Author: Renee Barton

Photo Friday: Celebrating a Decade of Marriage

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Today marks quite a significant milestone for us. It is 10 years ago today that we started our married life together.

To celebrate we are spending an entire day and night together, just us. Tonight we will spend the night in the same hotel we stayed at on our wedding night. I must admit, as much as I’m excited about our plans for today, I’m also very excited about a solid night sleep!

But to mark the occasion we thought we’d take a little trip down memory lane and share some photos from our adventures over the last 10 years.

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One thing is for sure. We have definitely got thinner, more attractive and better hair cuts (Kaine!) over the years!

This Time Around

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I just knew.

I couldn’t exactly put my finger on it, but I just had a feeling. So when the first couple of pregnancy tests came back negative I wasn’t bothered. A far cry from how I felt when I would get a negative test when trying the first time. I sensed that Kaine was feeling pretty confident this month too.

We had decided back in January that we wanted to get straight into trying for another baby. Jesse was 7 months old. It seemed a tad crazy but we had to be prepared that it might take a while again. Plus we knew that chances were slim straight away anyway because I was still breastfeeding and my cycle hadn’t yet returned.

Over the next few months we weaned and four cycles later I couldn’t shake the feeling that we had been successful. I took another test and a beautiful yet faint second pink line confirmed my suspicions. It only took four months… I swallowed hard at the realisation that I was now that woman that long term TTC’ers want to throat punch. I know all too well how that feels.

I couldn’t wait to surprise Kaine with the news, and I had a plan to do so the following day. So when he asked me if I had got my period yet, I lied. I could sense his disappointment which only fed my excitement to tell him.

Thankfully, it all went to plan and I surprised him with the news that Jesse was going to be a big brother.

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One of many outtakes from our ‘Pregnancy Announcement Shoot’

Fast forward a bit over a week, I went to the doctor who confirmed the test result and I went for a dating scan. I left the scan feeling confident. There was a gestational sac, its not Ectopic, however, it is early days and there is not yet a foetal pole to measure. I’m told its normal for this early and to come back in about two weeks.

But the doubt starts to creep in. My mind races with questions. Is there no baby in there because there isn’t one? Suddenly I’m protective with the news. I was so excited to tell our immediate families but now, I’m not so sure. We keep it our little secret for a bit longer.

Fast forward a couple of months and the secret is out. All is going well, and now that I’m not feeling like crap all the time, the excitement is starting to kick back in.

This time around I think I’m both more excited, and more terrified. Excited because I know how wonderful having a baby and being a mum is, but terrified because I know how hard it is.

We could not be happier though. No doubt these next six months will fly by, but we will take joy in our time as a family of three while we wait for Baby Barton #2 to join us.

Irritating Things Dad’s Do Through The Night

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I don’t know if it’s the same in other households but way back in the beginning of this whole parenting thing we agreed that I would be the main bearer of the night shift in our house.

And I’m really fine with it. Kaine gets up early to go to work through the week and my job is to satisfy the whims of our precious little one (who is now not so little at 16 months!).

However, that doesn’t mean I’m not driven crazy from time to time with the night antics that occur in our house.

With a child that has only slept through the night a handful of times, I am up at least once if not more every night. And there are definitely some things that Kaine does through the night that irritates me to no end.

Here’s a few irritating things dad’s do throughout the night. Or maybe it’s just my husband…

1. Sleeps. Yup, there is nothing more irritating than waking up for the third time in as many hours to feed or soothe a bub while husband sleeps soundly and blissfully unaware.

2. The passive-aggressive rollover. This manoeuvre is designed to let you know you’ve disturbed his sleep but he’s not actually willing to wake and offer help. There’s just a very loud sigh from his side of the bed followed by an angry rollover and tug on the doona.

3. States the bloody obvious. When the teething toddler is screaming blue murder in the middle of the night and no amount of pats on the bottom or cuddles can fix it, Mum begins to administer pain relief (which could only be made easier by putting the child in a straight jacket) when dad comes out in his undies, rubbing his eyes and says “why don’t you just give him some nurofen already”? If looks could kill….

4. Pretends to be asleep even when it’s the weekend. It wouldn’t be too much to expect that dad might handle the early morning bottle on a weekend right? Wrong! I’ll get up again shall I??? Oh, do you want me to get him he says knowing that you’re already half way out of the bed.

5. Complains about being tired. Um, excuse me? You don’t know the meaning of the word!

Like I said… It might be just my husband who does these things. But geez, on a really bad night I do admit to wanting to stab him in the (shut) eye with a fork!

And god help me, if he comes out in his undies at 2am in the morning again, directing me to give Jesse nurofen after another terrible night of trying to settle him and get him back to sleep, I may be driven to cut off what got us into this situation in the first place!

Okay, that could just be the sleep deprivation talking.

Or is it?

I love you, darling.

Footage Friday: Our Baby Is Broken

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Who broke the baby?

Watching Jesse play when he’s in his own little world is so cute and often hilarious.

The other afternoon as I was watching him play he just kept lying down on the floor, taking a lot of care to make sure he didn’t bump is head. Getting up and doing it again. All the while having a little chat to himself.

It was so adorably funny that I just had to grab my phone and record it.

Sunday Not-So-Fun Day

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Here’s a question. Why do they make toddler shoes so f%#*ing hard to put on?!!

Allow me to set the scene for you. 

It’s a rainy Sunday afternoon and we have a 1st birthday party to go to. We are already running late. Jesse is grumpy because he woke up too soon from what is usually a two hour nap. Kaine is just now deciding to make his lunch when it’s time to go. And I’m feeling just generally pissed off. I hate every item of clothing in my wardrobe and my hair looks like shit due to crappy, rainy weather. 

