One thing I really love about Brisbane (this part of Australia, that is) is the colors. On a sunny day, the sky is unbelievably blue, the clouds unbelievably white, the grass and trees unbelievably green, from a deep green to the yellow-green of new growth. Other places, of course, can boast skies as blue and vegetation as green, but there is something special about it here. It must be something in the light. The sky isn’t just blue, it is the epitome of blue. An impossibly alive, vibrant blue. And likewise with everything else. As if I took a photograph and Photoshopped it to make the colors
I find myself still exhausted. I don’t know why. There is no excuse at this point. Calliope has just hit 3 months of age and she has turned into a dream of a baby. She goes to bed between 10 and 11pm and sleeps through til 7AM. She takes 3 naps during the day, in between her 5 feedings. Each nap is about 2 hours long. Each feeding takes 15 minutes or so (now I’ve gone almost completely to formula) and then she stays awake for the next hour and a half or thereabouts smiling and cooing and being totally happy. When I put her down for a nap she often doesn’t cry at all, or if she does, it’s only for 5 minutes at most. Dream baby. Seriously.
So you’d think, with all these 2 hour blocks, I’d be super productive and gets tons of things done, but it still doesn’t seem to happen! I’m still tired, though not nearly as much as I was when I was breast feeding 7 times per day and getting up in the middle of the night. Maybe it’s because we’ve only been home in Oz for a couple weeks now and I’m still dealing with unpacking boxes and cleaning and fixing all the broken things. Having to replace so many things kind of slowed down the whole unpacking process some. (And we’re still sleeping on the floor!) Moreover, there are MASSES of paperwork that need to be done regarding Calliope’s US citizenship, our Australian citizenship, Calliope’s Australian residency and medical coverage and baby bonus, our health insurance, car insurance, house insurance and other financials, and that somehow ends up being a horrible time sink. So many phone calls to make, so much evidence and supporting doco to accumulate, so many forms to fill out and people to call.
There are so many things I want to do now that I’m back home. Play in band again, rollerblade (maybe even play some inline hockey!), go running with the girls, write my novel, cook, keep up with my German (got to find someone to practice with), do some contracting for work, and finally finish two websites which have been on my plate for close to a year now, and that I haven’t finished! There are simply not enough nights in the week. Nor hours in the day, for that matter.