Holidays

You may have noticed I haven't really posted here for a few weeks. Like everyone, things are very busy here, with Christmas, end of year and moving preparations. So, this blog will be on hiatus for the next few weeks. I will still update my Facebook page and you can always catch me on instagram @reddirtblueskies. I will also keep being part of #Team IBOT for Essentially Jess for I Blog on Tuesdays.

In the meantime, I am going to get my blog migrated over to Wordpress - very grown up - and if I can get myself a new computer, (I am eyeing off a new iMac :)) I will make the changes I have been promising myself to be more in line with our new life up North.

 

Happy holidays, have fun and stay safe xxxxxx

 

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Identity and a #BigWalk

The last few weeks, I have been having many late night discussions with some lovely call centre people in Manila. They were incredibly friendly and polite, but at the end of the day, they weren't able to help me fix my blog. I had to take my business elsewhere. While I did that, I also decided to change my blog address.

You see, I have big dreams. Big dreams, that are full of vivid colours, full of ideas and hopes that my little blog might one day have a direction. So, for the time being, it is going to seem I am having an identity crisis. My blog address says one thing, my blog is called BossyMummy, I have a BossyMummy Facebook page, but my twitter name is @RedDirtMum and my instagram identity is @reddirtblueskies. Confused yet? Me too. But until we make our move North, and I have a bit more time to devote to this, I think it is best to stay this way. A bit of a higgle-de-piggle-de mess, but quite representative of me!

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A few months ago, Glowless from Where's My Glow put a call out to Perth Bloggers and Tweeps (People Who Tweet) to get involved in the John Hughes Big Walk to raise money to support our local children's hospital, Princess Margaret Hospital.

We walked the 6km, I had thoughts of doing the 15km, as I had run a similar 14km course in May, but I am so grateful we didn't - it was one of the worst days Perth has had weather wise all year - rain, lightening, thunder and at one stage, hail. We were saturated, but still smiling!

Glow was walking for her friends young son Adam, who was there on the day and the team raised over $1400 for the cause. Glow's team was Adam's family and friends and some bloggers. Pretty awesome stuff. The total raised for the walk was over $225,000.

I want to give a big shout out to the other bloggers who walked on the day-

Yvette from Little Bento Blog

Feli from My Life in Mono

Rhonda from Silly Mummy

Emma from Easy Toddler Food

And Rachel who tweets at @rachiepie6

All fab Perth ladies, so check out their blogs.

After all that exercise, I definitely deserved a treat. So I had some of this pie my lovely friend made - wow! I think I needed to do a few more laps of the river!!!

Another fabulous lady is Jess. Jess hosts I Blog On Tuesdays and she has just launched a new blog - and she had a launch party with party hats and ducks and everything! Her blog is now Essentially Jess, so head on over to check out some great posts.

 

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Happiness is.....

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....sneaking into Zeb's room and watching him sleep,

....rubbing my nose through Keisha's freshly washed mane of fur,

....the smell of freshly mown lawn,

....a coffee made by Husband on a Sunday afternoon,

....waking up early on a Saturday morning only to remember it is my turn to sleep in,

....starting to declutter our house, getting ready to pack for our big move North,

....making plans for a new blog, designs, titles and ongoing content (stay tuned!),

....learning the tools of the trade from some inspirational bloggers

....scouring websites and reviews to try to decide what computer is best to suit our needs

....knowing that my inspiring friend's beautiful little boy could arrive any day now,

....spending balmy evenings in the company of old, best friends,

....celebrating 6 years of marriage with a fancypants meal and instead of having a dessert, going back for a second entree (and then I may have also had dessert.......),

....planning a day of shopping and a pedicure All. By. Myself,

....getting excited that there is only 63 sleeps til Christmas,

....filling up my diary with summer, Christmassy catch ups with good friends

....spending as much time with our families as we know when we make our move, visits will be few and far between,

....planning our next getaway - tropical, skiing or shopping?

....watching re-runs of 'How I Met Your Mother' scattered in between episodes of 'Thomas the Tank'

....knowing that whatever we do, wherever we end up, we are on this journey together.

Happiness is right here. Right now.

Linking up today with the awesome Jess from Diary of a SAHM for I Blog on Tuesdays. Head on over and check out some awesome posts.

 

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Anniversary

When it came to a proposal of marriage, I was a pretty lucky girl. I had waited 10 years for it, but it eventually came. We were on a trek through Tibet to Everest Base Camp and after a few false starts (gastro, never getting any privacy) TBone proposed on the day we spent at Base Camp, on the top of the world. I am so glad the other times he tried to propose didn't work, as the place he did propose was just magical!

