Tag Archives: Australia

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Luna Disco

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Wednesday, 2 July 2014: One Year and Ninety Three Days Old.

It was the last day of our holiday today, traveling home tomorrow, and this morning we said goodbye to our friends, until next time.

After they left to catch their plane Hubby, Ayla and I headed to St Kilda for the day.

We started off at Luna Park where Ayla rode the carousel with me, the Binky Train with Daddy, AND she went on her first rollercoaster!

Don’t worry though, it was a kids coaster where we say in little elephants that went around and up and down and it was great fun.

After lunch and a cake on Ackland Street we went for a walk along the St Kilda foreshore where Ayla watched mesmerised as skateboarders practised tricks by the beach.

We went back to the apartment for some last minute packing and a nap then caught a taxi to our hotel near the airport.

We found a club nearby and went in for Dinner only to discover they had a kids disco on for the night!

Ayla was in her element, running around and dancing with the other kids, kissing the one baby who was smaller than her, and chasing bubbles as they poured out of the bubble machine.

Hubby and I were beside ourselves with love seeing our baby girl so happy and having so much fun, just like a big kid. It was adorable and a fantastic end to a great holiday!!

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“Fish!”

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Tuesday 1 July 2014: One Year and Ninety Two Days Old

Ayla can say “fish!” and she said it at least a hundred times today!

We spent the morning at the Vic Markets, then headed to the Melbourne Aquarium for the afternoon.

Ayla LOVED it. She is at such awesome age now that she toddled about from tank to tank, pointing and screeching and saying “fish!”

It was so adorable and my heart must have melted a thousand times over.

I think Ayla’s favourite was the coral reef section where there was a mini tunnel underneath one of the tanks that Ayla didn’t want to leave.

She also loved the massive shark tank dome, and she ran from one end to the other and from one side to the other for ages.

At the touch pool Ayla held a shark egg casing and a pearl shell and she touched a sea star.

When we got to the estuary section we kept Ayla well away from the lifelike crocodile model… Just in case!

After the aquarium us girls went back to the room for a rest while the boys hit the Casino, Hubby coming home $200 richer!

So it was our shout for tea and we found a fantastic Yum Cha in Chinatown that proved to be a great way to end an awesome day.

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Snow!!

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Monday, 30 June 2014: One Year and Thirteen Weeks Old.

We took Ayla to the snow today, and it was my first time too!!

Oh my gosh, there are no words to explain what a great day we has, and there’s no way I can capture it all in a blog post.

The day was PERFECT for snow. After driving up to Lake Mountain from Melbourne on a mini-road trip with our friends, we stopped in at the last town on the way to get some gear.

The tiny town was buzzing about how great the snow was up on the mountain; just the night before they’d had 30cm fall, and the same the night before that.

We got snow chains for the hire car, waterproof pants and some overalls for Ayla, a couple of toboggans and some snow boots and headed up.

The drive was amazing. Fresh snow on the trees and on the side of the road, then no sooner had we parked the car than it began to snow!

Hubby and Adam had a go on the tobboggans first, while we girls hung out in the cafe, ducking out onto the balcony to feel the snow fall on our faces and crunch underneath our boots.

Then it was our turn on the toboggans and gosh it was fun! Pip hadn’t been to the snow since she was a girl and we raced each other down the slope before having a mini snowball fight at the bottom.

Then it was Ayla’s turn. We tucked Ayla and her snowsuit into the waterproof overalls and three-sizes-too-big gumboots so Hubby could take her down the slope on the toboggan. She loved it!

After three rides Ayla had had enough so we made a snowman at the bottom of the slope and took some photos.

All too quickly it was time to go. Our hire car was covered in snow and our faces were pink from the stinging flakes and within minutes of getting in the car Ayla and Evie were both sound asleep.

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Little Magpie

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Sunday, 29 June 2014: One Year and Ninety Days Old.

Ayla got to hear the barrackers a shouting tonight when we took her to see Collingwood v Carlton at the MCG!

Hubby and I we’re so pumped to be back at The G and so excited to have our mini Magpie in tow.

Ayla was fantastic, a little overwhelmed at first, but she settled in quickly and watched wide-eyed as the crowed cheered, putting her “go pies” move into action whenever she could.

We had fantastic seats, in perfect view of the goals, but with not much shelter we felt the full force of the 6 degree air.

Ayla was warm, in four tops and two pants, two pairs of socks, sneakers and a beanie, and when I produced a warm bottle of milk and wrapped us both up in a rain jacket she passed out for a whole quarter, without so much as a stir.

The walk home was good, although freezing, but Ayla had the best seat in the house tucked up in the baby carrier on her Daddy’s chest, underneath his coat.

PS – Collingwood won.

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Zoo!

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Saturday, 28 June 2014: One Year and Eighty Nine Days Old.

We took Ayla to the zoo today!

Ayla saw gorillas, and lemurs, and pigmy hippos, baboons, gibbons, tigers, elephants and a peacock before she fell asleep.

I think Ayla’s highlight was the butterfly house where there were hundred of fragile, fluttering butterflies everywhere to be seen.

One even landed on Daddy’s hand and Ayla got to touch it ever so gently before it flew off to join its friends.

The butterfly house was also toasty warm, just like home, but outside in the open air it was only 12 degrees.

