Tag: Being a Mum

That’s a Wrap!

Renee BartonLeave a comment

Today Jesse and I did our final Kangatraining class for 2016. 

We had such a fun last class with all the mums and bubs getting into the Christmas spirit. 

It’s hard to believe it’s almost been a full year since we travelled to Melbourne to do the instructor course. I didn’t really know what to expect; starting my own traditional business, being a ‘fitness instructor’ and juggling that with being a new mum. But I knew how much I loved Kanga and hoped I could bring that joy and sense of community to other mums. 

Well, my expectations have been truly surpassed. I’ve been so privledged to get to know some wonderful women and I have seen them support, encourage and befriend each other. 

I am the first to admit I was so turned off by the ‘mum club’ before and during my pregnancy with Jesse. I just saw so much bitchiness, competiveness and judgement amongst mums that I didn’t want any part of it. 

Thankfully, my personal experience has been much different to that. In a Kanga room there is zero judgement or shaming. Just tonnes of laughter, understanding, sweat and friendship. Totally refreshing!

But now it’s time for a few weeks off while we celebrate Christmas, spend time with our families and, in my case, grow another Kanga joey. 

So until next year….

Our little Christmas Reindeer

Kaine BartonLeave a comment

So Christmas in the Barton household has officially started! That’s right, the silly season is finally upon us and it’s time the Barton’s got on board!

So yesterday, we kicked off the Christmas season by putting up our Christmas tree, and then heading off to North Lakes for their Christmas Markets and Christmas Carols!

And didn’t Jesse have a great time!

He loved helping to put the Christmas tree up. And by helping I mean he loved pulling the baubles off the tree almost as quickly as we were putting them on. He also liked sucking the glitter off the silver baubles.

And when he wasn’t “helping” with the tree and decorations, he was just being a general pest and pain in the arse. He seemed to be enjoying it though, so we didn’t complain too much.


After the tree went up, it was off to North Lakes for their Christmas markets and carols. And that’s where Jesse really enjoyed himself.

He got his first taste of playing in a petting zoo, which he absolutely LOVED!!! He loves animals and loves petting them, much to our cats disgust because she is the devil and doesn’t like anyone or anything!

But to see him running around the petting zoo chasing the baby animals was the cutest thing ever!


After that, he was stoked to just be able to walk around the markets checking everything out. Every now and again you’d hear a squeal of joy come from him as he tore around the markets, fascinated by all the people, lights and music.

We even stumbled across a Reindeer with a hole that you could stick your face in. He loved that, and kept wanting me to pick him up so he could look through the hole at mummy!

He certainly was our cute little Christmas Reindeer!


And with all the excitement of the day, he fell asleep early so that mummy and daddy could have a relaxing Sunday night with dinner and a movie.

It was the perfect way to kick off this Christmas with our perfect little boy!

The Big Christmas Lie

Kaine BartonLeave a comment

Okay… political correctness is officially off the charts! Seriously, what are we as a society coming to? There has been many things that have been bugging me recently… and all signs are pointing to Australia becoming a PC state!

But the straw that broke the camels back for me, was this article titled Academics argue parents are damaging their kids by lying to them about Santa.

I mean come on… REALLY!!!

Apparently, parents who tell their children that Santa is real are participating in a damaging “collective lie on a global scale”, according to an article penned by two Australian academics.

So it would appear that two University of New England social scientists, Kathy McKay and Christopher Boyle, argue that lying is wrong and makes it difficult for children to trust their parents.

The article goes on further to quote these two “social scientists”, who state:
“Is the world so bad that we decide that it is better to spend around 10 years lying to children about a large jolly man who gives presents to all children with the help of mythical creatures, because it makes for more enjoyment at Christmas?

“Why should children question the parent who tells them to be careful touching a hot stove or crossing the road, when they tell them about a jolly man who apparently bends time and space to deliver presents to every child in the world at Christmas?

“If they are capable of lying about something so special and magical, can they be relied upon to continue as the guardians of wisdom and truth?”

Wow… really… GET F***ED!!!

That’s what I say to that. Seriously, it’s bloody Christmas. Can’t parents just have a normal Christmas with their family without being made to feel like they’re doing something wrong because the kids believe in Santa!

