mother

The City vs The Country! 

Bringing up children has its complications and its pros and cons. Does the location you live in contribute to this? Or does it not matter where you are situated? 

When I was 18 I moved from my hometown to Adelaide. When I was 23 I moved back to Broken Hill. My husband got a job on the mine and we have family here. The decision was a no brainer. We both enjoy the relaxing, slow pace lifestyle that living in the country gives us. However I can’t help but compare what life would be like if we were bringing up our family in Adelaide. For many people Adelaide is just a big country town and not in contest with Sydney or Melbourne and while I wouldn’t necessarily disagree it is a major difference living there in comparison to living in Broken Hill.
First and foremost let’s tackle incomes and jobs, while Adelaide offers more opportunity in job prospects it does not allow my husband to work on the mine and come home to his family everyday. To earn the mining income and to be situated in Adelaide means FIFO work. Which just wouldn’t work for us. 

Secondly support, we both have family here. My mum is here for advice, questions, anything I need. In Adelaide we simply didn’t have that. We don’t need to use Childcare and I can return to work for two days a week and reap my entire salary, instead of returning full time just to make paying for childcare seem worth it. 

Lastly is our facilities and to be honest that’s where Adelaide shines, medically there is no travelling “away” to see specialists. Education- no leaving home to attend university or a private school. Location- no rip off plane fare that seems to be forever increasing, no six hour drive to be able to fly to our holiday destinations. 
 I love the country, to me the outback wins! My family is here, it takes me 5 minutes to get to work and I go home for lunch everyday. Do I miss the shops, beach and cafes in Adelaide? Yes! But that doesn’t mean that it’s the place for us to live. 

Broken Hill does offer a lot that the “cities” do, we have great mother groups and support in the hospital for new Mums. We know the people that live here and it’s friendly. 

What do you think? City or the country? If you ask me its all personal preference and I wouldn’t have that any other way! 

5 wishes for baby 

I thought for this post it would be fun to share with you all my five wishes, hopes and dreams for Rhemy as she takes this journey through life.
1. Courage. I hope you have the courage to pass through your life following your dreams and being able to stand up for your beliefs. To push yourself to the limit and be courageous in all that you try to do. 
2. Education. I hope you are educated in whatever your choose to do. Whether aquiring a university degree is necessary or learning on the job. 

3. Knowing your worth. I hope and will do my best to ensure that you grow up knowing your worth and that you ensure others know it and respect it too. You are worth the world and it’s important to me that you believe that!

4. Happiness and Love. I want your life to be filled with happiness and love in every aspect of your world! 

5. Passion. I wish for you to find your passion in life and that you are able to follow it with all your heart. Daddy and I will do everything we can to give you all the opportunities you require. 
I would love to hear your hopes and dreams for your offspring so please comment at the end of the post sharing them with me! 

Don’t lose yourself now that the baby is here! 

I know everything changes when you have children and they become your whole world. I know that we as parents put their needs before our own and to be honest I truly believe we should. I know that we should be the ones that accommodate them into our lives not the other way around but I am a true believer in that we as mothers can still be us. We are still entitled to some reward for doing the best we can for our offspring. 

Now let me clarify I do not mean that if before kids your Wednesday to Sunday nights were spent out partying that you should continue on with that lifestyle. I do not mean if pre children you spent all your disposable income on unnecessary luxuries and lived off two minute noodles for the week that you should do the same now your baby has entered the world. 

What I mean is that every now and then, things are still allowed to be for you, you can still travel to exciting places with your children in tow, you can still buy something expensive and unnecessary. You can still have a day to yourself and not feel guilty because we all deserve it once in a while. The only difference being things may have to be planned for, budgeted for or talked about with your partner. 

When we become parents we change, knowingly or not, I’m unsure but it is inevitable and I believe necessary. We need to adapt to our new life and we can’t always be who we used to be. However we don’t need to lose ourselves entirely. I have changed since Rhemy and I am happy with that. You can’t be the same person when your baby comes as you become less selfish, more paranoid, guilt surfaces easier and your camera feed becomes filled with photos of your baby and not much else. 

