Photo Friday: 30 week photo shoot

Kaine BartonLeave a comment

Last weekend, we had the distinct pleasure of again meeting up with the very talented Renee Trubai for a 30 week pregnancy and family photo session.

It was one of the hottest days of the current heat wave we are experiencing, and we travelled all the way to the other side of town, but it was well worth it.

We feel extremely lucky to know Renee. She is a wonderful photographer specialising in lifestyle, family and maternity shoots. And after working with her on a number of occasions already, there is simply no one else we would trust taking our photographs.

And despite it being such a hot and humid day, and the fact that Jesse didn’t really want to stay still enough to take any substantial number of photos, it still turned out to be a great day… and we still ended up with some amazing photos!!!

Thanks again Renee… you truly are an amazing photographer!

What I’ve learnt from Peppa Pig

Kaine Barton1 Comment

Let’s talk about Peppa Pig…

Yes. That’s right, this whole post is dedicated to the one and only… Peppa Pig. That infuriatingly frustrating children’s program that you just can’t seem to get away from once you have kids!

Well it would seem that, as we may have mentioned before, Jesse is a big fan of good old Peppa and George Pig. So much so that sometimes, it’s the only thing that will settle him down when he’s in a bad state with teething pain or if he’s sick or if he’s cranky. Now before the ‘Parenting Police’ come marching out of the woodwork and start chastising us for allowing our toddler to have screen time… I would like to say that we are aware of the negative impacts screen time can have on children under two, we do feel bad that he has screen time, we do however monitor his screen time, and that at the end of the day screen time is just part of modern day parenting.

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That all said, he loves Peppa Pig… Sassy attitude and all. And with the amount of Peppa Pig we have consumed as a result of being parents, there are a few things that I have learnt along the way. Now, don’t take this as a be all and end all list… these are just a few of the observations I’ve made and/or things I’ve learnt along the way…

  1. When you are a part of a group of people, whether it be large or small, when you start to laugh at something, everyone MUST fall onto their backs or else you’re not laughing properly! It’s true… In fact, according to Peppa Pig, it is physically impossible not to fall on your back when you start laughing with your friends or family!
  2. A yoyo is the best toy in the whole world and is something to get extremely excited about. Forget big expensive toys and video games fellow parents, just buy your kids a yoyo. Because if Peppa is to be judged, based off of her excitement level at receiving a yoyo for Christmas, there is simply nothing else in the world that can top it!
  3. Every damn time you see, hear or say dinosaur, you have to say it exactly the same as George Pig, complete with the “GRRRR” at the end!
  4. Peppa Pig is the sassiest pig I’ve ever seen and has no issues ordering around anyone and everyone. That said, Suzy Sheep also has a fair bit of sass. And when those two get together, oh boy, it’s like a sass fest!!!
  5. That spiders are friends and are nothing to be afraid of. Obviously, Peppa Pig and family haven’t been to Australia and encountered the big, deadly f*** off spiders that we have on offer. Even Hunstmans are terrifying!
  6. That everyone must have alliterated names! Suzy Sheep. Emily Elephant. Peppa Pig. Candy Cat. That is, unless your name is George. Just don’t worry about it if your name is George… it’s all good in the hood!
  7. That despite veterinarians best advice, it’s okay for any animal, including Danny Dog, to eat chocolate cake!
  8. Rabbits are job hogs and have probably caused unemployment rates to rise by 80%! Why doesn’t Miss Rabbit just give up a few of her jobs? Why does she work so many jobs? Does she have a drug habit she’s trying to support? Is she secretly an alcoholic because of the long hours she works? What happens when she has customers at different jobs at the same time?
  9. That I’ve probably seen every episode at least twice and that I could probably win a Peppa Pig trivia night.
  10. And that regardless of who or what you are, everybody enjoys jumping up and down in muddy puddles!

So, my fellow parents… what about you? What children’s shows are your kids addicted to? What shows have you seen so many times that the images have been permanently burned onto your retina?

