September 2008

September 2008

I can never seem to keep on top of my blog - the weeks are flying by and here I am in October already and I never made one post for Sept. So I'll have to just give you an update on the whole month now.

Sept 6 we attended another award ceremony for Pit Crew Consulting, the small Co. I work part time for. It was at the Perth Convention Centre and was more relaxed than the event the week before. The MC was funny, there was some singing and dancers as entertainment and the food was very nice. Mum had taken Jasper that day, so on the Sunday (which was Fathers' Day) we drove to Mandurah - the half way point to pick him up from mum. We had lunch/afternoon tea on the foreshore there. Here's some pics of Sean on Father's day with his boys.

Sean and boys on Fathers' Day.

I took the boys to an indoor play center to meet some girlfriends with their bubs. Here's Zachary in a swing for the first time. On Sept 10 it was my birthday - when you get to 39 and have two little kids you don't celebrate much, but I'd better enjoy this last year of my 30's - I cannot friggin' believe I'm going to be 40 next year - holy shit, where did the last 10 years go? Anyway we went out to dinner to Himali Gurkha, a great little Nepales restaurant close to home with mum, dad, the kids and friends Kaz and Guy and their 1 yo, Maya. The kids then came home and got ready for bed, with Maya in Zach's PJs - the same matching ones as Jaspers - very cute.

1st time in a swing for Zachary. Dancing in Daddy's boots. Maya & Jasper ready for bed

Then on Sept 13 with donned the glam gear for one more time this year and went to the SJOG Murdoch Hospital Ball with Dr friends, Andy and Julie, and Melissa. As you can tell it was a masquarade ball and everyone looked awesome. Food and wine was fantastic! And we hit the dance floor for several songs. A top night out and thanks to Shiney who came over to mind the boys - you're the best!

Glam gals. Masked Duo. Feathers and diamantes all round.

Perth Zoo

The last weekend in Perth was a long one and we went to the zoo on the Sunday with Melissa and Beth. I think the kids enjoyed the carousel more than the animals - oh well.

August 08 - White water, balmy Bali & dressing up

August 08.

Avon Descent.

Sean paddled in this years Avon Descent, a white water (and some flat parts) race of 160km over 2 days. He did it as a relay team with 3 other dads of little ones (no one has time to train for the full event themselves this time). And with all the rain in July the river was at the highest level (read: flowing really fast and heaps of white water) since 1985.

On the first day, Sat Aug 2nd, we lugged the kids along to Toodyay to catch Sean as he finished his leg. There was a great Samba band and miniature rail way for Jasper.

Finished his leg and still has his kayak!. Jasper and Grandma on the mini train

However the testing conditions put the kibash on the 2nd day of paddling as the first paddler fell in and lost his kayak, so the team had to drive back to pick him up and they couldn't finish the race. But we celebrated back at Sonia and Dan's anyway.

My gran at 96 and Zachary and Grandma

Bali Aug 10-20
We enjoyed 10 days in Bali for Sean's 40th birthday. While we had arranged for Chris to join us there after her 2 night stop over in Singapore, we had no idea that a surprise visit from Sean's brother, Kevin was in store. Kevin was waiting at the airport for us in Bali and had arrived the previous day from SFO, via Tokyo and Jakarta to holiday with us!

Poolside with Beth and Zach. Beth and Jasper. Daddy and Jasper.

Holiday toes. Zach and his Bintang belly. Now he needs to sleep it off.

We spent the 1st 5 nights in Sanur at the Peneeda View Beach Hotel, which was a great choice for families. Melissa and Beth were also with us and we rooms right near the kiddie pool. We enjoyed pedicures, massages, a bit of shopping and plenty of great meals. Jasper loved flying his new kite on the beach and there was plenty of wind!

The boys played some golf with my brother Matt, who was also in Bali, and on Sean's birthday, the Runkle brothers and myself went on a 2 tank scuba dive to Nusa Penida and saw the Moli Moli (sun fish). At 3.5 mts long he was a beauty and was right in front of us. The next drift dive was something else - more like diving on cocaine as we were racing along at lightning speed due to the current - no time to look at the great coral or the fish, they were almost a blur! But and experience none-the-less.

We went to dinner at Poppies Restaurant (good atmosphere, bad service) in Kuta for Sean's birthday after drinks at Ku de ta (good everything!)

With our dive master, Agus. Birthday boy and drinks.

Then we headed to Ubud for 3 nights where we did a great cycle tour from Mt Batur down to Ubud, took the kids to the monkey forest and had some fantastic meals at Nomad restaurant and shopped it up at the markets.

Monkey family. Jasper in the Monkey Forest. At the white heron village where there were no where near as many birds as we were told!

Rice terraces on cycle tour. Start of cycle tour - Mt Batur. Village kids.

Our last 2 nights were at Masa Inn, in Poppies 1, Kuta and we hooked back up with Matt who had been a regular face there for a while now. We had a night out with some other crew at the Sky Bar.

Happy Zach on our last night out in Kuta.

So while the holiday was not relaxing with little kids and everyone trying to sleep in the one room, it was still enjoyable and Bali is now a favourite with Uncle Kevin and grandma. Sean and I came home exhausted, but happy to see Maddy and even now, we're still tired, so I doubt that's going to change.

Glammed up.