Needless to say tensions were running pretty high already. 

And then it was time to put Jesse’s shoes on. Now that he’s walking we need to put shoes on him more often and I thought, given the weather, his cute little work boots that he hasnt worn yet would be perfect. 

I checked the size against his foot and am satisfied that they will be a perfect fit for him now as previously they have been too big. 

I sat him on my lap and began squishing his foot into the first boot. After a bit of a struggle, pushing, pulling and wriggling I finally managed to get it on. I exhaled with relief and exhaustion. But it was short lived as I picked up the next one, took a deep breath and prepared to do it all again for the other foot. 

After a few minutes of more pushing and pulling I was still no closer to getting the bastard shoe on. I expressed my frustration with a few expletives and Kaine came to my rescue. 

Well, he has even less patience than I do and soon things are getting very heated. I wouldn’t have wanted to be that shoe that is for sure. Beads of sweat are gathering on his brow as he forcefully tries to squeeze Jesse’s foot into the boot. 

And then Kaine slams said shoe onto the bench, rips off the other one and throws them both down the hallway and into Jesse’s room.


Meanwhile, this whole time Jesse has been relatively accommodating and wondering what all the fuss is about. 

We throw some slip on shoes into his bag and pile into the car, both still fuming. 

It would have been absolutely hilarious to witness all of this going on. So any flies on our walls, we hope you enjoyed the show. 

But here’s a neat idea for a business. Design some kids shoes that you can actually get on the kids feet!

Photo Friday: Fun at the Park

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Last weekend Daddy and Jesse headed to the park for a play in the sunshine.

His favourite is the swing followed closely by the slide.

We are very lucky to have a little park just a few minutes away as Jesse loves being outdoors. It’s especially fun now that he walks confidently by himself.

He is becoming a real little dude lately. Cheeky, playful and ‘grown up’.

Disaster Chef

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I’m a big fan of food. But cooking, not so much. I don’t enjoy it, I’m generally not very good at it and it’s just not my thing (although I do have an award-winning spaghetti in my repertoire).

But I found myself with some overripe bananas today and decided to ‘whip up’ a banana bread. Normally, I would just pop them in the freezer with the intention that I will (eventually, maybe) make banana bread one day. But, given my freezer is already overflowing with said bananas, I decided to actually do it this time.

A homemade banana bread. Seems easy enough right?

I dig out the dry ingredients from the cupboard. Hmmm… Not sure how old this flour is. It’s not moving so must be fine. It’s gonna be sifted anyway. In it goes.

Crap. Recipe calls for brown sugar and I’ve started measuring out my raw sugar. It’s brown…ish. Google seems to think they can be substituted so I go with it. Okay, going well so far. Time for the wet ingredients.

I create the well as instructed and proceed to pour in the milk, eggs etc. Crap! I missed the bit where I was supposed to mix all the wet ingredients and bananas together before combining with dry ingredients.

Oh well, it all ends up in there together eventually. It will be fine.

Melted butter. Crap! I don’t have butter. Just some sort of margarine imposter spread. I really should read the recipe better! In it goes.

Now all that’s left to do is to hope my dodgy oven doesn’t burn it to smithereens.

Oh dear. Looks like disaster chef strikes again. Normally I would throw it out and hide all evidence of my failed endeavour but it’s just too hilarious not to share.

Surprisingly, it doesn’t taste too bad. Just looks ugly AF.

So now I’m left with really ugly food and a sink full of dirty dishes. And I’m reminded why I don’t cook!

Reclaiming Our Bed

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Something incredibly sweet has occurred in our house this week. Jesse has once again started sleeping in his own room. Hallelujah! I can now have the light on when putting on my pyjamas, read a book before bed and actually sleep in the position of my choosing without fear of waking him up.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for co-sleeping. In fact, I really love it. There is nothing, sweeter than cuddling up next to my small person at bed time. However, not so sweet is him deciding that my face is a comfortable pillow or getting kicked in the guts at 1am!

Co-sleeping with him as a newborn just worked for us. It was the only way to ensure anyone got any sleep and, when breastfeeding every couple of hours, it just made sense. But I was that woman who insisted I would not co-sleep with a toddler. Our bed was for us, husband and wife. The children would be welcome in the morning for snuggles but were not to sleep with us in our bed all night.

Yeah right!

We moved Jesse into his cot in his own room at about 3 months old because I needed some space and because we thought it was what we were meant to do. It went okay for a while but then teething started and suddenly he developed a severe allergy to sleeping in his cot. It’s like he had a sixth sense and knew he was in his cot as soon as you had put him down in it. No matter how dead asleep he was prior, he would stand up and immediately start crying as if you’d just lay him on a bed of nails. And don’t even consider putting him in there to put him self to sleep. No form of sleep training or pick up, put down methods would work on a kid this stubborn!

So back into our bed it was and that’s how we’ve done it for the last 8 or so months. It worked for us. We all got sleep and we enjoyed being together.

But recently I just felt like Jesse was ready to sleep on his own. And I was ready for it too. So we converted his cot into a toddler bed and decided to give it a whirl. We started with day naps (yes, he would have these in our bed too!) and for a whole week he slept like a champ. So then, with a little hesitation from Kaine, we attempted his first night sleep in his ‘big boy’ bed. It was a little bit sad but incredibly liberating at the same time. And it went brilliantly, he was in his bed from 7.30pm to 6.30am with a couple of little wake ups in between. Success!

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I was totally expecting it to be a gradual process but here we are coming up to night 4 and it has been a breeze.

Next step, getting him to sleep through the night… hmmm…

Guess I’ll take what I can get for now.