whitewriter | Oo I like a good list. Bye bye 2023.

Borrowed from

wendelah1

1. What are you hoping for in 2024?
A vaginal birth without making my cystocele or rectocele any worse than it already is. Preferably without the PPH of 1.2? something liters. But I'll take the bleed over the pelvic floor damage any day. Is that too much to ask for? I guess we'll find out ...

2. What was your low point of 2023?
Hum. That morning sickness bs probably. And Pete being worried that I didn't want kiddo number two because I was in a bad mood about it all. Don't ask a woman if she's looking forward to having a second baby when she feels like crap. Cause at that point, no. I'd rather be anything than pregnant at that point. Wait to ask in honeymoon trimester 2 or near the end trimester 3.

3. And your high point of 2023?
Toilet training Wendy and having her turn to me in a restaurant and say "mama toilet" and her being able to hold it for the longest 2 min walk of my life to the public toilet to try and find a stall that is hopefully at least mildly clean, where I held her over the pot due to not bringing the extender - and hoping she could do it like that - and having success!

She still remains pretty accurate actually - 50% accuracy that if your going to take her to the toilet (Regardless of her yes or no) that she does something in the pot- higher if she instigates it.

So many mums seem to fear just giving it a go. Yes it can be messy - etc. but give your kid credit. Just tell them there's no more nappies now, and go with it. Yes life is busy - I'm a nutso who likes to go to the aquarium on day 5 or Christmas day at someones house (without carpet) on day 3 or the zoo - but - and maybe I have nerves of steel - if there's any more pro environmental way to ditch nappies, this is it. Like sure, reusables - but imagine none of that bs....

I read half of a book (lolz ran out of time otherwise really) titled "Oh Crap! Potty training" by Jamie Glowacki and she stated pre internet the normal time to toilet train is about 22 mo (which is Wendy's age now) but post internet - anything goes. It seems from talking to others, about age 3. I can't imagine another year of nappies.

Wendy's bogan cousins ... (wait for it) - still in pull ups at 5 (the middle child) and the youngest, at 4 - still going. It's like... how??? they already trained the eldest (8). Why can't you trust the youngest two. Either you do them both at the same time - which is your only choice now or you did it pre the youngest arriving.

I expect Wendy to regress. Especially when no2. arrives. I don't expect perfection. I really wanna ditch the night nappies because she's started pooping in the night nappy in the time between putting it on and falling asleep, delaying bedtime - even yesterday despite doing a good poop in the toilet after dinner.

4. Do you make New Year’s resolutions or are they just a waste of time?
Usually I try not to make them because they're just easily broken. And there really isn't much difference between say July 1st and Jan 1st or whatever - so why not just pick a different day to start. There's many milestone options - birthdays etc. financial years - but this year I'd really like to cut back on artificially sweetened stuff. Yes GDM is hard, but overall its not like there isn't a tonne of other things to eat (dark chocolate, fruits etc.) and they're just so unnecessary. Their role in causing disease seems not fully discovered - I don't want Wendy eating them, I'd rather she just have sugar (trying to limit that also to special occasions) so. Yeah. See how we go. For brekky I put some fake sugar maple syrup on the porridge as a sweetener and honestly. It just doesn't taste anywhere near real syrup or sugar. So it's more a disappointment than a joy.

5. Do you have any traditions for celebrating New Year’s Eve?
Fireworks?
If possible anyway. We've had 2 years of taking Wendy to the fireworks. The first year, she didn't know and we weren't close enough to hear it - it was from a friend's balcony. This year, we were a lot closer at my cousins balcony in Lavender bay. The air was wet from earlier rains and overcast day - so we didn't smell the gunpowder but we probably would have if it was a lot drier. The sound of the fireworks - even though we were safe in a balcony and apartment setting with family - was "scary" as Wendy put it. She clung to me whilst they fired off and cried a little when I tried to go closer to the edge of the balcony.

There's this Chinese? cultural saying about new years (ok its not CNY but, new years is new years) that whatever you do on new years day - will set the tone for what you will be doing for the rest of the year. So for example, you need to have your house fully cleaned prior to New Years - so that you don't spend your year cleaning.

I can guarantee -- 100% that I will be spending the year cleaning. So I have absolutely no shame in using today to get started on that. lolz.