Life under a Pepper Tree

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...