Monday 5th July 2010

It’s nice to have some time to blog (both my girls are asleep)… to let out one’s emotions… venting… whinging… and I don’t have to hear any replies or advice or anything.

I must say, I do appreciate those who take the time to read my blogs.  Word Press keeps stats on how many readers I get each day and my heart beats that little bit faster with excitement when I see even one reader!  Surprisingly, I’ve been getting some readers and it’s been nearly two months since my last blog!

I get the same excitement feelings when I post my photography work on Facebook and I get so many ‘likes’ and supportive replies.  I also love constructive criticism, as it’s another challenge for me to do better next time.  Recently I used my sister as my model and she did such a fantastic job.  I could tell that these past years of watching ‘America’s Next Top Model’ influenced her poses etc.  She didn’t need much direction!  I had such a blast having ‘sister’ time too; which can be a little hard these days to find the time.

The past two weddings I’ve assisted Claire Collyer Photography, I’ve been able to take photographs too.  Today I assisted for a maternity shoot and I’m looking forward to getting behind the camera tomorrow at a family shoot.  Then we have a newborn shoot on Wednesday (my gorgeous nephew) and another newborn shoot, a little princess, on Thursday.  I LOVE my job!!

Since my last blog, life has been SO busy; with my 2 girls (one chucking tantrums and toilet training and the other one is teething) and we’ve also got our house on the market to sell.  Fortunately my girls love smiling, playing and can be easily distracted to lessen those tears.

I get so confused with things in society lately.  When researching things like bottle feeding, baby/child sleeping patterns, solid feeding, adult dieting etc etc, there are so many different opinions… I do go with my ‘gut’ a lot of the time and sometimes it works – Mummy’s Instinct…

I’m trying to figure out why my 2 ½ yo daughter is behaving so badly (especially at bed/nap times). I know it could be because it’s ‘that age’ but golly gosh it’s becoming SO frustrating!  I’m trying SO hard to keep a balance of keeping her happy and still providing discipline, but sometimes it seems to just blow up in my face and it becomes very exhausting.

I do accept the ups and downs of being a mum, but geez it totally sucks right now!  I’m still really lucky with my 6month old daughter, as she still sleeps through the night (from about 6pm until about 6am) – although I am aware this mightn’t last forever and so I’m truly grateful for each day because things could be a lot worse!  My 2 ½ yo stopped sleeping through the night from about 5 ½ months old… and we haven’t had a consistent block of ‘sleeping through’ since then…. BUT on the plus side, which one must try to always stay focused on, she has more things about her that are just wonderful and that I’m truly grateful for: she’s healthy, beautiful, polite and very very intelligent.

Another part of my life, my weight-loss, has hit a plateau… but that’s ok!  At my plateau I’m able to fit back into my old size 12 clothes!  So I’m not counting ‘points’ anymore, but just trying really hard to maintain what I have.  Basically these days, I’m eating just about whatever I want (in small portions), then trying to go to the gym at least every second day.  When I’m at the gym, I try to make the most of the session and work my butt off!  When things in life settle down and when we sell our home, I’ll restart my goal to lose about 5 more kgs.

Mmmm this weight-loss talk has made me a little hungry!  Hahaha

There’s a bowl in the kitchen that I’m hitting: choc chip ice-cream, choc chip muffin & ice magic…

Go on… have some too… you know you want to…

X

Wednesday 12 May 2010

 It’s funny; I understand blogging as evaluating life or expressing ones opinions. After I blogged 2 days ago, I thought ‘damn it, I forgot to say this’… So in reviewing my last blog I just want to mention that I believe every life is individual and spontaneous and should not feel ‘better’ than someone else’s. There will be times in life where you think ‘I should’ve done that’ or you hear someone talking about their life experiences and you think ‘I wish I’d done that’. It’s a shame it’s so easy to think of the negatives and not about the wonderful positives to life. I do believe that in life everything happens for a reason and as hard as it is to do, we need to look at the bigger picture. For example, I’m not overly proud of the amount of times I’ve moved since I moved out of home when I was 20 (‘financial’ reasons and ‘not being able to settle’ reasons), but when I look back it all was part of the plan of my life.

