Halloween

Happy Halloween everyone.  Are you celebrating? Trick or treating?

I am just squeezing in one last post before the end of Blogtoberfest - I was supposed to blog every day and this will be my 26th post in 31 days - not bad considering I was in hospital having my appendix out for 2 days and in a wireless dead spot on holidays for 4 days.  I'm proud of myself - it's a meaningless accomplishment but it's nice to set yourselves fun goals.  I don't think I've blogged about anything terribly important but it's a great record for my family and I really enjoy it.  Although it would also be nice if lots and lots of people loved my blog so maybe I'll try and find more interesting things to write about - hmmmm - might need a more interesting life.

I am certainly going to try to continue blogging (almost) daily.

A note for those clever little cookies who noticed my last post False Start made no sense.  Blogger totally f*@#&ed my shit up and cut out the whole first paragraph of my post - rendering it a post filled with pretty pictures and historical information but making absolutely no sense under that title.  Damn you Blogger!!

False Start

This is where we should be headed right now but the ferry company just called and cancelled our 10.30am ferry.  Due to bad weather it has been rescheduled until 3.00pm.  We will get there today but just a few hours later than expected.

Rottnest is a beautiful island about a 45 minute ferry ride from Perth.

(The first Europeans took up residence on Rottnest Island shortly after the first settlement of the Swan River Colony was established in 1829. Rottnest Island was considered to be of interest as a place with potential for salt harvesting, farming and fishing.  Ten Aboriginal prisoners were brought to the Island in August 1838. After a short period when both settlers and prisoners occupied the Island, the Colonial Secretary announced in June 1839 that the Island would become a penal establishment for Aboriginal people.)

Nowadays it is a tourist island through and through.  There are only no vehicles on the island (except those used to manage it) so families take their bikes and cycling is the way to get around.


As kids my husband and I both spent loads of family time on the island (separately of course) and are looking forward to this first family trip being the start of many years of tradition.

This is how we plan to spend our time

I, of course, will be looking just like this!

We will, no doubt, see loads of these little fellows

and hopefully some of these.

Mostly we will be relaxing and Noah will be playing with all his friends while we catch up with our friends and family and I recover from surgery.

Great start to summer for us.

What do you have planned for the weekend??

Some new pictures

It was one year yesterday since Noah started walking and now he can run and jump and climb and swing.  He's a true boy.

Out of the mouths of babes

Totally out of the blue from Noah today  "Mummy my best friend is girls"

I wish I was inside his head sometimes to know how some of these random statements formed.

What funny things has your toddler said lately??

Absence

I have such a great excuse for my absence over the last few days - if you can believe it I ended up in hospital having my appendix removed.

I was half way through 'Eat Pray Love' at the cinema on Friday night when things went pear shaped.  Luckily I was able to make it to my car and drive home just in time for hubby to race me to the Emergency Room.  As is the norm for Emergency they did not figure out the problem and sent us home at 3 am with advice to call my IVF specialist in the morning.  They believed I may have had a ruptured ovarian cyst.

An ultrasound on Sunday morning confirmed appendicitis and I was admitted immediately.

I am home in the loving care of Rob and Noah today and hopefully my recovery will be quick.

I'll be back as soon as I can - I won't blog in this drug induced haze for fear of what may come out!!

Par Avion

I just love getting mail - real mail - not the kind with windows.  What is even better than a card in the mail - a parcel.  I have been receiving lots of lovely little goodies lately due to all my shopping (see here).  Even though I know what's inside (of course I ordered and paid for it myself) it's still fun hearing that knock on the door.

Have you received any surprises in the post lately??

Farewell Sweet Friend

I am mourning the loss of one of my best friends.  Although we have only known each other since March last year we had become inseparable.  She has been a loyal friend who has literally been by my side every day over the last 19 months.  Her view of the world improved mine. She changed the way I saw my life and she helped me create wonderful memories I will always treasure.  I am hoping to replace her very soon.

Please everyone bow your heads and take a moment to pay respect to my beloved Nikon DLSR.

I am lost without you dear friend - RIP.

Mummy Joys

Isn't vomiting just the most surefire way to ruin a day!  Noah and I were in the car on our way to a day at the zoo with friends when the vomiting started.  There is nothing like trying to clean a vomit covered child and car on the side of the highway to remind you what being a mum is all about.  He was so good though and waited patiently in only his nappy while I tried my best to clean up his seat so we could head back home.

Luckily we were only 10 minutes from home.

Unluckily I had my car detailed at great expense only 1 week ago.

We are going to ride it out at home and hope it's just a 24 hour bug.  I hope your day is less eventful and smells much nicer.

Perfection

I never realised I was striving for perfection until I gave it some serious thought.  Thinking is what I've been doing a lot of lately.  I've been thinking about what I need to do to achieve my goals.  I've always focused on diet but I'm realising diet is not the answer.  It goes so much deeper.  I have been everything from too skinny to too fat and I've never been satisfied.  It's only in hindsight I can really accept that I was thin and beautiful.  I always felt not good enough.

