Taking Stock

Ah, school holidays. The first week has passed quickly. How I have been loving the slow, cold mornings, absent the usual school routine. Laying in, pottering around in pjs, eating porridge around the table and pretending we are the the three bears and Goldilocks, drinking cups of tea - while they are still hot. Hooray! Not loving the series of petty arguments between siblings however.

The kids have been making up games, like 'Bird watching' which involves plastic binoculars, clip boards and a bird book. The new chairs and table in their cubby house make for the perfect bird watching spot. And while Cohen looks up birds in the book, Emerson draws squiqqles as she 'keeps tally' of the number of birds they have seen. I love it.

Cohen and I also started a little gratitude project at the beginning of the month. We have been talking about being thankful and how 'gratitude turns what we have in to enough'. (Quite an important lesson for a six year old who has really started to take notice of toy advertising.) I found a free printable on Pinterest with space to write each day. I am loving his reasons to be grateful so far - playing with my sister, new battery in my watch, brown sugar on porridge.

Also lately...

Making : stock for the Red Hill Fair in Brisbane later this month
Writing : My morning pages every day and loving the process
Drinking : Triple mint tea
Reading: 'The Road To Middlemarch: My Life with George Elliot' by Rebecca Mead
Dreaming: of travelling around Tasmania and tasting all the food and wine 
Looking: forward to going to Finders Keepers market this weekend!
Playing: 'Spies' with my big two little ones
Collecting: leaves, seed pods, mushrooms and flowers, while walking with the children 
Wishing: for more sleep, always more sleep
Enjoying: A rare night out ALONE with my husband
Waiting: Until my twin sister comes up later this month
Liking: Pippa's new woven rope jewellery collection
Listening: to an audio book of Liane Moriarty's novel Big Little Lies while I work, then staying up way too late because I don't want to stop listening! (Go and get a copy!)
Loving: that my thirteen month old 'baby' is standing on his own (sob)
Pondering: how long until he starts walking
Considering: how much crazier life will be once he DOES start walking
Buying: an online photography course by Kate Berry and Peta Mazey (with the code WOAH50 to bring the price down to $14.50!)
Watching: the new Jurassic Park movie and thinking I would have nightmares, but then not
Cringing: at STILL toilet training a stubborn three year old... tell me it will end
Needing: reassurance - see point above
Questioning: why siblings fight so much...
Wearing: pants, jeans, flats and a cardi with a scarf - my go to Winter clothes
Following: two new boards on Pinterest, nest and Modern Jewellery Design
Noticing: that all my favourite clothes have pockets
Waiting: for a chance to read these two sample chapters from Todd Henry's latest book, Louder than words: harness the power of your authentic voice.
Eating: at the 8 Street Market. So so good!
Admiring: All the countries that support marriage equality
Hoping: Australia follows suit soon
Sorting: through two bags of beautiful old buttons that I was recently given by a family friend
Disliking: our treatment of refugees. Our children will look back in shock at this period and the way our country treated those in need. :(
Bookmarking: the wonderful illustrations by Liekeland
Coveting: this Clementine cardigan
Giggling: at the Penguins of Madagascar cartoon series on ABC3 
Savoring: the good feelings
Snacking: constantly! Breastfeeding equals snacking.
Helping: the children make jelly and play dough
Hearing: 'Spy talk' from Cohen and Emerson as they run around the back yard

Joining in with Pip.

Morning Pages - an everyday practice

1. Tea, pastries, library books and camellias from the garden - happy days

2. Busy nights at the bench

3. Dew drops like strands of pearls, in a spider's web in our garden

1. Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing,
   done first thing in the morning. *There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages*–
   they are not high art. They are not even “writing.” They are about
   anything and everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes
   only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and
   synchronize the day at hand. Do not over-think Morning Pages: just put
   three pages of anything on the page…and then do three more pages tomorrow. - Julia Cameron

My first week of morning pages has been disappointing, and yet I'm committing to the daily practice long term. 

I've heard mention of 'morning pages' over the years from so many creatives that I admire, and after Pip's encouragement last week I committed to the daily practice. A morning routine that allows one to clean out their mind and allow for more creativity and greater focus throughout the day? A way to discover buried thoughts after hitting the magic three pages? A way to gain perspective, keep your thoughts on track and anchor new habits? Yes please! 

Pip advises that the key to successful morning pages is getting up early and getting straight to it. Rising early to have a quiet house to yourself. Only, I am not a morning person. I'm only awake before the sun because I have three early risers. I'm much more of a tea and blankets morning person, preferring to snuggle in and cuddle my babies for as long as possible. More often than not I will pop out of bed to boil the jug, grab my overnight oats from the fridge, and jump back in to bed. But I was prepared to change for my creative betterment.

And so I did on Monday morning. With tea and notebook I sat at the kitchen table in a quiet house. Then five minutes later all three children joined me and demanded breakfast. I scrawled a sentence here and there, but it was far from stream of conscious. I was coming down with a cold and Cohen was sporting a runny nose and a cough, so I declared a sick day. As the day progressed the cold got worse. Monday I did not write three pages. 

Tuesday I'd optimistically planned to awaken earlier and put pen to paper. However, at 11 pm Cohen had his first wheezing asthma attack and I spent half the night standing in his door way listening to his breathing. I slept badly and dragged my cold-addled self to the table and wrote my sleepy sentences at 5 am when the baby woke. We got the first available doctors appointment. I did not write three pages. 

