13 months have passed since I last blogged here.
In that time, I’ve had a baby; our second son, who turned 1 a month ago. The Small One is a joy – eats well (as is evidenced by his round rosy cheeks and his even rounder tummy), sleeps fairly well (he’s been more or less sleeping through the night for the past couple of months), and is generally a happy baby. He talks and talks and talks (no idea where he gets that from?!) and is so very very loud. He’s very strong – a well placed kick during a nappy change can render me breathless, and he packs a punch with his arms and hands and teeny little fists too. He started walking at 11 months and hasn’t stopped – he now runs, non-stop. And just this week, he started saying “Momma”.
The Big One is now 4 and started preschool earlier this year. He loves preschool and has made some new friends. I can see his imagination growing by the day – he’s always making up stories and using his toys as part of his story-telling. Most of his stories involve Transformers Rescue Bots, in particular Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, and the adventures they go on, fighting the good fight in the universe. He’s even more active these days – running, jumping, sliding (as in “sliding into a base” or “slide tackle” style). It’s hard to keep up with him!
It’s hard to believe that J and I have been together now for over 7 years, and that our 5th wedding anniversary is fast approaching. It honestly feels like we met only last year. Which, of course, defies logic as we have a 4-year-old and a 1-year-old. We’ve both been busy with life – him with his job and its ever evolving demands, and me with looking after the kids and the house as I enjoy the final months of my last ever lot of maternity leave.
I know I am so very fortunate to have a job that allows me to take 2 years off work to spend time watching my baby grow from a little lump to a little person. Although circumstances were different with the Big One, when I was forced to take 2 years off work, this time around, I am thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to stay home. I bear witness to the growing bond between the Big One and the Small One, and the Small One developing all sorts of new skills. Due to the Big One’s illness, we missed seeing the “typical” behaviour and development of a little person between the ages of 11 months to 16 months. The Big One didn’t enjoy eating, or playing, or doing anything really because he was so so sick at the time. He more than caught up after he got better; in fact, he’s one of the more “advanced” kids in his preschool class, even though there are plenty of classmates who are older than him. The Small One is showing us exactly what we missed, and it’s a joy to experience all those “firsts” again, knowing that we have 2 healthy and happy little boys.
As much as I love my boys, they’re not exactly providing scintillating conversations or challenging discussions to keep my adult brain ticking over. So to keep me amused and occupied, I’ve set myself a cooking challenge; to cook healthy and delicious recipes I find on the Internet at various food blogs using fresh ingredients and making everything from scratch, and steer away from my trusted “brown meat, add ready-made sauce and veggies, serve” method. I figured this year is the perfect time to experiment with my cooking, as I don’t see myself having the same amount of time to do a lot of “made from scratch” cooking once I go back to work. This week marks the 13th week of my cooking adventures, all of which I’m blogging about on my new Tumblr blog, Food Oh Glorious Food. I have to say, I’m really enjoying this little challenge, which involves me doing hours of research by looking at many, many recipes, drawing up a weekly menu, and making shopping lists of groceries needed for the week and committing to cooking and using everything we buy. The ulterior motive behind this challenge is to make sure we stick to our weekly budget – money is tight as I chose to take this extended unpaid leave, and the thought of us running out of money a week before the monthly pay day gives me heart palpitations. And the added bonus of this entire exercise is that we are losing weight. Not a huge amount per week, but the number keeps getting smaller.
So if you were wondering what I’ve been up to, head over to Food Oh Glorious Food and check it out! For those who have enjoyed seeing my photos from Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day Challenge, I am still taking photos and sharing them on Instagram and Twitter. I may start posting my photos on here again, if and when time allows.
I will be back here from time to time, I hope. Till next time!
The Momma Gee Spot 