I’ve never been a big fan of birthdays. Well, maybe back in the day, when childhood birthdays meant cake and eating as much as I could until feeling physically sick and high on sugar… Ah the good old days. Certainly as an adult birthdays didn’t do anything for me. The steady monotone of time ticking away, another year gone, another year older, and what’s been accomplished? Isn’t that always the question.
So I thought I’d write down what I’ve accomplished this year, what I’ve started and finished in my quarter century, to put things in perspective.
- Went back to university, to add to my list of skills and career goals and become a primary school (elementary) teacher.
- Did something new and moved camera systems, from Nikon to Canon.
- Visited some of my favourite Northern Territory destinations.
- Travelled to England (again).
- Got engaged to the most incredible guy, ever.
- Finished my first semester back at university, with good marks.
- Submitted for the second stage of our 820/801 Partner Visa.
- Dumped from my job, and bounced back into freelancing with more passion (and success) than before.
- Took the plunge and moved thousands of kilometres from Darwin to Melbourne for a new start.
- Established ourselves in a new place, and actually enjoyed it.
- Took not one, but two fantastic trips to the NSW South Coast.
- Climbed to The Pinnacle (literally).
- Explored the Great Otway National Park, a long-time dream of mine!
Oh, and of course I started my new blog Maps and Mandalas, which is what you’re reading right now! All up it was a pretty eventful year, and amidst all these little milestones were endless sunsets enjoyed, sunrises caught, walks taken, boundaries pushed, and challenges overcome.
I think I like summing up my year. I try to do it anyway for our love books (which I am now 2-3 years behind doing but shush! 😬). It really does put things in perspective. So, here’s to another fantastic year. Twenty-six is looking good from here!
![So we did something kind of wild last weekend, and we sold our crib. I know what you’re thinking: why sell a crib when you still have a crib-aged baby? Yep, we still have a little baby and now we have no crib, and the reason for that is because despite being of an age where babies usually sleep in cribs, Oscar never wanted to sleep in his crib, or any kind of other baby-appropriate container that meant he wasn’t sleeping next to me. In fact, from the moment he entered the world all that he has wanted to do was sleep next to me and be close to me. But, everyone kept telling us that wasn’t what he was supposed to do, so we tried to change it. We tried to ‘train’ our baby to sleep in the crib. And because he is my son and Dean’s son, he stubborn refused to be trained or change in any way. He asserted himself quite clearly, and the more we forced the point the worse we all felt about it, the more we felt like failures. And, of course, the more exhausted we all became (particularly me) from trying, in vain, to get our kid to sleep in his crib.
Then a few months ago we gave up, and Oscar started to sleep in our bed with us and we adjusted our bed accordingly and everyone slept a lot better and felt a lot happier. But, there at the end of the bed stood this crib, this strange cage-like piece of furniture that Oscar disliked so very much. I just got so sick of seeing it there, staring at me with this expectation that Oscar would NEED to learn to sleep in the crib. But all around me were people telling me that I was doing Oscar a disservice by not having him sleep in a crib and that I was making my life harder, when really I felt it was actually so much easier.
So I kept telling people that I’d be ‘crib training’ Oscar at some point in the future, and I’d accept advice, all the while thinking that I really didn’t want to do anything of the sort. In fact the whole time I was thinking that I’d be quite happy snuggling up to this little baby, who would not be little forever, even if that meant being woken during the night for a snack, or being occasionally sleep kicked. I was thinking that I actually felt it was a blessing, not a chore [continued in comments]](http://scontent-hkg3-2.cdninstagram.com/vp/9372d0f3415373bade68739cf3cdb27b/5E1BF81B/t51.2885-15/sh0.08/e35/c240.0.960.960a/s640x640/67513988_2453498161364501_4150673145566874873_n.jpg?_nc_ht=scontent-hkg3-2.cdninstagram.com&_nc_cat=105 "So we did something kind of wild last weekend, and we sold our crib. I know what you’re thinking: why sell a crib when you still have a crib-aged baby? Yep, we still have a little baby and now we have no crib, and the reason for that is because despite being of an age where babies usually sleep in cribs, Oscar never wanted to sleep in his crib, or any kind of other baby-appropriate container that meant he wasn’t sleeping next to me. In fact, from the moment he entered the world all that he has wanted to do was sleep next to me and be close to me. But, everyone kept telling us that wasn’t what he was supposed to do, so we tried to change it. We tried to ‘train’ our baby to sleep in the crib. And because he is my son and Dean’s son, he stubborn refused to be trained or change in any way. He asserted himself quite clearly, and the more we forced the point the worse we all felt about it, the more we felt like failures. And, of course, the more exhausted we all became (particularly me) from trying, in vain, to get our kid to sleep in his crib.
Then a few months ago we gave up, and Oscar started to sleep in our bed with us and we adjusted our bed accordingly and everyone slept a lot better and felt a lot happier. But, there at the end of the bed stood this crib, this strange cage-like piece of furniture that Oscar disliked so very much. I just got so sick of seeing it there, staring at me with this expectation that Oscar would NEED to learn to sleep in the crib. But all around me were people telling me that I was doing Oscar a disservice by not having him sleep in a crib and that I was making my life harder, when really I felt it was actually so much easier.
So I kept telling people that I’d be ‘crib training’ Oscar at some point in the future, and I’d accept advice, all the while thinking that I really didn’t want to do anything of the sort. In fact the whole time I was thinking that I’d be quite happy snuggling up to this little baby, who would not be little forever, even if that meant being woken during the night for a snack, or being occasionally sleep kicked. I was thinking that I actually felt it was a blessing, not a chore [continued in comments]")
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