Being Momma G: Day 182

Dear Sean,

Happy Half Birthday to our darling little man!

Daddy and Momma can hardly believe how big you've grown, and how quickly time has flown!

In this month, you've achieved three major milestones:

* You've grown a tooth, with another well on its way.
* You've learned to roll over from your back to your tummy and on to your back again, unassisted!
* And you've also learned to sit up on your own without having to be supported!

What a clever little sausage you are!

Being Momma G: Day 153

After a few busy days, we had a day in today.

Sean was slowly but surely learning to sleep through the night. He woke once at 2.30am for a feed, and I did a bit better at staying awake this morning, dozing for only a few minutes. Jonathan moved Sean back to his bed and we all slept until 6am. Jonathan brought the little man into our bed and we had some cuddles for a while before we got up and had some breakfast. Jonathan left for work soon after, and Sean gobbled down the sweet potato, pear and rice cereal mix I prepared for him.

After Sean went down for his morning sleep, I settled in for a relaxing day at home. A load of laundry was washed and hung out on the line to dry, the cleaned laundry was put away, the dishwasher was loaded and later unloaded, the bed was made, and I even had time to wash my hair and have a long and luxurious hot shower. All because the little man slept for 3.5 hours. Yes, you read it correctly - Sean's morning nap turned into a big sleep!

Being Momma G: Day 152

Our little man is 5 months old!

In the past month, Sean has gotten taller and stronger and smarter, and much much much cheekier. The little man has started to recognise faces, and he grins and grins and grins when he sees his Daddy and his Mummy.

Sean is now on solids, having started eating real food a few weeks ago. Sean has been introduced to the delights of vegetables and fruit, and our hungry little man just gobbles up everything that is put in front of him. Every day, Sean gets 3 meals of solids, each meal consisting of 3 cubes of food and a tablespoon of rice cereal, and sometimes, he will thump the table as if he is asking for more! There is now a wide selection of vegetables and fruit to choose from, having sampled pumpkin, zucchini, carrot, sweet potato, apple and pear. I am having lots of fun making the food too!

Our little drooly monster is drooling more than ever. We are going through at least 5 bibs a day, and I seem to be washing all the bibs every second day! And we own a ridiculous number of bibs!

May 2011 In Pictures

Being Momma G: Day 121

Sean is 4 months old today!

Sean continues to amaze us with everything he does. He is such a good natured boy, who smiles and laughs and loves to play with people. Sean especially loves to smile at the ladies and then act coy, which makes the ladies melt and swoon and coo over him more. Such a cheeky little monkey.

The little man continues to grow stronger, and loves to stand up straight even more these days. Sean has been showing us that he wants to roll over by himself, but has yet to learn that having an arm in the way is hard to roll from his back to his tummy. Sean has almost rolled over by himself a number of times - once he learns to pin his arm flat against his side, then he'll be on his way.

Sean has become the biggest drool monster ever. We are pretty sure he's teething, as he has become the biggest fan of his hands and fingers, chewing on them at every opportunity. Jonathan and I have tried to help Sean out by putting our fingers in his mouth as chew toys, and are often surprised by how strong his bite is! We have nicknamed him Drooly McNeh, because he is full of drool and he makes this "Neh" sound when he's chattering to us. Sean is now going through at least 2 bibs a day with the incessant drooling.

April 2011 In Pictures

Being Momma G: Day 112

When in Hong Kong, one shops. And shops a lot.

Poor Jonathan. He's seen the inside of more shops on this trip than he had seen of important landmarks and tourist attractions! It was just as well then that today, there were things Jonathan wanted to buy as well.

After having breakfast with the family - another soul warming feast of congee and fried dough sticks, the men retreated to their rooms (Dad to his, Jonathan took Sean) and the ladies went into Zara and shopped for HOURS. I didn't even realise how long we were gone until I looked at my watch and realised why my boobs were so sore - Sean was well and truly overdue a feed! We tried on so many things, and in the end, I grabbed a couple of tops while Grace bought a pile of clothes. It helped that the clothes fit her - they don't make clothes for people my size (curvy).

While Sean was enjoying a feed, we contacted Carolyn to find out what time she was going to meet us at the hotel. It was close to lunch time, which meant she had had time to sleep in and have a lazy morning. Carolyn met up with us close to lunch time, and while we thought today was our "exclusive" day with Carolyn, it ended up being a day when Carolyn took all of us shopping.

The rest of the family were thinking about going out to lunch when Carolyn arrived at the hotel, and one thing led to another, and we all ended up at an eatery for lunch. We sat down and ordered our meals, and amongst the many things that we ordered were a few tall glasses of Hong Kong style ice tea. I was looking forward to having one of these, and eagerly grabbed the spoon to start mashing down the lemon slices in the tea to infuse the lemon juice even more.

One mash saw the glass flying across the glass topped table and the tea spilling all over my jeans. Sweet, sticky, lemony ice tea. Yum.

I was so embarrassed. I should have held the glass with one hand while I was trying to mash the lemon slices. Any kid could have told you that this whole process needed both hands, yet I was so eager to get to my glass of ice tea that I forgot the cardinal rule - hold the damn glass!

Luckily, I wore most of the spillage, with Kiran getting a little bit of tea on his clothes. Kiran didn't mind, even though I was apologising profusely for the rest of the meal.

After lunch, I now had an excuse to shop. I needed clothes that weren't covered in ice tea. Fortunately for me, there was a Giordano store not far from the eatery, and they had a "Buy 1 Get 1 Free" sale on, so we all went inside and had a look. I ended up with 2 pairs of jeans. I could not tell you the last time I fit into jeans from Giordano in Hong Kong. And they weren't the largest size available either. So stoked right now!

There was a tailor on site, so she altered the length of the jeans for me in next to no time. So impressed with their service. Whilst we were waiting for the jeans to be ready, Sean managed to perform a poosplosion that required a trip back to the hotel, so Jonathan took Sean back to get him all cleaned up. When they returned, we walked up the road to get eggettes. Another first for Jonathan, and I'd almost forgotten how light and fluffy and delightful these tasty morsels were!

Next stop was to the Golden Computer Centre, where Jonathan had requested we visit so he could buy the things he wanted to buy. I was happy to stand outside with Sean in the pram and wait while everyone else milled up and down the narrow corridors. Jonathan didn't take very long - he found what he was looking for, purchased it, and away we went to our next destination.

Carolyn took us to a new shopping centre called Festival Walk, which was, well, HUGE. This enormous structure has 217 retail stores and restaurants, a multi-screen cinema, one of Hong Kong's largest ice rinks, over 220,000 sq ft of office space, and 830 car park spaces. Bloody hell!

Carolyn led us to Marks & Spencer, and we spent ages looking for clothes and trying on clothes. I managed to find a few more items of clothing that not only fit but looked good and were within my price range! Sean was mostly good, and didn't really give us any trouble while I shopped up a storm. We spent another hour just in Marks & Spencer before walking out with bags and bags of clothes.

Last shop of the day was a visit to H&M, which stocked some very cute Hello Kitty merchandise. We looked through the items and bought a few bits and pieces for Mina.

We were all exhausted, so Carolyn took us back to the hotel again. She had already made plans with her friends that evening, so we thanked her for spending the day with us and headed to our rooms. Dad had wisely returned to the hotel after lunch, and with all of us completely worn out from our day of shopping, we were glad he was well rested and happy to arrange dinner reservations for us.

Totally pooped. I'd organised to have lunch with an old friend and an old colleague tomorrow, both of whom happen to know each other - small world! It'd been years since I'd seen Karen, and I had yet to meet her beau of 3 years, Ben. And I'm looking forward to seeing Jerome and meeting his partner Claude as well. Fun times ahead!

Being Momma G: Day 111

As was the tradition, we went to visit our elders to pay our respects today.

Every time we went to Hong Kong, one of the first things we would do was to visit the elders and pay our respects. My paternal grandparents' final resting place was in a cemetery on one side of Kowloon, and my maternal grandparents were in a different in another part of Kowloon. The "normal" programming would see us pay our respects to Dad's parents first, and then visit Mum's parents. It was very important to my folks, especially Dad, that we set aside one morning of our visit to do this. And we had no problem complying with this request.

This morning, we piled into 2 taxis - Dad and Grace and her girls in one taxi, and Mum, Jonathan, me, Kiran and Sean in the other. We needed Dad and Mum to be in separate taxis, as we had no idea where we were going. The taxis took us to the cemetery where my paternal grandparents were, and we piled out of the taxi and walked down to their gravestone. Together, we bowed three times to show our respect, and Dad spoke to introduce Sean to his great grandparents. Dad always got a little bit emotional on these visits - even though he was nearly 80, and his parents had been gone for a long time, I think he still misses them and wishes they were still alive to see how well he was doing, and how happy he was to have 6 gorgeous grandchildren.

After a short stay and a few photos, we piled into the taxis again and headed over to the cemetery where Mum's parents were. Their faces looked down on us from their place in one of the walls of the building, and we bowed three times, took some more photos and headed back to our waiting taxis. My Gong Gong (Mum's father) has been gone for 20 years, but I still miss him every day and wish he was still alive. He would have so much fun with Sean, and vice versa.

For lunch, as a way of thanking us for spending the morning with him, Dad took us to this special restaurant that was famous for their shark fin soup. And before you attack me for eating something so endangered and obtained in such an inhumane manner, let me tell you it was delicious, spectacularly so, and I enjoyed every bite, and Jonathan's serving as well!