While I say to not lose yourself entirely, I also say not to fight the changes in yourself either. They are happening because of your new addition and will help you on this new, exciting, sometimes scary journey of parenthood. 
Comment below and give me your thoughts xx 

📷 featured image: beautythroughimperfection.com 

We are doing the 52 week savings challenge! 

We have decided in 2016 we are going to participate in the 52 week savings challenge. We budget (or at least try to) anyway but feel like this could be a nice way to save an extra almost $1400.00 for the year. 
To find out all about the challenge and how it works click here, but basically for each week of the year you are setting aside that amount of money, for example week one is $1, week two is $2 and so on. There are many articles online saying that it should actually be done opposite, as in save $52 the first week and work your way backwards but we have decided for us it is best to start small and build our savings up. 
I can see why people have suggested beginning with the larger amount as just before Christmas it may be difficult to set aside $200 for the entire month of Decemeber and this is true, however for us right now it is actually harder to find that money following the festive season.

Anyway week one is here, I have a pretty jar set aside and a list next to it for us to check off so we don’t miss a week. So far all we have is $1 but I’m excited! 
Are you doing anything differently this year? I would love to hear about it! 

The bond we share…

She’s six months old today, that’s right Rhemy Sharen is six months old! And what a wonderful, hilarious and beautiful six month old she is.

It’s so surreal when you look down at your baby and you realise that you have created something so gorgeous. It is amazing what the human body can do and what the end result is. 

Watching Rhemy grow and change everyday is what it is all about. I already loved her with everything I had before she born and I knew no matter what, I would do anything for her, to protect her and to be there for her. 

What I wasn’t as prepared for, was the bond we share at such a young age. We are already little besties, the way she looks at me, the trust she has in me and myself for her is out of this world. 

Knowing I have a very close relationship with my mum, you’d think I would have been expecting it, and I definitely was to some degree but not while Rhemy was so young, but here we are. 

She has such a big personality, she makes me laugh on the daily, her smile lights up my day, she’s as stubborn as they come and very persistent in what she wants (I wonder where she got that from?). She is my very best little friend, my heart wandering out of my body! 
Ask me about our bond when she is sixteen, when she is still stubborn and persistent in getting what she wants! 

New year, new me? 

It’s approaching! It is that time of year when we begin to hear all the promises from people to become a better version of themselves in one way or another. It is also when out come the critics, having their say on how stupid they believe new year resolutions are.

What camp are you in? Are you for resolutions of against? Myself, I am for them and I make them, I think they are great incentive to try and stick to something or to change a habit that you are unhappy with. I don’t always follow through but I try and I find no harm in that. 
This year in fact, I truly hope to become a more organised, together woman. I feel like my house is always a mess and my head in the clouds trying to work out what way is actually up! 2016 brings part time work and study so I will have limited time for everything and I know that being organised (or at least attempting to be) will help me stay on top of it all, so I am truly inspired to try and stick to my resolution this year. 
I have always had a diary/planner. I am normally very good about knowing what I have coming up and filling in the days accordingly but since Rhemy come along that has gone out the window, so 2016 I am coming for you! 
What’s your New Years Resolution? Or do you think they are just a waste of time? Let me know below! 

Featured Image credit: http://www.mumcentral.com.au

Do you use a baby bag? 

Anyone who knows me, would tell you I am massively into handbags. Some might say, I have an actual problem! So naturally when I fell pregnant the idea of getting a nappy (diaper) bag excited me! 

I began searching forums and reviews to find out what one would best suit my lifestyle. In the end, I purchased a beautiful Oroton bag which I believed to be functional and the perfect accessory for when my baby arrived. 

Fast forward 10 months or so (I bought it very early on in my pregnancy) and it isn’t getting the use it deserves or that I imagined it would. When I was breastfeeding I used it a lot. I put nappies, a change of clothes, spit rag, etc in and off I went. Now I am bottle feeding I seem to carry more bulky items that struggle to fit comfortably in the bag. 
The nappy bag is too big for the basket under my pram so I have to carry it when I have the pram and to be honest I find that to be a massive inconvenience! So now I just put a lunch bag (holding multiple bottles and formula powder) and a large clutch (with nappies, wipes, spit rag and a change of clothes) in the bottom of my pram and away I go. 

