The Old Bowling Club

Settlement has gone through! We are now the owners of the old bowling club in town. Or at least we are owners of the shell of the old club and half of the first green and the car park. Ian has been busy doing demo work on site to get the building back to a blank slate (the shire kindly allowed us early access before it was officially ours).

He has pulled down all the ceilings, jacked up all the tiles out of the male and female toilets/changerooms, pulled up the solid jarrah floor boards out of one room (and found white ants unfortunately) knocked out all the toilets, all of which has been hard work, but the thing that gave him the most trouble was ripping the urinal out. They put those things in reinforced to heck.

In a perfect world we'll be in by Christmas, but I've watched enough episodes of Grand Designs to know that it is a rare project that ever runs on time or budget, so I'm not holding my breath. I've told the other half I'll be happy as long as this is our last winter in this current house. Last winter I resorted to wearing a snow jacket inside to try and keep warm, ridiculous! With a new baby in the house though I've found a supplier for firewood and I'm going to run the terribly ineffective wood burner all day every day in an effort to keep her lips turning blue as I walk her from the laundry to the bedroom after bath time.

I'm pretty excited at the thought of being back in a house we own. I'll post our progress as we go along.

Mx

all photos taken by Ian except for the four tile mosaic in the middle

Tea Pot Tea Towel

I've picked up quite a few things from the local op shop in our small town, this tea towel being one of them. I thought I would use it to pretty up our kitchen. I think it's an improvement, though my husband didn't notice it when he came home for lunch today (at least that means he doesn't hate it!)

If this were our house I'd rip down that awful wallpaper boarder in a heartbeat and paint the walls. I daydream about how nice it would be to live in a house that was decorated/styled but I'd be happy at the moment to settle for clean.

I have plenty more op shop finds to show you when I get a chance to clean them up and do something with them. I was using this tea towel to dry my dishes, it is linen so does an awesome job. I've been meaning to post about tea towels and how linen is the only way to go (maybe I have already?) Anyway, if I haven't, linen is my hot tip. It actually sucks the water off your dishes instead of frustratingly pushing it around and not really drying.

I hope you're having good op shop juju at the moment if that's your thing.

Mx

I love you

The last week or two have been quite testing with out little man. I guess the arrival of Mia and the diminished attention that goes with that is catching up with him. We dropped his nap in the last couple of months too, so he is sometimes quite wretched by the end of the day. All of this is adding up to a Mumma who is not always handling things with as much grace as she would like.

It's just Murphy's law that one of my (not)finest parenting moments would be in front of an audience that left Charlie crying from a busted lip and myself in need of tears too (they came later). Hopefully the quilting ladies pitied me and didn't judge me too harshly. As I comforted Charlie and someone else comforted the baby I just wanted to crawl under a rock and bawl my own eyes out. I had carelessly dumped Charlie after picking him up off Mia yet again as she was sleeping on the floor of the church fellowship room. He didn't land well and he face planted. I was embarrassed and ashamed because I was too angry to be careful with my little boy. I was upset because I had hurt my child but in the moment I was more upset that I must have looked like a terrible mother in front of all those ladies.

Any way, I started writing this post because I wanted to remember that Charlie told me he loved me for the first time last night as I lay with him waiting for him to go to sleep. After loving someone with all your heart for two and half years it is nice to hear that they love you also, despite your shortcomings as a parent. I love you too mate, I'll try harder.

Anybody got any tips for navigating these trying times?

Mx

March

What a happy month

:: we had two wonderful trips to Perth

:: one for a family reunion

:: one for a friends birthday/Easter

:: we made it to Kings Park three times, I want to fit more of that in on our trips to the City!

:: a visit from Gandma/Mum

:: a visit from Pa

:: the start of afternoon visits to the Apex park

:: and I got two lots of garlic and onions in the ground :)

And lookyhere, I've got my month in review up before the end of the next month. Yay for me!

Hope your year is swimming along nicely, we're a quarter of the way in already!

