Time for Me!

I remember reading something not so long ago that went something like this...

"Give your child a gift....Take better care of you"

I love this. I need this.

Historically I am not good at this at all. For some reason I (and probably a lot of other Mamas out there) have this perception that we aren't being a good parent if we don't continally put our children and their needs before ourselves, consquently neglecting our needs. 

 Our need to rest, replenish, rejuvenate and refresh.

Why do we do that?

 

So.....

After self-imposed isolation for weeks on end due to Whooping Cough and Jamie going away (and due to go away again soon) I felt that it was high-time for a me break - well me and Jesse.  Breast-feeding babes go everywhere their Mamas go.

 

I didn't need to wonder where I would go, I already knew.  I needed some girl time with my bestest friend (and sister-n-law) Tash.  I really struck it lucky when I married into this family. (in more ways than one)  Often one hears of horror sister in laws but not me - no way.

My adventure starts with a trip on the bus and I must say that its no easy task that.  One pushchair/carseat, two bags and one baby all in tow.  Fortunately for me the bus driver in our wee town is super friendly.  She actually remembered me from last time I came and I was a heck of a lot bigger (pregnant).  The people on the bus are super friendly too. From the elderly lady behind me who thought I had beautiful kids and congratulated me on 'getting away' to the gentleman across the aisle from me who 'oohhhed and ahhhed' over Jesse and ended up showing me pictures on his phone of his sisters identical triplets!! 

This bus driver let the kids hop on and investigate while we were waiting to go.

 

Jesse slept all the way to the city - so kind.

Once in the city I had the difficult mission of transferring buses but fortunately for me I nice young man (gee I sound like I am 70) offered to help me with my bags. Bless him!

If you haven't been on a bus lately I suggest you try it. They are quite nice these days and the view is great!

 

So after I reached my destination, my sister-n-law picked me up for my well deserved break away!



Yes I didn't go to some retreat or the like but the very fact I didn't have to tidy mess, do any chores, had dinner cooked for me, didn't have to constantly answer question (although I did talk a lot) and was spoilt with time of friendship, walks, talks, good food and a change of scenery.

Bliss!

 

One thing that I am aware of is that I don't have a lot of photos of me and the kids, the reason being is that..

 1. I am always the one taking the photos.

2. I don't particularly like having my photo taken so I avoid it. 

So I am trying to make an effort to have more photos taken of me but usually someone needs to remind me and I may reluctantly agree.

 

Fortunately children are either too small to know or care about having their photo taken OR absolutely love it and jump at every chance to have one taken OR even steal your camera when you aren't looking and take 'many' themselves!

 



Jesse having some Aunty Tash time - doesn't he look like he is having fun!

 If you are anything like me, you don't have a lot of chances to browse around town or peruse through shops in a mall.

But first things first...

... coffee and cake!

 (make that good coffee and very yummy cake)

Love the view overlooking the city.

"Milk and Honey Cafe".

Ahhhhh...!

 

 

This was the lift going down from the cafe, the one that we had to lift the pushchair down the stairs to get too and the one that we got momentarily stuck in!

Wasn't quite sure how long you wait before you push the emergency button and we were just beginning to argue about who was going to push it (neither of us wanted to). Tash decided perhaps she should ring the cafe and tell them we were stuck when someone from down the bottom push the button and the lift started to go down.

Phew!!

But what an adventure!

A dressing room, isn't it cool!

 

Lunch

We found this dinky little cafe at the back of the Anna Stretton concept store.

It was decked out in all things retro. Very very styley!

 



I grew up with a table and chairs very similar to this!  Who knew that they would be so trendy in years to come.

Day Three we walked along the river which is smack bang in the middle of the city!  Who knew ah?

Such serenity and peace!

 

My time away was so what I needed but I missed my husband and my kids. My kids I think missed Jesse more than me as they showered him with kisses and hugs as soon as they saw him, but I'll take a close second!

 

I can only hope that every women can take the time to just be or to spend some time with your closest friend who you can just be fully yourself. Half an hour, a lunch, a day, three days...etc. Its worth it.

Just so you can be your best!

