10 Days of Parenthood

It has only been 10 days so far, but it feels like months.  So much has happened in the last fortnight.

Pregnancy was a very gradual experience, but becoming a parent has been a bit of a leap into the unknown.  As our baby grows, so do we.  A very steep learning curve.

The labour itself was very long and somewhat painful… but as I have often heard from mothers who have done it more than once, memories of it are already beginning to fade.  The C-section came as a huge relief in the end.

I spent the first night with the tiny munchkin sleeping on my chest -  precious first hours.  The few nights were not so good, the hungry little thing seemed to want to feed all night.

Breast feeding has been the most challenging aspect. Am I doing it right?  Is she getting enough?  Sore breasts and nipples… and a very unsettled non-sleeping young lass for the first few nights when the milk was yet to come in.

Since then life has been on a hour by hour basis, revolving around her sleeping and feeding times.  But so far we seemed to have been blessed with a beautiful, healthy and mostly good sleeper. Knock on wood.

Here are a few photos of our adventures so far:

Favourite past times – resting/napping/sleeping.

Thank you Geordie and Sophie for the Wrap Me Up swaddle, it makes her look like a little angel!

 

 

Hanging out with some visitors.  Aunty Lynn & Cousin James (left), Daniella (below left) and Geoff (Below right).

 

 

 

 

Stepping out with Daddy for some furniture shopping. 

It’s all about who you know

 

The Expendables: 2.5/5

Cast: Sylvester Stallone (Rocky 1-6), Jason Statham (Transporter 1-3), Jet Li (Once Upon a Time in China 1-3) + other miscellaneous ageing former cult action stars.

In a nutshell: Laughable, but strangely entertaining

Synopsis: A highly skilled band of mercenaries are hired to assassinate the dictator of a small South American Island.

The acting, the plot, the action, the editing, the script and the directing are suspect all round.  And yet, with the cast that Sly has managed to gather and the tongue-in-cheek tact he has taken, you can’t help but enjoy yourself.

Mmm… Jake’s abs

Prince of Persia: 3.25/5

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain), Gemma Arterton (Quantam of Solace), Ben Kingsley (Ghandi), Alfred Molina (Frida, Spiderman 2)

In a nutshell: More action packed than the original platform game

Synopsis: We follow the quest of Dastan, resourceful and hunky street urchin –come- adopted Prince of Persia as he fights to prove his innocence following the death of the King, find the culprit, protect an ancient dagger, woo the girl and of course save the world.

Action packed from start to finish with the occasional cheeky one-liner thrown in for good measure, this is simply a fun outing at the cinema.  The occasional Parkour moves, jumping from building to building, and the swinging from strategically placed rods of the hero, took me back to my teenage days of playing the game on the pc.  Gyllenhaal, the thinking woman’s piece of candy, is more buff than usual and quite charming to listen to with his passable British accent.  While Arterton makes a good antagonist and, I’m sure the guys will agree, is not bad to look at either.  Kingsley and Molina are good in their supporting roles as always, although perhaps Kingsley was a little subtle for my tastes.  It does not take rocket science to figure out the story line, but the action, humour and richness of Persia created make up for it.  I would definitely watch it again, if only to see Jake’s abs.

Cursed with ALDH deficiency

Firstly HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY CLARE!

Sitting at home on a Saturday night feeling sorry for myself and getting teary over Two Weeks Notice (sad sad case).

Tonight was all set to be a huge night… going out to celebrate the young and totally glamourous Clare’s 30th birthday.  Was all dressed up and looking hot (well, about as hot as Gayle can look). Instead I was stupid, had half a glass of champagne, ended up feeling dodgey and went home early leaving everyone else to party on.  Such a wuss. So disappointing.

 

I can’t drink.  Evidence item 1 – our trip to York a couple of years ago. According to foodreactions.org:

“The commonest abnormal reaction to alcohol is seen in persons from an oriental background, who get flushing, increased heart rate, and symptoms of reduced blood pressure. This is sometimes referred to as 'oriental flushing syndrome'. Approximately 50% of Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans are deficient in ALDH, and this has been reported to be protective against the development of alcoholism.”

Where Aldehyde Dehydrogenase (ALDH) is an enzyme that is needed to metabolise the alcohol into acetic acid (vinegar).

 

Turns out I must get hit by this a little more than the average Oriental.  When drinking I go ridiculously pink, my heart races abnormally, sometimes I feel like I’m going to faint, and on some occasions I have.  As a result I think I have developed some paranoia about fainting which makes me panic at any sign of fainting which makes it even more likely!

 

Feeling very left out of all the fun, and I have no one to blame but myself.  You think I would grow up and be more responsible after 33 years.  I guess you could say it is giving into peer pressure… sometimes it is just not fun to be the only sober person surrounded by drunk people.

 

Upside is I got home early, definitely feeling somewhat less nauseous, and have been entertained by some faraway friends on Skype.

