Tag Archives: memories

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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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Birthday party!

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Saturday,5 April 2014; One Year and Four Days Old.

Tonight was Ayla’s first birthday party!

Hubby and I have been planning it for over a month, and after postponing a week due to Ayla’s sickness we were so excited that the day had finally arrived!

The party itself had all the usual trimmings; party pies, sausage rolls and fairy bread, balloons, lolly bags and birthday cake, but the best bit of all was the guests!

Instead of bringing presents (which some still did anyway) we asked our friends to come dressed up as their childhood hero’s.

The result was a patio filled with characters from our youth including He-Man and She-Ra, Optimus Prime, Barbie, Batman, Robin, Mini-Mouse, Cru Jones, Scarecrow, The Flash, Superman and the Pink Power Ranger.

As for Hubby and I, well we dressed up as a Ghostbuster and Rainbow Brite (respectively).

Another highlight was playing pass-the-parcel with the kids.

Not many of our friends have kids (yet! Lol) so the game involved two little boys under one, two big girls (2 years and 3 years) and Ayla.

It was super cute watching the bigger girls trying to “work the system”, and the little kids were just as happy with the novelty toys they found when they opened their layer.

As the evening wore on and our friends started to say their goodbyes, it was time for one happy little Ayla to go to bed.

Ayla had had a ball at her party, although at times I could see her trying to work out who all these bright, colourful, crazy looking people were!

We have some fantastic photos of the occasion for Ayla to keep forever, which will ensure a few tiny pieces of the 80’s will live on!

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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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Sun, sand and saltwater

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Tuesday, 25 March 2014: Three Hundred and Fifty Eight Days Old.

Miraculously, I awoke this morning with a full nights rest and hardly any trace of illness… I don’t know how it happened but my goodness, am I grateful!

It meant that we were finally able to have a family outing for the day, our first one in five days and I couldn’t wait to take Ayla on the short boat ride over to Coral Island for some sun, sand and saltwater.

Ayla had a ball crawling around on the beach and Hubby and I found myself keeping track of her by following the strange markings she left in the sand in her wake!

The water at Coral Island was so clear that when we took Ayla in for a swim could see the fish darting in and out amongst the coral.

Ayla also made friends with a couple of young children who were on the tour with us, and at lunch when they started playing hide-and-seek-tickle with her Ayla was so happy she nearly squealed the place down with delight.

On the way back to the mainland the tour stopped for a snorkel in a beautiful bay where we could hand feed thousands of colourful fish within meters of the boat.

Ayla was mesmerised as she looked down at the water from the boat’s flybridge, seeing the bits of bread I was throwing turn into a splashing, shimmering whirlpool of aquatic activity.

All in all it as a great day out, partly because it’s the best we’ve all felt in nearly a week and partly because we are half way around the world, making special precious memories as a family… and there’s not much better than that!

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Sunday morning

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Sunday, 15 December 2013: Two Hundred and Fifty Eight Days Old.

Sunday morning is the most special time of the week for us.

When Ayla wakes up, Hubby lets me lie in bed for a few moments longer and goes to get Ayla up.

While I listen through the monitor, Hubby and Ayla chat away while he changes her nappy and gives her cuddles.

Then he brings her to our room.

As soon as Ayla sees me from the doorway a giant smile spreads across her face and she reaches out for me with both hands.

Hubby brings her into bed and Ayla tucks in under the covers, her Daddy on one side and her Mummy on the other.

I think if there was a way to measure the amount of love in a room, our would be off the charts.

With sleepy eyes, no rush to get up and certainly no place we’d rather be, the three of us share stories of our dreams and plans and wait for our rumbling tummies to drive us up and out to face the day.

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Wildlife

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Friday, 15 November 2013: Two Hundred and Twenty Eight Days Old.

It’s the last day of our holiday today and we spent it at an Australian wildlife sanctuary.

It was so special to see Ayla staring at all the weird and wonderful animals with so much amazement, from koalas and kangaroos, to wallabies, snakes, lizard and emus.

What’s great about this particular sanctuary though is that they let you get up close and personal with the animals, no matter how little you are!

So luckily for Ayla she got to pat a koala and a kangaroo, she had a rainbow lorikeet sit on her head and she even touched a python!

Oh! And I just remembered… While we were having coffee a whole bunch of lorikeets came down to sit on our table share our snack.

Ayla was mesmerised and was reaching out to pat them, ever so gently.

But just as one of the birds went to fly off Ayla closed her little hand around its tail!

The birds was flapping and flying as best it could but the poor thing was going nowhere!

I got Ayla to let go after a second or two and luckily the bird seemed unfussed. It sat quietly beside us for a moment then hopped (smartly) out of reach.

We left the sanctuary with some gorgeous photos and have some great memories to take away (so does the bird!) and it was a fantastic way to end our stay.