Aston learns to sleep

I thought after my last post I'd come back and update you on Aston's sleeping progress, amazingly he is doing really well! He now goes to sleep most nights within 10mins of being put in his cot without crying and sleeps until 5-7am! It's still quite strange but really nice.

So, what did we do?

I'd worked out quite a while ago that Aston's main issue was based around his sleep association with breastfeeding - basically, he didn't know how to go to sleep unless he was feeding. This meant I was feeding him to sleep, putting him in his cot and leaving the room without him realising. Every time he woke during the night he would freak out because mummy had disappeared, he was alone in the dark and couldn't get back to sleep without a breastfeed. To add to the problem this also meant he was afraid to go to sleep or be alone in his cot awake because every time he went to sleep mummy disappeared. This meant bedtimes were often 1-2 hours of crying, multiple breastfeeds and frantic rushing about (he refused to stay still) until he would eventually fall asleep on the breast completely exhausted, only to wake a few hours later crying for a feed.

After reading a number of books and websites, I tried so many different things to try and calm him before bedtime and stop him needing to breastfeed to sleep, a few methods would work for a little while but soon he would regress again. We got to the point where I was willing to give up on all my ideals and just let Aston cry himself to sleep.

Enter 'Dreambaby Guide' - I had seen the author Sheyne Rowley on Sunrise and she hadn't impressed me all that much but she made great claims about teaching babies to sleep without using controlled crying. I checked out her website, again, not terribly impressive but i decided to borrow her book from the library and see what she had to say.

The book is quite thick, possibly because she often repeats herself but I did manage to find a few things in it that seemed to make sense. The basic methodology is here. We haven't followed her method to the letter, her focus on routine is very strict and just doesn't fit into our way of life and I'm not convinced by a lot of the things she has to say about food and restricting breastfeeding.

We spent a few weeks (as long as it took to read the book) doing our homework which included:

• Using preemptive language and developing cues for Aston eg. "very soon it will be time to change your nappy/go to sleep in your cot" etc, being careful to use the same words every time ie. not "change your nappy' one day and then "get clean pants on" the next so Aston always knows what's happening next and doesn't get upset because he's happy playing and I pick him up and dump him on the change table with no warning.
• Developing independent play - helping Aston learn it was ok for him to be by himself in the cot or just playing with his toys. I use the cue "I'll be back" before I leave the room so he knows I am leaving and will come back. We spent time with him playing in his cot and leaving him for longer periods of time on his own.
• Creating a new bedtime routine, before each sleep we have a breastfeed, read some stories, (at nighttime we pray) in the lounge room then we go into Aston's room with the light off, shut the door, sing "Jesus loves you", put him in his cot, say our sleepy cues "close your eyes and go to sleep, mummy and daddy love you, nigh night Aston" then I (or Stuart) leave the room and shut the door.
• We also have a wake up routine, this helps to lessen confusion about when it's time to get up so Aston knows he won't be taken out of the cot every time he cries. He only gets to leave the cot after mummy says "Good sleeping Aston" and he plays on his own with his toys for a little while. (There are always exceptions of course but this is the general rule.)
  
• We role played his new routine with a teddy twice a day for a week, again so Aston was aware of what was happening and got used to the new routine.

Then we put it all into practice. I was surprised the first time we tried at how much crying there was, on my first reading of the book Sheyne made it sound so simple and easy, so i read the sections on crying again and reading between the lines realised I should have expected it. However, talking to others who have used controlled crying, the amount of crying we experienced was minimal. Throughout it all I was fairly confident that Aston knew what was going on and didn't feel abandoned by Stuart and I but it was still hard to hear him cry.

This article by Sheyne was quite helpful in putting crying in perspective. She says that as parents we need to teach our children that it's ok to express themselves and to deal with their emotions, if we run to them every time they cry they learn that they can't cope with life unless mummy and daddy are there to help, or that they shouldn't express themselves when they feel upset or angry because somehow it's wrong to cry. On the other hand if we leave them to cry when they are very distressed or hurt then this makes them feel abandoned and alone. It's all about assessing why and how they are crying and determining what to do next.

So almost three weeks after we have started this adventure, it seems to be working, the first night, involved about and hour of crying before Aston fell asleep and a few sessions of 10min crying throughout the night. Over the weeks the initial crying has gone and Aston can put himself to sleep easily. We've had a few nights of wake ups in the early hours of the morning, we've found that Sheyne's method of letting Aston cry and repeating his sleepy words doesn't seem to work - I think, despite what she says that he is genuinely hungry. When it does happen I've been giving him a breastfeed and putting him in his cot awake and he seems a lot happier. However for the past three or four nights he hasn't woken up and I'm hoping that will continue.

Now to find an appropriately cute photo to add to this post :-)

Sleep Baby Sleep

Tonight we have begun 'Operation Sleep Through the Night' in an attempt to get Aston, who is now one, to sleep for more than 4 hours at a stretch. Over the past year I have a lot of time to think about, research and observe baby sleep, something I didn't think I would ever need to do.

I've been trying to work out why it's such an issue, talk to any parent and they will tell you about the stresses and guilts that surround every thought and every conversation they have about how well or not so well their baby is sleeping. I'm not sure why it has become such a big issue in our western world.

It is one of the first questions you are asked when you reveal you have a small child who has just entered into the world. 'Is he a good baby?' 'Does he sleep well?' This is always followed by the slight pause where I try and decide if it's better to lie, downplay the fact that Aston doesn't sleep, or use his sleeplessness to extract pity and sympathy from whoever I'm talking to. If that person has a child of similar age it often feels as though there is some sort of competition to determine whose baby is the best or worst sleeper, (both of these positions gain points in someone's world but you earn no points for being somewhere in the middle).

As you are barely functioning in a sleep deprived haze, trying to cope with the pressure (or more often in my case, perceived pressure) of others expectations, you turn to the professionals for advice. Dr Sears, Pinky Mckay, Tizzie Hall, Elizabeth Pantley, Sheyne Rowley and more. Instead of clearing the haze, confusion and guilt, often this just adds to it. You should let your baby cry, you should never let your baby cry, co-sleeping is good, co-sleeping is bad, don't breastfeed your baby to sleep, do breastfeed your baby to sleep... And then there are the very helpful people who say it doesn't matter what you do, just do what's right for you and your baby. Um, hello, I was looking for help because I don't know what's right!

Having arrived at the point where we decided crying is not the way we want Aston to remember being put to sleep I believe we have tried almost everything. A belief that is reinforced every time I find a new baby sleep site online that tells me to: play music, co-sleep, put him in the cot awake, rock him to sleep, let him cry for 5mins, give him a bedtime routine, make sure he naps well during the day, etc etc.

