Monday Giggles

Hey there! Welcome to another Monday Giggles. Hope this brings a smile to your day! :D

Enjoy!


Where peanut butter comes from . . .

*hugs*

Monday Giggles

Hello! I hope you had a lovely weekend. Here's today's funny, enjoy!

*hugs*

LSNED - Day 16

I've been watching more science videos (because I'm a closet geek, plus it's a good way to pass the time whilst breastfeeding!) and so today I learnt that you can blow out a candle but relight it by lighting the smoke! Check out the video below, it's very cool!

*hugs*

Thankful Thursdays & LSNED Day 15

The Blue Mountains is a World Heritage area, rich in natural bushland and history. I love the laidback atmosphere where you can sometimes feel isolated, but also part of the community if you want. Then of course there is the gorgeous natural landscapes. Although extremely prone to bushfires, the area is still lovely to live in and explore. Then there is the Three Sisters (in the photo above and perhaps one day I'll tell you the story behind these three rock formations) - possibly the most famous landmark of the area. I'm thankful for the fact that I live in such a beautiful part of Australia.

What are you thankful for today?

Today's lesson is more of a previously learned lesson that was confirmed. We've had the feeling that Jasmine has been fussy and unsettled (especially during the afternoons) due to the fact that she's been missing daddy now that he's back at work. Well, perhaps today (and the past weekend) had confirmed that as she has hasn't had her afternoon fussy period and has been reasonably content. I think only time can fix this one particular issue. And possibly a very healthy dose of patience!!!



(Sorry if this post today sounds disjointed and/or not completely comprehensible. Lack of sleep and a currently grumpy Jasmine has frazzled me a bit and my brain doesn't seem to be working. I know it's silly, but I'm kind of stressed out that I didn't get this post up on Thursday - as it's just gone midnight now. Really it shouldn't matter in the scheme of things, and no doubt I'll (hopefully) forget all about it tomorrow, after the post is up anyway!)

*hugs*

LSNED - Day 11, 12, 13 & 14!

It's been a few crazy days around here, so I have four days of LSNED lessons to catch up on! Here goes:

Day 11 - I learned today that you spend 40 minutes a day blind! In my case that would probably be more if you count the minutes when I'm not wearing my glasses. LOL It's called "Saccadic masking" - our brain creating a "mask" or illusion so that we don't get motion blur from when our eyes are moving around. This is also called the "stopped-clock illusion", when the first second on a clock after you turn to look at it appears to take longer than all the other seconds. Check out the video here.

Useless trivia or cool scientific fact?!? LOL

Day 12 - I learned that with the current routine I'm in (feed bubby, put bubby to sleep, eat something, sit down to rest for a teeny bit, bubby wakes, change nappy - repeat sequence), some days there just really isn't that much to learn. :/

Day 13 - I've been reading through SmartphOWNED, Memestache and Taste of Awesome and consequently I've learned a whole bunch of new slang words (in addition to being thoroughly entertained). Not that I'd use them in normal conversation, but they're interesting to know!

Day 14 - I learned that you can buy awesome things like Lego cameras, Star Wars ice trays or these Mood Mugs, as opposed to "what-on-earth?!?" items like Mantyhose (pantyhose for guys?!?), bacon flavoured toothpaste, or a toilet mug! What will they think of next?!?! LOL

*hugs*

Monday Giggles

Hello! I hope you are doing well on this Monday, 12 September (already!!).

Enjoy today's funny!

*hugs*

10 Awesome Things About the Winter Magic Festival

Last year I shared with you a post about a local event called the Winter Magic Festival (see here). Unfortunately I missed the festival this year as I had to attend an ante-natal class, so that was quite disappointing. However, I've created a very simple scrapbook layout outlining ten awesome things about the festival:

Credits: Background pp from In The Groove by Shabby Shoppe; Fonts - Kingthings Petrock, Wendy Medium.
This layout was also created as part of the My Album of Awesome Big Picture Class.

You can click to enlarge, however, here are the ten awesome things:

1. The Grand Parade
   
2. The exciting festival atmosphere
   
3. The amazing and varied market stalls
   
4. The diverse and delicious food stalls
   
5. The entertaining street performers
   
6. The infectious Samba music and dancing
   
7. The interesting costumes
   
8. The huge crowds
   
9. The colourfulness of everything!
   
10. The awesome fireworks ending an absolutely awesome day!
    

Hopefully I'll be able to make it to next year's festival and show you lots more awesome pictures! :D

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Today's post has been brought to you by Shimelle's 10 Things on the 10th regular feature. Why don't you join in as well? Click here to link up and see what everyone else has to offer today. :D

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*hugs*

LSNED - Day 10

We finally used up all the Huggies Newborn size nappies yesterday and started using some Aldi Infant ones as there is a bit of a gap with the Huggies ones from Newborn (up to 5kg) to Crawler (6-11kg) size (plus they're a bit cheaper than Huggies!). The Aldi ones have nothing printed on them whatsoever and I realised today that I miss seeing the wetness indicator strip on the Huggies nappies (I also miss the really cute Pooh Bear graphics, but that's another story altogether. LOL). And that brings me to today's lesson: I found out that the wetness indicator strip only appears on the Newborn nappies and none of the other sizes. Darn - that's a good invention as it means I don't have to go rooting around in her nappy to see how wet it is! LOL

Finding out all these small things about baby products is quite amusing. Never in my life would I have imagined making such a fuss over a nappy "wetness indicator". LOL

Have you learned anything amusing lately or is there something in your life that you find amusing right now?

