Enjoying our new backyard...

This afternoon Beth got her first proper chance to play around in our backyard... Prior to today, the grass was really long (about 10 cm!)... and there were some scarily tall flowering weeds which were attracting a lot of bees, so I had been reluctant to let Beth outside. However, Phan mowed the lawn today.... not without event, I might add... it took him 20 minutes to attach the catcher... the instructions were stupid and we didn't realise we had to remove te mulcher insert-y thing to be able to attach the catcher! Then he set it to cut too short, turned off the mower and then had trouble restarting it 'cos he flooded the engine... but after that it all went smoothly... he was knackered afterwards! But the end result was a lovely neat backyard which Beth could run around in!

So here's a little snippet of our little monkey imitating her Daddy...

Please excuse the shaky, running footage at the edge... Beth was heading towards the "dangerous" end of the backyard where this like a 1.5 metre drop at the edge, which is only has a 50cm barrier around it, so I was running after her to stop her from going over there!

I'm baaaaack! :)

I'm back online! :) Our Naked ADSL2+ connection was provisioned on Friday, just in time for us to come back from our holiday in Adelaide!

It's been a busy 2 weeks... so much has happened, so I will reserve the details for a humungous blog entry update later...

But I thought I'd quickly jump on here to say "Hi!"... I have a gazillion things to do and catchup on and plan... Right now I'm taking a break after a morning of doing more unpacking, cleaning (whilst listening/watching John Mayer's Where The Light Is concert on blu-ray... amazing concert!) and then having some hilarious moments sitting with Beth and watching Phan mow the lawn... I'll have to write a blog post sometime about how Phan is *so* not the handyman type... although I have to give him 10/10 for trying... but all I can say is thank goodness he's not a tradie or he would get nothing done!

Next week is going to be a busy week... dishwasher being installed tomorrow (yippee!), getting a couple of quotes for air conditioning, hopefully getting quotes for an automatic garage door opener... new desk being delivered on Tuesday, oh I bought a new cooktop yesterday (a Baumatic 1/2 magnet induction and 1/2 electric cooktop... it's got hyperspeed elements on it, so it's going to be FAST... going to be awesome!) and it's being installed on Thursday... somewhere in between all that, I have to go looking for a new swimsuit for me 'cos Beth starts swimming lessons next Monday and I really need a new swimsuit that hides my belly!

I'll be back later with a bigger update!

Why Do I Blog?

My scrapping buddy Donna has the asked the question on her blog... "Why do you blog?" Well, I have many reasons for blogging...

My day-to-day blog is my online diary... an insight into what Beth and I get up to during any given week... Even thought we talk regularly to our family who are interstate on skype or via email, blogging is my little way of keeping our family up-to-date with what we're doing. I often forget to tell them the many odd weird, random stories about what Beth is doing ... plus, when you have uber cute photos accompanying an anecdote on the blog, it paints the picture so much better. The other purpose for me blogging, is for myself, so *I* don't forget these cute things that Beth gets up to... I have trouble enough remembering what I had for breakfast yesterday, so it's pretty easy to forget all the funny things that happen in the journey of "growing-up"... I often look back just to read and remember what we did last month or 6 months ago... I go back and read my old msn blog which I started when Beth was 3 months old and I have trouble remember the foggy haze of sleepless nights and continuous breastfeeding... I remember it happening (and that it was hard work!), but I don't remember the details, which is what the blog is all about... it's nice to read back on it and recall the smallest details... things like how excited I was when Beth first smiled at me (my blog post made it seem very exciting!)... or the terrible sleep patterns we endured for a few months... Or what we did on those big events like birthdays and Christmas...

My scrapping blog is my separate little world of creativity where I can share my work with people with the same interest. I know some of my family pop in and have a look now and then, but mostly they don't, which is kind of good so that they get surprised when they receive scrapbooked photobooks as presents... :p But I love my little creative space there... I just like to share my work with whoever cares to look...

