Skip to main content

Posts

Welcome baby Gillian!

Tonight my husband and I welcomed our baby girl Gillian Eleonor Dorothy Collins into the world! It was a very unexpected delivery at 12:07am, when doctors confirmed that I needed to undergo an emergency caesarean. I had been in hospital for about two weeks prior to her delivery as I had to be monitored closely for pre eclampsia and gestational diabetes. It was only a matter of time before my health worsened and our baby had to be delivered. It was a concerning time for us, as we weren't prepared for such an early delivery. I was overwhelmed by the amount of support from family and friends who came to visit me whilst I was in hospital. Thank you to my family and friends for being there for me. It was definitely the hardest part of my journey as a mum so far. Gillian was born 10 weeks premature and has to be in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. She's doing well and is healthy despite being born early. The doctors and nurses will continue to monitor her over the next
Post a Comment
Read more
Recent posts

The Revival Holiday and Exciting News!

So it's been a few months since I've posted and a lot has happened since then. Really exciting events have unfolded and I'm proud to say I'm definitely looking forward to the next adventure! In June, I travelled through parts of Europe with my husband Daniel. We did a driving holiday through Germany, Italy and Switzerland which was picturesque and exhilarating; particularly driving on the autobahns through Germany at 210KM/hr! We then visited Berlin and flew to London where we celebrated my father-in-law's 60th with the UK side of the family. We also visited Singapore on the way back to Australia. Before we left our home in Sydney, Australia I was nervous about driving through Europe. The thought of driving a manual and on the other side of the road was the least of my worries though, as we found out the day before we left that I was pregnant! We knew it would be a challenging holiday but a rewarding one! Apart from feeling sick almost everywhere we went, w
Post a Comment
Read more

Settling back home

I've been home for two weeks now after some extended time away for some much needed health treatment. I'm miles ahead of where I was a few weeks ago and I'm feeling a lot stronger. It feels good to be home...to be surrounded by my family again. I'm on a new journey and it's been good so far. Mingling with family and friends again has been really nice and I feel so grateful to know so many kind and generous people. I'm hopeful for what my future entails and I'll face it with a stronger mindset and with a fierce determination to try my best in everything I do.
Post a Comment
Read more

Winning the battle

So the start of this year saw me focusing on my health, there were some signs of improvement but in the most recent days my health has plummeted. There's a multitude of reasons contributing to my health problems but I'm prepared to face them with the right support from family and friends. Thankfully I have the right medical doctors helping me also. I'd like to acknowledge the support from my husband Daniel who has never failed to be by my side. He helps me find strength when things aren't looking so good. We'll face the next stage together, even when it feels heavy. Watch this space, I will be back!
Post a Comment
Read more

New Years Resolutions

So a few years ago I made some New Year Resolutions. I probably didn't follow through with many of them but this year I'm hoping will be different somehow...life changing even...I have the support of good friends, family and most importantly my loving husband who has stuck by me no matter what. This year I'd like to focus on my well-being and overall health; physical and mental. So last year was probably one of the toughest years of my life but certainly not the worst. They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and I know how that can feel. To start the 2017 with a real focus on my health was an active decision I took today and I know I will be in good hands, even though I'm a bit far from family and friends. To my husband Daniel, thank you for all your support, love and patience. I will be thinking of you and missing you very much. To my friends and family, see you again soon.
Post a Comment
Read more

And now for something completely different - Early Childhood Education

I left my full time job back in April and took a break from design. In the break I thought I'd fill the time with trying something completely different for a while. I took a short 6 month course in Earlychildhood Education and Care at Nirimba TAFE close to home. It was interesting and informed me about how to care for children under the age of 6 years. Every Thursday I had play group at TAFE where the students got to put theory into practice by organising play experiences with the children. I'd never really interacted with young kids like this before so this was a little scary for me. Although we were only with the children for part of the day it gave us a glimpse of what working in a day care would be like. We observed three different children in the different developmental age groups: 0-18months (baby), 18months-3years (toddler) and 3-6years (preschoolers).   The first child I observed was Lauren and she was 4 years old and was at a craft activity. She was very happ
Post a Comment
Read more

Milton

Photo by: Daniel Collins Meet Milton, a cute jack russell cross that we picked up from the Hawkesbury Animal Shelter late in May this year. He was 5 months old when we put our names down at the shelter.  Milton got his name from one of my favourite movies, Officespace . A character in the film that works at IniTech, who loves his stapler. Our Milton though loves chewing on our empty plastic pots, playing with his toy dinosaur, and chasing wild birds. He has unfortunately made our backyard a war zone with all his digging too!  He gets along with my doves and doesn't come up to the aviary very often which is a relief. Milton is quite obedient and clever. He's picked up the commands of sit, down, shake and up. We're still teaching him how to stay which he doesn't quite understand.  At first he was quite timid when we picked him up from the vet on the first night, but he soon got used to his proud new owners and is very happy to chill with us indoors dur
Post a Comment
Read more