8/52

Ella //  'Helping' me make cakes

Lucas // Loves playing with blocks

7/52

Ella //  She's just started swimming lessons so when bath time comes around, she pretends it's a pool too.  Bath time is very messy these days.

Lucas //  My other little water baby.  Splashing and squealing.




Linking up with Jodi

6/52

Ella //  I'm sure my ears are still ringing from her squeals as she ran through the sprinkler.  Such simple things bring so much joy.

Lucas //  Why did you make me wear these braces mum?

Tim and I were pretty spontaneous in our earlier days, you know…before kids.  We've had some great adventures together and some of the best have been those times where we didn't make any plans and just went with the flow, like when Tim turned 30.  We went out in the morning intending just to have lunch in the city to celebrate and didn't come home until the afternoon the next day.  We ate at swanky restaurants and stayed at a very fancy hotel for the night after getting an amazingly cheap walk in room rate at 10pm when we decided that we didn't want to go home.  We could do that without batting an eyelid then.  We had expendable cash and no responsibilities.

Unfortunately (in some ways), those days have drastically changed.  We do still try to be adventurous and spontaneous when we can, but with two small kids it's not always that easy.  Mostly we are home bodies these days but I have to confess that a lot of the time I am more than happy with that.

For Tim's birthday this year I bought him tickets to go and see The National.  I'd also arranged for my mum and dad to look after the kids so that we could spend the night in the city together to make a full night of it.  It was the first time in a long time that I can remember having a night away from them.  In fact, I think it was actually the first time we had spent a whole night away from Lucas and he is nearly 8 months old!  We were a little excited to have some freedom to be together and do whatever we liked without having to consider anyone else.

As friday approached we were both like children waiting for Christmas day.  On friday afternoon I packed the kids up and took them to mum and dad's.  Tim left work early and met me there.  As we drove out of the drive way waving to the kids we high fived each other, keen to get our adventure under way, alone together, with our music turned up loud, and it wasn't even the Play School CD.  But the funny thing about parenthood is that it is full of contradictions.  As much as we couldn't wait for it to just be the two of us, we instantly missed them.  We talked about how we sometimes yearn for space, but then simultaneously wish the kids were jumping on top of us or standing under our feet and getting in the way as they usually do.  Or wish for silence, but in the next split second wish we could hear Ella's nattering and Lucas' babbling and squealing.

We checked into our hotel and headed out for early afternoon drinks.  Tim took me to a place called Palmer & Co to start with.  We approached what looked like a completely empty alley way.  All I could see was an open door and a lamp hanging over it.  We walked in and then through what looked like a concrete labyrinth until it opened up to a small underground bar decorated in 1930's decor with beautiful timber beams and exposed brick walls.  The waitresses were dressed in flapper dresses and the bar men had dapper moustaches and braces over their shoulders.  We were instantly transported to the prohibition era and I loved it.  There was hardly anybody else there and the ambiance of the place was just amazing.  We had several potent cocktails there…

We stumbled out to have some dinner and went to Parlour Burger.  Tim had been raving about the twice cooked duck fat chips and delicious burgers.  They were every bit as good as he described.  We ate quickly and then headed to the Opera House.  The concert was an outdoor event and we would be sitting on the steps of the Opera House.  Sydney put on a great day for us.  It had been cold and wet the previous few days, but friday was just perfect.

The concert itself was pretty laid back.  We sat on the steps under the sails of the Opera House drinking beers from plastic cups, with an amazing view of the bridge on one side and one of our favourite bands on the other.  They sounded great.  The drummer was amazing and the live brass was just unreal.

After the concert we meandered over to the other side of the harbour to the fancy restaurant that we had been to on Tim's 30th.  It was nearly 11pm but we both wanted to go back for the amazing salt and pepper prawns that they are so well known for and that we still remembered…6 years later!  They didn't disappoint either.

After supper we strolled through the city eating ice cream before returning to our hotel room where we slept like babies until 8am.  I'm usually up multiple times throughout the night with the babies, but that night, I don't think I moved until the alarm went off.  It was the longest sleepin I could remember having.  I would have loved to stay in bed longer but the buffet was calling us!  And honestly, we both wanted to get home to the kids as soon as we could.

We drove home both feeling like we'd been on a week long holiday.  Relaxed and reconnected.  Ella jumped into my arms the minute I opened the door and it was so nice to wrap my arms around her and Lucas just giggled and smiled the way he always does.  As much as I sometimes wish we could go back to our carefree days, what we have now is pretty amazing and I'm sure in years to come I'll look back on these days, with the chaos and the sleepless nights and the crying and the tantrums, in a similar way.

5/52

Ella //  Peanut butter sandwiches after playing in the sprinkler

Lucas //  Teething is not kind to this little one but he still manages to smile