 

Nesting

I am nesting (and I am lucky enough to have my husband helping me)  Phew! At this moment I have this intense need for my bedroom to be a peaceful sanctuary of cleanliness and freshness. I imagine fresh white chiffon curtains billowing and the sweet calming scent of lavendar wafting through out.  I close my eyes and I can almost feel the crisp, line-dried-in-the-sun cotton sheets on the bed. Perhaps something like this...

But alas my bedroom is FAR from this!  In all honestly I could never do white, off white, near white or cream in my bedroom because it wouldn't be that way for very long.  Not when you have five kids that use your bed as a tackling arena, sneak in your bed in the middle of the night and are expecting a newborn who will probably spend most of its time in there.  sigh  Oneday maybe but probably not, then there will be grandkiddies

Two-ish or so weeks, maybe more maybe less to go until we meet this sweet and precious blessing.  We wonder what he or she will look like, how he or she will fit into this precious, crazy, noisy, totally awesome family we have.  Sometimes I can't imagine our family being any better than it already is but I KNOW that this wee bundle can only enhance what we have.  For this I am excited and thankful.  No one can ever tell me that babies/children aren't a gift from our Lord, they are true treasures. It makes me sad that not everyone sees them like that but more of a hinderance, costly (in more ways than one) or even a mistake.  So sad!

I am definately not one to want, expect or try to go into labour early.  God has ordained an appointed time for this blessing to be born, my job is to be prepared.  If I am completely honest with you these last few weeks have been hmmmmmm long, tiring, emotional (I am finding it hard to put my feelings into words)  As I said above my NEED for peace and tranquility has sky-rocketed and as you can imagine that is not entirely easy to get when ones entire family is home all day.  Now don't get me wrong I would not have that any other way and I am ever so thankful that Jamie is home with us.  I laugh as I called this post 'Nesting' when in all actual fact I have a list (you know the one - where all the things on it NEED to be done BEFORE you have a baby because you couldn't possible have a baby until everything on it is complete)  So I was saying, I have the list and Jamie has been ticking jobs off it for me.  So in effect he has been nesting for me. Bless him!!

So I am working on getting in to the right head space for this momentous occasion before us, not entirely sure how one does that BUT I am sure I will get into the zone!!  The kids are VERY excited and we all have taken a guess at when this baby will be born and put it on the calendar.  So far the dates range from the 15th Nov and the 28th Nov. (actual due date is 23rd)  Winner may get a cake of chocolate or the like!

So anyway lets take a look at what we have been up to these past few weeks...

 

Have I introduced you to our second latest member of our family,

'Thor'

I really wanted to call him Carlos but was severely out-voted!

 

My mid-morning treat, a cup of De-Caf Coffee with

a splash of cream!

 

Check out this wee Diva! 

 Yes, she is wearing her swimsuit OVER a long sleeve top!

 

And then there was this face,

the 'you-caught-me-playing-with-make up-face' !

 

Creativeness with food.  Not entirely sure what prompted these creations but

I thought they looked cool and kept them entertained for a long while...

 

Co-parenting at its most basic.

Seems as though this chicken decided to keep this 'mama duck' company and help with the

incubation of a dozen or so eggs.

A week tomorrow we should have some ducklings!

 

 

Operation Baby!

Kaitlyn giving her Dad a hand with one of those tasks on MY list!

 

My boys have been looking for ways and means to make money....

here is one, they had picked the last remaining oranges off the tree and tried juicing them...in the kitchen whizz.  Through much trial and error, twas decided it wasn't going to make the cut!

 

Taste - testers!!

 

A pretty 'new' dress was cause for a spot of tea (or milk in this case)



 

Another one of the boys business ventures...

Painted Rocks!

Good for door stops and looking great in the garden!

...and painted blocks of wood!

I have to admit I was highly embarassed that they were doing this but was quickly told by Jamie that they were fine.   Through out their time of business, a number of people stopped by and I think they made a total of $9 !!

Thank you to all the obiliging people!

 



 

and finally the latest member of our family,

'Stella'

A three week old orphan kitten that was found on the side of the road and brought to us.

Three hourly feeding through an eye dropper plus other motherly duties!

Fortunately we have her sleeping through the night now,  thank goodness for that!

 

Oh....someone needs to hide the face paints!

I thought Kaitlyn did a particularly good job of her tiger face, don't you?

 

Sophie...um yeah well...she said she was a wild dog.