One thing I do need to say before I go on is something most of the above experts agree on, despite the pressure you get from others, your baby's sleeping habits are not a problem unless you think they are. If you and our baby are able to cope with waking at night, co-sleeping, rocking to sleep or any other thing someone else thinks is 'wrong' then you don't have a problem. Unfortunately we have come to a place where we can not cope.

Tonight we started Sheyne Rowley's DreamBaby method, it's based on communication and seems to make sense, although following her method to the letter means a very strict sleeping and eating routine. She claims her method is not a 'crying method' but it does involve some crying, the difference being the amount of 'homework' done beforehand in order to establish boundaries, clear expectations, independence and confidence in your baby before leaving them to cry alone in their cot.

According to her definitions Aston cried 'angry', 'calling out' and 'settling' cries for around an hour before finally falling asleep. At appropriate moments I 'attended' to let Aston know that he was ok and I am confident he can fall asleep on his own. He missed 2 'sleep buses'* before finally catching a 3rd one and falling asleep. He woke an hour after falling asleep, cried an 'angry' cry for around 5 mins which became a 'calling out' cry for 2 mins until he caught the partial waking 'sleep bus' and required no 'attendance' from mummy. He has now been asleep for another hour or so since then.

Will it work? Who knows, I'm hoping and praying it does... I'll try and remember to keep you posted...

*Sheyne says when a baby is trying to self settle to sleep there will be brief periods of 3-8mins where it is easier for them to get to sleep. If they miss that 'bus' they need to wait 20 mins or so for the next bus to come before they can fall asleep.

Testing

I've downloaded a new iPhone app for blogging, hopefully it means I'll blog more often...

Let's see how well it works, here's a picture just for fun :-)



Aston in the kitchen of our new house with a yoghurt lid stuck to his head!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thankfulness

I am thankful I live in a country where:

• My father could obey God's calling to become a minister of a small church who could not afford to pay him and know that God would provide for his family's medical needs through our healthcare system.
• I was able to defer the very small cost of attending university so that I could concentrate on my studies and my ministry without having to work long tiring hours as well.
• While still a student I was able to receive emergency treatment after a car accident for free without having to stress about paying for a week's stay in hospital and various other medical expenses.
• A mentally ill homeless man who lived outside our church and repeatedly refused help received thousands of dollars worth of medical care after becoming seriously ill, his physical health was restored, his mental illness was diagnosed and now he is off the streets and a fully functioning member of society.
• One of my friends whose husband became ill and could not work was able to continue her ivf treatment under medicare and fall pregnant while her husband received the medical treatment he needed and was supported by the government while taking time off work to completely recover - he is now working full time again and they are expecting a baby soon.
• I can work in full time Christian ministry and know that even though I am on a low salary, God provides for me through medicare and family assistance payments, that enable me to take time off to look after my baby.

I am thankful I live in a country that cares about those who can not help themselves, I know the system is not perfect, that people fall through the cracks, that often the system is abused but far better that than for there to be no help at all...

Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. ¹⁶If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?

James 2:15-17 (the Bible)

Aston's Favourite iPhone Apps

So, it's never to early to introduce babies to technology - right? Particularly such cool technology as an iPhone?

Aston's love of iPhones happened kind of accidentally, it all started with iRisataBaby. While I was pregnant I was searching for apps that had something to do with babies and came across this one, it's a picture of a baby that laughs when you touch it, it was free so I downloaded it to see what it was like. When Aston was about one month old I showed him the baby and tried to teach him how to make it laugh, he had issues trying to touch the screen but he loved looking at the baby. Now he knows how to make it laugh and he laughs and talks to the baby in the iPhone.

Inspired by Aston's love of iRisataBaby I went looking for more noisy baby apps, his

newest favourite is Touch Teach Animal Sounds Lite in which you can scroll through cartoon pictures of animals and listen to recorded sounds. He really likes the monkey sound.

The other favourite app is Baby Activity Logger it's one of my favourites too, I'd be lost without it. I use it to keep track of Aston's eating and sleeping patterns, often my brain is too foggy to remember how much sleep he had last night or even when he last ate so being able to easily track it is really helpful. Aston likes staring at the log screen which has a cartoon picture of a bottle, nappy, baby and a moon, he looks at it and laughs. Stuart thinks he likes it because he associates it with food.

Aston has learnt that mummy's phone has lots of fun things on it and will often reach for it if he sees it lying around. iPhone play requires supervision though, as all fun toys must be tasted and drooled on - not sure my iPhone warranty covers damage from baby play...

It's been a while

Wow, Aston is now 4 months old - it feels like so much has happened and yet not much has happened all at the same time...

I have neglected this blog page, I seem to spend much more time on Facebook and Twitter than blogging, mostly because I can access them on my iphone whereas blogging via iphone is a bit more tricky.

Believe it or not I'm back at work 2 days a week and so far (2 days) it seems to be working. Aston gets to hang out with Daddy on Mondays and with Aunty Belinda on Tuesdays so he is happy. FOr more about my work with Credo check out my AFES page

Hopefully I'll come back and blog a bit more often...

Being a Mum

It's been 3 weeks and 3 days since Aston was born and I'm learning a lot about being a mum. In some ways it's incredibly normal and I can't imagine not doing it, in other ways it's pretty full on and tiring and scary!

The other night as I went to bed I said to Stu "I don't want to get up in the middle of the night" but the reality is I don't really have a choice, unless I want my child to cry and starve (I think you get arrested for that kind of stuff these days). And there's no way I could just lay there and let him cry, no matter how tired, sick or grumpy I feel there's something in your baby's cry that impels you to do something about it.

There are so many questions we have and decisions to make: decisions about when to feed him or what cream to put on his nappy rash, is it cold - should he wear a singlet? Should we use commercial bath products full of 'evil chemicals' or just water? We have moments where we both shrug and go "I don't know". If you know me, you know I'm not great and making decisions and I usually need someone to reassure me that I've made the right one - that doesn't always happen when you're on your own with a baby who is crying. Add tiredness into the mix and even the little decisions like should we use baby wipes or make our own out of cloth can become major moments of stress.

Stu's philosophy is "as long as you don't drop him on his head or kill him, it will be ok" which is true and I need to work hard on remembering that.

Now, to choose a photo to go with this post that shows off Aston's extreme cuteness!

Aston John Spires

Aston John Spires was born on Friday 20th March at 3.15pm. He weighs 4.4kg ad is 53cm long - Big Baby!

I went into spontaneous labour on Friday morning - no induction needed - praise God! I even managed to get through without pain relief, although Aston did need some help coming into the world with a little bit of suction to his head (not nice!).

So now we are at home learning how to be parents - very scary but fun!

The Latest

Today we are 8 days overdue! I didn't think we would last that long, obviously Jellybaby is not quite ready to enter the world of his own accord.

