Tag Archives: friends

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Back to it!

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Monday, 22 August 2014: One Year and Twenty Five Weeks Old.

It was back to work for me and back to day care for Ayla today and it was like we’d never been away.

Because I’d been working from home while Ayla and I were interstate my return to work was rather uneventful but I was glad to be back in the office and around people again!

Ayla was also glad to be back at day care with her friends, not even coming close to tears as I handed her over, gave her a kiss and waved goodbye. I was surprised really because I expected her to be clingy and emotional after all the upheaval of the past few weeks, even though I’d had a sneaking suspicion she’d been missing her little friends.

It’s funny really, how Ayla and I loved our intense time together while we were away, but we both seemed equally grateful to be back to our routine and normal activities again.

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More than OK

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Sunday, 20 July 2014: One Year, One Hundred and Eleven Days Old.

As I go to bed tonight I feel so amazingly blessed to have such a beautiful, friendly, smart, gracious little girl for a daughter, and a kind, loving, honest and strong man for a husband.

I’m not quite sure what it is that’s making me feel the love but I had to drag myself away from Ayla’s bedside after I snuck in for her nightly kiss and “sweet dreams” wish, and now I feel heart is going to burst.

It’s intereseting because feeling “blessed” is something that’s attainable by all of us but I feel so very privledged to be aware enough to see it.

The past month or so has been quite tumultous, worry and stress and uncertainty has hung over us like a fading shadow, and even though logically we know everything will turn out just fine and that everyone will be alright, it’s been hard to let myself really feel it.

I think tonight I’ve just had a renewed sense that these really are some of the best days of our lives, and I’m determined to appreciate them while they’re here.

Hubby, Ayla and I are a fresh little family of three with so much excitement and potential on the horizion and so much support and strength from our friends and family behind us that no matter what happens we will be ok… More than ok.

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Jumping Castle

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Saturday, 19 July 2014: One Year, One Hundred and Ten Days Old

Ayla went in her first jumping castle tonight!

It was at her little friend Caleb’s first birthday where a jumping castle had been set up to keep the bigger kids entertained.

After the kids wore themselves out, it was time for us adults to get in and jump about and as Ayla was still up and at ‘em thanks to a big late-afternoon nap, she joined us.

I didn’t know what she’d think at first, or even if she’d be able to stand or crawl or do anything at all inside the inflatable castle, but Ayla’s balance and confidence was unmatched as she squealed and bounced about by my side.

After we’d had enough and become so puffed out we could hardly breathe (I don’t know how on earth kids stay in those things for hours on end) we re-joined the party on the patio.

But the fun bug had already bitten, and Ayla spent the next fifteen minutes trying to squirm out of her Daddy’s arms, saying “more!” and pointing to the jumping castle.

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Running amok

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Saturday, 5 July 2014; One Year and Niney Six Days Old.

From the moment Ayla wakes up until the moment she passes out for a nap, it’s chaos in our house as she goes crazy running amok.

Ayla opens draws and pulls everything out, toddles over to a cupboard and does the same. Then she’ll shoot down to the bathroom and pull all the toilet paper off the roll and stuff it in the loo.

Oops, had enough off that, so off to chase the cat who eventually retaliates and then there’s tears.

Mummy kisses the tears away and then Ayla’s hungry, but she doesn’t want what’s on offer so the tears come back because she knows what she wants but she can’t tell me.

We head outside for some relief but Ayla stands on a pebble and hurts her foot. More tears.

Then Ayla finds The Dog’s bowl of water and pours it all over herself, before going off to play in a pile of dead leaves that stick to her like flies on honey.

After a while of not minding, Ayla suddenly hates the leaves on her skin and comes running to me tripping over on the way and lying helplessly crying, waiting for me to pick her up.

Off to the shower, for both of us, because Ayla simply can’t have fun if her mummy isn’t nearby.

FInally it’s nap time and I can breathe, well, in between cleaning up the mess and chaos that’s been left behind.

I decided that for the afternoon stint I would take Ayla to the park where hopefully she could run amok with minimal impact to the house and my sanity, and thank goodness it was a great idea!

Ayla and I were down at the park for a full two hours, and she spent 80% of that time playing with the sand instead of the equipment.

I took Ayla on a swing for the first time and she loved it, and as for the slide well, Ayla reckons she’s about ready to go down herself… but she’s not.