Lastly, my recipe blog is my little dedication to my mother whose passion was cooking... that blog is mostly neglected (there are just not enough hours in the day!), but it's just nice to have that little space to jot down little recipes and menu plans now and then... I really must get around to doing something more for that blog...

Okay and now I must really stop procrastinating and get to bed... another busy day for us tomorrow as we head to playgroup in the morning and then more packing in the afternoon. Less than 48 hours to go...

And just in case I don't get in here tomorrow, we're more than likely going to be losing our phone line and internet connection from Friday, so if you don't hear from me for a few days, we'll just be sans internet and probably busy moving and unpacking stuff and getting ready for our trip home to Adelaide.

So until my next blog post, take care and I'll be back soon to update on all our happenings...

Oh and let me also ask you the question - Why do *you* blog?

Some tips about packing with an almost 2 year old...

1. Don't leave the fridge open to air dry while your child is around.... It is more than likely that they will remove all the shelves from the fridge and do this:


























2. Don't feed your child 10 tiny teddy biscuits in a one sitting in an attempt to amuse them and stop them from annoying you whilst you are wrapping glassware in newspaper... it will result in a *very* energetic child running around the house like a lunatic!

3. Don't let your child eat weetbix crumbs out of the cereal container... it will result in weetbix crumbs *everywhere* and you will waste time and energy having to vacuum up the mess.

4. Do let them wear clothes they can lift up so they can examine their belly button, like so:





























It provides cheap entertainment for half an hour so you can do more packing...

5. Do have lots of patience on hand when your child decides to be helpful and unpacks the box you have just packed... you also need patience for when they start hanging off your leg and arm at inopportune times...





















6. Be prepared for your child to come and do adorable things to distract you and make you laugh so that packing doesn't feel like quite a chore... She tried to feed me crumbs of dried cereal (mmm... messy!) and dried prune off a spoon (cute, but I really didn't feel like prunes!)

7. Keep your camera handy to capture the above mentioned moments!

Packing with a small child can be slow work (and at times annoying!), but it can be quite amusing and fun too...

Meeting an old family friend...

Today I had the wonderful fortune to catchup with a very old, dear family friend from Rockhampton. Sister Andrina was one the first people to befriend my mum and dad when they first arrived in Australia as refugees in the late 70s and lived in Rockhampton. We had lost touch over the years, but over the last couple of years, we have managed to get in touch again and Sr Andrina and I have been emailing each other on and off with little updates.

Sr Andrina was in Brisbane for the day yesterday to attend a meeting and she stayed on today and we caught up... initially it was planned for afternoon tea, but a last minute change saw Beth and me get ready in a flurry of activity in 10 minutes and briskly walk down to the train station and catch a train into the city at 9:20am. (I was mighty impressed with myself for getting ourselves together so quickly!)

We met Sr Andrina at her hotel and had morning tea in the hotel lounge... It was so wonderful to just sit and chat with her... we talked about many things... the past, the present and the future... we reminsced and she told me things that she remembered about my dad and my mum when they were living in Rockhampton... It's hard to describe, but she is one of those people that has a beautiful, calming presence... and considering I hadn't seen her in about 20 years and I only have recollections of her from my childhood memory, it was just lovely to kind of come full circle and talk to her now that i am "all grown up". The 1 1/2 hours that we shared just flew by and Beth was quite well behaved... although she was being her very cheeky self and enjoyed lying under a coffee time and trying to do somersaults in the lobby (she can be so embarrassing!) She also raided and ate everything I had brought in her bag (strawberries, biscuits, muesli bar, fruit box, rice crackers... AND she polished off half of the carrot and walnut muffin!)... It was good that we had morning tea at the hotel, because when she got sick of hanging around us, she just ran back forth between the lounge and the lobby... she was amusing the two young men serving at reception... and one of them was ready to run after her if she ran out the door... it was really quite sweet!

I am so glad I got the opportunity to meet Sr Andrina again after all this time... it has really made my week!

I decided today was going to be pretty much a write-off packing wise... in the afernoon I had to go to the post office to redivert our mail and while we were there, Beth and I sat at a bench and shared a chocolate eclair whilst we watched a pigeon walk around (Beth looooves watching birds!)... then got a call from a photographic store telling me a speedlite that I was buying on Phong's behalf had arrived, so we went and picked that up.

