a Beer, a Whine and The Spirit

By request

2012-02-14T19:40:00.001+11:00

I'm a bit excited to publish a post that has been requested by one of my readers! After mentioning my new purse, I have been asked to show it off. I'm also trying to take better photos, so let me know how I go!

Here's my old purse that I bought at the Queen Victoria Markets on a trip to Melbourne in 2005 to visit my friend Ezza. (Yes, that's pre-Hubs!) It's leather and it cost me $35 which I think is a real bargain. Especially since it lasted me almost 7 years!

It had loads of space for all my cards - 14 pockets in all! And you better believe that I used every single one of them, some of them with 2 or 3 cards!

And you can see the blu-tac marks from where I had one of my photos

Enter, my new purse (with one of Nanny's old coffee cups, as well as one of her crocheted creations!)

This photo was taken before Hubs got home.

And this one was taken after I learned about aperture! (again)

This purse is also leather and it cost me only $15!! BARGAIN!!

The purse doesn't have nearly as many card slots, but I was looking to downsize the ~~crap~~ cards in my purse

So even though there's still a fair few bits and pieces of paper, I'm being more diligent about not keeping lots of stuff in my purse. (Although this backfired when I threw out my Coles docket and realised that I've bought a bulk 4kg box of washing powder that's front loader for our top loader machine. Hopefully I can convince them to exchange for me!!)

I chose this colour and pattern as it suggests a level of sophistication, as well as a bit of playfulness. There were lots of colours and patterns to choose from, but this one really grabbed my attention.

It usually takes me a while to adjust to a new purse, but I instantly loved this one. If anyone would like me to purchase one for them, I would be happy to visit the market in a few weeks time to pick one up for you! (Just email me or leave me a comment and we can make arrangements!)

Fireman Chance

2012-02-14T08:46:00.002+11:00

A couple of weekends ago we went to the Mount Beauty market day. Not only did they have some cute stalls where I bought a new purse, but they also had the local volunteer fire brigade looking to recruit members. Chance was kind of keen.

Actually, he was VERY keen...

The firies were ready to recruit him on the spot! Maybe one day son!

Bring on the PMA

2012-02-07T14:48:00.000+11:00

My friend and I frequently use the term "PMA" (Positive Mental Attitude) in our day to day lives. When we've had a rough night with our boys, we try to instill a PMA for the following day.; if we think something is going to be too hard, we try our darndest to have a PMA and get through it.

On Sunday afternoon, my PMA was nowhere to be found. Hubs was working in his office for the afternoon, and I was tired and defeated by the thought of tidying the house and packing for Wang. I had written my list, but I wasn't prepared to act on it. So I sat down and started writing a "my life is so hard" blog post. I was reading through and editing when Chanbe needed my attention so I left it, planning to return and publish the post later on.

Chance was going a little bonkers inside the house so we went out onto the deck and played with his cart and trike. We had a really good time and as I was watching him I thought "I have the power to turn this around!" Bring on the PMA!! So we came back inside and I started tidying and packing. Just doing one task at a time, playing with Chance for a bit, then doing a bit more.

I had completely forgotten about my blog post until hours later when I found it, had a quick read, and promptly deleted it. It felt goooooood. So thanks to my super organising, we were pretty much ready to go by Sunday night at 10pm! Chance woke us up around 7am (very reasonable!) and all we had to do was eat brekky, pack the esky, pack the car and make our cups of tea for the road. Which meant we left an hour early, which meant we arrived in Wang an hour early, which meant the 3 of us could walk to Hubs' work together and grab lunch on the way!

I love it when hard work pays off! Speaking of hard work, I also joined the gym yesterday afternoon, and between walking there and back both yesterday and today, and the pump* class I did this morning, I'm beat! But, you guess it, it feels gooooood. I might just have a little nappy-nap before Chance wakes up :-)

*I only wish I looked as good as the guys and gals on the video!!

Plummeting back down to earth...

2012-02-03T11:30:00.000+11:00

... with an almighty crash.

This time last week we were surrounded by family and friends and a support network. We were staying in the same house, night after night, week after week. We didn't have to pack and unpack and pack again every week. I felt relaxed and faced each day with anticipation and excitement, and had such a great time.

It's hard to come back to our "normal" (I use the term very loosely) life after such stability. I am sitting here with my diary open, planning the next couple of months. 5 days back home in MB, then next week in Wang, then back to MB for a week, then the following week in Wang, then back here and so forth for maybe 2 months. Oh, and a few trips down to Melbourne thrown into the bag just for fun as well.

I realise the choice to go to Wang with Hubs is mine. But at the same time, it's not really a choice. If Hubs is going to be away for 5 of 6 days, and he's going to a place where I have a whole bunch of awesome friends, well... what would you choose? I think the hardest part about this lifestyle is that I don't know anyone else going through the same thing. So people can say they understand, but I don't think they do.

This is why next year, I need for us to go somewhere and stay put for a year or 2. We'll go on holidays of course, but not every single freakin' week. It's already getting me down and we haven't even started. Man this is going to be a long year.

In 6 months time...

2012-02-02T20:38:00.001+11:00

I'm currently looking at my life, thinking "things will be better in 6 months time." There are a few things that are getting me down at the moment, that are completely in my control to change, that I would really like to change gradually to make them stick.

You see, I've put on a few extra holiday kilos (actually, they started creeping on well before we left MB) and it has been a very long time since I have felt this down about my body. A comment from a (I hope) well-meaning relative back home didn't help things at all. But that's okay. I have a game plan and my first day (today) went well. It's going to be a long journey, but I'm committed. I have to be.

Also, I don't really like my hair length at the moment - I want it long. I know that in 6 months it will be a great length to tie back and put cute little clips in.

Oh, and my fingernails. I've been a chronic nail-biter since I was 5 years old and the only thing that used to make me stop was $20 bribes from my aunty. Once I got the cash though, it wouldn't take long before I was back into the nasty habit. I've actually been mainly not biting them over the last 10 or so years, and the most recent massacre was when I was driving behind Hubs when he had just picked up his new motorbike. It took about 300km before they were all gone again, and I haven't given them any chance to grow back. But I love having fingernails (and hate hate hate the look of my chewed nails) so I have set myself the goal of growing them nicely for a couple of weddings I have in March.

The other, probably most important thing, is that I haven't felt like my faith is getting much of a look in these days, and thanks to my good friend who gave me a daily devotional for Christmas, I can re-connect which always seems to make the rest of my life better and easier.

Hmmmm... what else? There are a few other little niggly things that I might share at the 6 month mark. Wish me luck!

We're home

2012-02-02T08:59:00.001+11:00

(This post was supposed to be published last night...)

Aaaaaaah. It's 11:30 on Wednesday night, and we weren't planning on being home til tomorrow afternoon, but here we are. Chanbe is in bed, and in a few minutes time, we'll be joining the little guy in dreamy-dream land.

We left Kempsey at 9:20am and planned to spend tonight in some random hotel in Goulburn, but we decided to press on and try our luck. We had a big break around 6:30pm so once we got back in the car, Chance was ready for sleep. we did the last 3.5 hours in one hit and although the yard is ridiculously overgrown, it felt so nice to pull in.

It's so funny to think that we were in Queensland yesterday morning; that Hubs went for a swim in the ocean at 6am; that Chanbe had a power spew in the car not far over the NSW border (coincidence? hee hee); and that our long-awaited, much anticipated, wonderfully enjoyed trip to Brisbane has come to an end.

I guess there's only one more thing to share! Road trip photo!

Wifey's last night in town

2012-01-30T01:16:00.001+11:00

It's just after midnight, we are leaving Brisbane in a matter of hours, everyone else is in bed, and I'm watching the Australian Open Men's final. It's amazing. I can't go to bed!

I may also be trying to delay our saying goodbye as long as possible. It's been such an amazing 2 months being around family - it's hard to imagine having to do everything with only the 3 of us. It has certainly made trying to decide where to go for Hubs' internship next year very tricky.

We leave after lunch and we're aiming to be home sometime Thursday. There is so much packing still to do, but still seemingly a lot of tennis to watch! (go Nadal!) Oh, and this is my first blog written and posted on my new Galaxy SII. I hippie to work out all the quirks soon for future posting!

As a matter of fact...

2012-01-26T22:47:00.003+11:00

I've got it now.

There's nothing like an ice cold milk in a sippy cup

on a scorching hot summer's day.

Face off

2012-01-26T22:10:00.000+11:00

Hubs and I were enjoying a lovely JJJ Hottest 100/Australia Day Party with our friend who always hosts a JJJ Hottest 100/Australia Day Party. We were gathered around, enjoying conversations about what will be number 1 on the countdown, sailing trips, and our friend's upcoming overseas move.

And then we started talking about facebook. I don't normally buy in to discussions about the pros and cons of facebook, as I know I have my reasons for not wanting to be a member, and although I'm happy to explain those reasons, I don't like to be made to feel like I "should" be a member. But a friend asked me to explain why I didn't partake and so I did. (see here) He wasn't convinced and tried to give reasons why my reasons weren't valid. So I explained further, but he still wasn't satisfied. I got a bit fired up and made my point with a couple of swear words (probably would have made the point better without them, but you get that) and he said he understood where I was coming from and that was the end of it.

On our way home, it got me thinking and I said to Hubs "It makes me really sad that I feel like I can't be involved in something that could be really amazing."

Hubs' response? "You are involved in something amazing. It's called life."

He started saying more but I stopped him and said I wanted to bask in the words he had just said. It. Felt. Gooooood. I have had a lot of people in my life tell me how they think it's so great that Hubs and I really make the most of things; how we're always doing exciting stuff and wonder what adventures we will begin in the year to come. And I love that. I LOVE that we have such a transient lifestyle, as we really do make an effort to make the most out of the time we have in each place. (Of course it does drive me crazy sometimes, but there's always more good than frustrating!)

So I will continue to live my life without facebook, and although I will miss out on things from time to time, I feel like I will be using that time to live my life.

(I certainly don't wish to ostracize those who are pro-facebook, it's just not for me.)

We're sailing! Part II

2012-01-21T09:00:00.000+11:00

Not only is Hubs keen on sailing, he also wanted to do a bit of windsurfing while we're here. We had originally thought about going to Lake Cootharaba - a favourite camping spot for both of our families - but with everything that's been going on, it's been a bit hard to plan, so we decided on a sailing and BBQ weekend right here at Woody Pt.

On Saturday we got the windsurfers out and it was perfect conditions for beginners with a nice, gentle breeze.

It was also a perfect day for sharing grapes:

(Chanbe with his friend Athena)

The wind really picked up on Sunday, so my aunty and cousin brought their sailing boat up for a bit of a go.

We also had a bigger crowd:

I just love those days where you're surrounded by family and great friends, enjoying the company and just hanging out. Oh, and taking walks in the park...

Happy Friday

2012-01-20T06:00:00.000+11:00

It's my birthday week! (and I forgot!)

