Hello again!

Hello!

It's been a LONG while - I've been super busy with a nearly 12 week old baby and juggling life - which has seemed all very hectic lately! 

just a quick (bit boring) update on what I have been doing.... no pics, my camera is in Auckland (shock horror) - I left it behind!

• I've lost 8kgs since my last post.  I am now 1.5kgs below what I stabled at before getting pregnant with Mr John.  I am aiming to lose about 2.5kgs more and then bring on the ongoing maintenance.
• I have officially come to the place where I have decided that I NEVER want to gain a lot of weight again.  I will work hard to maintain my weight, and lose weight after (cough) additional babies.  This is a very personal thing for me, and absolute hard work - but with God's strength & help, I know I can do it.
• I haven't been exercising much - found I wasn't losing weight (too much pressure on body) so will be resuming that as soon as goal weight arrives.  Looking forward to fit-ness.
• I bought skinny jeans.  I am fairly conscious of things being tight around that area of my body, but decided to give it a go - and the feedback so far is that they look awesome.
• Mr John is switching between 4 naps to 3 and this is all very time consuming as he is trying so hard to fight sleeping.  It does not help that he gets dragged along to playcentre etc with his big sister.
• I find having 2 kids about twice the stress (surprise surprise) but I find I have about 30-40% of the patience I had with 1.  Not the best mix.  I certainly realise my limitations and that I am not cut out for a multitude of children.  Perhaps that's the sleep deprivation....
• I am buying my hubby an amazing birthday present.  I have been saving my "weekly allowance" for months to have enough $$, then the shop wanted to charge me $200 more.  I had tears....  there has been huge sacrifice on my part so I was pretty upset.  However, I contacted the local store, who could do it - for exactly the money I have in my account today!!  I was blessed by this - that God knows & solves my dilemma (even though its miniscule and material!)
• I have picked back up my pen, and been using my gift or words to encourage some people - achieving one of my goals, blessing others - and feeling 'satisfied' all at the same time!
• our house is listed with an agent - kind of just by circumstances.  I hope it sells soon.  My feet are itching (not for travel, but relocation)
• I am working on a 'bucket list' of sorts, more to come...
• Dave and I wrote our wills.  It felt odd to specify who would have my children, and if I could be buried or cremated, and who would have my special posessions.  After this year, it was probably a bit more of a check on reality than it otherwise would of been.
• Looking forward to some fine dining - nearly our wedding anniversary, we got given (very generously) a voucher for Top Sail - which is one of the top restaurants in Whangarei.  We have only been once, but loved it.  We will be paying them a visit in the next 2-3 weeks, kidless.
• Mr John is having 1 bottle of formula a day.  I finally convinced the hubster that not only was this a good thing to do (for my mental health), it was necessary.  For whatever reason, I am totally out of milk by 6.30pm and was left with a starving & crying bubba.  I tried to express more/change eating etc and nothing worked.  So he gets his bottle- you should see his face when he hears me preparing it!
• I am working on finding my niche as a mum - what I like/don't like, and exactly where/how I fit in - in lots of different areas.  It's like baby no. 2 makes me do it for a second time...
• I am thinking about & considering options for resuming work when my kids are at school - still a long time away, but I have decided I officially do not wish to return to the absolute rat race, head strong, personality killing battle that it is to be a woman in the corporate world - or at least where I have come from.  Life is far too short to do a job you hate.  There is likely to be some study involved, and my feet are itching for a challenge, most of it is hands on so I still have to wait - though it'd be nice if I can find something to work on in the meantime.
• I am about to turn 25. This is a very big deal to me. Perhaps it is that aside from the miracle I received, I probably wouldn't of celebrated this birthday.  But I feel like I'm on the edge of a whole new season to life.  This is good.

That's about it for now.  It'd be way too wordy if I wrote much more.  What are you all up to out there?

I will try post a bit more frequent again now!

Have a great weekend!
x

Arna

I absolutely LOVE this picture.

For the peace, and finding 'another world' of love - in the midst of a storm.....


Stolen from here.

Read the story and look at the pic for a bit - then tell me what you think....

Random Ramble....

This is my dog.  Well, our family dog.  He lives with my parents.

He has a complex....

He slept in one of these when he was a tiny puppy.  My mum still uses them as her laundry basket (one of the sturdiest she's ever had) - any time one is opportunistally left on the lawn, guess who jumps in.

It is WAY too small now, but I guess this box is a source of security and comfort to him.  Something he knows well, is used to - and even though the fit is awkward, he'd rather squeeze in his old box than find a new, larger one that fits him now.

Which leaves just one thought - what's stopping you from getting out of your box?

Should I do it?

My Princess Adelaide becomes "miss two" on Friday.

This week, we have playcentre on Wed, a mum's coffee group on Friday and her birthday party on Saturday.

Reckon I should make 3 cakes??

I thought about this:

But decided on something that's a little more favourite to her - tigger.  That one will be for her party.


I could cheat and make a packet cake and coat it with lollies for Wednesday, make something a little more elaborate for Friday (seeing as it's with half of my good friends -hehe) and stick with Mr Tigger for Sat.


Thoughts.....?

Just a ramble...

OK so I confess to being a bit boring in my latest posts.... lol

Food for thought:  We're trying a slightly new regime in our house.  We barely watch TV - we don't even have it tuned in, but find that all the "spare" time we have from that often gets eaten by mindless internet searches, reading online news, facebook, blogging and the like.

Often this comes at the expense of each other, sometimes at the expense of our child, or just at the expense of whittling away life wasting time on nothing very important or significant.

So we're only jumping online for a short time, 3 days a week or so.  It's not a rule, just a desire for so much more than a mundane life.

Anywho, I guess it means that my posts - of maybe once or twice a week - should be a bit more interesting and inventive right?? we'll see.

