am. Well now I have no idea at all when he will wake, he is very unpredictable... some nights (few and very far between) he will wake just once but generally I am up 2 - 4 times a night at the moment (the worst night had wake ups at 11pm, 1.30am, 3.30am, 5am and 7am up for good). He has also become a little harder to settle during the nights now... one night Jason and I tag-teamed for 3 hours trying to get him to sleep. On top of this his daytime sleeps are short and sometimes non existant! This has contributed to very tired (and sometimes very cranky) parents.
But no matter how tired we get, we can't stay cranky for long given this darling sweet boy of ours! We thought that introducing solids may help with Ethan's sleeping... we started with baby rice cereal (Ethan wasn't a fan) and moved to carrot which Ethan prefers. There has been no discernable difference in Ethan's sleep (positive or negative) and really all we have is more mess from the solids right now hahaha.As Ethan doesn't sleep much during the day at all there is a lot of time to fill in. He has recently become bored with his regular toys and very clingy, which was making it really hard for me to get anything done at all. I was getting all worked up about not getting anything done during the day... so we got an exersaucer and it has transformed my days... I can put Ethan in this and it gives me back around 45 minutes to do some chores around the house. Ethan LOVES it!
Vomit and teething drool(and associated washing piles)
Over the past couple of weeks Ethan has become a very vomity (is that a word) baby. It has caught me by surprise sooooo many times and I had been changing my outfits just as often as changing Ethan's outfits! Must remember the muslin! One day I was vomited on aroud 5 times and I rang Jason crying about it.... I was just so tired and just couldn't cope with it at the time!
As well as the increased incidence of vomit, Ethan has been teething (his first two teeth popped out about a week before he turned 4 months old!!), with the teething has come a massive amount of drool. So much so that I have been going through 4 - 5 bibs a day and sometimes 2 outfits!
The good
Now onto some of the good stuff (there is so much of it I can't list it all!!!).
Weather - Lately we have had some wonderful weather and Ethan enjoys the outdoors as much as I do so we have been spending a lot time outside enjoying the garden. Recently Jason set up this little outdoor activity centre for Ethan! Smiles and giggles - Ethan has really started to smile and giggle a lot lately. It brings such joy to our hearts to see and hear this. It starts with a shy smile when he first wakes up, followed by a big grin when we take him from his wrap me up and he has his first morning stretch. Ethan loves raspberries on his neck and tummy and also giggles like crazy when we dance! Ethan has also started to respond to peek a boo, check out this video:
Development
Its amazing watching a baby develop, things change each and every day! Ethan now reaches for toys and holds them in both hands, he has found his feet (and his voice), and is really close to rolling - he twists himself almost to the point of rolling but is not quite there yet.
Health and wellbeing
Apart from the mastitis my health and wellbeing kick has been going really well. I have lost over 5kg and can now run over 10km (with the pram) in a single session. I have been going to a Thai Kickboxing gym twice a week with a group of mums (we can take our babies with us). The instructor takes us through a bootcamp style session for over an hour and I feel shattered at the end of it. I have also been running regularly with a mum from my Mothers Group. Its great to be out and active again!
Jason has also been losing weight as he is following my eating plan! A new favourite meal is chargrilled beef served with an avocado, corn and capsicum salsa! Yummo!
So all in all the good far outweighs the bad and the ugly!!
My Dad is the best dad, he plays with me when he gets home from work, makes me laugh, tickles me, cuddles me to sleep when I can't get to sleep myself, gives me the best baths and not only that he has a cool car too!
On the weekend just been I got to tell him how great a Dad he was. It started with a wake-up cuddle!Mum and I spent all week making cards for Dad, hoping to get it perfect, but I kept moving my feet and playing around making it tough for her... it was funny and we got paint everywhere but Dad didn't suspect a thing!! I also made cards for my Poppy, Grandad and Great-Grandad! I found this real awesome book that was all about my "SuperDad", I was so impressed, my Daddy must be so amazing to have a book written just about him! Some of my favourite parts in the book are:
Meet SuperDad. He's the absolute best! He's simply amazing, as you might have guessed. Even when things are crazy and life is a zoo, There is nothing my SuperDad cannot do.
My SuperDad's hugs are the absolute best. They start when I rise and don't end til I rest. They are hugs mixed with giggles and its not over-zealous To say that they'd make a grizzly bear jealous.
On Sunday Dad and I just mucked round fixing his car (did I tell you he has a cool car?). Here we are making switches, gauges and bright lights for the dashboard!
My Dad is a SuperDad and I LOVE him to pieces! Happy first Fathers Day Dad!
Just a quick update at the moment, I just wanted to post this picture of the first of our roses to bloom! Spring is in the air and it really is beautiful in Perth at the moment! We are experiencing blue skies and temperatures ranging from 20 - 26 degrees during the day! Its lovely!Ethan enjoys playing in the sun as well, here is the cheeky little boy with his tongue out in every photo! I hope you are all enjoying spring as well!
The lessons start with splashing water over his face while singing songs with actions.
"Look at me Dad, look at me, I can kick"...
Ethan is pretty relaxed in the pool, especially when he is on his back!!!
The lessons really tire us both out, Ethan is often asleep within seconds of being back in the car! The other great thing is that the pool is just round the corner from Jason's work and he can pop in and watch us!
