Spending a day with a 4 month old baby

Its super fun. Here's how it starts:

I wake up at 2am-3am. Baby is crying. I feed him in bed and he usually falls back asleep after 10 minutes of feeding. I put him straight back into the bassinet, dirty nappy and all.

Baby wakes up again around 6am. 7am if I'm lucky. He is wide awake, and softly crying. I quickly put him on my boob before the soft little cries turn into a hunger tantrum. His nappy hasn't been changed since after his bath the previous night, so sometimes his wee leeks out onto me during the feed. Yaaaay..... I change his happy and then we have some play-time on the sofa for about 45 minutes, which involves making funny faces, giving him lots of kisses and tickles, singing songs to him and moving him into different positions while trying to keep his dummy in his mouth. He usually goes to sleep an hour after waking up.

After about an hour of sleep, he wakes up again, this time not so upset. Usually greets me with a smile, and then gets excited when I take him out of his swaddle. He will kick his legs about excitedly even before they are free of the swaddle, and then its straight onto the boob for food. Sometimes he starts crying just before the boob goes in his mouth, like he is upset I'm not getting it in there faster. I'm trying my best baby! Sheesh!

After the feed, my hubby usually wakes up - it is now around 9am and time for a shower with daddy. Nappy comes off and naked baby goes in the shower. After the shower, I have a mini fashion parade as I decide what to put him in. He has so many clothes, that I try to find something in the drawer that he hasn't worn for a while (I've now started putting off doing his laundry until absolutely necessary, otherwise I'd never get through all the 3-6 month sized clothing he has). Baby is now clean, clothed and starting to get bored. I will now play with him in the guest bedroom (I hate playing on the floor because we only have floor boards and I want something softer for him, so I use the bed in the guestroom). We play with the play gym - he tries to hit the hanging birds as hard and often as he can, usually while making shrill excited baby sounds and blowing loud raspberries. He loves blowing raspberries. I roll him onto his tummy and he settles down. He looks around all curious, wondering how he got onto his tummy suddenly.. after a few minutes he gets tired of that and starts whinging so I roll him back and we read a book together. Well, I read the book. He just looks at the pages curiously and when the book is closed he grabs it with both hands and tries to shove it in his mouth. We try a few different books until he starts getting upset and then I will try something else.. singing songs, doing peek-a-boo, making funny sounds he likes, clapping my hands, or lifting him up in the air over and over.. he is usually awake for about 1.5 - 2hrs total before he gets really tired and I try to get him to sleep. Sometimes if I try to put him to sleep too early he will get really upset, and if I leave it too late, he is overtired and even worse.. so its sometimes a struggle to find the perfect time.

Getting him to sleep is always different. Sometimes I rock him back and forth in the bassinet. It works even better if I take him outside on the balcony. Sometimes a hand on the cheek is all that is required. Sometimes he is inconsolable unless he is being held upright in my arms, but this is getting more an more difficult because of his weight. I think once I get back in the gym, this wont be an issue anymore. He is so heavy and my arms are like jelly after not exercising for 7 months... sometimes I can leave Noah in his bed and walk away, he he will just fall asleep on his own. He has been doing this a lot recently. So nice!

By now it is about 11am, and Noah has gone to sleep again. I have about 30 mins to 1 hour to eat food or take a shower. It depends on what I spent the previous hour of Noah's sleep doing. Once he wakes up, I will either repeat the previous block of time (minus the shower) or go out somewhere with him (mall, friends, my office, supermarket, cafe).. Im going to try to start doing more things outside the house with him. I do feel cooped up inside lately, especially now that he is so much more demanding. Around 2pm he is back asleep and I will eat some late lunch.

He wakes up again around 3, and then again around 6. In between its much of the same of the above, but with shorter sleep times. Sometimes he only naps for 10 minutes. And sometimes he doesnt go to sleep at all. While other times I am feeding him every 2 hours (feed at 2pm instead of sleep, then 4pm, then 6pm... those days are hard). After the 6pm (sometimes 7pm) feed, I'll have something to eat while he is on my lap or held by his daddy while I eat (sometimes we have my brother or sister over, or someone else who usually holds him or entertains him while I eat dinner), we do the play stuff, but not for very long. I try not to overstimulate him at night. I will give him a bath at 8pm (this is the time Ive found most convenient, and Ive started baths this week as a new night time routine). Since yesterday, Ive followed the bath with a massage, and then straight into bed. It usually takes about 10 minutes to get him to sleep after that. But if he is struggling to sleep, I will feed him again and he will fall asleep on the boob.

