Bye Bye USA. Thanks for the memories!

We are heading home.

For those reading this blog for the first time, Welcome! We have spent the past six months living in Washington DC in the USA after Mr Jones was seconded onto a project over here.

We have loved every minute of it.

BC (before children) we lived in London for two years.  We had an amazing time and travelled all over Europe.  After returning to Australia and being grown ups (aka buying a house, renovating, buying a business, having kids etc), we never thought we would have the opportunity to work overseas again.

This has been the most incredible experience and one we will never forget and always cherish.

Living in another country with kids is different to living overseas with no kids. Hey, who am I kidding, living ANYWHERE with kids is different to no kids!

I was a little apprehensive before coming here.  I am blessed to have an amazing support network close by in Australia and coming to another country, living in a small apartment with my little boys by my side every minute of every day, seven days a week was pretty daunting (patience is not one of my strengths although I wish wish wish it were).

However, it has been fine.  There have been days that if I had to explain one more time a) picking your nose spreads germs b) putting your hands down your pants isn't nice manners c) we eat our food sitting up at the table, not upside down or d) ask for a tissue instead of wiping your snot on the couch, I would have lost the will to live but hey, that's just parenting in general.  Doesn't matter where in the world you are.

WHAT I HAVE LOVED

• Seeing a new country through the eyes of my boys
• The people I have met
• Weekly cleaning service (I haven't cleaned a toilet in six months - what a bloody treasure that has been)
• Having an ozone layer
• No water restrictions
• Being immersed in the 'day to day'
• Discovering this incredibly diverse and amazing country

WHAT I HAVE MISSED

• Friends and family
• My coffee machine
• My pillow
• Our house

So long USA, thank you for welcoming us and showing us your amazing personality.  I love your patriotism, I love how proud you are, I love your sunny disposition, I love your celebrations and your positive outlook.

I'm taking a bit of all that back to Australia with me. 


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Image courtesy of www.stockfreeimages.com

2013 goals: better late than never!

I'm not a big one for New Years Resolutions but I do like to have goals.

I also like to have plans on how to achieve those goals.  However, it's all very well to make plans (I am a planner afterall) but plans change.

2012 is a fine example of this.  I did not know at the beginning of 2012 that I would end the year living in Washington DC.  That was an AWESOME change of plans.

So lets just stick to the goals for now. 

Top 5 goals for 2013 (good lists come in 5's!)

1. Go back to the paid workforce
This is probably my number 1 goal for this year.  I would like to find a role I am passionate about in vocational teaching or marketing part time.

2. Complete and maintain The 5kg mission
It's taking awhile but I am slowly (and healthily) chipping away at it. Those last 5kg are always the hardest.

3. Write 40 posts on my blog
I am loving writing my blog and would like to continue to improve my writing and keep it regular, light hearted and interesting.

4. Renovations
Mr Jones and I have great plans for finishing off a few things around our house this year - the backyard, downstairs wet areas and family room.

5. Breathe
I forget to breathe.  I don't mean literally (I don't have some weird condition where I forget to breathe - that would be..... bad) but I really need to just take more deep breaths each and every day. Breathe before I react. Breathe at the end of a hard day. Just breathe.

Just puttin' it out there.

There is something so accountable about writing it down.



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Image courtesy of www.stockfreeimages.com

The "Where do babies come from?" conversation

Just after I had Master 1, Master 4 was sitting on my knee just chatting and completely out of the blue he says "How did Master 1 get into your tummy?"

Oh S**t.

I wasn't prepared.

He caught me off guard.

"Ummm, well, ummm...he just grew there"

"But how did he get IN there" he says

A million things run through my head.  It needs to be age appropriate, don't traumatise him, don't say something lame like the stork bought him or we found him in the cabbage patch or ask your Daddy.  Ok, deep breath, THINK OF SOMETHING GOOD TO SAY

"Wellllll....he grew from a little egg" 

Pause.  

I am waiting for his short attention span to take over and for him to start talking in detail about what shape his poo was this morning or something... please....anything. I'm not ready for this yet.

