Letter to Bobbin - five months

Dear Bobbin,

Happy Australia Day! Welcome to the most awesome time of the Australian calendar, where there are a hell of a lot public holidays! Yahoo! We've taken the opportunity to head down to Albany to finally introduce you to all your greats - aunts, uncles and grandparents. We couldn't get you here any sooner so it was the first chance for you to meet them all.

A huge milestone happened today - your height was marked on the lounge room door, making you an official Albany family member. It is a momentous day indeed. 

Your current favourite activities are blowing raspberries and throwing toys on the floor then crying because you can't reach them. I now pin everything to you and you look some strange human octopus hybrid whenever we go out.

You now have a bedroom! Huzzah! You're not in it yet, though; you're still in our room. You start the night off in your hammock then when you wake for a feed you come in with us and spend the rest of the night snuggled in the crook of my arm. You're a day time sleep dodger because the world is just too exciting right now. And by world I mean your brother.

My favourite thing right now is the way you reach your arms up and lunge towards anyone who put their arms out to you. You launch yourself of their laps and they give you back pretty quick - even your Dad and I, who are used to your incessant wiggling, still get taken aback at how adept you are at launching yourself off.

My least favourite thing is that you are a biter! You have bitten me more in single days than your brother did his entire time breastfeeding. Yeeeeouch! 

So please reign in the chomping of me and reserve it for food which you'll be starting soon!

Until next month m'dear, keep being the happy smiley baby you are.

Love Mama xxx

*more photos when we're home and I have my computer

Did you know swaddling a baby tightly can cause hip problems? Me neither. {giveaway}

This is a C1 post

For full details please see my disclosure policy

The number one question most mums are asked when they have a baby is "is s/he a good sleeper?".

I usually say yes because Bobbin sleeps like a baby. She wakes a few times a night to feed, and when I hear her stirring I pop her in bed with us and she feeds to sleep (oh, my!). And after nights when she has woken six times because she is growing like a weed, I still say yes, because she's a baby and that is how babies sleep. Though I will admit to saying it less enthusiastically on those mornings.

We've been road (bed) testing the Joey Pouch and the Joey Swag from Australian owned and operated company, Bubbaroo, over the past few months.

Bobbin started out in the cotton waffle (mmmmm, waffles) Joey Pouch and I really liked it because it let her legs move which is really important for clicky, developing hips. Whilst we didn't need to brace Bobbin's clicky hips, the Joey Pouch is the best swaddle for a babies' hips because it allows the natural frog leg position and is roomy enough to fit in baby and brace if needed. I didn't even know that tight swaddling can lead to hip problems until Bobbin was being checked out at the hospital. Cue enormous amounts of mother guilt for not knowing and wrapping Tricky up in a straightjacket for his first six weeks. Oops.

Bobbin preferred her arms held a smidge tighter when she was very new so she actually wasn't a fan of the pouch at first. She liked it more as time went on and she did end up sleeping in it right before she started rolling - when you can't use a swaddle any more. Typical!

She graduated to the Joey Swag, a baby sleeping bag that won gold in the 2013 Mother & Baby magazine awards. Since it was a graduation, there was a ceremony with mortarboards and certificates. No, not really. By this stage she was wanting to fall to sleep with her arm over her eyes (the cutest!) so having them out was a must. The swag is lovely and we've been using it a lot because I've got another kicker on my hands. The moment a sheet touches her, up go the legs and within seconds it's gone. I may or may not put her in the sleeping bag and go "AHA! Try and kick that off, sucker!!". Ahem.

I've had sleeping bags before but I've never had one with the seatbelt hole to allow you to strap them in safely when they're asleep - super handy! Nor have I had one with the double ended zip to allow easy nappy changes - super duper handy!

The Newborn Pack contains the Joey Swag and the Joey Pouch and retails for $99.95 - a 20% saving compared to buying them separately. I have three $99.95 vouchers to use online at Bubbaroo - so you can buy the Newborn Pack or use it toward something else in store if you're past the newborn stage (well you're past the newborn stage, but your baby, youknowwhatimean)! To win, tell me below what is the best thing to do while your baby sleeps in their Bubbaroo? If you don't have Facebook you can leave your answer as a comment, but please make sure you leave your email address so I can contact you.

