An email to my Federal Member of Parliament

Hi there Mr Irons,

I understand you're asking the people of Swan for their views on marriage equality. I cannot express how strongly I feel that marriage should be an option for EVERYBODY. The old fashioned adage that it is only between man & woman is ridiculous in this day and age and purely based on religious history. Given that my husband and I were able to be married this year despite the fact we don't have a religious bone in our bodies goes to show that the government need to move with the times. Marriage is a commitment between two people who love each other, the sex of these two people shouldn't even come into it. If churches don't want to allow same sex marriages then that's fine but they should still be recognised. Much like we had a non-religious ceremony performed by a celebrant, such should be the option for same sex couples. Frankly I don't even understand why anybody would oppose same sex marriage. If you don't want to get married to someone of the same sex - don't. Others being able to do so, doesn't in any way denigrate your own marriage! It's about equality Mr Irons. Equality for ALL. I hope that in a decade, we're embarrassed that this was such a debate as we are now embarrassed about the forced segregation of blacks and whites and the lack of voting privileges for women and indigenous Australians not so long ago.

I'm currently just over 5 months pregnant and I hope by the time my daughter is old enough to get married it won't matter who she wants to get married to. I hope I'll be able to tell her about the day the Government stopped legislating against equality and choice and recognised that any two people who love each other can make that ultimate commitment if they so choose.

While you're moving with the times Mr Irons, may I suggest you get a twitter account, allowing real time interaction and feedback with your constituents.


Love & kisses (lucky I'm not a bloke!)

Em




=====================

Note: I did not actually sign off that way :) I encourage all of my Australian blogging friends to contact their Federal Member of Parliament whilst this debate is in the forefront of discussion.

25weeks and still kicking!

Hey my lovely blogging friends!
Long time no talk!

Let's see what's been happening?

Sydney - GB and I took off for Sydney on the midnight horror flight from Perth. I assumed given that I feel like I could sleep on a bed of nails these days that I would be ok to sleep on the plane overnight. It's a 4.5hr flight from Perth to Sydney plus 3 hr time difference so we left Perth at 11.45pm and arrived in Sydney just before 8am. And I didn't sleep a wink. By the time we got to my aunty & uncle's place and exchanged pleasantries I was nearly talking jibberish! GB and I took ourselves to bed and slept for about 4 hours which was great. We took it pretty easy - I've been to Sydney many times before although GB only once for a weekend. We took a drive up to Palm Beach for lunch one day which was nice and we ate at one of Sydney's top restaurants - Aria. After I twittered about it earlier in the day Matt Moran the head chef came up and said hello to us. GB nearly jizzed in his pants he was so excited! We spent a few days some 500km north of Sydney at another of my aunties & uncles place. So beautiful up there, no phone reception, 30km from the nearest town so we just got to kick back and relax. Unfortunately we had torrential rain the first two days and I ended up with a fever for some reason for 24hrs and couldn't get warm. I had GB's tracksuit pants on over mine, plus 2 tshirts, 2 jumpers and 2 coats on. I looked like the michelin man! There's a hilarious photo of me on our camera I'll have to post later. Also I couldn't keep any food down. The next couple of days I felt a lot better though. Back into Sydney and we had a walk around the city (plus a trip to the Lindt Cafe - best thing ever!). I was going to catch up with LapbandGirl but the stars didn't quite align - next time for sure!

We went to Bondi Beach and had lunch and caught up with an old school friend of mine for coffee & cake from one of the countries best pastry chefs - Adriano Zumbo. Those of you in Australia may know him for his croquembouche and/or macaroon tower challenge in Masterchef. I'm telling you they were the best things EVER. As you can see, food still a big part of our holidaying experiences!! Add to that, my uncle's business is about filling lolly machines so he had big boxes of M&M's at his place. GB now is sure I'm going to give birth to an M&M!!!

