Category Archives: Family

Uh… Happy New Year?

Posted on March 18, 2010 | 12 Comments

(No, I suppose I can’t really get away with that in March, can I?)

So the wee boy recently raced past the 11-month post, which means I have been a non-blogger for four months people. Four! I think that may be my longest break yet, and people are starting to, you know, mention it. (Ok, namely Mum, but still…)

Also, I described myself to someone the other day as an ‘ex-blogger’, and then I wondered to myself whether the situation was really irreparable… so here we are, my blog and I – we’re entering into a trial reconciliation. No commitment, mind. We’re just casual friends. :)

In honour of it being my first post in 2010, how about some pics of a few firsts that have happened around these parts lately?

First day of Year Two:
First Day Grade Two

First day of Pre-school:
First Day Kinder

First swimming class:
First Swimming Class

First (ever) pavlova:
First Ever Pavlova
(This was so, so very good. It disappeared very rapidly. I baked another a week later for Mum’s birthday, and that one didn’t even hang around for a photograph! Pavs are definitely my new go-to fancy dessert. Yum)

[Left] First two-wheeler (technically a four-wheeler right now, I suppose); [Right] Finally getting rid of those training wheels, hoorah!
Two wheelin'

First glimpse at Melbourne’s baby:
Melbourne's Baby Elephant
(And so worth standing in line for, even though I only have crappy pics. Better ones at that link above. She’s since been named Mali, which is Thai for jasmine, apparently.)

Life. It’s pootling along just the way it always does, blog or no blog. Nice to be back :)

→ 12 Comments

Posted in Baking, Family, General Ramblings, The Kids

Grandma Eye Candy

Posted on November 12, 2009 | 10 Comments

Rohan 7m 02.jpg
This little bloke turned a whole seven months yesterday. And (knock-on-wood) we seem to be turning a pretty big corner in the sleep department… just like that. I have swaddled all my babies in the early months, the boys especially both had really strong startle reflexes that jolted them awake frequently. On Monday night, I decided it was just too damn hot for a wrap of any kind, even my lightest muslin wraps would have had the babe sweltering, so I took a chance and put him to bed without wrapping. And he slept through! Shout it from the rooftops! I’m close to being a proper human being again. Tuesday and Wednesday nights were pretty decent too – he had 4am wakeups both nights, but one wakeup is perfectly civilised really, compared to recent weeks.

Rohan 7m 01.JPG
(It truly has been stinking hot this week in Melbourne, for November anyway. This was the only way to sleep yesterday. Bonus points here for supercute handmade bunny cuddles! Minus points though for visible sweat/drool marks… I reheeally need to change those cot sheets.)

I’m not silly enough to believe it will be all fantastic from here on, but here’s hoping we’re on the way out of the doldrums.

Rohan 7m 03.jpg

Oh, and we’re getting better at this sitting up thing, too. And on the verge of proper crawling. Yea verily, all hell is about to break loose. Again.

→ 10 Comments

Posted in Family, The Kids

Tagged ,

November 11

Posted on November 11, 2009 | 3 Comments

Eleven-eleven. It’s a memorable day, for more than one reason. (Not least the hanging of Ned Kelly or the sacking of the Whitlam Government)

Nine years ago, it was a memorable day for us.

Wedding Legalities

We were married beneath a maypole in the Kooyoora State Park (which gives this post its second bushranger reference!). Until the day, none of our guests knew the actual location of the ceremony. (Technically, nor did we, for several reasons, but the most important of which was, we had no rain plan(!), and the morning of November 11 brought an absolute downpour.)

Good fortune prevailed, however. At least as far as the weather. If you ask me to tell the story of our wedding photographs, I might still cry.

Thankfully, memories and lifetimes are not all about the pictorial evidence.

Happy Anniversary, my love.

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Family

Tagged

Feeling Flat

Posted on October 22, 2009 | 8 Comments

Feeling Flat
So I fell off those there Blogtoberfest rails a little bit, yes? It would be lazy of me just to write this post all over again, but there you have it. Same old same old. Lack of sleep begets grumpiness begets ratbaggy kids begets grumpiness begets… no damn crafting of any kind around these parts (begets grumpiness…)

I will not dwell. I will be back…

{Artwork credit: Feeling Flat by Niamh. Awesome.}

Blogtoberfest Day, uh… 22… I think.

→ 8 Comments

Posted in Family, The Kids

Blogtoberfest Day 14

Posted on October 14, 2009 | 2 Comments

Cafe Concert
My big boy yesterday, at his first ever piano recital*! He played beautifully, and I’m so glad he made it. Piano, or more accurately, the practice of, has been a huge point of conflict for us this year. Huge. We have recently hit upon a new system of bribery motivation, though, which is (so far) easing the way a bit. It would be nice if he chooses to keep playing.

*I see you wondering about that oh-so-stylish mosaic artwork, yes I do! Our school is mid-renovation, and the piano was parked in front of a huge pile o’ junk. Please excuse my terrible attempt at photoshopping the background. I do think they could have moved the piano over just a bit!

Keeping warm on the couch tonight under my new birthday blankie from Creswick woollen mills. It’s Alpaca wool, very snuggly. We’ve been catching up on Heart & Soul, which is a lovely show… the thinking man’s Glee perhaps? (but I like Glee too!) And then the last episode of United States of Tara (sob!) Can’t wait for the next season already!

Edit: oh, and have you discovered Sleeveface yet? You should!