2012-01-19T23:16:00.000+11:00

It was my birthday yesterday and it just hasn't felt like my birthday week this year. I don't really know why. I have reminders for all of my friends and family's birthdays a week in advance in my phone, and a week ago, a reminder popped up for my birthday and I thought "huh? Really??"

So anyway, I woke up yesterday morning (at 8:45!) to this:

which quickly turned into this:

If there's a better way to wake up, I'm yet to find it.

We then headed to our local Kiwi cafe, Jandals for this:

and this:

Sitting here:

We then went for a drive around Scarborough and dreamed about houses we might one day live in (you know, when we're old and rich!) It was then coffee o'clock so we grabbed a couple of take-aways and went for a walk on the Redcliffe pier.

After dropping Chanbe off for an afternoon with Aunty Liesel, Hubs and I met my parents for a Gold Class screening of the second Sherlock Holmes movie. So. Much. Fun.

And to top the day off, we met up with our immediate family (there were 12 of us) for a scrumptious dinner at the Brekky Creek Hotel. By the end of the night, I finally started to feel like it was my birthday. And what a great one it was...

We're sailing! - Part I

2012-01-16T16:32:00.000+11:00

Since being in Brisbane, Hubs hasn't had a lot of luck with sailing. He has owned his hobie catamaran, "Big B", since before we were together, and we have had a lot of great times on that boat. For the last 3.5 years however, it has been sitting in his Dad's backyard, yearning to be free. So the boat was in our front yard within days of arriving in Brisbane.

The first day he took the boat out with BFF Ben, they cartwheeled the cat in really rough conditions resulting in this:

But you should have seen their faces. "It was totally awesome! You should have seen us!!" I'm kind of glad I didn't as I probably would have been worried sick, but I'm glad they got some thrills in the process of smashing up the boat :-)

So Hubs and Ben spent an evening building a new boat from the 2.5 boats Hubs owns, and had quite a bit of success. Um, except for the fact that when they took it out, it... um... almost sunk. After more fibreglassing of the hulls, Hubs and another one of his mates Nate had a great afternoon of sailing up and down the waterfront at Margate:

It turned out though, as you can see from the photo, the blue hull was taking on water again, but it was through the pylon, not the bottom of the hull, so Hubs has since sealed this leak and is keen to take "The Phoenix" out again.

Part II to come...

A package deal

2012-01-15T20:24:00.000+11:00

When I married Hubs, there were a few things that came with him, like the desire to live in many places and experience different cultures, the want to try new things as much as possible, a lot of electrical cables and wires, 2.5 hobie catamarans, an amazing family, and this:

Most of the people in this (very dark) photo (taken on New Years Eve) are a part of Hubs' extended family, and they are amongst my most favourite people in the world. They welcomed me into the fold with open arms, and I feel I belong. And this is how they are with all they meet. Everyone is a part of their family and some of my best times in Brisbane are spent in their company.

I'm looking forward to so many more good times to come with these folk :-)

A mammoth task

2012-01-06T14:35:00.000+11:00

We had Grandpa's funeral and wake yesterday. I said to Hubs on our way to Nanny and Grandpa's place, where the wake was held, that it feels much more final. When Nanny passed away, we still had Grandpa with us, but now that they're both gone, I feel like "that's it." It's a strange, not-nice feeling.

And the next job? Clearing out the house. The contents of the house was left to me in the will, so it's up to me to determine what happens to what. I don't really want that responsibility, but it's mine and I will do my best to honour their wishes. This will also mean we'll be spending a lot of time out there, and not so much time at our beachside holiday house :-) But that's okay. It's a job that has to be done.

We just have to work out where to start...

Amanda Huggenkiss

2012-01-03T13:05:00.000+11:00

Greetings. They can be tricky.

If 2 guys are meeting for the first time, it's a handshake. If you're seeing a male friend, again, it's a handshake. If you're really good male friends or family, you might throw in a hug (being careful to give 3 pats on the back to exert your manliness.)

If a girl is meeting someone for the first time, either male or female, a handshake is quite acceptable. But upon meeting that person again, a handshake can seem really awkward or impersonal. So do you go in for the hug? Or a little kiss on the cheek? (i.e. in the air next to the cheek) or do you keep your distance and give a little wave? Or do you pretend you have your hands full with your baby/toddler and avoid any kind of contact? (No, I would never do that. Maybe...)

It can just be so awkward sometimes. Someone goes in for the hug and/or kiss and the other person isn't expecting it, or they go to both kiss on the same side or there's the one-arm hug which is pretty half-hearted but good enough for some.

And what happens if you haven't seen a friend for a while and you go in for the hug, and then you see them the next day and then a few days after that. Do you keep going in for the hug or is it kind of done?

The Europeans have got the right idea. Hug and kiss (2 or three times!) every time. Male or female, old or young, every situation is covered because it's always the same. This takes the guesswork out of it and I'm sure makes greetings go much more smoothly.

I think part of the trick is confidence. If you're going to go in for the hug and/or kiss, go in with confidence and make it obvious that that's what's about to happen. And just hope that the person who is about to receive the physical contact is ready for it :-)

(The day before our engagement party, August 2007. There was nothing awkward about our intentions :-))

A numbers game

2012-01-03T10:37:00.000+11:00

(See here and here for previous numbers games)

in 2011...
20 (ish) - the number of full nights sleep I had
3 - the number of places we have lived
5 - the number of times we visited Brisbane
??? - the number of kms we've clocked up
1 - the number of candles on Chanbe's birthday cake
2 - the number of Grandparents I lost
192 - the number of blog posts I published
8 - the number of awesome Mums I met who enrich my life

in 2012...
2 - the number of times we will move house
20 - the number of boxes of stuff I'd like to donate to Vinnies
4 - the number of tables/bench spaces I will strive to keep clear
2 - the number of semesters Hubs has left of medicine
1 - the number of PhDs Hubs will receive
1 - the number of blogs I'd like to beautify

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T08:00:00.000+11:00

Life's just peachy :-)

Christmas 2011

2011-12-31T10:00:00.000+11:00

This year, Christmas day was held at the house we're staying at, with both mine and Hubs' families coming along. Which meant we didn't have to travel anywhere all day long. All. Day. Long. This is quite significant for us, as every Christmas we have been together we have gone to at least 3 events on Christmas day, so it was just so nice to sit back, relax, and enjoy ourselves. I'll let the photos tell the rest of the tale.

A mere 30 people gathered around the table(s) in the back yard

Just a few prezzies under the Christmas tree

A few of Chanbe's Christmas presents (the pool as well as the outfit)

There was a bit of food

and a yummy Christmas Cake made by my Mum

And Santa came to give out the presents!

And boy were there a LOT of presents!

Including a very clever shirt for Grumpy

("Grumpy

But not by Chance")

Thanks to everyone for making the effort to come all the way out to our place for Christmas day. I can't tell you how lovely it was to not have to move from our house all day, and to be with you all.

Goodbye Grandpa

2011-12-30T12:29:00.000+11:00

Grandpa passed away yesterday. He hasn't been doing great for a while now. Nanny and Grandpa had been together for over 60 years, so it's understandable that he couldn't live without her. We'll be saying our goodbyes next Thursday. He was 93.

Keeping up with the Joneses

2011-12-30T10:36:00.000+11:00

I've been wanting revamp my blog for some time now, but there are just too many options out there to choose from - so many formats, fonts, colours etc.

I've also been wanting to finish unpacking our place in Mt Beauty - I'm still looking for my jewellery.

I've also been wanting to send very belated birthday cards from as far back as July.

Oh! And I've been wanting to "organise" our house so I can actually find things when I want them, not 2 weeks later after I've bought a replacement.

You see, I'm having trouble keeping up with life at the moment. How do people do it? Especially with more than 1 child? I "joke" about having 5, but in all seriousness, I would love to have 5 children. I just don't know how I would keep up with them all.

I feel like this is all I've been talking about on my blog lately - blah blah blah I can't keep up - but that's what my life consists of at the moment. This is what I'm living in, and I don't know when I'll find a way out. Every time I walk into our house, I feel like it's a holiday home - like it's not our home.

And being in Brisbane has just confused me even more. I seriously have to think to myself sometimes "where am I??" Thankfully, since we have had some sort of normalcy the last 2 weeks, Chance is actually sleeping through and even though I'm still pretty tired all the time from the 5am wake ups, I'm so glad he's sleeping better. I don't know how I feel about next year, knowing we'll be moving twice, but I just have to go with it. Embrace the chaos and know that no matter what, we'll get through it.

2012, here we come.

Wifey's repertoire

2011-12-28T11:02:00.000+11:00

I love singing. I may not be very good at it, but I love belting out my favourite tunes. Here's a couple of photos of me at my hen's night partaking it a wee bit of karaoke. (Do my bridesmaids know me, or do they know me?)

I really got in to this one:

I love cruising around in our car singing along to CDs or the radio. I love putting my iPod on and going for a walk and singing in my head (or sometimes out loud). I used to sing along to whatever song was playing in shops and it embarrassed my friends. A lot. Which made me do it more. (I was kind of an annoying teenager.)

And most recently, I've been singing Chanbe to sleep and loving that special time we have together. I start off with Melanie Safka's Alexander Beetle, I then move on to Ruby Tuesday by The Rolling Stones, (Melanie also did a cover of this song) and depending on what sort of night Chanbe is having, that might be enough. Otherwise I move on to The Rose by Bette Midler (don't judge) and Time after Time by Cyndi Lauper. I might then hum a few tunes and just sing the choruses of other songs, and I've even been singing/humming the odd Christmas carol.

It's such a lovely time we have together and I hope he remembers these songs as he gets older.

Cousin love

2011-12-26T09:00:00.000+11:00

In our first week in Brisbane (Woody Pt) we had our nieces stay with us and they were super keen to play with Chanbe and help me look after him. It was so so lovely having them here and it made the transition a lot more smooth for me than it might have otherwise been. We did lots of fun things like go to the beach:

We made yummy cookies:

That were then beautifully decorated:

We went shopping:

Where I accidentally bought the world's biggest coffee:

We blew bubbles:

And watched chick flicks:

And had lots of lovely cuddles:

We had such a lovely few days and we are looking forward to lots more special time together.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T20:37:00.001+11:00

Or, as our friend (you know who you are!) would say "Compliments of the season" (and then we pay him out.)

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas surrounded by loved ones and tinsel, and that the new year brings lots of exciting new adventures. We have another big year coming up with a move in July (back to Wang) and another one in December (only God knows where we'll be going), and as much as I'm looking forward to all the fun times, I'm also looking forward to the end of it, as that will bring some stability to our lives (hopefully!!)

Merry Christmas!
Love,
Wifey

Christmas eve

2011-12-24T20:25:00.000+11:00

'Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the house
Not a creature was stirring
Not even... Chanbe...