What shows do you absolutely 100% despise, but will find yourself sitting there and watching with your kids and secretly enjoying it.

And with that, I will say goodbye… because I’m off to watch some more Peppa Pig!

Photo Friday: Beating the heat 

Renee BartonLeave a comment

It seems we are on the grip of a month-long heat wave here in Brisbane. It is unrelenting! And at 30 weeks pregnant I have no qualms when it comes to complaining about it. 

Our Tuesday Kanga class is held at an aquatic centre so after class this week, Jesse and I headed out for a swim to cool down. 

I honestly don’t know who enjoyed it more. It was so great to feel cool and weightless in the water. 

We played and cuddled in the water for over an hour and it was heavenly. 

This Time Around: A dads perspective

Kaine BartonLeave a comment

Back in October 2016, Renee wrote a post about her second pregnancy called ‘This Time Around‘. It was about how things were different between her first pregnancy, and this one.

I loved the post! But it got me thinking… how are things different this time around for me? What’s different? What’s not different?

Well, the big difference to kick things off this time around, was that Renee completely surprised me with the news that we are expecting again. Great surprise! Loved finding out the way that I did. But now that the initial surprise has come and gone, we really have just gone back to business as usual why we wait for the due date to roll around.

And with that, I don’t mean to downplay this pregnancy, I just mean that this time around, we both seem to be taking a more relaxed attitude toward the whole thing.

With the first pregnancy, like I’m sure it is for most newly pregnant couples, it was new water we were wading out into. There was an excitement and uncertainty there that just flows through you for the duration of the pregnancy. It’s a new experience! And an experience like nothing you’ve ever had before!


So when it comes to your second pregnancy, there isn’t that air of uncertainty that follows you around. You’ve been through it all before. You kind of just know (to a certain extent) how things are going to play out don’t you?

So am I more relaxed this time around? Absolutely I am!

Am I not as excited this time around? Absolutely not!

While it would seem that I am, this time around, taking a more relaxed attitude, it absolutely, positively does not mean that I’m not as excited as I was the first time around.

I still get butterflies when I think about how quickly the due date is approaching. I still get excited when Renee and I talk about possible names for Baby Barton #2. I still love that feeling you get when you see your wife glowing in pregnancy and as her belly grows and grows. I still get excited when planning out and constructing the new nursery that will eventually sleep Baby Barton #2. I still get the warm and fuzzies when I’m out shopping and I stumble across the baby section with all the incredibly cute clothes you can buy. And what I am most excited about, is finding out whether Baby Barton #2 is going to be a boy or a girl!

I am just feeling all those feelings with a more relaxed attitude!

I also think, that because both Renee and I have taken a more relaxed approach this time around, that it has helped Renee tremendously to cope with this pregnancy. Not that it’s been a difficult pregnancy… Well, what I mean is that on all accounts that it’s been a pretty normal pregnancy… Ok, I’ll stop digging the hole. I’ll probably get in trouble for this later…

But at the end of the day… I think it has all helped!

It does get me thinking though, with the massive difference in our approach to this pregnancy compared to our first, what’s it going to be like if we do end up having a third child? Will we even bother doing anything special for that pregnancy? I mean, once you get to your third the novelty has well and truly worn off right? Both during the pregnancy and after it? You just don’t care as much right?

Oh yea, and a big hello to the third born in both our families, Jesamine and Lia…

Footage Friday: Jesse’s Big Boy Bedroom

Kaine BartonLeave a comment

So… it is getting closer and closer… and closer and closer… to the due date of Baby Barton #2.

Time is absolutely flying by at such a rapid pace that I feel like we only found out we were pregnant just the other day.

And as time ticks by, there is one thing that we have been meaning to do. And that is, to create a proper Big Boy Bedroom for Jesse.

Because the room he was using still looked and felt like a nursery, we figured the easiest option for us would be to turn the spare room into Jesse’s Big Boy Bedroom, and move him into there, rather than converting the nursery and having to shift two lots of furniture.

