Here’s me browsing through Ninewest for some new peep toes to wear with winter blacks, greys and nice stockings.

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I woke to the sound of little feet stampeding down the hallway. My boys ran into the room, jumped onto my bed and shouted HAPPY MOTHER’S DAAAAY, covering me with kisses, giggles and cuddles. It was all very cute.

They told me I was NOT ALLOWED to get out of bed, and that I HAD TO eat breakfast in bed. They were very persuasive about it, especially with their little frowns and waggling fingers. But I hate eating in bed. I convinced them that eating in bed would be a bad idea, because ants will crawl under the covers and bite me – so they let me eat breakfast on the couch instead.

From the boys in my life, I received Ugg boots, a bunch of flowers, a sunflower plant, and a photo frame. We went out in the morning, out for lunch, came home for a 2 HOUR nap, then had dinner at my parent’s place. We had a lovely day!

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I organised a Girl’s Night Out dinner for all the mum’s at my son’s pre-primary school class.

We had 14 women turn up! It was sooooo much fun! I had such a great time. I can’t believe how lovely everyone is. I’m on this crazy high from being surrounded by so many nice women!

We laughed so much. First everyone rocked up with LOTS OF RED WINE. Then we giggled at each other – because you know, we’ve never seen each other in nice clothes, makeup and high heel shoes. Then we went into hysterics as we swapped stories about how our children insisted on dressing us, choosing our clothes and jewellery.

We were there for almost 4 hours. Talking, laughing, eating, drinking. We were put on a long table, and I made everyone shuffle seats to mingle and chat to others. Most of us ordered the set banquet and we just shared everything. It was great!

Best parts of the evening : The girly and motherly bonding. Strengthening a little community and forming friendships that will last a lifetime. Getting to know the parents of the kids that my kids will hang out with. Making friends with mothers in my area. And the HILARIOUS stories!

I got a few emails from women asking how I organised it, as they were inspired to do the same for the mums in their kid’s class. It was really simple! I completely recommend it!

I chose the time, date, place and format.
I printed out a text-only invite on coloured paper.
I popped them into all the children’s take-home pigeonholes.
I made a booking in a restaurant for 10 people.
The mum’s had to RSVP by the day before.
I would let the restaurant know the final numbers on the afternoon of the dinner.
That was it.

I worked out that the Friday night before Mother’s Day would best result in husband’s agreeing to babysit the kids.

I chose a popular restaurant that was local. It was pretty much 2 minutes drive from everyone’s house. Lots of women car pooled or got dropped off.

I also refrained from making it into a BIG EVENT. A big event with a set programme, door prizes, theme or whatever, usually expects the person to invest a lot of thought into it, they will um and ah about it, and then usually decide that it’s all just too hard.

I just wanted the evening to be A SIMPLE DINNER, COME AS YOU ARE.

Plus it meant, less organising for me!

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Today I spoke to my doctor about not being able to fall pregnant.

My doctor is by far, the most wonderful, most considerate, personal and straight-forward doctor that I, and my husband, have ever had. We’ve been seeing her for 7 years, and she knows all about us and the kids.

I told her about our efforts in trying to fall pregnant and the techniques we’ve tried. I laid out a little case history, how we’ve come to this point, and where we’d like to go.

I asked her for her opinion, to recommend some fertility clinics, and any other reproductive alternatives she can think of.

I asked her, “We’ve only been trying for seven months. Would a fertility clinic take us seriously?”

She assured me that since we know my husband has a low sperm count, 7 months is long enough to be taken seriously.

Phew. The last thing I want I to do is pay a specialist to tell me to just keep trying for another 6 months.

My husband, with his years of dealing with doctors, medical practices and the health sector, strongly believes in being deeply involved in your treatment. He believes in finding out as much as you can, doing vigorous research, looking for alternatives, asking hard questions, asking WHY, and hearing as many different opinions as possible. He believes in “getting three quotes”.

I personally had the impression that we should trust doctors, that ALL doctors know what they are doing, and they will recommend the best possible solution for the patient – but I have since found out that this isn’t always the case.

Each specialist doctor, like a tradesperson, has a particular style and way of doing things. They are most likely to recommend the method that they are expert in, and it might not necessarily be the way that is best for you.

So while most people go see ONE fertility clinic at a time, we are booked into seeing THREE – just for an initial consultation with each.

Ok perhaps it’s a bit of an overkill. The Chinese in me is very grumpy about the money we’re spending just for having a chat with a doctor – especially if they all say the same thing – but I’ve been told, “Hey, welcome to the world of assisted reproduction!”

Assisted reproduction! Fertility specialists! How scary!

…
Click here to see the whole story of Making Baby 3.

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The other night I was straightening my hair and getting ready to go out. I left the  bathroom door slightly ajar, to let some air in.

From the corner of my eye, I saw my 3yo crouched at the edge of the doorway, spying on me.

I ignored him for a few minutes, until he started to giggle uncontrollably – big hearty chuckles that shook his belly.

I said, “Hi Sean! What’s so funny buddy?”

“You have ears on your head! You look like a mouse! You shouldn’t go out when you look like that! You look so funny mummy! Hahahehehaheha!”

And that came from a kid wearing a pillowcase on his head and a lightsabre down his pants.

