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Bella started to walk a few days ago and now staggers and wobbles about the house with glee! We all shout "good girl!" and clap her, especially Lockie. This morning we walked to the park and fed the ducks nearby, and played on the swings and jungle gym. We took morning tea so we wouldn't be rushed and the weather was sunny and glorious. Aaah, bliss. Lockie asked me when I would have another baby, as he loved to play with babies [and obviously Bella is growing up fast.] His question took me by surprise because he'd never seemed that keen on babies. I pointed out our neighbours were having a baby in a few months, so he could play with it eventually.
This pohutakawa tree
[complete with tree elf!] symbolises Christmas in New Zealand for some, but I just think it is a really pretty sight on a hot summers' day.
We had a great Christmas Day, hanging out with my kids, sisters, brother and Dad, giving and receiving gifts, attending a service lead by Dad, eating yummy food we all helped prepare, and generally enjoying ourselves. The weather was perfect and we all behaved ourselves - Bella slept right through Christmas lunch which meant I got to actually eat with the grownups!
On Boxing Day we went to the Jimmy Barnes concert and I experienced time-warp-like feelings seeing many people I had gone to school with nearly 20 years ago and not seen since. There were about 7000 people there apparently which was a small and comfortable number for an outdoor venue. Of course, Jimmy totally rocked the crowd and showed he still had it even though he's over 50. He had 4 of his [grownup] kids onstage with him too, which was a nice touch. He came back for two encores and then we got a call from Dad's house and got home soon after to find Bella bawling her eyes out while Dad and Guy tried to comfort her. She doesn't usually wake before midnight so I hadn't expected this - poor blokes just didn't have what she wanted! 
OK, I've been 'dieting' for a week now and, according to my scales, I have lost about 2.5kg. This feels pretty good, and is to be expected at the beginning, although I would be surprised if it continued to drop off at this rate. The thing that surprises me most is that I am not craving the sugary, fatty foods I am forsaking at all, and am feeling pretty damn virtuous and healthy - all the fruit, veges and copious drinks of water gotta do it!! If ever I get the urge to nibble on a biscuit with the kids or grab a processed snack in a rush, I think for a minute about what this food can offer my body and it's easy to resist after that.I have joined the gym but have yet to fork out for the membership, and I figure that this pre-Christmas week is too crazy to be starting at the gym properly so I will do all that next week, no really! The people seem nice there and the atmosphere seems friendly - we'll see soon anyway. I figure that there's no point in dropping the weight if I'm still in my usual couch potato mode so I hope to get there at least 3 times each week. A lot will ride on Fraz helping me out in the evenings and I have barely seen him for several days now! Hopefully things will settle down for him at work once the Christmas madness abates.Lockie's last day of school today, and only a half day at that. So I am mentally preparing myself this morning and enjoying the last morning of calm for a l-o-n-g time. He's a lovely boy but needs a fair bit of maintenance, as 5-year-old kids often do! Bella's not so good at having her naps when he's home too; he's just so darned exciting! Speaking of Bell, she woke me at 5:30am today [yawn] even though it was a great day for sleeping in - rainy and overcast. Must teach her about the weather and staying cosy in bed...Tomorrow night Meg arrives from Sydney!!!! Can't wait to see her...if you had a twin, you'd understand.
Bella and I visited my mother-in-law at her shop last week and she draped some tinsel and a hat on her and snapped this cute shot. Bella doesn't see her Nana very often, hence the shy smile. It's a shame, as Nana is the only grandmother Bella has and I think it would be great if they could see each other more often. Nana is very busy with her business and her social life though! Fraz and I have vowed to be more involved personally with our grandkids - should we get any!
This morning is a scorcher and I [foolishly] decided, on the spur of the moment, to tackle the jungle in the backyard. I spent nearly an hour ripping out weeds and trimming back foliage and discovered two things: the yard is bigger than I remembered and it has a low rock wall that was previously invisible beneath the weeds. Was quite satisfied with that job but it's taken over half an hour for my overheated body to cool down indoors - my face has only just lost it's blush. Not that we ever spend any time in the yard as it is sloped and terraced with dangerous drops for kids. Oh well, I see it when I hang out the washing to dry so can appreciate my hard work then.
