When McDonalds is a disaster

Whenever a road trip begins super early in the morning we stop at McDonalds for breakfast. It's usually a great family friendly stop: food for all of us, coffee, toilets and a play area for the kids. Good Friday, it turns out, is not a good time to stop there. The kids were sick, shooting "snot rockets" (term borrowed from a twin club friend) and so couldn't use the playground, they'd been stuck in the car for 2 hours (alot for a pair of 2.5yr olds) and we were asking them to stay still and sit calmly in a room that was chaotic. To add to it, we waited 45 minutes to an hour for breakfast.... I know it was busy, but it wasn't THAT busy. I think next year we'll pack sandwiches and eat them in the park.

Some anniversay perspective

Yesterday was our wedding anniversary and for a change we put aside all work and projects and we sat on the couch, ate takeaway pizza, drank wine and talked. Shock horror, we actually stopped for a moment and spent it on us!

Anyways, while sitting there talking, I looked around the house at the kids paintings hanging up, the toys, the travel photos and the herbs hanging up to dry, I thought about how the boys went running to the door to greet "Daddy" and the penny dropped. I realised that I am currently living the life I had been dreaming about living from the time I was a child. There are a few differences. I hadn't pictured that I'd also be incredibly busy with volunteering and going back to uni and considering a new small business venture. But I wouldn't change that either, I see that I just adapted my dream to my circumstances which is a good thing because if my dreams ended here I'd be left wondering what I'd do next.

This also means that next time I have a bad day I can't really complain, I created this life, time to live it!

January

Alot has happened in the last month or so. We've been so busy I haven't had time to post.... or do the ironing which is evident by the huge piles of clean but crumpled clothing in our lounge room. I had thought to tackle some of it last night, but turns out the iron is busted, so it remained untouched and I made an emergency run to the shops to purchase a new one this morning. 

I inadvertantly took the month off exercise. I only intended to have the week off between Christmas and New Year, but just haven't been able to get back into it. Needless to say all the Christmas eating has taken its toll and I feel somewhat like a sloth. Not helped by the fact that I was on morning tea duty at playgroup this morning and ended up bringing most of my cake contribution home AND EATING IT FOR LUNCH! Yes that's right, I had cake and coffee for lunch today and yesterday I had such a bad morning I had a chocolate bar and coffee for lunch. I am in a bit of a rut and need to dig my way out. Hopefully the return to all the boys activities and routine with school holidays over will help. 

With the boys starting to string together their own proper sentences, not just repeating phrases they've heard adults use, I was beginning to worry they were growing up too fast and I'd forget all the good times while being emersed in all the busyness. So my Mum suggested I pick up a day-to-day diary and record all those little moments that I want to remember and appreciate for years to come. So I did and the added bonus is that it seems to be helping me appreciate my fast growing 'bubs' even more. I've also written myself a list of priorities to help me stay focussed over the coming year - it's going to be an insanely busy one!

Check out my 2014 diary of crazy boy anecdotes!

 

A bit of Christmas camping

For the first time in almost two years, our hugely expensive (and literally huge) tent made it out of its bag AND we actually set it up AND we slept in it - the four of us ALL NIGHT LONG!

Our friends arranged a pre-Christmas camping trip to Bonnie Vale in the Royal National Park. It's a great family camping spot right on a protected section of beach, perfect for young kids.

Last time we headed out for a camping trip our boys were 5 months old and happily contained in their bumbo seats or asleep in their pram.

Since then we had been more than hesitant to take first crawlers, who eat everything in their path regardless of whether it has food status, and then completely insane toddlers, who run in completely opposite directions for no apparent reason, camping with so many temptations. Granted Bonnie Vale is kinda cheating seeing as it is located right next door to Bundeena and civilisation, but it works for us right now.

We had a great weekend of swimming and climbing trees and chasing birds. We discovered our boys are not so fond of a dark tent, but glow sticks work a treat, as does the "blow out the torch like a candle" game invented as a quick distraction from the dark.

Apologies for the delay on this post, it was written 3 weeks ago and the Christmas happened and I never got to hitting that "post" button.

  

Decisions decisions decisions

So right now I am seriously thinking about a part time uni course, starting next year. I am painfully aware of the fact that I need to start preping myself for returning to work once the kids are at school AND prep myself for finding a job where I can still be around to pick my kids up from school AND chauffer them to after school activities AND help them with their homework AND get a good nutritious meal on the table for dinner, because I really do believe in eating well even though I don't necessarily practice this myself at times.

Anyways, so I've been looking into an online course majoring in internet communications with a touch of marketing thrown in. I figure from this I could potentially work from home or at least have flexible hours. BUT, I'm not sure how I'll fit it in. I keep thinking, somethings gotta give, I have to drop something to fit this in and that 'something' cannot be time with our rapidly growing boys. We only planned on having two children and we got them in one hit, so I don't get another shot at this. I don't want to miss a moment of them growing up, it wouldn't be fair on them and defeats the purpose of me staying home with them if all I ever do is use the TV as a babysitter while I "just get this one more thing done."

I think this blog post by Confessions of a Stay at Home Mum sums it up nicely: http://www.moderndaydonnareed.com/2011/06/what-she-doesnt-know.html#.UqQ-8-LNCaM

And this article on Huffington Post reduced me to tears, but slams home the fact that the most important "job" I have right now are those boys and the thing that scares me the absolute most right now is the possibility of not being there for them: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachel-macy-stafford/taking-off-the-ticking-clock_b_4306552.html

So what on earth do I drop? How do I fit it in? I have not a clue yet. Unless I find something of a self-paced nature which I doubt very much exists - but I can dream.

How'd I go?

One month later and here's where I'm at with the strength training stuff:

Squats - 49 (30/10 - 38)
Push-ups - 45 (30/10 - 35)
Bent-over row - 59 (30/10 - 32)
Military Press - 47 (30/10 - 24)
Upright row - 45 (30/10 - 31)
Triceps kickback - 54 (30/10 - 28)
Wall squat - held for 60 seconds (30/10 - held for 30 seconds)
Biceps curl - 61 (30/10 - 33)
Leg curl - Swapped this to a reverrse bridge and held for 60 seconds
Lunges - 32 oops (30/10 - 33)
Step-up - 54 (30/10 - 30)
Crunches - 36 (30/10 - 31)
Raised feet crunch - 28 (30/10 - 26)
Bent leg knee raise - 28 (30/10 - 23)
Pulse-up - 26 (30/10 - 25)
Oblique V-up - 33 left, 30 right (30/10 - 34 left, 22 right)
Saxon side bend - 32 (30/10 - 32)
Bridge - held for 40 seconds (30/10 - held for 30 seconds  )

I did have to stop everything for about a week and a half because I really honestly did not have time. And it seems my core suffered the most from that break. Otherwise, I can see some definate improvements. Stay tuned for my December plans.

SUP Dude's

Yep yep, I FINALLY went stand up paddle boarding!

After complaining last year that I never get to do anything new or exciting (and that my mid-section was far too flabby), I was given a voucher for a stand up paddle boarding lesson. It then took me almost 12 months to arrange babysitting and actually use said voucher. But I finally got around to it and enjoyed it thoroughly, despite spending most of the time petrified I'd fall off into the cold water... and injure my already fragile pride.

I was the last in our group to actually stand up on my board, but once up and balanced it was quite relaxing... all the while working my core and my legs. Although I later found out that my legs shouldn't have been shaky afterwards and that maybe I was just a little tense - and unbalanced. Shaky legs aside, I enjoyed it and yes I would go back for more. If we could fit a board on the roof of the car I may even consider purchasing one.