It's Christmas eve and I feel weird. Normally we'd be sitting down at Nanny and Grandpa's dining room table, and would probably even be onto our 2nd course by now. We would have had a few glasses of wine and whatever brew my brother had brought along to share. We would have eaten fresh prawns, turkey, chicken, sausage, pierogi, potato salad, veges, salad etc etc etc. And we'd have Christmas pudding and Nanny's brandy custard to look forward to.

And then it would be time for presents. Nanny and Grandpa had taken to giving us money in an envelope the last few years, but would also give us something else that we could unwrap. Hubs would get a business shirt of some sort, and I would get some soap and/or a towel and/or a nightie and/or something for the kitchen. Nanny would say to me "be careful with the envelope".

And then we would give our presents to them - usually a photo or series of photos, and they would have their place in the loungeroom, or "hall of fame", by the New Year.

And then we would sit and chat and laugh and Nanny and Grandpa would look around and enjoy the banter. We have so many wonderful memories of Christmas eves, and although it's sad there will be no more at Nanny and Grandpa's, we look forward to starting our own, new traditions. Like this year, we are sitting here at the house at Woody Pt, with our friend Ben, having a few drinks and enjoying the cool breeze and the intermittent rain.

I wonder what next year will look like...

Movember 2011

2011-12-23T22:01:00.000+11:00

When Hubs wanted to do Movember in 2010, I said to him that if he did it this year, he had to do it every year and get a photo with Chanbe on his birthday each year. So far, he's 2 from 2 :-)

Movember 2010

Movember 2011

Hubs' mo this year became quite unruly and I couldn't wait to shave that sucker off. The great shave was scheduled for the Sunday before he started his placement at Redcliffe hospital - the day after our arrival in Brisbane.

Our nieces were keen to be a part of the action as well.

(Sorry about the photos - I'm learning about "white balance")

And of course we had to shave it off in stages!

Stage 1

Stage 2 (that is so so wrong)

And in true current form, I don't seem to have a photo of a fully shaved Hubs on the day, so you'll just have to take my word for it, that he looked so so much better.

Thanks for everyone who sponsored Hubs' Movember efforts. We'll see you again next year!

He's still one

2011-12-23T10:30:00.000+11:00

Though, with the number of birthday parties we had for him, you could be forgiven for thinking Chanbe was already onto his second birthday! The day after we arrived in Brisbane, we had the whole family over to celebrate. I had found some gorgeous rocket ship invitations, so in keeping with the theme, I decided to make a rocket ship cake. Mum prepared the slabs of cake for me the night before so I just had to cut out and decorate.

We found Nanny's old Kenwood to help with mixing the icing - how retro!

vanilla gluten-free and yummy chocolate on the bottom

The icing job was a bit more involved than I expected it to be, but thanks to some strategically placed snakes and smarties, you wouldn't have known. I couldn't wait to light the sparklers!!

10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1...

Blast off! The sparklers were awesome!

Happy birthday Chanbe! What a wonderful year it has been watching you grow up and learn so much. You bring your Dadda and I endless joy and we can't wait to see what you get up to in the next year. Love, Mama x x x

Road trip

2011-12-22T16:00:00.001+11:00

Hubs and I love a good road trip. So when we decided to drive up to Brizzie for Christmas etc, I immediately got excited and started planning the route we would take. I have rellies in Griffith, NSW, that we have been wanting to visit since we moved south, so that was immediately going to be our first point of call. Then I asked my cousin who lives in Sydney if we could stay a night and she was most happy to have us. I just had to find somewhere between Sydney and Brisbane to spend the third night. Normally we would stay with my aunty Heather in Armidale but she has since moved back to Brisbane :-(

I just happened to be at the baby shower of a girl Frith works with, talking to one of the locum's wives and she asked what we were doing for Christmas. I told her about the road trip and she immediately said "Kempsey is about halfway between Sydney and Brisbane, you should come and stay with us." I replied "Wow that's really nice, thanks for the offer" to which she responded "It's not really nice, it's a genuine offer. It's settled. You can stay with us."

How could I refuse?

So on Wednesday the 7th of December, we began our journey. We had a lovely visit in Griffith with the fam and Chance had a lovely time being spoiled. We left the next morning for Sydney and were told to stop in at a place in Harden that sells good Devonshire Tea. We had over half a tank of gas (our car takes LPG) and even though we thought we should fuel up in Griffith before we left, it didn't happen and we thought we'd just find somewhere on the way. Towns passed by and no one seemed to sell LPG. We thought Harden would have it as it seemed like a fairly big town, so with 80km left on the predicted range, we stopped for our Dev Tea.

And I promptly locked the keys in the car. We rang RACV (NRMA in NSW) and decided there was nothing else to do but enjoy our tea and scones. And Hubs enjoyed some soup.

NRMA came and helped us out and advised us that the next LPG wasn't til Yass - about 70km away. Or we could backtrack and get off the main highway about 30km back. We decided to live recklessly (and we knew we could get towed if we did run out of fuel!) and set off for Yass, praying like crazy.
With some excellent, fuel-efficient driving, and no air con, this is what the dashboard looked like when we got to the petrol station at Yass:

We fueled up on gas and cherries and set our sights for Sydney. And of course, in true Sydney fashion, the traffic started banking back about 60km out of the city. Thankfully we exited not long after and it was very easy finding our way to Nikki's. My friend sent me a text to suggest Sydney peak hour traffic + crazy hour for kids = not much fun for Chanbe in the car. I took this photo:

... and assured her he seemed okay! We had a lovely night in and although I was worried Chanbe wouldn't sleep very well, being on a major, busy, noisy main road, he slept amazingly well, only waking up once. I joked that we should get a CD full of traffic sounds to help him sleep at home!

We left Nikki's place at around 8:30am the next morning and took the one road all the way around the outskirts of Sydney and onto the Pacific Highway. Even though it took an hour, it was very easy, and when it comes to Sydney traffic, that is saying A LOT!

We stopped at Bulahdelah for delicious burgers and picked up a couple of $1 Hawaiin shirts (one was actually made in Hawaii!!) for Hubs, and then made our way to Kempsey arriving shortly after 3pm. We had a lovely afternoon playing on the lawn of our new friends' house and also getting up close and personal with the local farmyard animals.

We all shared delicious home-made pizza for dinner and followed that with fresh fruit salad and a couple of games of Yahtzee - I won the first game and Hubs won the second. We had a bit of a rough night with Chanbe but I knew the end was in sight so I just kept my eye on the prize!

We left Kempsey around 9am and had to battle through roadworks, stopping and starting for a couple hundred kms. It was pretty frustrating but we managed. We stopped just outside of Grafton for lunch, then headed to Coolangatta to visit Hubs' Dad and Nanna. After a cuppa and home made date loaf, we convinced a protesting Chanbe to get back in the carseat for the final leg.

We happily drove across the Houghton Highway in more rain and arrived at our new home not long after 6pm.

It was so good to get there. Mum and Dad made us a yummy dinner and that glass of wine I had hit the spot. We all slept soundly, awaiting the excitement of the birthday party to come!

Survivor, eat your heart out...

2011-12-22T07:37:00.000+11:00

...cos Wifey has the best immunity on the island.

I'm surrounded by sickness at the moment, yet I don't recall having been sick since before Chanbe was born. Hubs is currently rugged up in bed, recovering from a virus that has been going around the family. Lucky bugger. Not about the virus obviously - a nasty fever and lethargy - about being rugged up in bed!

Let's hope this lucky spell continues!

A room with a view

2011-12-16T18:55:00.002+11:00

Here I am, blogging with a seabreeze tickling my... ummm.... fancy? And enjoying what I see:

And when I'm at home blogging, this is what I get to look at:

So I've just informed Hubs, that no matter where we end up, I need a view. I need to feel like I'm part of the world, and not just part of the block we live on. It might have be something we work towards, but it's definitely on my "to have in life" list.

Withdrawal

2011-12-15T18:16:00.000+11:00

It's been 9 days since I've been on my laptop and man am I feeling out of the loop. I've still been checking my emails on my iPhone, but that's it. No google reader, no internet banking (and lots of shopping! Oops!), and of course, no blogging. And I've really really missed it! I had been having lots of feelings of "could I be bothered with the whole blogging thing" lately, and it turns out that I could. I feel that this blog is a part of me now, and I've really really missed it. I need to download the blogging app to my mobile so I can blog on the run! Just something else to add to the to do list.

So I'm back! And I have lots to say! So here goes!

Well, I'm just going to ease back into it, as Hubs and I are going out for a romantic dinner tonight while Gran and Grumpy look after Chanbe. Oh, and I've fully weaned the little guy, so you'd better believe I'm going to have more than 1 glass of wine!!! (But probably not more than 2 as I have a very low tolerance for alcohol these days! Plus, you know, I still have to get up to Chance early in the morning!)

Our road trip up was fan-freakin'-tastic! Chanbe was amazing and napped for the morning drives, had a play on our long lunch breaks, and napped again in the afternoon! He has also learned a few new tricks that I can't wait to share with you all!

So, coming up in the next few days:
- The road trip
- Chanbe turns 1! Another birthday party to report on including THE CAKE!
- The end of Movember 2011 and the great shave
- Cooking and playing with Chanbe's cousins
- The biggest coffee I've ever purchased (and I've been to America!)
- Our home for the next 7 weeks
- Chanbe's new tricks

And lots more as things happen! There's going to be a lot of this in the next 7 weeks: (can't wait!)

Rock and Roll

2011-12-05T14:48:00.000+11:00

I'm not sure he quite gets the knack of the rocker...

Living in the country...

2011-12-04T14:38:00.000+11:00

We can do things like have lunch at a friend's place and feed the local wildlife:

and really get up close and personal!

We can take a walk around the pond and enjoy the valley:

On my way home from my walk, if Chanbe is still napping, I can sit down on the bench around the corner from home and make some phone calls. And enjoy the view!

Or I can do the dishes and enjoy the view! (They were the snow-capped mountains in August.)

Or we can sit on our deck with a cuppa or glass of wine... and enjoy the view...

I'm quite certain that living in Wang and MB has ruined me for city living. Who knows where Hubs and I will end up!

My idea of "taking it easy"

2011-12-03T12:35:00.001+11:00

Sleeping in today til 9:15am and having a leisurely breakfast with Hubs;
Having morning tea with our neighbour an hour later;
Saying goodbye to Hubs for the afternoon as he heads out to go gliding;
Having 3 people over for dinner tonight;
Going to church tomorrow morning;
Having the Minister and his wife over for an early dinner tomorrow;
Leaving mid-morning on Monday.

And inbetween all of that, I have a 20 point to-do list to get through. So what am I doing? Blogging! And being very happy that Chanbe has already been asleep for an hour and a half, and am hoping for just a little longer.

Can't wait to get up to Redcliffe and RELAX! (Yeah right....)

