Greetings from the Homeland!

Here it is. The last day of March- my most favoritist month of the year- and I’ve yet to post anything about either NatCroMo or NatNutMo (National Crochet Month and National Nutrition Month for those of you not in the loop). I know, I know. Bad Gege- no soup for you.

So, to make up for my lax blogging, I’ll make it up to you here and now. You ready?

EAT MORE HEALTHIER! AND, IF YOU DON’T CROCHET, DO IT NOW, MONKEYS!

Yeah- that’s right. I said “more healthier.” I never said this was NatGramMo, so I done did it and I ain’t gonna change it for nobody.

The truth is that, every time I sat down to write something, I just couldn’t find my voice. I’ve not been the happiest of campers these last few months- pregnancy, birth, moving and family issues really took their toll on me- and I really have been trying to get out of this funk. Even though I do love Australia, I must admit I’m not too crazy about the part I happen to live in. I feel so very far away from my family and friends and I have been feeling quite homesick recently.

I feel like I’ve been marinating in this very bleak, dreary bad mood for a long time- too long- and I really need to get back into life before Little Mister grows up before my eyes and I miss it all. I'm also pretty sure Big Mister is ready to have his cheerful, optimistic wife back and not this negative, complaining shrew that seems to have bashed her over the head and dragged her to the netherworld. Thankfully, a few things have been happening in the last few weeks that have given me a much needed happiness boost.

One thing is that I’ve been exercising fairly regularly which has always been something to lift my spirits. As such, the last few stubborn pregnancy pounds have slowly been melting off, as well, which is definitely something in the “positive” column. And, as my post title suggests, I am indeed back in the good ol’ US of A, which is just too amazingly wonderful for words. I drank 3 refills of Diet Coke at Chipotle just because I CAN GET FREE REFILLS HERE!! Little Mister was dancing the Macarena all night afterwards from the caffeine-laden breast milk, but dagnabbit- it was worth it. FREE REFILLS!!!! If that doesn’t make you feel proud to be an American, I don’t know what will.

I was able to shop at Michaels to buy some yarn that otherwise would have taken a month to arrive at my house. This yarn was very important because, since it is NatCroMo, I’ve been waving my hooks high and have been finishing up Little Mister’s blanket- the one I started a year ago but wasn’t able to finish before his birth and then didn’t want to finish because it’s fairly large and definitely too warm to use in the intense Australian summer. Now that the weather is cooling down, however, it’s time to finish his blanket-o-love. I was *thiiiiiis* close to completing it prior to our trip here but ran out of the main color. I was frustrated for about half a minute until I realized that I CAN GO TO MICHAELS AND BUY YARN. Is this a great country, or what??

We also visited an alpaca farm in Sandia Park, NM. Mmmmm.....alpaca. I'll write more on that later, though.

Couldn't take his hands off the alpaca. That's m'boy!

Hey you! Yeah you! You taking a picture of me?

We packed a lot into these last two weeks. We saw my grandmother- Little Mister's lone surviving great-grandparent- and both my parents and in-laws which was great, especially since my dad was the only grandparent who hadn’t seen Little Mister yet. He was unable to visit us prior to our move (part of the family issues…..GAH) and couldn’t wait to get his hands on his “Little Buddy.” He bought him his first pair of Chuck Taylors which brought a tear to my eye- such a proud mama!

He inherited his daddy's hair, but his mommy's shoes.  I win.

The biggest highlight (sorry mom and dad!) was getting to spend time with my sister and with Ronda. So much laughter and fun and food and laughter and catching up and then more food and even more laughter (and then crying) was shared. Oh how I needed that!!

We left New Mexico yesterday and will be flying back to Oz on Sunday. That gives me and my Misters today to enjoy some much needed downtime to reconnect and just chill before the extremely long journey back home. Yes, I’m sad to leave my family and friends again, but I am ready to be back home. And that’s how I know I’m starting to feel better. I’m ready to go back *home*. To Australia.

Oh man! What was that?? Out the window just there….a flying pig?? And…brrrrrr...I think I heard the news say that hell has frozen over??? I could have sworn that fat lady down the hall was singing! Or maybe it was just a loud fart…she was rather walrus-y, so who can tell for sure.

It’s the big one, Lord! I’m going HOME.

Oh give me a home
Where the kangaroos roam
Where the dingos and the walabies play.
Where seldom is spilled 
Because your drink’s not refilled,
And all the folks wish you g’day.

