Change

 

Change can be a very scary thing. It can also be a very exciting.  How you handle it depends on the type of person you are I guess.

For the most part, change excites me and I like to think I am the kind of girl that can go with the flow.  Roll with the punches, be relaxed, calm, easygoing…

Anyone who knows me well knows I’m not really like that, not most of the time anyway.  I have OCD tendencies. I can admit it.  Sure I can be relaxed & easygoing sometimes, like when I’m sleeping. 
For the most part, I like routine. I like control and I like having roots.   
 
Having said that – I have driven big changes in my life before, and am not afraid to do it again if it means the right thing for my family. I think your focus in life changes when you have a child. We (Bill & I) have always been very family focused, but now we have our own little family of three (+ Lola the cat) it has changed slightly again. 

Bill & I have always dreamt of having a property with a little bit of land, some nice views, a willow tree by a creek and a lovely house settled in the middle to call home.  Somewhere to raise our children where they could have a little bit of what we had – space to roam & hopefully an animal or two to feed.  FREEDOM. Unfortunately for us, those things are not available to us where we currently live. Well they are, but they are simply unaffordable for us.  Seeing as it doesn’t look like I am going to win lotto anytime soon, something has to give. 

The older you get, the more you realise that the dream is becoming unobtainable.  You either need to settle for what you have (and we have a lot to be thankful for) or you need to get your ass into gear in order to achieve it.  That is where we are at right now – asses into gear.  I call it a crossroads, others may call it crazyness.  We’ve decided to jump head first into a new city & community, 4 hrs from home.  It is exciting, but it’s also hard to be excited around those you are leaving – who may not share your enthusiasm.  I don’t want to be misconstrued,we are excited about our prospects for the future, we are not excited about leaving our family and friends.  We LOVE where we live right now and the people we are surrounded by, but it’s time to move on.

We moved home from Canada to be close to my family.  Taking Aiden away from that is very difficult.  But sometimes you have to be brave and make the jump.  No guts no glory.  I also strongly believe that you get out what you put in – staying in touch is important, making effort is important. You can’t live far away from your family without being willing to spend time ensuring your kids don’t miss out.

I have a fridge magnet on my fridge that reads ‘As long as we’re together, the rest will fall into place’.  That is going to become my mantra over the next few months as we take on this huge change in our lives. 

Here we come Taranaki, I hope you’re ready!

New Years Resolution

 

I am very disappointed with myself for not keeping up with my blog.  I had the best intentions to write each week about all our adventures, ups, downs, and views on parenting.  I got three blogs in and life just got too busy. I got sidetracked with all those adventures, ups and downs, work, coffee groups, walks, more coffee, cleaning, cooking… oh, and being a wife. But that’s life right?  Whether you’re a Mum or not, life get’s busy.  Best intentions are something we all have, but things don’t always work out the way we planned.  For a planner like myself this is sometimes hard to accept, but it is a good lesson for me that I can’t control everything in this world.  Parenting is sure teaching me that more than anything!

It is such a juggling act, being a Mum.  Some days I feel like a real pro; all the balls are in the air, I’m juggling with grace, Aiden is happy, I’m happy – life is organised and things go to plan.  Other days I feel like there are too many balls to juggle, I get overwhelmed and they all fall to the floor.  I have always had trouble concentrating on more than one major thing at a time. It is a blessing and a curse.  I get really tunnel vision and focused on things, which usually leaves little time or thought for anything else.  If something big is going on in my life – I focus on it and it’s like nothing else exists. Bill says it’s amazing to watch as I have amazing determination when I get fixated on a project.  Naturally, Aiden has been my project since he was born (even before that, if we’re being honest).  This last year has been a big challenge for me because there are other things outside of being a Mum that I have needed to focus on as well.  Things that I have taken such pride in in the past, like my friendships, relationships in my family and work.  When you first have a baby, you don’t have any time for much outside of baby anymore, so I worried that these things I had worked so hard to establish would fall by the wayside.  Thankfully they didn’t, because people understand.   Maybe not all people, but the people in my life do. 

It is such a cliché to say, but it’s all about balance. I think we all get so excited about reaching that 1 year milestone because that entire first year of parenting is about figuring stuff out and finding the balance that works for your family.  Whilst it is an amazing adventure and more fun with each month, it’s bloody hard work too and such a MASSIVE change to your life.  It’s no wonder we all shout out “WE MADE IT!" when the babies turn One.  
I guess there are more and more challenges with each year… I look at some of my friends with 3 or 4 children and wonder how on earth they do it.  I’m such an amateur juggler, they are the pro’s in a full ring circus.

I’m not the only one juggling and learning.  Aiden is a constant source of amazement and entertainment with his development.  Considering he didn’t know he had hands & feet 10 months ago, it’s pretty cool what he can do with them these days. 

He had decided that the best way to get around is ‘commando’ crawling at 7 months. If you’ve not seen this before, I highly recommend it. It’s hilarious.  He moves like an army cadet under a net.  More recently he’s started the traditional style of crawling, and I must admit, I miss the old way.  He’s also taken to standing up and cruising along furniture and getting into everything within our reach (and sometimes out of it).  His favourite activities over the past few weeks have been playing with balls (which ties in nicely with my juggling theme, thanks Aiden) or anything with wheels, sorting shapes and stalking the cat.  Stalking the cat never gets old… will it ever? 

Not unexpectedly, he is a bit of a chatterbox (go figure).  His vocabulary includes Mum, Mumma, Dad, Dadadadadad, bub, yes, up, ta and dodo (which we think is doodle – typical male).  A word that resembles NO comes out every now and again too, but I am choosing to ignore that one for now.

It’s time for this chatterbox to finish up this post with my New Years' Resolution – I will be better at my blog, I will!