What does your day look like?
Three Months Old: A Letter to Squirm
Dear Squirm,
Three months old. A quarter of a year old. I feel like this is a milestone month, but since I don’t really read about what each month brings, I’m not really sure why. Maybe now I stop referring to your age in weeks, and start adopting months?
You’ve continued to grow strongly during the last month. You’ve become chubbier around your arms and legs and we’ve had to be extra careful when we give you a bath to make sure we wash all those little places. You’ve become heavier too, and I find myself popping you in the sling whenever I need to carry you around, because it supports your weight much better than my arms can.
I noticed, the other day, that you play a lot more now. I can lay on my back and balance you on my legs and you love it. You give me the hugest grin and, if I’m lucky, a beautiful laugh. The laugh is a new thing this month, and you’re still perfecting it, but it’s pure magic when we hear it. (Though why do you find folding nappies so funny?)
You continue to sleep for longer at night, but you also seem to have cracked the ‘nap code’ and most days you get at least one longer sleep. The days that you don’t seem to drag on forever, so I find myself doing all sorts of things (ok, wearing you) so you’ll sleep.
You helped us celebrate lots of birthdays in the last month – Poppa, Daddy’s, Heather’s, Auntie Barb’s and Grandma’s. You managed to charm a lot of people who hadn’t seen you before, and it’s a bit of a race when we visit family to see who will hold you first. I’m not sure you quite get the whole candles and singing thing yet.
You’re still very alert and into mobiles, but you’ve also started putting everything in your mouth. Hands, toys, burp cloths, wraps – everything goes in there at the moment! I ended up buying you some small round rattles from Ikea which fit all your needs – sound, something to grip onto and just the right size to go in your mouth! Occasionally you roll a little bit, but most of the time you’re too busy putting things in your mouth!
We’re still reading lots to you, including the Engibear book which your father bought for you. I feel like I should be finding a teacher book, but it just wouldn’t compete with a story about a teddy bear that’s also an engineer. You’ve started babbling when we read and you reach for the pages – but only the right side, like you’re trying to turn the page! You also play with your soft book that your grand Aunt and Uncle bought you.
It’s been a great month, filled with lots of lovely moments together. I look forward to the next month!
Love
Mum
Read more letters to Squirm here
The Great Library Tour: Redcliffe Library
The entrance to the library
My first thought when walking into the Redcliffe Library was simply – wow! The library, which is part of a complex with the local art gallery, is absolutely massive. I think that originally, when Redcliffe was a council of its own, that it was the only library for the whole council area, so it really needed to be comprehensive to properly serve the local population.
The library, as well as being massive, has lovely high roofs and allows a lot of natural light in the room. I’m starting to build a firm preference for natural light in libraries – artificial lights don’t always add to the ‘romance’ of a library 🙂 The young people’s section of the library (children’s, children’s non fiction and young adult) takes up a whole length of the library – young people are definitely welcomed and valued here. (Since the high school is just a block away, I really hope those students utilise this amazing space)
At one end of the children’s section is an enclosed reading deck. There were a number of adult sized chairs there, along with a puppet theatre, two cubby houses and a big game board. When I arrived, a small group of children were putting on a show for their parents. This ‘show’ feeling spills inside, with a semi circle of comfortable chairs facing a ‘backdrop’ painting against one wall – the perfect area for story time and rhyme time. Behind the story area is a collection of small tables and chairs, perfect for craft. There were also toys available for playing inside.
Picture books were next in line. There were the standard low boxes holding the picture books, but these were arranged in rows on either side of a collection of displays (I love books being out on display – it’s a great way to catch a reader’s eye). Junior novels were after that, followed by junior non-fiction and then the young adult collection. Finally, there was a lounge area for the young adults.
Another thing I really liked in the junior non-fiction was the books that were on display at the ends of the shelves. They weren’t the usual books you think of when you think of non fiction, and I think they’d be very good at encouraging children to look closer at the non fiction area.
The staff were excellent at Redcliffe library. One of the books I read with Squirm was beginning to lose its pages, so I brought it up to the desk. I was asked if I wanted to borrow it and I believe they would have made some temporary repairs right there if I’d said yes. The staff at the checkout desk were also lovely.
I think this library obviously has benefited from being the only library in the council area for a long time – obviously all library money can then be spent in one place. Now that it’s part of a larger council area (Moreton Bay Regional Council – along with Strathpine and Albany Creek) it’s to be seen how the library funding will be spread into the future – especially since I’ve been told a couple of times that Caboolture is the new ‘flagship’ library. Of course, the good part about it being part of an amalgamated council is that people from further away – like me – can visit and borrow from there.