I have been hiding behind perfection.  If I am the perfect mother, the perfect hostess, the perfect housewife, the perfect friend then it won't matter that I'm fat.  The thing is it doesn't matter - not to anyone else - they love me anyway.  I'm just not sure if I love me.

I don't know how to fix it, I don't have it all figured out but the thinking stage is good - really good.  No-one can do it for me.  No-one has the answers except me - I just have to find them.

Perfectly Imperfect

I am joining Brene Brown’s protest against perfectionism.  It’s perfect timing for what is going on in my life right now.  I’m at a point where I need to treat myself with love and kindness.  I have a long road to travel and perfect is not the answer.

I am imperfect

I don’t drink enough water

I am impatient

I forget to hang out the washing

I exercise too little

I order too much takeaway

I can’t say no

I worry too much

I try to control things that are uncontrollable
I bite my nails
I never wash my makeup off at night

I am hopeless at running
I forget to wear sunscreen

I am authentically me.

Brene writes 'Being our best selves is about cultivating the courage to be vulnerable and imperfect. Perfectionism, on the other hand, is the belief that if we live perfect, look perfect, and act perfect, we can minimize or avoid the pain of blame, judgment, and shame. It's that simple. Perfection is not about healthy striving or being our best, it's how we protect ourselves. 
In the new book, I write, "Perfectionism is a twenty-ton shield that we lug around thinking it will protect us when, in fact, it’s the thing that’s really preventing us from taking flight."

Putting down the perfection shield is scary. Finding the courage, compassion and connection to move from What will people think? to I am enough! is not easy. But however afraid we are of change, the question that we must ultimately answer is this: 

What’s the greater risk? Letting go of what people think or letting go of how I feel, what I believe, and who I am?

Pop over for a look at hundreds of other people who are choosing their best reality not unachievable perfection.

Blue

Noah used to know his colours but other things seem to have filled his mind and now he gets his colours all confused.  I absolutely know that I don't need to 'teach' him as such because he will naturally learn them in time but why not play and learn.

Just for fun this week we focused our craft activities on BLUE.  I laid out some activities as normal the only difference being everything was blue.  Then we had a blue treasure hunt through the house and laid out a display of our booty.  I'm not sure if my logic will work but my plan is to go through a different colour each week and then we'll move on to some colour sorting activities.

Would you ever home-school your kids?  I wouldn't but I do love helping them learn.

Easy Peasy Healthy Dinners

I recently read this on a food blog 'One of the main ways I use my own blog, is as a recipe receptacle. Here my papers don’t get lost, I don’t lose my adjustments or smudge my writing, and I can make easy recipe print outs to fall back on'.

What a smart woman.  I have been meaning to 'sort' out my recipes forever.  It has seriously been on my to do list for as long as I can remember. 

Over the week I am going to share 1 recipe and 1 'not really' recipe but both are really easy yummy and pretty healthy dinners that can be whipped up in a flash.  Goodness knows us mums need all the help we can get.

Pitta Pizza - non -recipe

The first one is our version of 'junk' food at home.   I'm sure everyone makes pizza and probably have lots of different ways.  Sometimes we make yummy fresh dough and that is pretty quick too but this is even quicker.

Wholemeal Pitta Bread (we keep it in the freezer always & it takes about 3 minutes to thaw on the bench while you're gathering your other ingredients)

Pizza Sauce - we use the Leggos squeezy one

Cheese

Other than that you can put whatever your family like on it that happens to already be in the house. 

We usually do it on a Friday when salad vegies like tomatoes and capsicum are down to the last bits.  Ham from sandwiches during the week is usually lying around and we always have olives  which last for ages in the fridge then basil fresh from the garden.

It's a really basic pizza - not many ingredients and the whole thing is prepped and cooked in 15 minutes. Delicious. 

Dragons and Fairies

This blog is essentially my diary - I do try and make it interesting for readers but sometimes I just indulge myself.

Here are our pictures from our day out at the Kings Park Wild Fairyland Festival.  The weather looked a bit ominous in the morning but we had been looking forward to this event so we braved it.  We were so glad we did - the rain stayed away till the very end and the sun shone.  All the beauty of the park was made even more special with the bright colours of the costumes and so many fun things to do.

It started with 'The great pram stroll' a 1km walk through the native bushland

Noah seems a little bit dubious of these fairies 

Help somebody save me I'm a princess locked int he castle

Making 'beautiful' music 

Fairies with violins

Watch out Mum there's a fairy behind you

Pirate Ship shenanigans

Hula-hooping

The rain started just as we were heading to the car

I've included below the official blurb from the website - if you're in Perth put it in your diary for next year it's a lovely day out and it's all free.

Peter Pan and Tinkerbell invite all of Perth’s little fairies, pixies and pirates to the biggest Fairyland Party of the year!

Come dressed up, starting the day with the Great Pram Stroll at 9.45 am from May Drive in Kings Park, near Marri Walk, along an enchanted 1 km bushland trail to Fairyland, where and upon arrival you will be granted wishes by the Fairy Queen.

