8/52

I know my blogging has slowed down a bit since Christmas. Words swirl around inside my head, but I rarely find a moment to commit them to the screen, and often by the time I do I have moved on from the emotions I felt at the time.

I can say that this past week I have felt very tired. In fact, it seemed more difficult than the previous week when Rob was away and I was on my own with the girls. Perhaps I expected this week to be easier. Rob often quotes to me, "expectation is the path to disappointment", and perhaps I shouldn't expect the work/home/commuting/parenting gig just to fall into place after a certain number of weeks.

Weariness let doubt creep in. Doubt about how I was doing at work. Doubt about how I handled cluster feeding all night long. Doubt about ways we could fix it.

Friday was a day at home for me, so I did the bare minimum, fed and cleaned up the babies. Skipped a shower for myself and just rested as often as I could. I even managed to get both girls to settle themselves to sleep in their cots for a long afternoon nap. Instead of rushing off to do something, or look at my phone, I followed suit and rested on the bed too.

I know I'll look back one day and will struggle to remember what I thought was so hard. But in the midst of it, that day seems a very long way away indeed.

Ok back to the photos. I have wanted to take photos of the girls in the bath during the day because of the way the light bounces of the tiles and the bath itself. We are lucky that they seem to enjoy bath time at the moment.



Maggie: No matter how many times we pour water over her head, she still expresses some surprise and distaste for the situation!
Elisabeth: I love the sweetness in her expression as she looks at what Maggie is up to.

Joining in with the 52 portrait project at Jodi's blog Practising Simplicity.

Checking in.

After my blogging bonanza in December things have slowed back down in January. Perhaps it was the lazy summer days; our month of holiday together before we both headed back spent relaxing with no deadlines.

My birthday was lovely. 35 years young. It was spent with just us. After Rob cooked my birthday request for a hot breakfast (fried ham, eggs, tomatoes and bread), we headed to a local nursery so Rob could pick out some plants for my garden. Rob has quite rightly taken ownership of my flower garden, I have not contributed a great deal the past two years, for one (or two) reason or another! So he has revised our planting, as the bulbs are two infrequent for reliable flower colour, he has picked out some perennials to add foliage and flowers too.

Back in the car (after dropping off the plants and a nappy change!), we he headed to the new Apple Shed at Grove for lunch. We snacked on a cheese and charcuterie platter (actually the girls mostly!) and tasted a range of the Willie Smith ciders. 

We are amazed at how the girls behave when eating out. They really enjoy themselves! After a quick wake us up coffee we continued on to Franklin for boxes of apricots and peaches, then onto Red Velvet lounge at Cygnet for more coffee and cake. We headed home to nap before a simple salad for dinner and a bottle of Jansz. A perfect day.

My return to work was fine. Both Rob and I have a few things to fine tune to ensure dinner and bed time doesn't run too late, but we'll sort that out. I am trying online grocery ordering. So at worst we just need to stop at the butcher. My first day was busy, adjusting to my job share situation, finding out what did and didn't happen over the past year, and getting used to our new digs on the Hobart waterfront. I enjoy my morning walk from the car park to work, but the afternoon can be warm (that won't be an issue for long), and of course  I am tired and want to get home. 

After two work days, we had four days off together. We went shopping (for a proper backpack for me!), had taco picnic in a park, took the girls for a walk at Trial bay, visited family up north for a day and today was a quiet day at home hiding from the heat. 

The breezeway was the place to be, with all six of us lazing on the cool concrete floor. Until the girls discovered the dog water bowl for the first time. This resulted in a taste test, eww! After a lot of splashing a change of clothes was needed!

Back to work for me tomorrow and Wednesday, then Rob returns on Thursday and Friday, when it will be back to just the girls and I for the first time in six weeks!

Hope you enjoyed your long weekends too.