Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Fong Family Update

Its been a little while since I wrote a post on how our little family is fairing so, here it is! A post to update you all on what we've been up to of late.
Matty and I have now been parents for several months and it has been quite the adventure. It seems like we've come such a long way since the early weeks and months of waking and feeding Rupert around the clock. Matty was so supportive. He only had one week off from work when Rupert was born and than it was back to the office. He not only worked all day but he was great at helping me out during the long nights with Rupert. And when the weekend came Matty would be up early with Rupert in the lounge room whilst I tried to catch a few extra Zzz's.
As the weeks progressed Rupert's routine changed and his feeds became less frequent, and before I knew it he was sleeping through at night.

Rupert is now 5 months old and what a joy he is! He is an overall happy baby who sleeps 7-9 hours every night and has regular naps during the day. I have my guiding books "On Becoming Baby Wise" and "Calm Baby, Confident Mum" to thank for that. As well as my wonderful network of friends on and off facebook, who have given me endless support. 
Rupert is still fully breastfed and we have just recently started to introduce solids. So far he is eating rice cereal and banana. He sits at the table in his high chair so tall and proud, he loves it! I'm really looking forward to introducing some more foods such as mashed potato and pumpkin over the next week. 
The little guy has also become very mobile, dragging himself around the floor and rocking on his knees in attempt to crawl. Its very exciting watching him develop and change. He loves to chat, giggle and have the occasional laughing fit. Rupert enjoys story time when he gets to sit and listen to pages of a book come alive. And his eyes light up when he gets to see daddy at the end of the day. 

Matty is still a busy man working as an engineer, performing with the Darwin Symphony Orchestra and leading on the church music team. His mum and sister also play in the orchestra so Rupert and I along with my father in-law, usually find ourselves enjoying regular concerts. 
As for me, I'm enjoying not being too busy with this and that and loving being a mum. I attend a Zumba class where I can and I look forward to Friday mornings mothers group. I also arrange a monthly ladies get together for our church Sisterhood.
I enjoy trying new recipes and also cooking with the fresh herbs from my garden. 

We have not made any recent trips south to visit family. But just recently, Matty's brother Stuart and his pretty lady Siobhan were up visiting so it was lovely catching up with them. My mother has visited and both mum and dad visited for Rupert's dedication back in May. There are many family members who are still to meet Rupert so, we look forward to traveling south of the Territory for a holiday later this year. :-)

Well, that's all from me. Till next time.



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Monday, July 23, 2012

Not Famous but Dared to Dream

Aspiring Lawyer Mother!

 Yesterday I sat down to watch MasterChef, and as the contestants each reflected on their journey on the show I noticed a common theme. They spoke of how being on the show was a dream come true and that they were proving it possible to 'dare to dream.' In being on the reality show they were showing their children, friends and family what it meant to go after your dreams, and that they too can do the same. 

I don't usually watch MasterChef but I do enjoy a good reality show. Real people from real places doing, real things, winning real money and ... on show [literally] for the whole world to notice them.  
I don't wish to degrade or downplay the talent, motivation and achievements that reality stars and contestants have but, rather show that we can all 'dare to dream.' It's easy to watch these TV shows and feel like we're missing out on something. That we're missing out on chasing our dreams unless we make it on one of these shows to showcase our will and talent. Daring to dream isn't just about making it to MasterChef's top six or winning The Block. It's not just becoming the next Justin Beiber, Prime Minister or Yahoos CEO, etc. We can all 'make it' without being cast for a reality show and/or without being a media interest.  
Of course media isn't the only platform society rates our success by, it's also your job title or position. Its how much money we earn, which suburb we live in and how big our home is. Its where we've traveled, the degrees we've completed and the performances we might have staged.  

