Life under a Pepper Tree

Wow! Where did the last few weeks go??  One minute I was enjoying my final week of maternity leave and the next it's practically Christmas and I feel like I've been going to work forever and ever!! So I went back to work. That first day was torture. I was hoping to sneak out the door in the morning before my weeny boy woke up. Well he probably would have stayed asleep but my hubby decided to get up and bang and crash about the house. So of course Dylan woke up. I had to have some cuddles before I left but I just didn't want to let him go. He waved to me in his daddy's arms as I reversed down the driveway. Tears streaming... Make up running... Not a happy moment. I thought of him numerous time throughout the day, and managed to only ring home once to check up on what he was doing. The couple of photos that my hubby emailed through of Dylan's activities kept me going until it was time to race home. Once home I think I cuddled and kissed him for well over an hour. Po

So maybe 15 minutes after I finish that last post I thought I'd go for a wander out the front. We've been out today so maybe the postie has brought one of the many parcels I'm expecting at the moment. Yep, peeking around the corner of the front veranda I spy a package at the front door! That was quick! The cake tin I ordered yesterday is here! Dylan is definitely getting a '1' cake now!! Let's just hope it does end up looking something like the one in the book! Bel

It's the LAST WEEK.... I can't believe it! This time next week I will have gone back to work and had my 2 day working week done and dusted. It's just not fair!!! The past few months have just flown by and now the weather has warmed up and is so lovely I can't imagine being cooped up in a dreary office away from my weeny boy.  My hubby had booked in time off work last week but as the weather forecast was so terrible he postponed it to this week. I love him dearly but in my last week at home he's driving me mad!! Maybe it's a sign that I should just go back to work so we don't end up killing each other! Ha! The last few days I've been starting to think about Christmas. What to do, where to go, what to buy. I've decided it's all too hard and I should just escape to a tropical island where Christmas doesn't exist! Unfortunately each time I head to the shopping centre I am bombarded with Christmas crap that reminds me that I won't be escapin

We've continued to have a few sleeping issues transitioning Dylan from his swaddle suit to the sleeping bag, but it's getting a little better.  Sunday night we only had 2 wake ups which required resettling. One wasn't until 5am and the other 6:30am, so that was pretty darn good! When you don't get the sleep you feel you need, you start to appreciate the good sleeps you do get! Last night was pretty good too. He woke up at 11pm which caught me in such a deep deep sleep! No other wake ups until this morning. Phew!!  Dylan didn't want a bar of going down for a nap this morning. It was really bad timing as I needed him to rest as we were meeting some of the mums for a coffee in a local cafe. When he did give in to sleep (45 minutes later!) I escaped and headed out into my garden. Now I don't profess to have a green thumb at all, but I do appreciate the things that choose to bloom and grow in my garden. Here are some of the things I spotted today... The cheek

We still aren't winning the sleeping war with Dylan and his sleeping bag. Thursday night I think I got up to him 6 times throughout the night. Friday I had a catchup with the mums from our playgroup, so I had to get in a decent morning nap before we headed out. I think he was pretty tired after his awful night and he nodded straight off in his swaddle suit. Thank goodness!! Friday afternoon wasn't great and his nap was partly in the sleeping bag and partly in the swaddle suit. Friday night was slightly better with maybe 4 wake ups through the night. Yesterday afternoons nap was practically non existent. After a lovely lunch catch up with family, Dylan screamed and cried and refused to sleep for about 2 hours after we got home. I was hoping that he would be so tired from his lack of nap that last night would be great. I whinged to my hubby that it was his turn to get up through the night as I was so exhausted. As it turned out Dylan did wake up numerous times and hubby had to dr

I knew it would happen at some point, my weeny boy is growing and learning and now he's causing a hell of a lot of trouble! Somehow we've been blessed up until now to have a generally good* napper. When we are at home and it's time for either of Dylan's day naps, he has his little routine. He gets laid down in his cot, and the dummy goes in. His little zip up swaddle suit goes on where his arms are inside but laying up so he can rub his face or suck his hands. The mobile gets wound up and the nightlight/sound machine goes on which plays a gentle heartbeat sound for a 30 minute stretch. A kiss goodnight and I'm out the door. In most cases I don't go back in again until he wakes around 2 hours later. Feet up and time for a cuppa!! A couple of weeks ago I decided it was time for a shift of the furniture in our lounge room. Dylan had hardly any space to play as our coffee table took up so much of the useable space. So one day I moved the lounges a bit and pushed t

