Would you believe that Beth and I haven't watched *any* TV in the last 2 days? Honestly, that is such huge achievement in our household. It is all too easy and somewhat of a habit to just switch on the TV and let Beth watch Playschool (her favourite show at the moment... at least it's educational!) for an hour in the morning, whilst I am getting my thoughts together for the day and then again for a couple of hours in the afternoon.. especially at the end of the day when I'm trying to cook dinner and don't want her underfoot.
Yesterday's TV free day started with us getting ready for church in the morning. I knew that if I switched on the TV, we would have a mini-meltdown when it needed to be turned off. Beth isn't a huge fan of church at the best of times, so I didn't want to exacebate the situation unnecessarily. As it turned out, Beth had a great time at church and even started singing (rather loudly and out of tune... it was really funny and quite embarrassing for Phan and me!) the hymns and the mass parts. After church, we went to Chermside to do some things and Beth got to have a Boost juice and her favourite sushi for lunch. We went home, Beth had a nap... and in the afternoon Phan had the fun task of mowing our overgrown lawn ... it was very obviously overgrown as Beth all weekend had been telling Daddy - "Long... Grass.... Long... Grass" over and over again... :)
We had some leftover chicken casserole (which I had frozen previously) for dinner, which resulted in me not needing to do much to prepare dinner, other than cook some rice... so we did some art and craft (another favourite activity of hers at the moment) as the rice cooked and the casserole reheated... Beth had her dinner, followed by bath-time (another reason for wanting to ditch the afternoon TV watching... she has been chucking tanties and not wanting to have a bath in the evening... but without the TV, she's more than happy to go and have a bath... even singing "Bathtime... Bathtime..." as she goes her merry way... :) After her bath, she sat at the table as Phan and I ate dinner and we all chatted and talked together... Beth was pretending to stir something in a bowl and we had our first interactive conversation that went like this -
Me - "What are you doing Elizabeth?"
Beth - "Stirring"
Me - "That's good stirring... what are you stirring?"
Beth (a moment to think and then...) - "Soup"
Me (surprised at the logical response) - "Wow soup?! What kind of soup are you stirring?"
Beth (a little pause... then) - "Cheeeese!" (followed by a cheeky grin and giggle)
At which point Phan and I just cracked up laughing with her. The hilarious thing was, it wasn't some random words she was saying, because we repeated this conversation/questions several times and each time she would say she was stirring "Soup".. and that it was "Cheese" soup... so funny!
So now I'm thinking I've got to find a recipe for this cheese soup that Beth is making. :)
After her soup making antics, we progressed into playing shopkeeper (I set up some empty nappy boxes to make shelves in a store with the some play food (and felt food) and then we used her toy shopping trolley or basket to go shopping and then we went to the cash register which was tended to by Daddy... :) I need to go and get some toy money (or make some) though to enhance the experience...
After playing shopkeeper, we had bedtime stories (we've only recently started this up again, because we went through a phase where Beth was so tired and ratty that she didn't want to listen to any stories!) before going to bed.
Today, Beth and Daddy slept in until 7:45am! (She had stirred at 6am, but Phan went in and they both went back to sleep). I needed to sort out getting some passport photos for Elizabeth printed, which turned out to be a lot more difficult than it should have been! I had taken the photos myself (following the guidelines on the Australian passport website... and I might mention I took about 50 photos and managed to get 2 photos that fit the criteria!) but I went to 4 different places and no one could print it for me! Very frustrating. We ended up going to KindyROO and then having to drop into Chermside afterwards to get them printed (with no hassle at all!)
Beth fell asleep in the car on the way home (with sushi in her mouth!). She had a short nap and then woke up in time to have Sharon, Isaac & Em come and visit... We haven't seen them in weeks, so it was great to catch up with them... and Elizabeth loved following Em around! This afternoon, I made pasta and occupied Beth with some diced up carrots instead of turning on the TV. It definitely entertained her... but it also resulted in her scattering carrots all over the kitchen floor!
