Cousins

My brother has two gorgeous boys, Blake and Josh who are 10 and 7 years old.  They stayed the night at Nanny and Poppy's for a couple of nights as my brother and sister in law have returned to work and the kids are still on school holidays.  They love staying at Nanny and Poppy's and Nanny and Poppy love having them there.  It's so nice that they share such a special bond with their grandparents.

They are typical boys.  Always up to mischief of some kind, sweaty from running around like crazy and always with dirt underneath their fingernails from digging around in the garden.  Just the way little boys are supposed to be (and little girls if you were a tom boy like I was when I was little).  They love riding their motorbikes, scooters, skateboards and anything a little dare devilish.

Mum had an appointment one afternoon while they were there and since dad was at work, there was nobody to look after them and she didn't particularly want to take them as she knew they would get bored and agitated.  Enter Aunty Al!  Any excuse to see them and I'm there.

I took Ella over to mum and dad's place and was so surprised to see them playing nicely together - making origami of all things!  Something I never would have thought they would be interested in. Plus there were colouring books and pencils as well as domino's.  What happened to my little ruffians?

They have never been that interested in Ella.  Probably because she is so young and couldn't do much ... plus she's a girl.   But they both delighted in playing with her and helping her to roll over (a skill she has only just mastered in the last couple of days unassisted) and make her laugh.

It was so lovely to watch them interacting with her.  I can only imagine what they will be like when she is older.  I can just see her following them around like a little lost puppy wanting in on the action and to play with them and get that dirt underneath her fingernails too.  And I'm sure that they will just hate having a little girl tagging along on their adventures - or maybe they will surprise me like they did today and embrace my little ruffian too.

Blake, Ella & Josh

Origami photo frame

A lazy Sunday afternoon

Nothing much going on at our house this afternoon.   Just lots of cuddles on the couch.

I love watching these two together - my heart always bursts with pride and love.

A Ruby Wedding Anniversary

Today my parents celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary.  Wow, what a milestone.  I can't even imagine what it will be like when Tim and I reach this occasion, but I hope that we are as happy as my mum and dad.

Sure, they have their moments.   At times they infuriate one another and don't communicate well, but deep down there is love.  A kind of love that only comes after so many years and knowing your partner like nobody else does.

We went out for lunch today to celebrate with the family and my mum proudly wore a pair of ruby ear rings and a ruby and diamond ring which my dad had bought for her.  My dad is a surprising man.  To look at he is rough and robust, a typical Aussie "bloke" but if you know him well, you know that he is a sensitive and nostalgic type, one who cries when he sees a bride and whose lips still quiver when he looks at his grandkids in those quiet moments, so I was not surprised when he told us that he secretly went to a jewellery auction many months ago to find a gift for my mum for this special day.

Mum and dad, I wish you many many more happy years together.

Weddings, weddings everywhere!

So excited today when I returned home from an outing and found an invitation to my friend Sarah's wedding today! I love weddings - always such a happy occasion.  I am also extremely excited and honoured as Sarah has asked me to make her wedding cake!

I have loved cake decorating for years now and always make cakes when I can for celebrations.  I have even thought about setting up a business of some kind to sell them but unfortunately at the moment I just don't have the time to.  Although, I have sold several cakes over the years but not enough to make much money from it.  This is something that I want to change though and I really want to focus as much as I can on doing more cake decorating this year.

I remember before I went on maternity leave I had grand ideas that I would make cakes and build up my portfolio further and even look into making cakes for local markets while I wasn't "working" - what was I thinking?  I obviously had no idea how consuming a newborn was because I barely have time to shower and run a brush through my hair each day, let alone produce cakes!

I have actually made a few cakes over the last 6 months though, cupcakes for my baby shower, one for a 60th birthday, a cake for my nephew's 7th birthday, a birthday cake for my dad's birthday and some christmas themed cakes and cupcakes that I gave as Christmas presents - but nothing like the grand plan I had in mind.

  

Anyway, back to the point, I was so honoured when Sarah asked me to make her wedding cake.  She has shown me a picture of a design she likes which is very simple but beautiful and I can't wait!  Although I have to say that I am a little anxious about it - I've never made a cake for a wedding before and a wedding cake is such an important part of the big special day, so the pressure is on to make sure it's perfect.  Let's hope that it's not a massive flop and a picture of it ends up on cake wrecks!

