Tinkle Tinkle

This weekend, because Cyclone Bianca decided to not show up, I was fortunate enough to be invited (along with 5 lucky blog readers) to one of UWA Extension's Baby Talk seminars run by Caroline Radford & Caroline McMahon of Caroline's Angels - and if you haven't figured it out already, it was about toilet training.

Now I can't tell you everything I learned because that wouldn't be fair, but I can tell you that I had no idea toilet training wasn't considered a developmental milestone. There is no specific age range that a child is supposed to get out of nappies - it's dependent on quite a few things, amongst them:

• a level of tactile awareness - you need to be able to tell when you're sitting in a wet patch
• hormonal development - a full bladder creates a hormone message to the brain
• an understanding of what just happened or is about to happen (in the nappy area)
• a way to communicate their understanding by either words or actions

Plus I found out that night dryness is a completely different kettle of fish to day dryness - night wetting isn't considered a problem by the leading health officials until the child is between 5-7 years old. I'm not talking the occasional puddle in bed, I mean having to wear nappies every single night.

Am I the only one who had no idea?

I'd highly recommend checking out the remainder of the Baby Talk seminars (there is even one on sleeeeeeep!) or if that's not your sorta thing then UWA Extension have classes on everything from investing to beer tasting (Map Guy is interested in that one) and dancing.

If you think you need more than a two hour session you can contact Caroline's Angels directly through their website. In the fifteen minutes I was chatting with them after the seminar I got some fantastic tips to help Tricky sleep better and... THEY WORKED! 

This is an unpaid review, however I did receive complimentary tickets to the Baby Talk series

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Meet Glowless at the Aussie Bloggers Conference thanks to

HealthyChart and Baby Goes Retro

And the winner is...

The Aden + Anais giveaway is over *sniff sniff* and there can only be one winner...

Entry #2 - Congratulations Sarah! I hope you're imagining bells ringing and a little confetti shower right now because I know I am.

For those that are bummed to miss out, fear not, there will be another Aden + Anais giveaway next month - it's product so awesome it has received the Where's My Glow Seal of Approval!


But for now, don't forget to enter the Rubbermaid Reveal Mop Giveaway that's running til the end of the week. Cos free stuff is awesome.

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Meet Glowless at the Aussie Bloggers Conference thanks to

HealthyChart and Baby Goes Retro

Quite Revealing - Giveaway

I normally wouldn't have jumped at the chance to review a mop seeing as I'm allergic to cleaning *ahem* but Map Guy has just finished laying our brand spankin' new kitchen floor so I'm still in the 'it's new I will clean it daily weekly' mode.

I also would not normally get excited over said mop. But I did. It's so cool I even got my Mum to come over and look at it... she was impressed too.

This God of Mops that I speak of is the Rubbermaid Reveal Mop.

Check out my floor!

What I love about this mop (and yes, I just used love and mop in the same sentence) is that it's so much more eco-friendly than the ones I'm used to:

• There is no need to fill up a bucket every time, there is a non-drip bottle that you fill with your preferred cleaning product and you just pull the trigger and it sprays on the floor. Perth is about to face massive water restrictions if we can't all save water this summer so not filling up a bucket definitely helps.
• The microfiber cloth is machine washable so you don't have to keep buying disposable ones - this reduces your carbon footprint (producing those disposable clothy things takes energy!) and reduces landfill too

Plus it's so quick and easy, it looks funky and as it swivels around the floor it picks up 50% more dust and dirt than your standard mop which kinda just pushes it all around.

I seriously love this mop so much it's being awarded the coveted Where's My Glow Seal of Approval!

If you'd like to get your hands on one you can head off to Bunnings and grab one for $39.95 OR you can WIN one here, hooray!

To enter all you have to do is:

• be a follower/subscriber of Where's My Glow? (The button over on the right)
• leave a comment telling me the cleaning job you hate the most
• for an extra entry follow @Glowless on twitter and tweet about the giveaway (leave a separate comment)
• for an extra entry like Where's My Glow on Facebook (leave a separate comment)

Entry is open to Australian residents and closes at 8pm AWST on Friday 4th February at which time the winner will be chosen using Random.org. The winner will have one week to respond to their winner email before a re-draw. Good luck!

