Hello everybody!
I sure you’ve all been wondering where I have disappeared to, I haven’t posted anything on my blog for almost 10 months now.
The answer is simple – Ben and I fell pregnant! I had a challenging pregnancy, and spent much of it in a great deal of pain mostly due to lower back pain and an iron deficiency, but we got through it, and have since welcomed our beautiful son, Nathan Ravi Aru Archer. He was born on 2 March 2020 via elective c-section, 3.26kg and is getting bigger and stronger every day.
It is amazing to watch him grow and develop, his features change so quickly, and his facial expressions are varied and hilarious. He’s basically a ready made meme! When he was born, he was so pale, I didn’t think he was my baby! But as the days passed, he has become darker, so I feel some comfort that this is my child. He looks so much like Ben, but he has my eyes, and was born with a full head of hair.
Ben and I are completely besotted. It is a full time job, feeding him every 3 hours, learning how to breastfeed, troubleshooting our baby every time he exhibits his displeasure, training Lola to treat him like part of the furniture and fitting in some sleep every now and again.
There is no time for cooking, which is why it is such a relief to have my mom here with us, she cooks all of our meals and takes care of Nathan while Ben and I get some much needed shut eye. We wouldn’t be doing quite so well without her.
I wouldn’t be doing quite so well either without Ben! He is amazing, I really did marry an angel. He has managed to find me a solid 6 hour block at night to sleep so that I can function during the day, he stays up with Nathan through the night, massages my back, sterilises bottles, logs and stores expressed milk, changes nappies, does all the things I can’t do as I am still recovering from surgery – the list just goes on. I don’t know what I did to deserve him. Nathan is really lucky to have a dad like Ben, and I am so glad he has a fantastic role model to look up to.
There’s also this small thing called the Coronavirus that has hit Australia (and the rest of the world). Scary times right now, and it really doesn’t fill you with safe, warm, fuzzy feelings. I am quite an extroverted person, I need human contact, and all of this isolation and social distancing is really difficult for me.
When I envisioned being on mat leave, I thought to myself – yes! I’ll finally have an opportunity to visit all those beautiful cafes with my baby, eat some delicious food, show my mom how nice Canberra is if you give it a chance – but no, my best laid plans have completely tanked and we are all just hiding at home.
Anyway, I doubt you’ll be seeing many recipes from me for the next little while, I’m a little busy raising my little man! But will try to find some time to write every now and again 🙂
Here are some photos for you to enjoy.
The Sausage Dog 