I drafted this post relaxing in a camp chair, listening to the ocean and watching the sand and waves. By the time it’s published, I’ll be in thick of back to school preparation and the working year.
The calm will be a distant memory. It’s funny how that happens. We take holidays to relax and recharge and the recharge fades as soon as routine sets in.
I wish I could take the rested me into the stress of normal life. I wonder if I can. Read more
This post is sponsored by Bupa.
Being a sports fan is new to me. It wasn’t big in my own family but it was huge in my husband’s. A family of basketball stars and football fanatics. Now we are growing our own. Our seven year old is obsessed with soccer and is a keen lover of AFL and NRL. Our three year old has a knack for winning the family tipping competition. Yep, we are part of an extended family that runs a footy tipping competition. The kind of family where my husband helps coach the kid’s soccer team. The kind of family that holds season passes. The kind of family where sport is important.
Not just playing it but watching it, discussing it and being excited by it. Barracking for our favourite teams and going to games as a family. It’s part of our household DNA. What makes us us. Read more
All my good intentions for the new year were placed on hold until February. It’s the month people with children seem to start their resolutions. I was too busy keeping the kids entertained, labelling all the things and counting down the days until school started to get a move on in January.
One of my resolutions (like every other year) is to improve my heath and my family’s health. Today on the blog I have Sally from Health Insurance Comparison sharing some tips on how to actually plan for better health. I am quite fond of plans – they tend to be what it takes to get things to happen in my life. Over to Sally ….
this post is sponsored by SleepMaker
Some people keep a sleep diary. This is how mine would go:
Dear Log,
It’s has been approximately 2,555 nights since my last decent sleep. Occasionally, my captors give me some relief and allow me a night without interruption, but it only serves as false hope. If I ever get a chance to escape, I can’t sleep 4am. My body has been ruthlessly trained to crave more sleep and yet be unable to gain it. Sometimes the youngest captor, who is by far the master at sleep interruption, will allow me nights and nights of sleep. When that happens, the eldest captor (who taught the younger all he knows) will wake with a variety of complaints – nightmares, a need for water, growing pains. They have cleverly worked together to make sure that I will never sleep a full night again…
Maybe I am exaggerating (maybe I’m not) but a thing that was once taken for granted is now a VERY BIG DEAL. And is for every mother of young children I know. How do we get more sleep? And when sleep is in short supply, how do we improve its quality?
It was on sale. A bright pink bikini with rouching in all the right places. The promise of an enhanced bust and minimised thighs. I hadn’t worn a bikini since my eldest was born, pregnancies being the exception. When I was proud to display my burgeoning belly in all its glory.
I tried the bikini on. And judged the woman in the mirror in front of me. The slight belly. The saddlebags. The flabby bits under my arms. The dimpled thighs. The deflated breasts. Read more
From mid-September to mid-October I gave up coffee. You can read about how that went here. It was an interesting month. There were things that I expected – fatigue, irritability, head-aches. But there were quite a few things that I did not foresee. I chatted to Karina Francois, naturopath and author, about what happens when our bodies and minds are addicted to caffeine and what happens when you give those things up. I hope you find it as interesting as I did.
Please note that the below is not intended to be used as medical advice. If you have any health concerns, please see your health professional and never rely solely on the internet for your information.