I received a complimentary Reveal Mop courtesy of Rubbermaid Australia via Aussie Mummy Bloggers. All opinions expressed are purely my own.

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Meet Glowless at the Aussie Bloggers Conference thanks to

HealthyChart and Baby Goes Retro

A Hire Power

Tricky is a seasoned car-traveler. We've made the six hour journey down south to visit his Albany Nanna and Grandpop a few times, starting when he was seven weeks old.

The Glow-mobile is packed to the ceiling with crap baby stuff every time. Clothes, cloth nappies, blankets, bibs, pram and portacot.

I do have an entire 4x4 Mum Tractor of space but what happens when I go to Sydney in March for the Aussie Bloggers Conference? I'll have excess luggage before you can say "That baby better not be sitting next to me!"

Well, thanks to Rock-A-Bye Baby Equipment Hire, I won't have to lug a portacot or a pram all the way to Sydney and worry about it getting lost or damaged in the cargo hold because they're lending them to me for the weekend! Yay! *Happy Dance*

If you're going to the conference and your little ones are coming with you (under two and they fly for free!) and don't want to be charged excess baggage or have to rely on kind strangers to help you carry all your crap baby stuff then give Rock-A-Bye Baby Equipment Hire a call.

They even have a Sydney Airport Concierge service where they will install your hired capsule in to your hire car before you arrive, plus gift certificates that make a fantastic baby shower present! How awesome is that?

But you don't have to be just visiting Sydney, hiring is a cost effective way to get great baby products for a fraction of the purchase price. Why spend hundreds of dollars on an exersaucer (is that not the coolest name?) that your baby can only use for four months when you can hire one for $75? Plus you don't have to worry about trying to store it or sell it after.

To hire everything and anything from strollers, highchairs, breast pumps, slings, gates to car seats and more, check out Rock-A-Bye Baby Equipment Hire's website, Facebook page and follow them on Twitter.

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Meet Glowless at the Aussie Bloggers Conference thanks to

HealthyChart and Baby Goes Retro

Australia Day 2011

It's Tricky's first Australia Day so in true bogan style his Perth Nanna gave him a "Aussie Aussie Aussie" tshirt.

Perth Nanna (my mum) is slightly Aussie-obsessed. She has the stickers, the flags on the car, you name it.

I have inherited this Aussie-obsessive gene. My claim to fame is that I could sing, by heart, the national anthem from age 3 - it's on tape. I'm your go-to gal if you ever need help with the lyrics. I even know the second verse.

I'm sure some of you are now thinking "there is a second verse?!". Yes there is. And it mentions that we have "boundless plains to share". Something to think about when so many are jumping up and down about asylum seekers. (Check out the fantastic Rethink Refugees site that dispels some common, media driven myths)

See I don't care if you were born here or if you don't "look" Australian (I have no effing clue how can you look Australian anyway?). If you call Australia your home then that's all I need.

In celebrating tomorrow I recognize what we have become as a nation... even though we might not have had the best of starts.

I celebrate that we have universal health care - it meant Tricky could have his operation without it costing us thousands of dollars and remortgaging the house.

I celebrate that we have democratic elections, even if it takes a week for the results to be known.

I celebrate that even though 49% of the population are unhappy with those elections there is not mass rioting and looting, just grumbles at the dinner table.

I celebrate a nation that pulls together and takes care of those less fortunate by raising millions of dollars for the flood victims.

I celebrate a nation that realizes the importance of mothers and has paid maternity leave.

So tomorrow when I'm having a picnic lunch in a national park with a dozen of my friends and the three dozen Anzac bikkies I made today (that's a good ratio, right?), I'll be celebrating the Australia that Tricky will grow up in.

How do you celebrate Australia Day?

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Meet Glowless at the Aussie Bloggers Conference thanks to

Healthy Chart and Baby Goes Retro

Aden + Anais - Giveaway

The lovely people at Aden + Anais sent Tricky and I some divine products to try out! He can now rub shoulders with Mason Dash Disick (Kourtney Kardashian’s baby), Kingston James McGregor Rossdale and Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale (Gwen Stefani’s kids) at the playground and not have to worry about feeling left out.