Jonathan and I did a bit more shopping in the afternoon. We'd see posters advertising this Toys Bazaar in a shopping centre near our hotel, so we went in search of this wondrous Toys Bazaar. After wandering around for what seemed like an eternity, and having already asked for directions 3 times, we finally found the secret lift that took us to the secret location of this Toys Bazaar. And we were really impressed when we walked in.

There were so many toys!!! It was hard not to go too crazy, as there were so many things on display, at a greatly reduced cost. We spent just under 2 hours in this huge room where all the toys lived, and ended up walking out with many, many things. Considering how many birthdays were coming up, and Christmas really wasn't that far away, we stocked up big time and hoped everything would fit into our luggage!

Dad had arranged for us to have dinner together at a restaurant close to the hotel, so we didn't have to think about where to find a meal. Dinner, as always, was a happy, rowdy affair, one that Sean was learning to nap through! While Sean napped, we enjoyed our meal in peace.

We get to spend all day with Carolyn tomorrow - yippee!!! Looking very much forward to hanging with my little cousin!

Being Momma G: Day 110

Jonathan and I played tourist today, and we didn't even see half of Hong Kong!

We set off from the hotel, bright and early, ready to spend the whole day sightseeing in Hong Kong. We had seen ads for the Big Bus Tour, and as we had previously enjoyed tours on double decker buses during our trip to New York City, we thought we'd give the tour a go. We had to catch the ferry across the harbour to alight the bus, as the tour started on Hong Kong Island.

It was while on the ferry that Jonathan made a startling statement. He accused me of not taking him to Hong Kong for 2 whole days, and I was only just taking him there. I looked at him as if he'd gone mad - which country did he think we had arrived in and why was he being so weird?

I should have seen the glint in his eye when he made the statement.

It was funny now, a few hours later, looking back on what he'd said. But at the time, it completely threw me. Jonathan had to explain what he meant.

Hong Kong is divided into 3 main regions - Hong Kong Island, Kowloon Peninsula and the New Territories. As the name of the region suggests, Hong Kong Island is separated from the other 2 regions by Hong Kong Harbour. The New Territories and Kowloon sit at the very bottom of China on the map.

Our hotel was located in Tsim Sha Tsui, a suburb in southern Kowloon. For most of yesterday, with the exception of about 90 minutes spent in Central purchasing my ring, we were in Kowloon.

We were on the ferry when Jonathan asked where we were going. I said we were heading to Hong Kong Island, and that was when he accused me of keeping him in "China" and only now taking him to the "real Hong Kong".

Oh, my silly husband - whatever will we do with you?!

The big bus ride was quite good. We sat on the bus pretty much the whole time, looking at the sights. The day started getting a bit warm and we decided it was best to stay on the bus for the loop, and then go back to the places we wanted to really explore. Traffic in Hong Kong was always bad, and there was no exception today. By the time we'd completely half of the loop, half the day was gone!

And travelling and sightseeing with an almost brand new baby was quite different to travelling and sightseeing when there were just the 2 of us. Lucky for us, Sean was pretty well behaved for the most of the day, sleeping when he was tired, eating when he was hungry, and chilling and being happy for the rest of the time.

It was lunch time by the time we got to Stanley Market, so we hopped off the bus in search of some food. We'd gone past Repulse Bay, and I relived some of my happy childhood memories to Jonathan. Oh, how I still remember spending all those summers in Repulse Bay with Li Li (奶奶), my paternal grandmother, who had an apartment overlooking Repulse Bay Beach. Stanley Market was one of the places we visited a lot during our stays in Repulse Bay, and somewhere I'd gone back to with my cousin Carolyn and my friends Jamie and Justin on my previous visits. There were also a large number of shops and stalls that sold Hong Kong souvenirs, and we were tourists after all, so we got off the bus for the first time since we joined the tour.

We had a look at the shops first before heading down for food. I really wanted Sean's Chinese name to be written in Chinese calligraphy, and stopped at the first calligraphy shop we came across to enquire about getting it done. They said it would take 30 minutes, so we took the ticket and continued our first browse at the shops. As we walked, we became hungrier by the minute, so food became more important than shopping.

Unforunately, I'd forgotten how westernised (read: "expensive") the restaurants were in Stanley Market. Nothing really jumped out at us, and after a second pass, we entered a restaurant that was a little bit cheaper than the others. The food wasn't that great, but it was food.

After lunch, we continued our shopping and bought a few souvenirs, and seeing the time, we hurried back to the bus stop to meet the bus. Sean was great - we both had a little nap on our way back to the ferry terminal where we started the tour - Sean enjoyed sleeping in the MiniMonkey, and I enjoyed knowing he was safely strapped to me.

The ticket for the tour also allowed us on the tour bus on Kowloon side, but it had taken literally all day to get around Hong Kong Island, so we went back to the hotel and rested for a bit before meeting up with Carolyn for dinner. Carolyn chose a lovely Korean BBQ restaurant near our hotel, and we enjoyed catching up with her over the delicious banquet of meats and seafood. Being a bit of a dessert connoisseur, Carolyn took us to a jam packed shop for ice cream. The place, Tong Pak Fu, was literally heaving with people, and everyone was enjoying these awesome looking ice creams. We let Carolyn order for us, as we had no idea what was good. The waiters brought out goodies to the table - chocolate ice cream, sesame ice cream, and mango sago pudding. The ice cream was out-of-this-world good, absolutely spectacular, and so creamy and delicious and light. We found out the secret - the ice cream was actually shaved ice!!!

After the delicious desserts, it really was time for us to head back to the hotel and put the little man to sleep. On our way to flag a taxi, we wandered through some shops, and Carolyn bought Sean a pair of oh-so-cute Adidas shoes. When Carolyn saw these gorgeous little blue shoes, she just had to get them for Sean. I can't wait till his feet are big enough for the shoes to stay on! As we continued towards a taxi rank, we stumbled across a store that sold these gorgeous Hello Kitty bowls, which of course I had to buy!

We bade Carolyn farewell and got into a taxi, and headed back to the hotel for some well earned rest. We'd spent the day apart from Dad and Mum, and while we were dining with Carolyn, they were braving the Hong Kong public transport system on 2 modes of transport to go to the airport to collect Grace and her 3 kids. We heard them arrive at the hotel, and went out to greet them. It was quite late by the time they arrived, so we all went to our rooms to get some sleep, as we had another day packed full of activities tomorrow.

Being Momma G: Day 109

Today was our first full day in Hong Kong, and it was a day of eating!

Here's how it went:

Breakfast - I introduced Jonathan to congee (粥) and fried dough sticks (油条) - he seemed to like it. I'd talked and talked and talked about this for weeks, and Jonathan had been curious enough about it to try. There was nothing quite like a huge steaming bowl of congee and fried dough sticks, still piping hot from the deep fryer to wake you up in the morning. Jonathan chose shredded chicken congee and I chose my favourite, pork and century egg. Jonathan shudders at the sight of century eggs, and often wonders how I would and could eat egg that was black. When the congee arrived at our table, Jonathan tucked into it with gusto. Admitting it was vastly different to, say, a breakfast of bacon and eggs, Jonathan nevertheless finished his portion.

Lunch - dumplings at Din Tai Fung. I'd also talked and talked and talked about how good the dumplings in the HK Din Tai Fung were, and Jonathan was hopeful these dumplings were better than the ones we'd had in Sydney. And we weren't to be disappointed. They were good. Mmmm... dumplings.

Snacks - beef jerky and pork jerky. Another favourite of mine, I told Jonathan many times how good the jerky from the shop down the road from our hotel was. Thick glossy sheets of meat, covered with sticky sauce. I went a little bit nuts getting enough jerky to last our whole stay, and after sampling the jerky, Jonathan thought the flavour was good, and declared it was definitely not the dry jerky he'd grown up with.

More snacks - leftover stir fry noodles with 3 different kinds of mushrooms from Dad and Mum's lunch. They ordered far too much food for their lunch, and brought the leftovers back to the hotel for us to eat. Yum!!!

Afternoon tea - mango drinks from Mango Fiesta. I love these drinks, as did Jonathan! What's not to like about a cold drink with mango pieces???

Dinner - we had dinner with my cousins on Dad's side of the family - Betty and Alice, and Alice's husband Billy. These cousins were a lot older than me, and had always treated me like a little girl, not worthy of being heard at the table. In fact, I should still be sitting at the kids' table, and trust me, a lot of times, I would have much preferred to be sitting at the kids' table if there was one. To be honest, these 3 are overachievers and high earners, and in Dad's eyes, I could never match them, no matter how hard I tried. Alice tried her best to chat with us, but she was sitting on the other side of the table and it was hard trying to have a conversation over the top of Dad chatting with Betty and Billy. Sean was quite unsettled throughout dinner - the room was really hot and we'd dressed him quite warmly per Mum's suggestion, so Sean was rather uncomfortable and let it be known throughout dinner. The food was good though!

We didn't really do a lot of sightseeing throughout the day. We needed to get a cheap phone to use in Hong Kong, as well as purchase a pre-paid card so we could make calls to HK numbers without racking up the International calls on our own phones. We walked around a few shops and settled on a really cheap Motorola. Dad tried to take us to the shop where he got his pre-paid SIM, but the shop was closed by the time we got there. We'll try again tomorrow.

