Tick Tock...

I'm not sure where the last 38+ weeks have gone, but here I am... tick tock tick tock, playing the waiting game for the arrival of a little mister or is it a little miss?

The second pregnancy is so different from the first.  With MissE, at 28 weeks, I was more than ready.  The nursery was complete, the baby clothes had been washed and carefully folded, diapers and wipes were on hand, and hospital bag packed.  At 36 weeks we had practiced using putting a baby (a teddy bear) in and out of the car seat and pram dozens of times.  This time... the nursery has just been completed, I am still picking a 'going home outfit', we have a few newborn diaper samples (enough to last 4 hours!), and despite being advised several times by my midwife, I have not packed my hospital bag.  Based on my fairly short labour with MissE (<4 hours from go to delivery), you would think I would make this a priority!  I have plenty of time, right???

That's not to say we are excitedly awaiting the new arrival.  I have had a very different pregnancy from MissE so I am curious to know who we are expecting!  What does he or she look like?  At our 4D ultrasound, BabyH was camera shy so we haven't even had a sneak preview.  MissE is also very excited.  She has been very helpful with setting up the nursery, moving toys to where she thinks the baby would like it, and offering to share her toys and books.  Lately, she asks how I am feeling and if my tummy is sore.  Sometimes, she says her tummy is sore because the baby is kicking!

My sister and her family have recently arrived from San Francisco for both a holiday and to hopefully to meet her new nephew/ niece.  I never had the opportunity to have a traditional baby shower, hosted by my bridal party, living 7,408 miles away, so with my sister here, I decided to book a small table along with some of my fabulous friends for High Tea (my favourite!) to celebrate the impending birth.

The Tea Room, Gunner's Barrack's

L to R: Ying, Rita, me, Phoebe, Miranda (front), Cynthia, Joanna (front)

Special Earl Grey

One of two petite four "towers"
(mango custard, macaroons, tiramisu, peach tarts, baked cheesecake)

Samosas, mini quiches and fresh baked scones (with clotted cream and raspberry jam)

No tea is complete without tea sandwiches!

Rather than gifts, I asked my friends to lend their artistic ability for an Alphabet Book.  I asked them to pick a letter or 2 and draw anything the letter represents to the artist, and of course sign their gorgeous artwork so I have very special keepsake!

Cynthia drawing the letter "C"

Little Miss Chatterbox

MissE has a new nickname, it's Little Miss Chatterbox.  Is it a girl-thing?  She talks non-stop.  If she isn't talking, she is singing- still making up her own songs.  Her latest composition:

"Sausage in a pan,

sausage in a pan.

Sizzle, sizzle

Sizzle, sizzle.

(Insert name here) went to the bank!"

We don't discourage her talking unless she is making up words like "gagagoogle" or talking back.  Yes, I thought that I would have at least 9 years until I heard the words "Go away!" or "Leave me alone!" uttered by MissE.  The first time we heard it, I got upset and listened to her, leaving the room to sulk in private.  Mr.H got very quiet.  Now that we have heard it half a dozen times, we have learned to not take it personally and to teach her that it's not nice to say such things only because she doesn't like what we are saying to her (usually she says it when she is in trouble).

MissE has recently taken an interest in recognising the letters of the alphabet and is learning to count items slowly.  She can recognise 'A, B, C, D, E, L, M, O, S, W', so almost her name!  Mr.H calls her the "little learning computer".

While it's Winter here, it's been fairly mild (knock on wood).  We've had the chance to go to the Pregnancy Baby & Children Expo, VIVID Sydney Festival (see VIVID Sydney post), 2 beach days, and checked out a new super-park that has recently opened.

Pregnancy Baby & Children Expo
It was a new and improved venue this year with plenty of room for activities for toddlers.  MissE loved the Gymbaroo set-up (I miss taking her to Gymbaroo), the Golden Ridge mobile petting farm, and best of all, a performance from Dorothy the Dinosaur and Wags the Dog (from The Wiggles).

Arg! Walking the plank

I'm a little teapot, bouncing on a trampoline

I love sheep

Kisses all around!

Manly Beach

Blaxland Riverside Park
This very cool superpark recently opened Phase 1: smooth swings, climbing walls and slides, long tunnels, and a flying fox.  It was hard work chasing after MissE! 

Climb, little monkey!

One way down!

Where does this go?

http://www.sydneyolympicpark.com.au/Visiting/venues_and_parks/blaxland_riverside_park

And a few fun photos to finish!

The artiste at work! (Sophie's 5th birthday party at the Art Barn)

And I run, I run so far away... Flock of Seagulls hair-do

Vivid Sydney

It was the perfect winter night that we bundled up and headed into the city for VIVID Sydney: A Festival of Light, Music and Ideas.  Incredible artists used the city's icons (Sydney Opera House, Customs House, etc) to colour the city with light projections while music filled the air.

