Sick

I called in sick at work today. For a variety of reasons.

Firstly, Little Bambi woke up numerous times last night, for reasons unknown. I picked her up from the cot, cuddled her, and asked if she wanted some music as she usually sleeps to Baby Einstein. She replied "Gabba gabba". We also have Yo Gabba Gabba on her iPod, which she loves. But no, I was not going to play Yo Gabba Gabba at 2.45 in the morning.

My health - I had a bit of a red eye yesterday, and my back. My back is killing me. Two knots on my back and it is so sore!

And finally, I am just OVER work at the moment. I think I need a change. The mummy in me is saying No, Jules! Only because I have the flexibility of working from home and the ability to finish work early each day. But it does not give me the sense of achievement or satisfaction. Others could say, work harder then… yes I guess so...

Oh well, life goes on.

Little Bambi & I at the beach

Loverly Time

This weekend has been such a fulfilling one, on so many levels! Relaxing - Check, Friends - Check, Family - Check, Good Food - Check, Little Bambi loverly time - Check check check!

The weekend before, I had to work the entire Sunday, which was my 3rd Dress Rehearsal. Grumpy had Little Bambi all to himself that day, and I swear, all he did was watch TV with her and feed her chips and Doritos.

This weekend was completely different, of course. Friday I worked from home, but there was hardly anything on at work, apart from one conference call in the morning. By 11.30am, I had already logged off and was off to the gym. Then I grabbed a massive takeaway briyani lunch at a local Sri Lankan restaurant. I also stopped by DFO to do a bit of shopping. I decided I needed some new Lululemon goodies to improve my running (As if!). Then it was back home, eating my lunch in front of the Kardashians. I am so behind on KUWTK (due to Grumpy's dad hogging our Foxtel the past couple of weeks). Then the rest of the afternoon I cooked Little Bambi vegetable spaghetti, and prepared Nasi Lemak for Grumpy and myself. Our version of a Valentine's Day low-key dinner. Hehe.. At 4.30pm, I picked Little Bambi up from child care and we were off to meet some friends at our local park.

Little Bambi with Little G (his mum and I work together) and Little C (from Mothers Group)

Saturday morning we had an Asian breakfast with Mr Happy and his wife (whom we bumped into by chance). Then we bumped into more friends at the Asian markets, before we dropped Grumpy off to work. Yes, he is working Saturdays again, after-effects of overspending while his parents were here.

I cooked Little Bambi a nice Spanish omelette for lunch, which she did not seem to like. Great! Then we went to our local library to borrow some Wiggles CDs and Baby Einsteins CDs, and we borrowed every Spot book we could.. spot. Then we came home and both took an afternoon nap. We had to pick Grumpy up from work and then we did a bit of car shopping. I can't believe we are considering a BMW, haha as we are currently team Audi.

We had dinner at a local Korean restaurant with Dopey and his girlfriend, and Mr Happy and his wife again. With Little Bambi around now, we no longer head to bars for drinks but instead we visit gelato places (sad isn't it?). We drove to Gelato Messina for some gelato goodness. The queue was incredibly long, but we joined the crowd. Little Bambi was happily dancing to the soft lounge music there and prancing away, even though it was clearly past her bed time.

Little Bambi with Mr Happy and her favourite uncle, Dopey at Gelato Messina in Fitzroy

This morning we woke up to no power in the house. No hot water as well! We upgraded our hot water system recently, and it only works with electricity. But that did not dampen our weekend at all. Finally power was restored at 9.40am, and we made a mad dash to church for the 10am service. We caught up with my cousin and her fiancé, and we had a yummy souvlaki lunch after. Then it was nap time again for Little Bambi and her parents. Geez.. (lazy). Then park time, and to end the weekend, Grumpy cooked us all a delicious hearty meal for dinner - Mee Hun Kueh (my all-time favourite after the Nasi Lemak). Did I mention that he uses the KitchenAid mixer for the dough? 

Good night and feeling so blessed for such an awesome weekend.

Happy Australia Day

Happy Australia Day and Happy New Year! Four weeks late… but better late than never!

I must say that this blog is not getting the level of care and attention it deserves. I have been very occupied with TV shows lately. After Breaking Bad, I got hooked on to Girls by Lena Dunham. This TV show is brilliant! I LOVE IT! Grumpy avoids watching Girls because he says he can't stand watching all the sex scenes but thats okay because I enjoy watching it alone! And then, there is Downton Abbey. So how many books have I read in the past couple of months? NONE! How many posts have I posted up on the blog? NONE!

But here is a quick summary of Christmas and New Years….

Work was winding down before the end of last year, which was good because that gave me more time to spend with Little Bambi … and all the Christmas activities that came with an 18 month old - Santa photos, child care parties, dressing her up etc.

This Christmas was a lot more meaningful with Little Bambi compared to the previous year, only because she is a bit older and she enjoys it all! She really does! She is truly a bundle of joy and I really am so blessed to have such a gorgeous little girl in my life.

My out-laws came over to visit before Christmas and they are staying for an extended period of time (yes, they are still here!). I must say, having our families stay for so long is a challenging time for both Grumpy and myself. We have to cater to both our needs and theirs, making sure we have the right balance - important virtues to keep in mind - respect, tolerance and patience. One more week Jules, one more week. Hang in there!

In between Christmas and New Years, we did a short family getaway to this far far away place called Loch Sport. We were given a holiday house to stay, thanks to the generosity of Grumpy's client.

And for this week our focus will be on Chinese New Year.. I hear the Year of the Horse will be much better than the Snake. Good things to look forward to!