One of the things I really wanted to buy on this trip to Hong Kong was an eternity band. Dad has a trusted jeweller in Hong Kong (Gaily Jewellery), and whenever Dad wanted to buy Mum a gift, he would go to this shop. My Aunty Josie uses these guys all the time, so we were guaranteed we would not be ripped off. Dad and Mum took us to the shop on the MTR - Jonathan's first experience on the best rail transport in the world - and we arrived at the shop, with me feeling a bit giddy about a new piece of jewellery.

And sure enough, they had exactly what I was looking for - a gorgeous thin band of diamonds. I wanted something that would stand out on its own, but at the same time, did not overshadow my gorgeous Stella, the Tanzanite engagement ring. Mission accomplished.

Everyone was tired by the end of the day, and we are certainly hoping that Sean will sleep like he did last night - a good 7 hour stretch was great for everyone involved. And there's more food to be eaten tomorrow. Can't wait!

Being Momma G: Day 108

I know I'm about 3 weeks behind with the posts, but trust me, they will be written.

In the meantime, we are all off on holiday, to Hong Kong!!! We're just waiting for a taxi now.

Hope you all have a great Easter, and when we get back from our holiday, I will do my best to catch up on the posts, as well as upload the thousands of photos since mid-February.

Being Momma G: Day 102

And the stupidness continues with the Evil Witch and Mina.

We are done. So done with them and their bullshit. Even Jonathan has had enough. Today, he put his foot down and basically declared to the Evil Witch that if she forces Jonathan to choose between our family and Mina, he would choose us in a no brainer contest.

Yesterday, the Evil Witch contacted Jonathan to ask if we could drop Mina home earlier on Sunday, at around 11am, so that they could leave for their holidays on Sunday afternoon. We were happy to do this, and all was fine and well. Last Sunday, Mina and I had made plans to do a few things this weekend, and everyone was looking forward to Mina having a 2 night sleepover.

The Evil Witch contacted us again today to say that dropping Mina home on Sunday did not suit her any more, and that Mina would now be spending only Friday night with us, and Mina was to be dropped home by dinner time on Saturday. After weeks of trying to get Mina back into the routine of sleeping over 2 nights every fortnight weekend, the Evil Witch was now fucking up the pattern again.

So Jonathan sent a message back to say that we would be happy to drop Mina home by 8am on Sunday, and that we were to stick with the original plans of sleeping 2 nights this weekend. The response we got was "No can do. 1 night sleepover this weekend."

There was no asking us, no consulting us, no checking with us. We got told that the plans had changed. We apparently had no say in these new arrangements at all. Why the fuck does she do this all the fucking time?

Jonathan got on the phone straight away and talked to the Evil Witch. As always, the Evil Witch had already made up her mind about how things were to be done and had convinced Mina that Mina only wanted to stay at our house for a 1 night sleepover this weekend. The Evil Witch kept talking and talking, and Jonathan couldn't get a word in edgewise. The Evil Witch was adamant that Mina did not want to sleep over 2 nights this weekend, but then refused to let Jonathan talk to Mina to find out what had changed her mind. All day Sunday, Mina was looking forward to a 2 night sleepover. That was pretty much all we talked about, and we had plans to make all sorts of yummy things during her stay. But the Evil Witch put paid to all that.

There was no talking to the Evil Witch, for once she had made up her mind about something, nothing else mattered, until her decision no longer suited her. Jonathan tried to reason with the Evil Witch, who said her and Mina were going away on holidays and they were to leave at 8am on Sunday morning, to which Jonathan replied he would drop Mina home by 8am to ensure their plans did not change. The Evil Witch then told Jonathan that she had talked to Mina and Mina was insistent on staying over 1 night.

The Evil Witch insisted that Mina was unhappy with the idea of spending 2 nights at our house, and Jonathan asked that we tried to reinstate the routine, with this weekend to be a 2 night sleepover. Jonathan kept telling the Evil Witch that Mina had been happy to do the 2 night sleepover all along, and he was certain that if he had a chance to talk to Mina, then Mina would tell the Evil Witch exactly that. The Evil Witch accused Jonathan and me of scaring Mina into agreeing to the 2 night sleepover, and that Mina only said she was happy to make us happy.

Right about this point, Jonathan snapped. The Evil Witch had pushed him too far, and he told her that she was doing her best to poison Mina into believing that Mina couldn't spend 2 nights away from her mother. The Evil Witch never asked questions the way normal questions were asked. Instead of asking Mina "Do you want to do a 2 night sleepover at Daddy's house this weekend?"{, the Evil Witch would say "You don't want to do a 2 night sleepover at Daddy's house this weekend, do you?" For a little girl who was shit scared of her mother, and yet idolised her mother at the same time, what was she to say but "No, mummy, I don't want to do a 2 night sleepover with Daddy."

Then the Evil Witch brought up some ancient history, of a time over TWO YEARS AGO when Mina had trouble sleeping over at Jonathan's house. Jonathan shot her down and told her that was a long time ago, and Mina had not had any problems since. So the Evil Witch brought up the night when Mina threw a nasty tantrum during a sleepover, and Jonathan caved in and called the Evil Witch to come and collect Mina as I was out with Sean and had taken the car. I knew this would come back to haunt us - I wish I had been home that night, because I would have told Mina to stop carrying on and go to sleep. I also wish Jonathan had been stronger that night and told Mina exactly what I would have told her. Jonathan was now able to see his decision that night was detrimental with devastating effects.

Enough was enough, and Jonathan told the Evil Witch that he was through with this stupidness. We would see Mina this Saturday, when she would be picked up at 7.30am and returned home on the same day by 5pm. Jonathan also said there would be no more sleepovers for Mina, and that we would see her on Sundays only. The Evil Witch stopped dead in her tracks, and told Jonathan that wasn't what she wanted. Jonathan told her he didn't care what she wanted - this was what HE wanted, because he was sick and tired of plans being changed. Unless Mina begged to sleepover at our house again, and she had to beg and not change her mind, she was to visit on Sundays only, with pick up at 7.30am and drop off at 5pm.

The Evil Witch tried to get Jonathan to take Mina for 1 night sleepovers, but when that failed, told Jonathan she would relay his wishes to Mina. Jonathan quite forcefully told the Evil Witch that this latest change to the arrangement was not his wish, but was the best solution as a result of her poisoning Mina into change her mind about staying over with us. We needed a routine, and the Evil Witch and Mina constantly pushing the "Reset" button on the access arrangements was causing too much grief.

The Evil Witch still wanted to negotiate to have things her way, but Jonathan was done. He told the Evil Witch that if Mina did not want to visit at all, that was fine too. Jonathan was just completely over being played by the Evil Witch and Mina. Jonathan stood firm on this weekend's access - Saturday only - and finally, the Evil Witch agreed and the phone call ended.

Jonathan was terribly upset afterwards. It broke my heart to see him so upset. Sean and I gave Jonathan cuddles in an effort to make him feel better. My darling Jonathan is the best husband and father and friend anyone could ask or hope for, and to see him being treated as badly as the Evil Witch treated him, it made me so mad that I wanted to drive over to her house and beat her around the head, and sit Mina down and ask her why she was being so hurtful and untruthful.

After weeks and weeks of ridiculous behaviour, Jonathan was finally fed up with being held hostage by his 6 year old daughter, who was allowed to get away with blue murder at home, because her idiot mother granted her anything she wanted. Mina had been so poisoned by the Evil Witch that she would say anything to please the Evil Witch. In my opinion, Mina was beyond help. And I would see to it that she was not part of Sean's life if she continued to behave like a spoil brat. If Mina continued to play us off against her mother, then as far as we were concerned, she was choosing to not be part of our family, but instead she would be the occasional visitor who would not have any say in our house. I would see to it that the study / guest room be referred to as the "study / guest room", and never "Mina's room" again.

I will not let anyone hurt my family. Not even a seemingly innocent 6 year old child who had been manipulated by her fucking idiot mother. Especially not a spoilt brat 6 year old child. And definitely not a psychotic bitchy Evil Witch. Don't mess with the bull, people. You'll get the horns.

Some time after the phone call with the Evil Witch ended, her partner called Jonathan to have another go. Those two morons really deserved each other.

According to Jonathan, Steve sounded a bit sheepish that he was once again roped into defending the Evil Witch's actions, and asked what Mina had told us about the sleepovers. Jonathan told him it was none of his business and that he should stay out of it, but Steve wouldn't have a bar of what Jonathan wanted. My guess was that he would have a fight on his hands with the Evil Witch if he didn't give Jonathan a serve. Jonathan told Steve that Mina had wanted to sleepover until the Evil Witch got to her, and Steve told Jonathan that Mina had told them of her own volition that she didn't want to do a 2 night sleepover at our house. One thing Jonathan and Steve both agreed on was that Mina was confusing everyone with what she wanted. Honestly, I couldn't give a shit any more. I don't want Mina in my house, bringing with her poison from the Evil Witch.

Whatever stupid game Mina thought she was playing was only going to see her miss out on time with us, and both Jonathan and I were done with being held hostage by her. Mina telling us one thing and telling her mother the exact opposite was tantamount to her lying to us. And I will be sure to tell her all that and more this weekend when she comes for her visit.