*hugs*

LSNED - Day 9

Thank you Monika & Sian for your lovely comments and great encouragement after my post and awful day yesterday. It means so much to me and I'm glad it's normal to feel awful some days! Today was much, much better and I learned quite a few things today. :D

* I learned today that the same situation can turn out to be a hugely different experience for different people. I went to the first New Parents group meet today and we talked about our birth experiences. Each and every story was different and unique - some went through absolute nightmare labours, while others had a totally trouble free labour (like mine).

* I learned today that it IS possible for me to go out alone with bubby (further than just a walk up the road) and not run into disaster upon disaster! In fact nothing much happened at all except for the fact that I actually ENJOYED the experience!!! Getting her in and out of the car and to each destination wasn't a problem, even in the rain! And just the two of us having lunch? Awesome! :D

* I learned today that a cute baby really does draw lots of comments from other people. LOL

* I learned today that I really should learn more about the equipment I'm using. My mobile phone has two cameras - one in front and one in back. Little did I know that the front one is used more for video conferencing and thus doesn't take good pictures at all. :( I ended up with only two usable photos (the one above being one of them). After complaining about the terrible photos to hubby, who then explained WHY they were terrible, I then remembered that our point and shoot camera was in the backpack I was carrying with me. DOH!!

What a very fruitful day of learning! Maybe I should store some up of those lessons for those days when I don't learn anything. LOL Have you learned anything noteworthy today?

*hugs*

Thankful Thursday

Some days finding the Positive in the everyday or finding something beyond the basics to be thankful for is really easy. Other days, it's almost like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Today is one of those latter days.

However, as I started to compose this post, God made me realise that I actually have it good and all the complaints and negativity that I was going to write just all disappeared. On the whole, Jasmine really is a good baby and if on days like today she screams (not cries) for a solid hour and a half, well, that's nothing compared to some other babies. And I'm just thankful that I don't have multiple babies (sorry Ali if you're reading this!).

Yes, I may be extremely exhausted.
Yes, I may feel frazzled beyond belief because of her crying.
Yes, I may feel like I'm at the end of my tether.
But hey, I did manage to survive today and I'll be able to survive other days like it. I just needed to take a step back and be thankful how Jasmine is now for it could be a lot worse.

Are you going through trying times at the moment and find it hard to be thankful? Or are you the opposite to me today and have upteen things to be thankful for?

*hugs*

LSNED - Day 7 & 8

Source: xruamariex on DeviantArt

Day 7 - Today I learned (but not yet accepted!) that no matter how frustrated I get, circumstances are not going to change or things aren't going to get done if I just sit around hoping and wishing!

Winnie, PROCRASTINATION is thy middle name!

Source: dailyclipart.net

Day 8 - dealing with a non-stop screaming baby really does take a lot out of me. I'm soooo exhausted. :( (edited) I really can find something to be thankful for, no matter how bad my day may have been (see today's Thankful Thursday post).

*hugs*

LSNED - Day 6

My first day at home alone with bubby again as Gus is back to work. I discovered today that it IS possible to cook something for dinner whilst looking after Jasmine by myself! A definite and much needed self-esteem booster.

*hugs*

LSNED - Day 5

We took the dogs to get their annual vaccinations today, and I learned that a new way of giving the Kennel Cough vaccination is now being used. The vaccination is squirted up the dog's nostril instead of being injected via a needle. Apparently it works better this way as it protects the dog more from Kennel Cough bacteria which can often enter via the nose.

So there you go! Even animal science is moving forward in leaps and bounds! :D

*hugs*

Jasmine - Aged 2 months

Wow! Can you believe it?!? Another month has gone by and Jasmine is now two months old!

I must admit the past month has been more on the difficult side as Jasmine has gone through quite a bit, such as having her one month celebratory dinner (Chinese tradition), getting her first immunisation jabs, going through a couple of growth spurts, and her first week without daddy around. It has been a huge learning curve with lots of ups and downs. As expected, I'm still tired and an existing blood condition which adds to the tiredness doesn't help one little bit! So most of my time is spent in feeding Jasmine, and trying to get rest when I can.

But enough about me. At 2 months, Jasmine:

• Weighs just over 5kg (5.2kg/11.4lb) and is 56cm in length.
  
