Zac & his sidekick (Gus)

Can you figure out what he is "wearing"??

????????

at 2 & a half did I fight sleep every night until I could fight no more? Did it ever take up to 2 hours for mum & dad to finally "win" the sleep battle? Were they as relieved as we are to know that we wont see our child for the next 9 hours? Is this carma biting me in the butt?

To Lara

This post is only a means of Amy being able to write to Lara. We were looking at blogs & Amy was catching up on Lara's on goings & wanted to write a message and add a current photo of herself. So the rest of the typing is all Amy's:

hi lara do you remember me? i remember you. i work at Hands On packing things. do you work? bye amy

The birth of a cold roll

Yesterday was finally the day I have been planning for weeks. It was the day I had set aside for baking and cooking.


A couple of weeks ago Neil had expanded the veggie patch in the hope that something may actually grow, I also promised Ailish that she could help "pretty it up" with paint. I was tempted to paint it white with flowers painted around it but didnt think Neil would go for that.


Last weekend when Callum, Ailish & Rowan came for a sleep over there was no way that Ailish was going to accept "maybe later" in response to "can we paint it now". The boys and Olivia helped for all of about 5 minutes & then I got to chat & catch up with Ailish while we "worked" and finished it off.


All the kids nice & safe in some old shirts:




Then it was time the reap the harvest of the littler herb garden:




And of course savour the beauty that is your own home grown produce:





And finally I get to have some fun using the home grown produce, I know it looks massive but it is on a side plate & they were on the large-ish side:

I also made 2 loaves of bread (1 of which was devoured warm at lunch time), a banana cake & 2 batches of the best spanish noodle recipe so that when I dont feel like cooking during the week I have a fall back option rather than relying so heavily on Subway.

I ended the day exhausted but content.

what a great date

there was laughter, tears (of laughter), anticipation, suspense, twists & turns. Its a great movie & I am officially joining the "Burn After Reading" cheer squad. EVERYONE SHOULD SEE IT.

As if that wasnt enough, i also got to enjoy some great company. If only every day could end this way.....

You're the best......

You're the best eater

You're the best pee'er

You're the best kisser

You're the best sleeper

You're the best dancer

You're the best jumper

You're the best farter

You're the best scoffer

You're the best reader

You're the best putter to sleeper

You're the best helper

You're the best 'ugger

You're the best dresser

these are just a few of the things that I hear Neil saying to the apple of his eye & its times like these that I'm glad there is enough love to go around...

But how could you not love this:

I spend atleast 7 & a half hours a day there

Work!!! I love to hate it & I hate to love it.

Work for me is at BT Financial Group, I am a "reconciliations officer" but this means very little outside of my own lunch box. Basically I spend my time in front of my computer deciding what people are trying to do with their money & why they would be giving it to BT. We deal mainly with peoples Superannuation so its all rules & regulations.

I work to pay the bills & am not emotionally attached to the job but I find that I am too easily pulled into caring about what I do. I am quick to jump when someone doesnt do something that I need but am not so quick to jump when I am asked to do something but it doesnt have a benefit for me.

I am still trying to work out the work/life balance but am hopeful that this will be resolved in the coming months, I have major guilt when Olivia spends too much time in childcare. She is 2 & a half & has this whole other life that I am not involved in. To make matters worse she doesnt talk so trying to have a conversation with her & gain information about her "other life" is completely frustrating and fruitless.

On the flip side, I have a really good relationship with the people that I work closely with & they makes my days drift by. I am loud and am always up for a good laugh to break up the day so i am lucky that the people around me either tolerate me or are happy to have me there.

On that note I also feel that I am blessed to have a husband who supports any decision that I make and backs me in my choice to work or not. He is not silent on the topic, he definitely lets me know when I am working too much but at the same time is understanding of my reasons why.

Anyway, I just felt that I had to get that off my chest after a long & crazy day at the office so thanks for listening.

Ingrid

profile pic

we recently had a computer die on us & it has all our photos from since Olivia was born, so I am stuggling to find any recent photos of me. So I decided to put up a photo of one of my most recent achievements - toilet training a 2 year old.

we still have a little way to go, she is refusing to do number 2's in the toilet but we have atleast acheived number 1's.

believe it or not the face on her is actually her attempt to smile at the camera, mental note 'dont ever ask her to say cheese if you actually want a nice photo of her'. this is a classic example:

Ingrid

this sure is a first

Well, I have done it. I felt out of the loop that everyone else has blogs & I dont & peer pressure is as good a reason as any to start a blog.

So this got me to thinking what other firsts have I had in my life & how many of them do i remember......

firsts I remember

- first kiss with Neil
- first time I met Olivia
- first time I met all my gorgeous nieces & nephews
- first day of highschool
- first time I made a recipe out of a cookbook & it turned out exceptionally well (it was just the other day)
- first time I stepped foot on foreign ground (South Africa 2005)
- first time I realised how rough I treated my mum when growing up (parenthood makes you see things you never saw before)

firsts I dont remember

- first time Olivia called me mum
- first proper steps Olivia took
- first word Olivia spoke (it was either Mum or more)
- first drive in my own car
- first night all alone without Neil in my own house

My hope for this blog is that I now have a place to record the firsts that happen around me & I feel that this was meant to be as we just had a first that i can now record.

Olivia came walking out of her room & was obviously still asleep, she banged into a wall just outside of her room & made a noise, so we looked down the hallway & saw her. Neil marched her back to bed & now she is fast asleep again.

Well, I have high hopes for my little slice of the internet & I just hope it can live up. Now all I need is for Kristie & Dee to help me set it up properly.....

Love to all reading this.

Ingrid