The Evil Witch, as usual, had to have the last word. She contacted Jonathan by text message to say that from now on, she no longer wished to speak to him on the phone, and she would contact him only by email or by text message. ABOUT FUCKING TIME!!! We'd only been asking her to do this for months.

The day had been testing in other ways too. Sean was extremely unsettled all day today. After waking at 2am, Sean came into the bed for a feed, and stayed in our bed with us for the rest of the night. As per the last few nights, Sean and I both fell asleep during this feed, so when he woke at 5am for his next feed, I tried my best to stay awake to make sure Sean got a good feed. After suckling for 20 minutes on one side, he didn't want any more - in fact, he could not be woken to try and feed on the second side. Sean woke again just before 7am and had a snack feed before I wrapped him up and put him back into his cot to see if he'd have a little sleep.

Sleep he did, for one 40 minute cycle, before he woke and could not be resettled. Jonathan and I decided to restart his day just before 8.30am with a feed, a play and then back to sleep for the little man.

All the bullshit with the Evil Witch and Mina and Steve took up most of our morning. It was exhausting having to deal with these idiots.

I spent the late morning sorting through my "filing system" to look for things to do with my tax returns, a task which I had put off for weeks and weeks and weeks but was now becoming more urgent to complete. Sean woke as I was finishing sorting things into piles, and we sat down to give him his lunch. Sean was very fussy during the feed, and afterwards, he was quite unsettled and again only managed a short sleep before waking and wanting to be comforted.

I had an appointment to see my darling friend Linda for one of her healing massages at 2pm, and when the little man woke just after 1.30pm, I tried my best to get him to go back to sleep. Unfortunately, Sean had other ideas, and Jonathan ended up taking over so I could get to Linda's house on time.

Linda's magical healing hands did wonders on my poor stressed body. She was able to work out the kinks in my shoulders and back, and left me feeling completely relaxed. I made plans to see Linda again after she was back from her holidays to Thailand.

When I got home, I found Jonathan and Sean sitting in the feeding chair. Sean seemed wide awake, and as it was time for his next feed, I thought he had only just woken up. Apparently not. After I left, Sean took a while to settle down, and slept for only a short time. Jonathan took Sean out of the cot and held him in the papasan chair for a while, where they both fell asleep for a bit, before the chair got too uncomfortable for Jonathan and they moved to the feeding chair.

Sean was hungry enough to have a better feed, but only marginally better. Again, it took ages for Sean to settle down to sleep, and again, he slept for a short time. Sean woke just after I had started to prepare dinner, and after trying to resettle him, we left him to cry or Jonathan and I would not have dinner until 10pm. I was trying another new recipe tonight - sausage and lentil casserole, which needed 100 minutes of cooking time, and Sean was not helping by being awake and refusing to go back to sleep. In the end, we let him cry while I prepared everything to go into the oven, and while the little man did cry, he managed to get himself calm for short bursts.

As soon as I put the casserole into the oven, I went and fed Sean. As with every other feed today, Sean would start feeding, and then would pull off and cry for no reason at all. Sean did this over and over again, and I finally had to force his head onto my boob and hold it there in order for him to stay on and have a proper drink. Afterwards, we had a good tummy time before a long long play. By the time we put him to sleep, we hoped that Sean would sleep for a couple of hours before waking for his next feed. Sean went down without a fight - not a sound, not a peep.

That was nearly 4 hours ago. The little man is still asleep and I'm getting quite tired, so I'm going to head to bed, and wait for him to wake up for his next feed. It has been a draining and long day. I hope we don't have to deal with any more stupidness from the Evil Witch for the rest of the week.

Being Momma G: Day 100

Sean is 100 days old today!

What a milestone! Thank you, little man, for giving us the most amazing, wonderful, magical 100 days of our lives. Here's to you!

Happy Birthday to Dave! Jonathan's brother Dave is turning 34 today, and we hope he is thoroughly spoiled by Jolie and Alyssa and Tammi.

With Easter coming up, I found some Easter Eggs I'd really love to have. I wonder if Jonathan would be agreeable to getting me some of these?!

Being Momma G: Day 98

We think the little man is finally learning to sleep through the night!

Sean actually slept from 10pm to 4am, which for him is awesome. We are hopeful that he will continue to sleep well - we really miss our sleep.

The biggest news today was the sale of my St Leonards apartment. The contracts were signed and exchanged today, and with any luck, settlement will take place on 20 May. We didn't quite get the price we wanted, but we were so close to the magic figure. It would have been irresponsible to reject the final offer because it was $2,000 short of what I had really wanted.

Gabi and Sveta did their bits, and by close of business, we were all set to clean out the apartment by 20 May. There were still a few things left in the apartment, which we had been meaning to go and clear out, but for some reason, I couldn't bring myself to completely move out of it. It had been my home for 10 years, and I wanted to take as long as I needed to bid my farewells.

Another piece of good news came by way of Jonathan, who had booked a test drive for us with Volvo for next Thursday. We were pretty keen on the XC60, so we are very much looking forward to taking the car for a spin.

So much news. I'm excited but apprehensive at the same time. New home and new baby meant that inevitably, I was going to have to get a new car and sell my old home to fund some of this. But saying goodbye to my past was making me melancholy. Still, we must look forward, and not back, and move on, even if a part of me is screaming "I don't want to let go, I don't want to change".

Being Momma G: Day 96

We have had such a great time having Mum and Nana stay with us.

Today, they return to New Zealand after a great week. We hope they had a good time while they were here. Sean certainly loved his cuddles and kisses from his Grandma and Great Nana. We will miss them both very much, but look forward to seeing them again hopefully later this year.

As if he knew he didn't have to be on his best behaviour and could again misbehave, the little man snack fed throughout the night. Between midnight and 6am, when Mum and Nana were all set and ready to be driven to the airport, Sean had had 4 feeds. I was wrecked.

I was glad we were awake to see Mum and Nana off. There was a flurry of activity as they finished their last minute packing, and put their lunches into bags, ready to show Customs on their way through. The ladies gave me and Sean big hugs and kisses as we waved them goodbye from the front door. And then there were just the two of us.

Sean went back to sleep after farewelling Mum and Nana. I got on with the laundry and a few other things, before sitting down to feed Sean just before 8.30am. After a night of snack feeding, the little man was almost as exhausted as I felt, and went back to sleep after the feed.

We were to have lunch with Dad and Mum today, but by 11.30am, Sean was still fast asleep. I made the decision to let Sean continue sleeping, so I called Mum to let her know we weren't going to make it to lunch. Mum invited us to have dinner with them instead, to which I accepted, as Grace and Georgianna and their families were also going to be at dinner. It would be nice to see everyone.

Sean finally woke just before midday, and while he was feeding, I decided to cut Sean's fingernails, where were getting long and scratchy. My eyesight had been getting worse over the years, and I was pretty sure I needed to have them checked again, as I was having trouble focusing on the little man's fingernails. Sean is the wriggliest little boy I know, and even when he was suppose to be at his most relaxed when he's feeding, those wriggly little fingers and my failing eyesight combined to result in an inevitable accident.

I cut Sean's thumb. Missed the nail completely. The thumb bled. A lot. Sean cried. No, wait, Sean screamed. I cried. A lot. Oh dear.

Sean's thumb bled for ages. I didn't know what to do. Not only was Sean bleeding, I was also leaking as Sean was feeding when I cut his thumb. It was horrible. The little man was screaming and screaming and screaming in pain, and writhing and wriggling and trying to make himself feel better, and there I was, trying to hold his thumb to contain the bleeding, to no avail.

I called Jonathan in tears, saying I'd cut Sean's thumb. I didn't really know why I called him - what could he really do over the phone except to try and offer words of comfort. I asked him what I should do to try and stem the bleeding, and Jonathan told me to give Grace or Vinay a call. I should have done that to start with, so I rang off from Jonathan and called Grace, who was mildly amused but nevertheless more helpful than Jonathan.

There really wasn't much that could be done, except to apply pressure to the cut and wait for the wound to clot over. I had wrapped Sean's thumb in a tissue, and Grace suggested I use a wet cloth instead as the tissue may stick to the wound, and once I pulled it off Sean's thumb, it may start to bleed all over again. Grace suggested that we use emery boards in future to file back Sean's nails instead of cutting them. Poor little man. It will be a long time before I would be game enough to cut his nails again.

The trauma of being cut by his mother made Sean a bit weary and restless, and after all the excitement, he slept for a short time before waking and wanting another feed at 2.45pm. I did not argue with him, even though it was too soon to feed him. The little man deserved to have a treat after being made to bleed.

The feed put the little man to sleep. It was as if his whole body was reacting to the trauma of being made to bleed by his bad bad mother, and only sleep would help him recover from the ordeal. I wasn't about to start complaining - the more the little man slept, the longer I was able to get stuff done around the house.

Just before 6pm, the little man woke and we got ready to head to Chatswood to have dinner with Dad and Mum. Jonathan was to meet us at the restaurant, and we arrived a bit late, what with traffic and getting the little man dressed and out the door. Even though we were running behind schedule, we still weren't the last to arrive. Dinner was great - everyone was there, and Sean had a short and fussy feed just before all the food came out. Sean even went to sleep for a little while to allow us to eat our dinner in peace.

Bath time and night feed were a bit later than usual, as we were out to dinner, so as soon as we arrived home, we got on with the bed time routine and packed Sean off to bed. Sean had a nice long breast feed, so here's hoping he will sleep better than last night!

