That is all.

Once again, long time, no post. I hope all you folks in LJ-stan are well.

I'm still baby-wrangling. My little one is teething already, which makes her a little cranky from time to time, but all in all she's getting easier to deal with now she understands the world a bit better and can entertain herself a bit more. She is utterly fascinated by the ceiling fan, and will stare at it for ages. Funny little thing.

I'm in a bit of a creative frenzy at the moment, busily trying to get in some writing while the bub's sleeping and working on various new projects I'll probably never get finished. At least I'm never bored.

Oh, she's waking up, gotta fly. Peace and love and hot strong tea to all!

I only have the one item listed so far, but it's a start. I plan to set up an Etsy store too, and eventually a website of my own. If you know of anyone with children who could use a colourful, waterproof blanket for them to lie on in bed, or for nappy changes, or to take on picnics when they're a bit older (I had one as a kid for outings with the Brownies) please send them my way.





Edit: Lol! This entry really annoyed the spellchecker.

I'm making some plushies. Here are a couple I prepared earlier:



( More pictures under the cut. )

I've managed to have something of a social life lately, catching up with old friends, particularly other mums, and have (re?)discovered the joy of spending time with other women. It really helps hearing their gossip and having them share their wisdom with me, or even just hold the baby for a few minutes while I have a cup of tea.

The little one has a bit of a cold at the moment, which was worrying me a lot yesterday, when she just seemed so miserable and there wasn't much I could do about it, just give her lots of cuddles and keep her warm. Today she seems better. Still a bit snuffly, but judging by the volume when she cries she's getting her strength back just fine.

My life continues to revolve around my daughter, as it's going to for the next couple of decades. Not long ago we took the pram out for a spin for the first time. The area where I live is really not pram-friendly, consisting as it does mainly of huge hills and busy roads with no footpaths, but on the plus side, lugging the thing to the library and back was good exercise. Using a pram limits where you can go, forcing you to stick to paved roads, giving me a slight insight into what it must be like to be in a wheelchair. In many ways a baby sling is a lot more useful, though the pram does allow you to carry shopping with you (or in my case, tons of library books). I need to get a 'granny trolley' to take with me when I'm using the sling. The bub seems to love being in it and sleeps a lot more soundly in the thing. It's just a pity that it limits what I can do while I'm wearing it, eg. I can't get close enough to the sink to wash up (baby in the way) or lift my arms enough to hang out the washing. When bub's a bit older I'll get one of those slings you can wear on your back, which should be easier. Some of the older generation don't like the idea of slings, as if they were a newfangled strange idea, which seems odd since they're actually a really, really old one. It's okay, everyone. She won't fall out. It's very secure, more so than my tired arms.

All in all, I'm really enjoying being a mum. Apart from the joy I get out of seeing my little one smile or watching her sleep, I am also liking having a rest from the pressure to 'get somewhere' with my career. This is a time when I can just be. I'm free to get on with what I need to do without anyone expecting me to be constantly trying to become something else. Truth be told, I've never been a very ambtitious person.I was happy enough working in retail, and I think I could be content to do that or something like it for the rest of my life, which other people I know just can't seem to understand. They see my education as 'wasted'. I went to uni to learn, not to get a 'better' job. Even when I was looking at becoming a teacher I had people telling me "but there's no way to get promoted. You're always just a teacher". Setting aside for a moment the fact that that's not really true (you could become head of department, go into admin, become a principal...), what the heck is wrong with that? Surely doing your job properly, whatever it is, is far more important than whether you can use it as a stepping stone to another position? One of the churches I passed on my epic pram journey the other day had a sign out the front that said "it is a gift to be simple". I'm going to interpret that in a zen kind of way rather than an ignorance is bliss" way (though I did once get given a religious pamphlet that said it was bad for women to go to university because it exposed us to too much knowledge which would only make us unhappy). Well, I'll be simple. For a while at least I'm going to be 'just' a mum.

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Current Reading: The Forest of Hands and Teeth~ Carrie Ryan
It's a young adult zombie novel. It's too soon to tell whether I like it or not, but I really dig the title.

Also a bunch of Buffy Season 8 Comics. I've been geeking out a bit, reading these and watching Doctor Who and Torchwood.

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Quote of the Day:

And now my life has changed in oh so many ways,
My independence seems to vanish in the haze.
But every now and then I feel so insecure,
I know that I just need you like I've never done before. ~Help~ The Beatles

From July next year, midwives won't be allowed to attend homebirths in Australia because of the new national registration of health professionals, which requires professional indemnity insurance which is unavailable to midwives. Women will then either have to birth in a hospital or birth centre, birth illegally at home or not have children at all. I believe that women should have the right to choose when and how we give birth. Our bodies, our choice! There is a campaign going about this and a homebirth rally happening soon.

Click here to find out how you can help,

Heehee!

Richard Holloway, the former Bishop of Edinburgh, rocks my socks. Admittedly it's probably partly his sexy accent, but his arguments also seem to make a lot of sense.

ABC Radio National has a podcast of him speaking at the Sydney Writer's Festival, which I quite enjoyed.

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Oh, and obviously I'm still not in labour, as my parents keep telling all the relatives who keep phoning and asking (they don't have my new phone number- 'twas my cunning plan). I don't like to go anywhere by bus at the moment just in case, so I'm just staying close to home doing exciting stuff like the washing, reading, listening to loads of free podcasts, and doing Making the Baby Not Face the Wrong Way Around Exercises. It'll get here soon I'm sure.

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Here's another cartoon in poor taste, just because I can.


Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

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Current Reading: Love is a Dog From Hell by Charles Bukowski again.

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Quote(s) of the Day:

Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. ~Elizabeth Stone

Patience: A minor form of despair disguised as a virtue. ~Ambrose Bierce

Homer: And now we play the waiting game... The waiting game sucks. Let's play Hungry Hungry Hippos! ~The Simpsons.

It's kind of a funny coincidence that this was posted not long after the Chaser scandal.

This bloody mouth ulcer is never going to heal unless I leave it alone. I know this, but I just keep poking at it.