I think I must have forgotten how to blog!! I don't know why, but the days, and weeks passed and I just never quite got around to adding a new post. Oh well, never mind! Last week we had a little holiday. We took a drive up to the Port Stephens area and stayed in a unit right on the beach at Shoal Bay. It was just so nice to get away, to smell the beach air, to walk in the sand, to feel the sunshine on my face. It was just a shame that I had a terrible head cold and a dreadful cough that kept me up at night. Not only did I sound like a barking seal, but Dylan was sick too and made numerous night time wake ups. So the lack of sleep didn't do either of us much good. I took some lovely photos of our days away, but of course they are all still on the camera. One of the few shots I have is an awful selfie I took when Dylan decided to be particularly affectionate and give me big slobbery kisses. You can see just how much I enjoyed it!! There's a lot of other stuff been goi

There is something very very wrong with my hubby. I don't know why he's like that... Actually I do. He's just like his mother. A bunch of tree hugging greenies they are not! My hubby loves cutting down trees. Whole trees. Selected branches. What ever. It just needs to be cut down according to him. Why exactly does it NEED to be cut own?? Don't ask, you'll get some mumbling, shrugging of shoulders, a cheeky grin and he's off!  I'd say his preferred method of destruction is with a chainsaw. The bigger the noisier the better. It must be some kind of manly show of just who's the boss. Him. Not the poor tree!  He also doesn't mind a bit of a workout with a handsaw or bush saw.  He's also a bit partial to his parents pole saw.  My poor garden is rather bereft of trees as a result. No sooner is something planted and begins to grow does he decide it needs a 'trim'. Unfortunately his idea of a trim and my idea are vastly different. I now have

I've got an itch.... An itch to spend! It's been a few days now and I'm trying to restrain myself. It all kinda hit on Monday afternoon when I was sitting out in the backyard's sunshine with Dylan. He was playing happily and I was on the iPad. There were a couple of things I decided I had to buy. I mean I NEED them! They were practical. They were not wasteful. That's sounds okay? Yes? Good! I agree! The first item on my shopping list was some photo albums. I bought some gorgeous photo albums off a baby products website months ago when I got the first big batch of baby photos of Dylan printed off. Each of the 2 albums held 200 shots, and I filled one album completely and part of the second with just the photos up to 6 weeks of age.  I went back to that website a couple of months ago and they still had the albums, but not in the pretty blue that I already had. I kept checking back on the site every few weeks and the Blue version just wasn't available. No other web

I went back to boxing last week, and once again, come Friday morning I was aching and walking around the house like a decrepit old woman! I'm sure it must be doing me some good, but for now I just feel sore after each session. We had a bit of an exciting weekend just gone. Saturday I could just see the very edge of Dylan's first tooth on his top gums poking though. I knew they were coming as he's been particularly irritable/dribbly/spotty/ear rubbing/and chewing on almost anything during the past week or so. I could see the gums were a bit red and indentations where the teeth would be since early last week. Sunday morning I take a good look in his gob and lo and behold, the other top tooth is just poking through the gums too! So 2 teeth in 2 days! Go Dylan! Lets hope they ease their way out now without pain or issues - for Dylan or us! Yesterday was Fathers Day. My hubby got to celebrate his very first Fathers Day. And after a scrumptious breakfast, gifts, and then a de

I did it! I didn't chicken out! I went back to my boxing class last night. I can certainly feel the pain and aching in my arms and legs today so I didn't wuss out too much.  I think it's been close to 2 months since I last went to the class, and I can honestly say it wasn't my fault! I promise! The instructor decided to go on holidays but had a substitute run the classes for her; all her classes except the Wednesday night class - being the one class each week I actually attended! But in good news, the minute I walked into the class the instructor took one look at me and stated that she thought I'd lost weight! Awesome! We had a bit of fun yesterday afternoon watching a number of bidding wars play out. My hubby decided to clean out some of his old car parts lying around, ones from old projects and random parts without a home.  He listed them all on eBay last week and they all finished up yesterday one after the other over a period of 1.5 hours.  As each item counte

It's a cold morning here. The heater is pumping, I've got my warm trackies on, and I'm relaxing on the lounge... for now.  It does look like a bright sunny day outside, but I can see the trees and bending in the wind and I just know its cold outside.  Maybe I'm convincing myself its okay to stay curled up today. I've already told myself I WILL go to my boxing class tonight. No chickening out this week! My excuse last week... Well, that glass of wine had called my name. I was psyching myself up to watch the season finale of Offspring. I had my topped up glass of wine, my box of tissues, and hubby had kindly already delivered me a piece of chocolate. I think he must have thought I looked like I needed it! So that was all a good enough reason to not get off my butt and go to the class. But no excuses tonight! I'll now get myself psyched up for the agony I'll feel tomorrow!  As I sit on the lounge and look at across at the dining room, all I see is mess. The b