When trying to swaddle her first born, Raegan Moya-Jones found the blankets available were either too small, too restrictive, too heavy, or just plain too ugly… so, being a resourceful Aussie gal, she decided to make her own and Aden + Anais was born. She’s even written an amazing book, Swaddle Love, with everything there is to know about swaddling. And because she now lives in the good ol' U S of A there's even a funny translation section at the back - who knew bikkie wasn't an international word?!

Tricky is a bit old for swaddling these days, but we did it every time he slept until he was around three months old, at which time he became Houdini and it was time to kiss that chapter of his life goodbye. So rather than worry about sheets and blankets coming off he moved straight in to a sleeping bag. Can’t wriggle outta that, can ya, Tricks? Ner ner.

On a serious note, that exact non-wriggle-out-ed-ness that comes with sleeping bags with fitted arm and neck holes can, according to the SIDS and Kids Foundation, help reduce the risk of SIDS because your baby can’t become trapped under blankets. Pretty, functional AND safe. Trifecta, woo!

Don't be fooled, they were just long blinks

The single layer of heavenly super soft muslin in the Classic Sleeping Bag is perfect for the sweltering Perth summer, but for winter there is a four layer Cozy Sleeping Bag, enough to keep any bub snug as a bug in a rug swaddle.

My only complaint would be that the Classic Sleeping Bag did not in fact make Tricky sleep, and in our case it should be called the “Wake up and Cry Bag”. Which is a reflection on the state of Tricky's sleep, not the sleeping bag itself - I had been hoping it would be a magical device that would get him to sleep through, but alas, it was not.

So now I get to the bit that you’re all waiting for (and what I’m sure some of you have skipped right down to the bottom for), the GIVEAWAY!

You have the chance to win a divine Aden + Anais swaddle in the design of your choice, valued at $19.95! The swaddles are not just for swaddling either, they're a great for shading baby in the pram, using as a change mat or a little blanket. If you don't have youngens this would make a beautiful gift for someone about to pop out a kid.

As usual, it's easy:

1. Be a follower/subscriber of Where's My Glow and leave a comment* saying which design you'd choose (check out the selection down the bottom of this page, my fave is the moo cow!)

2. Like Aden + Anais on Facebook and if you're Tweet Crazy like me, follow them on Twitter @adenandanais

3. Tweet the giveaway for an extra entry (leave a separate comment below)

4. Like Where's My Glow on Facebook for an extra entry (leave a separate comment below)

The giveaway is open to Australian residents and closes at 8pm WST on Friday 28th January 2011. The winner will be chosen using Random.Org and will not be influenced by the offering of brownies, but you can try if you like.

*Make sure you sign in to Disqus (the comment widget) with a valid email address or leave it in your comment so you can be contacted when you win. If you’re having trouble with Disqus you can email your entry to glowless{at}wheresmyglow{dot}com.
*The winner has one week to respond to the email sent - after this the prize will be redrawn. 

This competition is listed at Win Free Stuff




____________________________________________________________________ Meet Glowless at the Aussie Bloggers' Conference thanks to
HealthyChart and Baby Goes Retro!

Kerr-boom! {A Rant in B Flat}

I'm jumping on the Miranda Kerr bandwagon, and while I'm at it I'll get on my high horse. Cos you know, horses and wagons go together.

So we all know Miranda had her genetically blessed bub the other day. Most of you would have seen the awesome breastfeeding photo where she looked Glowing (bitch stole my Glow!). And some of you would have heard that she updated her blog to say that she had her whopping 9lb 12oz baby boy without any pain relief.

One of the forums I belong to, on finding out how much little Flynn weighed, started a thread comparing baby weights. Nothing bad about that, right? Well that's what I thought until I read it and saw some really strange comments attacking Miranda and other women who had also commented, for saying that they had given birth vaginally (yeah I said vagina, get over it). Their point was that it doesn't matter how a baby is born, as long as it's healthy, and that by being proud of an unmedicated birth they were somehow implying that everyone else was lesser than them.