Needless to say, I'm far too scared to step on the scales! Now that we're back to work both of us are trying to get into a routine of more healthy eating and exercise. GB is training for that marathon (tried to do 30kms when we were up in the hills but underestimated the terrain and the water he'd need and ended up dehydrated on the side of the road unable to speak. Luckily my two uncles decided to head into town early (we were meeting him at the pub for lunch) and picked him up. He was unable to move from the back of the ute for about 90mins. By the time I got there, he'd been resting for an hour and they'd given him powerade. I gave him some more electrolytes and the lady at the pub let him have a shower and he started to come good. Bit of a reality check for him though! Anyway he's amping up his training with only 3 weeks to go and has sworn off alcohol until after the 5th December! He's also staying off potato chips and noodles - his two favourite food groups. I'm not swearing off any foods... yet (choc detox from 1 Dec til Xmas day in the works though). But going to get more into exercise. Went to the gym last night for 30mins on the bike and will do that again tonight. Pilates on wednesdays and water aerobics on thursdays is the plan. My gym membership expires in a couple of weeks so I'm thinking about doing pregnancy PT once a week after that. Will check out the $$$.

Baby wise - all is going well. Getting lots of movement, mostly at night when I'm lying down. Unfortunately getting awful heartburn for the past week and the Pariet and quickeze not doing the job they usually do. Also getting a side pain/stitch when I walk/bike so keeping an eye on that and not pushing too hard. OB was happy with everything last time we saw him and said all is looking good, baby is a good size etc. The next test to pass is the Gestational Diabetes test which I'll have at 28weeks. I wonder if my M&M diet will impact on this??? hahaha. Got 3/4 names on a shortlist which won't be revealed till the baby announcement. Happy that GB is finally coming around to the names I like - hahaha! Haven't bought that wall art from my previous post... yet. GB said I could though - YAY! For S who asked - it's called the Cocoon Couture Enchanted Tree from the wall sticker company.

Anyway kids, I've gotta go troll all your blogs - it seems I have 159 posts to catch up on so forgive me if I don't comment!

21weeks

How cute is this:

It's a wall sticker. So cute and yet so flipping expensive! Have come to realise that planning for a baby is much th same as planning for a wedding. Cost PLUS PLUS PLUS! Seriously, a white chest of drawers from a furniture shop might be $200... from a baby shop? $900. Jokesville. Oh but that wall art is fricken devine. I wonder if I can use the excuse of how much we saved on the pram as justification for spending a horrifying amount on a sticker?

On Saturday we ordered a cot, chest of drawers and change table. From the baby store, the quote for the exact same furniture (same brand and everything) was about $1500 (and that was including a 10% discount!). David Jones had a 20% off sale on baby stuff and we managed to get it for $1100. GB was sad that it takes 12weeks to come in because he wanted to set it all up. So I let him pick out some bassinet linen (did I tell you I bought a second hand bassinet for $50? bargain!). Probably not what I would have chosen but gotta let him have a few wins so I can buy ridiculously expensive "wall art"!

Have decided to give our daughter an invoice for all this stuff when she becomes a supreme court judge, or world renowned surgeon so she can pay as back. Fair call I think. GB has also decided it's going to be our new family tradition that all children have to hand 50% of their earnings to us forever (kind of like first born male asians). Seems fair policy.

Been feeling some movement - not from outside again yet though. Probably she's too scared to move in case we bill her :)

On Sunday we successfully did the JDRF walk around the river. It's about 6.5km and I finished in 1hr 22. I think my best ever is about 1hr5 or something but not bad considering its the most exercise I've done in months and it was really warm. Yesterday we went back down to the river - GB ran the 6.5km loop while I just walked to the bridge and back (about 3.6k). I wanted to see if I'd be able to do the fitness test this morning, rather than embarrass myself! Anyway yesterday I did the 1.61km in about 15 1/2 mins. Just scraping in under the required 16min. On the way back from the bridge I was BUSTING for the loo. It was a tough call to get there I tell ya! Anyway this morning at work I officially did the fitness test in 15mins. Last year did it in about 14mins but anyhoo, I am pregnant! I have been absolutely buggered since though! I could nap any second I think! Hubby's foot still not pain free but he said it's about 60% better than it was which will at least allow him to start training. He's doing less than 10km at a time at the moment but will do a big run on the weekend I think.

Things are much better since the fill removal - no PBing at all! Unfortunately my hunger is back with a ferociousness. Added to my carb craving and inability to stay away from chocolate, I'm too scared to hop on the scales at the moment! Got another appointment with the OB next week so expecting to get a telling off for weight gain.

Anyhoo, here's a pic of the pooches in the aforementioned $50 bassinet:

In other news, I had a dream last night which I recall very little of other than the fact that Amy W was in it! Bizarro!

Well I better pretend to do some work for another couple hours. 3 months 9 days till at least 6months off - woo hooo!

Half way....