Playing Catch Up

Why, hello y'all!  Goodness- 2012 sure is passing by quickly- I can't believe it's the end of February already! On the one hand I'm glad since we are still battling the insane high temps of the Australian summer here and I'm really looking forward to some cooler temperatures so Little Mister and I can venture out of the house during the day without fear of frying into crispy bacon or developing melanoma or dazzling others when they see our skin sparkling in the sunlight. On the other hand....I don't want the time to go by so quickly because Little Mister needs to stay a cute little baby forever and ever! (Waaahhhhh! My boy is growing too quickly!)

Ahem.  I am better now.

In the last month:

* I finished my "secret project" and sent it off to the publisher the day before we headed out to the Gold Coast. It was a glorious feeling to get it finished, including ends weaved in and, gasp, shock, horrors! BLOCKED! (!!). I'm very happy to report that I did not felt the wool and was actually amazed to find that, instead of shrinking when first wet, wool actually *grows*. Like a lot. The end result ended up being huge, which was a great thing since it was slightly smaller than I had hoped when I finished crocheting it, but it more than reached my size goals after blocking. CANNOT.WAIT for the Fresh Designs in Crochet book series to come out!

* I liked blocking so much and was on such a roll, that I blocked out my very first lace project. I was on an intense wool high and was crazed with my new wool growing powers so I decided to continue ignoring Little Mister (the TV is such an AH-MAZ-ING babysitter) and finished the final few rows of my scarf and then blocked the snot out of it. I have pics to show...hopefully later this week.

* We had a glorious week on the Gold Coast and Brisbane. It was great having both my Misters all to myself and having help with Little Mister during the day AND not having to cook for a week. That's always a perk of vacation. We visited Sea World and the Australian Zoo- the zoo set up by the late Steve Irwin. We had so much fun! I even visited a craft store and a LYS...pics to come....

* As soon as we returned home, I got struck with giant, red, sore tonsils and then a fever of nearly 102.... Yep. Strep throat. AGAIN. This time I was so very worried that I was going to pass it on to Little Mister. Let this be a glowing endorsement of breast feeding- thanks to the antibodies in my breast milk, Little Mister never got sick at all! Even though I was kissing him all over his face with my cooties infested mouth (before I knew I was sick and contagious), he remained the picture of health and cuteness. Seriously. I have the world's cutest boy. I'm not biased- it's been scientifically proven.

AAACK! I die of cuteness!

* I have become addicted to Downton Abbey. A friend of mine loaned me the first season and I started watching it on my own while crocheting since Big Mister thought it was going to be one of my "silly girly shows" like Murder She Wrote (it's only because he's the father of my child that I have not ninja kicked him to the curb for bad-mouthing my beloved Jessica Fletcher!). However, once he returned from his business trip, I forced him to watch the first episode with me and now he's hooked. Granted, he'll never admit that, but considering after we watch one episode he sighs and says, "Ugghhhhh.....might as well watch another episode. There's nothing else on," which is code for, "Ohmygod- that Ms. O'Brien is totally a witch with a "b" and I so can't wait to see if Mary is going to go for Matthew afterall because it's totally obvious that they are each other's lobsters."

Ok...Little Mister is taking his nap. He's finally turned a corner sleep wise and has been taking 1-2 hour naps during the day!!  HALLELUJAH!

Hopefully I'll be able to get things done now- including more frequent blogging. I have so much to show and tell y'all!!

Until next time....

AND WHOOSH! A Month Disappears

So, wow. I can't believe how quickly January disappeared, taking me with it. I've had so many different blog posting ideas bouncing around in my brain but then, just like *that*, I'm thinking about cheese again. (I think I may die if I don't get a slice of pizza in the very near future.)

We have all been sick this past week which is never fun, but when it's your 6 month old's first cold of his life and he wakes you up at 2:30 in the morning with a croupy cough, it pretty much sucks monkey balls. Although, I was able to have an enlightening talk with my BFF Lyteyz and learned an important lesson in breastfeeding a sick child. Y'all can credit Lyteyz with coining the term "Booger Boobs." I've thankfully not had to experience that glorious benefit of breastfeeding since Little Mister only had a cough. I ended up with all the rest of the cold symptoms so I pretty much feel like death right now. And since it's summertime in the Land of Oz, I don't know if I have a fever or if my head is hot simply because, based on the temperatures, this is the land Down Under Hell. It's been over 100 degrees for most of the past 2 months and I have discovered something very important about myself- I DO NOT like the hot. DO NOT.  It is a "dry heat" and so instead of being drenched in my sweat, it dries very quickly leaving me salty and smelling like the wrong end of a dingo.  DO NOT LIKE THE HOT.