Over the space of 2 weeks we have actually received 3 wedding invitations so there must be something in the air!  One was a very unexpected invitation.  In fact, when I opened it I was actually confused as to who it was from and why I was invited.  When I was around 14 years old I used to babysit in the local area and there was one family who had two lovely daughters that I regularly sat for.  Their eldest daughter is now 25 and getting ready to walk down the aisle.  At first I thought it was really strange that they should think to invite me - I haven't seen them since I was about 17 - over 15 years ago!!!  But after reading the invitation over and over and scratching my head a few times, I came to the realisation that it was actually a beautiful gesture (not weird as Tim had suggested) and I was chuffed to think that even after 15 years, I held a lasting impression on them and they had thought to invite me to such an important occasion.  I am really looking forward to seeing the family to catch up with them and find out what the girls are doing with their lives now.

One of my best friends, Kate, got married in November last year and I was a bridesmaid, along with 3 of our other best friends.  She has finally got the photo's back and we are catching up in a few weekends time to check them out.  Can't wait!  It was such a special day to be part of and I am sure the photo's will be amazing!

Ella...5 months

My little Juji, I can't believe that you are 5 months old already.  You are changing so much each day and continuously make us smile and laugh thanks to your cheeky little personality.

On one hand it seems that the day you were born and your tiny pink body was placed on my chest was a lifetime ago, yet the time since then seems to have sped up and I already start to get sad that you are growing up way too quickly and I can't believe 5 months has passed already.

Right now you are playing with your gums a lot and dribbling like nothing else so I think there are some little teeth which may be making an appearance soon.  You love being on your tummy (you used to hate tummy time and would scream after about 2 minutes) and push yourself up proudly with your arms and smile at us like you are the cleverest thing ever, then proceed to plant your face on the ground and lift your little bottom high up in the air while your little legs flail about.   Soon enough you will learn to do these two things in conjunction with one another and you will be off and crawling!

You love your food!!  Carrots, pumpkin, apple, pear, zucchini, potato, you name it.  Whatever we put in front of you, you want it in your mouth!  You weigh almost 10 kilo's already and are deliciously chubby!

You're no longer the little helpless baby you once were, now you are tenacious and strong willed.  You know what you want but get frustrated easily when you can't get it.  I wonder if you get that from me...

You reward us each day with the most gorgeous smiles and a laugh that is now my most favourite sound ever and I can't get enough of it.  Your happy disposition is infectious.

As sad as I am that my Juji is growing up, I love watching you each day as you learn and reach new milestones.  I am so proud to be your mama.

I love you so much!

xx

In the high chair waiting for your food

Trying to crawl

Bay Walk...

So, one of the things that I have vowed to do this year is get back into shape.  What a cliche!

I used to be able to eat whatever I wanted and wouldn't put on any weight, then my metabolism decided to turn against me (plus I stopped being as active as I used to be) and slowly I have been gaining weight.  Although I am definitely not obsessed with being a size 8 or anything like that, I do recognise that I need to get fitter and start looking after myself more.  I want to be a positive role model for Ella in terms of food and exercise so this is added motivation for me.

When I was pregnant I gained around 14 kilo's and I was so pleased when I lost 10 of those kilos within a month.  But slowly I have started to gain some of the weight again, not helped by the fact that I have eaten a truckload of chocolates, left over ham and all the other leftovers that come with Christmas time.

Today was hot!  But I got a bee in my bonnet about starting to get more active and decided that we had to do the Bay Walk.  Surprisingly Tim agreed, despite the fact that he had spent all morning in the sweltering heat pulling out our old retaining wall.

I felt good as we meandered around the Bay in the afternoon sun.  It was peaceful... until Ella started crying for the last 3 kilometers!  Oh well, it was still a nice way to spend the afternoon and a good way to kick off our goals for better fitness.

New Years Day

The sun was shining in the window when I opened my eyes this morning and Ella was still asleep at 7am.  I couldn't believe it.  Normally she is babbling away merrily in her cot from 6am (or earlier).  Instead of going to get her up I snuggled with Timmy, something that happens very rarely these days since I usually have to jump out of bed to feed bubba.  It almost felt like the old days when we could get up and out of bed whenever we wanted because we didn't have any responsibilities.

It wasn't long before Miss Ella was awake and we brought her into our bed.  She is always so happy in the morning and flashes her gummy smile at us as soon as we walk in her room.  I love watching her and Tim interact.  Hearing her squeal with delight as he pulled funny faces and said silly things to her melted my heart.

Today we met up with my best friends for lunch at Darling Harbour at a seafood grill.  Thanks to our tame night in last night we were feeling great and I had to laugh at all the hung over people hauling their butts home from a massive night out in the city.  With no hang over in sight for us we enjoyed a great afternoon in the sun drinking and eating delicious seafood amid lots of laughs and inappropriate banter about "bearded clams".  Don't ask...

What a lovely lazy day to start the new year.