Being Momma G: Day 95

Today was the last day of Mum and Nana's visit, and tonight, Jonathan and I had our first date night, on our own, since Sean was born.

As a treat to us, Mum and Nana looked after Sean while Jonathan and I went out to the movies. Jonathan had been receiving movie monies for being on standby on Saturdays, and thought we could use the vouchers to see a movie in Gold Class.

There really weren't any movies we really wanted to see at the cinemas, but we had these movie monies to use up, so we chose to see Limitless. It was really the best offering at the cinemas, and I wanted to perve on Bradley Cooper.

As predicted, Sean woke just after midnight for a feed, and then again just after 5am. Sean woke again just before 8am for his next feed, about half an hour after Jonathan left for work. The little man was sleeping well, and woke for a perfectly timed feed just before 10.30am, right before our 11am appointment with Dr Siva.

Dr Siva wanted to make sure that Sean's ear infection was healing, and at our follow up appointment today, it seemed the ear drops were working well. As both ears had been showing signs of infection, we had been putting the drops into both ears, and Dr Siva gave us a repeat script for the drops to continue the treatment.

Sean was ready for his sleep when we got home, and soon after he went to sleep, it was time to have lunch. On the menu today was bruschetta topped with cubed pan fried haloumi and diced tomato. It was another first for Mum and Nana, who had seen the cheese in the supermarket but had yet to try it. It was an absolute pleasure to introduce another tasty delight to Mum and Nana, who both enjoyed the meal very much.

Sean woke after lunch and had a quick feed before we went out to the shops for a final spending spree for Mum and Nana. It was a hugely successful trip, with both Mum and Nana buying a few last minute things from the shops at Macquarie Centre.

After the shopping trip, Mum and Nana started packing their bags, in readiness for their departure tomorrow. Sean went down for a sleep, and I started preparing the batter for the gluten free bacon and corn fritters I had promised to make for Mum and Nana. The fritters were a huge hit, with Mum and Nana tucking in heartily to the stack of fritters while they were still warm.

With Sean still asleep and Mum and Nana fed, it was time for me to head back to Macquarie Centre to meet up with Jonathan for our movie date. I had made up a bottle of formula for Mum to give to Sean when he woke up for his next feed, and wished her luck as I all but sprinted away from the house, ready for my first date night with Jonathan since Sean was born.

Jonathan was already at the cinemas by the time I arrived. We debated on what to have for dinner, but as I was a little bit late, our choices were limited to the menu available at the Gold Class "restaurant". Neither of us were too keen on the savoury items, and we spotted a decadent dessert that we both wanted to try, so we went to the counter to order the dessert, only to be told that the item was no longer available and had been off the menu for some time. Hmmm... so why was it still on the menu???

We ended up selecting a pizza from the savoury menu, as well as some popcorn and a piccolo of Emery Moscato for me. For the duration of the movie, I only thought of Sean fleetingly, and enjoyed the time with Jonathan away from our darling son. The movie was a terrific distraction - Bradley Cooper was a welcome perve and although he could not act to save his life, I did enjoy looking at his pretty pretty face and gorgeous blue eyes.

We came home straight after the movie, to a silent house. Nana had already retired to bed, and Mum was reading on the couch. Sean had woken at 6pm for a feed, and Mum gave him the formula. Sean played with Mum and Nana for a while afterwards before went back to bed. We told Mum about the movie and it wasn't long before the little man woke for his next feed just before 9pm.

While Jonathan was bathing Sean, Mum and I packed some food for her and Nana to take on the plane tomorrow. There were still some fritters left over from dinner, as well as some roast beef from last night's dinner which were made into sandwiches. There were some rice crackers for each of them, as well as the leftover haloumi and tomato to go with the crackers. Before we left Macquarie Centre tonight, Jonathan and I went to Woolworths and bought some gluten free muesli bars for Nana to eat on her flight from Auckland to Timaru. Hopefully, both Mum and Nana won't go hungry during their journey home.

We all need an early night as it is going to be an early start tomorrow. The little man has been fed and bathed and is now back in his bed, and we are all heading to bed ourselves. Jonathan is taking Mum and Nana to the airport in the morning, and then returning the car to the rental place before heading to work. I'd like to be up to say goodbye, so it's off to bed we go.

Being Momma G: Day 94

We received some good news today from Gabi our real estate agent. It looked like he may have found a buyer for the apartment!

The apartment was opened for a second inspection on Saturday, and Gabi saw 10 lots of viewers, with one couple asking for a contract. Gabi was confident that he was going to hear from the couple in the near future, and as soon as he had any further news, he would contact us.

The news was exciting, but at the same time, I was starting to feel quite wistful. The apartment was home for nearly a decade, and held so many memories for me. Even though selling the apartment was the right thing to do, I couldn't help but want to keep it for a while longer.

After such a huge day yesterday, and having behaved so well throughout the day, we rewarded Sean by letting him sleep in our bed for most of the night. Sean woke just before 1am for a feed, and as we were all so tired, Sean stayed in our bed after the feed. Being back in our own bed, it was easy to feed Sean when he woke at 3am and at 5.30am.

Jonathan got out of bed at 6.30am to get ready for work, and I got up soon after. Having spent the night on the couch, Mum was awake and reading by the time we came out to the lounge room. Mum insisted she had a good night on the couch, telling us she was comfortable and happy to be there. Jonathan left for work just after 7am, and the rest of us got ourselves breakfast.

After breakfast, Mum and Nana and I had a long chat about things at home. They were both worried about how much the Evil Witch seemed to upset me, and for the second time in two days, I was very honest in how I felt about the whole thing. I certainly didn't have a lot of nice things to say about the Evil Witch, and as it turned out, neither did Nana. The Evil Witch had hurt so many people - no one was spared, not even those who were her elders. Mum and Nana were both concerned about how I was coping with the stupidness, as I was on the front line and had to deal with it every day of every week, and suggested that I sought some counselling to help. I took it under advisement and thanked them both for listening.

As I had yet another dental appointment in the afternoon, I was hoping Sean would wake and have a feed before I left for the Dr Lee's clinic. Alas, the little man was still worn out from yesterday's festivities, so Mum and Nana offered to look after Sean for me while I was out. Mum fed Sean a bottle of formula when he woke around 2.30pm and put him back to sleep after a play.

Dr Lee continued the root canal therapy for my broken tooth, and told me that I would require further treatments. As much as the visits to Dr Lee were expensive, I only have one set of teeth, so I sucked it up and made the next appointment.

I came home to a quiet house, with Mum and Nana both relaxing with their respective books. Sean was asleep, so I sat down and relaxed for a time before he woke for his next feed at 5.45pm.

After Sean went back to sleep, I started preparing dinner - a beautiful beef roast. Jonathan came home as the roast was cooking in the oven, and commented on the lovely aromas filling the house.

Dinner was delicious, if I must say so myself. The beef was perfectly cooked, as were the veggies, and there was even pudding for Mum and Nana after dinner!

We are all going to have another early night tonight. The little man has been asleep since 7pm, so he'll no doubt wake for a feed around midnight. Tomorrow is Mum and Nana's last day of their visit - how quickly a week has flown by!

Being Momma G: Day 93

Sean's baptism day dawned clear and bright, and I couldn't be happier.

Nor more tired. The little man was very very very unsettled last night and early this morning. He woke at 11.30pm for a feed, even though he probably should have slept through until at least 2am after our night time routine of breast feed, bath and formula top up. Perhaps he was just excited about becoming a Catholic, perhaps he was just unsettled, either way, he was up again at 2am, 4am, 5am (when I had nothing left to give and Jonathan had to make up a bottle for Sean), and then again just after 6am, thus ensuring that neither Jonathan nor I got much sleep. With a big party to host after the baptism, Jonathan and I would be running on adrenaline only.

Despite our best efforts, Mina was up by 6am, but thankfully, Mum was happy to chat with her for a while until it was time to get out of bed. We all had some breakfast, before I raced off to Top Ryde Shopping Centre to pick up the cold platters we had ordered from Woolworths. I wanted to have my eyebrows waxed as well, but alas, shops are closed until 10am on Sundays, so I bought a packet of DIY eyebrow wax strips as a last ditch effort to try and tame my wayward eyebrows.

While I was gone, Mum and Mina, with the help of Nana, iced the cake we'd baked yesterday. They had great fun doing the decorations, and they had drawn a tiger and a tree and written "Sean" on the plate as well. Great job well done, ladies!

Mina was also tasked with writing a speech to be read during the party when the cake was due to cut. Mina concentrated hard on this very important task and put in a huge effort to write a heartfelt speech.

I raced home to find Sean awake and wanting a feed, so we sat down while everyone else started to get ready for the baptism. I had picked out the clothes I'd wanted to wear, so as soon as Sean was full, I went and changed into my clothes. There did not appear to be much more to do before we set off for the church, and at 11am, we all piled into our cars and headed over to Milsons Point.

The ceremony wasn't due to start until 12 noon, but Georgianna had asked if we would like to get to the church earlier so that we could have some photos before the ceremony. When we arrived, we were the first ones there, and we waited to see who would be the next to arrive. Just after we arrived, I received a text message from Georgianna to say that she and her family were running late, as Tommy had to go to the doctor. Oh dear.

