I recently went back to work. And it was great. But it was weird… and weird in ways I wasn’t expecting. It was great to be greeted by some familiar faces. But amongst the sea of faces… I couldn’t help thinking one thing… everyone got old!
Continue reading
My son just turned one.
My son… that still sounds odd to my ears. But there’s no denying there’s a little guy upstairs asleep right now!
It’s a big milestone, they say. Well… yeah. It’s been a hell of a year. There’s some relief at hitting one year old. They say the first year is the hardest. Now we can drop the breast feeding if we want. Now he can eat table foods. Now he’s going to walk and talk and trade Bitcoin and drive a car…
Continue reading
My parents recently visited for the first time since Covid hit back in 2019. So it was an emotional time already, and in addition they were meeting Sam. It was great to have them. To have some help at home. To have some Aussie in the house. And to give me a chance to flex my legs and do a few things I’d been nervous about doing on my own. We went to cafes and supermarkets and the swimming pool… and we also went away.
Continue reading
I love swimming. So naturally I want my kid to love swimming. However, due to the time of year he was born and Covid, he didn’t get his first official swim until recently. I dutifully made a plan – I bought swim diapers and a UV swimsuit – I packed towels and snacks – and I prepared for it to be a disaster. Because I went along knowing full well that my romantic notion of taking him swimming would not come to fruition.
Continue reading
I feel like it’s been a long road back to normal for me. It was only recently that I went to the supermarket without a mask. Most people waved goodbye to Covid ages ago, but having a young baby (and also never having had Covid) meant staying vigilant. It was my choice, of course. But having a child just as the rest of the world was emerging from Covid meant essentially extending the lockdown.
Continue reading
In my pre-birth course, I posed what I thought was a simple question about how to set up baby for sleeping at night, and instead received the disturbing news that… he should sleep with me. In the bed!
Are you mad?
Well, they said, you’re not going to get out of bed to feed him every two hours, are you?
Actually, that’s exactly what I was planning on doing!
Continue reading
I like my life in Austria. I have lots of support. I am happy here. Yet in the months since I had a baby, I have never felt so homesick and alone in my entire life. I have never before questioned my decision so much. The question to move to Austria, you ask, or the question to have a baby? Well… both.
This whole process of having a baby and becoming a mother is an adjustment. It’s much harder when you’re in a different language, a different culture and family is far away. I’m lucky to have great in-laws who are very supportive and respectful. But it doesn’t change the fact that they’re not my parents. My parents haven’t met Sam. They won’t until he’s almost a year old. They’ll have a harder time cultivating a relationship with him. And all the Skype time can’t change that. I’m lucky that hubby is great at taking photos, but sometimes seeing all the pictures of his parents with Sam just makes me sad because it all hits me again.
Continue reading
Following on from the post of my top 10 favourite baby products from 0-3 months, now that we’ve hit that elusive 6 month mark, here’s the next instalment.
Continue reading
Going into this I felt pretty strongly about protecting my kid against things like excessive screen time, obsession with phones, watching television etc. Well, at least the holier than thou part of me wanted to be. Having TV on in the background was ok, I surmised, since that’s the way I grew up, but I don’t want someone showing Sam their screen… because that’s crossing a line… isn’t it? Or maybe it’s just a sign of the changing times.
Because I was conscious of it. I actively tried to limit my phone use when he was ‘aware’. If he was awake we didn’t watch TV, we kept him company. We played with him.
But here’s the thing. A phone is not just something you use to call and text anymore. And even though I actively try not to just grab my phone for no reason, I still pick it up a hell of a lot. In the old days you’d wait for the hourly weather on the radio… now I check the weather app to find out what we need to wear for our walk. If I want to play music, bam, I pick up my phone and open another app. And if I suddenly remember something, I don’t pull out a piece of paper like I used to, I add it to the lists in my phone.
Continue reading
Before Christmas, someone asked me if I was excited… and I had to admit… I wasn’t really. I mean, it’s not like I was big into Christmas before we had a child – with a relatively small family it’s really just another day… with presents. But with Sam too young to understand the concept, combined with my stay at home role, it just didn’t hold a lot of focus.
Continue reading
an aussie in austria 