Blogtoberfest Day 14

→ 2 Comments

Posted in The Kids

Tagged ,

Breakfast

Posted on October 12, 2009 | 2 Comments

Breakfast 1

Breakfast 2

I have a brand new lens on the camera. It’s taking some getting used to, but I think I’m going to like it. A lot :smile:

Blogtoberfest Day 12

→ 2 Comments

Posted in The Kids

Tagged ,

More Self-Portraiture

Posted on October 8, 2009 | 6 Comments

It is really difficult to take a photograph of yourself and the babe-in-a-backpack!

New Ergo

I thought my baby-wearing days were nearly over. Rohan’s pretty easygoing, and most of the time is happy to go in the stroller. But there are times when only holding will do, and those times are mostly called 5-7pm. I’m sure many a parent is familiar with that special time of day (who was it called them the arsenic hours?) Also, we’re hoping to get to do a little bit more bushwalking, and after packing him in the Hug-a-Bub for a couple of easy walks, I have got to say – bushwalking is easier when you can see your feet!

So I succumbed, and ordered an Ergo Sport. Our very cheery postie delivered it this morning, and we’ve spent the day trying it out. Verdict = winner. (Though the hair-grabbiness will have to be stopped :grr: )

Blogtoberfest Day 8

→ 6 Comments

Posted in The Kids

Why Is It

Posted on October 7, 2009 | 2 Comments

That when children discover the camera, almost the very first thing they do is turn it on themselves? (And then giggle themselves silly over the results).

Niamh self 01
Niamh self 02
Niamh self 03
Niamh self 04

That last one is a bit ‘Blair Witch Project‘, don’t you think?

Just be glad I didn’t include the snot-nosed edition :giggle:

Niamh is a fan of the extreme close-up image. Recently she took a photographic tour of the house, which included photographs of the inside of the toilet bowl. Don’t worry, I’m not going to subject you to that!

Blogtoberfest Day 7

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Family, The Kids

Tagged ,

Holiday Snaps

Posted on October 2, 2009 | 7 Comments

Our trip away last week was so very welcome, but at the same time… well, you know. Holidays with young children are never really completely restful, are they? But with a view like this from our accommodation in Port Fairy:

View From The Driveway

Views like these to visit:

Port Fairy & Halls Gap Views

And fun like this to be had:

Port Fairy & Halls Gap Fun.jp

…I can’t really complain, now can I?

We headed down to Port Fairy, on the coast of western Victoria, for three nights, and then headed north to Halls Gap in the Grampians mountain ranges for another three. The weather was a little volatile, but we did manage to get out and explore a bit, spend time on the beach (albeit rugged up), walk a couple of short easy bushwalks, and cook a few marshmallows on a campfire. We also sought out cheese, chocolate, fabric and devonshire teas – all pretty standard requirements for our family holidays :smile: In the rainy bits, we very happily lazed about inside – there might have even been a bit of crochet and (shock!) a bit of cross-stitch.

Sigh. So nice. Wish we could do it all over again next week.
Campfire Baby 02

PS. Pssst, Mum, more photos over here!

Blogtoberfest Day 2 – squeaking in just under the wire, at 11.32pm! And apologies to anyone who read the pre-edit version. At this time of night, my brain it does not.

→ 7 Comments

Posted in Family, The Kids

Tagged , , ,

More (and Less) Teeth

Posted on September 18, 2009 | 3 Comments

Gap tooth boy
Teeth are still a big topic of interest around these parts. Current status as follows:

Kid #1: One gap, three more wobblies.
Kid #2: Two grey wobblies :( (I’m still harbouring mother-guilt over that particular event)
Kid #3: One tooth arrived two weeks ago(!), another one on the way (favourite chew-toy = my chin)

There’s been a noticeable lack of creativity ’round these parts lately. I’m sure the lingering mother-guilt has something to do with that. I was “busy” sewing when Niamh took that fateful leap. It doesn’t matter that I’d told her dozens of times not to jump in that spot – this time, I didn’t stop her, so hello! self-blame. Gah.

It’s been a helluva week, too. I had a spot of single-parenting while Dermot was in Sydney for work (earning myself a few brownie points towards wiping out that mummy-guilt). A discovery of the parasitic variety (necessitating trips to chemist and laundromat and noIdonotwanttotalkaboutit. Ew.) Several too-early starts thanks to the smallest boy and his impending second tooth…

Aaaand. A punctured tyre yesterday morning as I dropped Finn off at school. D’oh! As I lowered the window to wave goodbye, I heard a certain kind of ‘thwack thwack thwack’ noise that you just know cannot be good. I stopped the car and found a dirty great big screw sticking out of one of the rear tyres. Hoping the continued presence of said screw would prevent the tyre from letting down immediately, I drove straight to the nearest shopping centre with an auto centre. They were super-dooper busy, but graciously let me queue-jump, and repaired it straightaway while we nicked off to feed the caffeine habit I seem to have acquired lately. (Can’t imagine why!)

But. My good temper will be restored momentarily. We are off! Today is the last day of term, and tomorrow we are going away, la la la. We (ok, mostly I) have been counting sleeps for the last three weeks, let me tell you. We are heading beachfront for three days and then mountainside for three more, just to get ourselves a well-rounded holiday. See you on the flipside :smile:

ETA: Forgot… I did manage to get to the Northside Makers coffee-crafternoon last Sunday (see if you can spot Rohan and I at that link :smile: ) where I managed, oh, about 4 rows of crochet on a face cloth (simple squares crochet out of a bamboo/cotton mix are divine as face cloths, you should definitely give them a go). Margaret calls me a ‘multitasking wonder’. Hahahahahaha!

→ 3 Comments

Posted in Family, General Ramblings, The Kids

Tagged ,