Life under a Pepper Tree

Week 43 I think I'm going to have to call this "a week of firsts".  Its our second week being away from home and Dylan has just loved it.  So much has happened and I don't want to forget all the special moments.  The portacot we brought with us has been useless as he hates being so restricted, so he's gotten used to a single bed mattress on the floor.  It's close enough to a "big boy" bed! A couple of the places we stayed had the big built-in trampolines.  Dylan's new favourite words are "jump-jump"!  He had a fantastic time and just giggled at every bounce. We visited Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary and he loved patting the kangaroo's. Soon enough he was saying "Roo" as best as he could! We bought a box of iceblocks and let him go nuts with one.  It was everywhere, but he loved every wet lick! We stopped by the Big Banana in Coffs Harbour as Dylan's favourite fruit would have to be bananas.  He had never seen...

Week 42 Mid week we packed up our little hatchback to the roof with everything but the kitchen sink and headed north.  We left Sydney after a night of massive storms and had heard the bad weather was set to continue, so we questioned delaying our trip. In the end we left with a bit of a delay, and promptly got stuck in dreadful traffic.  Dylan was absolutely brilliant in the car, either chatting away happily, playing with a few toys, or napping.  The few times he got a bit cranky was when either his dummy or his teddy fell out of reach.  If he's this good on the drive home I won't hesitate heading off for more road trips with him. We've spread the drive out over a number of days and enjoyed the sights  of Coffs Harbour and the Gold Coast so far. We arrived on the Sunshine Coast yesterday and have settled in nicely in Maroochydore. Today has been chilled out, either swimming with Dylan in the pool, playing in the playground and jumping pillows, and after lu...

So my old car needs a new paint job.  Luckily my hubby is a handy lad and has just the tools for the job.  He also has a little helper! The little helper who picked up the sanding block and just started copying his Daddy!       Daddy's little helper had to make sure he was nearby in case he could "help"!   After lots of "helping" the guards and bonnet were primed.     Cuddles for the helper!      Bel 

Week 41 This week's favourite thing to do is play with buckets of water outside.  Dylan would spend ages just moving water from one bucket to another. Tipping it into various containers and then onto the grass and occasionally onto some of the plants in the garden.  Good clean fun!  Its just sad when no water comes out the tap when you want it to! A portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2014 Joining in with Jodi and Project 52 . Bel

My hubby went and turned 40! How the hell did that happen? I swear we were in our early twenties about 5 minutes ago.  At least he's not fazed by it, and no signs of any mid-life crisis as yet.  We didn't actually get to spend his birthday with him this year.  He was away with his mates in Queensland drag racing.  At least they won this year, after many years of car troubles.  So that was something to celebrate.  His mates organised a b'day cake and a card and gift for him out in the middle of what I call ""the sticks".  I think he was pretty pleased. When he finally got home on the Monday we had some balloons blown up and a big sign along one wall staying "Happy 40th Birthday".  Dylan loved the balloons and only now, almost a week later are some of them in danger of us popping them just to be rid of them from under our feet.  I baked a big chocolatey ganache cake decorated with malteasers and a big "40" candle.   It's supe...

Week 40 A day late, but better than not at all! It's been a tough weekend.  Harder than I expected, probably because I didn't give it much thought.  Hubby left on Thursday afternoon for his annual weekend away to Queensland with his mates for a VW drag racing event.  He left full of excitement, and left me with a clingy toddler and the beginnings of his head cold.  I was not impressed to say the least.  Dylan and I got out of house for a few hours on Sunday when we headed up to my Dad's place to watch our Team play in the Grand Final.  What was I thinking??? Did I really think that Dylan would sit and watch the game?? Did I think that he would leave all of the toddler-level breakables untouched?? Did I think all those buttons on the low lying DVD/Hard drive/stereo systems would not be enticing for a weeny boy??  Lets just say I saw very little of the game, and by looking at the final score it's probably a good thing. One ...