You gotta mo it

I've been making cupcakes. Some for my mums' group, some for my friend Hannah (also my sometime-beautician) and some for Partner so he could take them to office for Movember. That's November with a mo. Partner took 22 cupcakes and earned AUD $40 from them. The money went to charity, for spreading awareness about prostate cancer. That's the idea behind Movember, when men grow a moustache in November. You can read all about it here. And you should. Because I know three men, very dear to me, who've had it. One man is in his 80s and two in their 60s. It's horrible, it's the second greatest cause of cancer deaths in men and it can get any man above the age of 50 (above 40 if there's family history). I've asked my dad to go for a check-up, you ask yours.

Partner also grew a moustache through November and despite the good cause it was for, thankfully he's shaved it off. No, no, I think he looks hot with a mo, just that I think he looks hotter without one. ;) Here's Partner, or rather his chin with the mo. That's Partner's grrrrrrrrrrrowl-baby look, it often leaves me speechless. Please don't say bad things about it. :P

Controlled crying?

Controlled crying: behaviour management strategy often employed by babies whereby they control their parents by timely (and sometimes untimely) crying. Anyone who tells you that 'controlled crying' is a way of blablablah is bullshitting.

Mia, 4-months-2-weeks-old has developed this habit of sleeping "at the boob". Or rather at the teat since I bottle-feed her. In other words, she will feed right till the moment she falls asleep. There was perhaps one week when I managed to put her in the cot and pat her to sleep. I think that was only because she was deciding if she liked it. Along with sleeping at the teat, Mia will only go to sleep if it's me putting her to bed. Each time Partner has tried, I've come back to find her wide-awake and staring at him, while he has nodded off. When asked what-does-he-think-he's-doing, Partner has said, "But honestly, she makes me sleepy!" (?) So it's always me. Mostly I don't mind, but sometimes it sucks. 'It' being the situation and not the baby.

Awesomeness of carrot cake

I never really warmed to the carrot-eating Brer Rabbit. But I do remember Pankaj Kapoor munching a carrot and solving cases in the serial Karamchand. "Lily, don't be silly" was one of the most-memorable catch-phrases for a long time. Perhaps the memory is so vivid because choice was limited, Doordarshan was the only television channel in India in the 1980s. Or perhaps because I was a kid and enthralled by TV. Or maybe because the programmes were more interesting back then. It beats me how despite the choice we have today -- 1400 channels, three remote controls, Internet tv etc. -- there are days when there's absolutelybloodynothing to watch.

No work, no pay

I can't find my glasses. It's the most irritating thing I do to myself. How myopic does one have to be to misplace glasses that one needs to wear constantly? And I do it everybloodyday. Now I remember taking them off before cuddling Mia --  learnt my lesson when I nearly took her right eye out -- but I can't recall where I've placed them. There are days when I can find them pretty quickly, often lying under the doona^ or hiding under diapers. But sometimes I just need to wait for them to turn up. Just the other day for instance. I started searching (at 8am), failed, gave up and then when I was picking washing off the line (around 4pm), I found them sitting in my rosemary pot. Why? How?
^Aussie for duvet, another word that I need to use to be understood here, more on that some other day

Hello, vagina?

Will my real vagina please stand up? The visual that could go with that phrase is quite alarming. It would be apt though, the situation is quite alarming. Exactly four-months-and-a-week (today) since delivering Mia, it's like I have a stranger down there. A scary, intimidating stranger. Had I been warned that my relationship with V would drastically change after having a baby, I would've done something about it. Perhaps I'd have spend more time with her. Now it's too late.