The month/s to come

2011-12-02T21:31:00.000+11:00

We leave MB on Monday, will be staying in Wang for 2 nights, then we'll be hitting the road for Redcliffe, stopping in Griffith, Sydney and Kempsey on the way. I'm very excited and am busily making my way through our huge to-do-before-we-leave list. I'm not sure what my blogging will look like over the next 2 months as I'm not sure if we'll have internet up in Brisbane, so I'll keep you posted as much as I can!

Movember 2011

2011-12-02T14:54:00.001+11:00

This year's efforts:

Compared to last year's efforts:

Not sure I can see much of a difference? In the mo that is... :-)

Thanks to everyone who sponsored Hubs in this year's event! Only 11 more months til next Movember!

Happy Anniversary

2011-12-02T11:03:00.000+11:00

It was mine and Hubs' wedding anniversary yesterday. 4 years ago, we committed our lives to each other and it has already been quite a journey for us. We have moved house 4 times, have met dozens of new people, made many new friends, and have grown in our love and respect for each other. Oh, and have had a little baby, which is kind of important to mention :-)

We still reminisce about our wedding day quite a lot - it was the best day ever!

The only thing that's missing? A wedding album. But we'll get around to that someday, right Hubs? Looking forward to many more wonderful memories to be made.

Sconnoisseur

2011-11-30T10:39:00.001+11:00

To say that Hubs loves scones would be an understatement. He loves scones. When our lovely neighbour made some the other week, Hubs devoured them and claimed they were the best scones he'd ever had. So when we had said lovely neighbour over for dinner last night, I asked what her recipe was.

She reminded me of Nanny when she told me she had to recipe. You just start with about 2 cups of self-raising flour, and add the right amount of butter, a couple of spoons of icing sugar, an egg, some very cold cream and chopped dates. Her tips were to just use a knife to stir (handling as little as possible) and use a very hot oven - about 240 degrees. Also, if it's an electric oven, cook the scones on the bottom shelf, and if it's gas, cook on the top.

Seeing as how I'd never made scones before, I thought I'd give it a go, as Hubs has his first exam this week and I wanted to do something extra nice for him.

I didn't have dates so I substituted with craisins. That reminds me of one of our favourite moments in the TV show My Family, where Susan is cooking dinner (she is not known for her skills in the kitchen) and she says "I'm cooking Duck a l'orange. But I didn't have any duck so I used mince. And I didn't have any oranges so I used pears." Ha ha ha ha ha!!!

Anyway. Back to the scones. This is how the mixture looked:

It wasn't until I had put them on the tray that I realised I'd forgotten the egg. And the icing sugar. But I figured they looked pretty good, so I'd give them a go. What do you think?

They were very very light and fluffy and quite delicious, even if I do say so myself! We had them straight out of the oven with a bit of butter and a cup of coffee, sitting on our deck. Chanbe even liked them!

As I was sitting there, enjoying our view, I thought to myself once again how lucky I have been to have had Hubs around so much in the last 12 months. A lot of people say to us how hard it must be with Hubs studying full time, and not having an income. And as much as it sucks not having money most of the time, having Hubs around to see Chanbe's first year, and to give me sleep-ins and a cooked breakfast a few mornings a week, and to be able to have 3 meals a day together a lot of the time, and and and and... well it's worth being broke for a while. Hubs has 1 more year of full-time study, and then it will be a totally different ball game. But I'm looking forward to the challenges that will bring.

We made it!

2011-11-30T09:16:00.001+11:00

Here's cheers to the first year of parenthood! It gets easier from now on, right? :-)

And here's cheers to my 600th post! I'm currently trying to make scones for the first time ever. And I just realised I forgot to add the egg. Oh well! We'll see how they go...

The essence of Chanbe

2011-11-29T09:43:00.000+11:00

No, it's not a new fragrance coming out, just in time for Christmas. It's this photo:

This is my son. I look at this photo, and I see him. I really see him. The smirk, the look in his eyes, the fact that I can see him as a teenager. I see his soul in this photo. I can't stop looking at it. This is the first time I've really realised who this person is, and who he is becoming. It's quite a revelation for me. We have so many more good times to come.

Birthday Boy

2011-11-28T08:50:00.001+11:00

(Warning: This post may contain clichés.)

Chanbe turned one yesterday. Where has the time gone? (I warned you!) Actually, I know exactly where it has gone, and we have enjoyed it so much. Chanbe woke up at 6am yesterday - we all wake up early on our birthday, right? - but I wasn't quite ready to get up so we had a play in the spare bed and by 7 he had drifted back to sleep! We didn't get up until 8:30 so we were all rested for our big day to come.

Chanbe had a birthday breakfast of home-made (of course) berry pancakes.

We then headed to church for lots of cuddles and kisses and birthday wishes. And then it was time for the party! Well, just a small BBQ with a couple of families from the medical centre where Hubs works. It had been raining all day Friday and Saturday (and most of the night too!) but Sunday was beautiful. The kids played in the playground (and the mud) and it was so nice to be outside after being couped up for 2 days.

And then it was time for CAKE!!!

Not my best effort, but the cake was delish! We had a gluten-free requirement, so it's a flourless chocolate cake. Really quite delectable. There were no candles, but there were kids and party hats so that more than made up for it!

And now for the obligatory one-year-old-eating-cake photo.

Oh yeeeeeeaaaaah! Thank you to everyone for their birthday wishes! We look forward to sharing many more with you all!

Night 2 report

2011-11-21T09:55:00.001+11:00

Last time I blogged, I was listening to my baby scream while Hubs tried to settle him, without me intervening with a feed. So many times I nearly went in to "help" but I knew this would just mean a step back in our progress. I lay in bed, reading my Australian Breastfeeding Association book, telling myself that it was going to be okay. I finally tried to go to sleep, with a pillow over my head and was dozing off when I heard Hubs come into bed.

It was 12:30. Chanbe was crying for 2 hours. It was so hard and heartbreaking, but we're just getting so desperate.

Then last night he was really tired when we put him to bed, and he went down quite easily. We heard him wake up at 9:30pm and Hubs went in. I was ready to go the long haul again, but Chance settled straight away and Hubs was back out in 10 minutes. 10 MINUTES!!!! I know I know. I shouldn't get too excited. Shouldn't get my hopes up. But it really was exciting.

Then nap time came (very early) this morning, around 9:15am. He'd been up since 6:15 so it was understandable. It took me 20minutes of wrestling and rocking and patting and singing, but I did it. I was very proud of myself for being so calm.

It's now 11:25 and he's still asleep. This is a very good start to the day.

We are heading to Wang tonight til Thursday, then we'll be in MB for the weekend (Chanbe's birthday on Sunday!) and all next week, and then we have a bit of to-ing and fro-ing to do before we leave for our road trip to Brisbane on Wednesday the 7th December.

Oh, and Hubs has 2 exams and a presentation to do as well! It's going to be crazy busy, and it'll be interesting to see how the sleeping goes while we're away, but we can only try.

Update: Chanbe slept til 11:55! Woo hoooooo!

The weaning game

2011-11-19T22:44:00.001+11:00

Yes this is a post about breastfeeding. And lack of sleep. Just letting you know.

I have successfully weaned Chanbe off his daytime feeds, with only his post-dinner feed remaining. Night-time feeds, however, have been a bit trickier. He's used to waking up, getting boob, then going back to sleep. It's worked for him for almost 12 months now, so why should he expect any change?

Because Mama needs more sleep, that's why.

I've been able to put him to sleep during the day a couple of times without having to resort to a feed, which I've been really happy with, but when he wakes up at night, (ie 11pm, 1am, 3am, 5am etc) it's a different story. So far, I haven't even tried dropping those feeds, as it would just mean lots of tears (mostly mine) and too much of a disruption to an already crazy routine. The theory is, there will be 3-7 rough nights, but then they learn that they don't need boob to go back to sleep, and they start to "self settle".

It's those 3-7 rough nights that we haven't been able to commit to as yet.

I just spent 15 minutes trying to settle Chanbe by rocking, singing, patting etc, but he knows what he wants, and doesn't understand why, after having it for so long, he's suddenly being cut off. Hubs came to the rescue, and I can currently hear the whistle from the Sleepy Train starting off. I'm really hoping it works, as Chanbe is getting himself into quite a state.

I'm not a fan of controlled-crying, but somehow this is supposed to be different - you're with them the whole time so you are able to comfort them, but it still breaks my heart. We have committed ourselves to the 3-7 nights once we arrive in Brisbane and have settled in for a few days. The idea is, that Hubs tends to him during the night, and when he realises there's no boob to be had, he won't wake up anymore. The reason we can't do it now, is that Hubs is coming into exams and really can't afford to lose the sleep.

So the question is, does this really work? Or, more importantly, after a year of interrupted sleep, will it work for us!!??

Back to "normal"

2011-11-18T10:22:00.001+11:00

Ha! As if my life resembles any type of normality!

Mum and Dad left 2 hours ago, and in that time I've had to do things I haven't done in 2 weeks, like get up before 10am, do the washing up, put Chanbe to sleep, get the washing in...

Now don't judge. I'm not entirely lazy or useless, except when my Mum is around. I think since I've had Chanbe, whenever Mum is around I digress back into being the child (not "a" child :-)), wanting to be looked after. And Mum and Dad do that so well! Since they arrived, they have been doing pretty much everything around the house - cooking, washing, cleaning up, getting up to Chance in the morning, feeding him his meals, changing nappies, putting him down for naps etc etc.

I don't just sit around taking advantage of their generosity, obviously, but I certainly have time to rest that I don't normally have. And they insist! I guess I get a taste of what it's like to have family around when you're raising a family, and it's nice. Really nice. I have been feeling like my old self again - rested, relaxed, not so stressed.

It was hard to say goodbye this morning, especially seeing the look on Chance's face when his Gran and Grumpy drove away, but we'll be in Brisbane in 3 weeks so that's something to look forward to.

I really do hope that we settle down one day close to family and friends.

Happy Birthday! (the first of many...)

2011-11-17T18:56:00.001+11:00

As I mentioned, we hosted mothers group at our place this week, and I decided to throw a combined birthday party for all the kids!

We had such a lovely time with all the kids tearing around, showing off all their new skills. And of course, there was cake! I saw the idea for this cake months and months ago and knew I had to give it a go. And I gotta say, it turned out pretty damn nicely.

It was a very hungry caterpillar!

All the birthday boys! (The one girl who is part of our mum's group couldn't make it)

We then headed outside for the kids to have a run up and down our deck, pushing their carts.

Chance really rose to the occasion, and even though he missed out on his morning sleep (which usually goes for 2 hours) and only had 45 min at 2:30, he's still awake at 7pm and having a great time! But Dadda just got home so Chanbe will be boarding the sleeping train and will hopefully be in sleepy land very soon. What a great day!

Sicko

2011-11-16T19:51:00.001+11:00

How can he go from this:

... to this:

... and this:

... in 48 hours?? Chanbe has a nasty virus and he is not a happy chappy, but he's been a bit up and down so I'm hoping he'll be more up than down tomorrow, as we are hosting my mother's group here at MB!! I've been looking forward to this for weeks, and I have a very special surprise for you all that I'll share with you tomorrow (or Friday if I'm too tired from our big day!)