Ps. I'm making mac' n' cheese for tea - first time in a LONG time.  Looking forward to that carb-overloaded goodness!!

Stay tuned for post later in the week - something about me and 'domestic goddess' hehe. x

Let us rejoice..... and find some things to love...

I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment.

I have 11 interior doors lying flat, coated in wet paint - and invading the ENTIRE of our downstairs - that is, our lounge, dining and kitchen.  You have to step over and around them with room only for one foot at a time.  It's such a shambles I won't take a picture!  My house REEKS like enamel paint and we have some potential buyers coming through on Sunday afternoon.  I am nearly half-way pregnant, and have woken several times in the night feeling "high".

My hubby has been out 3 nights this week, and at the moment is attending an amazing conference at our church.  Because of his musical ability, he is required for most of those sorts of things to play various instruments.  Which means, I am required for babysitting duties. Oh joy.

So a house-bound, only bedroom/bathroom bound mother is BORED! lol.

We're all going on a summer holiday.....

So we as a family, are going away for a week.

Most of that will be galavanting the countryside....

Tonight, we hit Auckland. Tauranga tomorrow..... Hamilton Monday..... Tuesday brings us to New Plymouth and Friday brings us somewhere on the way to home...

We'll be going to weddings, catching up with family and meeting the new nephew for the first time.  Promising for a good post on my return!

Ciao!

I'm BACK!

wowee what a crazy couple of months... to be honest, I haven't had much time for sitting here spending an hour writing a blog.

I've been busy eating, wanting to vomit, being indecisive, exhausted and all the additions that a PREGNANT woman goes through.

Oh yes, I'm pregnant :D

Anywho, I'm back, and back into this blogging world.

I'll be working on some shenanigans to post, better get in quick cause I'm about to go off on a weeks holiday!

See you soon!

I ♥ my extended family....

Family is a beautiful thing.... these two cuties live a good 7 hour drive from us now.  I haven't even met the wee man yet.  That doesn't mean that I can't gloat - in being the aunty of two of the cutest kids on earth....

[caption id="attachment_200" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="My nephew Jacob"][/caption] 

[caption id="attachment_201" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="My beautiful niece Hannah"][/caption] 

[caption id="attachment_202" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Isn't he lovely..."][/caption] 

[caption id="attachment_203" align="alignnone" width="232" caption="cuddles..."][/caption]

what a week!

some highlights from my week....

[caption id="attachment_162" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="I dyed my hair...dark..."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_163" align="alignnone" width="225" caption="I tanned my skin.... fake (better than sun I say!)"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_164" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Home-made seafood sauce...."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_166" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="miss 1 & I baked.... I didn't taste!!"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_167" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="fresh radishes, straight from our vege patch"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_168" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Yes, we grew these babies too!"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_165" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="and my cheeky, favourite side-kick... ain't she a beauty"][/caption]

Things to look forward to:

• Saturday's wedding!


• Outfit for Saturdays wedding!! YES I am excited about it!


• Saturday's romantic childless evening in a sky high fancy hotel


• Awesome church on Sunday!

 

What are you looking forward to?

Ps. Greymouth, I'm still sending my love. xo

My Playcentre ROCKS......

So, this year I've been decluttering my life...  I just felt the need - and now that is significantly more clutter free - I feel more on top of things.

I was doing so many activities with miss 1 I felt worn out.  2x coffee groups, a course for new parents, not to mention all the other stuff. 

If I wrote a list of all the different activities and groups there is available for mum's and babies/toddlers nowadays - I'm sure it'd have over 100 things on it.

Sometimes I think we do too many things with our kids - instead of just 'being' with them.  We come out of careers, and get bored of just being at home.  Activities are good - as long as they're not at the expense of your time with them.  You are your child's best teacher.

I cut out most stuff I was doing, and loved spending time at home - just building relationships with people I wanted to, and enjoying my sweet princess. 

I decided recently that I would join the local playcentre.  After all, I can't bear to watch princess stare through the fence watching the kids play - longing to be a part of it.  Yes, it is next door.

Summary of my first month:  day 1 - really hard.  Knew one person briefly.  Felt really awkward.  Day 2: felt more a part of things.  Day 3 onwards - I feel like I'm an old hand.  I'm loving holding all the new babies we have!!

Today was my first PC meeting experience.  Topic: Christmas party.... Just a few parts of our discussion...

"lets bring presents for the the Salvation Army..." yea, for Christmas we'll teach the kids to feed the hungry.



"And lets make nativity scenes with the kids! I just love the baby Jesus in a manger..." - not a Christian speaking...

"What day shall we have our party? saturday, nah, sunday - when do you ALL finish church?? Ok so 2pm is good?" - yea, there's a fair few Christians at my PC.

Oh, and don't forget - the last day of our term - we're having a BIG birthday party - for JESUS.

Complete with cake.

[caption id="attachment_145" align="alignnone" width="259" caption="wonder if it will be as delicious as this looks....."][/caption]

"Shall someone dress up as santa?? oh, yea I suppose we could do that...."

Santa was the last thing on the minds of my 'new-found friends'... How I love that in a public arena, Jesus is still cool at Christmas.

[caption id="attachment_144" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="Even Santa bows before Him....."][/caption]

Fresh Start

So, I'm back.  With a new beginning.

[caption id="attachment_5" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Lily - that moment, with daddy"][/caption]

It's been a while. Lots has changed - here's to a new season - a good one.  One filled with destiny and freedom.  Creativity, the arts, writing.... I've got lots to share.  Watch this space.

[caption id="attachment_6" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Looking into the eyes of glory"][/caption]

Enjoying the moment.  You can't take back any day, week, month, year... and they go by so quick.  Right here, right now, enjoy the moment.