boxes boxes everywhere . . .

We have moved!!!!
Happy dance, happy dance, happy dance - I feel so different being back in a house, more alive almost. And the kids are just so much happier and content, they have space to run around and just be kids. Steve and I have made a promise to ourselves that we will never again live somewhere that is so closed in and that doesn't have a garden, it was the longest year of our lives in that unit.


Steve worked hard and did about 10 trips in this borrowed ute to move the bulky stuff the day before the movers came which made moving day easier, but the problem is he now thinks he's done enough and doesn't have to unpack a single box 



Eeeek, back to living with spiders, apparently this is not a Funnel Web, but a Brown Trapdoor Spider, still not going to touch it

Space again to make lots of mess . . .

pin the sperm on the egg . . .

My beautiful sister Linda is pregnant with her 3rd bubba and she happened to mention to a mother at school that she had never had a 'proper' baby shower with Alex (her first-born) - with the corny games, food, advice etc. This mother, Nadia (who Linda hardly knows) then decided that she was going to take it upon herself to organise her a little party.

I've never really understood why we make such a big deal of a womans first pregnancy and then do nothing for the 2nd and subsequent pregnancies anyway. Sure, she may have everything and know what's coming - but it's about celebrating being women and creating a new life isn't it?

So on Sunday we got together to celebrate - complete with lots of those silly little games which had us rolling at eyes at times - but what a generous and kind hearted soul Nadia is. She spent so much time, effort and money on making Linda's day special, I doubt I could be so generous to someone I hardly know . . .

Pin the Sperm on the Egg

Pass the Parcel

Nadia hard at work, Nadia's Baby Cake, My Fruit Carriage, Linda and Anna

shattered . . .

In all the orientations and meetings before Austin started school all the 'old' parents kept talking about how tired they will be when they first start kindergarten. So when he came home after his first day I thought "yay, we'll have a nice early no-fight bedtime" - but it DIDN'T happen, he wasn't tired and fought all the way to get into bed by his usual time of 8pm.
And so it continued like that every day for the next few weeks. Then on Tuesday, which was a steamy hot day, I picked him up and he had that glassy eyed look about him. When we got home he demolished everything he could get his hands on in the fridge and pantry, then it was veg out time in front of the TV, then by 6pm it was this . . .

He didn't wake up until 6am the next morning . . .

fishing with grandpa

So Brian and Monica arrived a week ago today, we haven't done any touristy things really as they've been to Sydney a few times before so we've just been hanging about, doing normal things and catching up.

 But Sunday was such a glorious day we decided to head up to Palm Beach in the afternoon for a bit of fishing (ok I admit I had to be dragged there, fishing is definitely not my favourite past time). I'm glad I went though, it was wonderful to watch Brian teaching Austin how to cast, something that didn't seem at all possible a year ago when Brian was virtually bedridden 24/7. 

the only thing we caught . . . 1 lonely blue swimmer crab, which completely freaked Lily out - she wouldn't go anywhere near it



Austin was also a bit freaked out by the crab claws but tried to act all big and brave

Queen Mary 2

On a horribly overcast and grey Valentines Day morning we got up early and headed into the city to pick up Steve's parents who were arriving from South Africa on the Queen Mary 2. It docked at Garden Island so we parked at the Opera House and then walked through the Botanical Gardens to see it.

Wow - no matter how many times I see those big cruise ships they still blow me away every time with their sheer size and the thought of the operation required to run them boggles my mind - but as interesting as they are I've still got no desire to EVER go on one . . .

Arriving in Sydney on Valentines Day there had to be proposal on board didn't there??? Hope you feel special Jess, you covered the Queen Mary 2 sign and ruined my pictures - haha.



The small cruise boat next to the Queen Mary 2 is one of the many chartered boats they used to transport the passengers and their luggage to Darling Harbour so they could pass through customs, it takes a few hours for everyone to disembark and is quite a performance - hopefully only a temporary solution while they build the new passenger terminal at Barangaroo.

Walking back through Botanical Gardens on our way to Darling Harbour to pick them up.
Lily being dragged/dropped/told to get down and walk . . . every parent of a toddler knows this feeling I'm sure

for some reason Austin reminds me of Steve in this photo, probably the raised eyebrows . . .

a bit of a weird photo to post I know but I just love this tree

I don't have any photos of Brian and Monica arriving, I put my camera away after the customs guy came over and told me to stop taking pictures of the area as it was a security breach and I could get arrested - Fun Spoiler!!!