I have a problem with this - are those that do birth vaginally (with or without medication) now supposed to not share that? Can we not be proud of ourselves? In a world with an alarmingly high caesarian rate and epidural rate, can I not be happy that I managed to birth Tricky "the old fashioned way"?

Does my damaged pelvic floor make me think I'm better than anyone else? Hell no.

It was MY goal and MY achievement and I know MY ideals are different to others'. Just because it's different doesn't make it better (or worse).

I'm not against caesarians. I know they save lives. I'm not even against epidurals - I was offered one and finally said yes only to find out that Tricky was crowning. What I am against is the cascade of interventions and 'scalpel happy' hospitals and obstetricians (and even some midwives in my situation) who are ready to cut open a woman at the drop of a hat.

And because I'm a knowledge junkie I'm against uninformed decisions of any kind.

So I'm going to say it now. Giving birth to Tricky vaginally with no pain medication was the proudest moment of my life. I'm not going to hide that away just because someone else chose to or had to do something different.

It's the same with breastfeeding. Can I not be proud that I'm breastfeeding because someone else can't or chooses not to? Can I not be proud that my saggy pendulous breasts are actually good for something?

Why does this only seem to surround birth and parenting choices? There's enough bloody mother guilt as there is without us creating more.

Can we not, as women, just support each other in the choices we make and stop with the politically correct bullshit for a minute?

Vaginal birth, caesarian birth, breastfed or bottlefed - if it works for you then own it and be proud of it.

Yo Mama So Fat

I was having such a good day today. See that little word there? Was. As in, it started well and now it sucks.

My Mum came over and played with Tricky while I did a few things around the house, we went to the shops for a bit and then met up with my Dad at a cafe for a free lunch.

It was free because we'd gone there for my birthday and I'd ordered a pizza that had olives on it and when it came and I bit in to it I bloody nearly broke my tooth because the olives hadn't been pitted. Seriously who puts non-pitted olives on a pizza? Anyways, they gave us a freebie to make up for it.

We're still obviously in the good part of the day here.

So while I was on a high of free carbohydrates and because I had my parents to watch Tricky I decided to have a massage.

And, oh, how things can turn so quickly. It went a little like this:

Tiny little masseuse lady: What you want?

Glowless: Back, neck and shoulder? Can you fit me in?

Tiny little masseuse lady: Yeah we got spot. How long?

Glowless: Just half an hour.

Tiny little masseuse lady (looking me up and down): But you pregnant, yes?

Glowless (wishing the floor would swallow me whole, or just swallow my ass): Um, no.

Tiny little masseuse lady: OK come through

Yep. Not pregnant. Just fat. Niiiice.

In my late teens I was with my boss when she asked a coworker when her baby was due. She wasn't pregnant either. Seeing the crushed look on her face that day, the look she tried so much to hide, made me swear I would never ask someone if they were pregnant. NEVER. I would hesitate to ask even if I could see their baby crowning and there was a midwife telling me to move out of her way.

You just don't do it.

So it has come as a timely reminder that yes, I am fat. And I should do something about it... right after I eat this tub of icecream to make myself feel better.

Has anyone asked you if you were pregnant when you weren't? Or is just me that has a lardass?

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Meet Glowless (and her fat bottom) at the Aussie Bloggers Conference thanks to HealthyChart and Baby Goes Retro

I Like My Ponies Sunny Side Up

I have done a few giveaways on the blog. A portrait sitting worth almost $300, a HealthyChart, and tickets to UWA Extension's Baby Talk series, but this giveaway has been, by far, the most popular.

Which I take to mean you all think my colouring skills are brilliant and that the pony will be so fantabulous that it will one day make you money. To which I, of course, completely agree.

I had so much fun reading the 24 brilliant entries - you guys are funneh! My favourite was from Keshia of The Wiggins Tribe who was going to pass it off as one of her son's and give it to Granny for her birthday. I like your style, Keshia, if I was in to rigging prizes, you would have won!

So the winner, the person you need to direct your jealousies towards, is none other than the divine Kirrily from Sunny Side Up! You might have already guessed that though from the title. Oh well.

I'm sure you'll be wanting to stalk her, you know, since she has your pony picture, so you can do that on twitter. You could TwitPic a drawing of a horses head in a bed ala The Godfather.