As a little girl right up to when I was a young teenager it was my dream to have a husband and to raise a big family. And it had also become apparent that I was skilled with a needle and thread so, by the time I was 17 I had completed a diploma in fashion CTF (clothing, textiles and footwear) and was a qualified seamstress. Even though I can confidently say that being behind a sewing machine was where my talent lie, I still didn't feel successful enough for society. I drummed into my head that I could be something greater, something more powerful and something more successful. I felt the need to dare greater dreams. So, I became a law student. I aspired to first become a lawyer and than a judge and to one day become the first female prime minister (there were rocks in my head). "And when I am prime minister I would surely be successful in society"!
There and then I dared to dream, the only problem was that it wasn't really my dream. I dared someone else's dream that was meant for many people but, becoming a lawyer was not Gods will for me [to dream].
It took a few degree changes before I realized that there was nothing I actually wanted to study at uni, and that it was okay to drop out. Being a 'drop out' was hard and it came with a feeling of failure and guilt. But it was going to be okay and social pressures was going to have to accept it!  

June last year I 'dared to dream' a dream that God purposed for me. Matty and I were meant to have had a home and to have travelled the world first but we 'dared to dream,' to become parents to a precious son. I dared to endure nine months of a protruding belly. I dared to endure fourteen hours of labour. I dared to love another like no other. I dared to change 8+ nappies everyday. I dared to be awake every two hours around the clock. I dared to endure endless crying and constant rocking.  

I dared to be a MOTHER ... and it was a dream come true!

Commit to the Lord everything you do. Then your plans will succeed.
Proverbs 16:3

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Monday, July 2, 2012

Ken, Baby Born and Space Lego



To be a wife, mother, and the keeper of a home, it's the desire of most little girls hearts. 

I had many female Barbies but I only acquired one Ken doll because you only needed one prince charming to sweep you off your feet. As I nursed my baby Born as a child I always knew that someday I'd be a mother for real. And when I played with Lego I only ever built houses with four walls, a kitchen and three bedrooms, even if it was space Lego. 

As we get older the reality of life becomes apparent, and you soon realise that your childhood dreams and assumptions no longer appear in your toy box, nor can they be assumed. Finding the real life Ken is like a needle in a haystack, you can no longer buy him from the toy isle. And Santa won't just give me a Baby Born for Christmas. The real life Baby Born is nothing short of a gifted miracle! And well, the Lego home is a seemingly unattainable 30 years of debt but only after 5-10 years of saving.

I'm so blessed to have married my incredible prince charming at the young age of twenty. And even more blessed to have given birth to Rupert our miracle baby at just twenty two. And the house, well we're still working on that one. It seems to me that the more God blesses me with the more I want. 
I look back at our wedding and think how proud we were to have had a beautiful wedding on a budget. And that we were so content to have less in order to be married young, not be in debt of a one day celebration and to not have drained our savings (We were also very thankful that our parents contributed to our wedding).
As newlyweds we moved into the bottom floor of an elevated home (I had already been boarding here for some time). It was one big room which had no kitchen and the combined toilet and shower was also the laundry for the whole house but, it did have a small fridge and a microwave. We were again so content to live there and pay only $50 a week, if it meant we could be together with just my wage supporting us while Matty completed his degree.
Blessed yet again when friends put in a good word for us to be able to rent the cosy 2 bedda which we're still living in over 2 years later.  And I am still so grateful for the lovely unit we live in but, I wouldn't be honest if I didn't say I sometimes become discontent. The more God gives, the more I want from him! The absent backyard, the bathless shower/ toilet/ laundry room, the lack of a third bedroom for baby #2... all things that bring my discontent to light.

It was Thursday morning when I wandered through Bunnings for practically no reason other than to walk the rows of pretty flowers, punnets of hopeful veggies, get a glimpse at the oven of my dreams, and to spy at the glorious crystal chandeliers. It's nice to have goals and dreams to work towards, so long as it doesn't consume us so much so that we become covetous and, forget where we should really be storing treasures, and that my friend is in heaven! 
The afternoon came and I somehow got talking with our neighbours on the floor above (neighbours we weren't very acquainted with). They have two young daughters so I mentioned that they were an inspiration to us ('encouragement' would have been a more suited word), showing that it was indeed possible to have a family in a small 2 bedroom unit. Stuart than went on to say that he was Christian and that it can be hard but, he believes God is teaching him CONTENTMENT! What a breath of fresh air! Just to hear someone else with a common struggle, and even though his daughters would LOVE a house with a yard for a dog, he believes its God shaping him. Right there and then I felt ashamed for being so selfish but it was such a revelation that I too am being shaped by God and, I am learning the art of contentment. I am beyond blessed!


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