Museum of Contemporary Art (children could paint the MCA red!)

Mr.H and MissE

Customs House (light show)

Sydney Opera House feeling GROOVY

Interactive light sculpture

MissE and me with Jellyfish

Flower girls at The Rocks Market by Night

This was MissE's favourite part of the evening, the "Fire Dance" to Katy Perry's "Firework" (now her favourite song).  She could not resist having a bit of a boogie to the music.

Feeling nostalgic...

Maybe it's the third trimester hormones but lately I have been feeling nostalgic.  Today marks the 9th anniversary of the trip of a lifetime.  I set out to find myself, and ended up finding my husband and making lifelong friendships along the way!

2002
It was the Year of Me.  My New Year's Resolution that year was about putting myself first and foremost, and being, dare I say it, selfish.  Ultimately it was the best resolution I ever made.

After accepting admission to The George Washington University for a Masters of Arts, I decided to spend the months prior to re-entering student life by travelling.  My parents enjoy travelling (last year they spent 3 weeks in South America, and the year prior 2 weeks in Russia), and growing up my sister and I spent a great deal of time abroad, instilling the travel bug in me. My parents were nothing but supportive of my need to see the world, if not a little jealous as my European itinerary also included 9 days in Egypt.  But first, I started my travels in May with 3 weeks in Japan and a week with extended family in Hong Kong.  My parents liked that so much, they tagged along!  I then had 2 weeks to pack for my 7 week adventure and my move to Washington, DC (I would only have 10 days in California prior to my cross-country move).

June 21, 2002
On my 23rd birthday, I got on an airplane, spent the 8 hour flight to London reading my Lonely Planet Europe on a Shoestring guidebook (you think of would of read it earlier?) and SLR camera manual (still don't know how to use it properly) with both trepidation and excitement for the weeks ahead.

17 Countries at Breakneck Speed

It begins...

This is The Royal National Hotel in London.  It's where I started and ended, and it was here, that I first saw my husband.  Although we spoke to each other in passing a few times in several different countries, it wasn't until 3 weeks in, in Egypt, we had the opportunity to have a conversation with each other and well, the rest is history as July 9, marks our 6th wedding anniversary!

While re-telling all the experiences and stories and posting the hundreds of photos would be blog overkill, here are a few of my favourite experiences and memories:

The famous Monte Carlo Casino

What a funny, funny night thanks to 2 Mai Tai's.  I convinced one of my very good friend, Miss R, to order a Mai Tai with me, craving a taste of Hawaii.  Well, these were the strangest Mai Tai's- they were bright red, and looked more like a Vodka Cranberry!  At Euros $15 for that tiny glass in my hand, no matter how dreadful it was (and it was dreadful), I was drinking it.  I don't remember much of the rest of the night except that I was asked by several people not to breathe on them because they might catch fire! 

Athens, Greece

The Pyramids of Giza, Egypt

#1 on my Bucket List was a visit to The Pyramids of Giza.  One of the most amazing experiences of my life was the Sound and Light Show at sunset (a tear or two might of been shed...).  The 9 days were fast-paced, sightseeing in >42c heat and travelling by night (guarded convoys (although not sure how much protection our always sleeping escort with his AK47 locked and loaded in the seat next to him was) and freezing overnight trains (DO NOT use the toilet, even while travelling First Class).

Hurghada, Egypt

Known as the Las Vegas of Egypt, Hurghada was a nice way to end our tour of Egypt.  Days were spent snorkeling in the Red Sea, and nights at a local cafe smoking hookahs until the early morning hours.  On a snorkeling trip in the crystal blue waters, a pod of wild dolphins swam by our boat... it was a mass exodus off the boat to chase the dolphins who were more than happy to 'play' with us.

Tyrol, Austria

I know you are wondering where photos of 'us' are.  Well, this is one of my favourites.  We stayed in this little place in Austria next to a church and a barn (Moo!).  Every afternoon, beer steins and shots of Schnapps were flowing and oom-pah music was, well, oom-pahing.

Next year will be our 10th anniversary of the Ultimate European and there has already been talk of a reunion...

Cars 2

Disney/ Pixar Cars 2 is coming to theatres soon... and we can't wait!  While most girls are jumping up and down at the newest princess release, mine is excited for the sequel to Cars (as is her kid-at-heart mom, me!)
Here's my favourite clip from the original:

And here's the trailer for Cars 2

Thanks to Nuffnang Australia for this fantastic opportunity, it will be MissE's first movie theatre experience, well that she will remember anyway (yeah for Babes in Arms when she was an infant) but she's ready... popcorn and a Choctops all around!