Kirrily, send your address details to me at Glowless {at} wheresmyglow {dot} com and your one of a kind, Glowless original will be yours, ready to frame just as soon as Map Guy gets the printer working!

And stay tuned because there will be another giveaway towards the end of this week, though sadly it doesn't involve colouring.

Mama v Dadda

There is a competition going on between Map Guy and I, and although he will protest that he knows nothing about it, I know that secretly, he’s been competing all along.

It’s a competition that I’m sure goes on between many couples of young children… and whoever wins will get life-long kudos.

This competition I speak of, when so many others dare not, is to see whose name the child says first.

Will it be Mama? Or will it be Dadda?

It's like Battle of the Sexes but with baby spew.

Now us Mamas are at a slight disadvantage since we’re normally the primary carers and talk non-stop about Dadda all day.

“Dadda will be home soon”

“We’ll get Dadda to fix it”

“It’s OK, Dadda’s gonna bring Mama some wine”

And so on.

See that? That’s a 3:1 advantage they’ve got going on in my highly scientific survey.

I have heard Map Guy evening the odds (and I may or may not have done this too) when he talks to Tricky and says “Mum Mum Mum Mum Mum Mum, bub bub bub bub bub bub bub, Dad Dad Dad Dad Dad Dad Dad” while pointing to the corresponding person.

So yesterday, at 7 months, 1 week and 2 days (not that I’m counting) Tricky said “Mum Mum Mum Mum Mum” all afternoon! I WIN! I got it on video too, because he’s a first born and that’s just what you do.

Wearing my rad sunnies

It remains to be seen whether he keeps saying it tomorrow or if he forgets by the time he wakes up. But it doesn’t matter – It will go down in history (or maybe just his baby book) that his first word was Mum.

Who won in your family?

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Meet Glowless at the Aussie Bloggers Conference thanks to

HealthyChart and Baby Goes Retro

Harley Birthday

It’s my Dad’s 60^th birthday today so I went with him and my Mum to the local marina for ‘lunch’.

Why ‘lunch’? Well because it was really a ‘going to the marina for lunch but only so we could go to the pick-up location of the surprise Harley Davidson Trike Tour without him getting suspicious’ kinda thing. My Mum even chucked in a sly “Hmmm should we go to the marina or King’s Park?” to throw him off the scent.

My Dad hasn’t been on a motorbike since 1982 when he had a massive crash. He was hit up the rear by a car, went flying in to the road, and then went under a bus. Lovely.

I didn’t think until we got there that he might actually not want to get on the bike. It’s been many years but the accident changed his life forever – he could no longer work after because he was so badly injured. He was in a lot of pain and to this day, still is.

The aftermath of my Dad’s accident wasn’t very fun for my Mum either; she had three kids under three, one of whom was dying, and now she had an injured husband and bugger all in the way of income.

But he got on.

And because it was a trike, so did I! Woo! High fives all round.

30 minutes of pure awesomeness followed.

Zooming up the coast road was just amazing. Though the bit where the biker (as opposed to bik-ie) let go and waved his arms in the air was enough to make my Dad’s already weak heart go a little fluttery. But hey, you don’t argue with a man the size of a brick shit house, dressed head to toe in Harley Davidson gear, with tats all over him and a handle bar moustache (If the guy hadn’t have been so stereotypical I would have felt a little jipped).

He really enjoyed it and it didn’t make his heart explode, which is great because I gave him a voucher for a flying lesson!

Happy 60th Birthday KC, break out the pension card!

 Crossing off #4 on my Thirty before 30 list!

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Meet Glowless at the Aussie Bloggers Conference with thanks to
HealthyChart and Baby Goes Retro

Strength in Numbers

By now you will have heard that the Purple House at Random Ramblings of  SAHM has been rocked to it's foundations with the sad passing of Lori's husband, Tony.

Today I am so proud of the Mummy Blogging community. They have come together to support one of their own. Twitter has been swamped with words of love and support so much so that #prayingfortony was trending in Australia.

They have organized meals, washing, ironing and cleaning for Lori, so that she can concentrate on healing and focus on her two small children, Chop & Bump, who now don't have a Daddy.

