The wrap up post that isn't a wrap up post

I feel the urge to write a wrap up post. One that notes any achievements, the highs, the lows, the ins and outs. But the motivation wanes almost as soon as my laptop boots up. And it is a quick boot.

I'm struggling to put pen to paper and fingers to keys right now and as a result my head is swirling with thoughts that need to be purged. They're keeping me up at night and distracted during the day.

It feels like I can't even have a conversation anymore because I forget what I'm saying as all the thoughts wrestle amongst themselves vying for attention.

None of these acrobatic thoughts are profound, or even mildly important. They are as mundane as they come: sweep the floor, make some muffins, don't forget the appointment on Tuesday, visit the grandparents, pick up milk on the way home, write a blog post. If they were life changing thoughts I might feel less annoyed that they're keeping me from doing anything.

I know this is part of feeling a bit low, so I know it will end soon as my mood continues to lift and I return to a sense of normalcy. But right now, right in the middle of it, I'm exhausted. Bone tired.

I started wearing a fitness tracker that I got for my birthday and it also tracks sleep patterns. After seeing the results, it is no wonder I'm so tired. An average night for me is 5.5 hours sleep, awake 4 times, restless 19 times.

So there will be no wrap up (please, we all know it would centre almost entirely around the beautiful little girl we made and her most spectacular birth). And as for goals for the New Year? Well, a focus on health - my mental health. Doing something to relax, something I enjoy, something just for me once a fortnight. Having dedicated work days and not doing work on the off days. Keeping my house tidy (when it is finished). You know, the stuff normal people do.

It will be operation do not burn out. And it will be done. 2014 will be full of awesomeness. And sleep.

To sleep, perchance to... fuck it, just sleep will be fine

CC: Stevie.Gill

I've never been a good sleeper. Insomnia has been a rather constant and unwelcome bedfellow of mine. It has plagued me since my teenage years and until relatively recently I was getting about five hours of interrupted sleep a night. Interrupted because a certain toddler likes calling out then crawling in to our bed for cuddles then kicking me in the back until 6am when "Mum you wanna play cars?" is whispered in to my ear.

I do love his early morning enthusiasm, but I would love it a whole lot more after 8am.

For the past two weeks I've only been getting, on average, two to three hours sleep a night. No sleep makes Glow go something something, get out old typewriters, sit in giant unoccupied hotels talking to ghosts and write crappy blog posts.

The problem is that my brain will just not switch off. It takes hours for me to wind down and any minor disturbance like a dog barking, Tricky crying out mid-dream, a thump or kick from Bobbin, or my teeny tiny pregnant woman bladder making itself known and the whole process starts again from the beginning meaning some nights I don't actually end up falling asleep at all before it is time to get up and start the day. Those days are chock full of iParenting and Vegemite sandwiches.

It has gotten so bad that last week I fell asleep at the wheel momentarily on the way home from Pilates and a few nights later, as I lay in bed attempting to meditate, I started hallucinating. The whole room was filled with flashing white, red and orange lights as if hundreds of cars were passing by... on our dead end street that gets zero traffic. Well, either I was hallucinating or I was having my very own Close Encounters experience. Insert iconic five note melody and Richard Dreyfuss reference here. Actually, come to think of it, my mash potato did look kinda like a mountain last night...

I can't concentrate, my mood is slipping fast, the anxiety has come galloping in and I'm quick(er) to snap. All in all, I'm bloody fabulous to be around right now. Add the bags under the eyes and constant wide mouth yawning and I'm totally hot, too.

I've got appointments with my midwives and GP coming up this week and next but until then I'm running out of ideas that don't involve being smacked in the head with a bat (apparently concussion and sleep aren't the same thing. Who knew?!). I'm starting to worry because what the hell am I meant to do once I give birth? I have visions of falling asleep breastfeeding and crushing Bobbin with my massive boobs - the though of which, surprise surprise, KEEPS ME AWAKE AT NIGHT! 

So tell me, are you a fellow insomniac? Got a miracle cure for me? Or should I expect the little green men to be making more regular appearances in my boudoir from now on?

Quickflix review and giveaway

Scroll down to find out how to win one of two subscriptions!

I'm not a big TV watcher. There is hardly anything on when I've got free time that doesn't make me want to poke my eyes out with a sharpened pencil. I've got no interest in seeing how a bunch of teenagers are coping with life in Summer Bay High yet strangely, put them in Shermer High School circa 1985 and I'll replay it so frequently that I know it off by heart. Cult movies are my thing.

Enter Quickflix. The champion of cult movie watchers, insomniacs and mums up feeding in the middle of the night. Oh, and parents who just want a few minutes of peace to drink a cup of tea before it goes cold. Yes, this thing is packed with enough kids programs to guarantee mum gets some much needed alone time.

I've been trialing the Post & Play subscription and I am now addicted. Unlimited entertainment! I think I've watched more TV shows and movies in this past month than I ever have... it's a great help to someone like me who likes to speak only in quotes. Oh come on, you didn't expect me to get it and just leave it for Tricks to play with did you? I take this review thing seriously... for *ahem* your benefit of course.

I decided to get a kids movie from the Post section of the catalogue since, ya know, I was meant to be trialling this as easy unlimited entertainment for kids. I clicked on Beauty and the Beast and the disc was at my doorstep two days later (not bad for cross country!). Ahh that Mrs Potts is a good one, isn't she? Love her.