Mx

Easter Weekend

Four day weekends are so good! Having the extra days made it so much easier to fit everything in on our trip to Perth. So many happy things. And on our trip home we even fit in a visit to my sister's block and a visit to Ian's Grandfather for Mia to meet her Great Grandpoppy Will in his new unit.

What did you do for Easter? I hope you had as much fun as we did.

Mx

I made butter!

 

And I'm ridiculously excited. I know it isn't very groundbreaking, it is so simple, but the fact that I got around to it and actually made butter makes me really happy. It's kind of like alchemy, you take one product and just by beating it you get two different products. Who knew you ended up with buttermilk as well? Now I'll have to make buttermilk scones to use up the buttermilk I've got stashed in the freezer. I should also make a pav with all the egg whites in there too, a little trick I learned from Nigella (the egg whites not the pav).

I also made yoghurt for the first time, another super easy thing to do, I don't know how successful it has been though, I had a quick taste tonight and think it will need a little sweetener, maybe it will taste better when it is more chilled.

Does making from scratch give you a thrill too?

Mx

February

 

was...

:: settling back in to home
:: finding that going from baby to two is not as hard as I feared
:: a visit from Nanna Cherie from SA to meet Mia
:: a fabulous beach wedding on Rottnest
:: Charlie's first night away from us (even though we were in the next room)

I hope your February was fabulous too. I'm enjoying the coolor weather that is coming with Autumn.

Mx

The Weekend

Grandma came for a visit on the weekend, these are a couple of shots I got of the fam while we waited out the front for her little red car to appear (excuse my kids hanging out in their undies). Mum is planning to come out and spend a weekend with us every month, this makes me happy and it's great for Charlie, he adores Branma (as he often pronounces it). Thanks for coming Mum!

Mx

January

Better late than never I say!



January was...

:: a fun family wedding where birkenstocks were acceptable footwear
:: waiting, waiting, waiting
:: the arrival of beautiful baby Mia
:: the return home

What a great way to start the year! I hold high hopes for 2013 :)

Mx

Love

We had valentines day last week and on the weekend we had another celebration of love. We were lucky enough to attend the island wedding of friends of ours. Such a beautiful wedding I'm still thinking about it. What I loved most was the two people getting married, two of the nicest, most sincere people you will ever meet. I'm so happy they found each other.

[boys melting in their suits]

It was lovely to bask in their reflected glow. We were on the beach which added to the glow so I'm glad we had Mia with us so we got to sit in the front row under an umbrella next to the brides parents. Close enough to see the grooms tears as his beautiful bride came in to view.

[Mia and I waiting in the shade]

"Island Wedding" sounds very grand, and it was a beautiful wedding, but we didn't jet off anywhere. We caught the ferry over to Rottnest (half hour from Fremantle). I haven't been to Rottnest for years. I'd love to spend a week there every year having a family holiday, it's pretty magical. My parents had their honeymoon there when the army still had barracks and accommodation on the island, and I remember holidaying over there as a child in the army digs.

[Bathurst Lighthouse]

The weekend was going to be my first night away from Charlie (2.5yo), but as we were staying away Friday and Saturday nights, Grandma thought two nights was too long for his first time. So he came with us and Grandma caught the ferry over on Saturday morning to babysit while we were at the wedding. When we got back to the unit Charlie was sleeping with Grandma so we slept in the other room and Charlie didn't see us until the morning. Even though he was in the next room, it was my first night not sleeping with Charlie, and I'm counting it!

I hope your weekend was full of love too.

Mx

Ok, Yeah Sure.

[Charlie being heart meltingly strange/cute]

Before Mia was born, I had what is probably the very common fears that I would either not love the new baby as much as my first baby, or my love for the new baby would replace some of my love for my first. Of course all of you who have more than one child knows that your heart just expands and you find more love than you thought you could possibly have inside you. So much that it makes you cry.

I didn't know the birth of our second baby would make me love our first baby even more. He is making my heart melt, I think it's a large part of hormones but also he seems more vulnerable to me since I can't be with him the same as I was before I had another babe to care for. I'm just now reminded of this quote by Elizabeth Stone, thank goodness, because I've been struggling to put into words how I've been feeling.