Dinner was followed by the same routine as Sunday night, except instead of playing shopkeeper, we played with blocks... and Phan and I were having skyscraper building competitions to see who could build the tallest skyscraper... :) and then Beth played dress ups (kind of... really she just rummaged through a pile of clothes without wanting to put any of it on!)
And that brings us to the end of our TV free 48 hours... I will probably let Beth watch some TV tomorrow... I don't think I want to deal with her "helping" me with dinner again!
A little extra update - Beth is talking a whole lot more too and beginning to string more words together... today's word at KindyROO was shark... and they were taught today at KindyROO that sharks have sharp teeth. So Beth has been walking around point to the stamp on her hand and foot and telling me "Shark! Sharp Teeth!" She's also obsessed with seahorses at the moment and keeps bring this foam shaped seahorse to me and telling me it's a "Seahorse!"... There was also a lizard on the sliding door last night which ran up and hid on the ceiling... so Beth kept telling us "Lizzie... Hiding"... and then got scared of the lizard.
Okay that's my mega update for tonight... I have photos coming, but I just don't have the energy to post them up tonight... you'll just have to stay tuned... :)
TV Free Days!
When she was baby...
This photo just makes me go "Awwwww"... found this in the archives of our photography folder... She's just over 4 months old in this photo... back in the days when I wasn't "into" photography... using onboard flash *cringe*... oh well, a little bit of photoshop (yeah, yeah, still loving Eye Candy Actions) and it makes the photo passable... :)
A Time To Reflect...
It's that time of year again... 5 years ago, my Mum went to be with the angels... It's not so much a sad time for me anymore... but more of a contemplative time... A time to just take a moment out and remember her and all the things she taught me while she was with us and the lessons she still continues to teach me now.
My mum was mostly a stay-at-home-mum ... Honestly, that term doesn't seem to give her justice, because she was so much more that that... she was our chef, our chaueffeur, confidante, disciplinarian, seamstress, handyman, financial manager... and the list goes on. She stayed at home with us full time until my brother was a few years into primary school. She valued her role as primary carer of us children, took care of our family in the day-to-day way that only mums do... watched me and my 2 siblings grow up, nurtured us and taught us to believe and have confidence in ourselves. She returned to work part-time as a great example to show us that women can work and help to provide financially for the family too. She taught me so much through her words (and gee, I can smile and remember that she had a wonderful gift for constant nagging too as all mothers do... I believe I am beginning to inherit some of that now as well!)... But I I think she taught me more from her actions... Her selfless way of just doing things because they needed to be done... of never seeking attention for herself... of encouraging us to do things together as a family (which at the time, I did not "get" but now in my much older age, I am so ever grateful and appreciative of those memories).
By far, it is these memories of her staying at home and being there for me during my childhood that I treasure most. Which brings me to Today. The Now. The Present Day. My mum is by far a large part of why I choose to be a stay at home mum. Yes, I am fully aware that we are blessed that I do not have to return to work to help to financially support the family. But, my underlying reasoning for staying at home with my daughter is based one basic truth.
Life is short.
I did not truly understand these three words until this day five years ago... My mum never got to see her 50th birthday. She never got the chance to be a grandmother. She didn't get to see my sister get married, nor my brother turn 18.
But for all these things that she did miss out on, there are so many things that she did get to see in our life.... Our first smile, our first laugh, our first steps, our first day of school, all the activities that accompany childhood like sports days, musicals and concerts... She was there for us and she gave us our foundation for becoming decent human beings in society.
And therein lies the reason why I stay at home with Elizabeth. I want to see all her little milestones... I want be there for her just like my mum was there for me. I don't want to miss out any of this time, because who knows what life has in store just around the corner. In 20 years time, I hope she will look back fondly and remember the times we have spent together... (*Disclaimer - I totally respect and admire working mothers... they have a tough job juggling it all... I understand that sometimes people need to work to be able to provide for their family. I'm just writing this from my perspective and my circumstances.)