We were at the furtherest spot we, as plebs who werent paying $60,000 to climb further, could go and were taking photos. Just as he was about to do it, another guy from our travel group proposed to his partner in front of everyone and I could see TBone getting really antsy. He eventually took me away from the rest of the group and popped the question. I said yes, and plans started to be made.

We got married one year later, back in Perth, surrounded by friends from our new lives in England, old friends and family.

6 years on, we have added the most adorable boy to our little family and I am still having the time of my life.

Happy Anniversary Husband xxxxx

 

 

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It's Arrived!

Look what arrived today!!!!! I am so excited. Can't wait to introduce him to Zeb and get him to name him. I am pretty sure he will choose Thomas - after the tank engine :) looking forward to having some creative poses and hiding places each morning

www.elfontheshelf.com - that's the US site - I got mine from www.angusrobertson.com.au

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Only 70 Sleeps

After yesterday's somber post, I thought I would go to my happy place - as it is only

70 sleeps until Christmas!!!!!!!

Yep, that's right, only 10 short weeks.

I am one of those painful people who LOVES Christmas and doesn't apologise for it. For the month of December, I drink out of my Christmas mug, eat breakfast from my Christmas bowl and get so excited planning the festivities.

This year is the first year Zeb should 'get' the whole Father Christmas thing and what is going on. I can't wait. Some of things we will be doing to celebrate:

Last Saturday of November means 'Christmas Tree Chopping Down Day'. That's the day we scour rows and rows of pine trees looking for that perfect one that is worthy of pride of place in our living room.

Then we watch TBone chop it down.

Once found, we take it home, let it settle, then on the 1st of December, decorate it. We have collected decorations from everywhere we have been in the world and I love decorations that have a story behind them.

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This year, I have ordered Elf on the Shelf for the first time. The elf is sent by Father Christmas to watch over the children in the house to make sure they behave. Each night they head back to the North Pole to report, so in the morning you will find him in a different pose, in a different place.

I bought mine from Angus and Robertson online

I have been buying really cheap books over the last few months, so we will be doing a

Christmas Book Advent. Each day in December leading up to Christmas, Zeb will get to open a new book for his bedtime story. I got this idea from pinterest (see pin details below).

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For the last 2 years, I have been meaning to get a Santa sack for Zeb, but never seem tofind the right one. Most seem too small, so I may as well make one - must put that on my 'to do' list.

I saw this on the wonderful Sarah's page over at Dear Baby G. She made this last year, so while the crafty bug is sweeping through, I may have a go for the front door!

Hopefully, December will be full of good food, catching up with countless friends and family

What will your Christmas look like?

Linking up as always on a Tuesday with Jess from www.diaryofasahm.net

 

 

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15th October

Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Rememberance Day around the world. It is a day parents can honour babies who passed away from miscarriage, still birth or post natal death.

I never wanted to be a member of this club. We had our first miscarriage in 2009, the pregnancy before Zeb. The pregnancy lasted 8 short weeks and we were heart broken. We were so fortunate to have a successful pregnancy immediately following. It was a stressful pregnancy as I was constantly on edge that it would happen again, but it was physically an easy pregnancy with the most amazing result. 


This time round, we have had four miscarriages over a period of 10 months. All have been pregnancies that have lasted around six and a half weeks. I am fortunate I know why this is happening. I have a chromosome translocation - basically means I have scrambled eggs -   only two of every six eggs that I produce will result in a viable pregnancy - I just have to wait for the right egg to drop.


In the meantime, we are dealing with the grief of losing multiple pregnancies. Each time we get a positive pregnancy test, there is joy, overshadowed by fear that it could happen again. Each time a miscarriage happens, my heart shatters a bit more. I grieve for what could have been. We so desperately want a brother or sister for Zeb and I am not getting any younger. There is sadness with each miscarriage, but also it feels like a waste of time, a wasted opportunity and takes us further from our goal. 


I am fortunate our miscarriages are happening in early pregnancy. I don't have the heartache of some parents who see their fully formed babies on scans, those who deliver sleeping babies, or those whose babies struggle for life from their first breaths and don't end up going home. At the same time, I question if I have the right to grieve about my situation, do I deserve to feel sad, when really we are only losing a small bunch of cells. We haven't lost what some people have and I can only imagine the heart break they are experiencing.


But I do feel sad, I do need to own and validate my feelings and my grief. My grief has turned my life upside down these last few months and things have been that little bit harder than usual. I haven't been the best mum, wife, daughter or friend I can be, and that distresses me more. 


But we have hope. We hold on to the fact that ours is a game of roulette and eventually the odds will fall into our hands. Each morning, as I go to wake Zeb up, my heart fills with so much love for him and hope that we can create a baby as perfect as him in the near future. We just have to keep on hoping.


Today, share a thought for those parents who didn't bring their babies home. 


15october.com.au