Mum and Dad leave Friday morning and we've had such a great time together. I don't like to say it, but the 2 weeks they've been here really have flown by too quickly. I'm looking forward to being up in Brisbane (Redcliffe) so I can be close by to family again, albeit for a short time.

Stay tuned!

bbbbbbbbad to the bone

2011-11-15T10:15:00.001+11:00

Guess who?

(I'll give you a hint: It's not me or Chanbe. Or The Stig.)

Did you guess?? So yeah. Now my Hubsband rides a motorbike. I guess he felt like he had too much free time, what with studying/working full time, raising an (almost) 1-year-old, being an attentive wonderful Hubs, gliding on weekends.... Ha!

Hubs first broached the subject of getting his motorbike licence a few months ago, and at the time I thought that it would be something that would happen in the next year or 2. Instead, it happened in a few months. He did a course and got his learner's permit, and in Victoria, that pretty much means you can get yourself a bike and ride on your own. Crazy, no?? The learners course is in a carpark at the Wangaratta airport. No traffic and no speeds over 30kph. And all of a sudden they're allowed to ride a motorbike up to 650CC in the big wide world??????

So then it was time to look for a bike. Hubs jumped onto eBay, and Hubs being Hubs was quite taken by a couple of fixer-uppers (or "orphan bikes" as my Dad calls them) but I suggested that could be something he looked into later down the track when he has an actual garage to do the fixing up. And then he found it. A 2006 Kawasaki Eliminator. Who on earth had the great idea to call a motorbike an Eliminator. As if I'm not scared enough!!

And the icing on this danger cake of insanity? We had to pick it up from Melbourne. 350km away. So we left Chanbe behind with my parents who are staying with us at the moment, and set out on Sunday at 8:30am. We made it to Melbourne in great time and was at the guy's place at 1pm. Hubs took it for a ~~burn~~ safe ride around the back streets to get a feel for it, and we were on the road. Well, kind of. It took us 20 minutes to go about 2km because of Melbourne traffic, and we weren't even in town!! I was in the car following Hubs and I don't know that I have ever been more terrified in my life. But he navigated his way beautifully and we were soon out of the busy traffic and onto the safety of.... the freeway.

We arrived at the motorbike accessories shop and I started to calm down a bit. It seems that Hubs is a bit of a natural. He looks like he's been riding for years, and he loved the freeway riding - much less stressful than being in the middle of traffic. We suited him up with a new helmet, jacket, gloves and pants. He sure does look the part. We then started to head home. It was 3:30pm by this stage, and by the time we stopped a couple of times for fuel, and for a rest in Wangaratta, we didn't get home until 9:30pm. It was a ridiculously long day, and we were both happy to be back home.

I must admit that I love it. I'm not saying that I'm not going to worry every time he gets on and rides away, but there's something very sexy about a man on a motorbike, oui?

The long and the short of it

2011-11-08T11:04:00.001+11:00

I've had a few hairstyles in my time and have dabbled in colours galour, and have written before about how I missed my long hair. Well, I'm there again. I want long hair. I don't know what happened the last time I went to my hairdresser. I didn't mean to get so much cut off, I just got a head full of steam and thought "Yeah! I want shorter hair!!" Thankfully it's not that short so maybe by this time next year I might have what you would consider "long" hair. I haven't had real long hair since I was 12. I still remember getting it cut off just before my 13th birthday, and I've never really gone back since.

So here's a before shot

and I will do my best in the next year to let it grow let it grow let it grow :-)

Giddyup!

2011-11-01T21:31:00.000+11:00

In case you're living under a rock (or just living outside of Victoria) you would know that today was Melbourne Cup Day - a public holiday in Victoria. Woo! We celebrated the day by heading to Wangaratta (just for a change) to take Ma to the races. We had such a lovely day and I must say that we were 4 of the best-dressed punters there! I'll let you decide for yourself though...

First up we have Wifey, wearing her red dress she recently purchased on line, accessorising with a Mimco necklace given to her by her darling Hubsband as an annivchrisbirthday present. Chanbe's outfit was purchased at the local op-shop for a total of $2, with accessories made with love from 8-10pm last night by his Mama, with the help of his Dadda and Ouma. Hubs is looking dashing in his pinstripe pants that he wore on the day he made his vows to Wifey, matched with a lovely white paisley shirt and topped off with black suspenders. And Ma is wearing a delightful silk dress she picked up whilst in Melbourne last week, paired with a stunning cardi and super-cute fascinator.

Can we see a bit more for the final judgment? :-)

Sorry, is this just too cute? (as IF I'm sorry...)

I just wish I had thought to enter Chanbe in "Fashions on the field."

Three cheers for Chanbe's outfit! Hip hip hip!

Hooray!

We really had a lovely day and the weather was spectacular. We've had a lovely time with Ma here, and will be sad to see her go home tomorrow, but we know we'll be seeing her in just over a month back in Brisbane. Okay okay. I'll give you just one more ;-)

Did I get a look in?

2011-10-31T09:30:00.000+11:00

A response

2011-10-30T16:36:00.002+11:00

In a response to this post, my friend sent me this video link in the comments.

Thank you friend. It hit the spot like a hot chocolate and oatmeal cookie on a dreary Sunday afternoon :-)

"I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay"

2011-10-30T16:31:00.000+11:00

"I sleep all night and I work all day."
Sleep all night? Baah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!

Oh the irony

2011-10-29T22:53:00.002+11:00

Last night, Chanbe slept through. And I don't mean the technical version of sleeping through which is a 5 hour block. I mean, he didn't wake up. But I did. He went to sleep around 8:30pm and was a bit restless, so I assumed we were in for another usual night of waking up every 2 hours. I crashed around 11pm thinking that he'd be waking up any minute now, just as I get to sleep he'll wake up.

I woke up and wondered why I hadn't been woken up by my son's crying and I looked at the clock. 3am. Wha????? I lay there for a good 5 minutes, excited by this victory, and I didn't even worry (that much) that there was something wrong. But there was something wrong. With me. Because I'm still feeding Chanbe all through the night, and I hadn't fed him for almost 7 hours (count it people!!!! I wish I'd gone to bed at 8:30 too....) I was full. And in quite a bit of pain. I spent the next 20 minutes looking for my manual breast pump to ease the pain and discomfort. By this stage Hubs had woken up and was trying to get back to sleep while I was fretting around.

He said I had 2 options. Firstly, I could set up the electric pump and use that, (tooooo haaaaarrrd) or I could go and give Chanbe a dream feed (but but but what if he wakes up????) I chose the second option and was in and out in 5 minutes with him barely stirring. He did his job well, and apart from me knocking something over on the way out and almost waking him up, it went very well indeed. It was 3:45am by then. I could go back to sleep!!!

Except I couldn't. I know that this is more Alanis Morissette irony than actual irony, but there I was, with a baby who was sleeping through the night for the first time in months and months, and I couldn't sleep. My mind was racing. I worked out that I had left my breast pump at my friend's house in Wang, and thought about my sleeping baby. Would this happen again? Was I finally past the 2-hourly wake-ups? The last time I looked at the clock it was 4:30 so I figure I got to sleep some time before 5.

Chanbe woke up for good at 6:15 and after some play time in bed, Hubs took him for a walk so I could get some more sleep. I wonder what tonight will bring!?

Play ball!

2011-10-29T09:00:00.000+11:00

Redefining

2011-10-28T22:28:00.001+11:00

I've taken a bit of a step back from my blogging lately. This hasn't been an entirely intentional decision on my part. I just haven't been feeling it. A few times I've thought "I could blog about that" but nothing has come of it. So I decided to read some new blogs, to get some inspiration; to get the creative juices flowing again. Trouble is, the more blogs I read, the less I felt like writing. I feel like it's all being said by other people, so why bother saying it myself? And then if I get an idea from someone else's blog, is that plagiarism? There are just SO many bloggers out there these days, particularly mummy bloggers, which I don't necessarily consider myself one of, but there are many.

My main purpose for this blog is to document our life in a non-facebook medium, so other people, mainly family and friends, can keep track of our adventures. I guess the more blogs I read, the more I felt a need to write things that people might find interesting. But what people? My intended audience are people who know us and want to know what we're up to. And even though I am by no means a competitive person, I felt pressure to "do better".

There is a lot going on in our lives at the moment, but it's mainly around back-and-forth travel between MB and Wang; something I'm already sick of, and I'm certainly sick of talking about it and how sick I am of it. I thought I had been coping with it okay, and all throughout October, I have been looking forward to being at home in MB for November. Cos that's what Hubs said would probably be the case. Turns out, The University of Melbourne's Faculty of Medicine, Rural Clinical School, hates us. Hubs has to travel back to Wang for 3 days a week for 3 weeks. When Hubs told me that news tonight, I almost lost my sh*t.

It's not his fault, I know that, but I was really really looking forward to some home time. To not having to pack a suitcase; to trying to teach Chanbe some good sleeping habits (like, you know, actually sleeping for more than 2-3 hours at a time) but this seems like a waste of time if we're just going to drag him back to Wang again for a few random nights here and there.

Wanna know some good news? (Pleeeeease Wifey!!!!!!!!!!) Hubs' Mum arrived today and she'll be with us til next Wednesday, and my parents arrive the same Wednesday and stay for 2 weeks. Which means? Extra sleep for Wifey. And of course, lovely, precious time for Chanbe to spend with his grandparents. It might also mean I'll be back on deck a bit with the ol' blogging.

I have some things to share, but I don't quite have the words as yet.

Model material?

2011-10-28T09:00:00.000+11:00

Pen pal

2011-10-27T09:00:00.000+11:00

All smiles

2011-10-26T09:00:00.000+11:00

Not much to say...

2011-10-25T09:00:00.000+11:00

... but lots to show. Here's a week of pictures and not many words.

Hubs' new hobby

2011-10-24T16:15:00.000+11:00

Guess who just joined the local gliding club? (I'll give you a hint: It wasn't me. Or Chanbe.)

Hubs went gliding last weekend with our good friends Nathan and Cal. And he got hooked. Real bad. Can you see why?

So we headed back down yesterday so he could become a member. I might even give it a go some time!

Skip to about 40 seconds in and enjoy the ride!

New dress

2011-10-17T21:02:00.002+11:00

Well, one of them anyway... (and I may or may not have bought it in red, as well as black and white polka-dot :-) )

Grumpy

2011-10-14T11:52:00.000+11:00

My Dad (Grumpy) with his first Grandchild

A write-off

2011-10-13T11:50:00.002+11:00

It may seem dramatic, but I'm officially writing-off the next 6 months. There is no normality in our lives; no consistency, no routine, no continuity. This may seem like an exciting way to live, but when you have an almost-11-month-old, it's not ideal. We're in Wang for most of October, in MB for most of November, going to Brisbane for December and January, and who knows what next year will bring. So instead of stressing about it, and trying to be normal in any way I can, I'm just going to fly by the seat of my pants and accept that this is our life right now.