By now its about 8.45pm and I'm winding down too. I'll either watch some TV, read a book, go on facebook.. whatever. At 10pm I get into bed. I might keep reading but usually I'm so tired, I just fall asleep.

Around midnight, baby wakes up for a feed. Sometimes he wakes up around 10pm, depending on when the last feed was. The time between feeds at this time of night is around 4-5 hours. I'm hoping that with this night time routine of feed, play, bath, massage, sleep (or top-up feed and then sleep), he will start sleeping longer through the night. We used to change his nappy after every feed at night, but since he falls right back to sleep after the feed, we've stopped changing the nappy (which wakes him up and then we are stuck with an awake baby at 2am)... This means that in the morning (7ish), there is a diabolical amount of poo and wee in the nappy. Double yaaaaaay!!!

So that's my day: day in, day out. Good huh? It is quite monotonous and very tiring but I just love my baby so much. His cute little gummy smiles, giggles and excited shrills.. and every day he does something new. Today he started making funny talking sounds over and over again. It really sounded like he was trying to talk. Such a little beauty.

Finally - a blogger app!

I hardly ever use my laptop anymore so having a blogger application means I will be making a lot more regular updates now! Yay! Now I just need to get the hang of this. Looks pretty simple so far..

So I haven't posted for quite some time. Firstly, happy 2012! Totally missed my obligatory new year post this time around! I was in the very north of Italy at the time, enjoying a 10 course meal with some friends, my husband and my adorable son who slept through most of the night's festivities.

Second, yes, I was in Italy.. And israel for that matter. I spent 3 weeks overseas, hardly got any snowboarding done at all, spent most of the time looking after a 3 month old baby, and didn't really get much of a holiday at all.

I did enjoy being overseas and seeing our awesome beautiful friends (cri & ale) as well as our relatives in israel, Noah was so easy to travel with. So from that perspective it was a great trip. I am looking forward to the next one, when Noah will be a year older and I won't be breastfeeding so I won't need to be near him all the time.

The last 4 months since my baby was born have gone so fast, and yet, so much has changed. It feels like Noah has always been in our lives. I can hardly remember what it was like NOT being a mother. He is such a beautiful baby, he smiles and giggles and makes adorable sounds. He is learning so much every day and developing and changing in leaps and bounds. I feel like if I blink I might miss something important. He is so lovable and loving and I feel so incredibly lucky.

I'll post more later, more about motherhood with a 4 month old. Quite a challenge :)

Long awaited update

The last time I posted a blog entry, I wrote about the top things I would do after having a baby. Well, it has been 8 weeks since Noah was born (which I never got around to announcing on this blog - oops! I have discovered that time feels little and very precious when you have a newborn to take care of, even a simple thing like a blog update seems like an impossible chore to find an opportunity to do).. and looking back at my last blog entry, it makes me laugh inside a bit..

1. Rock climbing... right. I haven't done that yet. The last time I climbed was back in ... March? I was still in the early stages of pregnancy where the harness was not yet too restrictive and painful, and my pregnancy weight was not yet too difficult to pull up on a bouldering wall.. now that I don't weigh 20kilos more than usual, and I don't have the harness issue, I have a very hard time sticking to immediate plans, like going to the gym. I've even packed the clothes and gear into my car with every intention of heading over to climbfit, but my plans mean nothing now that I have a baby with his own schedule and immediate needs. Thats not to say that I don't WANT to go climbing.. i DO.. and I'm sure I will soon... as soon as Noah allows me more than a 30 minute break during the day between feeds, nappy changes and play time.

2. Snowboarding... hahaha yeah. I do love to snowboard, but that is not really high on my priority list anymore. I definitely am excited about getting to do some runs on the snow in a few weeks time, but would be equally satisfied with sipping hot chocolate in front of a burning fire inside a warm cosy cabin on the mountain... and needing to breastfeed on a regular basis does make the whole exercise of getting up on a mountain with my snowboard a little impossible. Still, I am excited and will attempt it.