Emily, Penny, Anna and Cathy were the next to arrive, and after warming greeting everyone, Emily started taking photos. I had asked Emily to be our second photographer, and was glad that she was there to capture the memories for us. Before long, my parents arrived, as did our friends. There were lots of hugs and kisses exchanged - it was really great to see everyone.

With Georgianna and her family still making their way to the church, Emily sprang into action and started taking some photos. We posed for quite a few shots, and Sean was quite well behaved, sitting happily and comfortably in Jonathan's arms, contently smiling at everyone and waiting patiently for the ceremony to begin. Sean's godparents arrived with more cuddles and kisses - Chuck and Kyung looked a little nervous, but I reassured them there was nothing to be nervous about. Grace and Vinay and their brood also arrived, and we posed for more photos whilst waiting for the ceremony to begin.

Just before midday, Georgianna, Tim, Tommy and Lukey finally arrived. Tommy showed me his very swollen left ear, which was at least twice the size of his right ear. Tommy did not appear to be in pain, and said that his ear was more itchy than aching. The doctor did not know what happened, as Tommy went to bed with two normal sized ears and woke with a swollen flappy ear. Georgianna sprang into action with her camera, and started taking lots of photos of everyone standing outside the church.

Soon, the guests from the baptism before ours were pouring out of the church, and Father Paul was ushering us into the church. Once inside, everyone who had tasks to perform were issued with their tasks - the kids were asked to hand out the Orders of Service, the godparents were asked to sit at the front and hold various things, the photographers were asked to get into their positions, and we were asked to sit in the front row, and be ready for action.

Father Paul did a sterling job with the ceremony. As with our wedding ceremony, Father Paul punctuated the baptism with laughs and made it enjoyable for everyone. Sean was perfectly behaved during the ceremony, even when he was baptised with the holy water and had various oils and ointments rubbed on his skin. Time really flew as we were having so much fun, and before long, the ceremony came to an end and Sean was officially a Catholic!

Our wonderful photographers Georgianna and Emily did a superb job throughout the ceremony, and Emily took over as the main photographer for our family photos. Lots more photos were taken outside the church, before Jonathan and I both raced home to start cooking lunch for our guests.

Just before I left the church, Grace and Vinay pulled me aside and quietly told me that they, along with their kids, would not be able to come to our house for the luncheon. The kids had gastro and had been sick all yesterday and today. As a matter of fact, Renée had been throwing up all morning, and Kiran had had the runs all yesterday, and Vinay was also feeling a bit under the weather. In the best interest of everyone, especially Sean, Grace felt it was best that they all stayed away and came over for a visit another time in the future.

So after all that was said and done, not one member of my family would be coming to the lunch. Dad and Mum had already said they would not be coming, as our house was too far for Dad to drive to. Georgianna, Tim, Tommy and Lukey were all unable to make it, as Tommy had Mandarin lessons that he must attend. And now Grace and Vinay were pulling out because they were all ill. As much as I didn't want to take it personally, I still felt slighted by my whole family, none of whom seemed to want to celebrate Sean's big milestone with us.

Even though Jonathan and Mum and Mina left the church earlier than I did, Nana and Sean and I got home first. We put the chicken drumsticks and the chipolatas into the oven, and put the platters and other party foods out on the table. Jonathan came home with ice for our drinks, and continued to help put the food out on the dining table.

Almost as soon as Jonathan got home, our guests started arriving. It was fantastic to see everyone and welcome them into our house. Everyone made themselves at home and helped themselves to the food. As per usual, I over-catered a little bit, so there was plenty of food for everyone.

Some of our darling friends gave Sean presents, even though we had tried to stop them from buying Sean gifts. Lissy and Dave's gift was a gorgeous silver money box in the shape of a castle, while Aryn and Ivo gave Sean 2 big books of nursery rhymes and fairy tales. Alex, Michelle and Pamela were also generous, with a beautiful waffle blanket, bed buddy and the cutest hoodie outfit in blue and grey stripes.

Sean continued to be well behaved, and as soon as all the food was in the oven and happily cooking away, I sat down to feed Sean. After a little bit of a fuss, Sean went down for a sleep.

Meanwhile, everyone was enjoying themselves, chatting away and tucking into lunch. The chatter proved to be too loud for Nana, who retired to her room after lunch to read. With our guests in the dining room or in the back yard, Mum chose a quieter spot in the lounge room to read. Jonathan and I tried to talk to all of our guests, but found it impossible to engage in a full conversation with everyone. We managed to talk for a time with some guests, and had short chats with others.

Rita, our next door neighbour, dropped in late in the afternoon. She brought a gift for Sean too, which was very naughty of her but very appreciated by us.

All afternoon, Mina was fantastic, even though at times she was bored out of her skull. When she wasn't talking to the guests, or tucking into the food, Mina played quietly in our room. She busied herself with her Beados kit and kept out of the way, and did not once complain about having no one to play with.

The afternoon flew by and before long, the guests started to peter out. Mum, Jonathan and I cleaned up after the last of our guests left, before sitting down and patting ourselves on the back for a great afternoon. Not long after, it was time to have dinner before Mina needed to go home. Jonathan and Mum took Mina home, and I thanked her over and over again for being such a good girl all day long.

The only blip of the day came late in the afternoon, when the Evil Witch called over and over and over again. We ignored her calls, only to have her leave a message, barking at Jonathan to answer the phone. Turned out she wanted to let us know that she wasn't feeling well and that her mother was going to be opening the door for Mina. Why the fuck couldn't the Evil Witch leave that message, instead of being such a stupid bitch?

While Jonathan and Mum took Mina home, Nana and I had a long talk, about how the Evil Witch impacted on our lives. I tried to be tactful, but in the end, I was quite honest about how upset we have been with the Evil Witch and her unreasonable demands, her screwed up brand of crazy and her endless attempts to poison Mina against us. Nana was quite sympathetic, and gave me some comforting words of advice and quiet encouragement to rise above the Evil Witch and her wicked ways.

Jonathan and Mum returned after a time, and we all fell down on the couches with a sigh of relief that the day was over. It had been a huge success, and we all had a fantastic time. We felt so fortunate and loved to have so many wonderful friends and family to share the day with us.

As I was tidying up before bedtime, I came across a piece of paper on which Mina has written her speech; the one she never gave because we all forgot about it. It was such a gorgeous speech that it should be shared. Here it is.

"Sean smiles a lot and is a little smelly. He is a cute little boy and we love him a lot. Sean loves us and we love him. Thank you."

With Jonathan working from the office tomorrow, and our backs having had enough of the inflatable mattress, Mum insisted on giving our bed back to us and banished herself to the couch. After such a big day, we're all ready for bed. I'm sure we'll all sleep well tonight!

Being Momma G: Day 92

Today was the last day of Daylight Savings, and I felt like I was short an hour all day long.

After feeding at 10.30pm last night, Sean woke again just before 3am for his next feed. He was very very hungry, as if he didn't have a good feed last night, and it took 40 minutes before he was completely satisfied. Just before 7am, Sean woke again, and we could hear Mina and Mum having a quiet chat in the next room. We had told Mum about the rules - that Mina was to stay in bed until 7am, no matter what time she woke. As it turned out, Mina woke around 6.30am, and Mum woke soon after, and they chatted quietly until it was time to get out of bed.

Once everyone was up, we all went about looking for our own breakfasts. Nana made a mention that she would love some bacon and eggs for breakfast, and upon further inspection, we had bacon in the fridge. So, Jonathan cooked the bacon while I made the scrambled eggs and toast, and we thoroughly enjoyed our special treat.

Soon after breakfast, Jonathan and Mum drove Mina to her German lessons, and they returned in no time. Sean woke at 10am for a feed, and while he was feeding, I noticed both ears looked scaly and scabby. Both the left and the right pinna were full of scabs, and the ear canal looked blocked up. When I went to try and clean the scabs out of the pinna, the scabs would peel away, leaving the exposed area weeping. I was worried enough to make a mention to Jonathan, who said we should pay a visit to Dr Siva to get Sean's ears checked out.

Dr Siva suspected Sean may have a middle ear infection, so she prescribed more drugs for our little man. Yay. It felt like Sean was forever doped up on one thing or another. When will this ever end???

After our unexpected trip to the doctors, it was almost time for Jonathan and Mum to head back to Cecil Hill to collect Mina from her language lessons. Mum had something quick for lunch, while Jonathan made some lunch for Mina and scoffed down some lunch himself before they raced off to collect Mina. Jonathan and Mum and Mina were going to visit the toy store after lunch to buy toys for all the children, so Nana and I were left to our own devices. After a spot of lunch, I took Nana up to Top Ryde to finish the shopping for the post baptism party tomorrow.

First stop at Top Ryde was to Big W, where we looked for electric salt and pepper mills. Nana really liked our electric salt and pepper mills and wanted to buy a set as a gift for her friends. We found the exact same ones in Big W, and along the way, Nana found a few other things she liked and thought would be perfect as gifts. I needed a couple of things from the baby section, so after Nana was happy with her intended purchases, I raced over to the baby section and grabbed what I needed before meeting Nana back at the checkouts.

After our successful trip to Big W, we headed down to Woolworths to get the party goods. Nana bravely took over the pram pushing duties while I commandeered a wayward trolley and set off to cross off everything on our long shopping list. Woolworths was packed full of shoppers doing their Saturday grocery shopping, and after a while, the crowds became a bit too much for Nana, and she offered to take Sean and the pram outside and wait at a seat while I hurried around and got all the groceries. I agreed it was the best course of action, so we separated and I continued dashing through the supermarket.