I thought for a while that I've fallen off the blogging planet. Just always too busy to sit down and write. But now, my cuppa is hot, Dylan is napping, and I don't feel guilty about the washing still sitting in the washing machine. Ok, just a bit guilty... We've had a shocker of a day yesterday. I had so much washing to do after our weekend away, but Dylan just kept making more for me! He's just on the cusp of outgrowing the 'infant' sized nappies he uses. They say 4-8kgs. At Dylan's 6 month check up he was 7.6kgs fully clothed, so by now he'd be pretty close to hitting the 8 kilos. So almost every nappy change we had yesterday was the result of him wetting through his nappy and onto his clothes.  We went through so many outfits, it would have put some fashionistas to shame! We've just come back from a weekend away up the mid north coast. Our car club has a weekend in Sawtell as a casual catch up, once every two years. We hold it on the alternate

Well it's been a truly unique week or so! Last weekend we celebrated my Mums birthday with a small party. She was having one of those extra special '0' birthdays. She is the one who always organises the family gatherings, and then mostly is the one who hosts them too. We certainly didn't want her to have to organise her own birthday party, which she would never do, we decided to arrange one for her.  Her partner Mike had been discussing his wish to have a celebration for her for months before the actual day, so we knew we had some time. Somehow those months flew by so quick and we needed to pull our fingers out and get cracking! We knew that being a July birthday an outside event was just not feasible. I told Mike that logistically holding the party at their house, without my Mum finding out would be impossible, and not enjoyable - as they would end up being left to clean up! So I started hunting around for a venue and stumbled upon a gorgeous old building in the main s

I feel a bit like I've dropped off the blogging planet! I told myself numerous times I should get back on and add a new post. Somehow something else always became more important, more relevant, and more fun! Oh well, here I am now. I will add that I am still rather peeved. A few days ago I did add a new blog post. I had it 3/4 completed with pictures and all.... And then technology (totally not my friend might I add) intervened, and I lost the lot! I was so annoyed. I am still annoyed! So do I tempt fate and try to add in all that I lost?? Hmmm... We'll see! Not even sure I can remember half of what I wrote! Some nonsense I'm sure! I've decided my hair is getting just too long now. Sure it's easy to just whip back into a ponytail and pretend I spent more than 2 seconds doing it in the mornings. It certainly annoys me when I go to dry it. It takes ages. I'm still shedding hair post pregnancy, and so the hairs all over the place are super long. There's cer

It's been another crazy week. Last weekend I had one of those moments of horror when I realised how old I'm getting! I had a birthday and I can honestly say I did not enjoy it one bit.  I felt old, tired and cranky. The one birthday present I told my hubby I wanted, I did not get. I know that sounds childish and self centred, but I promise it's not as bad as it seems! I really wanted a sleep in! That's all. Just to have uninterrupted sleep until say 8am... at least. Nope. Dylan woke up about 6:30am and as usual hubby somehow did not hear him until we had been up for a good 30 mins, bottle was done and we were ready to have some cuddles and a play. Grrr! The only positive that came out of the day was a lovely lunch with my family. Dylan wasn't very well behaved which made it a little stressful in the restaurant, but as it was his first major outing in his stroller I'm not surprised he didn't fall asleep. Another suggestion for a birthday gift I gave to my h

It's official! I can now tick off one momentous achievement in my life (and my little cooking challenge!). I made macarons! Yep macarons! Ok so maybe I cheated... A little... They might have been the packet variety produced for Adriano Zumbo. But they were still macarons! And I made them! Jumping for joy!! And for the negative side... They were a bit of a flop. Nothing like the delightful airy soft crispy shell macarons like I've tasted before, but not a complete disaster either. They didn't rise enough, so they didn't have what's called 'feet', (that's macaron speak for those not in the know!). They were also a bit grainy looking, so either over mixed... Or under mixed... I'm not sure which! And some were a bit wonky, not the perfect circles I'd hoped for. But they still tasted pretty darn good. My hubby went back for seconds... And thirds... And fourths!  They were the salted caramel flavour ones and I sure did enjoy them, although I'm not