3. Sleeping on my back. So funny - now that I can sleep on my back, I find that I want to sleep on my sides, but sleeping on my sides is now too uncomfortable because of engorged (milk-filled) breasts.. Joy! I also now have a desire to sleep on my stomach, which is uncomfortable for the same reason.. But I am getting a lot of excellent back sleeping, which is great!

4. Sushimi.. I havent eaten it yet, haven't felt a craving for it actually. It turns out I can eat anything I want while breastfeeding but the things I thought I would be dying to eat are not so tempting any more. I have had sushi rolls though, which were great! I've also eaten smoked salmon.. mmmmmm... and cold meats like ham and chicken, all of which I had been avoiding for 9 months prior to having a baby. Food is not high on my list either these days, although I do have a much bigger appetite than usual, mainly because I'm awake so much, and breastfeeding, but I'm mostly snacking through the day. I also find that I have to eat all my meals at lightning speed because of a crying hungry baby or some such..  which makes "eating" not very enjoyable.

5. Anniversary in Bali.. I thought this would be something to look forward to, but I can't think of a worse thing to do with a 6 month old baby. Not only because it would be hard to get around Ubud and Amed with a little one, but I'm scared of him getting sick with basically no immunity to various bugs etc. Stan is dead set on us going, so I'm actually dreading it. Still hoping to convince him that we shouldnt go, but first we will see what it is like to travel with a 3 month old in Israel and Italy at the end of this yr. This should give us some indication of what to expect in April if we go to Bali.

So, without further ado... I would like to introduce the new addition to my family, Noah:


2 days old in the hospital


2 days old in the hospital


8 days old at home


6 weeks old, about to go to the park



6 weeks old, after a bath


7 weeks old with his Aunty Shira

He gets cuter and more adorable every day. I just love seeing his little milestones. My little boy is growing up so quickly... Its amazing to compare his 2 day old photo to his 8 day old photo - such a massive change! Every day I just love him more and more. I feel so blessed and happy :)

He is happy and healthy, and a super big baby. Last time he was weighed, which was just under 2 weeks ago, he was 5.5kg. His weight at birth was 3.85kg. He was 59cm long at his 6 week checkup, so he's definitely 60cm at least now.. He already outgrew his bassinet so we had to buy him one (we were previously hiring a hospital-style bassinet, highly recommend if your baby can fit in it). He has amazing head control already (actually, since birth), and already holds our gaze for ages, smiling, cooing and mimicking us. He is also so loving and beautiful, and doesn't care who holds him, as long as he is held. He is such a wonderful boy. I didn't know anything could bring me so much joy, but there he is..

Now that I am no longer maintaining my pregnancy blog, I thought I may as well post the link to it, which includes my birth story. Warning: it contains all the gory details...

http://bakingfirstbubs.blogspot.com

Enjoy! I will try to update this blog as often as possible, although I suspect it will just be filled with little ramblings about babies and parenthood.. til next time...

Things to do after baby is born:

1) Rock climbing.. god I miss it! (ASAP after bub is born)

2) Snowboarding.. only my fave activity in the world!!! can't wait to hit the slopes in Dolomites (Jan 2012)

3) Sleeping on my back.. I've truly taken this small luxury for granted (same night bub is born)

4) Eat sushimi.. Though not sure I'll be allowed while breastfeeding. goddammit! (after breastfeeding? waah)

5) Wedding anniversary in Bali.. Can't wait! (April 2012)

Political Cartoons

Gotta love 'em..

The Block Bubble

I loved watching The Block on channel 9 every night, but feel extremely underwhelmed by the finale. I can't say that I'm surprised at the outcome, but do feel really bad for the contestants who worked their butts off for 8 weeks on those houses (especially Rod & Tanya - my favourite couple - although I am happy for Polly & Waz, and super glad that those idiots Josh & Jenna didn't win).



I've read feedback about the auction results, claiming that this proves the Australian property bubble is about to burst.. I totally disagree. The only thing it proves is that the format of the Block doesn't work as well as it did in Sydney (given that Sydney property is, was, and always will be hotter than Melbourne), and the fact that the properties were houses and not apartments meant that there was a much narrower market.