For some stupid reason, I managed to park 4 blocks away from the the photographic store... (and I might also add the footpath is damn hilly too!)... so it took Beth and I almost 20 minutes to walk there (this was because the child wanted to stop ever 2 minutes to pick a flower, touch a flower, walk along a low brick wall, stop in the middle of no where for a break and do other things that almost-2-year-olds like to do! You would never think that talking a 4 block walk could be such an adventure!) It "only" took us 15 minutes to walk back, 'cos I carried her half the way 'cos she was tired!

So that was our busy, social yet productive day. Tomorrow is going to be totally dedicated to packing... so Beth and I will be busy vegemites... (oh, that's happy vegemites isn't it? Oh, you know what i mean!)

Laugh of the Day

I have to share one of my favourite blogs... It's a site about when cakes go wrong, for various reasons... I have it on my google reader and it's one that makes me laugh without fail...

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

I hope you get a laugh or two out of the blog as well... the commentary from the blog writer is hilarious... The entry about chest hair had me laughing out loud...

She loves to draw...

Apologies for the total dodgy photo, but Beth was getting angry at me for taking a photo, so I only had a chance to snap one quick photo before I had to tend to my aggravated child.

Anyway, this photo demonstrates Beth's preference to draw on things that belong to Mummy... I gave her a brand new blank white sheet of paper and she drew a couple of dots and a couple of squiggles on it and then proceeded to "decorate" my shopping list (rather extensively and elaborately, I might add!) instead... I don't understand why, but there must be some kind of allure to drawing on Mummy's shopping list instead of drawing on the *large* *blank* sheet of paper that is sitting right in front of her!

Somebody woke up too early this morning...

Beth decided to wake up at 6:30am this morning... which didn't bother me at all, because she slept through the night last night. I needed to get some more boxes for the move, so this morning we went out to Bunnings to get some... I'm sure the people there must think I'm some kind of crazy box lady, because I've been going there at least once a week (sometimes twice a week) and rummaging through finding good sturdy appropriately sized boxes... loading up a trolley with the said boxes and then loading up the car... I've got quite a good technique going now and have figured out the best way to nest the boxes and fit them into the boot, the backseat and the front seat... (I fit about 12 boxes in the car today). I'm sure Beth thinks I'm mental and wonders why she has boxes keeping her company in the backseat.

Anyway all of this takes me about 15-20 minutes and then we drive home which only takes 10 minutes... and today Beth fell asleep on the way home and it was only 10am! Once I had parked the car, Beth half opened her eyes and then gave me this "Nope-I'm-not-going-to-wake-up" face and closed her eyes and went back to sleep. I unloaded the boxes from the car and then got her out of the car... she was dead to the world and refused to wake up... I put her down on the beanbag in the lounge room thinking that she might wake up if I went around and did some packing and made some noise... but nope... she slept through it all... after about 10-15 minutes, I took her up to her room and she ended up having a 2 hour nap! I'm hoping she sleeps in tomorrow!

My child the shoplifter...

Beth has this wonderful ability to make things "magically" appear in my shopping trolley when we are shopping... packets of biscuits... the odd mandarin.... Most of the time I find these items in the trolley and veto them on my way out through the checkout...

Today, we were in the ABC shop having a browse and Beth started looking at these "In the Night Garden" books (really weird show, she loves it!)... Anyway, I managed to get them out of her hands and I went and paid for a "Boo!" DVD that I wanted to buy for her. Decided to stop by an ATM to get some money and when I had finished, I turned around to find that an "In the Night Garden" book had magically appeared in her hands and she was sitting there reading it! Don't know how I didn't notice it before! Anyway, so we walked all the way back to the ABC shop and I paid for the book (she wasn't going to let go of it, so I had to buy it!) and then we wandered off to do our grocery shopping.