We had our 41 week "just-in-case" appointment yesterday at RPA and they are very keen to make sure babies are born before they hit 42 weeks, as a result we are booked in for an induction tomorrow morning at 7am.

I have mixed feelings about being induced, on one hand it's exciting to know that soon we will see our baby and the craziness and uncomfortableness of the last few weeks will be over. On the other hand, induction can be quite a shock to your body and the baby which can make labour a lot more intense and harder to deal with. Depending on what method of induction I end up needing, I may be strapped to a monitor for the whole time which means being unable to move around or use the shower or bath for pain relief - something I was really keen on doing.

I'm praying for calmness mostly, I know I can get very flustered when I'm in an unknown situation and would really like to feel a little bit in control and to be able to ask good questions and make good decisions.

Playing the waiting game

A week or so ago I was telling everyone that I wouldn't mind too much if the baby was a bit late... So it's now 4 days past due date and this waiting thing is getting a bit hard...

I have ups and downs, times when I'm patient and times when I'm not, I even have times when I forget I'm waiting...

Still waiting

but that's ok, he'll come when he's ready... Now I just need to find things to amuse myself so i don't get too bored with waiting!

In case you were wondering...

Yes, it is our official due date today... We are still waiting...

I have had a few prelabour-y things happen (I think) but nothing real yet... Stay tuned

Before and After

I found some photos of our unit that were taken before we moved in, when everything was empty and boring.

Before (left): our "old" front door and random foyer space

After (right): now baby's room (the new front door is in the lounge room)
















The other wall in the baby's room, this is the same cupboard as in the above photo but with a new coat of paint. You can also see the doorway into our room - nice and close.













Before (left): fireplace and wall space in the lounge room


After (right): The same wall space now with custom made shelves (by Stuart), you can also see the new colour on the chimney breast. You can't see the fireplace which now has the boards removed and nice new tiles on the floor in front to match the chimney breast.

38 weeks & 3 days

Here I am at 38 weeks & 3 days - only 11 days to go according to the countdown on the right... Assuming Jellybaby is born exactly on his due date which is not very likely...

So, what's been happening? I've survived 2 weeks of maternity leave, it's been both nice to be at home and not have to worry too much about work stuff and also hard because uni is starting and lots of exciting things have been happening. 250 people signed up to join small group bible studies - awesome!

I've also spent the last 2 weeks obsessing about and learning to drive - I had 2 driving tests and managed to pass the second one - yay, so now I have my red P's and theoretically can drive a car all by myself... I haven't actually been out by myself yet, I'm still a bit scared, but I will soon, I promise!


Time off has also meant time for organising Jellybaby's room, I've washed all the clothes, sheets etc and put them away - he has so many clothes already! They're so tiny, it's hard to imagine anyone would actually fit into them... I can't wait to try them all on him.


I made the cot up today, we've decided he will sleep in his cot from the beginning as the room is very close to ours - you have to walk through it to get to us. I know I've made the cot up all wrong for a newborn but the blanket and sheets are so cute I couldn't resist putting them on.

I've also started reading through Barneys prepared readings for lent I've never done anything for lent before. It's always been one of those weird Anglican/Catholic things that seemed old fashioned and unnecessary. But I decided that as I have time (at the moment anyway) and I havne't done anything structured in the way of spending time with God lately, that it would be a good thing to start.

It's been fun so far, we're reading Matthew and it's been good to read some of the things Jesus said and see them as part of the bigger picture of His life and ministry. It's also fun to know that there are a bunch of other people reading the same thing, hopefully we'll get a chance to talk about it together.

Well, this is very long post to make up for my lack of posting over the past couple of months - hope you enjoyed it!

Tagged

Katherine tagged me on her blog, so now it's my turn... I don't now who reads my blog regularly, except Ang but she's already done this... Maybe Deb or Jodi?

Here are the rules of the tag:

1. Grab the nearest book.

2. Open to page 56.

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the text of the next 2 to 5 sentences, along with these rules.

5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual book. Pick the CLOSEST!

6. Tag others to do the same!

*****
"Yea," Henry said slowly, "He must be bound to me more closely yet."
"So, we march to aid him against his rebels, brother. Is that how it runs?"
"Maybe, maybe," The King muttered. "I can use him, I think. Yes, I have work for the Bastard."
*******
This is King Henry of France talking about an alliance he has with William of Normansy (aka William the Conqueror) in "The Conqueror" by Georgette Heyer

Goodbye Georgette

Yesterday my fish Georgette died, I don't normally cry when my fish die but yesterday I did. Possibly because of crazy baby hormones but also because she was the last of the original 3 fish we bought to start our fish tank just after we were married.

Five years ago we decided to actually do something with the empty tank we had and so bought Ellroy, Marlowe and Georgette, all Fantails. They got on pretty well together, to the point of laying eggs together (well, Georgette laid the eggs but we were never quite sure who the father was).

At one point we had around 40 baby fishies but it's very hard to keep tiny fish alive in a tanks and eventually only one was left, we called him Nemo. Now, once again, Nemo is the only one left.

This is a picture of Georgette (top), Marlowe (below her) and Nemo (the tiny one).

Brain in a whirl!

So much to do, so little time...

Only 7.5 weeks until JellyBaby's estimated due date 11th March! I'm staring to feel a bit overwhelmed by all the things that need to be done, work stuff, organising baby room/clothes etc, catching up with friends, much other stuff and learning to drive!!!!

I still have about 18hours to go before I can do my P's test... Anyone for a roadtrip?

To make matters worse, I don't seem to have started nesting yet which means if I'm tired and overwhelmed I'm more likely to sit and mope than get anything done. Although Stu seems to have picked up the nesting bug and has been having fun painting walls, making bookshelves etc. At the moment he's sanding an old bookshelf/cupboard thing we inherited when we moved in so it's ready to paint.

Oh well, at least I have a very organised to do list...

PS My friend Gail and I went to the aquarium on Thursday and saw the dugongs - they are really cool!

iphone blog

For Christmas Stu and I got iPhones :-) so as well as rearranging the furniture we've been playing with our new toys! I'm trialling an app that let's me blog from my phone . It seems to work so far!

New year. New shelves

As part of the New Year, we have been getting ready for our new arrival- only 10ish weeks to go! Stu built new shelves in the lounge room so we can use some of our other furniture for the jellybaby.

Latest News

It has been so long since I've blogged, I'm really getting quite lazy... To add to my laziness instead of actually writing what's been happening I'm going to redirect you to my latest prayerletter for news. For some of you this may be the first time you've seen what I do at work from "the inside" - enjoy :-)

And just to make this post look a bit more interesting here is a new ultrasound picture of the Jellybaby at 28 weeks. I think it's amazing how much detail you can see! (in case you can't see it, there's an eye, a nose and two little fists)

Advice to ignore on marital sex

I read this post on Jean's blog and didn't know whether to laugh or cry... I am so glad most Christians these days have a much more biblical view of sex than poor Mrs Smythers.