I've been to tonnes of auctions over the years, have bought a number of properties, and always keep an eye on the market, and one thing I've noticed from all the auctions I have attended, is that more often than not, properties get passed in at auctions - not because people can't afford to purchase the property for the reserve price, but because people are for the most part, averse to purchasing under auction conditions. Auction conditions suck balls - who wants to waive their cooling off period, waive their chance at negotiating directly with the vendor, and waive their chance at getting building & pest inspection plus strata report before committing to a 10% deposit? You'd be mad. The ones that do get sold are the super hot properties that everyone wants so badly, that they have done all their pre-auction checks (which they would have had to pay for) because they can't risk the property selling to someone else. And those properties need to be really special. And selling in a strong buyers' market.

So many of the auctions I've been to have been packed full of looky-loos or serious buyers who are just busting for the property to be passed in, in order to make an offer post-auction (in fact, this is the only reason I attend auctions - to see what happens to the property; I would never actually consider buying at an auction, despite having registered as a bidder numerous times).

As for falling property prices, well yes, they seem to be down right now - but that is expected, given that its winter, the worst time to sell or buy property, and given current economic conditions, which are not looking good at all. Property prices fluctuate all the time, but over the long term, they can't go down, because demand will always exceed supply, especially in high density areas like the CBD, or popular beach/coastal areas. I do believe prices are going down, or as the graph below shows, the growth rate is going down (that isn't to say that prices themselves in Sydney are falling, just not growing as strongly as in previous quarters), but unless you're someone who buys and sells property on a regular basis, this is nothing to be concerned about. So thats my 2 cents on the Block outcome and the current property market. Over & Out.

New furniture and other random stuff

Great delivery today - most of our new furniture arrived and my husband set it all up while I was at work (and managed to store away all our old crap in the garage - which I'm trying to sell on ebay now). It all looks really good so far - new sofas, dining table (finally!!! we haven't had one for years) and coffee table. We have a matching TV stand that's still to come, and a new fridge and microwave coming early next week. I feel like finally our home is coming together and its pretty exciting :) The baby nursery is pretty much done too (needs to be organised but all the essentials are there), and we still need some outdoor furniture.

In other news, I've recently started watching Game of Thrones, and it is freakin AWESOME! I'm keen to start reading the George R.R. Martin books that the series is based on. I've also been watching True Blood season 4, and it is shaping up to be the best ever!

Work has been really hectic lately, but now that I've finished my Uni assignment and exam, the upcoming weekends are looking pretty good. Going to the Opera tomorrow night to watch La bohème. Last weekend I saw Neighbourhood Watch at Belvior Street theatre and it was really good! Highly recommend, although not sure if its still showing.

Ps: I love true blood.

Busy Little Bee

I've had a pretty hectic few weeks. I'm always complaining about the same things, but this time its been really crazy. I've had tonnes of work piling up, particularly as I'll be on maternity leave soon so trying to cram all my appointments and other tasks into the space of a couple of months is not easy.. I've also had to deal with a sick hubby, organising things for the new baby on the way, trying to find time to study for an exam tonight (haven't done a single minute of study for it as yet but hoping to wing it based on my extensive note-taking in class and the fact that its open-book), trying to find time to finish an assignment (for the same subject) which is due next Monday (thus far, have only finished the executive summary), worried about still not having bought any furniture for our house (seriously lacking a dining table right now, but also in need of a fridge, microwave, sofas, outdoor furniture, tall boy, bedside tables etc etc), having to deal with dodgey tradies, crazy body strata members, and various legal issues that affect our holiday rentals business (luckily my dear husband is dealing with all this, but I'm affected by proxy)... and to top it off, we're exchanging tomorrow on another property (which by the way, needs extensive renovations and the settlement is a couple of days before my due date - FUN!). On the plus side, I stayed back at work last night til 9pm to finish tax returns for my husband and me, from 2009-2011, and lets just say, our combined refunds will be enough to pay for all the aforementioned renovations. So unexpected!!!

On another bright note, I'm super excited about the following upcoming events:
* baby shower
* baby's birth
* playing with baby
* breaking dawn part 1 with belinda
* 3 weeks overseas with hubby & bubs
* 2 weeks in the italian alps!!!!

Good times.

True Blood Verdict

Season 4 of my favourite porn.. I mean vampire show has been released in the US, and I've finally gotten my hot little hands on the first 2 episodes. I have been hanging out so hard for this season, particularly as it is (loosely) based on my absolute favourite of the Southern Vampire Mysteries books, "Dead to the World".