It was a little bit annoying when trying to watch a TV series via the computer where for a while I could only ever get it to play the first episode. But after asking some questions and getting a very quick answer (clicking on the title, rather than the play button shows you the episode list) I got it to work. PHEW! There are over 12 hours of Thomas the Tank Engine episodes on there and I was starting to panic I'd just have make Tricky watch the one episode over and over again! I predict a Thomas Marathon in Tricky's future, the kid is obsessed with his "Thomas toot toot"!

My favourite thing about Quickflix is that you can have one subscription working on up to five devices simultaneously. By rights you could be watching something on the computer, your partner on the SmartTV, one tween on an Android device, the other on the PS3 and a toddler on the iPad. There will be no more fighting over the remote. Ever.

The app has been the most used feature in this house and came in very handy when Tricks had an asthma flare up and I had to try to keep him from going a million miles an hour and making himself sicker. After two days of crafts he was completely over it and I succumbed to bribery by whipping out Bob the Builder along with promises of his dummy, a PJ day and being able to sleep in the big bed.

Bribery 101

I liked that the parental controls were only changeable from the PC and that you could determine which classifications required a pin number to watch. It mean that if I plonked it on Tricky's lap with a Charlie and Lola cartoon showing, I wouldn't find him 5 minutes later with Charlie and Lola Go Wild 5.

My password was 8008 because it looks like BOOB. I'm so mature.

The app also meant I spent a great chunk of time with the iPad in the bath after Tricky had gone to bed. What? Doesn't everyone use their iPad in the bath? DON'T JUDGE ME!

When Map Guy called out one evening to ask where I was I replied "Watching Miranda in the bath... wait... that sounds really wrong!". It was too late though, he'd already come running to take a squiz.

Other than taking a while to figure out how to play the episodes online and a couple small app glitches where a few times it loaded the movie/episode and wouldn't play (which could have just been my connection), I really enjoyed using Quickflix and being able to keep Tricky entertained, watch cult movies, check out awesome series from HBO and watch Gavin and Stacey in bed. Wait. Now that sounds really wrong.

If you'd like to give Quickflix a whirl to watch Miranda in the bath and Gavin and Stacey in bed, you can get a free six week trial here** or you can enter to win a six month subscription valued at $150!

There are TWO $150 Post & Play subscriptions up for grabs. You can enter via the form below and/or the Facebook app here. Enter daily and share the giveaway for more chances to win.
Are you a movie buff? Tell me your favourite movie of all time!!

This is not a sponsored post. I was given a complimentary subscription to Quickflix. As always, all opinions are honest and my own.
**trial does require a credit card for security reasons, though it won't be debited - it's how I got my trial activated too

FlogYoBlog Friday: The DrawSomething Edition

Hi Floggers, my name is Glowless and I'm addicted to DrawSomething.

Such is my addiction that I spend waaaay too long creating pictures when I should be doing more important things like faffing around on Twitter or sleeping more than four hours a night.

My addiction sees me currently playing 27 games, with a winning of streak of 120 (thought the counter stops at 99 - YOU BASTARD!) and stooping so low as to take my (dr)awesome DrawSomething shenanigans to the bath tub.

To fuel my addiction, go and start a game with me (username Glowless - I'm so original)...  but first, as always, let's have a bit of a Flog!

How to FlogYoBlog

1. Follow Where's My Glow?
2. Bow down at the alter of Mummy Time; Blog-goddess, all round groovy gal and creator of FYBF
3. Grab the FYBF button and post it on your sidebar or in the post you're linking up
4. Link in your favourite/best post from the week (don't just put your homepage URL)
5. Follow at least 1 linkyer/blogger then be nice and spread the comment love

<center><a href="http://www.wheresmyglow.com/search/label/FlogYoBlog"><img src="http://i695.photobucket.com/albums/vv316/mummy-time/FlogYoBlog/flogyoblog-1.jpg " border="0" alt="FYBF" /></a> </center>

get the InLinkz code

Holiday baggage (under my eyes)

I've just spent a week at a beach shack with Map Guy, Tricky and my inlaws (and Sprocket, can't forget him).

Other than the initial hiccup, it was sorta like a week with a live in nanny, cook and cleaner because they tend to not let us do anything when we stay with them... which suits me very well. I'm sure in a previous life I was uber rich and had servants because it just comes so naturally to me to let people do stuff for me.

Some people call it lazy, I call it delegating.

But I don't come back from holidays looking rested and serene with an ethereal glow (as opposed to an ethereal Glow, because I'm obviously that all the time). I come back looking knackered; the bags under my eyes morph in to an entire matching luggage set and take on a slight purple hue.

See the problem is, whenever I have a little holiday and get to sleep earlier, my brain all of a sudden decides that it must try to reduce the sleep debt I've built up after years of insomnia coupled with 20months of child rearing. Which basically means I'm tired the whole damn time I'm away and take every opportunity to go back to bed and add to the puddle of drool on my pillow or fall asleep in the car giving myself a lovely double whammy of a crick neck and a side double chin (double goiter?).

That translates, roughly, in to me looking like the least involved parent in front of people who I'm still trying to slightly impress.

But rather than continuing to bang on about my holiday that went from soul destroying to rather pleasant (if somewhat anxiety provoking), I want to hear what it would have been like for you:

Finish this sentence: "A week on holidays at the beach with my inlaws would be..."