After a crazy hectic day, but the time Daddy got home for work Ayla had started to calm down.

She had her third nap for the day and then we all went out as a family to the Speedway to watch a friend’s brother race.

By the time we got there Ayla was back to her normal chilled-out self and she made friends with a little boy, about 8 years old, sitting next to us.

Ayla kept giving him hugs and kisses and Hubby started looking for a bat! Hahah, nah just joking, it was gorgeous to see Ayla making friends so easily and it turned out the little boy had two younger sisters so that explained his happiness to entertain our little crazy cherub.

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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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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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Social Saturday

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Saturday, 14 June 2014; One Year and Seventy Four Days Old

Ayla and I had a very social Saturday today and it was great!

We kick started the morning with a walk to the park when we met a friend who I haven’t seen since my baby shower!

My friend had her 23 month old twin boys with her and the kids all played happily in the sand and on the playground while we girls had a long overdue catch up.

After nipping home to give Ayla a nap, we were on the road again within 1.5hrs this time to one of my friends surprise birthday lunch at a seaside boating club.

It was my first experience of taking Ayla out since she officially became a toddler, and NOW I understand!

Thankfully Ayla was calm and happy to stay closeby during my meal, but the second half of the afternoon was spent following her around the club and catching her moments before she toddled out the door!

Ayla and I went back home and picked Hubby up (he’d been working all day) then went to visit a friend who hasn’t been well.

By the time we got there Ayla eyes were looking tired, but the excitement if visiting another new place was enough to keep her on her feet and toddling around.

Lastly we went to dinner at another friends place where Ayla ate a whole mandarin and played chasey with their 10kg tom-cat!

It was a busy, full on day but Ayla loved it. Despite all the overwhelming people, places and things to do Ayla was friendly and relaxed the whole day.

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Filthy

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Saturday, 7 June 2014: One Years and Sixty Seven Days Old.

Ayla has never been more dirty in her life than what she was today… filthy.

No photo would do it justice; Ayla had red dirt in her hair, mud smeared on her face, her arms were sticky with a combination of mozzie repellant and dust, her feet were black and her hands were sandy and her nappy had tiny stones in it.

Mind you, the amount of fun Ayla had to get that dirty far outweighed the filth, and I loved seeing her enjoy the dirt as much as it enjoyed her!

As soon as we put the tent up and Ayla down, Ayla started picking up handfuls of dirt and carrying it into the tent to throw it on the floor.

After tiring of that game Ayla started drizzling dirt in her hair and along her arms, and she was completely unperturbed when her little friend Charlie and the girl from the campsite beside us decided to try and bury Ayla’s legs with tiny pebbles.

Thankfully, Ayla was too busy learning about the feel and general uses for dirt that she didn’t eat any of it, intentionally at least.

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Such a good day

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Friday, 9 May 2014: One Year and Thirty Eight Days Old.

I had such a good day today that I don’t know where to start!

Ayla ate all her breakfast and was the happiest she’s been yet when it came to being dropped off at day care.

I had a great day at work; made some good connections, built rapport, got positive feedback and crossed a few things off my to-do list.

I had a lovely afternoon chai latte with my friend for her birthday and we chatted about everything from family to travel.

Then, when I picked Ayla up from day care this arvo they told me she’d been saying Dadda all day today and pointing at any 4WD that drove past. It melted my heart to know Ayla just loves her Daddy so much that she spends her day wishing he would turn up and surprise her.

And, maybe best of all, in Ayla’s daycare bag there was not one but TWO hand made Mother’s Day presents for me that Ayla had obviously contributed to; her handprints were on both the wooden wind charm and the decorated paper plate, and I’m assuming that the tea bag stapled to the plate was because Ayla must have had a thing for tea bags that day… Or she just knows I love a good cuppa!

THENNNN, this evening we headed to the shopping centre with our traveling friend from England, Jade, and Ayla got her first taste of frozen yoghurt.

I’m still not sure if Ayla’s scrunched up sour-looking face was due to brain freeze or flavour issues, but Ayla kept coming back for more of that yoghurt until it was up to her elbows and all over her face.

To top things off though, and seal the deal and a truly great day, Ayla showed us all she knows how to twerk tonight; busting out some awesome dance moves as soon as we put on the radio. Video to follow (PS – the video is so cute you might “squeeeeeee!” the house down.)