Life under a Pepper Tree

During the past week we took advantage of the sunny afternoon and went for a little walk along the river not too far from where we live.  The minute Dylan saw the little strip of sandy beach his requests for "pants off", "shirt off", were just irresistible!  He put his feet in the water and kicked along the sandy shore.  Each time a boat, or a person in a kayak or some other floating vessel came along I'm sure everyone within a kilometre radius heard him announce it! He was just so excited! A portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 201 5 We also wandered along the jetty and stood and watched all the happenings at the boat ramp.  Very interesting for a 2 year old indeed!  It was just so lovely and chilled and I really would love more days like this.  I even mentioned to hubby that just maybe I could handle us having a little boat.  Something small and manageable, where we could pack all our swimming gear, a picnic lunch and j...

In the past few weeks I've been trying to put aside a little time each week to do a little clean out. Not too much so it seems like a chore, but enough to feel good, like I'm achieving something. Now I wouldn't say I'm a hoarder, but the more cupboard space I have, the more stuff I seem to accumulate.  So far I've done minor reviews of my wardrobe, yet there's been quite a few bags worth of clothes either chopped up for garage rags, or off to the bin, plus one bag of stuff off to the Salvo's. I was inspired by a work colleague to even give the old handbag collection a review. Again there were items binned and a number that will also head to the Salvo's.  Why did I keep all this stuff??  My shoe collection wasn't immune to the clean out.  There were high heels that were too far gone to be worth repairing that were chucked. Old casual shoes, ugly thongs, and a pair of gorgeous kitten heels that I loved, but post-baby, are just that pinch too small. I...

On Monday morning this past week, my good friend Mel gave birth to twins.  I had a go guessing the gender/s here , and I also had a guess at the date they would be born. I was about a week off with the date.  Welcome to the world Amelia Grace, and Miranda Kathleen!  One of you may not be a boy, but we'll forgive you and love you just as much! So glad the girls arrived safely, and now Mum, Dad, big sister Emmy and the newborns are all settling in. Bel

Just when think surely life must be about to get better, bam! No!  We've now been struck down with horrid colds.  Dylan has had a temperature all week and his head cold is making him miserable.  Last night was the first night we've had in a week where Dylan didn't have us up one or multiple times to re-administer panadol/change nappies/rub vicks on his chest/wipe a cool washer over his face/provide extra cuddles, or a combination of all of these. It's just been exhausting. We got Dylan outside to have a bit of a play in the sunshine this morning.  Hubby took a big soft ball out for them to kick or throw, and just see if he would have a go.  There were a few fleeting runs and kicks of the ball, then mostly tiredness, grumpiness and calls for "mummy cuddles".  At least he smiled for a bit! A portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2015 Joining in with Jodi and Project 52 . Bel

Well the week from gastro hell is slowly coming to a close.  Unfortunately it did get worse before it got better with hubby being struck down on Friday night.  So it meant Saturday was a quiet one with Dylan and I spending the entire day together and keeping out of hubby's way... the way from the bedroom directly to the nearest bathroom, or bucket!  Saturday morning was the first day all week that I actually felt like I could stomach a coffee.  Usually our weekend ritual entails some kind of breaky before I make us a good coffee where we usually just sit together, chat about our day or the plans we have.  Over the last few weeks Dylan has gotten in on our weekend coffee ritual with a sweet babycino to sip on and join us in our chatter.  Yesterday he leapt at the chance to join me for coffee.  As I started getting the machine ready he toddled off down the hallway and got his little step that he uses in the bathroom.  He brough...

I was looking for something sweet to make, just cause, and I knew a simple chocolate cake would go down incredibly well.  I began googling for recipes and then I remembered reading about one that was supposed to be pretty good.  Yeah sure it might be good, but all these loonies raving about it on twitter/facebook/instagram must be all having a lend of themselves.  They even gave the cake a name... Anne?  So I made it.  It was a really simple recipe with no difficult steps, which probably contributed to my scepticism.  It took a lot longer to cook in the oven than the recipe stated.  It looked ok.  It smelt pretty good too.  The recipe had a simple icing recipe to go with it, but which called for icing mixture.  Of course I did NOT have a packet in my cupboard, only 15 packets of pure icing sugar, so I switched to another recipe to make my chocolate icing.  Can anyone tell me why icing sugar goes lumpy the minute the packet is ...

What a horrible horrible week it's been so far.  I've seen and done things I really don't like one little bit.  I'd like this week to be completely erased from memory and never to be spoken of again! On Sunday night I had settled in to read the last 30 or so pages of the book I had strung out the reading sessions since Christmas.  It's the latest book in the series where the first book, River God, is my all time favourite .  I had happily finished the last page and settled down for sleep.  15 minutes later as I'm drifting off I hear Dylan call out and have a bit of a cry.  He calms, and I figure he'll go back to sleep.  30 seconds later, another cry, and some calling out to me. I reluctantly get up and go in to find him sitting up at one end of his cot, pointing near the opposite end.  And then the smell hits me... that unmistakeable stench of vomit.  I switched his lamp on to find piles and piles of chunkiness all over his cot bedding...

Lunchtime today meant leftovers for all of us.  Dylan scored the meatballs and spaghetti, which probably wasn't the best idea considering I'd just put some blue and mostly white shorts on him!  The fork was mostly used just to fling spaghetti sauce on him, the highchair and us.  His hands were used to scoop up a meatball or fistfuls of spaghetti and shovel as much in his gob as humanly possible.  To give him credit, there was probably a bit too much sauce on it, so there was no escaping the mess, but I just love the little "sauce beard" he ended up with.  Even his ears copped it too!  The more he ate the more tired and contentment I could see in his face.  With just a hint of cheekiness to boot! A portrait of my son, once a week, every week in 2015 Joining in with Jodi and Project 52 . Bel

There is no other option but to play with the box and the plastic packaging!  After the postie delivered an enormous box, with a smallish item and a hell of a lot of packaging ,Dylan decided it was the perfect place to play.  Dylan got into the box, fell out of the box, pulled the packaging out, and not nearly often enough picked it up and put it all back in again!   This was all good fun until he discovered that the big air-filled pockets made a fantastic 'pop' when stomped on, jumped on, or just squished with his hands.  Then the squeals of delight really got loud!  Sometimes it's just the simple things that make our day. Bel