Lily's Off To Kinder!

Last week my little Lily(when will we ever get to the point where she is not 'little Lily' anymore? Never!) started 3 year old kinder. She has been busting to go to kinder since Piper had started two years ago so she was super excited when it was finally her time to go.


There were no tears from Lily, just big beaming smiles. As soon as we got inside kinder she was straight to the play dough table. I stood there for a few seconds watching her, while all around me parents were settling their kids, some of the parents as nervous as their little ones as this was the first child they were sending off to kinder. After a while it was clear that Lily didn't need me hanging around, so after quick kiss I was out the door & my baby was on her own. 

When it was time to pick her up a short time later we were greeted by a beaming Lily, so proud to have completed her first day at kinder. Her teacher(who was Piper's three year old kinder teacher) told us that for the whole session she could hear this sweet singing & realised it was LiIy. She said it reminded her of Piper who used to sing while she played.


So now I have two 'big' little girls out in the world, & they both love it!

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Happy Birthday to me!

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

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I've fallen out of love - with Facebook. And I want to break up. 


Facebook started off so well. I joined about 5 years ago when a friend that had moved to London invited me to join so that we had an easier time of keeping in touch. Then others joined in & pretty soon I was being 'friended' left right & centre. It was fun at first. And it did put me back in touch with an old friend that I hadn't seen in ages(& since then I've been there to see her fall in love, get engaged & most recently get married). 


But then it started to irritate me a bit. I hated how 'friends' would snoop around your photos to see what was going on in your life instead of calling to have a chat. I would recieve friend requests from people I sure as hell wasn't friends with in real life & had no intention of being Facebook friends with them either! 


Things have started to get really impersonal thanks to Facebook. Friends wish you a happy birthday by posting on your wall instead of giving you a call or coming around to visit, party invitiations are issued en masse instead of a sweet little invite being mailed out to you(a nice change to just receiving bills!). People get offended if you don't comment on a post or something ridiculous like that. Bah, I'm just not into it anymore. Yet I find it hard to pull the plug.


I'm working up to it. I've deleted about 60 people off my friends list that I either didn't really know or I know but we've never actually exchanged a word between us since becoming 'Facebook friends'. I must say, it felt good! But then as I scrolled through my friends list again I realised that there were a whole heap of others I'd like to delete but can't because it would just start a whole heap of crap I don't need! Besides, I've been enjoying Instagram so much more(replacing one habit with another?)!


Hmmm, it's looking likely I'll be pulling the plug sooner rather than later! Maybe after my birthday! Ha ha!


Are you over Facebook? Have you already pulled the plug?

I Think I'm Gonna Do It

Ages ago I wrote a post about closing down Piper+Lily, my handmade business. I had no idea what I wanted to do & as a major procrastinator I just sat there mulling it all over for way too long. Eventually my listings ended & I never re-listed them. I haven't felt the urge to make anything new for the shop either. So I think maybe this is it. I've put the store in holiday mode now(I told you - procrastinator!) so I guess the next step will be to close it. It also means that my friends whose little girls have birthdays coming up will be getting lots of handmade presents!

Piper's First Day of School

On Monday my beautiful little Pip woke up super early(by our standards!), had breakfast, brushed her teeth, had her hair done & got dressed up in her school uniform to head off on her new adventure as a school kid!

Piper was quite excited to start school, she was a tad nervous(she was worried that she wouldn't know anything - I explained to her that that was why everyone goes to school, to learn how to do stuff. She was also worried that she wouldn't be able to find her classroom. Too cute!) but eager to get on with her day.


After a few photos with us we headed off to her new school. I was so proud of my little girl, after finding where to put her bag she found her desk, sat down & got right on with the threading activity that was waiting for her. No tears from my Whippit! Since she seemed fine we all gave her a kiss goodbye  were off!


I did get a little teary walking back to the car. My little girl, that tiny baby that I brought home from the hospital what seemed like yesterday was now at school. No more midweek activities together, no more pyjama days! Lily missed her quite a bit, wanting to pick her up as soon as we pulled into the driveway. But we all got through the day & were excitedly waiting for Piper when the bell rang.


By Piper's account she had a pretty good day! She played with play dough, listened to stories, played on the play equipment & was chosen to take the roll back to the office(she was pretty impressed with that!). She likes school & that makes me happy! Although she's not too impressed with the early starts!

Getting Ready

This little baby starts school tomorrow! My little baby will be in grade Prep!

Good luck Piper, we're going to miss you but we know that'll you'll have so much fun!

We love you little girl!

xxx

Judgey McJudgerson

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The other day I came across the blog post, 'Don't Carpe Diem'. You may have already read it as it seems to be quite popular(judging by all of the comments. If you haven't, have a quick read & then come back here, ok.


All read? Ok. So, I totally get where this blogger is coming from. I understand what she is saying. Not everyday is sparkly & wonderful with your children, but there are moments. There are moments. The post, I'm fine with. Then I started reading some of the comments. Oh my! There was definately a 'for' & 'against' side to all of this. In the end, the post was just one mothers opinion, or maybe feelings is a better word, on her life as a Mother. I applaud her for saying out loud how it is, for her. In doing so I believe that she is helping other Mothers, breaking the facade that as a Mother you should love every single second, every single bit about being a Mother. This facade that often leaves normal, sane women questioning themselves & their ability to Mother. That leaves women feeling so guilty if they're not enjoying the 5th tantrum their child has thrown that hour alone. 


Reading the comments I couldn't believe some of the things that were being written. That this Mother was not worthy. How selfish she was. Then those 'for' her views would jump on board & bash those that were 'against'. Each comment seemed to have several responses from several opposing views. Working Mothers jumped in making assumptions that those that were saying that every second of their time as a mother was nothing but pure joy were obviously well off stay at home mothers that had cooks & cleaners & bucket loads of money. Ugh. It was ugly. Fingers were pointed. Judgements were made. And we all do it. Whether they big big judgments or small ones. 


But surely, we should support each others different view & approaches to Mothering? Should we really force women to love every single moment of the day with their children, because if they admit to anything less they are really 'bad' mothers? I remember attending Mothers Group with Piper for the first time. Not usually my sort of thing, but I was the first out of my friends to have a baby & I thought maybe I'd meet some new friends. Piper was only 3 weeks old, the youngest of the lot(consequentially, so was I). As each Mother went around talking about their child, I heard story after story of babies that were perfect. I kid you not. They fed perfectly, they didn't scream or cry. And they slept. They slept for hours &hours of blissful baby sleep. Then it was my turn. I remember just saying, 'Hi, I'm Natasha, this is Piper. This kid doesn't sleep. At all.' I was met with looks of, disbelief. Kind of like, 'how dare she admit to that!' The funny thing was I didn't see the big deal. It was the truth. The kid didn't sleep. We ended up going to sleep school twice(another 'bad mother' thing apparently. I'll tell you about that some day). Then, slowly, week by week, the truth started to seep out of these women who tried to maintain the facade of perfection. They started turning up to the sessions a little toussled. Then a little blearry eyed. Then that admission of, 'this kid doesn't sleep'. And it was like a weight was lifted off their shoulders!


I know it's been said a thousand times before, but women really are their own worst enemies. How about helping a sister out instead of beating her with the stick of self righteousness?

M.I.A

Wow, it's been a while! It seems that I've had an unintentional blogging break!


I was unwell enough to avoid going online for the first couple of weeks in January before flying out on a family holiday to Western Australia for 10 days. I had thought that I'd scheduled a few posts while I was away but I just saved them to drafts! Yep, a bit silly! But I'm back now! I'll still publish the posts I missed, they'll just be old news!