They have dug deep and raised almost $3000 to help lessen the financial burden a sudden death in the family creates. 

You can donate securely through PayPal using this widget

Today I have seen both the extremely ugly side of life, in the taking of such a young life; and the astounding beauty in it, with the warmth and compassion shown by the community.
 

For once Casa de Glowless has a glow. The glow of a candle burning brightly, lighting Tony's way for the next leg of his journey.

Rest In Peace, Tony
1977 - 2011

Dot Com, Baby! - Giveaway

Cast your eyes upwards folks, all the way up past the page tabs, past the header and stop in your address bar... do you see it? Do ya? If you're looking at the wall behind your computer you've gone too far, come down a bit.

That glorious address www.wheresmyglow.com !!!

That's right, I've gone dot com, baby!

I'll give you a minute while you go and change your bookmark (you do have this page bookmarked, right?)

To celebrate this momentous occasion I'm giving away a pony!

OK so that might put a bit too much of a squeeze on my budget, plus they're a bitch to giftwrap.

How about this?

We're getting closer. It's definitely in my price range but it really doesn't say "gimmick giveaway" enough does it?

Aaah, now what about this little beauty?

Yep, that's it! I will download and print a picture of a horse and colour it in for you!

Is that not the coolest prize you have ever heard of?

It's perfect, really. It's small, it's easy, it's cheap and much easier to fit inside a mailbox. 

If you'd like to win a picture of a pony, painstakingly coloured in by yours truly, leave a comment below telling me how fantastic I am why you want to win! Because I know how desperate you are to win this awesome prize, I'm going to let you enter as many times as you want.

Entry is open to everyone, even my handful of overseas readers - they're very cool and have funky accents. Entries close at 8pm on the 15th of January at which time the lucky winner will be chosen using Random.org

No ponies were harmed in the production of this crappy blog post.

Make sure you sign in to Disqus (the comment widget) with a valid email address so you can be contacted when you win. If you have trouble with the widget you can email your entry to Glowless{at}wheresmyglow{dot}com. (See that, got a groovy new email address to match!) 

A5NRQDM9TSJ9

   __________________________________________________________ Meet Glowless at the Aussie Bloggers' Conference thanks to HealthyChart and Baby Goes Retro!

Please Support Lori @ RRSAHM

Lori, the amazing woman behind Random Ramblings of a Stay At Home Mum needs our help.

She has asked for your prayers and thoughts for her husband, Tony. He is in intensive care, fighting for his life.

Tony is the major breadwinner in their family... and the stress of finding money to put food on the table and pay the bills is something she really doesn't need right now... it's also one thing we can help with.

Money doesn't fix things. It doesn't even come close. But it can be one less thing she has to worry about.

Emma from Mind Your Mum (Lori's long time BFF) and I would like to ask you to please spare some change?

This widget has now been removedThank you to all who contributed over $4000 was raisedto support Lori and her children as Tony sadly passed away a few days later

(You can put this widget on your own blog too - see where it says "Add to Site")

I'd like to point out that Lori is unaware of this as yet - she has not asked for money, just your prayers.

Thank you so much for supporting Lori, Tony, Chop & Bump.

Thirty before 30

This year I turn the big 3-0 (on the 17th of December for those who'd like to mark it in their calendars). So I figure I need some sort of a bucket list. I’m not the first to do it, I’m not even the first to blog it. But I’m gonna do it anyway.

Plus it lets me make a cool logo.

Some of the things on here are really obvious. Some will be easy and some I almost didn't put on because I think they'll be really, really hard to achieve (great start hey?). But maybe, just maybe, putting it on the blogosphere will spur me on to do it. So let’s give it a whirl.

