So true

This is summer in Oz

There's nothing quite like the rare sight of a sprinkler to bring back childhood memories of long, hot summer days! Running under the spray of cool water, the hot sun beating down on our bare skin, this is what summer in Oz was all about before water restrictions and slip slop slap were invented.

My grandfather used to set up the hose, a sprinkler and plastic sheeting in the back yard as a makeshift water slide and obstacle course. The hose and sprinkler would run for hours while Grandpa squirted washing detergent onto the plastic. We'd all take turns flinging ourselves headfirst down the plastic, slipping off halfway or making it all the way down only to tumble into the garden at the bottom. Then we'd run through the sprinkler to remove some dirt and detergent, back up the garden to do it all again and again! There was the occasional bruise or grass burn after a particularly fast slippery slide, but there was always laughter and squeals for more bubbles please Grandpa!

Fast forward 30 something years... This water baby is now a city dwelling, water tight-ass with a mere square meter of grass where my girl can nude up for some time limited sprinkler action. I am a bit of a greenie, and want to instill my love of our planet in Ava. I want her to know how precious our resources are and how important it is to appreciate and conserve what Mother Nature has created. But most of all I am a Mum who was once a kid too.

I may be a try hard environmentalist, but I'm not the fun police!!! I want Ava to enjoy life's simple pleasures, like running naked through the sprinkler on a hot day. Have you or your little ones run under the sprinkler lately? 

This is very true

Mummy's bottomless bag

I used to watch my Nana fuss over her bag. She never let it out of her sight and was always checking the contents remained safe. She would often tell us, hold onto your bag Naomi and Jade!!! My Mum is also often spotted fishing around in her bag, but for different reasons. She carries way too much stuff in it, so is always looking for her keys, phone, tissue or whatever it may be that she needs.

I find myself carrying on the bag obsession for this generation. Like my Nana I am always checking my bag is near by, and like my mother I'm forever looking for something within. Keys, phone, train ticket, mints, tissue....whatever I need you can guarantee it has a place but I will take two minutes to find it.

Today I thought I was super organised. Ava sneezed on the train, my instinct is to swiftly remove said booger. I spotted a tissue in my side pocked, grabbed it and removed said booger. Brilliant piece of parenting, effortless.

However the blush from the gentleman opposite me and the strange feeling of plastic wrapper alerted me to a slight error. I'd wiped Ava's nose with a sanitary pad that had been in my bag for so long, it had come out of it's wrapper.  Ooops.

I was surprisingly far less mortified than I should have been, dived back into my bag for a minute or so and found an actual tissue for Ava to blow her nose on. Crisis averted!

Luckily Ava is too young to be mortified that I wiped her nose with absorbent wings. And they are just as effective for snot removal as they are for capturing suspicious blue liquid and making you want to dance on the beach.

Who stole my baby?

I'm not really sure how it happened. One minute I'm holding this tiny, fragile little baby in my arms. So wondrous and helpless, she needed everything done for her.

Suddenly I find myself being told "No Mamma. Ava Mae do self." She goes to the potty on her own and she helps cook dinner. You can classify mixing, licking the spoon and stealing your ingredients as help right? And gone is the cot gate, as we tuck her into a "big girl's" toddler bed at night! What the hell happened? How did we get here?

Those seemingly endless nights of feeding, crying and nappy changes feel like only yesterday. They were so precious and so fleeting upon reflection. It's easy to see NOW why people say, "hold onto every precious moment. They grow so quickly."

The first few months were a sleep deprived blur. In fact I am not sure how I even managed to maintain some degree of hygiene for myself and ingest the occasional snack but we got through it.  We were trying to figure each other out and the lack of sleep really did mess with my brain!! It may sound like your worst nightmare if you are attached to sleep and planning at all. But really (expectant and one day Mum's to be, bear with me here) I would not change a thing. Like any new challenge it was a huge learning curve, it gave me a deeper understanding of myself and it made me change my whole perspective on what matters in life.

Now I have a little girl. Talking, laughing being cheeky and defiant! Yes, she still baffles me and surprises me everyday, just like she did in the early days. Only now she answers back and and questions me!!

Easter time rocks

Ava is really loving Easter as you can see. Me not so much.... Here I am trying to get my body back and teach Ava about a healthy balanced diet. She needs to understand that lollies are a sometimes food or a rare treat. And then Nana Burns makes her the most amazing Gingerbread House - lets call it GBH like the drug. The detail was amazing and the lollies, OMG I was back in primary school heaven with all my faves on that house!!

So of course I limit Ava's consumption, for her own good and for my sanity. You can only imaging how hyped up her and Maxwell were after they got stuck into it. Problem is, with this tantalizingly evil GBH hanging around the house, I am the one who picks away at it. Did I mention I was trying to get my pre-baby body back!!!

I would be steaming healthy veggies for dinner, only to find GBH staring at me, beckoning me to have just a taste. One or two lollies are fine. It's about balance right??  Well if there is one thing I have learned over the years, I do not do balance well. It's all or nothing with me. That is why I do not keep sweets in the house, I have zero self control.

Needless to say, I saved my innocent Ava Mae from the evils of GBH by demolishing half of it myself. Then I took the rest to Mum's and shared the love around.

WTF??

 

Happy Easter from Paynesville! This snappy little performance comes to you live from a tin shed on the lake performed by a strange looking rabbit and banjo playing local. It was very Donnie Darko meets Deliverance.