I'm sitting here, at our friend's place in Wangaratta where we stay when we're here, listening out for Chanbe in case he wakes up, as he is on our bed instead of in his cot as he seems to have developed an aversion for his portacot, and my back just doesn't have anything left to be picking him up, putting him down (repeat repeat repeat), hoping he has a good sleep. He still doesn't sleep well, and there is nothing we can do while we are living this transient lifestyle: I've just got to go with it.

I'm devoting this time to catching up on my google reader, doing a bit of blogging, and reading trashy magazines that my friend buys. And hoping that this lifestyle we are leading won't impact too dramatically on our little guy.

Letting go

2011-10-08T13:52:00.003+11:00

For a few months now, we have been teaching Chanbe how to "let go". Like when he grabs a fist full of my hair and gives it a big tug, if we say in a firm, but kind tone "let go", he usually does. And of course we follow that up with "good letting go!" to encourage this behaviour.

If only it were that easy for adults. There are so many things that I want to "let go", and I wish all it took was for my Mum or Dad or Hubs to say in a firm, but kind tone "let go". Things like memories of times I've been hurt, or harsh words that I have spoken to people in anger or frustration, or things. So many things in our house I wish I could just let go, but hold onto just in case I might need them one day. Is it the same with feelings? Do I hold on to them just in case I need them one day? In case I need to remember the hurt; to punish the person who wronged me, or to punish myself for what I've said?

With all our to-ing and fro-ing we've been doing lately, I wish I didn't have to bring so much stuff with us, but I bring so much "just in case." Yeuch. It's something else I'm working on. So much work to do, so many distractions...

Chanbe at the park

2011-10-04T08:30:00.000+11:00

While I was in Albury for the day a couple of weekends ago, Hubs took Chanbe for a play at the local park. They had such a great time, and Hubs took some great photos and video for me to see when I got home!

The video commentary is courtesy of the locals kids at the skate park next to the playground :-)

Who is that good-looking baby, copying my every move??

He loved the swing!

And he thought the bark was mighty tasty...

Too much TV

2011-10-01T15:49:00.000+10:00

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this much, but Hubs and I don't have a TV. We haven't had one since we moved to Melbourne over 3 years ago. Do I miss it? Sometimes. Would I watch it if we had one? All the time. Would it be quality TV? Probably not.

The only thing I really miss is watching the footy (or any sport for that matter), but every time I get the opportunity to watch tv, all I do is complain that there's nothing good on. You see, I hate reality tv shows, almost as much as I hate facebook, and when seemingly 80% of tv shows are "reality" (and I use the term VERY loosely, just as I would use the term "friends" on facebook) there doesn't seem much point in getting a telly.

Other reasons?

- I end up watching crappy shows that I don't even really like and feel shame afterwards.
- I find myself planning my whole day around what's on TV. (Friends is on for an hour between 10-11am, so I try and get Chance down for his sleep before 10am or after 11am. Shocking.)
- I get annoyed when Chanbe wakes up and I'm in the middle of watching Master Renovator's Dinner Date Idol.
- Infomercials. Need I say more? Yes I need. I bought something I saw on an infomercial the other day, and I'm not proud of myself for doing so. I just get. Sucked. IN!! (I haven't told Hubs yet - I'll "surprise" him when it turns up! Woo!)

Since we're in Wang for the better part of the next month, I'm sure I'll be watching a lot of crappy tv. I just won't be able to help myself!!!

I'm going to bed now

2011-09-30T15:21:00.000+10:00

means different things to Hubs and I. For me, it means:

Taking the dishes from the coffee table to the kitchen
Making sure all the food has been put away
Going to have a shower
Brushing my teeth
Taking my seretide
Hear Chance wake up
Go and feed and re-settle Chance
Turn the lights off, lock the doors
Get into bed
Realise I've left my phone in the loungeroom
Go and get phone and then get back into bed

For Hubs, it means:

Walk into bedroom, take clothes off and get into bed

Boys are such simple creatures :-)

Wifey's new clothes

2011-09-29T15:17:00.000+10:00

I don't mind a spot of clothes shopping here and there, but since I had Chanbe, my body has changed somewhat and many of my old clothes didn't quite fit right. So I culled. Big time. I donated all the clothes that I hadn't worn since Chance was born, and many of the clothes I had been keeping "just in case my body morphs again and I fit into them some day." I figure, in 10 years time after we've had our 7th baby (ha ha ha ha ha) I won't be looking to fit into the clothes I had 10 years before. I'll want to buy new stuff. So I let them go.

Some of the items hadn't even been worn, as I had bought them years ago thinking "when I lose weight" blah blah blah. Well I did lose some weight a few years ago, but those things, mainly skirts, never suited my body type. So to Vinnies they went. In the last few weeks, I have been practically buying a new wardrobe. We had some money come in that we had been waiting for, and finally we could relax a bit with our super-strict budget, and splurge a little bit.

I still bought most of my stuff from KMart and Target, and as much as I love op-shopping, it was really lovely to buy some new stuff. I also bought some super-cute dresses on an online store (after trying stuff on at a shop to get my size) and I cannot wait for them to turn up! And it turns out that my complete body shape/type change has worked in my favour in many ways. First of all, I could never before fit into Target trousers, but the other day I bought 6 pairs of pants in the one go! 6!!! And I don't mind saying, they look pretty darn cute!

This is one of the first times in my life that I have bought a whole bunch of clothes that fit beautifully right now. Not clothes that I buy because they're on sale and they're 1 or 2 sizes too small for me and I stash them in my cupboard and they sit there taunting me, waiting for me to lose the weight I keep promising myself I'll lose. No. I'm buying for who I am right now, which means, also for the first time (maybe just in a long time) I'm accepting myself for who I am, and what I look like. Not just accepting, but loving. I tell you, as a girl who has struggled with body image for a looooonnnnng time, this is a damn nice place to be.

I can't wait to show you some of the outfits!

In the next month...

2011-09-28T15:05:00.001+10:00

...we will be spending a total of:

22 days in Wang
7 days at home
3 days at student accommodation
Frith will spend 3 days in Melbourne
and I'll spend the entire time thinking "we did not sign up for this!!!"

I'm trying to keep positive by thinking about all the good things about our situation, like the fact that I get to spend a lot of time with my Wang friends, and that I'll get to watch rubbish tv at our friend's house where we're staying, and that I've become really good at packing and unpacking (maybe not in a timely manner, but still.)

I have a to-do list as long as my arm at the moment, and I really need to get back to it. I don't know how much I'll be blogging in the weeks to come, but I'm feeling inspired again, so hopefully I'll get the opportunity to write a few posts that are kicking around in my head.

Back to the packing!

Dear Hubs

2011-09-27T10:30:00.000+10:00

I've not been overly inspired to blog lately, as I mentioned, but as I was walking with Chanbe in the pram the other day, I started thinking about all the wonderful things that are going on in my life. They are not overly newsworthy, but I am definitely really enjoying life. I then started thinking about Hubs and all the wonderful things he does for me and Chanbe, and started compiling a list in my head. It went something like this:

Dear Hubs,
these are just a few things that I love about you.

1. I love how you seem to have every type of lead and adapter for every type of gizmo and gadget thinkable. And if not, you can often make one out of something else you have.

2. I love how even though you don't like watching the footy, you have been tuning our media PC into the local tv channels so I can watch Friday Night Footy.

3. I love how you watch Friday Night Footy with me.

4. I love how, after I've gotten up to Chance for the third time in the night, when I come back to bed, you give me cuddles and tell me how I'm an amazing Mum and that Chanbe is really lucky to have me as his Mum.

5. I love how even though you have an interrupted night's sleep as well, you always give me sleep-ins on the weekends and sometimes during the week when you can.

6. I love how after you have given me a sleep-in, you often bring me breakfast in bed consisting of poached eggs and toast - more recently your home-made sourdough. And a cup of tea.

7. I love how you "made" me watch Firefly and didn't say "I told you so" when I thought it was one of the best tv shows ever made.

8. I love how even though you think I look pretty when I get all dressed up, you like me best in my jeans and a t-shirt.

9. I like how we don't have that much in common, so we can both experience new things, and I love that you challenge me to try new things.

10. I love that you don't take things at face value, and that you constantly ask "why"?

11. I love how you play with our son; how you love and adore him; how you play WWF wrestling with him and let him win.

12. I love how you take such good care of me in so many ways.

Fun times up high

2011-09-27T10:00:00.000+10:00

I've been trying to get Chance to wave/clap/say hello whilst videoing him. It's much easier said than done!!

He said he'd caaaaaallllll!!!

2011-09-27T09:57:00.002+10:00

I thought, once I was married, that I wouldn't have to wait for a guy to call me, after he had promised to do so. But I forgot that I still had to deal with real estate agents. Our washing machine stopped working 11 days ago, on a Friday night, and I reported it to the RE agent on the Monday morning. We went to Wang til Thursday night, and on Friday arvo, after picking Chanbe up from Childcare and having coffee with a friend, I popped in to the agent's office to ask how things were progressing.

"Oh hi Renae. Yeah, um, the guy who fixes washing machines is on holidays til the 20th of October."

"Riiiiiight. Is there anyone else who could fix it?"

"Yeeeeah, we're going to try someone over in Bright."

Wifey's thinking: Going to? You found out that this guy is on holidays 4 days ago and you haven't rung anyone else??? And now it's Friday afternoon. Yeah. Good luck. "Okay, well keep me posted!!!!"

I hadn't heard anything by yesterday arvo so I gave them another call at 9:05am today.

"Yeeeeah, we were following that up yesterday. I'll call you back in 10 or 15 minutes."

It's been 45 minutes. I have 4 loads of washing to do. Luckily a new friend of ours (a receptionist from the medical centre lives just around the corner and has very kindly offered her washing machine for use this morning (and any time) but that's not the point!!!

WHY WON'T HE CAAAALLLLLLL???????

A classic cliche

2011-09-26T09:23:00.000+10:00

I know all kids go through the stage where they take things out of a box, one at a time, but it's different when it's your kid going through that particular stage. We are having SO much fun.

Too cute

2011-09-25T20:49:00.001+10:00

This is Chanbe with his little friend Frederick.

They have lots of fun together. Frederick's Mum, KJ and I hope they will be friends for a very long time.

blogging blah

2011-09-19T11:52:00.000+10:00

I haven't been around much lately, I know. I just haven't felt overly inspired to do much posting, even though I have half a dozen half-finished blog entries. I'm sure I'll get back into the swing of things soon. We've just been traveling back and forth to Wang more than expected, and we have things on for the next 6 weekends, as well as having to go back to Wang regularly for the next 5 weeks. I feel like my time is being spent either packing or unpacking!