When I said in my last blog “I may not have travelled overseas on my own or have investment properties”, I’m very lucky to have close friends and family that have experienced these because I can hear about and learn from their experiences. I LOVE hearing about my close friends and family daily experiences. For example, my best friend Kim and I always said that we’d travel overseas together… Well it never happened together, so a few years ago Kim travelled to Europe and Bali. I was really sad that I couldn’t join her, but I was very thrilled to hear about her encounters and I’m always very proud of everything she does. I truly hope one day we can travel together – probably as hip grannies flashing our matching tattoos! Hahaha

Although I don’t care, to a certain extent, what people think about me, but I’d hate people to misinterpret me. At the end of the day, I’m someone that thinks too much and cares deeply…

On another note, a wonderful note, I had the BEST day in a LONG time!! I spent 3 hours behind the camera with Claire, from Claire Collyer Photography. I was able to take photographs and understand the ‘science’, if you like, of taking a good photograph. My model was my 4 month old princess. Then we moved on to learning about processing these images. There is so much to learn and it has given me a deeper understanding and respect for photography.

A few weeks earlier, I assisted Claire for a wedding. I found it interesting, when I was watching the ceremony, that attending weddings, how it reminds us about love for partner/family and how it reminds us of getting older (and hopefully wiser!). I used to look at bride as me, but now I look at her as my daughter… that one day I’ll be sending my princesses down the aisle to marry their prince charming…

It’s now 10.42pm and it’s nearly time for me to go to bed – I’m nearly at a point of holding my eyelids open with toothpicks!  Also, what a lovely way to end the day knowing my friend Kristy has given birth to her second child, another daughter.  I’m very much looking forward to meeting her and, even more so, attending her first photo shoot!

Good night,

Amy.

Monday 10 May 2010

A shout out to all those Yummy Mummy’s (and Yummy Mummy’s-To-Be), I hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day yesterday. I had a wonderful day and was showered with wonderful gifts, kisses and cuddles.

One special Yummy Mummy in particular, (one of my dear friends, Nikki) must’ve had an exciting/stressful/tiring Mother’s Day. She’s just moved up to Central QLD. A move that takes her, her hubby and her two gorgeous daughters to a place that will open up new opportunities and challenges that I know will make them stronger and closer than they already are.

Before Nikki left, we were having a wonderful chat about life and I was having a little whinge about some things and saying that my problems are nothing because there are people out there that are in worst situations. Nikki replied saying that that is true but don’t think that your problem is not a problem, if it’s a problem to you then it is a problem worth venting.

Every Sunday morning I wake up and message my mum on MSN asking if we’ve won anything on our shared lotto ticket, and the usual response is ‘no’ and I have to admit that I get just a little bit down… Then there are those people who seem to ‘have it all’ or ‘get given it all’ and I will admit that I am jealous! But I assure you that my jealously drives me to do better and not to give up.

But you know what, at the end of the day, it’s not winning lotto that makes us happy [yes it’ll make life financially easier], but it’s what/who is in our life that makes us ‘rich’. I may not have travelled overseas on my own or have investment properties but I do have a loving healthy husband and two beautiful healthy daughters – the eldest doing very well with her toilet training and the youngest sleeping 10-12 hours a night. I have some very close fabulous friends and family that I can socialise with, talk/vent to and they back to me. Now that, to me, is winning more than the lotto is worth.

Tuesday 13th April 2010

Golly gosh what a long time since my last blog!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!  My family and I travelled to Melbourne for Easter, 14.5 hours there and 12.5 hours back.  Considering everything, I reckon my girls were really well behaved.  Hubby and I expected the worse, so we were prepared for anything! 

I’ve made lots of notes about what to blog about, but most of it won’t be publish because as I’m reading them now, I sound like such a complainer!  And I do NOT want to be seen that way… but a good vent is healthy every now and then… but having said that, I have vented about certain recent frustrations to some lovely friends.  So a big thank you to those special people!!

A great quote from monkey character Rafiki in the movie The Lion King: “it’s in the past, it doesn’t matter” and the all time favourite “Hakuna Matata” – it means no worries!!