Have Faith in God

I've been thinking a lot about Faith lately, or maybe Trust, or maybe both...

A few weeks ago we (I!) drove up to Cessnock to attend the celebration of 20 years of Dad and Mum working at Cessnock Congregational Church It brought back many memories...

Dad spoke about the '6 little old ladies' who stepped out in faith and agreed to support a minister with a family of 6! They knew that it was time either for the church to start to grow or to close down for good. It's amazing to see how that step of faith has borne fruit over the last 20 years. They had faith that God knew what was best and that God would provide.

On our first Sunday in Cessnock our family doubled the size of the congregation! There are now up to 50 or more people (including kids) at church on a Sunday... In the beginning Dad was paid hardly anything and had to work 2 jobs, now the church can afford to pay him almost a full wage.

Mum and Dad had faith too, there were times when they had no money. Mum would make omletes out of eggs we collected from the geese who lived on our rental property because she had no money to buy anything else. As kids we thought it was fun, and I don't think we ever really knew how hard it was for them. I guess it could have been so easy for them to walk away and find a bigger church with better pay but they trusted that God had put them in Cessnock for a reason and He did.

In Credo small groups we have been studying the book of Hebrews, which is full of so much great stuff! There is one passage though that is quoted more than many others, Hebrews 11, here the writer of Hebrews lists many famous believers from the Old Testament who had faith in God even when it seemed like things weren't going their way. They knew God had a plan for the Salvation of the world, that he would build a new kingdom and they knew that they probably wouldn't see that kingdom before they died but they lived as people who belonged to God's kingdom anyway.

I often struggle to see that far ahead, we have a much more accurate picture of the kingdom in Jesus than they did and yet it still seems so hard... I get dissatisfied with my life, distracted by the little things, scared of what others will think of me...

So, I've been thinking (and praying) alot about faith lately...

Stuart's tea is now cosy

I'm not sure what I think of the finished product... It doesn't look quite right, but that could be due to the teapot which is not a traditional shape while the pattern I used was for a traditional teapot...

Blog!

Over the past week I've been pondering blogging on many different topics, I just can't seem to focus on anyone thing, at least not long enough to write something challenging and insightful on it.

I have been thinking about friendships, money, my relationship with God, work, becoming a mother, health, miracles, people who are going to lose their hearing because their ipods are too loud... and a whole host of other things.

Maybe one day I'll write them all down.

Questions People Ask

Now the news is out there, I've noticed that we often get asked the same questions by curious people so I thought I'd list them and the answers here in case you are curious too.

When are you due? 11th March 2009 but apparently only 1 in 20 babies are born on their due date so anytime in the weeks before and after then.

How many weeks along are you? Today Wed 17/9/08 I'm 15 weeks.

Do you know the baby's sex yet? No, apparently you can tell now but ultrasounds are usually done at around 18-20 weeks

Do you want to know the baby's sex? Yes, no, maybe, probably... Not 100% decided but I think we will find out.

Have you been very sick? Thankfully no. Only 50% of pregnant women get morning sickness and I seem to be in the 50% that don't - yay! I have however been really really tired and occasionally get bad indigestion/heartburn/reflux - whatever you want to call it.

Can you feel the baby move? Not yet, s/he is still too small for that but this morning at our midwife appointment we did hear the baby's heartbeat and heard it as it kicked :-)

Do you have a baby bump? Kind of, it's more like a "I've eaten too much chocolate" bump but there are some pants that are too small already and I can definitely tell I'm changing shape.

Are you excited? Yes and also quite scared...

If you have any more questions you think I should add let me know :-)

I think almost everyone knows my news now - do you?

I've managed to surprise myself over the last 13 weeks, generally I'm hopeless at keeping secrets but I guess when they're mine it's easier...

So it's out there, in person, in cyberspace, in gossip-land. We're having a baby, officially on 11th March 2009 but you know these little critters, they are often quite unpredictable and can arrive anytime.

It's been a lot harder to tell people than I imagined, by email, on facebook and here has been quite easy but in person... It's like I'm embarrassed for people to know, which is quite silly. As one of my friends said "you have been married for 5 years Bec, it's ok..."

Now I can finally use the cute pregnancy countdown script thingy I made when I was about 5 weeks along. I'll put it on the page somewhere on the right :-)

Stay tuned for more news.

Lately, in an attempt to become crafty, I have been dappling in the ancient art of crochet. Actually, after reading wiki it appears crochet is not as ancient as I thought it was... Oh well.

Anyway, this photo shows off my work - a matching scarf & beanie. I have started on a tea cosy for Stuart , unusual I know but he will insist on wrapping a tea towel around the teapot to keep it warm.

My crocheting, however, has been on hold the last few days as I managed to catch a very aggressive cold. I think without doubt it has been the worst cold I have ever had, thankfully I feel much better today (although still quite icky) and even managed to stop coughing long enough to get some sleep last night!

GAPP

Some of the fun things I get to do in my job :-)

http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/sydneystories/students_fill_important_gapp/

Back at Work

Holidays are fun...

But...

Time away means having to catch up later...

It's now 619pm and I am still at work waiting for the Credo Handbooks to print...

However...

About an hour ago we thought we wouldn't be able to finish them by the deadline...

God is good...

I want to go back to the Place I Don't Understand!

This time last year I was in a foreign country feeling a bit lost, unsure & excited. My time in Mongolia was awesome, I learnt a lot, grew a lot and had fun. Since then, I've had a longing to go back that I've found really hard to explain to others and myself...

I've had a few days off this week to recover from my exam (which btw was not as bad as I thought it would be - see last post) and spent some time watching Ewan McGregor's Long Way Round. Actually, I only watched the 2 episodes where he and Charlie rode through Mongolia as i was feeling a bit Mongolia-sick.

At the end of the 2nd episode, after riding through Mongolia and getting to Russia, Ewan talks about how he feels as though his experience in Mongolia was the whole reason they were doing their motorbike ride around the world. It is such a different life experience to any other country he has been in, it's so hard to get around in & communicate to the outside world in and it's a really tough place to live in - he doesn't understand the geography, the culture, the people, but he loves it all at the same time. He says "I want to go back to the place I don't understand".

I think that's how I feel about Mongolia too...

So much to do so little time...

It's actually not that true, generally I have enough time in which to do the things I need to do but often I feel like I don't.

Today I spent a lovely morning with some of the other married girls at Barneys 715 Congregation in my backyard, it was fun and I really enjoyed it. However I did spend a fair bit of yesterday and this morning stressing about all the things I had to do and wishing I didn't have to get up early and entertain people.

