Spring is here!!!

Today is the first day of spring!... Yahoo.  I loooove spring.
Its quite warm here already.  Yesterday I went for a walk, and got a little bit sunburnt... So there is definately no lack of sun already.

Looking foward to Sunday afternoon lunches outside, Saturday walks and plays on the beach....

Spring is definately my favourite season...

Whats your favourite season?

Only 1 day to go

Only 1 day to go until my beautiful little baby boy turns 1.
Time has just flown by, and I am really grateful to be able to have stayed at home every day for the last year with my little boy.  I have enjoyed every moment, and feel like I have embraced the moment, and not taken it for granted that I have this privildge.

Today I made a cake for our playgroup that we go to on a Thursday.  It was only a practice for the cake I would like to make for Saturday, which is when we are having a little party for him.
I wanted to practice, as I used fondant icing for the first time...

I think my cake turned out well!!...

XX

My beautiful boy!!

Playing on my new toys.....

Drinking his bottle while Mummy is baking.....

                                          Bathtime is my FAVOURITE!!! But my bath is so big it costs Mum and  Dad a fortune to fill it any deeper!!

                                         Standing up in the kitchen trying to get into the utensil drawers!

Wow Mum your camera is really interesting...


So this week is my last week with my baby before he turns 1.  I really cant believe that it has been a whole year since I gave birth...
 I am full of excitement for his 1st birthday party that we will be having on Saturday for him.  I am making him a train cake.. (well I am attempting one anyway!!)
We dont think we are going to go out and spend money on buying him a present.  He really has sooo many toys that friends have given us, and still has two black bags FULL of toys in the rumpus room downstairs... So I figure that we might just wrap one of those, and he can have fun tearing the paper off!!

I would love to get some family portraits done in the next few months so that might be our present to him!

With the mark of 1 year since having Harry comes up, I cant help but still have a horrible twist in my stomach when I think of my birth.... I think time is a healer, and I will feel ok about it one day, but for now, Im still really uneasy about the thought..... Thats ok though... there isnt any plans for no 2 in the next 3 years at least!!!

Its a Sunday afternoon, Elwic is sleeping, Harry is sleeping and the weather is beautiful. We have just been for a 2 hour walk to the beach and the park, and had sausage rolls for lunch, and now I am about ready to have a sleep myself....

XX

Settling in

Moving countries is harder than it looks...

Well I suppose it never looks easy, but it sounds pretty easy to talk about; but infact its pretty challenging at times.

I have really been lucky to fall into such a lovely group of friends, a great church and a great playgroup for Harry; but it still doesnt change the fact that I miss my old life.  My old friends. My old habits. My old routines. My old car. My old house............  My old everything.

I feel like I dont have any right to feel upset or miserable or homesick, as life here is really becoming everything that I could ever have dreamed it to be, but the reality is that it is hard..... and it is ok to have moments where I want to throw it all in and go home.....back to Karaka, where everything is green, and lush, and where there is roadkill and wild flowers on the verge. Where letterboxes get bashes off their purches if they are too flash....

Moan moan moan... Ok Im over it....

Had a fantastic day today, driving up to Ulladulla again with my friend and her 2 kids and Harry. This week I got in the pool, and swam with Harry. He is super excited when he gets in, that he splashes so hard and gets huge mouthfuls of water, and coughs and splutters.. and once he has got his breath back, he thinks he is hilarous, and tries to do it again!!...

I am having a night out with the girls tomorrow which I am really looking forward to.  Elwic is having Harrison, and I am just having a carefree night.... its been a long time coming!

Looking forward to letting my hair down and having a fun time!!!!

Flowers or chocolates?

Last week I was feeling really really homesick.... it was a rainy week, and I was trapped inside with Harry all day long, everyday and I felt homesick....

My lovely husband, sent me a beautiful bunch of flowers with the courier, and then only 2 days later I got sent another beautiful bunch of flowers from a new friend I have made.....

I feel really spoilt.....  But it got me thinking.... Would you prefer chocolate or flowers if you had the choice?

I know that I am definately a flowers girl... Esp if I am feeling down... they just seem to make me feel happy looking at them!....
Dont get me wrong.. I loooooove chocolate, but dont love the way I feel after I have eaten it!!

What would you prefer??

Thinking back

Im having a day of weakness, where I am longing to be back around the people I know and love, the place I know and love and my surroundings that I am familiar and comfortable with....
I know that many times in the past I have looked back at things and thought.... "I wish I had have done this, and wish I had have done that".... But I sit here and think about when we lived in New Zealand, and I can say that I truely enjoyed and appreciated most things that it has to offer and the people that I spent time with. 
I miss New Zealand....

I was born in Australia, so technically that makes me and Australian.... but my heart is for NZ.  I love the people, I love the culture.. I love how everything is so close, I love the coast lines, I love the nature.......I really love everything about it. 
Elwic and I went to the beach today for lunch, and sat on the grass and had a picnic.  As we were looking out he said.. "Babe, I dont think we will ever move away from here"... secretly my heart sunk.. Although I do love Batemans Bay and yes it really is beautiful, I was actually picturing that we were on Waiheke Island and that we were just going to get back on the Ferry and go home to our acreage in Karaka with big trees, flash houses and perfectly manicured gardens...... 
On the other hand, I love our life now.  I would not change it for a moment.  I am really enjoying where we live and the lifestyle that we have. The freedom to do what we like.  The amazing oportunities that we have, the beautiful house that we live in, and the bogan westies car we drive.lol
We have met some fantastic people who are so much fun to hang out with and have also found a great church family to be a part of.

Both sides of the ditch have so much to offer, they are both fantastic places.  I just had a homesick day today, but thats ok too.  Im allowed to have those moments.

x

A breath of fresh air!

Harry and I had a lovely morning today. We met my friend Karena, and her kids Meika and Ezekiel at the Eurobodalla botanical gardens, and went mini bush walking.... (as much as you can with a baby in a pram), and then had coffee at the coffee shop while the kids ate an iceblock.  It was really lovely.
This morning I was starting to feel sorry for myself that I have nothing to do here in Batemans Bay, but after a walk and a play and a breath of fresh air, I snapped out of my sulk and got some perspective. 
FIND something to do Amelia.   So thats exactly what I am going to do.  My first project is to buy an old, solid wood bookshelf for Harry's room, sand it down and get new handles and paint it.. ....
Im quite excited for my little challenge.  I have never done something like this before, and I figure if it turns out to be a mess I can always go and buy him a nice one, but I will at least try my hand at it first.

Elwic will be working 6 days a week, 10 hours a day for a month or two now, as he has a lot of work on, and some leave hours to catch up on, so I will be spending a considerable amount of time by myself, and I cant just stalk people on Facebook all day.....

I am still working really hard on getting Harry to self settle... Its proving to be harder than I thought, and those tears, and sobs tug my heart strings and I give in sometimes.... I know thats not constructive to what I am trying to acheive, but we as Mums dont always need to play the tough love card all the time right?......... sigh......
So I press on towards the goal, and hope that soon enough he will be back to his dream baby- sleeping self!

I think I need a gin..!!!