This library is probably my new favourite (up there with Albany Creek and Logan Central) and I highly recommend it as part of a day trip to a lovely part of the world.
The Reading Deck
The best parts of Redcliffe Library
- It’s massive!
- The attention given to creating a nice place for young people
- It feels very airy and uncluttered
- The lovely staff
Important Information about Redcliffe Library
470-476 Oxley Avenue,
REDCLIFFE, QLD 4020
Web:Â library.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/MSGTRN/OPAC/MBRCBRRD
| Day | Opens | Closes |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | Closed | Closed |
| Monday | 09:00 AM | 05:00 PM |
| Tuesday | 09:00 AM | 05:00 PM |
| Wednesday | 09:00 AM | 05:00 PM |
| Thursday | 09:00 AM | 05:00 PM |
| Friday | 09:00 AM | 08:00 PM |
| Saturday | 09:00 AM | 04:30 PM |
Parking available in a carpark underneath. There’s also a disabled toilet with a change table and a toddler sized toilet inside it.
While we were there . . .
We probably didn’t see half of what there is to see in Redcliffe! The art gallery in the same building as the library had a lovely display on, and there were also children’s activities available. We walked along the main street and poked our head into a few of the arcades there, including one with a lovely wooden toy shop. There’s Humpybong Creek which has been done up and has a walking track along it. But, of course, you really need to take a walk along the water, and out onto the lovely jetty. (There’s also playgrounds and the lagoon, as well as Sutton’s beach which we didn’t get to. I also want to go back for the museum). For the drive home, we followed the path of the North Moreton Bay Tourist Drive, which took us along the water and the harbour – lovely!
A weekend off is as good as a holiday
So, over the weekend I barely looked at the blog. I looked at a couple of comments, and wrote down a few ideas for posts and just stayed away. Instead of obsessing over what I must post right now, I:
- Visited family
- Read a book
- Went for a walk with Squirm
- Went to church
- Read to Squirm
- Played with Squirm
- Sat on the front lawn, watching the beautiful blue sky with Squirm while waiting for Mr Pilot to come home from his flying lesson.
And I finished the weekend more relaxed and happy than I have been in a couple of weeks.
The problem is, whenever I start blogging I want it all immediately. I spend ages obsessing over how other people do it, hours throwing myself into social media, endless energy worrying about whether I’m doing things ‘right’. It’s not healthy for me.
Instead, I was able to take the weekend to think about why I started the blog and what I wanted from it.
I started it to record the Library tour. I thought it would give me the motivation to keep going with a massive project and have a little fun along the way.
So, what do I want now? I still want that motivation and I want to write.
I don’t need to think about making money from the blog, especially if worrying about that takes time away from spending time with Squirm. If that comes up down the line, that’s great. But for now I want to concentrate on writing the best possible posts. I want to become a better writer – someone who writes things that make people stop and think every now and again. Down the track I have some ideas for some ebooks, and I’d love to learn more about writing them. I want to keep to the basic plan I came up with last week. And I want to keep the weekends as free as possible to spend time with Squirm and Mr Pilot.
It’s no good being a life blogger if I don’t get out there and live life. I can’t be a life blogger if my life is spent at a computer or spent obsessing over page views.
I need to get out and live!
7 Days of Selfies
About a week ago Alyce from Blossom Heart posed a challenge. Take a selfie each day for a week. Embrace your face.
I often detest photos taken of me, so this was a great challenge. And here are my photos!
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Smelling the Roses: The Redcliffe Edition
Each week I post about something that makes me smile.
Some days I forget how lucky I am to live where I live. Sure, those are usually the days when they neighbours are having a competition to see how loud they can yell expletives at each other. But then I remember how close I am to some truly awesome places. Like just an hour from my parents in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland. Half an hour out to gorgeous Dayboro. And about 20 minutes (if the lights go my way) to the stunning Redcliffe.
That’s where Squirm and I found ourselves this week. After visiting their magnificent library, we wandered the main street, then went for a short walk along the water. Absolutely stunning. Then we drove through Scarborough to come back home. It was well and truly worth getting stuck in the storm on the way home!
He’s a baby, not a gender stereotype
The other day I was talking with some other mothers who also had boys around Squirm’s age. We were talking about how babies get so dirty (it’s a topic for another time, but seriously, how do they get that dirty in those places!) when one of the mothers looked at her little one and cooed “It’s because you’re a little boy.”