1.  Finish renovating the house
Our renovations are almost finished… they’ve been almost finished for two years. I want a floor in my kitchen – it’s currently just concrete and some tatters of the old lino. The walls need painting too

2.   Buy a new pair of shoes

3.   Go on a holiday with Map Guy and Tricky

4.   Attend my Dad’s 60^th birthday celebration and spoil him rotten with presents

5.   Start dancing lessons with Map Guy

6.   Expand Where’s My Glow?
My goal is to reach 200 followers. I’m currently sitting at just over 100 so that’s almost double. I’ve written a plan of attack so let’s see how it goes (you can help by suggesting me to your friends *wink wink nudge nudge*)

7.   Ask for help when I need it

8.   Read and comment on more blogs

9.   Get my hair done

10. Cook more food from scratch

11. Attend the Aussie Bloggers’ Conference
I’m booked in and I’m ready and raring to go! If you didn’t already know this then you’re living under a blogrock. I’m going thanks to HealthyChart and Baby Goes Retro (and a few others who will be revealed very shortly – oooh mystery!)

12. Clean out my kitchen cupboards

13. Have a facial

14. Keep breastfeeding Tricky

15. Enter more competitions

16. See some amazing live music with Map Guy

17. Clean out my wardrobe

18. Hang photos up on the walls

19. Have a nice 1st birthday party for Tricky
I don’t want a circus, a petting zoo or a jumping castle. I don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on something that he won’t even remember. I’d like a small gathering of the people who are important in our lives, a BBQ and some photos of Tricky eating cake

20. Write some poetry

21. Spend some time in Albany so that Tricky gets more time with his rellies

22. Clean out the Man Cave (the study where Map Guy spends most of his time)

23. Lose weight
Yeah, that’s a bit vague. I lost almost 30kg in the lead up to my wedding but then getting sick and having a baby (and eating loads of crap) meant most of that has crept back on in the last three years. I’d like to get back there

24. Make a new friend

25. Keep seeing a counselor (keep’s the craziness at bay)

26. Go on a date with Map Guy
Just me and him. I want to go to dinner and see a movie – it’s terribly cliché but I still want it

27. Be more assertive

28. Keep attending Mothers’ Group

29. Go swimming
I used to swim for a club when I was a kid (I could even do the tumble turny things), but I haven’t gone swimming in almost three years – it’s a body confidence thing, or rather, a lack thereof

30. Plan a kick-ass 30^th birthday party

So there you have it. If you've managed to read all the way down to here, kudos to you! 

So what's on your bucket list?

__________________________________________________________ Meet Glowless at the Aussie Bloggers' Conference thanks to HealthyChart and Baby Goes Retro!

Letter to Tricky - Seven months old

Dear Tricky,

You've been up to quite a lot this month my boy!

After much fuss your first tooth finally arrived! Hooray! Your little white chomper caused you quite a bit of distress, even with your funky amber teething beads, but once it was through you were happy and smiley again. The second tooth really knocked you for six and you weren't a happy chappy at all, allowing Mummy to have only 1.5 hours sleep the other night. 

But back to happier things - we celebrated your first Christmas in style by having not one, not two, not three but FOUR family meals (no wonder Mummy is a bit more squishy than usual)! One in Perth and three in Albany - you even got to meet some of your Albany rellies that you hadn't met before. It was all very exciting and you got some lovely presents, although you did prefer the wrapping paper and the boxes just like we expected.

You had your very first dip in the ocean. Well, if you can call the wave tickling your toes before you screamed blue murder a dip. But hey, at least you thought the sand was pretty cool. Plus we got it on video and it'll make excellent viewing when you're older.

By far the biggest thing to happen is that you've figured out how to pull yourself in to standing. And for the past two weeks it's now your preferred position to be in All.The.Time. Your Nanny in Albany has been telling me how your Daddy walked early and she took one look at you and said "Oooh Map Guy wasn't doing it this early!" so I think you might be off and racing really soon.

Stand and Deliver. Or wave.

The only problem is your inner dare devil which makes you stand up using only one hand while you wave at me with the other (did I mention you've half figured out waving? It's adorable!). Darling, whilst I am proud of your new skills, please, while you're learning, use two hands to hold on - the bumps and bruises that are starting to appear as a result of falling from that extra height will have the authorities on our doorstep in no time.

It's a start of a brand new year, my gorgeous boy. Let's see what adventures it brings... hopefully ones that make you sleep more at night.

Love Mummy xxx

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Meet Glowless at the Aussie Bloggers' Conference thanks to HealthyChart and Baby Goes Retro!