Yeah I can see the resemblance!

 

Enjoy your week!!

And I will keep you updated...promise!

 

A Day at the Market

I have been sitting here this whole week feeling sorry for myself believing that I had nothing to blog about (and wanting to blog) because my husband took my camera away hunting with him....BUT tonight (the last night) I discovered that he had left the SD card for me with my last lot of photos!  Bless him!  I now am so excited......

So how has your week been?   I have been husband-less for the past four nights and tonight is the last night - do I need to tell you how excited I am (and tired). I really truly take my hat off to solo-parents who have to do the parent thing 24/7 with little support.  I don't think I have even been sleeping well cos I think I have been sleeping with one ear open the whole night, half listening out for a child calling out.  Of course I have been having my midnight visitor crawling into bed with me and snuggling down into my back.

Before Jamie went away I decided that it would be nice if I did something a little special with just my girls and an invitation from my sister-on-law Tash was right on the button!  So a Budd girls trip to the Tamahere Markets was planned....Yes!  My girls were so excited, especially since they had some money that Poppa Peter gave them for their birthdays to spend....Yusssss!

God blessed us with a B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L autumn day for it too! Just check out those crunchy leaves underfoot, can't you just smell the autumness.

So much to look at and so many people, holding hands was oh so important.

The girls very first purchase. They pain-stakingly each chose a wee soap. Two for a dollar, can't go wrong with that.  (Thank you to the lady who patiently served them)

Second purchase... a lolly kebab!

I could smell this vendor before I could see it!  Hmmmmm lavender!

Time for a mid-morning snack....this donut lady (I am sure she would love to be called that) had nearly sold out but the time we got to her.  

They were actually the best and biggest donuts I have ever had and next time I am buying a whole one to greedily devour myself! ( I was nibbling on my girls one)

And of course you can't go past the balloon-animal-man without buying a balloon animal!

I love balloon animals and consequently so do my girls!  and did you know that if your balloon animal pops while you are at the market he will make a replacement -free!!

Now that is cool!

It was a great day out and we were there just the right amount of time.  We were just walking out when my girls started to complain of sore legs!

I thoroughly recommend that if you have a market nearby then take the time and a friend to visit and wander around taking in the smells, sights and sounds and of course indulging in a coffee or two and an Almond Croissant!

Inhale Deep....smell it!

Oh I just love how things smell.  Ok not EVERYTHING, obviously there are somethings that aren't pleasant to say the least.

Things like containers filled of coloured pencils hmmmm inhale deeply… Now that reminds me of childhood and colouring in books.  

Hmmm Coloured Pencils

 Washing thats dried on the line in the hot summer sun has a definite summery  smell.  You know that summer is on its way when your washing smells like that.  OOOOO ‘fresh bed’ is another one, you know when you remake the bed straight from getting the sheets in from drying in the sun.  I literally get into bed and wiggle and wriggle and snuggle in and say “ooooo fresh bed!” 

 Freshly cut grass.  Freshly baked bread. (Thats a biggy of Jamies)

Hmmm Fresh Bread

  Books ooooo another one of my favourites.  I have been known to open up books and smell them.  I am so weird!   I love the smell of Cumin, Cinnamon, Basil and  roasted Fennel seeds. Sunscreen smells like the beach on a hot summers day.  I am madly in love with the smell of newborn babies!  My sister will tell everyone that I will stick my nose almost inside a baby’s mouth just to inhale their sweet milky breath (has to be a breast fed baby – formula just doesn’t have that same fragrance) 

 Autumn leaves. Just cut firewood and timber products. Childrens hair just after its been washed.   Freshly ground coffee.

Hmmm Fresh Coffee

 A deep red wine. Open it and plonk your nose on the cork. SNIFF!  And there is something about the smell of onion, garlic and bacon being sautéed together.

 Funny enough, I actually don’t care too much for traditional perfume type smells.  They give me a headache.  I don’t wear a lot of perfume. I don’t use fragranced washing detergent or fabric softener.  I just find the aroma of those so fake and plastic.   Perhaps someone should bottle autumn leaves and coloured pencils maybe then I’ll wear it!

Scents also hold so many memories too, like Playdoh, oil of olay, crayons and vicks...... OH I could go on!