Burn Baby!

I gotta shed this excess weight already! I mean, common!
I am a little worried though, as my muscles arn't repairing the way they're supposed to. It's all a little funny. After having a bit of an argument with Dan over how much I can actually physically do, I researched up some special programs for poor post-pregnant ladies like me. I envy you mumma's who look so fab after childbirth!! *Stares at quite a number of you!*
Those of you like me check out here and here.

Gentle tummy exercise:
Pregnancy splits your abdominal
muscles down the middle. It is important to make sure your muscles have healed
before you do any vigorous abdominal exercises, such as abdo crunches. In the
meantime, you can tone your tummy by performing an exercise that strengthens the
deepest muscle layer (transversus abdominus).

Be guided by your doctor,
midwife, physiotherapist or exercise physiologist, but general guidelines
include:

You can perform these exercises lying down, sitting, standing
or on your hands and knees.

• Keep your lower back flat.
• Breathe out and draw your belly button back towards your spine. Your
  lower back shouldn’t flex or move.
• Hold this position and breathe lightly. Count to 10.
• Relax and repeat up to 10 times per set.
• Do 10 sets, as many times per day as you can.
• You may like to perform your pelvic floor exercises at the same time
  (see below).

I think i'm still at stage one unfortunatly. 6 months on and my muscles are still split! I have been doing these excersices at least once a day. Twice if I remember! I jumped on Wii Fit while Lil D was asleep and got about 12 minutes of hula-hooping and stepping before I was stuffed (and Lil D woke up!)
Unfortunatly my weight has only changed by 0.1kg. LOL! Oh well, staying the same is better than putting on!

I set a new goal on Wii Fit to lose the 10kg in 6 months. That's 0.8kg per fortnight. Do-able I guess if I try! Seems like a small enough goal! It's not like I don't already get buttloads of excercise every day, lifting 7-12kg, walking up and down the stairs, sometimes with both weights in hand! Running after children... But i'm sure someone is going to tell me that it isn't classified as exercise. Well at least i'm not sitting around all day, or sleeping, oh how I wish I was sleeping... Sleep! Oh how I miss thee! Why doth though taunt me with lazy thoughts and pleasant dreams.

For my birthday can I have 6 hours sleep? KTHNXBAI

Finally some good advice!!!

As you all know we've been having a hard time with Lil' D, a __really__ hard time! I have seen a few doctors about him (notice everytime I desperatly go see a Dr our family Dr is not available!) and all they could say is bullshit. One even told me that he had nappy rash and I should put cream on it. (Note: Danté did not have nappy rash). So when it came time for me to freak out and make another rash Dr's appointment knowing my GP would most likely have no appointments free, I was told to try a Child Health Nurse. Now I never thought much of CHN's because they're not Dr's. They can't help you if the child isn't sick. But I called up anyway. After speakin to an absolutely faboulous nurse, Lisa, she explained that around this age babies develop the seperation anxiety and it will last about a month. She also pointed out that Danté was not getting enough sleep during the day! I should've been on top of that! To be honest I had no idea that he was only supposed to be awake for 1.5hour periods of time. And you know what... It's worked! Just by giving him more sleep during the day, he sleeps better at night. It still takes me quite a while to _get_ him to sleep, but nowhere near the hour and a bit it used to take. Actually at the moment I am up and down to get him down for his midday nap. It's running on about 20 minutes now, so lets just hope he settles. She also suggested I stop rocking him to sleep if I can (which I am more than happy to stop doing as he just wakes up when I put him down) and allow him to whinge/cry a little bit before rushing in. I'm really amazed at how he has been self settling. He will start screaming and give me the cue to come settle him again, and sometimes, by the time I get over to him he has stopped and starting to sleep. I think my boy just likes to cry? Although I hate seeing him do so. I don't want to sound cruel, but I really have to make sure that he's happy and healthy before worring about myself, and sleeping more is going to make that happen.
Oh and is he every happy now?! It's been 3 days since I talked to the CHN and it has been so much better. I am feeling like a human being again, instead of this mindless zombie that just goes on auto-pilot and forgets whole days. Oh yes, I have forgotten days. To be exact, I have lost last Monday. I cannot for the life of me remembered what we did! Just gone, a whole day! I'm sure it's not a good sign. I should start planning my holiday, my escape. Jeeze I need one. Maybe I can do that for my Birthday, it's coming up in a few months. Although I doubt Lil' D would've given up breastfeeding by then, he'll only be, say, 9mo. Yeah, don't think that's going to happen. Oh well, I'll keep dreaming of it...

xx

PARENT - Job Description

I've seen a lot of these types of 'jokes' about parent-hood. It's all true though, unfortunatly!

POSITION :

Mum, Mummy, Mama, Ma
Dad, Daddy, Dada, Pa, Pop

JOB DESCRIPTION :

Long term, team players needed, for challenging
Permanent work in an,
Often chaotic environment.
Candidates must possess excellent communication
And organizational skills and be willing to work
Variable hours, which will include evenings and weekends
And frequent 24 hour shifts on call.
Some overnight travel required, including trips to
Primitive camping sites on rainy weekends and endless sports tournaments in far away cities .
Travel expenses not reimbursed.
Extensive courier duties also required.

