Welcome to the Future

Sorry I haven’t been blogging… life’s too busy. I don’t have enough hands.

I reckon you should get an extra hand each time you have a baby. Don’t you think that’s fair? So I’d have 5 hands by now and would be able to multitask really well. I could type my blog, while breast feeding the baby, while playing cards with the boys, whilst sewing nappies.  My head is sometimes trying to do all these things at once, so it’d be nice if my body kept up.

This year I was one of 3 kindy mums who was pregnant with our 3rd.  We each had 2 boys already.  i also had 2 friends pregnant with their first.  We all kept it a surprise, and so far we have all had baby girls.  There’s one mum left to give birth, (who already has 2 boys) and she’s been watching with increasing panic this wave of baby girls being born, because it seems like we’re using up all the girls.  Illogical; but understandable.  Is there a quota?  Do our 50-50 odds stay the same despite the birth patterns around us?

When i lived in Indonesia i used to tell my street punk friends about life in Australia.  They particularly liked the concept of hard rubbish (kerbside collection); they’d be blown away that people actually throw out perfectly good bikes, white goods, TVs, and furniture.  And indeed, when we arrived in Oz 4 years ago, most of our belongings came from hard rubbish.  Until recently, everything in our house was acquired second hand.  Something has changed.  As things break or become inadequate for our growing family, we’ve been replacing them with actual new things. Covered by warranty. 

For instance, I bought a new washing machine.  I know, I’m becoming a consumerist, sucked in by the capitalist machine and manipulated into buying stuff in the "big sales" – but truth is, I’ve never bought anything new and never needed to, but suddenly we can afford it and we need to upsize everything. Also, there’s been nothing else to do but shop when it’s raining every day over the holidays.  I suspect a lot of the present economic recovery is thanks to appalling weather.  And although it’s hard to get stuff dry, my nappies have never been cleaner.  I didn’t know washed nappies could smell so fresh! 

Happy 2011 everyone!  I’m really looking forward to this year… my oldest boy starts school, which is going to be awesome (for us both!).  I’m predicting glorious morning walks to school, peaceful days(without the boys fighting), Zumba classes (for me), karate classes and swimming (for him).  I’ll be allowed to start running again too, for which I‘m doing my Kegels diligently.  I feel so good when I’m super fit, and so crap when I miss a day of exercise.

My baby girl gets bigger and more beautiful each day, and already some of her handmade dresses are designated dolls clothes.  I can’t wait till she’s big enough to play with dolls (and I can’t believe I just said that.)  Little guy is now 3 which has gotta be better than 2.  He’s super cute and ultra naughty.  I look forward to seeing how all my kids change and grow in this year.

What are you hoping for this bright and shiney new year?