Now that I have seen the episodes, I can give my honest opinion of how I feel about it. A great deal of my "verdict" has to do with the fact that I inevitably must compare it to the book, so if you haven't read the books, you might have a completely different take on it. Also, if you haven't read the books, you might want to avert your eyes, since this is going to be a massive spoiler right here..

Since I want to finish off on a happy note, I'll start with the things I didn't like:



The Cons/Massive Thumbs Down/What the fV%k?:

1) The start of the series takes place in Faery. This is just weird. It gets even weirder when Sookie sees Bellboy Barry and then her Grandfather, neither of which are supposed to be fairies (in the books, she isn't even related to her "grandfather"). Then it gets even WEIRDER when all the beautiful fairies become ugly evil monsters that look like they've stepped out of Middle Earth after fighting against the fellowship of the ring... what the? The books do have a fairy war much later in the series, and there is a "good" and "evil" side to the fairies, but they are all super beautiful and they don't shoot fire balls out of their hands. The whole first 10 minutes of the season was just bizarre and disappointing.

2) The supporting characters' lives have all gone to shit - Tara is a lesbian cage fighter in New Orleans, Sam is hanging out with a bunch of random shifters in some sort of swingers/nudist club, Tommy has become a Christian and has been "adopted" by Maxine Fortenberry, Jessica now lives with Hoyt and they seem to have a pretty crap time dealing with domestic life together, and Arlene has an adorable baby that she thinks is possessed by her dead ex-fiance, which is the most disturbing thing I've seen on this show to be honest! I'm just expecting her to go all post-natal-depression any minute now, and try to kill this poor baby!

The other characters' lives have also massively changed, but more of that later (in the "Pros" section). Aside from the fact that these characters either don't exist or are hardly mentioned in the books (Jessica and Tommy were made up by the TV show writers, and Tara is a very minor character in the book, particularly before Book #5, while Hoyt is hardly mentioned except in relation to being Jason's best friend), I just think that a lot of this stuff is over the top - they tried too hard to make it look like everything has changed, but why should it, if everything pretty much stayed the same through the first 3 seasons?

3) Eric has bought Sookie's house and is a total bastard about it. I just don't like this direction. Eric is a bit of a bastard, naturally, but he's subtle about it, and he's never tried to force himself like this onto Sookie (firstly because he doesn't care about humans that much, even Sookie - yet, and secondly, he's way too cool to be acting so desperate), either in the books or in the TV show. I just don't like this whole "I own your house, so I now own you" line.. As if someone like Eric would actually believe this nonsense? Also, Eric buying Sookie's house is just so predicible (of all people to have bought it).

4) The witches - uuuugh.... I understand that this was probably the only way they could work the witches into the plot, and they did start building up to it in the previous season with Danielle being a Wiccan and Jesus talking about magic and all that, but this whole "Marnie" Stonebrook business - what is the deal? Isn't she supposed to be a "baddy"? Because it looks to me like she's just an innocent old witch who seems to black out in some sort of possessed trance when she does all that freaky 'speaking-in-tongues' thing? In the books, she is a V-juice junkie werewolf witch who is totally bad ass and is in love with Eric, and also wants to take over Eric's business. She also does not look like an old derelict cat lady. She's young and buff and androgynous. At least, that's how I imagine her. And she's powerful enough to use her magic without needing a bunch of book club looking followers to join hands around her in a circle.. When I compare the show to the books, I just feel really disappointed on this point, but if I hadn't read the books, this would be a total non-issue for me.

5) Portia. Hmm.. I'm not sure where this is going, but it looks sort of like Portia and Bill have a flirtatious thing going on.. which is plain gross, given that Bill should know full well by now that he is her great-great-great grandfather or something along those lines. Yuccccky. Also, Portia is supposed to be not very attractive, and she is supposed to hate vampires. The whole scene with her and Sookie and also with her and Bill exchanging looks just rubs me the wrong way.

6) Jessica - she is starting to bore me to death. Her and Hoyt, but especially Jessica. Booooring...... talk about a time filler.

Ok.. now to the good stuff..