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Last night my husband and I went to a popular pub in the city. The place was packed full of very well dressed, after-work business people. As I was making my way through the crowd, one guy caught my eye – only because I recognised that he was wearing a Threadless Tee ! Haha it was like seeing an old friend.

So this morning I spent way too much time browsing through some AWESOME designs at Threadless. Ah how I love their designs, it’s seriously the best place to get funky, affordable, designer t-shirts for kids! (Ok and adults!)

Here are a few I picked out (for kids). Enjoy!

Never Take Your Abilities For Granted

Dulces Vacaciones

New World Order

Such Great Height

Everything Will Be Alright

Mmmh Delicious

Animal Zoo

(Browse shirts at Threadless, in the kids section. You might have to do a search for the t-shirt names.)

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In my efforts to make the kids eat more calcium, I’ve been trying out all kinds of yogurty desserts. We make my own natural yogurt with a yogurt maker. We eat about 2kgs a week!

Anyway, this is the absolute hands-down favourite of the lot. I call it a dessert, but really I make this for the kids after school, as a bit of a treat.

Yogurt, Fruit and Cookie Dessert Recipe

Crumble 2 or 3 cookies into a glass cup. I use ANY kind I have in my cupboard – shortbread, wheat or oat cookies.

Dollop 4 tablespoons of natural yogurt.

Top with any kind of fruit compote or canned berries with syrup. I like canned blueberries.

There’s something very magical about slightly mushy cookies with fruity yogurt.

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Today I had a wonderful afternoon. I’m not entirely sure what made it so special from any other day though.

My boys dressed in OPPOSITE tracksuit colours. They gathered large autumn leaves and fanned the air like buzzy bees. They ran off without looking back.

My husband and I strolled behind them. Usually we would talk, chat and laugh noisily about our day.

But I was in a very reflective mood today. Lots to think about.

There is always so much going on in my head, but today, it all seemed to be moving at the same speed, with the same rhythm.

I was thinking about parenting. Motherhood. Children. My family. Infertility. Future. Love. Hopes. Sensitivity. Sadness. Loss. Emptiness. Depression. Blogging. Writing. Creating. My life plans. My community. The people in my life.

I had this strange calm in my spirit. Like I reached some kind of clarity. Or perspective.

Or like I’ve been unconsciously gathering thoughts for the last 2 weeks, and suddenly, somehow, everything has all come together.

And everything is all good.

It’s a good place to be.

Read the rest of this entry »

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The Red Tent
by Anita Diamant

I bought this book only because it was on sale at my local bookstore and I remember seeing it on Oprah’s Bookclub a while back. The cover alone would have made me run in the opposite direction.

The Red Tent is a fictional story based on characters from the Biblical story of Jacob. It focuses on Dinah, Jacob’s only daughter, and weaves a fascinating tale about her mothers, her family, her culture, her journey into adulthood, from Canaan to Egypt.

Its themes revolve around the “red tent”, the place where women go during menstruation, child birth and illness – where bonds are created between sisters, mothers and daughters.

Considering that the actual story of Jacob and his family consisted of only a few paragraphs in the Bible, I was rather impressed that the author managed to flesh out whole characters, plots, and themes with such richness and colour. She has a vivid imagination.

In fact, the whole story was so completely fabricated, that it was actually quite interesting, engaging and entertaining.

I enjoyed how she brought to life old testament Mesopotamian and Egyptian way of life. It was fascinating to read about another culture, even if it was fiction or not. The book is written well, easy to read, chuffs along at a good speed, I finished it in a week.

I must point out that there are a LOT of Biblical inaccuracies, questionable cultural facts and objectionable portrayals of men. But I wasn’t insulted or offended by any of it, I just enjoyed the fiction for what it was – a pretty good story.

I was light-heartedly trying to “push” this book onto some male friends of mine, but I failed miserably.

Realistically, this BOOK IS FOR WOMEN. It’s all about periods, mothers, midwifery, childbirth, babies, dying babies, dying mothers and the cycles of life. Consider yourself warned.

But having said that, I was struck by many stunning scenes and ideas (about the aforementioned), and I know they will stick in my head for a long time to come.

I recommend it. To women only.

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I have been seriously craving some pamper time lately.

I was tempted to book myself for a massage – because the other night I went out to dinner with some friends and met a masseur. I asked her a zillion questions about her job and as she was describing what she does, I could feel all the muscles in my back prick up in keen attention, screaming “Yes! Us! We need to get us some of that!!”

But I haven’t done any research on where to get a massage, so I settled on a haircut instead. *BLISS*

As the hairdresser snipped and snapped, I suddenly raised my eyes above the pages of my novel and focused on the wall mounted TV screen. I watched Celine Dion sing AC/DC’s You Shook Me All Night Long. I giggled uncontrollably (my husband quite likes AC/DC) and I annoyed my hairdresser, who, I am sure, swore at me in Taiwanese.

This evening I went out to dinner with some friends at Hog’s Breath Cafe. I met some new people and we shared rocky road ice cream from a bowl as big as my head. It was HUGE and absolutely disgusting.

Then we went to the Universal Bar for a friend’s farewell party. The place was packed. The band was great. The bar staff were excellent. The floorboards were vibrating from the noise levels. It was rocking! It was a great night out!

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