Lazy Summer Evenings.

This is my favourite type of Summer evening. Fabulous friends, balmy weather, prawns, chicken, fresh salad and icy poles. Oh, and chilled glasses of Moscato, of course.

I absolutely love how after 5 years, our front yard is finally done and we can just chill outside, soaking up the gorgeous weather and completely relax. We placed Carter on the picnic mat, where he took everything in and watching Mischa intently while she stretched, rolled and sashayed backwards and forwards in front of him. He loves to watch her, and tries to grab her tail. Give it a few months, and he'll be chasing after her!

We took Carter out to breakfast with us for the first time this morning. He really seems to thrive in new places, and soaks up all the new surroundings, people and noises. Next weekend (if it's not so hot) Deon and I are going to take him on a picnic down the river, so he can roll on the grass and splash away in the water.

Speaking of splashing, Carter's swimming lessons start next Thursday. I'm so excited! Will definitely have to take lots of photos!

My Precious Carter- 6 Months

My Precious Carter,

Today, you are 6 months old.

The biggest milestone that we hit this month was.... drumroll please... your first tooth! How exciting! It's popped up in the center of your bottom gum. Very cute. But oh, those teething days were so difficult! You were a bit uncomfortable, you poor little thing, so we used lots of Bonjela, teething rings, wet face washes and panadol. I even put bits of refrigerated fruit in your nibbler so you could chew on that!

Speaking of fruit, you're eating lots of different things now. Rice Cereal, banana porridge, fruit purees, vegie purees and rusks. We tried to give you a beef, potato and vegie puree last night, but you weren't too impressed with that one. I think you want to stay a vegetarian for the time being!

You LOVE your Jolly Jumper. Each day you bounce away to your hearts content, babbling and blowing raspberries. I think you're going to get big strong legs just like your daddy! You're still above average height, and just under average weight, so you're quite long and lean. I think we're going to have to get a new car seat for you soon, as your legs will start spilling over!

For the last 2 weeks you've come grocery shopping with me. You love the supermarket, and stare around at everything. You don't want to miss a thing!

We start swimming lessons this week. You love swimming with grandma in her spa, so it will be exciting to see how well you do in a pool. I wonder if you will start crawling this month?

My little bunny, I love you past the stars xx

Another Scorcher.

Feeling quite a bit better today. Although the days are still very long, and I'm not even looking forward to the weekend anymore as Deon is working all of it, Carter's teething has calmed down a lot and he only woke once last night.

Reading back on my last post has given me incentive to actually make some small changes. Why can't I be neat and organised? There's no reason not to be. I'm stacking all my food items from the pantry and fridge in the Sistema Klip-it containers (which are fabulous, and a lot cheaper that Tupperware) and labeling them. I've sorted my linen closet. I'm keeping on top of housework and washing. Very domesticated!

It's another scorcher of a day today, around 42 degrees. I think Carter and I will escape and head over to mums for a bit. We need a bit of company! The poor little Munchkin has his needles this afternoon too, so I'm not really looking forward to that.

I feel like we all need a change of scenery. Deon and I haven't gone anywhere for over a year. Carter has yet to leave Mildura. I'm planning on a night away somewhere with my little family on the Labour Day weekend. We need it. I'm feeling extremely caged, and I want Carter to experience new places.

OK. Time to go and do something while Carter's asleep. xx

Tired Ramblings.

Sigh. I'm in a flat, blob of a mood today. I know poor Carter can't help it, but I'm blaming it on the constant grizzles. And whinges. And narkiness. It can wear you down.

I'm having a day where I wish I was a better person. I wish I was creative with food. I wish I could whip things up from scratch and plate it beautifully, and have people ooh and ahh over it. I watch shows like Top Chef and am bamboozled at how they manage to incorporate food items like bacon in a dessert, and make it delicious. How is that possible?

I wish I had some sort of flair with interior design. I know what I like, but can't seem to achieve it. I wish I was more organised with a beautifully sorted pantry and everything in little containers, all neatly marked. No chance of mixing up the plain and self raising flours. No hurriedly stuck on labels with sticky tape that will fall off after a few weeks.

I would love to have a herb garden and a fruit orchard. I would love to be one of those people that uses fresh herbs and can pick strawberries to go in my cereal for breakfast. Who always has a glass jug of water with a freshly cut lemon in the fridge. Who bakes home made cookies if people drop in. (Well, to be fair, I do actually do this but Deon tends to eat them quite quickly.) Who has a lovely linen cupboard with matching folded sheets and towels in the right spot. Who has freshly cut flowers in a beautiful vase in the kitchen.

Meh, I'm blathering. I'm not sure what the point of this is. I think I need a bit of chocolate.

And a hug.

Another Milestone.

We have a new tooth!

