9 months since I last posted...hmmm

Well, I can honestly say, 2013 was one of the craziest years of my life!!! Sick bubba, busy family life, often sick or burnt out myself, and the wee business that I looked at starting up, making tutus and other crafty stuff, kind of got a lot busier than I ever expected it to!!!

My Dexter Bear is now 4!!! Can't believe he starts school in September!

2014 is all about changing my attitude towards my health, time management, but also being a better mummy and wife. I have been working on my "happy face" and trying to be more positive for my family's sake. It's a work in progress, but I'm trying.

Nutrition wise, we are having a lot less takeaways. Hubby really felt like Butter Chicken and Naans today, so we had them, but neither of us enjoyed it at all, nor did we clean our plates off. Serving sizes have come down, I have discovered that an actual serving size of a low sugar cereal for breakfast is actually NOT the end of the world, and does keep me full longer than expected. The emotional eating is coming back under control, and I am working on my willpower to say no to foods that I REALLY don't need.

Now to up the exercise. This is the hard part. As I have written about in the past, I get many many aches and pains, these have all gotten worse over the years since having Glandular Fever at 17, and then worse after having my son, and MUCH worse still after having my daughter 2 years ago. Being 30kg heavier than my "ideal" weight does not help in any way, but it also means that most days, even just getting out for a decent walk (we have some big hills either way from our place) is too much even. So I am starting back into exercise REALLY sloooowwlllyyyy. Very gentle, in the hopes that not overdoing it for once will help me increase my strength and fitness, then lose weight and be able to build it up without coming crashing down again, as I did last year, and ended up sick for over a month.

Wee Ambi has just turned 2!!! This is her at her 2nd Birthday Party

So yeah. I'm hoping resurrecting this blog will help keep me accountable, and also the Facebook page that this is connected to as well, with a few followers there, if they are still around.

Does anyone still read blogs? If you are out there and you are reading this, drop me a comment and say hi :)

Nikki

Happy 3rd Birthday to my little man!!

On Sunday my boy turned 3 years old. It's amazing how quickly 3 years has gone and how much has happened in that time.

We went to Chipmunks and had a party there in one of their party rooms. He had an absolute BLAST!!! All his friends came, as well as the grandparents and he was so spoilt rotten with presents.

Amber helping to open presents

Awww thanks for my present!!

New General Grievous mask (Star Wars)

Love the slide!!

Hugs with Charlie Chipmunk

Apparently the cake was good. Didn't even need hands to eat it!

Star Wars Lego Chocolate Mud Cake

The Party Room.

The "Grumpy Fog" is lifting a little finally

** WARNING** A more personal than usual post lies ahead....

So for awhile now I've had my head in the sand a bit.
I didn't really notice, but I had gotten myself into this grumpy, overtired, completely unmotivated state. And it came on so gradually I really didn't think a lot of it.

But then we went through a spate of about 6 weeks of sick baby and toddler, sick hubby, immunisations, and eventually, after many sleepless nights, a sick me. And by that stage, I was pretty low, but I thought I was just over tired and still getting used to having a baby and a toddler. 

The foggy view from our lounge the other morning. Appropriate.

I won't go into the gory deets, but a few things have been sorted now and as a very quick and unexpected side effect, I'm happier. I am no longer sick and overtired, and neither are my kids or hubby. More sleep has been had. And suddenly, things just seem.... better. Nothing in particular around me has changed, but I am a lot happier, which in turn makes my kids and hubby happier.

I noticed myself that I wasn't flying off the handle as quick and I was more motivated to get stuff done. 

Practicing "Monster Face"

One day I cracked a joke about something and I thought after, I haven't really been cracking jokes in some time... but I hadn't noticed until I started again.

According to hubby, I am "much perkier" these days, and more like my old self.

Monster Pixie practicing her monster face

The kids are getting more attention during the day, as is the housework. 

I am even starting to think about what I am eating again, as well as starting to get back into exercising, which has been a long absence!

How could you be sad with these 2 around?

The other afternoon, my kids were sitting with me on the couch and being extra cute like they do so well, and I found myself loving them so much it made me cry (ok, I'm not a crier. I teared up a lot though) They got lots of cuddles. So yeah. Interesting how things can change without you noticing. I'm just glad that life is getting better again. Even if I hadn't noticed I wasn't "feeling it" so much before.