frenzy

Today I attacked the study... again. It's the room that bugs me the most, it's a dumping ground for stuff that can't be sorted, filed, organised, or be bothered with until later. This week, it forms part of my 'to-do' list. So I borrowed Dad's shredder...

Last week, while Corey was away working in Gippsland all week, I set myself a long list of things to do around the house and gradually chipped away at it. While I didn't finish the list, I crossed off most of the items and was pretty pleased that I (mostly) stuck to it. So last week, I was cleaning the house like a woman possessed.

This week, Corey is away again, so my goal is organising/tidying/cleaning the study. Today's first step was sorting the various piles of paper and 'things' into piles on the floor and removing all the financial & work related bits of paper that were older than 7 years. These got shredded, a slightly cathartic activity. Fingers crossed I can keep up the effort and have the study sparkling by the end of the week!

that one day in september

Yesterday happened to be the re-match of the AFL Grand Final, but that's not what I'm blogging about. While the Grand Final is synonymous with the phrase "...that one day in September", for me it was different. Yesterday also coincided with what happened a month ago, on a day in September. 3rd September, to be more precise.

The start of September usually heralds a few things - the start of spring, goodbye to coldness (although you wouldn't have known much difference in the weeks that followed) and my beloved late Nanna's birthday. This particular year, it was also the day I found out I was expecting our second child. It's something I'm still grappling with, not so much the shock, but the realisation settling in. This pregnancy was planned, or rather, in the words of my husband, "We should get onto that", as if it was yet another task that had to be done, like mowing the lawns.

A test was conducted, me musing, "hmm, what if" and there it was, 2 pink lines on a stick. I said a quiet "Happy Birthday Nanna" to myself, knowing she'd be tickled pink to know - or perhaps she already did on same other level. I kept the stick, showed my husband and we kept quiet for a good month. It felt good to have a nice little secret all to ourselves, but when we started telling people (at 10 weeks), the excitement and happiness was infectious which made it seem all the more real.

In the meanwhile, it's business as usual with the daily grind. I'm not stopping myself going to the gym, I'm determined to not blow out of proportion, though I'm a bit dismayed to see the middle "tyre" returning. I'm thankful now that I'll be moderately "with child" during the summer period, instead of heavily pregnant, it ought to make the summer a bit more bearable. That, and maxi dresses.

So happy birthday Nanna, you're not here to share this news with us but it made your birthday a little more special, even if I was the only to know it.

birthday boy

Our little boy - even as I write he's still half the size of me, in height - turned 2 last Saturday.

His birthday coincided with the Westernport Festival so Saturday was spent opening presents, watching the parade down High Street at midday and wandering around the amusements, attractions & rides at the foreshore. For dinner, we enjoyed a BBQ tea at the fire station (for brigade members) and topped the evening off with fireworks down the foreshore.

On Sunday, we hosted a small afternoon tea for close friends and family. Hubby took the small boy down the foreshore to look at the big truck display (scoring himself a ride in a crane whilst down there) whilst I cooked, baked and generally got the decorations up before the guests arrived.

Small boy was spoilt rotten with the guests and presents and was in awe of the excellent train birthday cake that his Nana made for him.

countdown to queensland

It's countdown time for the Queensland trip next week, for the wedding of Aaron & Zoe. Although you could say we've been in countdown mode since October last year, when the wedding planning [freaking out] started happening.

Rory's now 7 months old and I can't believe we're in October now. He hasn't displayed any new tricks since the last couple of weeks (rolling to the right etc) except that now he enjoys sticking his feet in his mouth.

Corey's shed has a concrete floor now, and only needs the guttering put on to be complete. Once that's done, then the final permit inspection can be carried out and hopefully have all that done and dusted.

Mum & Dad left for their Sth American trip extravaganza on Wednesday, I miss them already. 6 + weeks. I wonder how much Rory will have changed by then.

