From stay at home mum to working mum...

Today I made the transition from "stay at home mum" to "working mum"... After just over 11 months of maternity leave I started back at work today. The big news about this is that I didn't go back to my old company... After a lot of to-and-fro-ing we couldn't settle on a job description that suited both the IMO and me. In the meantime I had a couple of other job opportunities arise and I eventually settled on one of them. So today I started as a Senior Regulatory Analyst with Verve Energy (an electricity generator in Western Australia). It was an incredibly hard decision to make, one that I agonized over for weeks!

It's really hard leaving my little boy each day and only seeing him for about 2 hours a day... But me going back to work means we will be able to give him a whole lot more opportunities that we would otherwise! At this stage I am just doing 3.5 days a week, but this will ramp up over the next few months.

State library and Perth Museum

Ethan, Jason and I recently visited the state library and Perth Museum. I wanted to go to the library as it had the WA press association photo exhibition. The exhibition was great and thankfully the other library goers were not too worried with Ethan's vocal commentary!

While we were there we spotted a cool kids play area as well which was a great little bonus (and totally unexpected).

The boys spent a fair bit of time in the massive caterpillar tunnel!Ethan enjoyed the different toys!
Dad and Son played a massive game of connect 4.
Ethan played with he trucks for a bit.
While I checked out the fabulous cartoons dotted around the walls.
After the state library we visited the Perth museum (in particular the animal exhibition- which Ethan enjoyed).

He was particularly taken by the butterflies!
After the library we spent a bit of time in the gardens outside which was a lovely change from our usual weekend hang out spots.

We did see this fellow in the park, taking a nap with his bird. A bit different from the suburbs!



All in all a good day out!

What's that??!?

Now that Ethan is 10 months old he has really started to communicate with us, we sure know when he doesn't want something or want to do something (apparently Jason says that "he is just like his mother" but I don't know what he is talking about haha).

Anyway, one of the main conversations we have with Ethan is a babies version of "What's that Mummy/Daddy??". It goes like this:

Ethan (pointing at something) "huh"
Mum/Dad "that's a tree"
Ethan "ohhh"

Ethan (pointing at something) "huh"
Mum/Dad "that's a fence"
Ethan "ohhh"

Now repeat 100 times!
See what I mean:

Huh??

Huh??

Huh??

Huh??

Water Polo Grand Final 2012

This weekend Jason played in his 2012 Water Polo grand final at Challenge Stadium. It was the first game of the whole season that Ethan and I have been able to watch (the games are mostly played quite late on a Wednesday night).

Jason's team had met the City Beach Bears 4 times during the regular season, each team taking 2 wins. Unfortunately two of the starting lineup for Jason's team weren't going to be there making winning the final a more difficult task.

Jason before the game

"Dad is this how I am meant to throw the ball??"

A prime viewing spot for the match..

Jason doing his swim warm up

Jason doing his throwing warm up

Jason's team and their final team talk before the game started!

The calm before the storm...

And they are off... check out Jason's beautiful swimming stroke.

Jason fighting hard for the ball

Jason on a fast break

Jason and a City beach player tussling over the ball again...

Jason and a City Beach player racing to get a loose ball...

Jason had a great game, scoring a beautiful long shot! But unfortunately their team fell short, coming in second at 7 goals to 5.

The importance of sleep for recovery

Last week (on Ethan's daycare day) I got three wisdom teeth out in the dentists chair (all from the top- yes I know its weird to have three wisdom teeth on the top). The procedure itself was pretty quick and easy (ahhhh the bliss of a good local anesthetic) and over and done with in about 20-25 minutes. My dentist stressed the importance of a nice easy afternoon to assist with the recovery process. I assured him that I had no plans other than that involving a couch, TV and a couple of magazines!

But that's pretty much where my relaxation plans ended! While I was in the chair Ethan's daycare rang requesting immediate pickup due to conjunctivitis!!!!! Luckily they also rang Jason who left work immediately to help out. I got a doctors appointment for Ethan and we were off to town! In hindsight I should have left Jason to deal with Ethan and gone home to bed, but at this stage I was feeling pretty good (being all numbed up and all!). The rest of the day was pretty uneventful really, just the normal playing with Ethan, feeding him etc.

Ethan had been sleeping really well leading up to my procedure so there was no reason why this shouldn't continue, right??!? Hmmm the naive thoughts of a first time mum! Ethan then decided that it was time to show who was the boss around our place for the next 4 days and nights. We were up from 2 - 5am the first night, every 60 - 90 minutes the next night, back up from 2 - 5am the third night and wouldn't go to sleep until nearly 10pm the fourth night. Meanwhile his 60 - 90 minute day sleeps had also gone out the window and we were getting 25 - 30 minutes! Not great recovery sleep for me!

I had to call Jason home from work early on Thursday (around 2pm) as I simply needed to sleep! I got around 45 minutes, not much but it helped!