RESPONSIBILITIES :

The rest of your life.
Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily,
Until someone needs $5.
Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly.
Also, must possess the physical stamina of a
Pack mule
And be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat
In case, this time, the screams from
The backyard are not someone just crying wolf.
Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges,
Such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets
And stuck zippers.
Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and
Coordinate production of multiple homework projects.

Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings
For clients of all ages and mental outlooks.
Must be willing to be indispensable one minute,
An embarrassment the next.
Must handle assembly and product safety testing of a
Half million cheap, plastic toys, and battery operated devices.
Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.
Must assume final, complete accountability for
The quality of the end product.
Responsibilities also include floor maintenance and
Janitorial work throughout the facility.

POSSIBILITY FOR ADVANCEMENT & PROMOTION :

None.
Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updat ing your skills,
So that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you

PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE :

None required unfortunately.
On-the-job training offered on a continually exhausting basis.

WAGES AND COMPENSATION :

Get this! You pay them!
Offering frequent raises and bonuses.
A balloon payment is due when they turn 18 because
Of the assumption that university will help them
Become financially independent.
When you die, you give them whatever is left
The oddest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that
You actually enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

BENEFITS :

While no health or dental insurance, no pension,
No tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and
No stock options are offered;
This job supplies limitless opportunities for personal growth
And free hugs and kisses for life if you play your cards right.
And in the end, you will learn unconditional love and how amazing it really is!

Wedding Update

Well I finally got my shit together and got a folder and an awesome guide from - http://www.elegala.com/pdf/Wedding_Planning_Workbook.pdf. Fantastic and thorough "what you should be doing" guide. With everything from Ceremony+Reception to Jewellery+Cakes. Elegala's website has a multitude of printable questionnaires and handy hints to make sure you get just what you want out of the big day. LOL! I sound like a sales rep. I don't get paid from these guys, but I do love their website! It's the only place I've been that has easy to access no bullshit information. Just what you need when you have little time to look at things.

So far our budget is already over by $1110 and that was only in the estimate! Holy moly Weddings cost a mint! I think within the next few months I should be able to do some sort of paid work. Hopefully from home, or maybe one day a week when Dan is home. Not sure what just yet. I just know we could use some extra money for the wedding, and all the fun things life throws at us.

Hmmm my tea doesn't have enough sugar this morning, but I *did* put 3 in it! Maybe one more might sweeten it up a bit. Although I do have to start trying harder to lose weight. Danté is almost 6 months and that's when I'm allowed to start exercising. I have been a little naughty and done VERY light WiiFit stuff, like hula hooping and basic yoga. Feels really good to stretch muscles I didn't thought worked anymore. Here's a laugh, my osteo wanted to give me some light muscle building exercises to do. He shortly realised I could only do one. Now imagine this... Lie on your stomach, tighten your stomach and pelvic floor, slowly lift one leg off the floor and hold for 5 seconds. Lower and do the other leg.
Well, Jade's got no stomach muscles whatsoever. The last few nights that I've done them I can *barely* get my toes off the bed! And afterwards I'm absolutely wrecked! Feel like I've done 50 sit-ups. Which is good, but also really, really, really sad at the same time! I'm sure most of you out there could run rings around my poor effort!

So yes, checklist for Wedding:

• Build muscle control and Lose Weight
• Goal - 60kg and Size 12 (that was pre-pregnancy weight and size! Well 59kg to be exact!)
• Set date for Engagement Party
• Finish Invitations to Engagement

Well the monkey has had enough of banging on my pots and pans! Time to get back to it!

xxx

Go go go car!!!

Yes, her new words are... GoGoGoGo Caaaar!!! Oh and Bay-beeeeee! Such a darling, and being both well behaved and extremely frustrating! I think she's hit that 'terrible-two' phase already. Pushing a lot (i mean a lot) of boundaries. Ranging from climbing onto the coffee table and playing in the fish tank, to eating her crayons until they become face paint! But she's learning, slowly but surely.
As for the little man, his sleep patterns are all AWOL! I think he must be teething, as he is getting extremely hard to settle to sleep. Just needs a lot of help relaxing his body, and even after he settles he still whimpers a bit in his sleep. Poor dear! Panadol helps him sleep instantly, but I can't see myself giving him panadol for every nap! We just have to struggle through it. Just like everything else!

So as a summery:

• Danté started commando crawling
• Danté started sitting up
• Asuka's new words - Baby, Go, Car, Cat (?? maybe it's just car?)
• Asuka is very mischievous.. oh we already knew that ;)

I have been Bento'ing as well, just havn't been taking the photos. Trying to make 100! I'll get there. Jazz, I still have your stuff! I have to get it to you someday, maybe we can arrange a dinner here one night with Nash, Lester + Simone?? I don't know if you can make it all the way out here though. Live so far apart, sadface!

Oh also, keep an eye on this space for updates on the Engagement party. I think we are finally getting it together, just working out minor details before sending invites. Yayz! Finally! It will be a joint housewarming/engagement party, seeing as it has taken us almost 2 years to have one! Holy moly it has been a long time!!! I can't wait for the wedding!

xx Jadles