And so that brings us to Sunday, 27 January 2017. The day we finally committed to creating his bedroom… and wow, did it turn out great!!!

We are so happy with it. In fact, I’m a little jealous… I wish we had stuff like this for our bedrooms when I was a kid!!!

But we did… We finally bit the bullet, went to Ikea and Kmart, stocked up on flat packs and the necessary trimmings, and created what is now, Jesse’s Big Boy Bedroom.

I think it turned out pretty good too… If I don’t say so myself!

Preparing for my second labour

Renee BartonLeave a comment

It is quite common for mum’s who have had a traumatic birth experience or one that didn’t go according to plan to be anxious about their subsequent labours.

I’m having the opposite dilemma. My first labour giving birth to Jesse was everything I could have hoped for and now I’m freaking out that the second time round won’t go as smoothly or live up to how I remember the first time. Ridiculous I know.

My first labour was relatively quick with about five and a half hours of active labour. I had very little intervention (my waters were broken at 4cm and I had to wear a heart rate monitor on my belly the whole time but that’s it). I managed to avoid any pain relief (I thought I was using the gas towards the end but turns out it was too late for that and the midwife only allowed oxygen to come through!). I was able to be mobile and use active labour positions like squatting and all fours throughout. And I didn’t tear! This was a huge fear of mine after 31 years of mum regaling me with the delightful tale of my birth.

The worst part (oh besides squeezing out a 2.7kg human from my vagina!) was the agonising back labour. That searing pain in my lower back with each contraction became almost unbearable. Here’s hoping I don’t get that again!

So now I’m preparing to labour for the second time and I’m praying I can do it all again as close to my birth plan as possible.

I’m drinking the raspberry leaf tea again, listening to my hypno-birthing meditations and affirmations and have just started prenatal yoga. Does any of it work? I don’t know.  But I did it last time so I’m doing it again!


I’m keeping as active as possible and viewing every activity as birth preparation. Simply walking is proving challenging at times but between Kangatraining, yoga and weight training I’m doing ok. This makes me sound like a bit of a fitness freak which I’m most definitely not. Because I’m also eating ALL THE FOOD!

So tell me your tips. How did you prepare for birth? Or did you find just winging it and trusting your body was the best option?

With roughly 10 weeks to go it is all getting very real. This threesome will soon be four.

Where have all my friends gone?

Kaine BartonLeave a comment

Let’s talk about friends for a minute.

Like most people would, I had a large group of friends when I was in school. We would sit in the covered area in front of the computer block every lunch. We would talk about video games, movies, computers… and other things that young teenage boys would talk about. We played ‘handball’ and ‘wallball’. Let’s just say that you would have probably called us the group of nerds. We were always hanging out at each other’s houses and we were always getting up to mischief.

But then, you graduate from High School and everything changes.

Again, like most people, you start to grow apart. Your lives start heading in different directions. It’s just what happens. People will always come in and out of your life. It’s a part of growing up. But what I have come to realise is… that it is a lot harder to make friends as an adult.

Making friends when you’re a kid is easy! You go up to someone, you both say hi, and boom… you’re best friends! But as an adult, it’s not quite that easy. And the older I get, the more that I realise that I have fewer and fewer people that I would consider to be close friends.

That large group of friends that I had in school… the guys that I thought would be my brothers forever… the guys I thought were my best friends… well, I very rarely see any of them these days. It’s not that I don’t like them… and I’m sure it’s not that they don’t like me (although I haven’t checked this fact… lol…). It’s simply that we all grew apart. Our lives went in different directions. We had different paths to follow.

I would say that on average, we (as a group) probably all catch up once every couple of years. And you know what, that’s just fine.

But when we were talking about school and school friends at work the other day, it quickly came to me attention about how very few close friends I have. Am I lonely? Is there a reason I don’t have many close friends? Why don’t I see my friends more often?

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In fact, for a long time there, my closest “friends” were probably my brother and his wife. We were always hanging out. We would see them every weekend whether it was for dinner… drinks… a movie… or even just to shoot the shit! But now, I don’t even see them very often.

