I'm back - living in the moment!

This is the year I made a promise to myself to live in the moment more, something kids are so good at and something I know I can learn from them. With the balance of two young children, a part time office job, a house renovation and just life, I tend to get distracted from the present moment with the kids quite a bit, get frustrated, stressed and eventually loose my cool and crave the all important alone time.

Enjoying the Collingwood Children's Farm

With my daughter starting school this year and my little boy going into the 'kinda' room in a few months at childcare the passing of time has really hit me. Where did it go! This has left me feeling a bit nostalgic for the past and resulted in me feeling very clucky but not sure if I can go back there. How is it we forget all the sleepless nights, general exhaustion and other difficult things? Or is that just me? Funny but I do have vague memories of some hard days early on where I thought if only they were a little bit older and I got more sleep! Those days are now here and I miss the baby side. One example of not living in the moment!

So now to focus on the present, enjoy the day to day with my children, which hopefully results in being calmer and more accepting of things (like the constant toy clutter) I have been reading books such as Buddism for Mothers (I am not a Buddhist but found the book great with invaluable Buddhist teachings of mindfulness, compassion and calm) and so will now look at getting Buddhism for Mothers with School Children. I have also been reading various articles on articles the importance of unstructured play and leaving kids things, not creating too sterile, controlled environment which just causes stress - this has all helped.

And I have thought getting back to this blog would help also, a chance to share, as I have learnt through my design blog (GeorgyGdesign.blogspot.com)there is a fantastic community out there, both for support and ideas. So here's hoping you can join me in my journey of trying to live in the moment.

Where are the builders?

'Mummy when are the builders coming' - this is a question my daughter has been asking a lot lately. And depending on her mood she is either really excited about having new rooms built and can't wait to show her friends, or on other days she gets really upset about the idea - 'I love our house the way it is, I don't want it to change'.

As any of you that have renovated, built or moved house would know it is stressful. Adding kids into the mix just makes it even harder. My daughter also is sensitive to change, so it is going to be interesting to see how she reacts when the builders do arrive in a few weeks, especially as we will be living in the house during the whole seven or eight month build.

I am trying to get her excited explaining how she is going to get a new room that she can help decorate. She loves to draw and paint. With my two year old boy we have bought him a Bob the Builder set which he loves. Any other tips on how to help them and me to get through this?

Want to read more about the reno and design ideas - GeorgyGdesign.blogspot.com

Old friend coming to visit

A good friend of mine is coming over for coffee today. A friend I met in first year University, well and truly before kids (BK). We partied together, travelled up the East Coast of Australia and lived together in various share houses.

Why am I telling you this? One because I am really looking forward to her visit but secondly because I find catching up with a BK friend, someone who has been through a lot with you, is a great antidote to the ‘I am just someone’s Mummy’ feeling that can sometimes take over. The weeks when you are really focused on the kids and don’t feel like you have had a break.

So if you are having one of those periods then give that BK friend a call.

The never ending snot

My two year old is sick again, well sick enough to have to stay home from childcare. It seems that he has had this particular virus for almost four weeks. He has a continual runny nose, it is just some days he is happy and energetic and then the next it gets on top of him again and he crashes.

The question is, is it the same virus the whole time or has he got over one and then got another from the petri dish that is childcare?

We have seen the doctor on a weekly basis for the past month but have been assured that he sees other toddlers more. Probably the ones that have just started in childcare.

So if you are in the sickness treadmill, I feel for you, I have been there and what we have now is nowhere near like how it was six months ago. So it does get better!

Balance out of whack! - Georgy:)

I am back with a fresh look blog and slight change in focus. So where did I go? The whole balancing thing tipped very much in favour of trying to negotiate a building contract for our house extension (somewhere to put all the toys) and a busy work load in my office job. All this left me very unenthusiastic about getting on the computer when at home, especially as every time I did so it was with two kids climbing all over me or asking me questions!

So with all this going on I started to ask myself whether to continue with the blog, but after recently having chats to a number of friends who have just returned to their office job from maternity leave or just had first babies and are freaking out a little or had seconds and suddenly discovered how much harder two is, I thought a good time to start this up again with new energy and focus.

I am hoping that some things written in this blog will help you when you are pulling your hair out, just to know others have been through it. In my case my Mothers Group and since then a few close friends have been great for this, but I know others that don't have these networks.