This afternoon I am checking out the local gym. It's annoying that they usually charge a huge whack to join, as well as the weekly fee - minimum of 12 month contract too! I guess joining the gym at this expensive time of year is not my smartest move. At least I can take advantage of the two-week free trial.
I was telling myself off for not writing in my blog this morning and the thought suddenly [and unrelatedly] came to me that I am very much influenced by books. Maybe I always have been, but lately it's been ridiculous. Here's an example: I saw a book on 'dejunking and getting rid of clutter' at work, so I took it home and read it and before I knew it I was reserving every book on clutter that the libraries own. I then put their good advice to work and managed to clear quite a bit of clutter from various parts of the house before I got bored with it all. Then I read the book about Trade Me, and started selling off bits and pieces like a mad woman; all done with that for now thanks, but I was full-on for a month. My latest discovery is a book called "Body-for-LIFE for Women", by Pamela Peeke. It wasn't the title that drew me in but the awesome before and after photos inside the front and back covers. This woman [a doctor], advocates a 12-week programme of dieting and exercise that transforms your body into a svelte, sculpted and super-healthy marvel. I was feeling pretty unhealthy and low-energy, etc when I spotted this book and now I have read it cover-to-cover and have already made big changes. [Whether I can keep them up is another story but I really want to.] I have changed my eating - no white flour products, or sugar, no junkfood at all, drinking 10 glasses of water each day, wearing a pedometer and trying to increase my steps each day, loads of veges. The tricky times are when I am feeding Lockie his regular diet of high-fat food, and baking bikkies for his school lunches - today I managed to bake our all-time fave choc chip cookies and bought the kids KFC for dinner because I worked and couldn't be fagged cooking - and still I stuck to my sardines, brown rice and salad. And I am joining a gym [applause please, this will be a tough one for me!], I am not sure when I will get to go but want to get there at least 4 times a week and lift weights!! No creche at the local gym so will probably go in the evenings - oh boy. But I reckon I will be doing my body a huge favour - this book talks of the high rates of heart disease, cancer and diabetes in older adults these days which can all be much reduced with a more healthy lifestyle. Tired of being pear-shaped and not fitting nice clothes too...size 16 is not a good size to be when clothes shopping. Will keep you posted on my successes.On the family side, Bella was stung by a bumblebee at the caregiver's today - she was really apologetic and called me at work, but Bella seems unaffected [despite swollen pointer finger] and now we know she's not allergic to beestings. Today Lockie brought home his school report for Term 4 [finishes in a few days!] and it reduced me to tears - in a good way. I was just so proud of the little bugger. The teacher's comments were very glowing. She'll be getting a Christmas present from us this year!
Here is Bella and me with our new Christmas tree, high up on the entertainment unit, out of her reach! [Lockie took the photo, hence it is a little crooked and I am missing from the shot!] We bought the tree yesterday from TWH for $6.43, an obscenely low price. We needed a small one [4-foot] to fit in this space - the star just touches the ceiling. Lockie and I decorated it while Bella slept this morning and she was so delighted when she woke and saw it for the first time. It's a little overladen with ornaments but we have many more left over - our regular tree is a lot bigger. It does feel a bit early to be putting up the tree but [peer pressure prevailing here], everyone's doing it!!
Very warm today, but Fraz is at the shop for a few hours, so we are awaiting his return and hope to drag him down to the park for a play with the kids - or maybe I'll send him down...need to suss out what Chrissy presents I have and what I need to still sort out. Privacy is essential for such tasks, especially if I want to keep my gifts a secret from the kids, which of course I do.