I think the biggest problem that I (and maybe even society as a whole) has when it comes to making or keeping close friends, is that everyone is so damn busy all the time. My brother and his wife now have two kids. We are about to have our second child. Other friends that have come and gone have ended up with their own families and interests. And everyone has their own work that they need to do, whether that be in the form of a career or otherwise.

So am I lonely? No. While I don’t have many close friends, I’m certainly not lonely. Especially when I have such an amazing wife and the cutest little toddler to keep me entertained when I get home.

Is there a reason I don’t have many close friends? Sure. But there nothing sinister behind this. Like I said, people come and people go.

What next? Well, I think it’s now about keeping those relationships I have with the friends I do have alive. It’s about staying connected. It’s about working on the relationships I have. It’s about being there for those people every damn day regardless of how busy I get!

Regardless of the type of relationship it is, relationships take work. And I don’t want to be looking around when I’m 40 thinking, why don’t I have anyone?

Friends are important… Make sure you treat them that way!

Photo Friday: Summer Love

Kaine BartonLeave a comment

Summer in Queensland is hot. Very hot. So whenever you get the chance to swim in a pool, you take it!

And that’s exactly what we did yesterday.

It was a such a nice and relaxing day by the pool with some good company, good food, and good laughs.

Exactly how summer should be spent in Queensland.

Oh yea, and we also have the worlds youngest beer pong player on our hands. Because once we cracked out the cups and table tennis balls, all Jesse wanted to do was play too.

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Lulla, save our sleep!

Renee BartonLeave a comment

Honestly, waking up through the night to tend to my baby hasn’t really bothered me that much. Obviously it’s been hard at times… really hard. But I’ve tried not to obsess over it despite everyone you come into contact with seeming to associate a ‘good’ baby with one that sleeps well. I just figured all babies are different and ours would eventually stop night waking in his own time.

After 19 months night waking has just become part of my life. Only now it’s once a night instead of every two hours, and usually all I have to do is prepare a bottle for Jesse to feed to himself while I go back to bed. That seems totally dreamy to me given that for a very long time I was probably spending more time awake than asleep through the night. Especially during the 10 months I was breastfeeding.

The topic of ‘sleeping through’ has often come up, usually Kaine saying “This is ridiculous, shouldn’t he be sleeping through the night by now?” This coming from the person who, 9 times out of 10, hears nothing!

I think the first time Jesse ‘slept through’ he was about 14 months. It has been becoming more of a regular occurrence recently, perhaps once a week. But, with the stark realisation that I will very soon be returning to those sleepless nights once again, it would be great to have one child sleeping continuously.

In comes the Lulla Doll. I have been intrigued by the Lulla Doll for some time now and wondered if it would help. Jesse has never been attached to a blanket or soft toy (despite me trying to force these things!) for comfort and self settling but I figured it was worth a shot.

If he hated it or if we were too late on the band wagon, at least number two might benefit from it.

Lulla has now been in our house for almost two weeks. On night one I took Jesse into his room, gave him his bottle and handed him Lulla; his first time hearing the heavy breathing and heartbeat. He protested and promptly handed it back to me. I tried again and Lulla was thrown on the floor.

Night two was very similar but by night three he was happy to have Lulla lie next to him. It seemed it was taking him less time to fall asleep but he still woke up once each night for a bottle.

On night four he actually gave Lulla a cuddle and slept through until 5am with no waking.  Following that night, he has now slept through every night since except maybe one or two.

While we can’t be sure if Lulla is actually helping, I’m very happy that sleep through’s are becoming more frequent. Even if Jesse has been waking super early.

We’ve had a two week heat wave here in Brisbane with temperatures reaching 30 degrees by early morning, so I’m not surprised he’s up early.

Would I recommend it to others? Sure. Lulla is definitely worth a shot for any sleep deprived family. Though no sleep aid will ever take the place of a cuddle with mummy or daddy, we all need a break sometime.