Of life and love and everything else in between...
As my good friend, Twerp, used to say: "Eye god eh lanning node" *sniff* My first pressie from baby...
Life is melbourne is best described as a slice of quiet, sandwiched by bustling mummy-dom. It is time and energy consuming to say the least. That slice of quiet is slowly becoming thinner and thinner as baby gets older and more active. Boy, am i glad that she is still napping regularly and bedtime has been regulated (9pm and the little one starts to zone out, yay!). The initial euphoria (or was it hysteria, or fear? Hmmm can't remember now. Think pregnancy amnesia has not abated) has dissipated and now i am truly facing the grind of the daily melbournean(?) life. With the wintery gales blowing outside and baby's cold, baby and i are pretty much stuck at home while wilk goes to school. I dress sloppily, hair all messed up and has my shirt pretty much covered in baby drool and mucous (so no point getting all dressed up in the first place right?). The day is spent according to baby's routine of feeding, bathing, cleaning, playing and sleeping. I try to fit in some personal time when she goes to zz-zz land for some quality "Me" time but usually, those periods are spent completing housework or vegging out infront of my computer, with the TV doing running commentary of whatever show they have on (sometimes it can be something engaging like a nice documentary, then i am in luck).
That's life in short. Simple, quiet and minimal fuss. I know i ought to start doing 'more' (hmmm.. baking??) but for now, i am quite contented to just sort of 'drift' awhile. Quite a drastic change from my daily fire-fighting (email lambasting) days of yore, at work. I do miss the adult interactions, esp my buddies from work etc but i get my dose of it from FB, twitter, MSN daily on cyberspace. If i really want to see anyone, there's also skype but i try not to (see the above regarding 'sloppy'). Actually, now that i am not working and being busy outside of the house, i actually get to chat with more people that falls outside my usual zone of interaction (workplace), which is not too bad as well.
Seriously though... the only thing i really sort of 'miss' is perhaps the financial independence i've had while i was working. Not that i earned a lot (people in the voluntary welfare sector can attest to that) but since i am not an extravagent spender (mostly meals and movies), i do get by quite well with my modest disposable income every month. And when baby comes along, i delighted in scouring through various buying sprees organized on forums for things that might be useful or nice for her (playmat, baby cream etc). But i will be more hesitant to indulge in that now. Actually, i didnt miss the money much when we got here. Sure, we are both not working but we have set aside a fair amount of money (ok, enough la) for our lives here, at least to cover us for 2-3yrs (if we are careful with it). And with my virtually non-existent personal spending habit (serious! Ask wilk!), i didnt feel much of the pinch when the income stopped coming in.
BUT.. and this is a big BUT, i did feel that sour, bitter feeling of not having the option of spending money as i please (as and when i like) when i find having to stop myself from several purchases, which i otherwise would have made if i am still working, for baby. Toys that she might have liked (or not, but it doesn't matter), clothings, furnitures, cutesy bedlinen (they cost a fortune!) etc. I have weight each purchases against our budget, the necessity of the item and look for cheaper alternatives. So, while we are by no means poor and i am pretty comfortable personally, sometimes it made me uncomfortable and sometimes a bit sad to think that perhaps that we may not be able to provide the best in everything for the baby. But then, at the end of the day, i just have to remind myself that not all things that are worthwhile and good, can be equated to a price tag. Baby still get her fair share of toys and clothings, just that we buy them from sales and i am most grateful when friends/family send gifts or gift cards.
Initially, there is that tiny grain of 'pride' that makes me wonder if i am receiving 'charity' because of our circumstances but then, i am not ashamed of where we are now because it is a conscientious choice we've made which we had prepared ourselves for. Well-meaning gifts from friends and family shouldn't be seen as charity. I always think that people will pity you, only if you pity yourself. So while its true that baby may not have tons of toys and pretty clothes, but i don't think she will grow to think that she has less than her peers because i certainly don't think that she has less. Hey, like my brother said, its 'character-building'! Well, i truly hope that then she will be gifted with a good character, a strong spirit and a loving heart above all else.