The world is already turning too politically correct as it is without making parents feel bad that they give kids the enjoyment of opening presents from Santa at Christmas.

We’ve already got enough people trying to challenge Christmas because of religious sensitives… we’ve got suburbs in Perth changing the date of Australia Day because of cultural sensitivities… and we’ve got companies changing the packaging of Easter Eggs to remove the word Easter, again for religious sensitivies…

I mean come on, don’t we live in a free country? Don’t people learn the whole concept of, if you don’t like it, then just move on anymore?

If you don’t like Christmas… then don’t participate. If you don’t like Australia Day… then don’t participate. If you don’t like Easter… then don’t participate. It’s not that hard. Stop ruining it for the rest of us.

Just let us have our fun on these national holidays.

And let us families with kids have the fun we deserve at Christmas without making us feel bad with bullshit reports about how lying to our kids about Santa is damaging them for life.

On that note, I’m off to make a list of presents for Jesse to be wrapped and put under the Christmas Tree from Santa!

Today I Cried

Renee BartonLeave a comment

Parenthood is so wonderfully delicious. But sometimes it can be really bloody hard.

There have been some tough times in our house over the past couple of weeks. Jesse just wasn’t himself much of the time and we were all feeling burned out.

Thankfully, after the appearance of two lovely little molars and some much needed R&R for Mummy and Daddy, things seem to be getting back to normal.

But those hard bits inspired this…

Today I cried. And so did you.

I cried because I didn’t know what was wrong with you, my love. Because I couldn’t take away your pain or even know where it hurt. 

I cried because nothing I tried seemed to soothe you. 

I cried because for the first time I wanted, needed some time away from you. 

I cried because the flutter in my belly reminded me there will soon be another and I worried how I will cope in times like this with two. 

Today I cried.

I cried because when you felt better you smiled and laughed and played. 

I cried because you cuddled me tight and my heart lightened. 

I cried because the flutter in my belly reminded me there will soon be another. Bliss!

I cried. And I smiled. 


My worst day to date as a parent?

Kaine BartonLeave a comment

Let’s talk about Saturday.

A day that will go down in our short stint as new parents, as probably one of the hardest days we’ve had to deal with.

To be honest with you, it was probably the first time since Jesse was born where I genuinely 100% questioned if I could do this, if this parenting gig was just all too hard and whether I should just quit and leave.

The day started out ordinary enough. Jesse woke up happy as he normally does. We got ready for gym. We dropped Jesse off at Nanny and Poppy’s on the way to gym. And then…

Well, then the drama starts… It was like we had picked up a completely different child to the one we had dropped off earlier that morning.

And for the rest of that morning, we had a very, very, very cranky boy. We just couldn’t work out what was wrong!!!

There was uncontrollably crying. There was a bloody nose (the result of a lot of nose wiping due to his runny nose and the fact that he had accidentally scratched himself around his nostril). There was grazed knees from when he fell over earlier in the day. There was writhing in pain. There was arching his back and kicking away from us as we tried to hold and comfort him. There was teething pain symptoms.

For some reason, it all just seemed to explode all at the one time… And it all just became a little too much.

With everything that was happening with Jesse, Renee and I then started arguing and yelling at each other which, given the circumstances, wasn’t helping the situation.

So with everything that had happened and everything that was still happening, I got changed into some yard clothes and left the house. Now I didn’t leave altogether, I just left the house because I knew I wasn’t helping the situation.

So I grabbed the weed killer and lawn feed, headed outside and started working on the lawn.

By the time I was finished and came back inside, Jesse was sound asleep, and the house was quiet again.

I just hoped to god that when he woke up, he was going to be back to his happy self again. And what do you know, when he woke, he was indeed back to his happy self. It was like the morning had never happened. But both Renee and I knew it had happened. And we were both bearing scars as a result!

Was it my worst day to date as a parent? Probably! But you know what, us as a human race have the great ability to learn from our past experiences. So I feel that because I’ve now experienced a day like I did on Saturday, that I will be able to approach the situation better the next time round.

But hey, let’s keep our fingers crossed that there won’t be a next time and that it will all be smooth sailing from here.

…Keep dreaming Kaine. Keep dreaming…

Irritating Things Dad’s Do Through The Night

Renee BartonLeave a comment

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.