I can see his little brain ticking over and he is looking at me expectantly.  I contemplate distracting him but I know he won't let it go so here it goes...

"Mummy has lots of little eggs inside her and he grew from one of those eggs into a baby"

Please let that be enough

He is thinking thinking thinking

"Can I eat those eggs?"

No my son, you cannot.

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He was quite happy with this response and for quite a while proceeded to ask every female he met whether she had "eggs inside her" followed by "but you can't eat them, you know"

Image courtesy of www.stockfreeimages.com

Technology has replaced "I spy"

BC (before children), I would look at parents in restaurants whose children were playing hand held games and say to Mr Jones indignantly "Why don't they have a conversation with their children, instead of playing video games at the dinner table? When we have kids, we won't be doing that".

I was such an extraordinary parent before I had kids.

Recently we took a long weekend and went to New York City on the train.  It is a four hour journey. It's a nice ride because you can look out the window and see lots of interesting things as well as being able to get up and move around.


This is what our train journey to New York looked like:

No looking out the window, no seeing interesting things and no moving around.

When I was young, we went on lots and lots of driving holidays.  We drove from Melbourne to Queensland and across the Nullarbor a few times to Perth.  We had some amazing adventures and saw some pretty cool stuff.

On these long drives, my brother and sister and I would play family car games, listen to Dad's "Australian" tapes (I can recite 'The Man From Snowy River' - its my thang), sleep, eat Fantails, read, annoy each other, listen to books on tape (remember the Disney ones that you followed along with a book and the music chimed each time you had to turn the page!), stare out the window for hours watching the scenery go by and of course play "I spy".

We had no DVD players, hand held game units, iPhones or iPads.  

This is not a "it's not like the good ole days" rant because if DVD players and iPads were available back in the "olden days", my siblings and I would have been all over that.

Now, before handing over the electronic devices, we did try to engage Master 4 in a game of "I spy".  He hasn't quite grasped the idea that you have to be able to "see it" in order for us to guess.  So once we have exhausted all the obvious things beginning with "T" (train, tractor, tracks, trees), we are also guessing every other word that he has in his vocabulary beginning with "T" (T-Rex, tiger, trampoline, trumpet etc).  Consequently, he thinks we are pretty crap at it.

In my book, any thing that I can use to my advantage to make my life as a parent just that bit more bearable on a long journey is fine by me.

Did I think that I would hand over the technology so easily?

No.

But I'm over being hoighty toighty and judgemental about it.  

To technology I say...


Bring it.

The 5kg mission: Week 5 & 6

It's been six weeks of The 5kg mission.  

Follow the mission here:
The 5kg mission: The 5 step plan
The 5kg mission: Weeks 1 & 2
The 5kg mission: Weeks 3 & 4

Week 5, I lost 1.3kg

Week 6, I lost 300g

GOOD STUFF

I've really got into a rhythm this last two weeks and am feeling pretty happy with the results.  I know the equation - Calories in less than calories out.  It's working and I am sticking to it.

I have dropped a size and I bought a new pair of pants to celebrate.  Felt good about buying pants for the first time in a couple of years.

CHALLENGES

The results are directly correlated to the kind of week I have food wise.  There doesn't seem to be much give and take.  Calorie blowout = butt blowout.

For example:

Week 5 was really low key.  I ate at home every day and my exercise was great.  I saw the results.

Week 6 my parents arrived from Australia and it was Christmas.  I ate out more, had more nibbles, more alcohol, dessert and bigger portions.  The results were less.

I am finding the balance of achieving my goal and just living and enjoying my food really conflicting.

Poor Mr Jones.  I know he is finding my constant "Do you know how many calories are in that?", just before he enjoys his mouthful of blueberry muffin, really annoying.

I don't blame him.

That is annoying.

Note to self: try not to annoy husband with stupid calorie references.

Anyway, gotta focus on the positives right?

Boy, this process is a roller coaster ride!

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Image courtesy of www.stockfreeimages.com