On a good note, Hubs has been giving me LOTS of sleep-ins and even a few breakfasts in bed for absolutely no reason (other than my being awesome! :-)) Our (not-so) little Chanbe is going great, and just rolls with our crazy lifestyle. Sleeping is still an "issue" (hence all the sleep ins I'm getting) but we'll just keep plugging away.

I've spent this morning chatting on the phone and shopping on line for fun things, as well as giving our house a much-needed vacuum. I'm about to walk to childcare to pick Chance up and will hopefully meet Hubs for a coffee afterwards.

See? Really not much to blog about :-) But always some photos to share...

Chanbe helping Dadda

Father and Son on Fathers Day

Good news

2011-09-15T12:12:00.000+10:00

We received an update from South Africa to say that Ouma Lies' operation went well. She will need another op in October, but it's all looking good for now.

And.... he's out! (almost)

2011-09-13T21:16:00.002+10:00

Hubs and I entered parenthood without much thought about how we were going to raise our kids. I mean, we had a few things sorted, but most of our parenting "style" has happened by "chance" :-) We never really intended to have our baby sleep in the same bed as us, but that has happened a lot (and has been lovely). We never really decided about keeping him in the same room with us, but that came about due to the size of our unit in Wang, and then we just got used to it so we continued with this in our new place.

I have loved this arrangement for so many reasons, but now we feel it's time that the little guy has his own room. So I have spent this morning clearing out the spare room to make way for Mr Independence. Well, I spent the first part of the morning sleeping, as Hubs took Chance to childcare for me, but since I got up (10:15am - BLISS!!!) that's what I've been doing. I really wanted to have it all set up for when Chance got home, but the cot won't fit through the bedroom door so I need to take it apart to move it.

We are hoping that this new arrangement will mean more sleep for us all. I'm a little nervous about it to be honest - I've been able to be so in tune with Chance's sleeping and waking - and I've resigned myself to a few rough nights to come during the adjustment stage (rougher than usual??) but I'm really hoping the benefits outweigh the drawbacks. I'm also prepared for the possibility that it won't make much of a difference at all, but I'm happy to give it a try.

Oh, and I can't WAIT to have our room back to ourselves!! I've really missed being able to read in bed and not have to worry about making noise and creeping around during the night.

So here goes nothing!

(Hopefully we'll be seeing more of this soon!) (This photo is quite old :-)

Ouma Lies

2011-09-12T15:50:00.000+10:00

Hubs' Ouma Lies, in South Africa, is having a heart valve replacement tomorrow. Hubs' Mum headed over yesterday to be with her, and we hope to hear some news about how everything is going soon. I've been thinking a lot about Ouma Lies the last few days, and really cherishing the memory of our time in South Africa, almost 2 years ago.

She is one of the most interesting people I've ever met and has had such an amazing life, full of so many stories and adventures. We are praying that there are still many more adventures to come.

Stuffing around

2011-09-06T15:39:00.000+10:00

On our most recent trip to Brizzie, Hubs' sister Lsl's pool was empty, so Hubs decided it would make a tee-yodally awesome skateboard ramp! Woo!

Since that didn't work out so well for him, he thought he might try with the BMX.

As Hubs was poised, ready to rumble, I was pretty sure he was just posing for the camera, but the thing about Hubs is that, deep down, he's a boy. A boy who loves a bit of mischief, so it was still possible that he'd give it a go. But the shallow end of the pool wasn't a challenge enough for him. So he went to the deep end....

"Hubs? Huuuuuuuuuuuhhhhbs????? Pleeeeeeease tell me you're kidding!!!"

Thankfully he was kidding*, but who can resist a good gag photo shoot??

*No hubsbands were harmed during the making of this blog post

Cousins

2011-09-05T09:31:00.001+10:00

Growing up, we were always surrounded by cousins. My brother's and my first cousins are all withing about 13 years of our age and many times through the year we would catch up with them. This still happens, although a little less often now that a few of us aren't in Brizzie anymore. I have such a special relationship with them, that it absolutely warms my heart to see Chance's cousins adoring him so much.

On our last few visits to Brisbane, Chance's cousin Josie was such a great help and was always ready to volunteer to look after Chance. She also became quite good at feeding him!

I'm really looking forward to seeing their relationship develop, as I'm sure they'll be great friends as they get older. And I'm also pretty sure Josie will be volunteering for babysitting duties in the not-so-distant future!

Back again

2011-09-03T13:13:00.003+10:00

I've been a bit absent from my online life this week, as we have been back in Wang for Hubs' studies. We had a great time catching up with friends and I had a great visit with my mothers group, and we got back to MB last night. I think the traveling is going to get a bit old (we need to go back to Wang next week from Tuesday night to Friday) but I really do enjoy catching up with my Wang buddies. The down side is, we're still not settled in our new home! We just haven't had the time to finish unpacking and shopping for furniture we need (bookshelves and set of drawers mainly) and then there's the desire to not buy more stuff, which leaves us in a state of almost but not quite moved in to our new place.

Plus, it's still ski season so I push Hubs out the door to go snowboarding as much as possible. (As if he protests...) He's up at Hotham today with a couple of friends.

It's only driving me a little crazy. For the most part it doesn't matter too much, but this place is not completely child-proofed which means most of my day is spent keeping a very close eye on the little guy. He's getting pretty quick now so I can't just leave him and put the washing on without my heart racing a million miles an hour, and hoping he doesn't find anything that he shouldn't. He's currently having a great time in the Jolly Jumper which gives me a few minutes to chill, but I can only leave him bouncing for so long.

On another note, we're very much looking forward to spoiling Hubs tomorrow on his first Fathers Day! I was going to clean and tidy the place while he was away today and make it all shmicko for him, but that's just not going to happen. I think I'll have a little play now with Chanbe instead :-)

Sometimes...

2011-08-27T11:00:00.001+10:00

...Hubs knows just what I need. This morning I got a sleep in, and at almost 10 o'clock I was treated to breakfast in bed - poached eggs and bacon on toast with a hint of blue cheese. It's been a pretty tough week which just turned into a great week.

I do so love this man.

A trio of Friday fun

2011-08-26T09:06:00.001+10:00

Trying

2011-08-25T11:02:00.000+10:00

I know I've been a bit of a grumpy bum lately around home. I'm just so tired. Chance wakes up every 2 hours (every 3 on a good night and every hour on a bad night) on average and most of the time it's not a huge hassle to get up, but lately I've been wondering what else to try. The problem is, we change his routine so often that he never quite knows what's going on - in Brisbane one week, back home the next, back in Brizzie the week after, back home after that, and next week we'll be in Wang all week. I've tried the tips in the no-cry sleep solution, but one of the things they say is that you really need a block of time (weeks/months) to develop the good sleep habits we're after, and our lifestyle isn't really allowing for that at the moment.

When I tell other mothers that I get up every 2 hours they look at me, horrified and say how sorry they are for me. I reply with some line about how it's not so bad as Chance is happy during the day so I know nothing is wrong, he's just not a great sleeper. And then I go into the "maybe this is my fault" thinking which is every so helpful. "Maybe if I didn't breastfeed him so much he wouldn't be looking for it all the time; Maybe I need to be more diligent with my self-settling techniques." It's just so hard at 12, 2, 4am etc to stick to those techniques when all I want is sleeeeeep.

And the problem is, Hubs doesn't get the best of me. In fact, he probably gets the worst of me. When other people are around, I put on the brave face and suck it in, but when it's just the 2 (3) of us, it's hard not to complain about how tired I am and that I want to go to bed early instead of spending quality time together.

I know I know. This too shall pass. Blah blah blah. I know that Chance will work it out eventually. I just need some way of coping a bit better in the mean time. Chance has his first morning at child care tomorrow, and I plan to take him for 2 mornings a week. Maybe that will help things a bit. I just feel like life is on top of me and I'm never going to get out. I used to be able to do all the housework, pay the bills and make lovely dinners every night, but in the last month since Chance has started moving around a lot more, I'm finding it nearly impossible to keep up. I've had to pay overdue fees for 3 bills because I forgot about them which has almost never happened before.

Hubs told me last night that I can't do everything and that I needed to be a bit kinder to myself. That was hard to hear. I really want to be able to do everything. It especially freaks me out that if it's this hard with 1 baby, what am I going to be like with 7? Okay maybe 5... 3??

My saving grace at the moment is that Chance is having daytime sleeps and if I can get him past the 40min half wake-up he can sleep up to 1.5 to 2 hours. He's been asleep for an hour now, and I know I should be sleeping too, but we have 4 people coming over for dinner, in keeping with my desire to have people over for a meal every week, so I'm cooking beef stew and my favourite orange polenta cake. Plus the washing needs to be done as I didn't get any done yesterday.

If Chance goes down for an afternoon nap, I'll join him too. I promise :-)

And guess who just woke up... :-)

More visitors!

2011-08-24T21:12:00.000+10:00

We arrived home on Friday evening and got straight back into hosting friends in our new home! Sian and Warwick came down from Friday night and left Tuesday morning and we had such a great time with them. We hit the snow on Saturday, and I must admit that I was a little hesitant after last time, but this time was truly amazing - I didn't realise taking your (almost) 9 month old to the snow could be such a delight! We rode a couple of the lifts and made our way to the top for lunch. What a view we had! Amazing what you can see when the weather is crystal clear.

We then headed back down and sat outside and had coffee. Yes, we sat outside it was so beautiful!

After our cappacinos we hung out at the bottom of one of the runs to wait for the boys to come down so we could take some action shots.

The boys were in fine form!

I think Chanbe is going to enjoy snowboarding one day!

So much fun!

On Sunday the boys went back up for more skiing/snowboarding, while Sian and Chance and I went to Bright for lunch. We had a lovely wintery slow-cooked meal for dinner that night and the next day was Sian's birthday so Warwick took her to some local wineries. And since Sian is 5 months pregnant, Warwick got to do the tasting while Sian did the driving :-) We took them out to the local tavern for dinner that night (it was really good!) and they headed home the next morning.

Another awesome visit with friends from Queensland.

A fitting farewell

2011-08-23T10:24:00.000+10:00

Hubs and Chanbe and I have been back in MB since last Friday after being in Brizzie for the week. Nanny's funeral was on Thursday and it was just lovely. We celebrated a life well lived and told stories and shared some tears as well as some laughs. I said a few words and mentioned that I was waiting to be overwhelmed by sadness and emotion but it hadn't happened yet, because I know she had an amazing life and she lived long enough to see her sons grow up into men and have children of their own. She was also around to see her 2 grand-grandchildren, and I reckon that just completed her. Life won't be the same without her, but we have the most amazing memories to cherish for a long time.

Grandpa moved to a nursing home yesterday, so we're hoping he settles in well there.

This is the last video of Nanny and Chance that I filmed, on the 19th of June.

Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers. They have been very much appreciated.