20 minutes and a full trolley later, we headed to the chemist to get Sean's ear drops before heading home. We had so much food, so hopefully, our guests will be hungry at the luncheon!!!

By the time we got home, the others were already there, and Jonathan helped me to bring all the groceries in and put away. Mina was playing with practically all her new toys all at once - she was so excited! Jonathan had bought some rattle socks for Sean, and we put those on the little man and watched him wiggle his feet around.

While at the supermarket, I picked up a couple of packets of gluten free cake mix to make a cake for Sean's baptism. I thought it would be a fun activity for Mum and Mina to do, and it meant that we would have a cake for the party tomorrow. I had left it all too late to order a cake, so I hoped Mum wouldn't mind doing a little bit of baking for us! Mum and Mina had fun mixing the cake and putting it into the silicone massive cupcake mould, and Mum kept a close eye on the cake baking in the oven. Eventually, the cake was ready, albeit a little funny looking. Mum has her work cut out for her as to the best way to assemble the cake tomorrow!

I made pumpkin soup for dinner, which went down very well with everyone. For the first time in a very long time, I made the perfect quantity! Everyone had just enough soup, and no one was hungry in the end. Well done me!

With Daylight Savings ending tonight/early tomorrow morning, we kept Mina up for an extra hour in hope that she would sleep in a bit tomorrow morning. Mina continued playing with her toys before bedtime stories were read. Just like last night, she went to bed without a fuss and was asleep almost immediately.

I set about making a marinade for the chicken drumsticks, using gluten free soy sauce, honey and garlic. There were so many chicken drumsticks, so I made a large quantity of marinade and put the chicken in 2 pans to marinade overnight. Here's hoping they will turn out to be delicious tomorrow!

While I was busy prepping, Jonathan went about changing all the clocks in the house. As I sit here typing, all the clocks say 10.09pm, but my body is telling me it's 11.09pm. After battling the crowds at Woolworths earlier today, I'm exhausted, and we have a huge day tomorrow. We are really looking forward to Sean's baptism and spending the day with all our beloved family and friends.

Being Momma G: Day 91

Our darling little man is 3 months old today! Where has the time gone???

Sean has grown stronger and longer in the past month. One of Sean's favourite tricks these days is to try and stand up straight. His little legs are so strong, and while he definitely needs us to help him balance, Sean is all but standing up by himself.

Sean is like a little meerkat these days. He is so inquisitive, looking at everything that moves and reacting to noises around him. Sean knows my voice and Jonathan's voice, and he trains his eyes on us as we walk around the room. Sean is enjoying much longer stretches of tummy time, and he is really getting into the hanging toys on his jungle gym, kicking at them and reaching out for them.

Sean's personable nature is really shining through. He loves people, and will smile back at anyone who smiles at him. He is a charming little man, and he charms the ladies with his gorgeous smile!

After a slow start coordinating his arm movements, Sean is slowly getting the hang of bringing his hands to his mouth. His powerful legs are packing quite a punch, and I have been winded on the odd occasion when he's kicked my belly while I've been changing him. Those long arms and legs have outgrown some of his clothes, and Jonathan and I were quite wistful when we had pack some of his smaller clothes away now that they were too small to fit him.

Although Sean's skin is still a source of concern for us, it is getting better, and we are certainly looking forward to winter and the cooler air, which seems to suit Sean and his sensitive skin better.

Our little man had a good night, waking only once just after 3.30am for a feed. As it was difficult to feed him on the inflatable mattress, we went out to the armchair and fed Sean. The little man was a little bit unsettled afterwards but soon went back to sleep. Jonathan was working the split shift again, and got out of bed at 6.30am to start his day. The rest of us rose at 7am and each had breakfast. Just before 8am, Sean also woke for his breakfast.

We spent the morning relaxing at home. There wasn't much to do, so we either read or played on the internet. It was lovely to chill out and do nothing. Just after 10.30am, Sean woke for his mid-morning feed, and stayed awake and played with Grandma for a while. Before long, we had to get ready to head to Chatswood for yum cha with my parents.

Dad had a table specially reserved for us at Kam Fook, and he and Mum Meme were already seated by the time we all arrived. We brought some gluten free soy sauce for Mum Robin and Nana to use on the various dumplings and yum cha dishes, and we chose some moreish treats for Mum Robin and Nana to try. Watching the delight on their faces as they tasted the yummy food was a sight to behold, and Jonathan and I were very glad that we were able to treat them to this lovely experience.

Nana enjoyed herself very much, and she especially liked the coconut jelly dessert. Mum Robin declared the lunch to be the best Chinese meal she'd had in a long time, and wished that Dad Malcolm had been here to share it with us. Jonathan and I promised that when we visit them in October this year, if they are still in Papakura, we'd take them to the lovely Chinese restaurant in Auckland and have yum cha again.

After lunch, we parted company with my Dad and Mum, and headed to Target to do a spot of shopping. Mum Robin and Nana wanted to get a few things, so we wandered around for a while and looked for the various things they wanted to buy. Time escaped us and before long, Jonathan and Mum had to head off to collect Mina, so Nana and Sean and I went home to wait for their return.

Mina was all bright and happy when she arrived, without her usual bed toy Marshmallow and blanket that she must have to sleep. I quizzed her about it when she walked through the door, and she said that since she was sharing a bed with Grandma, she wouldn't need Marshmallow nor the blanket to sleep, for she would cuddle up to Grandma instead. Fair enough.

With so many people in the house, we needed to rejig who slept where for the week Mum and Nana were in Sydney. Jonathan and I thought it would be best for Nana to sleep in the guest room, and for Mum to be in our bed, so that for the 2 nights Mina was with us, Mina could share the bed with Mum. That was why Jonathan and I were on the inflatable mattress in Sean's room.

Mina spent the rest of the afternoon playing with Jonathan and Mum, and Sean joined in when he was fed and awake. Mum had earlier prepared 4 envelopes for Mina to open, and after Mina was showered and cleaned from her day at school, Mum handed Mina the envelopes. Each envelope contained $5, and Mina was to buy something to that amount for herself, Alyssa, Tammi and Sean. Jonathan and Mum would take Mina to the toy store tomorrow, after her German lessons, to buy the toys.

Dinner was a happy affair, with much chatter and banter throughout. Bedtime stories were read after dinner, and Mina happily went to sleep in the big bed. With German lessons tomorrow, Mina knew that she needed to be well rested for a big morning of language lessons. Jonathan continued working for some time, while Mum and Nana and I sat back and read.

The little man has just woken up, so we need to go and feed him. A busy-ish day ahead of us tomorrow, so we will be going to bed after the feed. The inflatable mattress is still an interesting experience for us. Let's see how long this is going to last.

March 2011 In Pictures

Being Momma G: Day 90

Mum and Nana's first full day in Sydney was a lovely and relaxing one. Just as we had hoped it would be, and just as we were planning the rest of their stay to be.

Sleeping on the inflatable mattress was an interesting experience. I didn't inflate it as much as it probably should have been, which meant that every time Jonathan or I moved, the other was thrown about as if we were sleeping on opposite ends of a see saw. When Sean woke for a feed at 2.30am, I found I couldn't get up off the floor to take Sean out of the cot for a feed. Jonathan helped me, but feeding the little man on the mattress proved to be quite difficult. We managed to get through the feed, and everyone settled back into bed.

There really was no way I could have fed the little man on the inflatable mattress again, so when he woke just before 6am, we quietly went out to the armchair and Sean enjoyed a fairly decent feed.

Soon after Sean went back to bed, we all rose and had breakfast. It was all at a relaxing pace, with nothing much planned for today. Sean woke again just before 9.30am, enjoyed a nice feed, before settling down to some serious cuddles from his Grandma and Great Nana. Sean and I had been invited to a Mothers Group gathering at Rebecca's house, and we were all asked to bring a plate to share with the other mothers. I was going to make corn fritters, which had been a hit with others in the past.

While Sean was getting his special cuddles, I went about mixing the batter and frying the fritters. The fritters were dead easy to make, and they were good for breakfast, lunch or dinner. The batter was a basic pancake mix of self raising flour, eggs, milk and butter, with corn, finely diced capsicum and bacon added to the mixture. The aromas drew Mum and Nana into the kitchen, and they wanted to know if I could make a gluten free version for them to try. I promised to make some gluten free fritters for them during their stay.

The fritters took a little longer to make than I had anticipated, and by the time they were all ready, it was time to get both Sean and I dressed to head out to Rebecca's house. Jonathan and Mum and Nana were heading to the shops too, to buy supplies for dinner and to do a spot of shopping in Chatswood. We bade farewell to each other and headed our separate ways.

Rebecca and her husband Simon have a gorgeous house in West Ryde. Rebecca had been busy painting her house, and has plans to makeover her backyard in the next few years. She showed us around her gorgeous home and the other mothers and Sean and me settled in for a relaxing afternoon.

There was so much yummy food on offer. We all sampled the other mothers' cooking, and enjoyed our buffet lunch very much. Rebecca's mother in law Margaret was also on hand to chat with us, and it was lovely to get some sage advice from someone who had been there and done that and survived to tell the tale.