Luckily things will start to cool down in about a month or so, so I'll hopefully finally be able to step outdoors and go on walks with Little Mister again. (Actually, just checked the weather and it looks like the next two days are going to be only in the low 90's which means we may be able to go for a walk in the morning! YAY!)

I've been on a crochet binge as I'm working on my "Secret Project" and I hope to have it finished by the end of next week since we're going to go on a mini holiday (Ha! I'm so Aussie now!) at the end of the month. We're going to visit Brisbane and the Gold Coast and I'm sooooo excited about it! I've already staked out some yarn stores I want to check out and hope to find some yummy Australian wool which would be great!

For now, I am working with the Lion Fisherman's Wool and I must say I'm loving it. It's my first wool project that isn't supposed to be felted, so of course I'm worried sick I'm going to accidentally felt it before sending it off and then I'll not be published and then my life will be ruined. (Whaaat? Melodramatic?? Moi?!?)

Anywho...I had more to say but now I can't remeber because there was a commercial for cheddar. So. You know.

Ok, y'all. I hope your 2012 is going well so far!

Sleep is a Battlefield

With all due respects to Pat Benatar, I'd like to propose that love is merely a Plain of Contention and that sleeping with an infant is the true battlefield. 

Last night was the first night in I can’t remember how long that Little Mister actually slept 5 hours in a row. From around 7pm to 12am, with fidgeting only once at 10 where we had to turn on his mobile in his crib thus knocking him back out again, he was asleep. Blissful sleep. This was great for us since we have started going to bed earlier, especially since Big Mister had to go to work the next morning, so we were able to take advantage of those extended hours of sleep, right?

You are so wrong! Ha! Had you going there for a moment! Suckers!

Yeah- I ended up having insomnia for the first half of the night. I *never* have insomnia. If anything, I’m more of a Super Narcoleptic- able to fall asleep in a single bound. But, last night, for whatever reason, me no sleepy. Argh.

So, I was basically a zombie all day today. So glad I could keep the status quo. I guess the upshot of the day is that I learned two very valuable lessons. I’m not exactly sure how I feel about them, though.

Lesson One: Time to Wake Up!

I was finally able to fall asleep during Little Mister’s morning nap after earnestly praying that he would not only fall asleep, but stay asleep for a few hours- preferably all day if possible. Unfortunately, after just one measly hour of slumber, the time came. The time when Little Mister decided, “YAY! Its morning time! Wakey, wakey birthday cakey!” and then immediately put “Operation Wake Mommy Up” into effect.

He started with ever so gently petting my face which quickly escalated to punching me in my eye. Hey- I can’t blame him. He’s still developing his gross motor skills and I’m sure he meant to gently pet me once again, but his arm was behind his back and all he could do was roll over so that the momentum would carry his chubby arm over his body where it would hopefully make contact with my cheek but instead resulted in giving me a mild concussion. When that didn’t work, he simply went old school and pulled my hair. I debated filing for elder abuse but decided to keep sleeping instead. I mean, it was just a mild concussion. No big whoop. It's amazing how much I can ignore to win the sleep battle. And then, he did it. He pulled out the big guns- the one thing he knows- KNOWS- will wake mommy up. Oh yes- it was all systems go! *aOOOOga! aOOOOga!* Commence the Bubbly Farts!!

Dagnabbit. Sly little sucker. He wins.

Lesson Two: Time to Go to Sleep!

Later in the morning, my sister and I (and her roommate, our good friend) were able to Skype, for which I’m ever so thankful since I now have tangible proof that I have a case for elder abuse. You see, Little Mister was behaving pretty well for his auntie….until it was nap time.

Oh the humanity!

I could see the little wheels in his brain turning as he thought, “Hmmm….” *strokes chin* “If beating up mom works to wake her up, it might work to get her off the phone and feed me so that I can get my beauty rest.” And then he put his fingers together and said, “Exxxxcelllent.”

And then he pummeled me.

So, I got off the phone with my sister and fed him.

DANGIT! He wins again!

Don’t believe me? I HAVE PROOF!!!

Behold: A screenshot from my sister’s phone!

Feed me, Monkey! And charge your phone, Auntie!

I think those rings gave him super power or something. I'll know for sure once my jaw is no longer wired shut.

So, I learned that when it's time to wake up, he beats me and when it's time to go to sleep, he beats me. Hmmm....not too sure I'm liking this development.

Ok. It's time for me to put on my armor. It's bedtime. You and me, Little Mister. It's on like Donkey Kong.

Happy New Year!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.