I was particularly stressed about not spending the morning studying for my exam on Tuesday, which must be why I have only done an hour of study in the last 4 hours. (Why must I procrastinate so...)

So now I am sitting here, after checking my email, facebook, ebay and all my friends blogs, blogging because every time I begin to study I am overwhelmed by all the things I don't know and feel I should know, or maybe it's all the things I do know but am not sure how to express in a way others will understand and will get me marks. I don't think I used to feel this way at uni.

I have a little voice inside me that tells me all I need is more time and to work harder and then it will all be good. But then the other little voice tells me there is really no point, more time and work won't help me understand - it's just all too hard.

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

Why I Need to Learn To Drive

On Sunday night, after a busier than usual weekend, we were driving from Stu's mum's house to church.

Stuart decided that he needed to go home and do nothing in order to be ready for work the next day. I wanted to go to church, but that meant I would need to work out a way to get home afterwards...

Walk - 30mins, in the dark, in the cold - no
Get a Lift - briefly think about who could drive me home, most people already drive others home so no room in cars. I don't want to stay late, others I think about usually don't leave church till late.

Decide to go home with Stuart

Individualization

Your Individualization theme leads you to be intrigued by the unique qualities of each person. You are impatient with generalizations or “types” because you don’t want to obscure what is special and distinct about each person. Instead, you focus on the differences between individuals. You instinctively observe each person’s style, each person’s motivation, how each thinks, and how each builds relationships. You hear the one-of-a-kind stories in each person’s life. This theme explains why you pick your friends just the right birthday gift, why you know that one person prefers praise in public and another detests it, and why you tailor your teaching style to accommodate one person’s need to be shown and another’s desire to “figure it out as I go.”
Because you are such a keen observer of other people’s strengths, you can draw out the best in each person. This Individualization theme also helps you build productive teams. While some search around for the perfect team “structure” or “process,” you know instinctively that the secret to great teams is casting by individual strengths so that everyone can do a lot of what they do well.

Responsibility

Your Responsibility theme forces you to take psychological ownership for anything you commit to, and whether large or small, you feel emotionally bound to follow it through to completion. Your good name depends on it. If for some reason you cannot deliver, you automatically start to look for ways to make it up to the other person. Apologies are not enough. Excuses and rationalizations are totally unacceptable. You will not quite be able to live with yourself until you have made restitution. This conscientiousness, this near obsession for doing things right, and your impeccable ethics, combine to create your reputation: utterly dependable. When assigning new responsibilities, people will look to you first because they know it will get done. When people come to you for help—and they soon will—you must be selective. Your willingness to volunteer may sometimes lead you to take on more than you should.

Connectedness

Things happen for a reason. You are sure of it. You are sure of it because in your soul you know that we are all connected. Yes, we are individuals, responsible for our own judgments and in possession of our own free will, but nonetheless we are part of something larger. Some may call it the collective unconscious. Others may label it spirit or life force. But whatever your word of choice, you gain confidence from knowing that we are not isolated from one another or from the earth and the life on it. This feeling of Connectedness implies certain responsibilities. If we are all part of a larger picture, then we must not harm others because we will be harming ourselves. We must not exploit because we will be exploiting ourselves. Your awareness of these responsibilities creates your value system. You are considerate, caring, and accepting. Certain of the unity of humankind, you are a bridge builder for people of different cultures. Sensitive to the invisible hand, you can give others comfort that there is a purpose beyond our humdrum lives. The exact articles of your faith will depend on your upbringing and your culture, but your faith is strong. It sustains you and your close friends in the face of life’s mysteries.

Consistency

"Balance is important to you. You are keenly aware of the need to treat people the same, no matter what their station in life, so you do not want to see the scales tipped too far in any one person’s favor. In your view this leads to selfishness and individualism. It leads to a world where some people gain an unfair advantage because of their connections or their background or their greasing of the wheels. This is truly offensive to you. You see yourself as a guardian against it. In direct contrast to this world of special favors, you believe that people function best in a consistent environment where the rules are clear and are applied to everyone equally. This is an environment where people know what is expected. It is predictable and evenhanded. It is fair. Here each person has an even chance to show his or her worth."

This is sooooo me! It even works backwards, if Stu buys his lunch I feel like I'm entiltled to buy mine - fair enough you say, if I buy my lunch I feel like he should be entitled to buy his (which is random because he doesn't really care whether he buys lunch or has a cheese and pickle sandwhich from home).

Just today I was having a conversation about double standards and how much they annoy me!

Harmony

"You look for areas of agreement. In your view there is little to be gained from conflict and friction, so you seek to hold them to a minimum. When you know that the people around you hold differing views, you try to find the common ground. You try to steer them away from confrontation and toward harmony. In fact, harmony is one of your guiding values. You can’t quite believe how much time is wasted by people trying to impose their views on others. Wouldn’t we all be more productive if we kept our opinions in check and instead looked for consensus and support? You believe we would, and you live by that belief. When others are sounding off about their goals, their claims, and their fervently held opinions, you hold your peace. When others strike out in a direction, you will willingly, in the service of harmony, modify your own objectives to merge with theirs (as long as their basic values do not clash with yours). When others start to argue about their pet theory or concept, you steer clear of the debate, preferring to talk about practical, down-to-earth matters on which you can all agree. In your view we are all in the same boat, and we need this boat to get where we are going. It is a good boat. There is no need to rock it just to show that you can."

This is so me... It's funny though how I would usually describe this part of me as a "bad thing" - Generally I would say "I like to avoid conflict" or "I need to get better at difficult conversations" I'm not sure I agree with the last couple of sentences though, I'm not sure why, maybe the boat analogy just doesn't do it for me... And I'm not sure if it's just productivity that drives me to dislike conflict, I think there's more to it than that.

Today I am 30

And it feels the same as being 29 ;-) I am thankful for 30 mostly good years and for almost 30 years of having a relationship with God, which, as MIke reminded us on Sunday at church, is perfect because of Jesus!

As part of a work exercise this week, I took the Clifton Strengthsfinder test which measures the presence of talent in 34 categories called "themes." These themes were determined by The Gallup Organization as those that most consistently predict outstanding performance. The greater the presence of a theme of talent within a person, the more likely that person is to spontaneously exhibit those talents in day-to-day behaviors.

My five themes were: Harmony, Consistency, Connectedness, Responsibility and Individualization. I was going to post all of the descriptions but they're a bit long for one post, maybe I'll post them one by one and you can see if they really do describe me... I think some of them do quite well!

A Long, Full and Awesome Weekend!

The Easter long weekend was pretty full this year (even more full than usual)! As well as Credo's anual Easter Time Convention (ETC) I also went to my Grandfather's 90th Birthday party!