Goodbye Nanny

2011-08-12T22:28:00.002+10:00

Nanny passed away this morning. The three of us are heading to Brizzie tomorrow for the week.

Goodbye Nanny. You really were something special.

Friday fun

2011-08-12T12:29:00.000+10:00

Chance and Grumpy in their Friday shirts

(we're still trying to teach Chance not to pull hair! Hee hee!)

Chance loved being on Grumpy's shoulders!

The thing I love about this photo, is that it's taken in our backyard - you wouldn't think the house is less than 4km from the CBD!!

In search of a village

2011-08-11T11:16:00.000+10:00

They say it takes a village to raise a child. I feel like I was just getting my "village people" together in Wang, and then we moved. I had my wonderful neighbour June, who doted on Chance as if he were her own grandson. She was always happy to take him for an hour or 2 while I did some housework/had a long shower/popped to the shops etc. This was so helpful and it helped me feel like I wasn't alone, and that I was part of the community. Then there was my mum's group who were always available for a de-brief or a sympathetic ear. Plus Hubs used to come home for lunch sometimes which broke the day up. Plus the weather was actually pretty nice a lot of the time, so going for walks was a pleasure.

I know that it will take time to establish ourselves in our new community, but I want it to happen NOW NOW NOW!! Because we had family and friends staying with us for the first couple of weeks, and then Hubs was still on holidays, and then I spent 2 weeks in Brisbane, this has been our first real week of our new life. And so far it's a little lonely. We've met a couple of the doctors and their families, and I know that it will take (more) effort on my part, and it's just a matter of time before I'll have more to do during the day. Oh, and hopefully the weather will warm up soon! It rained all day yesterday which meant we were at home all day. I kept waiting for it to stop so I could go for a walk, but all of a sudden it was 5pm and time to start dinner.

The other thing that's weighing heavily on my mind is childcare. Why do I feel guilty for wanting/needing to put Chance into care for a couple of half days a week so I can have some time to myself? So I can use that time to get on top of the housework (does that ever happen??) I just need to get over it. I have an appointment at the local childcare centre this afternoon to check it out. I was hoping to find a local family day care but the closest one is in Bright and that's too far to make it worthwhile.

Wish me luck in my village-building!

The good times

2011-08-09T10:26:00.000+10:00

Although our time in Brisbane was sad, we also had some lovely times with family and friends.

Chance with Gran

And Grumpy

With Ouma

And Poppy and Nanna

And with Nanny

I should be napping...

2011-08-08T12:21:00.002+10:00

We had a pretty rough night with Chance last night, and he's having a very good nap at the moment. I know I should be too, but there's just too many other fun things to be doing! Like catching up on my Google Reader, reading my emails, and sitting on the couch drinking coffee, enjoying my view.

We all arrived back home to MB late Saturday night (about midnight!) and had a really great relaxing day yesterday in preparation for Hubs' first day at his new position today. We left Brisbane on Friday which was a bit sad, but we had a lovely time visiting, although it was bitter sweet. It was so lovely seeing Hubs again after almost 2 weeks away. We headed over to Nathan and Cal's for dinner and sleepover which was, as always, lovely and relaxing. We had a bit of a sleep in Saturday and after some brekky, headed over to Uncle Wayne and Aunty Alida's for lunch. And boy were we in for a treat!

AA knows how much we love home-made gnocchi, so that's what was on the menu! We were lucky enough to get there while it was all being prepared, so I was able to get some handy hints for my next attempt.

Served with a tomato sauce (home made too, of course!)

Chanbe's first gnocchi!

After lunch (which included tiramisu for dessert!) we headed to Albert Park to watch Chance's Godfather, Dr Luke, play a friendly game of footy. Not long after we arrived, one of the guys was injured so they asked Hubs if he'd like to play. Would he ever!

(That was a pretty dumb photo to take - Hubs is out there somewhere!) Hubs had a great time, and although he got a bit battered and bruised, it was good to have a run around with the guys. He helped set up a goal and made a few good tackles, including one on Dr Luke! We cheered on from the sideline on a lovely Melbourne afternoon.

It must have been our cheering, as Dr Luke kicked a total of 15 goals!

We left the park around 5pm and headed to Wangaratta for dinner with Kyra and Stephan and Frederick, arriving around 8pm. We were treated to delicious lasagne, salad and garlic bread. It's always so hard to leave their house and the time flies by so quickly! We dragged ourselves away at 10pm and after a fuel stop, got home at 11:45pm. We collapsed into bed and Chance had a pretty good night so that meant we did too.

After such an emotional, albeit wonderful 2 weeks in Brizzie, the day of family, friends, and great food, was just what I needed to lift my spirits.

Chance has been asleep for over an hour and a half now, and it's almost time for lunch. (Looking at those gnocchi photos has made me hungry!) And the sun has come out, so we might go for a walk after we eat. This is the view I'm looking at right now. Pretty nice, huh?

Recycling

2011-08-02T17:37:00.000+10:00

I find it hilarious that when celebrities, or in this case, the Royals, wear something more than once, it's called "recycling". Whereas when us mere mortals do it, it's called... you know... "wearing clothes".

Sundays

2011-07-31T09:43:00.011+10:00

Today is Sunday. And, incidentally, the last day of my NaBloPoMoMoMo. How did I do? Did I get a post in every day?

So what's so special about Sundays?

On any typical visit to Brisbane, and for as long as I can remember, Sunday has been the day we visit Nanny and Grandpa's place for a meal. Most recently (as in the last decade) it has been an 11am meal. We would normally stay for a couple of hours while Nanny served up 3 courses of delicious foods. It would be mostly the same each week, but every now and then she would surprise us with something "a bit different. Just for fun."

We won't be going to lunch at Nanny and Grandpa's today. Nanny's not doing so well. We don't know what the future holds for her, but we do know that she won't be cooking for us at her place again. It's the end of an era. No more will we sit around Nanny and Grandpa's kitchen table and laugh and joke and tell Nanny she has cooked too much again. Or listen to her and Grandpa tell stories. Or get a tap on the shoulder and be beckoned to the "back room" where she would give us a little present she had bought for us. We won't get to see her wave us goodbye from her gate, not going inside until she can't see the car anymore.

How do you say goodbye to someone who's still here, but at the same time, isn't?

It's times like these...

2011-07-30T22:35:00.001+10:00

... that I wish I smoked.

Okay, so clearly that statement is untrue on pretty much every single level. Except for the fact that I am so restless and fidgety and stressed out at the moment, and I've started biting my nails again, and when I see smokers, inhaling deeply, they seem to blow away their troubles with that lungful of smoke.

And smoking is cool. Well, at least it used to be. Let's not deny it people! James Dean anyone? Carrie Bradshaw? Why else would people smoke, if not to look cool*? I mean, it's not like it tastes any good, or does your health any favours. Let's all just admit it. There's something cool and sexy about smoking. I know that's why I experimented with cigarettes (I'm such a rebel) while I was at uni. A few of the people I hung out with at uni smoked while we were out drinking, so, being the little sheep that I can be, I gave it a whirl. And it was oh-so-foul, but you know, it was cool. I felt cool. I'm sure I looked like an idiot (I probably scrunched up my face from the yucky taste and didn't inhale properly!) And it made me sick. I have asthma and I know it exacerbated it. I'm even quite convinced it gave me a horrible old man cough that stuck around for 18 months.

Why did I stop? I tried one while I was stone cold sober. That was it for me. I've never touched them since, and have reverted back to my snooty-nose face when I get stuck walking behind someone who is smoking, or when I'm on my way in to the hospital to visit Nanny, and all the smokers (and there are lots) are crowding around the gates to have their cigarettes because you can no longer smoke inside government grounds.

But to have that feeling of blowing all your problems away, into the wind, even if it's just a feeling and not an actuality... Well. That is certainly appealing.

*obviously, apart from the whole addiction thing

Happy Friday y'all

2011-07-29T22:39:00.000+10:00

Our new house

2011-07-28T22:20:00.002+10:00

Nice view of the "front" of the house, huh?

And a close up? Yes please!

Garage sale

2011-07-27T22:09:00.002+10:00

Before we left Wang, we had a garage sale to try and get rid of excess stuff. And boy did we have excess stuff. I think I put out as many clothes as I had left in my wardrobe! I decided it was time to get rid of things that "might fit me one day" and just start fresh. (i.e. more op-shop clothes!) We were told to expect early callers, so we made a starting time of 8:30am on the Saturday morning. At 7:40am, a woman turned up and commented on how we weren't very organised and told us "I've been up since before 6:00am!" And that's my problem, how?? So she proceeded to help us set up, just so she could get through looking at everything and obviously move on to the next one. Sheesh!

We got rid of some furniture and a lot of crap, but hardly any clothes and not the big stuff like the big desks (one of which we ended up taking to our new place) or the couch or chairs.

Hubs and I were really looking forward to having the garage sale - neither of us had ever had one before - but I've gotta say, it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. In fact, it was kind of depressing watching people go through our stuff and decide that they didn't want it. Like it wasn't good enough for them. I said to Hubs "if I had come to this garage sale, I would have bought all these clothes!" Funny about that...

Anyway, we made a few hundred dollars and donated the remaining things to Vinnies, so it was a moderately successful day for us, and a more successful day for Vinnies. Next time we might skip the middle man and just send our stuff straight to Vinnies

Here's Hubs and Chanbe at our garage sale. It was a very very cold morning and we'd had frost overnight. We had set everything up under our carport, but once the frost started melting, all the condensation poured onto the goods (you can see it on the ground) so we had to move everything out from under cover until it stopped! Funny!

And today we saw Grandpa!

2011-07-26T22:21:00.001+10:00

Chance really put on a lovely show and it was lovely to see Grandpa with a smile on his face.

It's been a very tough time for him, understandably, and it was great to see that he is being so well looked after. He is currently in a respite care facility and although he misses Nanny terribly and would rather be in his own home, he is doing as well as can be expected.

We saw Nanny again today and she actually opened her eyes and was reaching out to us which was really great. It's still early days and things can change rapidly and significantly but we're all hoping for the best.

I saw Nanny today

2011-07-25T22:05:00.000+10:00

It was hard. Really hard. I haven't had to face this sort of situation - sickness of a loved one - many times in my life. In fact, I can probably count on one hand. But today I saw a woman lying in bed, hooked up to leads and tubes, and I knew it was Nanny, but it wasn't. This is how I remember Nanny:

I keep trying to reason with myself that Nanny is 87 (88 next month) and has had a great life and and and... but it doesn't make it easier. This woman has been in my life in so many different ways from the day that I was born. And to see her this way is breaking my heart.

We don't really know what the prognosis is at this stage; we just have to take it one day at a time. So that's what we'll do.

(Thank you so much for all your thoughts and prayers and texts.)

If you're in Brisbane...

2011-07-24T16:02:00.000+10:00

Prepare for some cuteness!

Cos Wifey, and more importantly, Chanbe, are coming to Brisbane town!

Aren't you just too excited!!??