Sylvia took lots of photos of the mums and bubs and promised to send them around to everyone, and time flew as the babies played and slept and did baby things, like needing to be fed and changed. In a blink of an eye, it was time for Sean and I to head home, and we thanked Rebecca for such a lovely afternoon. Rebecca was going back to work as her maternity leave was drawing to an end, so she thought to host all the mothers before she went back to work. We all promised to try and work out a time to suit Rebecca so she wouldn't miss out on too many future gatherings.

After such an exciting afternoon, Sean was quite unsettled when we got home and needed a lot of help to get to sleep. When he did finally drop off to sleep, I went to investigate what Jonathan and Mum and Nana had bought for dinner.

There were 4 lovely pieces of trout in the fridge for dinner, as well as some delectable Crystal Bay prawns on offer. Jonathan also picked up some pak choy to go with the seafood dinner. The fish was beautiful and succulent and the prawns were tasty and juicy, and we enjoyed every bite.

Over dinner, we talked about foods that Mum and Nana were allowed to eat, and foods they were to avoid. Jonathan and I had really wanted to take Mum and Nana to yum cha for lunch during their stay, but we weren't sure if they would be able to eat much, as almost everything was made with things I thought they couldn't eat. I always thought they were not able to eat glutinous rice (or sticky rice), but I was wrong. Armed with this knowledge, Jonathan and I were confident that Mum and Nana could enjoy the experience, so I called my parents to arrange a lunch date with them tomorrow. As Nana had never been to yum cha, we were thrilled to be taking her to her first yum cha experience.

With Jonathan working in the evening, the rest of us relaxed with our books and hobbies. We all chilled out as we waited for the little man to wake up for his last feed of the day. Sean woke just after 9.30pm and settled down to a good feed, before having a nice luxurious bath (with Nana taking photos). I wasn't sure who was having the best time - Sean having a bath, Jonathan giving Sean a bath, or Nana taking photos of Jonathan giving Sean a bath!

The little man has just sucked down a good slug of top up formula, and it's time for bed for everyone. We have a slightly busier day tomorrow, so we all need some sleep. I've inflated the mattress some more, so hopefully, Jonathan and I will get a better night of sleep tonight without too much rocking motion!

Being Momma G: Day 89

Finally, after weeks of waiting, Mum and Nana are arriving today!

Sean must have been just as excited as we were, for he was quite unsettled overnight. He woke at 11.30pm after a long sleep, and had a fairly fussy feed. Sean woke again at 2.30am for his next feed, and then again at 4.30am. By the time he woke at 6.30am, I had nothing to give. Jonathan got out of bed and made up a bottle of formula, and the little man was happy enough to take that and sleep until just before 10am.

Jonathan had made arrangements to work in the office today, so that we may both head out to the airport to collect Mum and Nana this afternoon. After Jonathan left for work, I pottered around the house and tidied up some more. I really wanted to show off our house in the best light, and made sure everything was neat and tidy and all set for our lovely visitors.

Sean and I got ready to head out after his 10am feed, and we headed to Macquarie Centre for a quick shop. I wanted to get a few things from Big W and Woolworths, so we paid a visit to these shops. I had forgotten to bring my shopping list, but managed to get everything I wanted and needed from Woolworths. However, I managed to nothing I needed from Big W. I blamed "baby brain" for this.

To add further insult to injury, it wasn't until we were almost all the way home before I realised I had forgotten to buy breast pads from Big W. Oh well, they would have to wait until my next visit.

It was lunch time by the time we got home, so Sean enjoyed a feed before I too had some lunch. Afterwards, we went and paid a visit to Rita, who had been looking forward to having cuddles with Sean all week. We stayed for a little while and chatted, before Sean became tired and it was time for a nap. I woke him at 4pm to have his next feed, so that he would be full and happy for our trip out to the airport to pick up Mum and Nana.

As soon as Sean was fed, we got ready to head out. We were meeting Jonathan at 5pm at Avis in Artarmon to pick up the rental car that we had hired for the week Mum and Nana were in Sydney, and by the time we left home, Jonathan had already arrived at Avis. He had left work a little earlier than expected and was all ready to go by 4.30pm. Sean and I drove towards Artarmon, and once we saw Jonathan, we convoyed to the airport.

En route, I discovered that Mum and Nana's flight had arrived a tad earlier than expected, and with a little bit of unexpected traffic, we arrived at the airport well after the plane had landed. Sean had fallen asleep in the car, but woke as we parked in the car park. We all went to the Arrivals terminal to see Mum and Nana walking towards the car park.

We were all so excited to see each other. Mum and Nana were so excited to see Sean, and they gave him plenty of cuddles and kisses before we continued to the cars. Mum and Nana looked well, even though they had both had a long day already, especially Nana who had been awake since the crack of dawn to set off from Timaru.

With Sydney International Airport trialling a scheme whereby the first 15 minutes of parking is free, we hurried towards the ticket machines and validated our free parking. We loaded all the luggage and people in the cars - Nana went with Jonathan while Mum came with me and Sean, and headed towards Top Ryde for dinner.

Mum and I chatted in the car - it was so good to see her. Sean was well behaved during the car trip, and before we knew it, we were pulling up to Top Ryde Shopping Centre. Earlier this month, Jonathan and I had found a fantastic pizzeria at Top Ryde called Bar Angolo, which made very authentic pizzas with gluten free options. We really wanted to share this lovely place with Mum and Nana, and since it was nearly 7pm by the time we arrived at Top Ryde, we thought it was best to have dinner at Bar Angolo than try and cook a meal at home.

We spent some time perusing the menu, and ordered while I fed Sean. Our meals arrived thick and fast - Mum and Nana ordered a seafood pizza to share, Jonathan tried the meatballs and I ordered the Specials pizza. We enjoyed our meals with their homemade lemonade, and everyone was pleased with their choices.

With Mum and Nana fading fast, we went home and let Mum and Nana unpack and relax before bed. Sean had a top up of formula before he went to bed, with Nana hitting the hay next. Mum and Jonathan and I enjoyed some relaxing tea and caught up for a little while.

As Jonathan has to start work at 6.30am, it's now time for bed for everyone. Mum is in our room getting ready to sleep, and we should get ready to sleep on the inflatable mattress in Sean's room too. Looking forward to having Mum and Nana here for the next week!

Being Momma G: Day 88

Yet another quiet day at home with my two most favourite men, and I tried again to come to terms with the hole in my mouth.

I was still quite traumatised by the tooth extraction, and finally, the stress caught up with me. I had a long nap this afternoon, because I basically needed it. Jonathan tip toed around me while I napped, and only came to wake me when the baby needed my attention.

Speaking of the baby, Sean was perfectly behaved all day long, which made life a bit easier for me. This morning, he woke at 2.30am and at 5am, and continued the routine of dream feeding and going straight back to his bed to sleep. We got out of bed at 7.45am for the first proper feed of the day, and the little man smiled and laughed and talked with us before going back to bed.

At 10.45am, Sean had his next feed, and afterwards, Jonathan asked if I'd like to go up to Top Ryde to shop and have a bit of an outing. We still needed to get an outfit for Sean for his baptism, so to Top Ryde we went. We looked in a few shops before settling on a gorgeous white long sleeved body suit with a bear and a honey pot on the front, and the enclosed feet looked like little bears. The outfit was so cute and so soft, and I knew it would look perfect on our gorgeous little man.

We went to Woolworths next to get a few bits and pieces for the celebration lunch after the baptism on Sunday. We were expecting around 30 of our nearest and dearest to attend the lunch, which was awesome. We needed some plastic plates and forks and the like, so we picked up the party supplies from Woolworths. While at Woolworths, we also picked up quite a few bottles of soft drinks for everyone to have at the party.

With Mum and Nana arriving tomorrow, we wanted to get a few things from the supermarket in readiness for both events. Mum and Nana both have Coeliac Disease and adhere to a gluten free diet, and we wanted to have at least a box of gluten free cereal in the pantry for them to have at breakfast time on their first day in Sydney. We picked up a box of gluten free cereal and some gluten free bread, and Jonathan promised to take them both shopping for more gluten free foods once Mum and Nana touched down in Sydney.

Last and final stop for the day was at Dan Murphy's to pick up some wines for the party. We bought an assorted dozen and a mini keg of Heineken, and hoped this would be enough for our guests.

We had full trolleys by the time we left Dan Murphy's, and it was time to head home anyway. The loss of the tooth combined with the shopping trip knocked me out, so I slept. And it was a good sleep too.

I noticed some time today that Sean's skin was so much better. After using a combination of Paw Paw Ointment, Daktozin, Ego Dermaid Soft Cream 0.5%, Sudocream, Aveeno Baby Daily Moisturiser with Oatmeal and Johnson & Johnson Baby Sorbolene Cream, something was working because the rashes were noticeably less angry, the eczema type bumpy skin was a lot smoother, and the folds and creases where the skin was broken and weepy were all healing nicely. Thank you to so many different people for recommending so many different things!

After our shopping trip to Top Ryde, the little man had a feed just before 3pm, which kept him satisfied until just before 7pm. We gave him a top up at this feed, and hoped he would sleep through to 2am.

We are still hoping Sean would sleep through until 2am, but we have our doubts. And even though I had a sleep this afternoon, I am still tired and am heading off to bed to sleep more. I have a feeling the little man will wake shortly, but I really need to lie down. Not only was the hole in my mouth hurting, my back is now hurting too. I'm falling apart!!!