The unexpected patch of bad sleeping is now over (these could be famous last words) and Ethan's better sleeping habits have returned!

Needless to say, my recovery from the removal of the wisdom teeth has taken a lot longer than expected and yesterday was the first day that I didn't feel like death warmed up!

Project 52: Week 12

morn·ing [mawr-ning] noun

• the first part or period of the day, extending from dawn, or from midnight, to noon.
• the beginning of day; dawn: Morning is almost here.
• the first or early period of anything; beginning: the morning of life.

In third place- paper, hot cross buns and coffee... this was Saturday morning in our house. Although only 2-3 pages of the paper actually got read!

In second place- Perth sunrise.
In first place- What I wake up to every morning, my boys! I love you both to pieces!Stay tuned for next week, the theme is patterns!

Sculptures by the sea 2012

Each year Cottesloe Beach is transformed during the Sculptures by the sea exhibition. During the weekend we took Ethan down to have a look. Now some of the pieces I didn't really understand (art truly is in the eye of the beholder), but there were others that were great.

Here is a choice of a few of the best exhibits.

Project 52: Week 11

round- adjective, -er, -est, noun, adverb, preposition, verb

• having a flat, circular surface, as a disk.
• ring-shaped, as a hoop.
• curved like part of a circle, as an outline.
• having a circular cross section, as a cylinder; cylindrical. spherical or globular, as a ball.

This weeks challenge was again an interesting one but I didn't devote enough time to it (its becoming a common theme now). We have lots going on at the moment (all will be revealed in a matter of days/weeks. But just to stop all your minds racing I am not pregnant again haha). This week I am going to try to give my these a little more time/effort.

In third place, one of Ethan's toy balls:

In second place, a sculpture at the Sculptures by the sea exhibition:
And in first place, Ethan's whirleyjig thingamawotsit spinning in the wind (I don't know what to call it haha). This came in first place as I struggle capturing movement, I also liked the way the sun captured the glitter background to create the illusion of "round and round".Stay tuned for next week, the theme is "morning".

Ethan starts daycare

It was Ethan's first real day at daycare today (he has had two orientation sessions over the last two weeks). The day started very early with Jason getting up for work at 4.10am, this coincided with a feed for Ethan. Ethan then slept through until 7.30 ish and woke in the best mood (he had no idea what today was going to bring).

We sat down at the table and ate breakfast together (oats, berries and yoghurt) and I finished ironing on the labels to his daycare clothes. I packed Ethan's spare clothes and nappies into his new schoolbag and then time was up...we had to go.

Check out my cool schoolbag

I was tempted just to sit down and play for a bit but I had to bite the bullet and leave the house... every step I took I was getting more and more sad. Ethan had no idea of course and when a song with a strong beat came onto the radio he started bopping along to it and laughing! At this stage I wanted to just turn around and drive back home and enjoy playing with my little boy for just one more day...

Once at daycare I dropped off his gear, put his milk in the fridge and started to say goodbye. This is when Ethan realised something was up, his bottom lip wobbled, I reassured him that it would be ok... but it didn't work. He started breaking his little heart. All I wanted to do was to hold him and make the sadness go away. Instead I had to go against every motherly instinct I have and just walk away, leaving him in the arms of virtual strangers. Out at the car I could hear his cry hitting the high pitches of absolute distress and I just wanted to run in there, and take him home with me. I am sure it will get better but today was a very hard day. I miss him so much already and its only been an hour!

Project 52: Week 10

hand [hand] noun

• the terminal, prehensile part of the upper limb in humans and other primates, consisting of the wrist, metacarpal area, fingers, and thumb.
• the corresponding part of the forelimb in any of the higher vertebrates.
• a terminal prehensile part, as the chela of a crustacean, or, in falconry, the foot of a falcon.
  
• something resembling a hand in shape or function, as various types of pointers: the hands of a clock.

Well this week was a disaster.... too many things going on (visitors, Ethan's daycare orientation, house hunting, Ethan getting his first tummy bug etc etc) and not enough time devoted to picture taking. It was always going to be a tough challenge as I took some photos of my dad's hands a couple of years ago which I love (see below). I just didn't think I could take photos as good as these ones and I didn't spend enough time trying.Anyway, in third place is "Someday my hands will be as big as my Dad's"...
Second place is "I want to touch mummy's camera!"And first place is "I got you Dad"...I hope this coming week goes better, the theme is "Round".

I can... by Ethan Papps

I am really clever, I can do lots of things I couldn't do a couple of weeks ago...

I can drink from a cup with a straw, and hold it myself!I can wave (and I like to do it all the time)

I can point my finger

I can walk with my walker.
For those on mobile or email see the video here

I can stand by myself

I can poke my tongue out

I can drive my first car

I can also make noises like an indian, my Daddy is going to get a video of that this week!!