I saw the freakiest doco on telly last night - "Super Size She". It was about a woman named Joanna Thomas, a Brit based in LA [I think], who has devoted her life to bodybuilding with the end goal of winning the Olympia world title and retiring 'at the top of my game'. I don't know how old she was [she started at 15], but she had lost nearly all resemblance to any woman I have ever seen - if it wasn't for the huge breast implants and the frizzy blonde hair, I dare anyone to take a glance and say she wasn't a man. She had such HUGE bulging muscles that even in repose she was busting out of her clothes like the Incredible Hulkess. Seeing her totter around in high heels - calf muscles popping - was freaky enough but even her deep voice and facial features were very masculine. She layered on the makeup and slipped into a tiny sequinned number when doing shows and managed to look like a pretty good drag queen. The worst bit I reckon was that to finance her 'sport' she ran a personal website which people paid to enter and request poses of her [including pretty provocative ones] and chatted with her too. I don't think she had time for a job. The other women she hung out with at the gym were just like her - all drag queens in the making, except they were apparently female.It was described as a 'sub-culture' by the narrator. This may be true, but OMG it was the weirdest lifestyle I have seen in a while. She had no life beyond bodybuilding and when she managed to qualify for the Olympia event she ended up 7th out of the 9 women who made it to the finals. She found out that she didn't win because her top and bottom halves weren't symmetrical. Hmmm, there's got to be more to life surely. Her body fat measured 2.6% - the recommended minimum for women to maintain fertility and adequate hormone levels is 10%. Just watching them measure her fat [desperately trying to pinch something on her back] was a joke. Her skin was spotty and she was described as malnourished and dehydrated - this was in the days prior to the Olympia competition in an attempt to define the muscles even more. Then the women stuff themselves with sugary food just before going onstage to strut and pose - this was to make the veins pump up. Ooooh.I couldn't change the channel though - like watching a train wreck maybe: I just couldn't look away.
OK, there isn't a Christmas stampede quite yet, but the end of the school year is looming and with it goes my freedom. It feels like it is galloping towards me at a great speed. Lockie just thrives on school and is likely to get quite bored as the school holidays drag on - and that's where I will be stepping in and pulling out all stops... Hopefully the weather will be lovely and sunny and calm and we can all go to the beach frequently and the parks, etc. Sounds good. Of course, if the weather is crap we'll probably go crazy fairly often. It's times like this I am grateful for living in a big city where there is always some place to go if it's wet outside - these hol's we will go to Te Papa and maybe even [finally] get around to their legendary Story Time. [Legendary to other Mums anyway]. We can also go visit different libraries - the new Karori Community Library [and cafe!] is lovely. The Karori swimming pool is the best one in our area I reckon and it may be a good time to introduce Bella to the joys of water, besides bath water of course. Then there are always lots of different malls to hang out at - the newest one in town is the Westfield Queensgate in Lower Hutt - I went the other day and it compares favourably with any of the fantastic Aussie ones I have seen in Sydney and Brisbane. Unfortunately Lockie always wants to make a beeline for the $2 Shop and buy some rubbishy item there that will guarantee to break in the car on the way home and then he will cry about it and then get mad and throw it...*sigh* STOP IT ANNA - got to be more positive!!Read another good book the other day - "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time", about an autistic 15-year-old boy and the odd world he inhabits, surrounded by normal people who mostly don't 'get' him. It's quite an insight into living with autism [from his parents' view as well as his own], and very well-written by Mark Haddon. The boy actually has Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism. My midwife's teenage daughter has this, so it was interesting to read about it; she would often comment on something her daughter had said or done, when she visited me during my last pregnancy.Looking forward to Christmas in that my wonderful twinny will be flying back over the gap to stay with us for a week or so, and we will reunite with two younger sibs and Dad in Wanganui for Christmas Day. Then there's the Jimmy Barnes concert on Boxing Day - I know I've mentioned this before but I ALMOST NEVER go out in the evenings so this will be a treat for me. And I bloody well deserve a treat every now and then!!!!