Life is melbourne is best described as a slice of quiet, sandwiched by bustling mummy-dom. It is time and energy consuming to say the least. That slice of quiet is slowly becoming thinner and thinner as baby gets older and more active. Boy, am i glad that she is still napping regularly and bedtime has been regulated (9pm and the little one starts to zone out, yay!). The initial euphoria (or was it hysteria, or fear? Hmmm can't remember now. Think pregnancy amnesia has not abated) has dissipated and now i am truly facing the grind of the daily melbournean(?) life. With the wintery gales blowing outside and baby's cold, baby and i are pretty much stuck at home while wilk goes to school. I dress sloppily, hair all messed up and has my shirt pretty much covered in baby drool and mucous (so no point getting all dressed up in the first place right?). The day is spent according to baby's routine of feeding, bathing, cleaning, playing and sleeping. I try to fit in some personal time when she goes to zz-zz land for some quality "Me" time but usually, those periods are spent completing housework or vegging out infront of my computer, with the TV doing running commentary of whatever show they have on (sometimes it can be something engaging like a nice documentary, then i am in luck).
That's life in short. Simple, quiet and minimal fuss. I know i ought to start doing 'more' (hmmm.. baking??) but for now, i am quite contented to just sort of 'drift' awhile. Quite a drastic change from my daily fire-fighting (email lambasting) days of yore, at work. I do miss the adult interactions, esp my buddies from work etc but i get my dose of it from FB, twitter, MSN daily on cyberspace. If i really want to see anyone, there's also skype but i try not to (see the above regarding 'sloppy'). Actually, now that i am not working and being busy outside of the house, i actually get to chat with more people that falls outside my usual zone of interaction (workplace), which is not too bad as well.
Seriously though... the only thing i really sort of 'miss' is perhaps the financial independence i've had while i was working. Not that i earned a lot (people in the voluntary welfare sector can attest to that) but since i am not an extravagent spender (mostly meals and movies), i do get by quite well with my modest disposable income every month. And when baby comes along, i delighted in scouring through various buying sprees organized on forums for things that might be useful or nice for her (playmat, baby cream etc). But i will be more hesitant to indulge in that now. Actually, i didnt miss the money much when we got here. Sure, we are both not working but we have set aside a fair amount of money (ok, enough la) for our lives here, at least to cover us for 2-3yrs (if we are careful with it). And with my virtually non-existent personal spending habit (serious! Ask wilk!), i didnt feel much of the pinch when the income stopped coming in.
BUT.. and this is a big BUT, i did feel that sour, bitter feeling of not having the option of spending money as i please (as and when i like) when i find having to stop myself from several purchases, which i otherwise would have made if i am still working, for baby. Toys that she might have liked (or not, but it doesn't matter), clothings, furnitures, cutesy bedlinen (they cost a fortune!) etc. I have weight each purchases against our budget, the necessity of the item and look for cheaper alternatives. So, while we are by no means poor and i am pretty comfortable personally, sometimes it made me uncomfortable and sometimes a bit sad to think that perhaps that we may not be able to provide the best in everything for the baby. But then, at the end of the day, i just have to remind myself that not all things that are worthwhile and good, can be equated to a price tag. Baby still get her fair share of toys and clothings, just that we buy them from sales and i am most grateful when friends/family send gifts or gift cards.
Initially, there is that tiny grain of 'pride' that makes me wonder if i am receiving 'charity' because of our circumstances but then, i am not ashamed of where we are now because it is a conscientious choice we've made which we had prepared ourselves for. Well-meaning gifts from friends and family shouldn't be seen as charity. I always think that people will pity you, only if you pity yourself. So while its true that baby may not have tons of toys and pretty clothes, but i don't think she will grow to think that she has less than her peers because i certainly don't think that she has less. Hey, like my brother said, its 'character-building'! Well, i truly hope that then she will be gifted with a good character, a strong spirit and a loving heart above all else.