The last event for August was attending the Telstra Business Awards with the Pit Crew Management Consulting team, where I work casually. While Pit Crew didn't take out the big award we all had a great night and are thrilled to be finalists from over 4,000 entries!

Pit Crew team

July 08 - rain, rain and more rain

July 08

Well winter is certainly here and I'm not putting up with our frigid bedroom for 1 more winter. Time to finally get some carpet over those freezing white floor tiles. After painting the room a lovely doe skin colour (the mustard yellow, suede effects had been there way too long also), I arranged for a lovely NZ 100% wool carpet to be laid. I also got new carpets in the kids room, and they look great. New curtains and some home made art work has almost completed the bedroom makeover. Linens and furniture are next on the list.

Jasper had a weekend at mum and dad's in July and I spent 1 night in Bunbury when I picked him up. Unfortunately little Zachary came down with a bad cold/respiratory tract infection and we ended up at Bunbury emergency dept for 4 hrs as he had a fever of 39 degrees and hadn't slept all day/night. Poor little fella, he was so sick he couldn't get comfortable to sleep (and of course neither could I listening to him cry). I had to pull over on the way back to Perth and have a power nap in the car I was so tired.

On July 15 late at night, Sean's mom, Chris arrived from California to visit and meet her newest grandson and see Jasper and us again. Unfortunately the rain didn't let up for much of her visit and she caught the bad colds and cough everyone else has/had. However we still managed a trip out in Matt's boat (which Jasper just LOVED) a visit to Bunbury to see my folks, a visit to the farm, a few lunch and dinner dates, jungle gym and various playgrounds and some golf with Sean.

Runkle Boys & Matt's boat. Jasper - Catch fish. The gang in front of Perth's CBD

Me and my girl, Maddy.

Underwater lounging with Poppo. Zachary at 4 mths.

Jasper @ Stickybeaks playground

May and June 08

May 2008

Settling in with two kids

Well after sorting out Zachary's inflamed ear with some antibiotics, he did his first 4 hourly stints between feeds and I got 2 x 3hr sleeps over night. He was just as exhausted as I was, the poor little thing. And, although that's still not much sleep, I felt SO much better. But the pattern wasn't to last unfortunately, however Zach has been doing an occasional 1 long sleep of about 5 hours over night, interspersed with shorter sleeps, so I suppose he is getting the hang of sleeping better.

We went to Bunbury the 2nd weekend of May and sorted out the new tenant for our rental house, which was a big relief as the place had been vacant for nearly 2 months. We also had a Mother's Day breakfast at the Dome on the bay with dad (mum was in Melbourne visiting my sister).

That next week, I was struck down with a bout of mastitis which had me on antibiotics and 3 ultrasound sessions to break down the lumpy area. And later in the month Jasper came down with his 2nd nasty cold in a month, so it hasn't been much fun around here, with 2 kids and a mum crying the house down.

Million Paws Walk

On May 18 we took the 2 kids and Maddy on the Million Paws Walk (it's become a bit of an annual event for us) Again, we saw lots of cute (and not so cute) dogs, but still no Boston Terriers.

In May, my cousin, Melissa took some great photos of Zach when he was 6 wks old. Here's a few of them. I will print the best ones for his album.

Relaxing. Stylish Zach. Baby feet and mummy's feet


Hands. Peeping over Grandma's shoulder

5.5 wks old. Cute in blue 6wks. Maddy ready for Million Paws Walk. Snooozing 6.5 wks

At Alex's 1st birthday party

Mum spent 3 nights with us and helped me out with the kids at the end of May and I used the time to go to the gym (great to be back into that on a semi-regular basis) and to host a dinner party with an Italian theme.

June, 08

Well Zachary started to feel better this month and he logged a few nice long sleeps overnight (7 hrs and 9 hrs). I sure enjoyed that, but unfortunately it wasn't to last for long.

In my rocker 9 wks

I started putting Zachary in the creche at the gym for the first time in June and I got back into some fitness on a more regular basis. My usual was a Combat class on Wed mornings.

I also got busy and painted our bedroom in June - the mustard yellow suede effects is finally gone! Jasper helped with some painting - see the video.


Jasper painting with mummy

My sister Claudia visited from Melbourne at the end of June with Jasmine (19.5 mths) for a 5 night stay. Jasper showed his cousin one of his favourite places, Jungle Gym.

Cousins in the bath

Sean and I attended an evening workshop at Ngala on strategies for getting Jasper to sleep each night with less tears and screaming. Seems lots of people are having the same problems with their toddlers. So we have some new things to try with him for a better bedtime routine.

Zachary at 11.5 wks. In the mini-gym 1.5 wks

June was going reasonably well (better than May, anyway)until I hurt my back on June 28. Jasper jumped from the bed to me and I caught him and as I turned to the side to put him down, I felt something tweak in my lower back. I didn't think much of it, but later that night (early morning) when I got up to feed Zachary I could barely get out of bed and couldn't lean over to pick him up from his crib - I was in agony - I've never had any back trouble and couldn't believe I was in such pain.

I went to the Physiotherapist the next day and he diagnosed a herniated disc and said I'd be out of action for at least a week - what the??? How can I have that much time lying around when I have a busy toddler and a newborn to look after?? I was so upset and also afraid that I may have stuffed up my back long term. Mum came up to help me with the house and kids for the week and by the beginning of July my back was already feeling better - thank goodness.