A - Z My child in one word

Constantly I'm clicking away and throwing a camera in the face of my littlelion, documenting every new moment, every facial expression, his first meal, his first steps, every outfit he looks adorable in etc etc. Every parent can relate. 

So before his first sentence is 'mum put that bloody camera away' I'm going to take a different approach this month. 

Over the next 26 days I'm going to use words to document his everyday life, I'm going to describe him or his day in one word. It will be a great exercise to document his learning in a different format. 

Over the period of a month I could throw a dictionary in the air and choose a word from the page where it falls open and it could relate to my littlelion at some point. 

A toddler is an amazing being, just think about what their little minds are absorbing, everyday they are witnessing or experiencing something new.

Please join me in this exercise, it will be a challenge to use just one word, maybe I will even learn a few new ones myself.   

AFFECTIONATE
This morning I tossed around a few words like amazing, adventurous and attitude that could easily describe my littlelion on any given day. However during the course of the day the most appropriate choice was affectionate.  He has recently mastered blowing a kiss and today chose to replace waving to random people on our walk with blowing kisses. He has been extra cuddly and emotional today, showing lots of affection towards me and getting it in return. His daddy has been away for work most of week and although he can't communicate it, I feel that he is missing him.

BLONDE

Littlelion has the most adorable blonde locks.  Today however it is now reflecting blue highlights after littlelion discovered a blue texta. 

CURIOUS

It's breathtaking to watch his mind consume everything this big world has to offer.  We could learn so much from these curious beings, the toddler and take pleasure from all the small things in life. 

DANCING
Littlelion loves to bust a move!  What a wonderful form of expression.

EMOTIONAL

Need more hugs! With four teeth trying to break free and the normal frustrations of a toddler, the tears can flow at the drop of a hat. 

FGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

From little things big things grow

Recently I posted about being overwhelmed and stuck in a whirlwind of negativity and judgement upon myself.  It made me reevaluate my expectations. I need to make some changes. 

I know I won’t maintain big changes, it’s unrealistic to think that I can, so instead of setting myself up for failure and feeding the procrastination monster so much that nothing changes, I am going to be kind to myself and allow small changes. 

Here are a few goals in mind;

• Read more.  Reading is a great outlet to relax and take time for myself.  So whether it be a book, a magazine or a blog, I want to allocate some time each week to read.
• Learn.  I love to learn, but for now I’m going to learn about a passion not for employment opportunities or because I have to.  So each week I want to find time to learn about something of interest, something topical.   This will give me subjects to read!!!  For now it will be around parenting, blogging, writing, photography, craft. 
• Increased family time.  Aim to improve household systems to provide more harmony and more family time. 
•  More creative time.  Growing up I treasured the times spent with my gran doing craft, it gave me great joy.  I still like to dabble and it is something I want to share with my littlelion.  For now I am really enjoying writing so my aim is to write 100 words a day.  This might be blog, an entry into littlelion's book or just random nattering’s. 
•  Lose some weight.  I need to get more active!  It’s not so much of a vanity concern (although it will definitely make me feel better about myself) but becoming more of a health concern.

5 kilogram to Christmas - Merry Mama

Okay so one of my goals is to drop some kilo's!!!

I have never lost weight!  I have been blessed with good genes, well I was up until the age of 30 and then progressively over the past decade I’ve blossomed into a buxom mama.  So I think I am really going to struggle with this. 

Ideally I should be dropping 10kg, but I need to start small.  So what is greater motivation than Christmas and long hot summer days!!!  I’ve given myself the very realistic challenge of dropping 5kg before Christmas. 

In order to stay motivated I really need to have a clear purpose or I will find it too easy to eat more cake.

Why do I want to lose weight?

Whirlwind Mama

Have you ever felt stuck?  So overwhelmed by life you can’t see the end of the line?  I have!   In my mind I was trying to be the best mama possible, a domestic goddess, a caring wife and to continue the development of my skills to make sure I remain employable in the future. On top of my desires I was dealing with the guilt of not working and not providing financially for my family.  I had worked for the past 25 years and always contributed so it's difficult to become somewhat dependant. 

I wanted a new house, a home that littlelion would have all his childhood memories in and ofcourse all our family memories.

At the same time I had hit a milestone birthday.  However wonderful turning 40 may be it made me reflect and take stock of my existence, where I have been, where I wanted to be and where I am.   And whilst I am very blessed, when you are stuck in that whirlwind you can only see the negative. 

Holy candy cane people

I walked past a sign today in front of a cafe that kindly reminded us all 'only 20 Fridays until Christmas'