Halfway through our shopping expedition, I was looking at some batteries (need some for my flash) and the batteries were right next to the padlocks and Beth was having fun taking the packets of padlocks off and giving them to me and playing with them... Managed to put 4 packets back on the shelf and then continued grocery shopping. On my way out through the checkout, I discover 2 packets of padlocks sitting in the trolley! I need eyes in the back of my head to keep an eye on this one!

Feeling the love...

Today feels like it's my birthday all over again... I received a card and whole heap of Haighs chocolates express posted to me from Em (very timely - I was getting a craving for Haighs! Thanks little sis!) and I also got a card from my beautiful friend Jo (Thank you Jo!). Sharon got me a massage voucher for my birthday (which I'm going to use after we've finished moving house!) and also took me out for afternoon tea at Chermside... we went to a cafe that has a little indoor playground attached to it and the girls played on it, while we had our hot chocolates. Beth was nervous about going on the playground at first, but I took her in and tried to show her around a few times, but she didn't want to stay in the playground. Then Emily decided to take Beth under her wing and held her hand (and Beth let her!) and took her to playground and then the two girls had a great time together... it was so cute to see, the first time I've really seen Beth interact with another child properly. Emily is going to make such a great big sister.

So... all in all, a wonderful day.

Yesterday, I had to run an errand in the CBD... so Beth and I caught the train in... it was only a quick trip and Beth enjoyed the train trip (unlike the last trip 6 months ago when she was really scared of the train!) After I had run my errand, we wandered off to check out the Queen Street Mall and stopped to have an icecream for afternoon tea. We spent 2 hours in the city before heading home... it was a fun afternoon out... something different... and I've conquered my paranoia about public transport! I am really nervous about catching trains... I always worry about catching the wrong one and ending up somewhere in whoop whoop! But, the trip was really easy and Central Station has very clear signs and timetables up... so it makes it easy. So that was our exciting day yesterday.

Another year older I am...

Yes... today is the day that I leave the youthful, carefree days of my 20s and begin the responsible, mature-minded journey into my 30s... (ha ha... mature minded... whatever!) In all honesty, I'm looking forward to this new phase of my life. I don't feel old... I don't look old (ha, some may say I still look a little like I'm 18!)... and really, 30, while it is a milestone... it really is like any other birthday... And tell you what, today, really has been a very ordinary day... just ran errands all day... no big celebrations, no fan-fare... (well, I had all my fan-fare and spoiling on Sunday - see the post from the 31st of August) just emails and phone calls from my dearest family and friends... and a few Facebook birthday greetings too!

So from this old, old 30 year old woman - I say thank you to all who wished me a happy birthday - even if it was uneventful, it was happy, because life has been good to me and I feel God's blessings in my life every single day. The real celebrations will be happening in just over a fortnight with my closest and dearest when we come back to Adelaide... I can't wait!

Uber Cute Outfit!

Our beautiful friends Vivian and Koh got Beth this uber cute outfit that they saw and fell in love with. It is soooo cute! And Beth even has red shoes to match it... Took some quick snaps this afternoon, just for you guys so you can see how perfectly the outfit fits! :) Thanks so much again for the outfit... it truly is adorable!

Spring has sprung!

First day of spring... we are already beginning the 9th month of the year... Time is just flying by... less than 2 weeks 'til we move house!

Well, today the weather was just glorious... it felt like spring... beautiful, sunny and warm... with a freshness in the air that made me feel alive. Beth and I had a lovely day today... KindyRoo in the morning, lots of book reading, funny playing with a balloon... She also had a *HUGE* 2.5 hour nap at lunch! In the afternoon we packed a few boxes together (she really enjoys packing!)... and played with her train set.

Beth also learnt how to walk around like a chicken and make chicken noises today. And I also discovered that she won't eat biscuits that are broken... I had some sakata wholegrain rice crackers in a little bag and a few were broken in half. She bypassed all the broken ones and went for the whole ones... and when I tried to give her one that was broken in half, she pushed my hand away with a "Nooo.."... and gave me a look like "Are you trying to feed sub-standard food here?" What a pedantic child!

I'll leave you with another photo that I took yesterday -