Work or Breaking Bad

It has been more than 2 months since my last post. Most of my time has been spent on work or Breaking Bad. To sum it all up:

• Did my first cupcake decorating class. Enjoyed it. However, have not done anything related to baking in the kitchen since. Too lazy. I did borrow a Planet Cakes book from the library for further motivation. 
• Catching a cold for the 4th and 5th time this year. The same with Grumpy. Either he gets it first and then passes it on to me, or vice versa.
• Did my first Dress Rehearsal weekend for work. It was such a stressful and exhausting week. And ended up reporting to a previous Queen Bitch manager (whom I used to work for back in 2007 in a different company) for a couple of weeks. Lesson learnt : Melbourne is such a small market. You never know who you end up working with. 
• We finally did our first trip together on our own with Little Bambi to Sydney. It was a huge success! We had lots of fun, and we caught up with my darling BFF Little-Miss-Drink-A-Lot (who hasn't been drinking, really because of breastfeeding) and her gorgeous little bubba. 
• We found out Little Bambi is allergic to something… what exactly, we still do not know. When she had the reaction, we were so scared for her. Now we are waiting for our appointment with the allergist. 
• Applied for an internal role with the firm. Failed to secure it. Ah well, disappointing.
• However, Little Bambi getting accepted for full time care next year at our preferred childcare centre - Jumping JOY! What a huge relief.
• Little Bambi's vocabulary has improved and she can count one to six, and she says A, B, C, B! 
• We finally installed evaporative cooling at home, after the last dreadful summer I endured while on maternity leave. And then 5 weeks later, our hot water system broke down, and we had to replace that too. So definitely feeling very poor right now.
• Survived 6 whole days without running hot water at home. Utter madness, yes it is!

Overall, it has been an interesting 2 months. Now its all about prepping for Xmas and the New Year!

15 Months

Poor Little Bambi with her swollen eyes

Happy 15 months my Little Bambi! Unfortunately she picked up conjunctivitis from child care on Thursday, and has been suffering from red and swollen eyes since. She has been a bit grizzly and as such, we have kept her home, making sure she gets lots of rest.

At 15 months exactly yesterday, she took her first steps on her own! My baby is walking! My baby is walking! *sobs* How fast has she grown?!? We have been busy taking videos of her taking her baby steps, (with her red eyes - my poor bubba). She is doing really well walking without any assistance, and loving every minute of her new profound independence. However, at certain times of the day, she resorts back to crawling as it is just a quicker way of transportation. 

I decided at 15 months, I would stop breastfeeding completely. Little Bambi handled being weaned off extremely well, and I still marvel at the easy going baby that she is when it comes to feeding and sleeping. In fact, if there was anyone that did not cope too well with the transition, it was me! I must admit I felt quite sad, which is only natural (especially with the hormones).

Also at 15 months, despite all the wonderful traits that she has been showing, she started learning the art of throwing tantrums! It does sound awful, and I assure you that it is! She throws herself to the floor, kicking and screaming until she gets her way. Oh my, how and what do I do with this?! Plenty of reading and advice from other mums, I guess.

So there we go, three big development milestones at 15 months - walking, weaning and tantrums. My gorgeous little girl - I am still so crazy in LOVE with you.

Sore Back

Oh my, I am suffering from a sore back. As much as I hate to say it, I know it comes from carrying Little Bambi. My chubby bubba is approximately 12 kgs, and loves to be carried only by me! She insists, she only wants 'mummy'!

I think I am joining my other colleagues at work who spend their days complaining about their bad backs and exchanging contacts for good chiropractors, osteopaths and physiotherapists. What is happening to me?!

By the way, I have booked myself in for a massage at Endota Spa tomorrow.

Yesterday I picked her up from childcare, and she had a red eye. I noticed a sign on the door saying Little Bambi's room has a confirmed case of conjunctivitis, and true enough, she's got it too! We brought her to the doctors last night, dropped by the chemist for some eye drops, and today, she stayed at home with me (while I worked from home). I scheduled her naps during my meetings which I had to dial in to, and she slept on cue (bless her!).

It has been an exhausting week. Looking forward to a relaxing weekend!

Good night!

Hello 31!

The weekend before my birthday, I spent my entire Saturday volunteering for Daffodil Day.

The next Sunday, we did a spontaneous trip to Daylesford and we had a yummy lunch at The Farmers Arms Hotel. 

More food mama!

The Lavandula Farm in Daylesford

The long drive and lunch obviously made Little Bambi quite tired..

Then the week came and it was busy at work (as usual). 

Coincidently, all of us mummies from Mothers Group agreed (a few weeks before) to go out for dinner and drinks on Thursday night, and they surprised me with a cake! 

Then on Friday, we did a scavenger hunt for work. I was made the team captain of my team, and I cringed when I found out my bosses boss was in my team! But in the end, it probably worked to our benefit because we won! Either that, or it was because I picked Richmond for our team (as I am a Tigers supporter).

This is when we had to eat a pie, all at the same time.

And finally on Saturday, Grumpy prepared a feast at home for our friends and Dopey.

Home made yong tau foo and soy sauce braised pork belly

Group shot with Little Bambi and even the dog!

With Little Bambi a bit older now, I have been able to celebrate my birthday this time round with more activities, and it has been a lot of fun! Of course Grumpy played a big part in it all, supporting me with the charity work, looking after Little Bambi while I was out at night or staying back for work. And of course, with him cooking all my favourite food and sharing a meal with my closest friends together with Little Bambi, it was the perfect way to celebrate my 31st birthday! Here's to the first year of my thirties!