Here he is cutting his cake, there were lots of people from my family there, many whose names I still don't remember...

It was slightly surreal to leave ETC which feels like a big family event away from the rest of the world and go to another big family event...

ETC as always was awesome, lots of brain stretching teaching, this year on Christian Ethics, and lots of community building fun!

The staff and grads team won our annual Faculty network soccer cup - yay!

Now I am back in the real world attempting to write an essay for Bible college - the last essay (and the only at university) I wrote was in 1998 on mammograms... I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all...

I am not ashamed!

For those of you who are familiar with the book of Romans in the bible this post is not about the gospel... Although let it be said I am not ashamed of the gospel, I'm just not specifically writing about it today.

What I am not ashamed of is the fact that my 30th Birthday is just around the corner (see The Big Birthday countdown on the right).

At our first Bible Study for the year on Tuesday night we introduced ourselves to each other and for some reason it was suggested we share our ages... Very few people were willing to give their true age, there were a few 30-somethings (rare for the 715 congregation) and a couple of 20-somethings...

I've been thinking about it a bit lately, why are we afraid to admit we are older than someone else? Especially when in the scheme of things 30-something is really not old at all. I've decided to embrace the fact that I am older (and hopefully wiser) than alot of people I know and most of the students I work with. I've been alive for almost 30 years and that is an awesome gift from God!

Phone Conversation

Bec: "Hello"
Stuart: "Hello, how are you?"
...3 minute conversation ensues about computer frustration I'm having...
Stuart: "Can I ask you a question?"
Bec: "ok"
Stuart: "If someone needed stitches, where would they go?"
Bec: "What have you done?"
Stuart: "What makes you think it was me?"
Bec: "Is there anyone else with you?"
Stuart: "There are some fish..."

Apparently, the handle of the kitchen scissors broke while Stu was trying to cut some plastic and he ended up cutting his finger instead. All is well, he didn't need stitches but the finger is still bandaged...

Jono's 21st

At Sapore in Leichhardt, lots of people, nice food. More photos here

Another Week, Another Explosion

This time at Broadway Shopping Centre - photo from SHM

In other news, I went to my first lecture at SMBC today. I'm doing one subject of the Graduate Diploma in Divinity (I'm still trying to work out if I'll be divine when I'm finished - only 7 subjects to go).

I was in class when the explosion happened and got a bit distracted when my phone kept vibrating in my pocket with calls and messages from people who wanted to make sure I was ok.

More photos of Nandos

See more photos on Jodi's blog

Never a dull moment on Mountain St

This what I saw as I arrived at work this morning (photo from SMH), the pink building on the right is where my (Barneys) office is!

There was apparently an explosion last night, which has made a big mess and sucked 2 of the windows out of our office. A lot of glass from Nandos (where the explosion happened) has been thrown across the road with such forced it's knocked down the fence around the old fire guttered Barneys building. It hasn't even been 2 years since our fire...

I'm not sure whether it's significant but this morning I was wondering if I should have chips with my Nando's chicken pita meal at dinner tonight or be more healthy and have salad... I guess I don't have to answer that question anymore...

Routine and Me

The older I get, the more and more I realise I am ruled by routines, not just ruled in a being controlled sense but ruled in a "I think routines are awesome and hate not having them" kind of way...

Which makes me wonder why I enjoy student work so much when every 3 or 4 months I need to create and get used to a whole new routine!

At the moment I'm enjoying waking up around 7, having breakfast while reading my "60 days of Prayer for Purpose", praying, heading to the gym and getting to work at around 10am. (Except for Tuesdays when I go to kickboxing class at lunch so skip the gym in the morning.) I know that at the end of February Uni will start and my routine will be turned upside down and I will need to start again. The other thing I know is I don't need to stress about it now - but I am *sigh*.

It's exciting though :-) uni starting back, new small groups and first years to meet, ETC and I have enrolled in a subject at SMBC so I'm looking forward to my first experience of Bible college.

Back to Work

Today was my first day back at work after 3 weeks of holidays and I actually enjoyed it! To tell you the truth I was even looking forward to it, last week I kept thinking about all the things I needed to do, plans I wanted to make for this year, people I needed to call . I had to stop myself from working in the holidays! It's amazing what a few weeks rest will do, at the end of last year I was so over working, I seemed to be tired and grumpy all the time and had almost convinced myself I was a bad staffworker and should maybe do something else.

The sermon last night was on rest, Malcolm spoke about how Christians need to take time out and have good rest and to trust Jesus to look after all the things that keep us busy or worried - it's so true! You can listen to it here (when it's been downloaded in a few days).

I did have a bit of a late start to my working day though, my plan was to be at the gym by 830 and at work by 10 (gotta love flexible working hours). However, it took such a long time for me to pack my bag this morning - it hadn't been packed for a whole 3 weeks, I left late and was halfway to the bus stop when I realised I'd left behind a rather important item of clothing (the hazards of showering and dressing at the gym) and my water bottle. I came home again and ended up arriving at the gym just after 9. I got to work at about 10.30 and spent most of the day cleaning the "Credo Corner" and rearranging the cupboard. I still haven't finished but hopefully will be done by the end of tomorrow.

What's been happening?

It seems like lots as happened since my last post... Things like:

Despinidic Family Christmas





Mum, Aunty Lyn & my sister Liz in my backyard on 15th December.









Holiday in North Haven


Stu and I outside of Burst *003 our home for a week.











Followed by Christmas and a week spent at Stu's mum's in Matraville.

Since then I have vacuumed, worked out how to sync outlook with google calendar, made 10 rather large turkey pasties, eaten a lot of ham, done way too much shopping and playing on the internet...

But that's what holidays are for!

I've also started reading a devotional book called 60 days of Praying for Purpose for Women (sounds corny I know) but it's helping me think about my relationship with God and how I "do" life which is something I always struggle with when I'm doing my personal bible reading so am looking forward to the next 58 days...

Happy Birthday Stuart

Today Stu turns 36! We've had a nice relaxing day at home catching up after spending a week and a half apart while I was on NTE.

I baked a carrot cake - we haven't tasted it yet but it looks awesome, I hope it tastes as good as it looks.

Back in the Real World

I'm finally back in the real world, after a week and a half of AFES NTE (ie. Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students, National Training Event) and related conferences. As always NTE was a great time of learning about God and really really tiring! I was blessed with a great mission team though (above) who put in a lot of hard work - and it showed! Another great blessing was my billet family Colyn and her daughter Jo, they helped to feel relaxed in their house and treat it as my own, which is what I needed after a week in student accomodation in Canberra.

UTS had the fun (and immense!) job of ushering 1100 people into their seats on NTE, here we all are in our yellow ushers shirts receiving instructions from our ushering guru, Jodi.

