o v e r f l u o

For the past two weeks... I've only washed cups, never any plates or pots or woks. I've never cleaned anything, yet my house is (visibly) dust free. The car has had its first real deep clean in a couple of um maybe months. Laundry has never been done alone. I've cooked only one meal. Most mornings I wake there is some sort of food ready for me. #justsaying #39weekspregnant Watching my mum wash dishes after dinner last night, I thought about how when we were young, parents would make us do stuff – bring your plates to the sink, wash the dishes, clean your room. But now we are older, our parents know we do those things. Those habits have been ingrained, we have lived in our own homes with our new family for years and know how to "keep house" and "zuo ren" ("be people"). So now instead of asking us to do stuff for our sake, they do  the stuff for our sake. It's their way of serving us, loving us, and perhaps grasping a bit of t

Day 5 of maternity leave. Mum has flown in from overseas mainly to support us when bubs is born. Right from day one she settled into helping to market, cook and clean; it's a mum thing hey :p Today, surprisingly she said okay to breakfast at maccas so hotcakes it was. Then a walk to the nearby library, then she cut my hair so I've got a short bob now which will be more convenient for labour plus days when I just need my hair washed and dried quickly. Perks of having a hairstylist mum – I've paid for haircuts less than 10 times in my life.

One of the perks of having all this free time while on maternity leave, is doing whatever I want to – like finally finishing the watercolour of the second house we lived in. And getting super organised and cleaning the house. I was asked the other day if I've gotten into "nesting mode" yet. Well, I have always been an organiser. I'm always looking around the house, finding ways to neaten things up, store them better, or more recently also get rid of what we don't need. If this normality gets any more intense, then maybe that would be "nesting" for me. Another thing I did today was organise my feedly with good reads. As a quick reader it's easy to skim through, but the danger is in not actually processing what's read and thinking critically about it. One of the reads I like is Michael Hyatt's blog. He talks about productivity, leadership, and how to be your best self. He came up with a journal – one with guiding questions that gets

We've just hit 37 weeks and now we're waiting for Baby Loh to arrive, any time now. Our drawer for baby stuff which doubles as a change table just arrived yesterday, so that's the last thing to get set up, and we will be all ready. Or well, as ready as we can be. It's true that people give you all sorts of advice. My mantra is to hear everything, but choose what we think works for us. So many parents wisely say – trust your instincts. And really, you can plan all you want but when baby comes, you'll just have to see how it goes hey. Don't stress and put too much pressure on yourself. Meanwhile, I've just started maternity leave. I am very grateful to be able to have time to relax and do whatever I want, while e 'brings home the bread'. There are bits and pieces to do here and there, but you know what? While I can, I think I'll go take a nap...