The Good:
Tabitha slept in until 8am this morning. 8am!! Sure, I fed her at 1 and 5am, but it certainly was a lovely treat to just naturally wake up, of my own accord, and when the sun is already up. I don't know why she slept in, and I'm sure it won't become a regular thing, but when you're a mother you learn to give thanks for small blessings!
Also, I have finally lost all of the baby weight. Tabitha is nearly 9 months old (8.5), so I think that it's true what They Say: "it takes 9 months to gain the weight, so don't expect to loose it in 3!" You can't really try to loose weight quickly when you're breastfeeding - you could place your milk supply at risk - so you just need to plod along, eating sensibly, exercising. Between breastfeeding, which uses around 300 - 500 calories a day, and baby-wearing (walking around all day with an 8kg weight strapped to me!), the weight naturally slipped away over the past 9 months, without having to worry too much about it. I know it's such a petty and unimportant thing, really, but I am feeling much healthier, stronger and more 'me' now, so I'm happy about it.
Here is me when I was getting quite enormous. Don't I look surly?! The Daddy was dragging me on a walk up Hanging Rock, and I was Over It. I put on around 20kg with the pregnancy, which doesn't seem too much, until you realise that the baby only weighed 3.5kg! This photo was around 38 weeks, I think, when we went to Hepburn Springs for the weekend - we stayed at this lovely little Japanese Ryokan, and the kind woman there stacked two futons on top of each other, because she wasn't confident I could climb up and down onto one!
The Bad:
Our older cat has really ramped up his hunting. It is most upsetting. Mice actually scurry across our back fence line, and he just sits and picks them off. I am thankful that he doesn't catch native wildlife, and I know that the rats and mice are introduced pests, but they really are sweet little creatures, and it makes me so sad when he catches them. He has a bell and all that, but he is just an excellent hunter - sometimes bringing in multiple catches in one day. Sometimes I can save them - if he brings one in alive, and I convince him to drop it straight away, I shoo it into the bathroom, leave it alone in a dark, quiet room for an hour to calm down and de-stress, then gently shoo it into a box, and go down the front of the block (well away from out back yard) to release it into the shrubbery, where there are plenty of places for a mouse to hide.
Does anyone have any tips? They aren't allowed to roam, we have cat-proof fencing, but I can't really stop him catching them from within our little garden. Sometimes the brazen things even creep inside through the open back door to snatch cat food! I've tried two bells. I've heard of some sort of sonar product - does anyone know if they work?
The Ugly:
My skin is freaking out at the moment! I feel like I'm a teenager again - the perky bust and ability to stay up all night, I would welcome... But instead, I just have dreadful skin. I can't understand it - I've been drinking 3 - 4 litres of water a day (hello breastfeeding), eating fairly well, exercising (well, as much as usual). I am not happy about it.
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4 comments:
Yay for the good! I always think you look better a little curvaceous but don't forget that even though Tabby was only 3.5 kilos there are a couple of kilos of amniotic fluid et al in there as well...
Boo for the bad! Do you think it's linked to making them sleep outside? I have heard of indoor sonar style devices for mice and cockies and outdoor ones for possums and the like but not sure if that would also affect the puddas?
As for the ugly... I think you need to detail your skincare routine. The one thing my dermatologist recommended to me was when all else fails just use cetaphil cleanser and moisturiser. It's so gentle they recommend using it on babies. It might be enough to get you back on track.
Arghh who knows about the cats?! They are actually not sleeping outside - that lasted about, oh, a day?! They seemed fine about it, but then we realised we can leave the kitchen window open a crack, and they can get in and out there. We just close both bedroom doors! I am sure I heard of a sonar thing for the cats' collars? I might call the vet...
Bah, the skin is SO bad. It's really just a few deep, nasty, not-going-away hormonal type blemishes, the rest of it is fine. I've actually done just what you suggested - I've been massaging a good amount of Cetaphil cleanser in for a few minutes, morning and night, so I suspect it's maybe hormonal. I might go get a session of microdermabrasion, if that doesn't help maybe it's hormonal since she's eating solids and breastfeeding less...?
Oops I wrote an essay!
You can actually get native mice and rats in Australia, as far as I'm aware. They are smaller than the 'house mouse'. I learnt this from discovering this after my cat let one loose in my bedroom and the drama that unfolded trying to catch it.
But it is probably more likely they are only native if you have bushland/grassland/wildlife near your dwelling, which we have.
Funny that the word verification for my post is "fermin" much like "vermin". Quite a giggle.
Yes you;re right! You can get Spinifex hopping mice and Mitchell's hopping mice, they are super cute! I wanted to get some actually, as pets! They are quite different, I think most of the native rodents are - the ones we get are definitely boring old mice and rats, the imported sort. Still cute in their own way...
The cats did get a possum once, their only native kill, we were really devastated (it must have come into the back yard). Thankfully it has never happened again.
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