 

I also have to admit to having had a gorgeous day with Clare and her beautiful friends on a day trip to Hepburn Springs.  Relaxing in mineral baths/spas followed up by Devonshire tea… what a perfect day.  Didn’t get any photos of the girls (my antiquated camera has been dropped one too many times), but I did get a  photo of the place.  Thanks for including me in the fun girls.  And Clare, hope you had a really special day and night.  Can’t wait to make it up to you with some partying in Melbourne some time soon. xoxo

 

So Hot Right Now…

Well, my promise to blog every day didn’t last  very long, did it.  But more than once in one week is a good start at least :)

Summer is finally here!  After getting up week after week at 6am in pitch black, doing exercise in the dark in a cold sweat with freezing cold hands and whinging continually about it, I’m now complaining about how hot it is.

Perhaps if I think cold thoughts….

Here are some photos from my sister’s Hen’s night at Chill On Ice Bar in Melbourne.

I remember we couldn’t wait to get out of the bar, it was too cold, counting down the seconds till the end of our allocated 30 minutes! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The start of a new regime

So glad summer is here.  Definitely makes getting up at 6am in the morning for exercise easier.  Gets me all excited to get back to doing stuff like waking up (only marginally more likely to happen), going out for a drink, catching up with friends, going for a bike ride… and maybe even updating the blog.

Going to attempt something unheard of here… will try to update each day, even if it is with just a random photo.  Afterall I have about 18 months worth of photos that I still haven’t blogged.

Here’s one now, a rememberance of Autumn now long past.

Little Rant

It's almost 2am in the morning, and I'm up procrastinating and trying to write a report for work. That's f%$&'d up. What am I doing??

It's times like these when any random thought is interesting. Pigging out on Cadbury Black Forest chocoloate...mmm... those chewy cherry bits are so yummy. Starting to feel a bit ill though.

Thinking that I should get over my aversion to jumping on the bandwagon, and start posting photos on Facebook. But then does that almost make this blog redundant? Barely write in it nowadays, no one might notice if I stopped writing it anyway. It's the need to blog well that prevents me from writing more often. Should just get over it and get into the habit of writing frequently.... even if half the time it is rubbish.

Work sucks a bit at the moment. Too much to do in too little time. Think I just need to take some holidays. Over the last 9 months, have taken 1 day of leave and 2 halves of an RDO... probably starting to take its toll now. Should use up some leave.

Bit over having long hair too. But it takes so long to grow, seems a shame to cut it all off. Just had it trimmed... so that should last me another 2-3 months. Then maybe I'll cut it for summer.

Looking forward to the snow. It has been too long since me and my sweet board have been on the powder. The thought of hitting the slopes always makes me both excited and scared. I know the risk of injury is not exactly small... sometimes I wonder why we enjoy it so much. $96 for a one day lift pass... ridiculous! Perhaps it's the beautiful scenery. Maybe it's the exercise. Don't like the speed so much.... wuss.

Hmmm... better get working... have to be up in 4 hours.....

One of the things I miss most about the UK...

The large concentration of Take That fans.

I miss hearing Take That songs regularly on commercial radio, and DJ's actually being excited about playing Take That songs.

Sometimes I feel very lonely here in Australia in my love for Take That. I have been listening to their latest album 'The Circus' and really enjoying it. Perhaps it is a little more 'easy listening' than modern pop, a little closer to what Gary Barlow was writing when he was solo and had no sucess with (just goes to show how well marketing works and the subtleties of it all). Still, I think it's a pretty decent album.

In the UK it was the fastest selling album this decade and second fastest ever, selling 1 million copies in 19 days. It went 6 times platinum in the UK and apparently was the 27th best selling album in the world in 2008.

And yet, I have heard next to nothing about it in Australia.

I'm in Love!

2.5 years ago....

No, that wasn't the last time I blogged, although I must admit that it is not too far off...

An extremely thoughtful group of friends gave me an wonderful birthday present of contributing towards a new bicycle and accessories. After quite a number of months... no, years of procrastinating and waiting for the right moment, my trusty old Shogun Trailbreaker 3 finally started to show signs of wanting to retire.

Thus, behold my new Giant CRX3 (2008 model):

I cannot begin to say Thankyou enough to my generous friends.

She is just beautiful.

After a couple of months of bike shopping, wanting a mountain bike, then being convinced by a salesman to get a hybrid, and being adamant that I definitely did not want a road bike because I needed to be able to ride off roads sometimes, I ended up getting a flat bar roadbike. The guys at Lygon Cycles helped me out with a great deal and set me up with all the necessary accessories.

She rides like a dream. Although I must admit that I never realised that Melbourne had so many badly repaired roads before. Every bump in the road has me worried about my newest love.

But I have made the 20km ride out to the east, complete with two heavy panniers, and so far, no problems at all. Just have to get used to going so fast!

*sigh* - I really couldn't be happier with my new purchase. To you special persons, Thanks again for the Birthday Present! It's perfect.

It's been ages since I've been to the movies, but here are a couple from way back....

