Dear Mama...

Dear Mama,

Now that I am one, there are some things you and I need to discuss...

1. I would like my own blog posts (which I am now instituting).  It seems only fair, given that you have been rattling on about me for the past year, without my prior consent.  I have a voice.  I have opinions.  I have a brain.

2. I would like you to stop referring to me as "Your Little Bubba".  I am one.  I am big.  I can eat two weetbix for breakfast.

3. What's with the tears every time I achieve a milestone?  You should be applauding me, not moping around the house like somebody died!  I'm supposed to grow up.  I'm supposed to learn to do things for myself.  Can you imagine if I stayed a baby forever... you would never be able to wear white again!

4. I love George.  George and I wrestle because it's fun.  I bite him and pull his hair and yank his ears because that's what boys do!  If you had a giant lion to wrestle, I bet you would. Maybe you are just jealous?

5. Dada is cool.  Why?  Just because.  Stop trying to out-cool him.  You are a girl.  You are not cool.  You are Mama.

6. I would like you to stop dressing me in girl's clothes.  I know you think nobody can tell, but they can!  They are called "tights' because they are tight!  I weigh 12kgs... do you really think it's appropriate?

7. I don't like green food.  Yuck.  Please, don't even try, I'm NEVER going to eat broccoli!

8.  Are you aware it's 2011?  We could be living in 1952 for the way you carry on!  Vintage teddies, vintage books, vintage furniture... get with the times woman!

9. I hate wearing hats.  You keep putting them on and I keep taking them off.  To save ourselves years of tedium, shall we just agree to ditch the headwear?

10.  You are warm and snuggly and soft and cuddly... but so not cool... because you are Mama!

Love
The Monkey

Little Angel

My friend Anna recently had a baby... her third!  It got me thinking about the wonder of a newborn.  The way their little bodies are such a contradiction - so fragile yet so strong all at once.  The way their faces become transparent with divine light and beauty when they sleep, as though they are not quite yet part of our world - I'm convinced they travel to the heavens in their dreams and touch the stars.  To hold that tiny quivering body in your arms and feel a heartbeat that started as a glint in the eye of love, is the closest we might ever come to knowing the beauty of our own existence. 

... and then they wake up and cry their newborn cry, reminding us that life is a crazy, hungry business!

(this beautiful photo was taken by the gorgeous and talented Emma Durkin)

Icing on My Family

I'm back.  From where?  From the laundry, from Africa, from the vacuum of daily life!  I have been so busy blending spag bol and patting lions that I've neglected my first true love... my macbook :(  "Oh keyboard, it seems like forever since I touched you".

Today, in the the rather chilly pre-dawn hours, as I lay waiting  for the Monkey to begin his morning Hadada call (my feet resting forlornly on the cold hot water bottle - damn electricity prices!), I began thinking about all the things that have fallen off my tram lately... things that have become the victims of my over-zealous, uber-motherly prioritisation campaign.  I no longer do yoga.  I haven't picked up a paint brush in nearly a year.  My toenail polish is older than my son.  I can't remember when I last took a photo of anything vintage (in my world, this spells crisis!).  And very worst of all, I haven't written anything for such a long, long time its a wonder I can still construct sentences.

Family life is busy.  The days are so packed full with doing things, I'm in danger of morphing into a verb.  Keeping a burly ten-month old fed, clean and amused is kind of like being a cross between a zoo-keeper and a circus clown.  Trying to fit in some income-earning work on top of that, well frankly, life becomes a whirlwind of pureed pumpkin, Omo and the odd intelligent thought.

So, in a bold and slightly self-indulgent move, I've decided to reclaim the icing on my family!  I NEED to do yoga.  I NEED to paint things, my toes included.  I NEED to acquire and photograph old stuff.  And I absolutely NEED to write about it.  We all have the precious things in life that fill up the cracks and crevices of our souls with love.  It is not sinful to do these things.  Rather, it is crucial to our happiness to try to cram in as much joy as possible!  

On that note, I'm off to attempt yoga with a Monkey on my back :)

x

Image from here

Cabin Fever

It has been raining here for days... days spent crawling the walls of our two bedroom apartment... days spent endlessly inventing new games to play... days spent staring at the pram in the hall knowing we won't be venturing out in the gloom.

Finally we couldn't take it any longer... we rugged up and braved the heavy, sinking skies for 10 minutes of blissful, chilly fresh air!

Yum Yum Mama's Magazine!

Note to self: Do not leave magazines on the coffee table... Monkey fodder!

Autumn Leaves

Autumn leaves are scattered up and down our street like confetti and there is a chilly bite in the air that nibbles our noses and earlobes as we wander. The days have been so crystal clear... perfect weather for long walks in the sunshine!

Fresh Out of The Oven

I saw a little baby yesterday that was so brand spanking new it took my breath away.  I seem barely able to recall what the Monkey was like when he was that tiny... it's the weirdest thing the way the memory works.  I know the nights were terrible and I could hardly function, but it seems so distant now.  Our boy has so much personality and is a constant side-show of clown smiles and laughter... but sometimes I wish I could jump back in time and hold my newborn again and feel the spectacular wonder of his little heart beating beneath my palm.

x

Image from here