Kids will be mesmerized by as the tale of Peter Pan and Tinkerbell is brought to life with silk performers from Danger-rus and friends flying through Never Never Land.

They’ll be able to join the hula hooping pixies at the Eco Faerie village, try out bush craft fun and be transformed into an eco faerie. For the more adventurous, see Captain Hook’s dare devil spectacle including sword balancing, contortionism and the hilarious teddy bear illusion aboard the ‘Black Toenail’ pirate ship.

Enjoy the talent of the WA Youth Ballet who will also put on an enchanting performance for the children, who can then become a fairy ballerina in an interactive workshop. Young children will love this jam-packed event with magicians and magic shows, balloon modelling, wand making, maypole dancing and pony rides.

Blogtoberfest Fail!!

Oh no I missed 3 days in my daily blogging challenge but this is still post number 13 and it's only the 12th day of the month so really I'm doing quite well.

We had a lovely weekend with plenty of sunshine and also some rain which is always a blessing.  We managed an early morning trip to the beach to play in the sand (too cold to swim yet), we spent time relaxing at home, we were fed a delicious pork roast with home grown vegies and we frolicked with fairies in Kings Park.  A perfect balance of fun and relaxation.

This week we have been struck with some minor illness again. Noah has yet another cold and I have hurt my back and have some kind of funky eye thing which my husband quite charmingly likes to refer to as 'pig eye'. Please spring and summer bring your magic wand of health and wave it over us all.

Yesterday I had a blissful day of one on one time with my gorgeous friend Danni.  It is absolutely the first time we have been together without one of our children.  We shopped and got pedicures and gossiped then we had a beautiful lunch overlooking the ocean.  Danni is on the two week countdown till her second baby arrives so she was in much need of some pampering.  We were both amazed at how refreshing it felt to take that time for ourselves.

Today Noah and I are having a chilled out day at home - we might do some crafting but other than that we have no plans - what a change.  Tomorrow he's starting a new little class called messy masterpieces so we're looking forward to that.

How was your weekend? What is happening this week at your house??

Strawberry Fields

Today Noah and I spent the morning picking strawberries with our friends Rex and Danni - a really fun activity for the kids but also a great opportunity for learning.  We spent time talking about the colour red and checking the fruit for ripeness.  Wonderful for the boys to understand that food doesn't come from plastic punnets on the supermarket shelf.  The added bonus is that the fruit tasted amazing.  This afternoon I made a batch of muffins for the weekend - banana, strawberry and passionfruit (fresh from our backyard) and dropped some off to Dan & Rex to enjoy too.

  

 

Rex and Danni frolicking in the fields

Rex- I hate that he has a fly on his face but look how darn happy is with his strawberries

Rex & Noah - enjoying the loot

Random trivia - when I logged on to google this afternoon it told me that it's John Lennon's 70th birthday - spooky that we visited a place called Strawberry Fields today.

Sunday's date is 10/10/10 - I love number patterns - can't help seeing them in all kinds of places.

Happy Weekending to you all

Happy as a pig in ........

Being a SAHM (stay at home mum for those of you playing at home)  makes me as happy as - well I think you get  the idea.

It really was the only thing I ever wanted to do.  I flirted with the notion of being an interior designer until I found out it involved tech drawing - I thought it would be a lot of swanning around popping cushions on couches and telling people what pretty colour to paint their walls.  I also had the bug to be an air hostess (back in the day before they were called 'flight attendants' and no-one was too offended by the term trolley dolly).  However it was also in the day when it was OK to discriminate against short brunette girls in the favour of leggy blondes so my 165cm didn't make the grade.

After school I fell in to a junior position at a settlement agency and went on to study and move may way up.  I worked for 4 years in various agencies before the travel bug bit.  I've worked as a sales manager at Telstra (I think everyone has worked at Telstra at some stage).  I've worked in my family's cafe and my last job was for Customs scrounging through peoples dirty undies in the name of 'Protecting the Border'.

I've worked hard and given each job my best when I did it but really the whole time I was just killing time until my current job came along.  This is it - this is the job I'm best at and the job I love the most.

You can imagine the horror of the school careers counsellor when I stated my goal job as wife and mother.  Very inappropriate in the girl-power 80's.  If I remember correctly I actually got into trouble.  I was basically told that it wasn't a valid career choice.  For me it ticked all boxes.  I love cooking, cleaning, crafting and most of all kids.

I've always been every one's babysitter and I worked all through high school babysitting.  During my overseas travels I worked as a nanny and once I left the corporate world nannying was the job I fell straight back to.  While I had no children of my own it was the closest I could get to my true passion.

I'm an impatient person but when I'm with kids I'm different.  I can be so patient in the most trying of situations if it involves a child - it's a constant source of amazement to my husband (who is regularly the brunt of my impatience).  I adore children.  I love watching them learn and figure things out. I love their quirky ways.

Having Noah and being blessed with the opportunity to be with him every day is literally a dream come true.  Please don't get me wrong it is not all rainbows and butterflies.  It is so challenging and so much harder than I could have imagined.  It's also more rewarding than I ever could have realised.  It's bloody hard work but I love it.