The Pros/Massive Thumbs Up/HELL YES!!:

1) Bill Bill Bill. He is smoking hot. Hotter than ever. And he's the King of Louisiana - unexpected? Yes. Loving it? YES! Does it matter that in the books, Sophie Anne is still alive and still a powerful Queen while Eric is her underling, and Bill is even lower ranked than Eric? Not really (in fact, I don't like the Queen in the TV show anyway). Additionally, in the books, Bill shrinks away into this nerdy and deflated hired-help errand boy to the Queen, and its all quite unsexy to be honest.. Furthermore, he disappears for half the book while abroad, which would have been a big let down in the show. Instead, Bill's house has been converted into a swish fortress, he's looking really stylin, and while it's obvious that he still loves Sookie, he's so suave in his supposed detachment. Loved the sex scene with his "security" floozy as well, not to mention Sookie walking in on them getting dressed. So good! But my favourite part of Bill's new role is the flash back to punk-rock London, where Bill first encounters Nan. That was so good, I can't even explain why. Ps: Love Bill with eyeliner.

2) Pam & Eric - aside from the aforementioned "You are MINE SOOKIE" crap, I love the scene with Pam and Eric in Fangtasia, filming a vampy community announcement. They are just so cool and funny, without even trying. Pam is one of my fave characters, she is just so awesome. Love her. As for Eric, of course he is gorgeous, and there's not much else to say about that.. I'm very happy to see that at the end of episode 2, he has lost all his memory and the plot looks like its about to go in the right direction. All looking good from here on.. *fingers crossed* I just can't wait for that shower scene! They better include it in the show, or I'm going to have to write a very angry letter of complaint to the producers.

3) The whole "Sookie missing for a year" thing - I actually like it. I think its a great way to move on, particularly with Jason being a police officer (which I think is great!) and Bill being the King (which I think is genius!), and just generally helps to explain the whole plot changing so much. I don't like that Sookie doesn't own her house but I'll get over that (I'm going to make a prediction now that while Eric has amnesia, he gives Sookie her house back - you heard it here first Folks!).

4) Lafayette & Jesus - I'm liking that they are still together and that they're part of the Witch club. It just ties the witches in well with the rest of the plot and the other characters (never mind the fact that Lafayette actually gets killed at the start of Book #2 - rather than Miz Janet).

5) Hot Shot - Love it! (Although in the books, Hot Shot is not so dirty, and they aren't such rednecks). But I think the producers/writers of the show actually improved the plot over the book, by making Crystal part of Jason's abduction. It just makes a lot more sense than Felton doing it on his own to make Jason a "freak" so that Crystal wouldn't want him. Also in the book, while its more mysterious not knowing Jason's whereabouts, I'd feel pretty bummed if he was missing from the entire season of the show ;)

Obligatory Update

I suppose it's time for an update.. although I can't say that too much has happened since the last blog post. We've been settling into our home and have had some friends over already, but still haven't been able to organise an official housewarming. We need to buy a bunch of furniture and appliances, and I can't believe we've been here for nearly 8 weeks and still don't have a dining table or a proper fridge. It's pretty cozy here though, and so peaceful, I'm quite content to leave it as it is for a while, but of course, it would be nice to set it up properly and have it feel more homely. Each weekend we have a plan of going shopping for furniture but then we never get out of the house before the afternoon and then only have a couple of hours at the shops (really not enough time). Today probably won't be any different ;)

In other news, Stan has bought a new car. I'm really happy about this, as I hated his old car (he still has the old one but trying to sell it). The new one is identical to mine but its a hatchback instead of sedan, and its 1 year younger. It looks super sexy, especially for a 2nd hand car (although it looks new). Finance will go through on Monday so he should be able to pick the car up on Monday night. It will be so much better than his current car, a Holden Astra Coupe which is crap for a family car.

And speaking of families, since I haven't mentioned this before - I'm totally up the duff! Oh yeah be-be! Actually I've been pregnant for a while and have been keeping a pregnancy blog. If you'd like to visit, you can find the link on facebook or just hit me up for the address. I'm trying to keep it out of reach of the general public :) I'm feeling pretty huge right now, not too long to go :) We'll have a baby with us when we travel to Italy. Should be ... interesting... ;)

Aside from that, I've just been working hard, waiting for end of financial year to pass so I can just forget about it. Wishing I was with my friends this weekend at the snow, but too risky to snowboard with the belly and all.. Waiting impatiently for Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Pt 2 to come out, as well as True Blood season 4, and just generally being happy and feeling good.

Thats all :)