When they did eventually walk through it was quite surreal, they've had to postpone this trip a few times and we are just so happy that they have finally made it out here and that Brian is up and about and looking great.

medical emergencies . . .

It's been an interesting week or so in the Hulley household . . .

First up, Lily decided to swallow a $2 coin.

It was pretty late at night and Steve and I were watching TV when we heard a choking cough and then crying coming from our bedroom. We rushed there to find Lily sitting up in bed surrounded by some coins that Steve had left on the bedside table - with 1 missing!! Minor panic set in, but we quickly calmed her down enough to see it had gone down and wasn't stuck in her windpipe or anything. She wasn't struggling to breathe so we decided to just watch her and get an x-ray done in the morning.

The next morning the x-ray confirmed that the coin had passed through and was in her stomach so it was now a waiting game. . . After a few days and few disgusting searches through the potty with gloves and a paddle pop stick - voila! - a $2 coin.

She has been going around saying "Mummy you don't put coins in your mouth, only food alright!!!", so lets hope she has learnt her lesson.

Then a few days after that I was on the bus with Lily when I brushed my fingers through her hair and felt something stuck in there. I spread her hair apart and nearly jumped out of my seat when I saw an ugly little creature stuck to her scalp. I wasn't even sure what it was, whether it was nits or a tick. Lily was saying "get it out Mummy", while I'm trying to distract her from making a scene on a crowded bus. Thankfully we weren't far from home so we got off and I took her straight to the chemist where the pharmacist looked at it and confirmed it was a ugly fat tick (unfortunately I didn't get a photo). I think she could see how horrified I was because she kindly offered to take it out for me, which she did. Lily was fine, she let the lady take it out with no fuss, and wanted to look at it in the tweezers afterwards. As we were leaving the pharmacist said "Welcome to the Northern Beaches, I'm sure it won't be your last tick" - yuck, let's hope it is - just writing this has made me itchy . . .

Then later that night we were in Mona Vale hospital emergency attending to this . . .

Mum and Dad had come over for dinner and Austin was having a tant because when I dished up his food some of the peas were touching the lamb casserole (major catastrophe!). He wanted a new plate but wouldn't go and get one himself - he wanted me to go, which I refused. As it does it quickly turned into a standoff, Austin wouldn't give in, we wouldn't give in so he was given a warning before being 'escorted' kicking and screaming to his room for time-out. But on the way Austin somehow tripped over Steve, fell backwards and hit his head on the door frame of his room. There was blood everywhere . . .

So off we rushed to emergency, where he was quickly seen and had his head glued back together. He was so brave, he hardly cried, even when they pulled his hair to clean the wound and pull the skin together which must have hurt so much. He even went to school the next day, there was no way a little head cut was keeping him away (he is absolutely LOVING school).

It was an accident but Steve still felt so quilty, I've never seen him look so pale and stressed.

All glued up, it was amazing to watch the doctors work, they use the hair kind of like stitches to pull the skin together then pour special glue (which looks exactly like superglue) all over it.

more boys toys . . . arghhhh

Steve's knee has been playing up of late so his favourite exercise of running has been banned by the knee doctor for now (and probably forever if he's sensible). So now he's looking for other ways to keep fit, he loves surfing but it's not something you can rely on as the right winds never seem to blow, so he decided to give kite boarding a go as unlike surfing it's best with the howling NE.

Steve can be quite particular about doing his research before he starts something, he likes to do things properly, so he organised a few lessons down at Brighton with a kite school to try it out before he buys the equipment. We went down with him the one afternoon, it was fun to watch for all of about 5 minutes . . . the problem with kite surfing is that it relies on that howling NE I was talking about earlier . . . it's just not my idea of fun to sit on a windy beach with my hair and sand blowing all over my face. It was cool to watch the planes taking off and landing at the airport, but next time I'll bring a hat and a tent . . .

aaaawwwwww

all the setting up and equipment seems like way too much of a headache to me . . . 

and he's up . . .

the kids swimming in the shark nets

Lily got a bit too confident in the 'little' waves and got DUMPED