Birthdays and memories

For the past few years, on January 7th I send a text, or an email, or sometimes both, to someone to say happy birthday.

Every year there is no reply.

And every year I am crushed just a little bit more.

I didn't know it was possible for someone to hate me so much purely for being related to someone else.

I sent emails and pictures of Tricky when he was born and they too, went unanswered. I created new email addresses just in case he has mine blocked and I have even used the contact form on his work's website, to no avail.


When Bobbin was born, I couldn't bring myself to send another email, another picture, because the lack of response kills me a little bit more each time.

Today, as soon as I opened my eyes I started crying. I miss him more on days like today. I miss him more every time Tricky gets a postcard and I remember fondly how he used to send me postcards from all over the world when I was little. They would always be so funny. Once he wrote "I'm writing this slowly because I know you can't read fast yet". I always looked forward to seeing him when he flew home, and when he moved back permanently I thought it was brilliant. I worshipped him.

I've realized that the feelings I have for him now are more akin to mourning than anything else, yet he is still very much alive and works only a suburb away. I drive past his work most days and wonder which car is his. I haven't dared to go in, because as much as I long to see him, I think if he told me to go away to my face that I would crumble and I wouldn't want to compromise his professionalism with my tears.

A few years ago, in one of the many emails I have sent, I included my blog details, just in case he wanted to see how we were going but couldn't bring himself to make contact. I wonder all the time if he has ever looked it up. Seen the pictures, followed the stories, thought nice things about us and smiled.

L, if you are reading this, happy birthday. I miss you, I love you. x

Ten things that make me disproportionately happy

I'm trying to do the whole "ac-cent-you-ate the positive" thing right now and be all mindful and zen and shit. Becoming one with the cement dust or something like that, in order to not go all the way to fruit loop town (I'm on the bus, just hoping to get off before the final stop).

Today I did something that made me ridiculously chuffed, and led to so much mental high fiving and fist bumps despite it being completely stupid (point 6 below). It got me thinking of all the silly little things that make me happy. What better way to feel a bit less blah than to write down a list of awesome stuff?

So here it is, ten things that make me disproportionately and ridiculously happy:

1. Getting a shady parking spot - if it's on a day where the temperature has gone above 38C then I have been known to do jazz hands all the way from the car to the shop and back again.
2. When my favourite meal base is discounted - it's a 30c saving but I go ape shit and buy six.
3. New stationery - for my fellow stationery aficionados, this needs no further explanation.
4. Eating Brie - I only "discovered" soft cheeses about two years ago. Brie and I are now BFFs. Serve it to me with some crackers, olives (also a recent love) and quince paste and I will do practically anything for you.
5. Clean sheet day - especially if you have a bath and exfoliate your whole body because then it is clean sheet day and squeaky clean skin day combined and the result is wanting to lay naked in bed and feel the delicious contradiction of soft yet crisp linen. Oooh I'm getting excited just thinking about it.
6. Changing lanes without hitting the cats eyes reflectors - did you even know that was possible? I try to do it every time I change lanes if there is no one else around. When I succeed I feel a little bit like the Stig.
7. An organized linen cupboard - I have just got a walk in linen cupboard and I have been known to just go and stand in there and inhale the scent of freshly washed sheets and gaze upon them folded nicely and stored in the pillow slips. And what's that? Clear tubs for Christmas decorations, wrapping paper, clothes for donating and space to hide presents? *faints from happy*
8. When the car in front's indicator is blinking at the EXACT speed as mine - the OCD me freakin' loves this. I may even do a little shoulder shimmy in time to the clicking. Move to the beat, y'all.
9. Hearing my favourite song on the radio - I may have it on Spotify and be able to listen to it at any time I want, but when it comes on the radio it's like a sign that the day won't be so shit.
10. Receiving mail that isn't a bill - something I've ordered, a letter, a card, whatever it is, I feel excited to see who it is from and love that someone took the time to do it. I'll be taking the time to send more cards this year because I'm pretty sure everyone likes mail. 

Tell me what little things make you disproportionately happy.