I know so many things on the many, many lists of what you need for a baby are not necessities but I truly didn’t think a nappy bag would be one of them. At least not for me! 
Do you use your nappy bag? Did you waste money on anything with your first born? 

Comment below and let me know I would love to feel better about myself haha! 

Baby name trends! 

Naming our baby was a much harder task then either of us expected. My husband likes names slightly more conservative and myself, a little out there. We “vitoed” each other so many times, I thought that was going to end up being her name.

We settled on multiple names, to then change our minds a week later (okay my mind, I changed my mind)! There really was some goodies in there, so we have no intention of sharing, you know just incase the next one is a girl.

I have read so many articles relating to the trends of baby names, but I have to admit this this last trend has taken the cake. According to Baby Center  #instagrambabies is now a thing! Parents are naming their children after Instagram filters and other related editing apps. Now while some of the filter names are usable, Willow anyone? I am interested to see where our next naming inspiration comes from.

I completely understand the attraction of using a name from somewhere the majority wouldn’t expect, but I do have to wonder where do we begin to look next?

Now I have to say, I support everyone’s decision to name their child whatever their heart desires, it has long been the case that what one couple thinks is beautiful, another does not!

So I ask you, what do you think?

Is your next baby going to be called Valencia or is there somewhere else we can look for the names of future children?

Comment below!

What would your 10 year old self be proud of? 

When you look back on your life, what can you honestly say your ten year old self would be proud of? It doesn’t have to be ten years old, it could be thirteen, eight or even sixteen. It signifies a time when you had an idea or a plan of what your life would turn out like. When you weren’t afraid to dream and when you weren’t jaded from experiences in the ‘real’ world. 
I have given this a lot of thought and my ten year old self would be proud of a few things: 

Firstly, Rhemy! I know, I know how obvious but I always knew I would become a mother, I always wanted a daughter and I had to be young enough to enjoy her. So ten year old me, we did it 🙂 

Next is University. Not necessarily because I grew up knowing what I would be, but that I would study and continue learning throughout my life. I wanted to be educated in as many things as possible. Online learning has been a major reason why this has become a reality for me. I have done tafe certificates but deciding to go to Uni as a mature student is something I know ten year old me would be very proud of. 

Last but not least, my travel experiences. Now I haven’t seen everywhere, and there are so many places I am still dieing to see but I always wanted to see the world and I am certainly slowly ticking off all the cities and countries I want to visit. 

I’m sure there are many things in my life that ten year old me wouldn’t approve of, that as a child was not in the plan. But we can save those for another day. 
Now it’s your turn, comment below – tell me ! What would your ten year old self be proud of? 
Until next time 🙂 

I hate baby teeth! 

I hate baby teeth! I really, really HATE them! They have a lot to answer for, and what’s worse is we haven’t even seen one yet!

I want my baby back, the one who isn’t grumpy, grizzly or in pain! The one who isn’t drooling profusely, difficult to feed and has bright red cheeks! I want to be able to help her more, bongela and sometimes baby Panadol are my weapons of choice, both not overly well recieved by the baby (can’t work out for the life of me why 😝).
Her red, inflamed gum appreciates it and her hands too, so at least they get a break from being constantly chewed! However Rhemy doesn’t care, it tastes gross and it seems a much better idea to try to spit it out! To be completely fair I don’t blame her, I hate medicine too!

How do you deal with a teething baby? Have you lost your sleep? (luckily I have not) or your sanity? (somedays, I have been close) How does or did your baby deal with teething? Was it a long drawn out process without the tooth erupting? (Rhemy’s experience so far) Or one day no teeth, next it’s there? (lucky baby, lucky parents and baby!!)

Let me know below!
Also what do you think of our new look? Did you notice?



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