Finished the quilt, finished the sewing for mum, nearly finished the annual report (all that's needed is a proofing, cover complete, printing and binding). The ticks are getting in the boxes... Next week's task is to start packing...

soup and slices

Day 2 of my blogging challenge, fingers crossed I stick to it.

Mother's Group was at my house today, so we had the usual 4 mums, plus the return of Jake's mum, who'd been in QLD for the past month (with Jake, I must add). It was good to have her back. Made pumpkin soup, lemon slice and double-choc fudge brownies, which all went down well.

The babies are growing hugely, and a no longer the sleepy little blobs that they once were when Mothers Group first started. Now they're little blobs (well, the boys anyway, because they still don't move much) with their personalities beginning to shine through. And they're beginning to interact with each other as well, which is quite amusing to watch.

Corey's just come back from getting his tax done ... amazingly his group certificate was done in August (not October like last year!) so we'll have some money to [sigh] put on those credit cards.

3 months

Rory is now 3 months old. He's currently asleep in his stroller - a walk round the streets and a quick visit to the vet to pick up some dog worming tablets did the trick. He's growing, growing, growing. Now he's into size 00 clothing (usually for 6 month olds).

Yesterday we had our last Mothers Group meeting at Crib Point, and now we have to work out where and when we want to meet on our own, as a playgroup. Because there were only 5 mums present (out of the usual 10), we'll meet same place, same time next week - hopefully we can decide then.


Corey is possibly working next week away at Sale on a big job, so that will prove to be an interesting week without him.

My efforts at the gym are also going well, and I'm starting to reap the rewards there.

An old friend from High School contacted me last week - she's moved back with her family to Vic from WA. She visited last Monday with her little boy - it was good to see how much she had changed, and also, how much she hadn't changed. If that makes any sense.

As the year progresses, the months are flying by.

Baby Update: Rory is nearly 11 weeks old and is a real joy. We've finally nailed down the feed-play-sleep practice without even meaning to. While he doesn't like sleeping a lot during the day (too many things to see!), he sleeps well during the night, only waking for meals and then falling asleep straight after. Touch wood. I keep saying that so I don't jinx myself!I'm getting more confident with taking him out by myself, knowing that I can handle him now that he's older and a little more manageable.

In Other News:

• Corey had his 30th recently and we had a kiwi hangi, which went very well.
• We attended our antenatal class reunion, which was good to meet up with all the other new parents and their babies and exchange war stories.
• Saw The Other Boleyn Girl and Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, the latter being a neat movies - recommend it to anyone.
• My first Mothers Day went ok, despite being incredibly tired.
• The DVD player packed it in, so we had to get a new one (boo JB HIFI for dodgy service!)

...more later (baby has awoke!)

catchup

Am at computer with baby fast asleep in babysling. Will have to make this quick before he wakes.

A few things have happened since I blogged last:

Carol had her baby: Annabel. A gorgeous little imp (tiny! compared to Rory!) with a shock of red hair. When we visited her a couple of weeks ago, I swear the blanket weighed more than she did when I held her. Beautiful - I'm looking forward to watching Rory and his cousin (or should that be un-cousin?) Annabel grow up, and share photos with Carol along the way.

Wild, woolly weather throughout Vic last week - the weekly Wednesday dinner at Mum & Dad's was an interesting experience - power was out for the evening so we ate by candlelight and sat and chatted (as well as doing the quizzes from the newspapers).

We (parents, brother, SIL, Corey, Rory & myself) went to MaQuay in Hastings for Mum's birthday on Saturday night. Rory managed to behave himself - being passed around the table to keep both him and us six entertained.

MIL arrived back from NZ the other week, she had a blast and regaled us all with her adventurous feats!

Anyway, Corey is in the midst of planning his 30th birthday - a hangi - so I'd better make something of a start on the invites.

homebody

I like being a homebody.

Right now, the boy is watching a dvd and the zucchini slice is ready to come out of the oven. There's another load of washing (this time, whites) to go out on the line and the smell of baked goodies is wafting through the house.

Life is sweet.