But they're so cute!

In the last week or so we've noticed a bird's nest on the window sill of the window next to my desk in the office. Unfortunately the birds that built the nest are Indian Mynah birds, aka "the flying rat". Indian Mynah's are a common pest in Australia and often kill native Australian birds, see this transcript of a report by the 730 report for more info.

We did think about destroying the eggs (Stuart suggested boiling them and putting them back in the nest - very mean!) but there's something about being able to watch the progress of new life being formed...

Yesterday 2 of the eggs hatched!
It's hard to tell but there are 2 little birds there... They can barely hold up their heads and are really, really cute! Again, we had the conversation about killing them but now it's even harder to contemplate!

What would you do?

I like Chocolate

Another SMH article about chocolate

I Like Georgette Heyer

Especially on days like today when I am sick in bed, just found this you tube clip of Stephen Fry talking about his love of Georgette Heyer



Her son died last week, I met him in 2002 when I went to England on a Georgette Heyer fan club tour - we had a posthumous 100th Birthday party for her and he was there. His obituary is here.

Stereotypes

Generally, I think of stereotypes as being bad, often just an inaccurate way of putting some one or ones into a box. However, there are times when it's very easy to see why stereotypes exist.

For example, when the members of my extended "Greek" family get together, it can sometimes feels as though I've been transported onto the set of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding".

Last night, I went with my sister to one of her Nutrimetics spa's, it was on at 9pm at a place and with people she didn't know and so I was her moral support. We arrived at a massive house (that looked more like an apartment block), complete with fountain and a security doorbell at the front gate.

And then we embarked on the most stereotypical adventure of my life! The room was full of middle-aged Indian ladies talking about their daughters, husbands and food. It was like a scene from a Gurinda Chadha movie!

Belinda was a bit overwhelmed and I guess it wasn't the best Nutrimetics spa she'd ever done - but it was fun to watch. It made me think about why stereotypes exist and realise that they aren't always a bad thing. I guess it's when we refuse to see the individual and his/her own personality because we're to busy putting them into our own little stereotypical box that stereotypes become less than helpful.

Mmmm Chocolate

The more I discover about bacteria and other micro-organisms the more I am amazed at how something so small can have so much power over the human body! They can even make you want to eat chocolate! Read this article from SMH.

More Mongolian People

Greg gave me some of the photos he took in Mongolia, they are so much nicer than mine. Sigh.

This is Tseegi & Muggi, two of the girls in my class. They were also the best English speakers and would often help us by translating for the rest of the class.

Tseegi's sister is one of the doctors in Ulziit, both of her parents are teachers. She wasn't to be a teacher when she grows up.

They also taught me to "coo" when the horses approach the finish line at the Naadam races.

I'm on track again :-)

Thanks to an anonymous comment I discovered that Google analytics wasn't working on my blog because the tracking script was missing. I think that probably happened when I changed my template a month or so ago. So it seems that you were all still visiting my page I just didn't know it!

I have added the script again and it should all work now - prepare to be tracked!

Must do work...

Have you ever had those mornings when you spend an hour at your computer but aren't really sure what you were doing?

I know I should do work, and I know I have work to do, I guess I should just do it...

In other news, I have managed to stay on top of my exercise regime - I even exercised 5 times last week without going to the gym!

I have had 2 days of extreme socialness, Trivia and the biggest schnitzels you've ever seen at The White Cockatoo in Petersham on Tuesday night with Bible Study; Yum Cha yesterday with Credo SaNers and last night I went to a Nutrimetics training evening with my sister! (No I'm not becoming a nutrimetics salesperson, I just went because she said it would be fun and I got free stuff).

The nutrimetics thing was surprisingly fun, I guess that's what happens when you put 30 women in a room and give them beauty products to play with.

So now, back to work - or maybe I should find a pretty picture to put with this post... This is the younger generation of my family from Left to right, Liz, Chloe with mum Belinda, Stuart, Jono & his fiance Katie :-)

Where have all the people gone?

According to google analytics no one has visited my page at all in September :-( There is probably a direct link between that and how often I have updated it I suppose...

I'm very tempted to blame facebook for taking up all my web time but perhaps I have just been slack... Or caught up with things outside of cyberspace. I will try to post more from now on - I promise :-)

It's all part of the job...

Need I say more?

How Much do I Miss Mongolia?

You may have heard me say, or read somewhere, that I miss Mongolia... I really do, I miss the people mostly but also the simplicity of life in the Countryside and the animals.

Apparently I don't have to miss the animals to much because I managed to bring one home with me-meet Giardia (pictured right) who (or some other similar protozoan) is currently having a party inside my intestines.

I had been really proud of the fact that I didn't get sick while I was away... Oh well...

Someone I really do miss is Zula (pronounced Zola), she is a 19year old Mongolian student who spent her summer teaching English with VETNet in Ulziit. She also looked after us very well during the 2 weeks that we stayed with her.

Zula has an amazing story, her father died when she was young and her family moved in with her Uncle who is very opposed to Christianity. I don't want to say too much online but through some hard times Zula came to know Jesus and finds her family relationships very hard at times. This is something that is very common for Mongolian Christians, opposition from, usually Buddhist, family members.

Please pray for Zula that she will remain strong in her faith and deal with her family wisely, also that I and the others who met her can be a good support network for her even though we are so far away.

Mongolian Pinnochio

I've been back in Australia for 4 weeks and I guess it's about time I wrote something about Mongolia.

Above is a video of the Ulziit Children's Intermediate English class performing their version of Pinnochio at our English Party. I asked them to write a play about English class and this is what they came up with. Stu says this task was too post modern for high school students, let alone high school students who speak english as a second language, perhaps he was right...

I miss my Ulziit class, we spent 2 weeks together, which really wasn't enough time to get to know them all. I hope and pray the time I spent with helps them to understand how much Jesus loves them.

Update

Thanks to everyone who has commented, both in cyberspace and face to face, on the loss of my wallet etc. I'm amazed at how generous people have been.

Just so you know we are not starving and so far have enough money to survive, even though it takes 21 days for the bank to process the form I filled in to tell them that they gave my money to a complete stranger :-)

The Case of the Unknown Gym Member - Part 2

Ok, so now I'm really grumpy... The person who stole my purse withdrew all the money in our bank account, over the counter which means she had to show photo ID, which means the person at the bank has very bad eyesight.

And I can't do anything about it until Monday when I have to prove that I didn't withdraw the money myself...

The Case of the Unknown Gym Member

While I was in Mongolia I was very security conscious, we were all warned about making sure we kept our belongings close to us and not leaving anything valuable in our pockets etc etc. I caught myself in Eastgardens last week making sure my bag was close by and really safe (a good thing to do I know but generally there aren't so many bag thieves in Australia).