  
• Still has a powerful set of lungs, although her cries have progressed from the cute newborn cries to fierce screams and more "ngaaai, ngaaai" cries. When she whinges, sometimes it almost sounds like she's trying to get our attention with a very loud "ey"! LOL
  
  

• Loves watching people talk to her. She hasn't quite mastered the art of responding with coos or gaas just yet, but no doubt this will come in time. She's already talking to the animals on her mobile!
  
  
• Has much longer periods of wakefulness and attentiveness now, although her attention span is still very short. Annoyingly she will fight going to sleep after a feed only to fall asleep half-an-hour or so before her next feed, which means I get very little rest in between feeds. Thankfully she only does this during the day and sleeps fairly well during the night now.
  
  

• Is starting to sleep in a sleep sack as she's just too active to wrap. She can unwrap herself within minutes, so we thought we'd better graduate her to the sleep sack. That way, at least she's covered and the wrap isn't hindering her movements/development.
  
  
• Has somehow lost her feed routine! She now feeds anywhere between 3.5hrs to 6hrs (!), although 4 hrs does seem to be the average. According to the community nurse, 6 hours between feeds isn't an issue as she is still putting on weight, but it just stuffs up my milk supply, which is flakey at the best of times! LOL At least she's feeding well though and still takes both breast and bottle without issue. Sometimes she can be a bit slow in drinking from the bottle and ends up fussing because the formula has cooled down. We then have to go and warm it up for her before she'll drink again. Other times she'll drain the bottle so fast, the formula doesn't have a chance to cool down! LOL I think I might have to set up a routine rather than rely on her demand feeding. It might work better for all of us in the end - at least I'll get some decent rest!
  
  

• Tolerates sitting in the swing seat now, and will even fall asleep in it.
  
  
• Is really exercising her legs by kicking lots now. She loves to lie on her back kicking up a storm! It's so cute to watch her. Her arms are still flailing about seemingly uncontrollably. Her strength is definitely improving as she can pack quite a punch with those little fists of hers! I often sustain a wallop or two when she's breast feeding. LOL
  
  
• Is wearing the larger of the size 0000 clothes, and even some size 000 clothes. It's sad to put away all the smaller items now as they were soooo cute and reminds me how fast she's growing!
  
  

• Smiles lots now, and often when she recognises our faces or our voices. She still smiles in her sleep, and it's so cute and sweet to watch her sleep. :D
  
  
• Can suddenly start crying/screaming in her sleep. After a moment, she will go back to sleep, but it certainly gives us a scare as we wonder what distressed her so much. Must be nightmares?!?
  
  

• Doesn't like tummy time. :( She'll tolerate it for about five seconds before staring to whinge. I have to give her tummy time in lots of 30 seconds each!
  
  
• Is learning to suck her hands when hungry or needs a comfort suck. She's also starting to drool a bit and blowing drool bubbles - eech! LOL
  

There are so many more changes and developments now as Jasmine gets older. It's hard to focus on all of them and I often fear I'll miss something. Kids certainly grow fast!

This week Gus is back to work for good so I'm on my own again. Hopefully his hours won't be as long as when he was off on training two weeks ago, but still he will be spending at least 14 hours away from home. :( At least he will be getting some rest on the train!

This week Jasmine and I will be going to our first Mother's Group session. I'll let you know how that goes!

*hugs*

Monday Giggles

Hello and welcome to another Monday Giggles!

Do you have a GPS unit? TomTom have released new Star Wars voices for their units and here's the out-takes from Yoda's recordings.

Enjoy!




*hugs*

LSNED - Day 3 & 4

Yesterday we headed down to Sydney and I was just too exhausted when we got back home to post what I'd learned! It was a very long and tiring day.

However, yesterday I was reminded that in marriage, self-sacrifice works both ways and can be small - like giving up the perfectly cooked sunny-side up egg and eating the ugly looking, messy egg at breakfast - or big - like enduring a whole afternoon with your wife's family and relatives when you have no idea what they're talking about because you don't speak Cantonese!

Today I have been no less exhausted unfortunately (in fact all three of us have been very tired and sleepy for some reason), but thankfully we had a whole day at home to do absolutely nothing but rest. Or try to! There was still something to learn today though, and that was the fact that Jasmine's very bowed legs and slightly turned feet are actually quite normal! I thought it was a genetic or racial trait as I have bowed legs too, like a lot of Asians! Whether or not her legs will straighten out will remain to be seen. Regardless though, I'm sure she will still be a tall girl like her mummy - her legs are already so long!!

Wonder what lesson tomorrow will bring? :D

*hugs*



PS. Sorry for the lack of photos. I have them, but it just seems like a bit too much effort today to download and prepare them for uploading to the web. With the way I'm feeling at the moment there's a huge possibility I might upload the wrong photo anyway!! LOL Maybe I'll make it up tomorrow. :D