The latest on my Weight Watchers diet is I’ve lost 8.2 kgs in 7 weeks!  Woo hoo!!  Over Easter, we visited my father-in-law (and some fabulous friends too!) and he was surprised to see me reject some ‘fattening’ food, like Chinese, chocolates, risotto etc.  The funny thing is that I surprised myself too!  I did have SOME chocolate (those that know me well know it’s VERY hard for me to pass up chocolate) but everything else wasn’t tempting me.  After being on Weight Watchers strictly, it’s changed my behaviour and mind-set towards foods.  I know how I feel after having ‘bad’ foods and so I don’t want to put my body through that.  I used to think, that if I died tomorrow, that I’d be happy with people knowing that I died not dieting, eating foods that made me happy etc… but really I’d rather them know that I’m dieting to make my life more happy, energetic, and longer!  One thing I love about Weight Watchers is that I’m eating real food; just in smaller portions and without starving!  Anyone that knows me well knows that I won’t starve! LOL

On a fabulous note, I had my first wedding experience as photographer assistant to Claire Collyer, of Claire Collyer Photography, and it was awesome!!  The day after I assisted with for Maternity/Family shoot that was just beautiful!!  I look forward to seeing the images.  Over the Easter break, I got my first digital SLR camera!  It’s SO much fun!!  I’ve got heaps of images to process from it – which I’m hoping to attack tonight – and then I’ll play around with Photoshop too. 

Feeding off the energy from the Wedding, Maternity/Family shoots and some recent dental assisting work is SO much fun!  I love it!!  It makes my mind go off in tangents and thinking out of the square.  I love being a stay-at-home mum, but gee it’s nice to put my mind to other things.

Another quote is from one of my favourite employers:  “When it comes to ideas or ventures, anyone who says that they have never had a failure has never done anything for themselves or is full of s–t. Things that don’t succeed are things you should learn from…. if all you lose is some time or money or pride (usually all 3), well, none of those are fatal”

Time to continue with toilet training my 2 ½ yo daughter… fun times!! (enter sarcasm here…).  Ta ta for now,

Amy

Saturday 27th March 2010

 It’s been a week since my last blog, but my material for my blog has been building up over the past week. I really enjoy expressing with blogging and look forward to what I’m going to type about each time… It’s great that life is so interesting; otherwise I’d have nothing to write about!

Today marks my fifth week of Weight Watchers! I’ve lost 6.2 kgs so far; with 8.9 kgs left to lose = the time I should be able to fit back into my CUE clothes! It’ll be such a memorable moment, because it’ll feel like the old ‘me’ is back!

Choosing conversations… it’s a pity we have to do that in life… perhaps there’s a fear of being judged and not accepted. People talk about freedom of speech, but the reality is that a lot of people can’t take what they dish out to others AND/OR can’t handle the truth or the ‘real life’ dished out to them… I’d LIKE to think that I can take negative or constructive criticism; to make me stronger, wiser etc in life. But I am part of that population having the fear of being judged. I do avoid some conversations, for example, politics, religion, breast feeding versus bottle feeding, routines versus no routines (for babies/children)… because with those topics, information is forced down you that that must be the way to go. I don’t avoid these conversations completely, but I try not to go too deep in them. It can get quite exhausting choosing which things to say or not so say just to avoid a discussion that’s trying to make me feel bad for the way I do things…. Having said all that, I’m fortunate to have a select few friends and family that I can be brutally truly honest with. There are certainly times you really don’t want to hear it, but it can put other things into perspective and help you re-evaluate things in life. I guess there’s another perk with blogging that you can just type away and let it all out and it’s optional for people to read it. And they can stop reading or walk away, without upsetting anyone [here I am hoping this all makes sense! Hahaha].

Also, I find it very frustrating when people might think that I’m a ‘neat freak’ or ‘too organised’ etc but I figure that if I’m happy and my life feels like it’s on the right track, then why does it matter how I do things? I think that having ‘systems’ in life lowers the chance of errors or failures. I have family and friends that are highly disorganised and messy, but at the end of the day, that’s how they want to live their life and that’s what makes them different and special! And I love them for that! We can’t have everybody on this earth doing the same ‘way to do things’… how boring would that be!?!

These sorts of things are within my hopes for my girls… and that they stand up for what they believe in! I really hope I provide a good example for my girls. I know one thing is for sure, that since they were born I’ve been extremely proud of them and I know no matter what, I will always be a super proud mum! I love the honesty from my daughter, Jessica. Sometimes she won’t let me dance with her and she says “Mumma stop! Go kitchen!”

Ciao for now,

 Amy

Friday, 19th March 2010

Well, what a day!  There’s been happy moments, fun moments and moments that have brought me to tears today.  The lack of sleep doesn’t help.  My poor princess Jessica hasn’t slept so well lately.  Perhaps she’s having another growth spurt… Children are so challenging at times, but at the end of the day, I love being a mum.