Terrible Two's... Oh My! Part II

It's been a while since I posted an update on The Terrible Two (duh-dun).  While some aspects have gotten better, some are worse before they get better, and some we just haven't tackled at all!

Tantrums
Luckily the tantrums have lessened.  We see the appearance of one every few days, although they are still often irrational.  Life as a 2 year old is hard!

Big Girl Bed
Shortly after my first post, we started a sticker chart for "staying in bed" and gave MissE an "OK-to-Wake" digital clock.  After 5 straight nights of staying in bed, MissE received a bracelet and after 10 straight nights, a necklace.  Problem seemed solved...
THEN suddenly, we were once again being awoken by a soft "Wakey wakey up" at 1.30am and 4.30am.  Within a few days, MissE gained the nickname "Jackie-in-the-Box".  After tucking her into bed, she would slip out 5 minutes later and call down to us from the top of the stairs "I'm cooommmiiinnng dooowwwn nooow".  After several nights of spending 45 minutes tucking MissE into bed after we had already tucked her in and walking her back to bed up to 15 times a night, we only had one option left:  LOCKDOWN!  Yes, Tough Love.

• Night 1: Like clockwork, on the first night of lockdown, 5 minutes after I tucked her in, I could hear MissE jiggling the door handle.  When she couldn't open the door, she cried for less than 10 minutes and put herself back to bed.  However, at 1.30am, JAILBREAK!  She was standing by the side of my bed once again.  Upon inspection the next morning, a hard turn of the door handle promptly disables the child-lock.
• Night 2:   We jammed the lock with a long rod... or at least we thought we did, because sure enough, she was at my side in the wee hours of the morning. 
• Night 3: Aha!  I turned the lock upside down and have seemed to have outsmarted MissE!  We heard 1 attempt of a jailbreak that was unsuccessful. 
• Night 4 and so on: So far so good!  MissE no longer tries to get up in the night and waits for us to come get her in the morning.  We aren't counting our chickens yet so for the next few weeks the lock will remain on her door.

Potty Training
It seems we spend more time cleaning up rather than making "deposits" in the toilet.  And while the sticker chart worked with bedtime, it doesn't seem to work with potty training.  In addition, consulting the books has just left us confused: do we wait until next month and try again, or do we keep at it with a mop and bucket always ready???

A big milestone for MissE was moving into the Beginners Swim Class.  Her swim school, Aquabliss, move toddlers into Beginners at 2 years and 4 months, and only based on skill and maturity, which I think is fantastic (speaking as an ex-swim instructor, traumatizing swim lesson = bad).  MissE has been over-achieving in Babybliss 2 for some time now, often used as the demonstrator for new students so as we were edging towards 2 years and 2 months, Teacher Jenny said we just had to move her or she would get very bored.  After special permission, MissE had a first swim lesson by herself on April 4th.

Ready for swimming with my cap and goggles!



 

Waiting for my turn

Here's a few more photos to finish off this post:

One of our neighbor's, Fletcher, daily visits for pats

Lunch Lady E serving Sloppy Joe's at a cafeteria near you!

Shopping at Bunnings Hardware

Park Days: Taking Jaiden's Razor for a spin

Lake Cathie

Lake Cathie is a little gem in the mid-north coast of NSW.  Our good friends made the ultimate sea-change, swapping a townhouse in Penrith to a beach house in Lake Cathie a few years ago, making it the perfect opportunity for a road-trip after I finished a five-week contract (March).  The lake itself is warm, crystal clear and shallow- the perfect mini-break for toddlers.  Being 12k from Port Macquarie, there is plenty to do while keeping your feet dry!

Our first stop was Rainbow Beach in the late afternoon for starfish hunting!  MissE loved running around on the hard sand and splashing in the shallow pools of water.  Sea-creatures are best looked at and not touched though!

Hunting starfish

Found!

MissE had a stumble into the water while throwing rocks... check out the size of the rocks she was throwing!

Not sure if this one will skip...

Day 2, the weather was perfect to spend the day in the water.  We went from the beach to the lake, with a stop for fish n' chips in between.

Pilot Beach: Rashie, sunnies, tube and bucket- check!

Lake Cathie: I'm on the boat!

Laurieton Riverside Seafoods: feeding seagulls

Day 3, we headed into Port Macquarie to check out the local markets (not much to be desired!) then to the Town Green for a play at the park and ice cream.

Port Macquarie Koala Hospital

Looking for the rehabilitating koalas

Found one, sleeping blissfully!

And we finished the day at Lake Cathie

Unfortunately, all vacations come to an end... with a quick stop to Ricardo's Tomatoes and Strawberry Farm. MissE enjoyed picking strawberries from the vines... and giving them a little squeeze and/or nibble before putting them in her basket.

MissE's pickings!