POV: you’ve parented too well for your own good… Me (exhausted after spending 3 hours outside by 10am): “Buddy can we watch cartoons? Just for 20 minutes?” Toddler: “No! I want to ride bike!”

New favourite wall. With over 12,000 flight hours in Orions and Poseidons between us, this sparks some serious avgeek joy.

When you try to load the groceries but the boot looks like this…

The adamant toddler “I do it!” inspires a unique mixture of pride and frustration.

Today I learned that Ringo Starr narrated the original Thomas the Tank Engine show and now I love him even more.

Got myself a handsome new sous chef.

My favourite thing today was all three of us sitting under the same blanket watching Toy Story.

Google is becoming unusable because of “AI”. Way to take the search engine that was so good its name became a verb and turn it into slop. But there is a silver lining - it made me pull out old faithful, which will never be sloppified.

All my saved reels are either recipes or kettlebell workouts. Send help.

I just wrote my first poem in many years (and posted it here). I used to write a lot. Is it good? No, it’s not. But I don’t care. I’ve re-found a piece of my soul.

The soft gurgles shared at 2 am are long gone Trickles of first words halting, miraculous followed in their wake Replaced by whitewater narrative torrents microbursts of feeling And I nod along even though, my love, I don’t understand a word

I’ve found myself weirdly focused on “premature aging” lately. Not quite obsessing, but regularly thinking about wrinkles and skincare routines. Even considering whether I need more significant interventions. Then I took this photo with my husband last weekend and realised a few things:

Made lamb biryani and masoor dal. Full spice. Toddler devoured it. Parenting win.

Dismantling your first baby’s crib comes with a special mixture of joy and sadness. Why am I smiling and crying at the same time?

Public holiday morning at a lovely suburban park. Dozens of kids. Dogs, balls, racquets, scooters, bikes, roller skates. Dozen of tired looking parents. A van selling coffee, ice cream and gin and tonics would make a MOTZA.

Driving past Canberra airport today and the two year old, who has recently started speaking in full sentences, shouts: “Airplanes! More airplanes! I need more airplanes!” You and me both, little buddy, you and me both.

Lots of folks seem interested in the uniform I’m wearing in that last post. It’s not a t-shirt - it’s a business dress and it rocks. Here’s an article about it with picture of all three service versions. www.wool.com/news-events/...

Australian Defence Force dressed in wool by Farage

All female personnel in the Australian Defence Force (ADF) have an entitlement to wear a wool blend General Duty dress produced by Australian clothing brand and Woolmark licensee Farage.

wool.com

“Are you a flight attendant?” I unexpectedly had to run an errand after work today so I was in uniform, and a group of high school girls I came across asked me this question. “No, I’m a pilot in the Air Force.” They stopped in their tracks and stared at me.

Been away from these parts for a while. Life - you know how it is. But I’m back now. And as atonement and update all in one, I offer you this tiny epitome of coolness.

The first MC-55A Peregrine landed at RAAF Edinburgh this week - and isn’t it gorgeous?! Having been involved with this capability since the requirements stage, it’s so good to finally see it in Australia and in 10 Squadron’s hands! 📸 Nathan Rundle

My new secret to fitness is the toddler shouting “froggy!” and expecting me to do a squat jump and then giggling wildly when I do.

Happy International Men’s Day! Here’s to the wonderful men in my life and all the great men I have worked and served with over the years, who have been colleagues, mentors, role models and friends.

It’s been over a year since I left Twitter. I occasionally miss what it was and lament what it could have been. Then I remember that what it is now is worthy of neither sentiment. Good riddance.

The toddler has started saying “cuggle” when he wants a cuddle and a bit of me secretly hopes he never learns how to say it properly.

They say a picture tells a thousand words - and this one definitely does. I found it unexpectedly today while in search of another image and it stopped me in my tracks.

For my fellow geriatric millennials. A well spent Friday night after a loooong work week. The first album I ever bought with my own money. Still as good as ever.

Yesterday I had one of those moments of cosmic clarity, the kind that lets you see through space and time. I left work after 7 pm (for the second time this week), so by the time I got home all I could do was bathe the cranky, tired toddler and put him to bed.

I know everything is awful right now. But today my sweet little toddler said “hand” in his sweet little voice as he held out his sweet little hand to take mine and just for a second all was ok with the world.

Today is a really good day to consciously avoid what Oliver Burkeman calls “living in the news.” That doesn’t mean switching off or being uninformed. It means this:

Napping with a toddler is basically having your heart refilled with rainbows but occasionally a rainbow pokes you in the eye.