It seemed that general consensus among the mothers was that boys were generally dirtier than girls, even when they were only a couple of months old. Because boy babies are obviously engaged in those notoriously dirty, boy only, pursuits of feeding, sleeping and playing with toys and parents.
No. Wait.
Of course baby boys are no dirtier than baby girls. Unless the parent is out there rolling their baby boy in mud, or washing them less than a baby girl then there’s no way for a baby boy to get dirtier.
There’s a lot of discussion about actual and nurtured differences between boys and girls, including the way that people interact with boys and girls differently, but there’s also a lot of stereotypes. And applying these stereotypes to babies, apart from seeming very silly, surely tells these children that, as they grow up, they should act one particular way or another. That other boys and girls should act in certain ways, and that those who don’t meet these stereotypes aren’t normal.
But they’re just babies. Surely they don’t really understand what we’re saying, so we can really say whatever we want. Sure, but that sets up a habit. And one thing I’m realising is that speaking habits are notoriously difficult to break. Today we’re telling them that they’re dirty because they’re boys, in a few years they might be telling us that it’s ok not to take a bath because they’re boys.
I know it’s a relatively trivial thing, not up there in the big topics of the world, but since having Squirm I’ve heard so much gendered language. (And don’t get me started on the whole ‘romantic baby’ thing) So it’s worth having these discussions and worth thinking about what we’re saying before we make big sweeping generalised statements.
Thankful Thursday – Thankful for Squirm
It’s Thankful Thursday. So I’m going to take this chance to be thankful for something I haven’t mentioned here yet.
A year ago yesterday, I was under general anaesthetic while my fertility doctor did an egg pick up. (My eggs, not from the local shop!) 30 eggs, hyperstimulation, embryo transfer and 9 months later and Squirm arrived.
I’m thankful that there’s procedures out there to assist people like us to have beautiful babies. I’m thankful that there’s doctors and other medical professionals who care so much about it. I’m thankful that IVF worked the first time for us, and that we had a safe and pretty uneventful pregnancy.
I’m thankful that I have Squirm.
I Am A Life Blogger
Are you looking for an alternative to the Mummy Blogger tag? Or do you write about similar things to Mummy Bloggers (i.e. – a bit of everything), but you’re not a mother and the tag doesn’t fit? Or are you sick of trying to remember to spell Mummy or Mommy depending on your audience?
Recently I wrote about the discussion over the Mummy Blogger name and how most people who fit into the ‘Mummy Blogger’ category post about a lot more than just their children. I worked it over in my head a bit and decided on a new title:
Life Blogger
This title struck a bit of a chord with some readers, who declared they too felt like Life Bloggers. And it was suggested that they might like a button to declare their status. So, with a bit of help from This Charming Mum, I created a button
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Now, if I’ve done this right, you should be able to put the button on your own blog to proclaim yourself a Life Blogger. If I get more adventurous later, I might even make a range of buttons so you can choose one that suits your blog better 🙂
Because I wanted to get really advanced (and terrified), I decided to add a Link Up as well. I encourage you to write a post about why you’re a Life Blogger, or what parts of life you’ve been blogging about lately. Then (if I’ve got this working properly) link it up here. No likings or commentings required, though it’s be nice to link back here, and if you want to like me on Facebook, that’d be great too 🙂
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Ok, now to cross my fingers and hope I got it all working right. Let me know if I didn’t. Let me know if you’re a Life Blogger too. Let me know what you’re having for lunch . . . 🙂
What Makes Me A Life Blogger
Nearly 13 weeks ago, my life changed forever with the birth of my lovely son. It didn’t take long to realise that we’d be doing thing very differently from now on. I didn’t really know what I was going to do with him most the time, but I knew one thing – I wanted him to appreciate books.
As we quickly made our way through the considerable large pile of books we owned at home, I knew that I wanted more. And I knew that Mr Pilot would not be too impressed if I kept buying them. So I started thinking about libraries. Then I started thinking about how much I like libraries. And how I should visit all the libraries. And then blog about them.
And that’s how this blog was started.
I’ve blogged before. I’ve blogged about teaching and readers workshop and began one before we were pregnant. But this one would be different, I realised, because I wouldn’t be talking about one specialised subject. Instead, I’d create a place where I got to talk about all my passions. And maybe some people would want to come along.
So far I’ve written about motherhood and the upheaval of becoming a mother. I’ve talked about books I’ve read and books I’ve read with Squirm. I’ve talked about craft. I’ve posted a picture of my ukulele. And I’ve talked about libraries.
All in all, I’ve been talking about my life and all the things that reside in it.
That’s what makes me a life blogger 🙂
Adventures of a Subversive Reader 