A break in the weather

A cool change has swept across the town in the last few days, each day even more pleasant than the preceding one. I've been so used to days of high 30s to low 40s that I get so excited when a cool day arrives. For a start, it means that I can leave my prison barracks. Well, that is how it feels when you physically cannot leave the house after 10am in the morning. Some weeks it feels like I've been in solitary confinement and I do feel quite low.

But I made the most of the weather and feel so much better for it. Yesterday, me & Boo went for a bushwalk to a nearby walk trail. She got a free ride in my Ergo backpack for the first part and then when we reached the top of the rock, she got out and enjoyed scampering over the surface, picking up rocks from one pile and putting them in another!

Today, we drove 10kms out to a salt lake. Sounds exciting huh? In winter, the lake is full (but still very salty); in summer, the water has all but gone, leaving a scaly, crystal surface. We sat in the sand by the edge of the salt for a while and then walked out into the middle. Boo enjoyed the noise her feet made as they broke through the hard, crunchy surface. She even tried a bit of the salt but wasn't too impressed!


At one point, the sun was pleasantly warm on my back and the breeze was cool and refreshing. I was gazing at my beautiful daughter, with no-one else around to interupt us. I was just so happy. This is motherhood.

Aaaaaahhh...it must be coffee time

There is a tranquility in the air....the aroma of fresh coffee fills my senses....my daughter must be asleep! Yep, as soon as Boo goes for her afternoon nap, the first thing I do is make myself a coffee with the brand new coffee machine that hubby bought me for my birthday. It makes a fantastic coffee, and while I indulge, I browse some of my favourite websites - the Australian Breastfeeding Association's forum, which I love, maybe a news site, the local weather site and now, my own blog site.

But the magical hour and a half is over very quickly but at least I am recharged enough for round two. So, here's to afternoon naps - let's hope I have a few more months of this mid-afternoon bliss still to come!

Where do I start...

Photo taken at our farm

Ok, maybe I should give you a bit of background. My daughter was born 15 months ago. It was not a planned or unplanned pregnancy...it kind of just happened and my husband and I just went with the flow. I always wanted to have children so the prospect of impending motherhood excited me enormously. Fantastic, stress-free pregnancy. Peaceful, calm waterbirth at home. The first few weeks and months went very well....and then we moved house. Well, we actually moved right out of the city to a small town of around a thousand people, two and a half hours away from the nearest city. Well, we survived that...just...and eventually settled in to our new home and new life in the country. We have been here just one year now. I am still on maternity leave (unpaid of course!) and I see motherhood as my career now...until all our children are in school full time.

But I am really interested in parenting and the choices people make when it comes to how to raise their children. I would probably have to describe myself as being at almost the opposite end of the spectrum to a lot of mainstream parenting practices that I see around me...this is not necessarily intentional - I just know really clearly what I will and will not do when it comes to raising children...and that seems to set me apart a little.

Since moving here, I have made two friends (not bad huh!), but I think it may take a while before I am accepted by the majority of mothers here. This is a very conservative town...people don't generally behave too 'differently' from the norm. There are unwritten laws governing social conduct. My problem is I just can't be naffed doing things in any other way than my own! So, we'll see what happens to me (I think I'll end up being seen as a harmless, slightly eccentric, hippie mum!)

The summer here is long and very hot. Most days are well above 35 degrees Celcius (that's 95 degrees Farenheit!) and this lasts for between 5-6 months! So it's too hot to go out and there's actually not a lot to do in this town anyway. One is very much left to one's own resources. Which is why it is important that I make friends, so that I can at least visit other mums and have people over.

My daughter, let's call her Boo, is a delight and I treasure my days with her. It's not all a bed of roses though. There have been some really difficult times for me recently - over the summer holidays (6 weeks) everything closes down here - the playgroup, the mothers group, the music group, the library (that's all there is). So unless you know other people, there is quite literally, nothing to do and nowhere to go. Like I said, it's too hot to go outside after 10am and I have no family or close friends nearby. I only just survived...in fact, in the sixth week I actually did crack. But, I'm over that now, back on track, I've just made another friend (another mum who has also recently moved here) and things are starting to look up. Whew!

Am I the perfect mum?

Well, I suppose it is a sign that nobody believes in perfect parenting that my username and email address on Google were even available in the first place...well, now I'm here to dispel that myth! Ok, ok, I am kidding...I truly don't believe that I am the perfect mum...but, I am trying very hard to be the best mother that I can be. So that's really what this blog will be about...my thoughts, opinions and philosophies on parenting and motherhood in particular.

Of what it is like to be a new mum, a mum in Australia, a Baha'i mum. Of things I see around me that make me shudder, and things that bring me hope. Raising children well is the most important thing in the world. The future of our planet depends upon it. Of course everyone has their own definition of what that 'well' might look like...my own definition depends in no small part on my religious beliefs, which place the highest importance on the education and training of children.

I hope that some other mums out there in cyberspace read this blog...I'd love to hear about your journey through motherhood too. Well, that might be it for a first post...it is well after midnight and the soon-to-be subject of this blog is probably waiting for her mummy to come to bed! More soon I hope...

P.S. Ha! Somebody has created a perfectmum.blogspot blog...so maybe there IS a perfect mum out there after all! I'm obviously up for some stiff competition!