Mum, I'm thinking of you and loving you every day... You still influence me in my choices today... and I just try my best to be as good a mum to Elizabeth as you were to me. Love you always. xo
Awesome Hair
This is what happens when you fall asleep with your hair tied up in a "fountain" hairstyle and then wake up in the morning sans hair elastic... This photo taken whilst we were in Adelaide... she looked so funny that morning... just like a cockatoo! Again, processed with the Eye Candy actions... I'm loving them... :) (Phan might say a little too much... I didn't get to bed until past midnight 'cos I was playing around with them...)
On a separate note, we had swimming today and there was this *HUGE* inter-school swimming carnival happening and the swimming centre car park was full and all the surrounding streets where packed full of cars! So I had to park at the bottom of a *VERY STEEP* hill and walk up to the swimming centre. It probably took me about 5-10 minutes, but my goodness, my legs were burning from the incline (yes, I'm unfit!) and I was totally knackered from having to walk up the hill whilst pushing Beth in her stroller. I later found out once we got to class, that there are always spaces reserved for people doing learn-to-swim classes. Doh! I'll know for next time.
The Red Flower Lantern
I got the chance to play around with Phong's 60mm macro whilst I was in Adelaide... It was a sooo much fun... Using a macro gives you a totally different perspective of the world and definitely makes you think differently... I loved it. This photo is of one of Phan's mum's flowers in the garden... I was impressed with how sharp the photos were (once I started to get the hang of how to actually focus!)...
This photo has been tweaked and processed with Sheye's Eye Candy Actions... :) I caved and bought the set last night and I'm having a ball playing around with them... they are just gorgeous! I'm all photography inspired again... which I'm happy about!
I've been tagged... :)
I've been tagged by Jen... She's a fellow blogger, who stumbled across my blog and commented on one of my posts one day... I went and checked out her blog and she'd written the most beautiful post about motherhood... I added her to my google reader (and I also noticed she'd added me to her blogroll on her blog) and we've been following each other's blogs ever since... I love how you can "meet" people over the internet... (*waves*... Hi Jen!) :)
Anyway, I've been tagged with the following -
The rules..
1. Go to the section of your computer where you store all of your photos.
2. Select the 6th folder.
3. Select the 6th photo from that folder.
4. Post and explain about that picture.
5. Tag 6 other people
This photo was taken from a folder with photos from our first day trip as a family... We spent the morning of the 22nd of March 2008 at Kings Beach, Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast... it was a one and a bit hour drive and Beth decided to have a little nap on the way... which was a great idea, as she was all refreshed and ready for lots of fun at the beach once she woke up.
Thanks for the tag, Jen... it was fun... :)
And I'm tagging the following people -
Bao
Ty (oi, you have to invite me as a reader to your blog... when did you go private?!)
Maria
Donna
Flora
Anne-Marie
Can't wait to see what photos you come up with... :)
Can You Believe It's March Already?
My goodness... the year is flying by!
Sorry for the hiatus on the blog front this last week... we made a quick flying visit back to Adelaide last Tuesday night and only just got back last night. It was a lovely trip (although too short!) and it was just nice to hang out with family and have everyone see how much Beth is growing up (so quick!)
New blog header for this month... in case you're wondering, the brightly painted background, is actually part of one of Beth's masterpieces of art from playgroup... a combination of using the paintbrush and her fingers... I love it because it's so brightly coloured and the colours are actually distinguishable (normally, with that many colours in use, it ends up looking a poo brown kind of colour).
I'll be back later with a proper update and maybe some photos... I haven't taken many photos recently, but I'm getting inspired again after finding out Sheye has released her Eye Candy Actions, which are just gorgeous and I just can't wait to get (hopefully soon... :))