The night before last, Deon and I had been invited to Keezy's houseboat to celebrate Carlie's birthday. We deliberated for a while on just what to do with Carter.. do we send him to Deon's parents and pick him up after, or let him stay overnight for the first time?

In the end we decided to bite the bullet and let him stay overnight. We packed all his gear, I wrote down everything that he needed/ate/did and then kissed him goodbye. Deon's mum told us she would call as soon as he was asleep to let us know how he had gone.

9pm came, and Deon and I started to feel a bit concerned. We called, and found out Carter was giving his poor nan a pretty hard time, crying non stop and refusing to sleep. The reason? A tooth had finally popped up on his bottom gum!

We ended up taking him home to give Deon's poor parents a break, dosed him up on Bonjela and panadol where he fell asleep from exhaustion. The next day he was back to his happy, sunny self, with the occasional grizzle. I can feel another tooth popping up on his upper gum now too.. I think cold teething rings are going to be his favourite toys for a while!

Heatwave...

Phew. It is hot. It is insanely hot today. An absolute stinker. I think it's about 43 degrees today.

Carter and I are currently being held hostage by this heatwave. It is WAY too warm to walk anywhere. The tires on the pram would melt into gooey black tar before I got to the corner. As for the car? Forget it. It's like a furnace in there. (Note to self: Why did you buy a black car when you are living in Mildura? Try a white one for your next one.)

So, we are trying to make the best of it. I pretended I was in the Australian Open while playing Wii tennis. I became Martha Stewart and baked some choc chip bikkies (very bad for the diet- but Deon normally polishes them off before I can say boo). I emulated Rothko and painted when Carter was asleep. However, it's only 3:45pm and I have Cabin Fever. BIG TIME.

So, I'm thinking of some goals. Things I would like to accomplish this year. Here are just a few:

• Lose the baby weight, and get back to my normal size

• Start a herb garden
  

• Hit the gym 2-3 times a week

• Start my PinkVanilla Etsy business

• Visit Lan in Mackay

That's a good start.

My New Best Friend

I thought I'd take a quick video of Carter and my new best friend. This contraption is my saviour. For the last few weeks, all Carter has wanted to do is jump. And jump. And jump. My arms were aching. They felt like they were going to drop off. Then, one day Deon bought home a box that held all the answers. The jumper was assembled, Carter jumped to his hearts content and my arms were saved (although the workout was probably doing them a world of good!).

Unfortunately the video is taken sideways (as I thought I could rotate it later but alas, I cannot) so tilt your head to the side, and enjoy!

Photos with Carter.

It's very hard trying to get a lovely shot of both Carter and myself using photobooth. His attention span is non-existent. I even tried turning him away from the TV so he wouldn't be distracted by Daddy playing Xbox. Nope. It was like trying to herd cats, or nailing jelly to the ceiling. My wiggly little bub thought pulling my hair, shoving his fist in his mouth or trying to turn around to watch Dad was WAY more fun. Ah well. Action shots are better than posed ones anyway, aren't they?








I think we'll try again another day....

More Blocks.

Some more block creations, for a little girl Taylah, and a little boy Cameron.

Feeding Time.

My little man.. look how big you've grown!

Deon and I decided to set up his high chair on the weekend so he could sit with us while we had tea. He's still a little bit young to have his own food in it, but he seemed to enjoy being in it. Lots of cheeky smiles! He definitely has a fascination with food, and will watch us intently while we have our tea. Carter still has a bottle at every feed, but is now having a small bowl of organic rice cereal as well. For his last feed before bedtime, we give him a jar of Heinz organic vegetable puree instead of the rice cereal which he LOVES. He can't get enough of it!

Cute Little Present.

Check this out. Lan gave me this cute little present for Christmas. It's called an Eggling. Basically, you crack the top of the ceramic egg, and tip a tiny packet of seeds through the opening. The potting mix and additional seeds are already in there. You water it each day, and voila! Little plants start shooting! Apparently this one is a little petunia plant, but you can get different varieties.

Cute, huh?

...and a belated Happy New Year!

I look back on 2009 with a lot of fondness. The year that our little Carter was born. The best thing that we have ever done.

We saw 2010 in with two close friends.. homemade pizzas, wine and a spectacular lightning show. I piked at 1:30am as I knew that I would be up only 5 hours later with Carter (and boy, did I struggle the next day!) but I think Deon finally headed to bed at about 4:30am.

This is the first year in a while that I'm truly excited about what this year will bring. My little rabbit will be turning one, I'm starting a new job in a lovely P-12 school, and hopefully I'll be able to visit my sister in her new house in Mackay. Good times ahead.

I'm being a bit naughty, but I'm posting some photos we had done of our little family by Excitations. Happy New Year everyone!