All of us were rugged up and pink-cheeked, my fingers even turned white and icy so it’s not surprising that Ayla fell asleep while she was tucked up and warm inside her pram.

While Ayla was sleeping we saw giraffes (my favourite), zebras, a snow leopard and a brown bear, and I wish I could have shared them with her.

But, I’m sure there will be plenty more zoos to come and today was just a lovely chance to catch up with our friends and kick start our holiday.

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The big kid

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Friday, 27 June 2014: One Year and Eight Eight Days Old.

Our friends from Tassie arrived in Melbourne today, to join us on our holiday!

They have the beautiful, chubby cheeked, smiley Baby Evie in tow with them and for the first time ever Ayla gets to be the big kid!

Ayla has plenty of little friends back home but even though they’re a few months younger than her all of them are bigger, rougher and tougher than tiny Baby Ayla.

But Evie is only 5 months old and in all her cuteness she’s fragile and precious and Ayla seems to know.

And for Hubby and I it was wonderful to meet the little darling offspring of our friends, and we stoked to be sharing our first family holiday together!

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Hospital

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Thursday, 27 March 2014: Three Hundred and Sixty Days Old.

I am writing this from Ayla’s bedside, in hospital.

Last night as we flew out of Singapore, I fed Ayla on take off as usual.

Ayla was very limp and lethargic and fell asleep in my arms almost as soon as I laid down in Hubby’s lap, ready for the four hour flight ahead. But an hour into the journey Ayla vomited, a lot, and her temperature shot back up to 39 degrees despite having only taken panadol a little over an hour earlier.

The air hostesses on the flight were lovely but advised that Australian Quarantine officers needed to be informed if a passenger returning from overseas presented with a fever and vomiting on the plane.

When we arrived in Australia all the passengers on the plane were told to stay in their seats until the Quarantine Officer had boarded and spoken to us. Fortunately the conversation was very brief and we were told to go to straight to the hospital when we cleared immigration.

So that’s what we did and Ayla’s been in the hospital ever since.

The current diagnosis is viral gastroenteritis, but given Ayla hasn’t eaten solids for six days, has been off her milk for two and has had a fever, diarrhoea and vomiting on an off nearly a week no ones taking any chances.

For the past nine hours, after a smorgasbord of pain killers this morning that finally calmed her cramping stomach and helped her settle, Ayla has done nothing by sleep in a scary coma-like haze that’s making it hard for us to get her to drink the fluids she needs.

So Ayla has been put on a drip and just recently was given some more panadol when she suddenly woke with a 40 degree temperature and red (probably fever related) blotches on her belly.

Ayla’s back sleeping now and we’re waiting for the paediatrician to come and check her.

I’m sure she’s going to be ok, and she’s in the best place possible for getting better, but we’re all keeping our fingers crossed Ayla will be back to her happy, healthy little self in no time.

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Australia bound

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Wednesday, 26 March 2014: Three Hundred and Fifty Nine Days Old.

Our little family is Australia bound today.

Our departure from Thailand has come with a strange mix of feelings between being sad that our holiday is over and being a little bit relieved that we’re heading back to the comfort of home.

As Hubby and I sat at the airport this afternoon, after a relaxing morning at the resort swimming, packing and saying goodbye to all of Ayla’s newfound Thai friends, we made a point of listing all the wonderful things we’ve done on this family holiday so the illness that struck each of us down wouldn’t win out.

Ayla met and rode her first elephant and she played putt putt in a dinosaur park that took us through an active (replica) volcano.

Ayla also made destroyed her first sandcastle on the beach, she felt the buoyancy of ocean waves for the first time, she visited Fantasea theme park and even won her first prize on a carnival game!

Ayla hand fed thousands of tropical fish, she saw monkeys and lemurs, and iguanas. Ayla rode in a tuk-tuk, rang the bell in a bar and fell asleep on her Dad’s head.

We also made new friends from the other side of the world, dined in luxury restaurants, floated in stunning swimming pools and relaxed on a tropical island.

So all in all, we can’t complain! It definitely was a great holiday with lots of great memories to bring home.

But it seems the dreaded illness isn’t finished with us yet!

Ayla has had an upset stomach all day despite this being her fifth day without eating solids, and as I write this now in Singapore’s Changi Airport her temperature has climbed to 39.5 degrees…. Only four and a half more hours for red eye flying until we’re back in Australia.

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Ayla needs your help!

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Wednesday, 5 March 2014: Three Hundred and Thirty Eight Days Old.

I finally did it. I finally crossed the blurry line between blogging and bragging by entering Baby Ayla in a photo comp.

I guess most of you haven’t even batted an eyelid at this statement though because you figured it was only a matter of time before I subjected Ayla to a public vote!!

But it’s not just me who thinks Ayla’s adorable! Is it?!

I’m hoping that Ayla’s fan club (Ayla’s Angels I like to call you) will help her gain recognition as the cutest baby in Australia and if not well, we all know she’s awesome anyway!!

The Bonds Baby Competition is one of the biggest in Australia and there’s five People’s Choice awards up for grabs!

So please cast your vote!

It only takes a few seconds and its easy to unsubscribe from the mailing list afterwards if you want too (but Bonds do have some great online sales!)

Click here to vote

Thanks in advance! 🙂