Bolt 3D: 3.5/5

Cast: John Travolta (voice)

In a nutshell: The hamster is a pisser. A lot of fun.

Brief Synopsis: Movie star dog who thinks he really has super powers goes on a road trip.

Saw this one in 3D and it was amazing! Gone are the cardboard glasses with the red and blue celophane that you only use for 5 minutes of the movie. These were proper plastic glasses that we used for the WHOLE movie! Even the trailers for up and coming 3D movies, and they were also all in 3D. Anyway, to the movie - great characters and an interesting story line. A bit like ice age for me in that one of the side characters (ie. Scrat in Ice Age and the hamster here) steals the show. Worth a watch, especially in 3D if you have the opportunity.

Bride Wars: 2.5/5

Cast: Kate Hudson (How to lose a guy in 10 days), Anne Hathaway (Rachel Gets Married, The devil wears Prada)

In a Nutshell: Silly and corny, but sorta fun

Brief Synopsis: Best friends have dreamt of the perfect wedding for years, but when their weddings are accidentally booked on the same date, and furious war of sabotage ensues.

Before you set a foot inside the cinema you know what you are going to get with this movie, and so it does not fail to deliver, nor does it exceed expectations in any way. A bit of girly silliness, mostly predictable, nothing particularly special.

Festiveness

A very Happy Week-in-between-Christmas-and-New Year's to You All!

Hope you are all enjoying cheer and relaxation over this festive season.

I am working my way through, but having two days off plus a weekend was just heavenly. Spent it at my parents house, eating, sleeping, shopping, gaming and watching various dvd's. Extremely unproductive and extremely bad for the waistline, but a perfect way to see in the new year!

Looking forward to seeing some of you on NYE, and the rest of you in the new year. Meanwhile, here are some reviews for some movies from some big heavy weight directors:


Movie Reviews

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 4/5

Cast: Brad Pitt (Fight Club, Thelma & Louise), Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth, Little Fish)

In a nutshell: Delightful and touching with a little dash of weird

Brief Synopsis: Follows the life of a boy who is born an old man but grows younger as the years go by.

David Fincher certainly has talent. With a long list of brilliant and versatile movies such as Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac, Panic Room, he can add this one to the list. Most will probably disagree, but it reminded me a bit of Forrest Gump... without the annoying voice. Follows the life of someone with a disability who manages to make the most of it and encounter both challenges and triumphs on their way. Both Blanchett and Pitt are beautiful in the movie, both in their demeanour and their physicality. There are points at which you can only stare and admire. A touching tale with some lovely characters. I'm not all that sure that Brad Pitt deserves an Oscar for this role, his turn in Burn after Reading was more impressive, but then playing a character with a disability or a quirk is always a good start.


Australia 3.25/5

Cast: Hugh Jackman (X-Men, ), Nicole Kidman (The Hours, Dead Calm) and an healthy supply some of Australian's best actors

In a nutshell: Disappointing and a little lost, but still worth a watch

Brief Synopsis: Pre World War II, a proper English Lady inherits a cattle farming property in the NT and with the help of a very handsome Drover must drive 2,000 head of cattle up to Darwin in order beat the bad guys.

With such high expectations of the new Baz Luhrmann movie, there was bound to be disappointment. How could you go wrong with a heady combination of Baz, Nic and Hugh, joined by Australian stalwarts such as Bryan Brown, David Wenham, Jack Thompson?

Unfortunately there is a lot of show, but not so much substance. Baz's signature surrealism is a mismatch for the great sweeping epic that this movie tries to be. It is beautiful in parts but tacky in others. Trying to fit so much into two and a half hours the actors and the story suffer. There is a disjoint in the middle and it feels like two movies have been stuck together.

The characters are stereotypical and superficial. Brown and Wenham could have been so good, but are wasted as token bad guys. Jackman and Kidman seem to have no chemistry, but that is no surprise given their relationship goes from antagonism to full blown love in a matter of seconds. There is talk of how bad Nicole was, in fact she was rather annoying, but I tend to blame this on the bad script and poor plot development for her character.

Having said all this, it is still a very pretty movie, and certainly shows off the beauty of the Australian Outback. Brandon Walters is a standout as Nullah, the Aboriginal boy who follows the two main characters on their journey across the Top End.

Burn after Reading 4.25/5

Cast: Frances McDormand (Fargo), Brad Pitt (Mr & Mrs Smith), George Clooney (O Brother, Where art thou?) , John Malkovich (Being John Malkovich), Tilda Swinton (The curious case of Benjamin Button)

In a nutshell: Quirkily excellent

Brief Synopsis: Two gym employees find a disk containing the memoirs of an ex CIA agent and attempt to sell it.


Quirk done well is my favourite type of movie, and the Cohen Brothers do it so right. Not for everyone, it is not over the top funny, and it is not overly dramatic, rather it is very very very amusing. McDormand and Pitt are brilliant in their roles, and the rest of the cast is fab. Put in a bit of thought, revel in the glory of this tangled web of stupidity, and you will be truly rewarded.