Time flies when you're having fun, and now I must reflect about it

I officially have a walker now. She started walking a few weeks back and hasn't looked back since. 
It feels like not that long ago I had this little bundle:

And now, all of a sudden I have this for a shadow:

I won't pretend that I'm not enjoying the stage she is at now though. She interacts with me so much now, which can be somewhat difficult while I'm cooking, or cleaning, or using the little Mama's room. Still, we have a lot of fun. She LOVES being outdoors too, which means I now have a legitimate reason for blowing bubbles - hooray! 
I really think I was put here to be a Mum. I love it so much. Every morning when I wake up I feel at peace, and it's such a lovely feeling.

That being said, lately I've been struggling with a bit of an identity crisis of sorts. I feel like I've become a housewife and Mother and that there is little more to me. Not that I have a problem with that personally, but when someone asks me what I do I get that "...oh" response when I tell them. That or "Don't you get bored?!" - um, yeah, I have the time to be bored when? Before Ellie I was the gamer, the geek and the animal carer. "That crazy bunny lady" or "that geeky chick". Now all of a sudden I don't have the time for video games and I'm no longer working, so now I'm just "Rei's wife" and "Ellie's Mama". I feel that I've lost a little of who I was in peoples eyes. Is that what growing is? I'm not sure really. I love being who I am now, but I loved who I was before, and I still feel I am the person I was pre-baby, but maybe that part of me is lying a little dormant for now.

The most amazing thing about motherhood for me is the awesome friends I've made since becoming a Mum. I always heard that people became less social after a baby, and I worried that if that were true then I was pretty much going to be a total recluse afterward, considering how socially inept I was before Ellie. It's actually been the total opposite for me. I joined a mothers group and I have become friends with the most wonderful group of women and their bubs. We're all so diverse, but we just seem to mesh so well together. 

I am very happy with how life has changed for me in the last 14 months in general. Life is very wonderful, and I am very blessed to be where I am.

A little kindness

A couple of weeks ago I created an event on Facebook called 'A Little Kindness'. The basic idea is that for a week we give some love back to the world by spending the first six days doing one good deed and sharing one kind word with someone else, and one the seventh day give one good deed and one kind word to yourself. The idea sprung from my love of Ellie, and how much I want a better, kinder world for her to grow up in.
I invited my friends. They invited their friends, and now, on the first day of the week we have almost 200 people injecting some love back into the world and sharing stories of things they have done.
I have the warm fuzzies in such a huge way! I honestly thought people would be uninterested, or just join and not actually do anything, but it's only 11:12am, and there are posts already!
If you are interested in joining, please click the link below.

A Little Kindness on Facebook

Faith in humanity - Restored!

Okay, seriously now...

I am going to start using this thing, damnit. The internet needs me! I always start these things with very good intentions, but now follow through. I must admit, I have been using my other blog some, but I think the world may prefer my more light hearted side that has less talk about ovaries, periods and general icky girl stuff.

So this post occurs a bit over a month after Ellie's 1st birthday (which we had a Mad Hatters Tea Party for, and let me tell you, it was awesome!). It's amazing watching her grow and learn. The latest favourite thing to do is to hug things and say "Awwww!". The "Awww!" is also exclaimed when patting the animals and brushing her hair.

The playroom is almost ready to go. It's been a work in progress for the last couple of months, and now all it needs is some paint (we're going with blue and sponging on some clouds, and then painting on a chalkboard up one wall), some cute light fittings and some toy boxes. And then we'll fill it with all her toys and it will look constantly like an atomic bomb testing area, rather than the beautiful room I had in mind. I'm sure that she'll love it though. And I'll have somewhere brand new to keep tidy.

If you follow my other blog, you'll also know that we are trying to conceive another baby, but as yet, no success. I'm telling myself that it will happen by the end of the year. Optimism is fun, although some days it leaves me wanting to beat my head against a wall. We did get a new bed this last week though, so now we have somewhere fun to make a baby. Hooray! Once the smell of memory foam off gas clears, I'm sure the bedroom will have a wonderful, romantic feel to it.

