Wombat Girl is a teenager!

A belated update on a girl's 13th birthday!

Happy birthday Wombat Girl - my lovely teenage girl!

Stop this train...

Stop this train I want to get off and go home again

I can't take the speed it's moving in

I know I can't

But honestly, won't someone stop this train?

My "baby" girl turns 13 tomorrow...how can it be possible that I am the mother of two teenagers?? Didn't I just finish being a teenager myself, only a couple of years back?

Birthdays, New Years Eve's...these are the milestone events that make us stop and reflect. And right now I'm reflecting that although I have two children, they aren't "children" any more.

In the blink of an eye, you go from this:

...to this:

So scared of getting older

I'm only good at being young

So I play the numbers game

To find a way to say that life has just begun

I remember when they were really little babies, I wanted time to stop. It felt as if every week they were growing and changing and I couldn't keep up and didn't want them to get bigger. And sadly, back in their babyhood, there were no digital cameras or smart phones to snap every little moment (OMG - I would have Instagrammed those babies like there was no tomorrow!!!).

I could look back at old those baby photos I do have, and maybe feel a twinge of regret, of sadness, of longing for that baby smell, when they loved you unconditionally and relied on you for everything.

This growing up gig, it's tough (for them and us)! Lessons to be learned, skills to be mastered, life to be lived, and just when you think you've got it figured out, they go and change and get different on you.

And if we're really lucky, we get to see it all, be part of it all, and help them on their way to being separate from us and be proud of the adults they are becoming.

Because if there is one thing that I never take for granted, it is that I have these children in my life, they are here and they love me as much as I love them.

Don't stop this train

Don't for a minute change the place you're in

Don't think I couldn't ever understand

I tried my hand

And honestly, we'll never stop this train

I should do that more often...

OK, so the last few posts, I've been bringing my homeschooling A-game, but I don't want to lull you all into a false security of thinking I'm some super-homeschool-mum. I'm really not. I'm actually the world's greatest procrastinator. I take after my son - look at the fab t-shirt I just bought for him:

Not actually him...

I admit - I never do today what I can put off until tomorrow!

Now, some of the things I put off, I do because they are pain-in-the-ass jobs that take either huge slabs of time or energy or both, and putting down Candy Crush Saga long enough to do them doesn't seem worth it. Until the job is so huge that it is HUGE.

Like cleaning the oven...

That's a lot of roasts on the bottom!

...because that is a totally sucky job that takes hours to do and is filthy and hard work. But look at the results:

Ignore that bit that is baked on really hard and
 won't come off no matter how hard I scrub at it...

The dog is the same. I have a Labradoodle (Labrador cross Poodle), which is great because he hardly sheds, but is not great because that hair grows and if you don't brush him regularly (or he won't let you because he doesn't like his legs being touched), the fur gets VERY matted.

Hello! My name is Max and I'm really matted
because my mum doesn't brush me often enough.

So, I get the de-matting comb out and start, but it takes FOREVER. So eventually I get the Wahl clippers and figure the weather's warming up, so he can just get a haircut instead. But none of the guides will go through the mats, so I have to just clip him with the bare blade...

My name is Max, and I'm traumatized...

I'm similarly lax in grooming myself - the grey stripe resembles a skunk, more often than not:

But it never ceases to amaze me how good it feels after you walk out of the hairdresser, all coloured, cut and blow-dried/hair straightened to perfection (at least until the first time you wash it!):

Now...about those eyebrows...

Same goes for losing weight - the more you let it go, the more you have to sweat, diet and say "no thanks" to wine, cheese and cake...

Sadly, the scales don't magically stay sub-70
without consistent effort...

Every time I clean the oven, or groom the dog, or get my hair done or lose the weight, I think to myself "I should do that more often" because then the job isn't so overwhelming. It might even be manageable.

But there also some things that I don't do as often as I should because I'm lazy so-and-so. I don't know why I put them off, because the payoff is SO worth it. Like...

...walking around the corner to the beach:

...going for a bushwalk:

...playing board games with my kids:

Just searching for an "n" to make QUINOA

...spending more time with family and friends:

...even spending um, "quality time" with your husband (I draw the line at taking photos of everything somewhere!).

All these things are brilliant. They are filled with joy, light, laughter and happiness.  Life always feels better when you say "yes" (to the good things, I'm practising saying "no" to the not-so-good things). I should do them more often.

What jobs do you put off until tomorrow?

What else should YOU do more often?