Well, where do I start? So much has been happening that I haven't had time to note any of it down. From solids for Dylan, to the VW show, to the Baby expo, and bargain buys! One lovely little gift I received recently continues to amuse each time I see it. I was given a gorgeous Bed Toppings 'Sleep tips' sheet for Dylan's cot. It's a fitted sheet decorated with a set of written 'instructions' for little ones to assist them in sleeping. It just amuses me each time I put Dylan down for a nap.  Back on Sunday the 19th, one day shy of Dylan turning 5 months old, we gave him his first solids. I was nervous about making his rice cereal. Would I mix it with breast milk? Or formula? How much milk to use? How many scoops of cereal? How hot do I make it? What if its too runny? Or too thick? I managed to get it just right and Dylan was remarkably accepting of this foreign matter in his mouth! He kept opening his mouth as the spoon approached and I kept on sh

So as of my last post I said that Dylan seemed back to normal and all was well. Why on earth did I have to open my big mouth??? As of later that afternoon his feeding went to crap again!  For some reason Dylan just decided to refuse his feeds again and be a whole lot more grumpy. We've been thinking it could be to do with him teething, or at least his teeth moving around a bit under his gums causing him some pain and discomfort. Poor bubba! Although it has led to us giving him a new nickname. Gummi bear! Too cute! The big news that also happened on Thursday afternoon, Dylan rolled over for the first time! He was having some tummy time and enjoying his toys when he leaned over a bit. Gravity assisted and suddenly he was on his back! He was instantly shocked, but super giggly and so pleased with himself.  Let's hope he starts rolling from his back to his tummy soon too! Friday was Playgroup day again. We had a smallish group of about 8 or 9 mums and bubs. There were a few

It's been a quiet few days round here. And thank goodness for that! Dylan seems to be settling back to his old routine after the dramas in the week or so after his 4 month vaccinations. He had turned from his sweet self into a major pain in the you know where. After refusing boob and bottle, then suffering from majorly disturbed sleeps, he was just generally grumpy, whingy and a whole less smiley. So I'm happy to report that he seems to be back to normal. He's sleeping through the night again, and has his appetite back. In fact some days I'm starting to think I need to start increasing the amount of his formula feeds. He's been on the same amount of formula since he was about 6 weeks old, but now he finishing the boob, almost always finishing the bottle. We are now less than a week away from Dylan turning 5 months old and am thinking of trying him on solids pretty soon. He likes to watch me eat my bowl of cereal each morning, but hasn't reached out for it as y

I'm a bad bad mum. I only just looked at the dates and worked out yesterday Dylan was a whole 20 weeks old! That's the equivalent to half my pregnancy. Wow time sure has flown! As Dylan isn't on solids yet, he'll just have to enjoy his next bottle that little bit more. I on the other hand will have to celebrate with a .... I don't know! Maybe a nice glass of wine with dinner.... As long as its not near feed time. Maybe I should just crack another Easter egg open. Shame to put all my hard work to waste from my aerobic/boxing/weights class. Oh well, I'll just work even harder next week! Today we've had the second session of our playgroup. We had a much lower turnout today, but still some new faces which is a good sign. I hope that most of the girls who came last week decide to come back again and sign up to be involved. I don't want to just run the group, I want to enjoy the group too! Dylan's little friend from playgroup got his harness off this w

What an up and down week it has been! Last week was a busy one... Well at least it seemed busy to me.  Tuesday I popped into the city to have lunch with an old friend. Leanne and I used to work for the same company but spent most of our time at the gym together. We'd meet up maybe 3 times a week if not more in the gym. We both loved the boxing classes and so did that twice a week. Usually our other gym session was either pump, step, or we'd just do our own circuit of the equipment and weights. Many many lunch times were spent huffing and puffing and gasbagging together! Leanne was my support in my manic rush to get fit for my wedding in 2009. We pushed each other to our limits, but still made it fun, hence why we kept it up for a few years. It was only in 2010 when I got a new job that I quit the gym as it would have been too hard and too far to get back to the gym for our lunch time classes. I miss those days. After our lunch catch up for Leanne's bday I did pop over to

It's Saturday morning and its been an enjoyable week so far. My hubby decided to make the most of our Anzac Day public holiday on Thursday and  take a couple of days off either side of it. I was happy to have him home and for the support as Wednesday morning we took Dylan off to the doctors for his 4 month immunisation. Dylan was so brave and really didn't cry all that much. I was just happy that he's healthy and a happy little boy. On Tuesday I had a old work colleague come over for a visit. She brought her gorgeous 7 month old boy with her, while her 4 year old daughter was in daycare for the day. We weren't entirely sure, but other than Facebook, we think we haven't seen each other in maybe 5 or 6 years. We've both kept in contact with different circles of friends from those old work days. I'm glad it didn't really turn into a big reminiscing session as we've both moved on with our lives since we worked together. I left that company back in 2006