Because I don't have a.....

.... Because I don't have a penis. There I said it. Penis! (I can't believe I just said penis on my blog. I don't even know who I am anymore) Oh, and the reason why I'm finding it so hard to make friends at work... because I don't have a penis.

Uggh.

People are friendly towards me at work and stuff, but I've noticed this week since a new guy started that the boys are all over him. Loitering around his desk. Asking him to come and have coffee with them. Etc Etc. The boys are so matey with each other. They have 'stripey shirt days' where they all wear stripey shirts. Its a bit cute actually, how much they love each other.

Why aren't the girls like that? I put the question to Mr B. He claims it's because girls are territorial of their space and their 'girls' and don't like it when a new girl comes on the scene to potentially ruin all of that. I hope he's wrong.

It makes me all sad that I still don't have any proper friends at work. I've definitely made progress since February, but its hard going, especially only working 3 days a week.

I don't remember being like that with new girls in my old office on the Gold Coast... Hmmmpph.

Never fear, I will continue to whip out my best baking skills to wow everyone once again and give me at least a hint of a friendship in the office. Look what the boys made me - a trophy with the words 'Grand Ultimate #1 Super Baker - Cath's cuisine reigns supreme' - they even (temporarily) surrendered their cricket trophy for me. Bless them!

C xo

Life Update

You sure do know you're alive when you have a sick baby. On Friday night Miss L woke up around 11pm and from there it was down hill.  Saturday was a nightmare. She just couldn't be comforted. She cried literally all. day. By 5pm I'd had enough. She was getting worse. So we made the decision to take her to the emergency department at the Mater. And I'm so glad we did. She had a temperature of 38.8 and a spreading rash. The Doctors called us in straight away. They decided to do some tests. First up a urine test. Oh my. That was interesting. We had to give her sips of gastrolyte every 5 minutes and make her lie on the bed with her nappy off while we sat there waiting to catch her wee in a small plastic container. She did not like that one bit (neither did we). Screamed the majority of the time. The only saviour was watching videos of herself on my smart phone and listening to music. What did parents do before smart phones? After that stressful period was over, she crashed... she lay on her tummy while we pat her back and rubbed her hair. The nurse came in to stick these little plastic whatsies on her hands and arms that were smeared with a numbing cream (in preparation for her needles for the blood test). She lay there so still while the nurse did this. Mr B and I were so proud of her for being so calm... the nurse thought differently. 

Sad bubba at the hospital

She told the Doctor of Miss L's flatness and floppiness and they moved us to acute care straight away where they could monitor her more closely. They were worried. Here they poked and prodded her some more. She was so upset. Afterwards she lay on her tummy and fell asleep for maybe 30 mins. She woke up screaming. We gave her her bottle, which she drank all of and then promptly fell asleep again on Mr B's chest where she lay for a whole hour. She never does this. We knew then that she was really sick. She woke up and they decided to give her a dose of nurofen and xylacaine. First up, nurofen. She took about 1ml and promptly vomited up all over herself and the bed. And screamed. Once they had changed the bed and we had changed her, they gave her the xylacaine. She screamed. But took it. It seemed to coat her mouth. I don't know what it was but she became calm and more herself. She started pointing to the brightly coloured mobiles hanging around the ward and talking in her little language. They were sending us home. The Doctor was happy that she was doing normal things like taking her bottle and sleeping, so they decided not to do a blood test. The urine test came back clear. They told us it was a viral infection and she was going to get more of her rash and more fevers. And all we had to do was keep up the panadol and nurofen. No easy feat when she gets so upset at the mere sight of the syringe/dropper. So they gave us suppositories. Brillo. I have to stick my finger up her bottom. Oh the joys of motherhood. We were home by 10pm. Hot. Tired. Smelling of vomit. But glad to be home. 

Spots all over her arms and hands

And she's still not 100%. Spots cover her tiny little arms and legs and she is just so sad. She's exhausted. I'm exhausted. But I know we just have to ride this out. This too shall pass. (*Edited to add: Mr B has been Dr Googling [which is usually my domain] but he has discovered that she has hand, foot and mouth disease. Why haven't the two Doctors we've seen figured that out, yet Dr Google can tell us that in a matter of minutes? Uggh. Not looking forward to ringing the child care centre tomorrow and telling them that piece of information).

Now, after THAT novel, onto other areas of my life.

Work is still going pretty good... but i'm lonely. I guess I was just so used to being 'part of the furniture' in my old office on the Gold Coast. Being the new girl in the Brisbane office is hard. I sometimes feel like they are freezing me out. I have been trying to chat more with a few of the younger girls in the office, doing the usual things like complimenting them on their outfits etc. But its hard to become part of the 'in' crowd. I've just got to be patient I guess. Its not going to happen over night (but it will happen lol Pantene ad anyone?). 

12WBT is going great guns. I've lost 3.2 kgs and have reached my goal of fitting into my pre-baby black pants. My next goal is to fit in to my skinny jeans... I've started going a bit off track with the eating (due mostly to having a sick baby and me needing chocolate and extra lattes to get through it) but seeing the results so far has empowered me to keep at it. This morning I dug out an old aerobics video (complete with lycra outfits) and jumped around the lounge room while Miss L (mostly) slept. I'm trying to fit in exercise when I can but its proving difficult on the days I work. 

And that's about it for now. I need to go and prepare myself for *another* bad night with Miss L... Hope you are all well.