Hi all,

Well this morning I had another 1ml removed. Have been struggling now for a couple of weeks to keep anything other than icecream down (as much as I was loving the ice cream!) so went and saw Doc Bowater who took 1ml out, then made me scull a cup of water to see if it went down. If it didn't he'd empty the band completely, but it did so left what remained (a measly 1.35ml).

Other than that feeling quite good. Starting to feel the baby move a bit - including a definite kick in my hand the other night - quite amazing! Still looking more fat than pregnant, but belly is starting to poke a bit. Work shirts are starting to get tighter and had to buy some maternity pants from Target (loving the stretch fabric!).

 Managed to drag my butt to the gym last night for 30mins on the bike. It's amazing how quickly fitness drops off - because my level was about half what I used to do but still, better than nothing. Off again to pilates tonight. Last week was tough - my butt and hamstrings were nearly crying the next day! Haven't managed to do the antenatal aqua aerobics but hopefully will next week.

I'm doing the 7km JDRF (Juvenile diabetes) walk on Sunday. Will be interesting given I've not walked that far in months! If you'd like to make a donation, you can do so on my page here http://walk.jdrf.org.au/teamParticipant.asp?participantID=2809

Our pram just arrived today. We ended up purchasing it from the US given the strong exchange rate, and saved ourselves $400 in the process. This is what we bought:

Baby Jogger City Elite

So that's exciting - we'll put it all together tonight. Hubby also moved the study furniture out into our activity area upstairs leaving the now nursery empty and ready for a revamp. First step is putting in a split system aircon which should happen over the next few weeks.

Looking forward to our trip to Sydney next month - I could really do with a holiday! When we get back it's just a couple of week's till we head south to Busselton for the weekend. GB is supposed to be training for his marathon leg of the Ironman (beginning of December) but has been having issues with his foot. Turns out he has something called a Morton's Neuroma which is basically an inflamation of the nerves under his toes. Yesterday he had to have a cortisone injection into it which with any luck will allow him to train within a few days! Poor love hates needles but he was a tough cookie. Given it's only 6 weeks away I'm worried about the little training he's been able to do but I know he'll do everything in his power to finish the 42km.

Well I best do some work and try to catch up on your blogs (possibly not in that order!)

What a difference 3 weeks makes!

Last night we went and had the 19week anatomy scan. The sonographer started by asking whether we wanted to know the sex. I told her yep our OB had told us a few weeks ago it was a boy. She said "was he confident?", Me: "Seemed fairly confident", Sonographer: "It's pretty clearly a girl", Me: "What's that now?", Sonographer: "It's definitely a girl".

So yeah, it's a girl. I of course am stoked - poor hubby nearly needed to be carried out of the ultrasound place! Had to shout him dinner and a beer. He's all good about it but like he said - if we were told three weeks ago it was a girl, no issue. But in the last 3 weeks he'd been making plans with his son in his head for the next 40 years. So he's having to backtrack. The other thing is that we'd actually managed to agree on a boy's name and now I have to put all that effort in again to bring him around to the girl's names I like! mwah ha haaaaaa.

The rest of the scan was good. Amazing the detail that was available. 2 feet, 10 toes, 2 hands, 10 fingers, brain, heart, kidneys, eyes, nose, mouth. She freaked us out by switching into 3D mode. That picture is bloody freaky deaky!

Other than that things are going ok. Band being a bit of a bitch for the past week, not being able to keep much down at all for some reason - but dinner last night finally stayed down so hopefully have turned a corner on that.

Fire Coordinator just told me she's expecting me to do the fire fitness test still this year even though I'll only be around for part of the season. It's a 1.6k walk in 16mins. Last year I did it in 14mins. I reckon this year I'll be luck to do it in 30mins! bah ha ha! But I'll give it a go!

Started pregnancy pilates last wednesday night. It's good as it's only 45mins and there's a lot of stretching and pelvic floor exercises and was sorry to see the crab is still ok to do. I flipping hate that exercise! But still, I felt good after doing it and will go again tonight. May start antenatal aqua aerobics either tomorrow night (if my boardies fit) or next week too. Bought some maternity bathers online which are great so will also be able to do laps. Weather fining up in Perth too so I'm thinking some weekend walks with the pooches may be in order. Speaking of:

Gotta cruise, sorry haven't been commenting on blogs lately but I am trying to read them all! If I'm not following yours please leave a link in the comments :)