In fact all week, despite my best efforts, I did not write three pages. I gave up sitting at the kitchen table and kept my book on my bedside table and wrote in bed if I could. I wrote with tea. I wrote with a baby on my lap. I wrote between making breakfasts, lunch boxes, changing nappies and wiping up spilt milk. I grumbled. I wrote in my pages, 'surely Julia Cameron wasn't envisioning morning writing with three children under six'.  

Looking over the week's pages I felt disappointed that I had not achieved my task of writing three pages each day. I wallowed in that feeling of failure for awhile. Then I made a greater realisation and found the positive. I HAD achieved something equally wonderful. I had managed to write everyday, despite what life threw at me. I might not have hit the magic third page, but each day I had written two pages and captured thoughts, ideas, to dos, memories, complaints, plans for new collections in fourteen handwritten pages I may not have written otherwise. And I felt good. And I committed to the practice. Maybe I will write three pages, maybe I won't. But I will keep trying, because an attempt is better than nothing.

Meeting Pip!

I'm right in the midst of a miserable cold at present, surrounded by tissues and cups of tea, and three sniffly nosed, fussy little people. Yesterday though, before the cold was released upon my household, I was blissfully unaware of my runny nosed fate. Rather, I was enjoying a day out in the City, where I met Pip Lincoln!

After following her blog for years, she was exactly as I had imagined her to be. I would very much like to discuss this little outing at length, but the constant sneezing and pressure in my head make even these few sentences difficult to write in a comprehensible manner. (How I miss cold and flu tablets while breastfeeding.) In brief, the lovely Kirsten was in conversation with Pip at the Brisbane library yesterday. While my husband kept Cohen, Emerson and Oscar amused at the Botanic Gardens, I joined 100+ women in listening to the insights and inspirations of one of the first bloggers I ever started reading. The Pip and Kirsten touched on topics from craft to confidence, blogging to business, inspiration to idea generation. It was such a thrill to be in a room full of like minded women and to finally meet Pip. I gushed quickly as she signed my book and recognised my name. Then it was time to join my family in the gardens.

I really enjoyed the talk and was excited to buy her book. I wrote a quote from the chat in my notebook, "dig deeper in to who you really are and enjoy being yourself." As a result of declaring today a sick day, I was able to stay in my pyjamas and read most of Craft for the Soul. And honestly, if you are a creative type, if you love Pip's blog, or you are looking for a shot of inspiration, you will love this book!

-

PS. Back in 2010 Pip did a blog tour and posted a tutorial on my humble blog, over here.

Ten Things I'm Doing...

I'm joining in with Pip to share the things I'm doing for my health...

1. Eating overnight oats
I love overnight oats. I make them before bed, pop them in the fridge and they are waiting for me first thing in the morning. And as I am breastfeeding, I always wake up hungry! I make mine with oats, soy milk, chia seeds, soy yoghurt, slithered almonds and frozen raspberries. I make a mini bowl for Emerson too.

2. Cutting back on alcohol and soft drink
I love a glass of wine with dinner, or a soft drink with lots of ice on hot days, but I have cut back on both and now they are weekend treats.

3. Seeing an endocrinologist (thyroid specialist)
My overactive thyroid was actually been well behaved during my pregnancy with Oscar and has continued to behave since his birth. But given it's history, I am keeping up to date with my six weekly blood tests and specialist appointments (despite the fact that it is no fun sitting in a hospital waiting room with a baby and a toddler.)

4. Napping
My four and a half month old is still feeding at least two times a night, so once a week or so I listen to my body and take a nap. I do so love a nice nap, but more often than not there just seems too much to do to have a nap. Weekend naps feel more guilt free than week day naps...

5. Growing my own
My veggie patch is not as fully stocked as it was before I had Oscar, as it's harder to spend as much time as I used to in the garden with a baby. But I am growing tomatoes, asparagus, chilli, herbs, baby spinach, lettuce, shallots, sweet potatoes and mulberries, which are all free of chemicals.

6. Cooking from scratch
I have a sensitive tummy at the best of times, I can't eat dairy and I don't eat red meat (though I do eat chicken and fish), so eating out is often tricky. I feel better when I meal plan, cook from scratch and am mindful of what I eat. My favourite meal is Singapore noodles - a little curry, a little garlic, vermicilli noodles, chicken, prawns and lots of veggies like mushrooms, snow peas, shallots and onion. Yum!

7. Writing
Writing is great for my mental health. A brain dump in ones diary is second only to a deep and meaningful (D&M) over wine with your best friend (or twin sister.)

8. Stopping for tea
I have the tendency to just keep going. And I love tea. I make tea and bring it with me while I do my chores. It sits on top of the washing machine while I load it with clothes, it sits on my bedside table while I sort the clean laundry on my bed, it sits on the vanity while I have a shower before the school run. So once a day I try to actually stop and just sit with a cup of tea. No tidying. No working. Just five minutes to rest, reflect and enjoy my tea.

9. Wearing a safety mask
I am a good girl when it comes to workshop safety and despite the fact that my glasses often fog up while doing so, I always wear my safety mask when polishing jewellery. Breathing in lots of polishing compound it not good for my insides.

10. Yoga
I want to do yoga daily, but as I mentioned before, my baby still feeds twice a night, and I have a five and two year old to run around after. Walking to school, wearing Oscar in a sling and rolling metal are all good forms of exercise for me on a daily basis, and I squeeze in yoga when I can. But once I am sleeping through the night again, I have high hopes of returning to doing yoga each morning again, before the children wake up.