Also in the works is a veggie garden and some chooks for our backyard. Heaven knows we have the space for them, and there's something a bit special about picking your own vegetables and cooking with them. It will also be a great thing for Ellie to learn about. Plus, chickens are kinda cute, especially those fluffy ones.

Pilot Post.

I made this thing about six months or so ago, with very honest intentions of writing here often. That has worked out rather well thus far. Although it's probably best that I didn't begin back then, or this thing would have been full of sleep deprived Mummy posts, which would not have been pretty at all.
So, here I am. I'm a month and a bit away from my daughters 1st birthday. I can scarcely believe it's been almost a year since this whole 'stay-at-home-Mama' thing began. It's also almost been a year since my poor vagina became a vaganus for a brief period of time, and just now it's starting to feel somewhat normal again.
And isn't that just a beautiful introduction to a blog. Don't you all feel like you know me just a little too much now? Lovely, isn't it?
In truth, I'm not the sort of person to give things a glossing over if that's not how I view them. If you were looking for a pretty, happy, positive little blog about how beautiful Motherhood is, you'd do best to look elsewhere. While I will post about things that are all of the above, I'll also post about the realities - the poo explosions, the tiredness so extreme you consider sticking your head in a blender, the lovely vomit all over that gorgeous outfit you planned to wear out, the times you look at your partner and seriously weigh up the consequences of homicide, the vaganus (come on, it's a fun word, try to use it in a sentence today!).
Please don't misunderstand. I adore my daughter. She is the light of my husband and I's life. But not everything is as rosy as some people make it out to be.
Who will want to read about all this. Um, yeah, probably no one. In part I'm making this to share my experiences, but it's also to make my head a clearer place.

So I guess in the pilot episode you get to know the characters, and where everyone fits in. And I guess the obvious person to start that with is;
Me

Yup, just imagine me typing every blog entry with this look on my face. Hellooooooooooo internet.
I'm a 29 years old. Born in country NSW (that Australia for you international types), currently living in the grand city of Melbourne. Before I was a Mum, I was an animal attendant at a vet clinic, which I loved. I am a huge animal lover, and I'm rather passionate about animal welfare. Currently we share our home with three house rabbits, two cats and a Newfoundland dog.
I'm also very geeky, crazy about video games and general nerdiness. I met my husband on the MMORPG World of Warcraft.
I radiate sarcasm. My sarcasm could probably power a small European country. I love to laugh, even at myself. Actually, that should probably say often at myself.
I'm relaxed, it takes a lot to offend me generally speaking, although there are a few touchy subjects. I'm just learning now how to love myself and not constantly put myself down. I am my worst critic.
I also have a pretty awesome husband.

Rei

Sorry ladies, he's taken.
Rei and I met, as I mentioned above, on World of Warcraft. We were pretty good friends, and after about a year of playing together, I went to Sydney to visit him. About 8 months after that, he moved to Melbourne to be with me. Awesome choice I think, personally. All that was six years ago. We were married in September of 2010.

And by October, our little lady La was on the way.
Rei currently works managing a store while studying accounting. His original plan was to be an Psychiatrist, but he hated it and left university with only a semester to go.
He too is a massive geek. Probably more so than me. He's certainly smarter than me, he has a brain full of the most random knowledge. He loves his video games, and can generally be found playing an FPS of some description when he has spare time.
Our relationship is full of laughter. We actually find it hard to argue because one of us always ends up laughing, which makes the other laugh. Things aren't perfect, and I won't ever pretend they are, but we are crazy about each other, and we're best friends. Even when he does roll over in the middle of the night and snore in my ear.

Ellie

The very reason for this blog. Our little LaLa (she got that nickname because when she was just born she'd make a little "La" sound right before she cried). It's amazing that such a small body already holds such huge personality. She has such a sense of humor, she's always laughing, she has a temper like her Mum and is as stubborn as her Dad. She's been the biggest, most wonderful test of our relationship, and a neverending source of pride and amazement. Miss Ellie Jade.

The noises from the monitor tell me that Ellie is awake, so I'll have to leave it here. Welcome to my blog. I really do hope that you enjoy reading what I have to say and if you don't, i hope you'll enjoy arguing with me about why I'm wrong.