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body" 

I didn't feel it as acutely as I feel it now that Charlie feels a step further away from me. Just reading that "a step further away from me" is bringing tears to my eyes.

Anyway, Charlie is a melter of my heart and one of the cute things about him is the way he says yes, and it's just gotten cuter. Normally Charlie will say something like "pool?" and if you ask him "you want to go to the pool?" he'll say "ok" like it was your suggestion and he's just going along with your idea. Just in the last couple of days when you ask him a question he'll answer by saying "yeah, sure" instead of yes. "Do you want blueberries?" "Yeah, sure".

He has picked up both these sayings from me, and being imitated by a barely stringing-two-words-together toddler is hilarious and the most adorable thing you've ever heard.

Hope that wasn't too sappy for you all. 

Mx

Home

After a long seven weeks away we are now all home. Slowly finding our way. Little Mia is a pretty good sleeper so far and I go to bed when I put her and Charlie down for the night so I feel well and rested enough.

When we first got home though I found myself hormonal and struggling with Charlie not being my baby any more. Did any of you find that? I really missed him and felt like I'd somehow lost him/lost his babyhood.

It's okay, I know they don't stay babies forever, it's just an adjustment I'm going through. I needn't have worried about being stuck on the couch for 40 minutes while breastfeeding though. Little Miss feeds for between 5 and 10 mins and she is done! I do find I'm feeding her nearly hourly though.

Counting our blessings at having two healthy, beautiful babes.

Mx

Now We Are Four

[sleeping babe and proud Dad]

The waiting and wondering are over. Little Mia was born at quarter to midnight last night, at home (my parent's home) in the birth pool. I am feeling very well compared to how I felt after wee man was born. I can stand up without going faint! I can walk to the toilet, and have a shower!! Luxury :)

She is a beautiful little blessing of cherubic proportions at almost 10 pounds (9lb 15oz!)

I am falling in love all over again.

Mx

41 Weeks

And baby is still on the inside! I am comfortable and happy to be carrying, but I am getting homesick after being away for six weeks, and the thought of having a hospital birth if I go past 42 weeks is quite upsetting.

We went for a family walk after dinner last night to hopefully get things moving but they didn't, so we reluctantly waved Ian off this morning back home to work. Now he is 3 hours away and labour was fairly quick with Charlie, so we're hoping he makes it back in time to catch number two. I love that catching Charlie is one of his proudest moments and I can read it all over his face whenever he tells people.

I just need to trust this baby that it will come at the exact right time for it, when it's ready. With Charlie coming early I just never thought we'd be here!

Mx

Full Term!

Today is my due date, nothing to report, just wanted to post my 40 week photo.

Mx

Year in Review

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

2012 was a mostly happy year though we did seem to attend an inordinate amount of close family funerals. We're hoping for births only this year, starting with the birth of our second baby any day now.

A year of being pregnant (and not feeling the best for the first two trimesters, morning sickness and painful varicose veins I'm looking at you) I feel fantastic now though and would happily swap the last month of being pregnant for the whole nine months.

A year of planning our house and then shelving those plans and putting together another idea. Will let you know if plan number two goes ahead. Gosh I'd really love to be in our own home again before next Christmas.

A year with some ongoing family tensions. We're playing Sweden at our house though.

A year of kinda getting my shiz together a bit more as far as keeping house and organising goes ( I can't take all the credit, having the bathroom and floors done once a fortnight helps).

A year of moderate crafting, not too much achieved but some old projects further along, two(?) baby quilts, my massive denim quilt (yet to be blogged, needs more quilting before washing I've been advised), a couple of gifts, and lots of planning and dreaming on Pinterest. Last year my motto was "I'm a finisher" I'm going to continue with that thought this year and try and finish more projects than I start.

I hope you can look back on 2012 with fondness too. I'd love to hear any of your highlights, or challenges.

Mx