C xo

Update from B Household

Its tough. And hard. And tiring. Phew... I'm exhausted. And I feel like I have no time. No time! Where does all the time go?

Work outfit

So, second week in to Operation Working Mum was less successful... only by way of me being completely and utterly tired last night and going to bed at 7:30pm(!!!) after a shocker of a night on Wednesday night with Miss L, who also had a shocker of a night last night AS WELL where she proceeded to wake me up at 9:00pm, 11:50pm, 2:00am, 4:00am and then finally deciding to get up at 5:30am. I know when she has nights like this that she is definitely sick. And so today started the excessive sneezing, blocked nose, and coughing. Poor little darling.


But otherwise, work itself is going great guns. I like the people there and we're having a team building/fun social outing next week (go-karting - eek!) which will be good. Which means Mr B will have to do the day care pick up, dinner, bath, bottle, bed routine with Miss L. That will be interesting!

What else has happened? It was my birthday last week on the 10th. I turned 31. Man, that sounds old. I had an excellent day which started with Mr B and Miss L giving me a Leona Edmiston voucher and my friend L sending me a hair donut. Awesome! Topped off with Miss L having an excellent morning nap. And then lunch with my friend A and her little boy (also my God Son) A.

Bright b'day outfit

Hair donut put to use - I suck at it!

 Mum came around that night and looked after Miss L so Mr B and I went out to dinner at the new(ish) River Bend development at South Bank. We went to an Italian restaurant called Popolo. Food was excellent. Cocktails were divine. View was spectacular! You must go!

The view from Popolo

I made Mr B some pecan pies/tarts for V Day in the sweet little heart tins that my friend A gave me for my birthday.

Oh, and this is my first week of Michelle Bridges 12WBT. So far so good. I didn't even eat one of those pecan tarts! The self-control is astounding! I lost 2 kgs in a matter of days. How is that possible? I'm not complaining, but seriously? How? I have a lot of sore muscles from the extra (and more intense) exercise I'm doing. But the food is really yummy, even Mr B says so and that's saying something (he is very picky). I've felt a little bit hungry in the afternoons, but have had a cup of tea or drink of water to fill me up and get me through to the next meal time. The program has been great to teach me meal/portion sizes.

So, there you go. How are you all? I miss blogging on a daily basis.

What's happening on the weekend? We're all off to our friends AA and RS's engagement party tomorrow arvo. Mr B and I are all smug and stuff because we played matchmaker about 5 or 6 years ago (who knows) and got A and R together. Yippee!

C xo

I did it...

I We survived. Operation Working Mum has been a success!

Its weird being back at work... in a way it feels like I never left, although I have said a few absolutely dumb things over the past three days. Luckily I can blame 'maternity brain'!

Miss L is loving day care sick! Which makes me feel better about my decision to go back to work. But I miss spending time with her. I only get to see her for a couple of hours on the days that I work, and it makes me want to squeeze all of my cuddles in to one short little time.

My new office is in Fortitude Valley, so its a bit 'hip and cool'... I haven't ventured out during my lunch break yet as I fear my (our - sorry Mr B!) bank balance might be damaged a little by working in close proximity to shops such as Maiocchi and Akira. Wow. Beautiful clothes.

The people are very nice and they seem like such a fun bunch. There's already fun social events planned in the next couple of weeks!

This is what I wore on my very first day back:

Dress: Timeless Classics by Vannessa Tong
Belt: Forever New
Nails: OPI Big Apple Red

And as I type, I am printing out my exercise plan and nutrition plan and shopping list, etc for the 12 week body transpormation (12WBT)... It begins on Monday. Oh dear, I don't think I've prepared myself for this.

C xo

Its happening already...

Hi. I know, I know. Its happening ALREADY. The blog is getting pushed to second (or maybe fifth?) place now that I'm officially a Working Mum. I missed Friday's Fashion Friday post. Sorry. Will try and take a photo of my first day of work outfit tomorrow and post that.

So, I'm here to tell you that this blogging Monday to Friday bizzo will probably (most likely) not be happening any more, but I will try and blog regularly (at least 2 to 3 times a week). Promise.

I am so extremely nervous about tomorrow... I don't know what to expect about my first day back, or how I will be feeling at the end of it. I do know that I will be thinking about Miss L alllllllll day and will be missing her like crazy...

C xo

Internal Battle

image via Pinterest

I'm heading back to work next week... on Tuesday to be exact. I've had a total of 13 months off work. That's a L-O-N-G time in the realm of town planning (p.s. I'm a town planner - I don't think I had told you that?). Legislation is constantly changing and evolving and I always said I would 'keep on top of it'. Keep reading my email updates from law firms and the Planning Institute of Australia. And did I? That's a big fat no. Life (and baby!) just got in the way.

I'm so nervous about heading back to work. Will I remember everything? Will I be a bumbling mess? Will the new office like me (I've transferred from the Gold Coast office to the Brisbane office). How am I going to get us all out of the house by 7am on those three days? Shit.

And then there's the ongoing internal battle going around and around in my head - have I made the right decision to go back to work? I know its *only* three days a week, but Miss L is so precious and she's my only one and I'm going to MISS her but I know it will be good for her to socialise with other babies!!!

And I'm going to miss maternity leave. I have loved it. So much. Its hard work being a Mum, but so rewarding at the same time.

C xo