I used to think that if I was having a hard day being a mum, that it was a sign I shouldn’t be doing other things in my life (i.e.: like working or doing something for myself), but I today realised that the hard days are to try and make me mentally stronger and to remind myself not to have an ‘I give up’ attitude; that sort of attitude doesn’t get you anywhere in life!  Hmm… I’m sounding like my parents!!  Hehehe, that’s ok!  I love my parents and the way they have raised me. 

I’m very lucky to have such wonderful supportive parents.  It’s funny you know, I consider them more my close friends than a ‘parent’.  They have always supported my career changes, business ideas etc.  They have always made suggestions and never really told me not to go for something.  The only thing they do do (hehe ‘do do’) is the ‘I told you so’ dance if I’ve tried something that didn’t work out; but that’s just to lighten the failed situation with humour.  My parents have always tried to use humour as a way to try and ‘get over’ a situation.

Mum if you’re reading this, I’m not sucking up for anything! 

On another note, I’ve been doing Weight Watchers for the past 4 weeks and lost 3.8kgs in the first 3 weeks – so after such busy days, yesterday and today, I’m hoping to have burnt off extra grams before my weigh-in tomorrow morning.  I got my hair cut yesterday too, so I’m hoping some more grams have come off! HAHAHA 

My daughters certainly keep me on my toes – so that surely must help with fat burning!  My first goal was to lose 4.1kgs; which I rewarded myself by putting some subtle blonde streaks in my hair.  My next goal is to lose another 5kgs and then I’ll reward myself with a manicure.  I’ve got about 10kgs to lose to get to my ‘wedding’ weight, and then I’ll go on a shopping spree!  So far I’ve lost my ‘Hannah’ weight and I haven’t got long before I’ve lost my ‘Jess’ weight.

The support from family and friends is just wonderful and I’m always VERY grateful.  I have a past of ‘yoyo dieting’ and always being one to try new things, and they’re still supportive.  My hubby is very supportive – I’m sure I’ve frustrated him many times with my different ideas and brainwaves!  I live life trying new things and ideas; otherwise you’re always left wondering.  Sometime the ideas don’t work, but you learn from them; either by not doing it again or figuring out a better way.  You only live once, so make the most of it!

My favourite employer once said to me ‘don’t bring me the question, bring me the solution’, so that’s really pushed me to think outside the square and brainstorm; also giving me more confidence.

Amy

Wednesday, 17 March 2010

Today I begin documenting my journeys… I just hope that I can do this regularly!  I’m not quite sure where to begin, but knowing me, I’ll start off with one topic/event and go off in tangents and start remembering past events – I love reminiscing…

I guess I don’t really expect anyone to read these, but I’m already finding it therapeutic typing away – although I’m sure there’ll be some grammatical errors!

It would be nice to have some readers, perhaps distant family members and old friends… if you are reading this, start documenting your journeys so I can read them too!

On Monday, I got offered a job as a Photographer’s Assistant to Claire Collyer, of Claire Collyer Photography (check out her wonderful work: www.clairecollyerphotography.com.au)

I’m SO thrilled to be working in an industry that has always been a hobby of mine.  Of course, like any job, I’m on trial, but I’m feeling confident that big things are going to happen.  My first job is on trial at a wedding on 10^th April.  I’m very much looking forward to this new path in my life and learning more!  I wonder what my main interest will be: newborn, pregnancy, family, fashion, weddings, landscapes, nature, animals…  gosh there’s SO many options!  I know I love taking photo’s that have a meaning and tells a story

I’m looking forward to learning the program Photoshop too.

It’s wonderful, because I was hoping for new things to happen in 2010.  It had a wonderful early start with the birth of my second daughter, born New Year’s Eve, named Hannah – little sister to Jessica (2 ¼ y.o.)

I wonder what’s in store for the rest of this year!!!  Only time will tell.  One of the best advices I got from my parents is to ‘give it a go’.  Even if you think you’re not qualified for something or you’re not sure if you can do something, just give it a go as you NEVER know where it might take you.  If you don’t get what you applied for, then consider it extra interviewing experience – and if you are interviewing a lot, then perhaps it’s time to brainstorm ways to change things up a little. 

Of course there are the occasional stressful and challenging moments to life (ie: marriage, parenthood etc), but it always pays to vent to a close friend/loved one and try and see the silver lining, and remember that things happen for a reason and we grow stronger from these stressful and challenging moments… It pays to try and stay positive – especially as my eldest daughter has been up since 230am!  She’s not unwell or anything, she just wouldn’t go back to sleep!! 

Mmmm black coffee here I come!

Well I think that’ll do me for today.  I wonder if my next blog will be this long!

amy07j