But sometimes no matter what you do your things will stolen!

Yesterday afternoon I went to the gym a bit earlier than usual so that I could get a lift home with Stu. I got changed and locked my bag in my locker, after my workout (I ran on the treadmill which is very exciting as I was a bit scared of running on a fast moving machine) I went back to the locker to get my bag. The locker was open, which was a bit strange but as the lock mechanism was still locked I thought perhaps I'd not closed it properly. Then I realised that my bag was not in the same position I'd left it in, I had a minor panic and checked to see if anything was missing.

Thank God my laptop, pda and phone were still in my bag, my purse however was not. I went to reception and told them what had happened, all the Fernwood girls were very shocked! They phoned security and the police, and I phoned Stu who was waiting for me outside.

It turns out that a women had signed in with someone else's membership card and broke into at least 2 lockers (another girl's purse was stolen as well). She ran out of the gym but no one really thought much of it at the time.

While I was waiting for the police to arrive I rang to cancel my credit card and discovered that the unknown woman had used it! I also went to check the time and remembered I wasn't wearing my watch but had in fact put it in the locker and it was also missing.

It's kind of ironic that I travelled through Mongolia and China for 4 weeks and managed not to have anything stolen but when I get home...

I'm Back!!!

It's been almost a week! What can I say? It's almost impossible to describe four weeks in one blog post and I haven't quite worked out how to communicate everything to you, or even if I should ;-)

For now here are a few links to some photo albums I've created - enjoy!

General photos of Mongolia
Ulziit - the first place we taught English
Naadam - The yearly festival of "Manly Sports"
Burd - The second town we stayed in
How to Build a Ger - the tentlike structure many people in the countryside live in
Making Buzz - very yummy dumplings

The photos have fairly detailed comments and give a good idea of what we did, hopefully I'll get around to posting some reflections of what I learnt.

17 Hours to go

And I haven't started packing yet!! I'm not sure what the countdown timer will do when it hits zero, maybe it will start to count up?

So, I shall say goodbye, not sure when I'll get to write next. Pray for me and the team.

See you in 4 weeks :-)

My relationship with cooking

Most of you who know me have probably heard me say more than once that "I'm not good at cooking and I don't like it." Which, for the most part is true, however, every now and then I have a cooking splurge where I spend hours reading recipies and preparing food.

My most successful so far have been:

Christmas Puddings
Pumpkin Scones
Dahl

and hopefully pumpkin & ricotta conchiole and my favourite Greek dish pastitio (both are pasta bake dishes which I prepared tonight to cook tomorrow for lunch with my siblings).

The crazy thing is, I don't actually like pumpkin and it features in two of these dishes!

It took four hours tonight to cook pasta, pumpkin, mince etc and assemble it ready to cook tomorrow, hopefully the time & effort were worth it.

Who's idea was it to visit the Hunter Valley in the Middle of a State Emergency?

Actually, I think it was mine... It's been fairly safe in Cessnock at Mum & Dad's but it's a bit scary to think about what's happening only 30 minutes away (in all directions).

Last night we ate dinner by candle light - not out of ascetic pleasure but out of necessity. The power went out just as we sat down to eat and ironically came back on just as we got into bed.

Mongolia Itinerary

We know where we're going and when now :-)

Check out the Credo Mongolia blog to see our itinerary.

Catching up on the news

Well, it's been a while so I thought I should write something down.
My news so far:
1. My brother is now engaged to Katie, and he didn't tell me :-( but I'm over it now ;- )
2. He also bought a cute little red Alfa Romeo
3. My dad found out he broke his knee when he tripped over a pallet in a hardware shop more than a month ago. (Knees seem to feature a lot in my life lately - one of our Mongolia team members is also having knee trouble)
4. I'm going to Monogolia in just over 3 weeks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
5. The Uni semester is coming to an end and I'm going to miss seeing all the Credoites in the next 2 months (although get to hang out with Mongolia team credoites - cool!)
6. I made Dahl for dinner and it was good (restored my faith in lentils)
7. In preparation for painting our lounge room, Stu and I rearranged our house today, we now have a temporary lounge room in the massive space we use as a kitchen/dining/sun room
8. We also pulled the board off the fireplace in our bedroom and found a really old cute gas stove thingy
9. I have been to 4 Nutrimetics parties in the last 2 months (my excuse is my sister became a consultant)
10. I keep waking up early and not being able to go back to sleep because I'm thinking about Mongolia
11. Did I mention I'm going to Mongolia in just over 3 weeks?!

Diet, Exercise and Diabetes

On Friday I went to see my endocrinologist for my 6 monthly check up to see how my Insulin Resistance is going, usually that involves me stepping on the scales to see if I've lost any weight but this time he got me to do a glucose tolerance test the week before.

A GTT is very boring, usually you rock up to the pathology collection centre feeling very hungry (on account of having to fast since 8pm the night before) and needing to go to the toilet. Once there you give a urine sample and the nice lady takes some blood out of your arm and outs it into little tubes. Then she gives you a glucose drink to finish in the next five minutes and you go sit in the waiting room.

An hour later she takes more blood, puts it into little tubes and sends you back to the waiting room, an hour after that she takes more blood and sends you out to find breakfast, which by then is practically lunch.

The purpose is to find out how your body reacts to being fed glucose (sugar), and if it processes it properly.

Anyway, it turns out that my body has become worse at processing sugar than it was 2 years ago when I first went to see Dr Kidson. Which is a bit depressing considering I take 7 tablets a day and have worked really hard at eating right and exercising regularly.

To be truthful though, I have been a bit slack with the whole diet and exercise thing lately so now I have a reason to get back on track.

Why is it so important? Well, insulin resistance means that my body produces insulin in response to when I eat carbohydrates (a pretty normal reaction) but instead of my cells using the insulin to turn the carbs into energy they get confused and don't do anything. The end result is lack of energy, crazy reactions from a number of other hormones and overproduction of insulin which will eventually tire out the insulin producing cells in my pancreas and they will stop producing insulin altogether ie. I will become diabetic.

Exercise encourages my cells to use the insulin (sorry don't know why) as it should be used, it also burns up fat - fat cells produce hormones that affect how insulin is produced and used (again, my biochemistry knowledge doesn't stretch that far)- so getting rid of fat is good. Eating healthily ie. low GI carbs (and less carbs in general) means I don't produce too much insulin and eating less fat means I grow less fat cells.

Simple isn't it?

I am telling you this so that those who know me can help me eat right and exercise and so that those who don't know me can learn more about insulin resistance. Believe it or not, this is just a summary of what it means to have this problem, there are lot more symptoms and struggles I could talk about.

Anyway, thanks for listening, apologies to any endocrinologists, biochemists and others who are cringing at my poor scientific explanations.