We're Back!!!!

Today, little Hayley Emma is 1 month old. So i guess that means i'd better get this blog back in order and updated. :-)

It's been a hectic 4 weeks since that special day on 7th November. The sleepless nights, the sterilising of everything in case Hayley gets a germ, the poo, the vomit and of course, the little smiles (i'm sure she's smiling - it can't just be wind).

The busiest part of the day would have to be bath/dinner/bed time. by the time David gets home at 5pm, we start to get dinner ready to eat, then in goes the first mouthful and up pipes Hayley. then we have a Hayley bath, finish dinner, Hayley to bed, Kirrily to shower, me to shower, Kirrily bed. Where do those hours go.

Kirrily has also been spoilt rotten by most people as Hayley gets a pressie, and so to does Kirrily. the lucky little girl. And Trish (from swimming) cooked us several meals to get us through the first few days/week which was FANTASTIC!!!

So here are some photo's. Enjoy.

This last photo is of our Obstetrician - James Orford proudly showing off his latest edition to his extended family. At first i was a little hesitant about having a male Dr after our last obstetrician was a lady and fantastic, but James was even better than our last which i didn't think was possible.

We've also put up our christmas tree and Kirrily loves it. "What a lovely Crimas Tree mummy" she keeps saying and sits down and watches her new decoration that Aunty Megan bought. She's not that much of an angle that just sits there, she's tried to wack it with her soccer ball, moves the decorations and lights but most of the time she sits down and watches. We haven't put up our lights outside yet as it's either storming or raining or boiling hot or just no time but we'll get there this weekend hopefully. Kirrily will love the moving reindeers this year.

Well that's me done, i'd better get back to reality but promise more blogs before christmas.

Signing off for a little while

Well i've run out of energy to keep my blog updated lately. Plus, i'm struggling to reach the keyboard as my arms just don't want to stretch that far anymore. :-)

Since my last post, i've been doing basically nothing. I"m confined to the house as i can't even get in the car, let alone lift Kirrily in and out of her new booster seat and the steering wheel is rubbing my belly so i've been out of action for over 3 wks now. Kirrily is bored to bits as we used to go out every day but it's not long now before that changes.

We had another Dr's appt yesterday. I had my camera charged, the mobile too and the bags packed just in case the Dr changed his mind and wanted us booked in for this Friday, but no.

So all in all, i'm a little bored & sore but thought i'd post some photo's of kirrily before i sign off.

Kirrily helping build the TV Unit.
She did actually hammer in some parts to the unit and loved using the screw drivers. Nobody showed her how, she just seemed to know. And she takes after me. Notice the tongue out in most photo's. I used to do that too.





Daddy's birthday and Nan's Birthday
We went to Tides at Bulcock Beach for a combined birthday lunch (used to be Alfie's restaurant). She wore her new shirt and her party skirt (if you look closely dorothy the dinosaur is on the front) and clips too. She loves being dressed up.



Maisy Watering Can
What more could she need - Maisy, her favourite cartoon and a watering can, her favourite gardening tool. Combined into 1 fantastic gift from Nan and Pop.
p.s it didn't bounce too well off the stones as it's tin.


That's it from me, us and B2. We'll have plenty of new blogging material in mid November i'm sure.

No More Strawberry's!!!!

Forgot to add - THE STRAWBERRY SEASON IS OVER.

Oh no!!!!!! The farms have packed up their "pick your own" signs, poisoned off the last few remaining crops (don't ask me, i would have eaten every one of them given the chance) and are turning the plants back to the ground for next year.

That's it until June 2009.

Oh well, back to the mangoes then.

Are we there yet?

Well it's only 3 weeks and 3 days (yes i am counting) til the big day. The days are dragging on and on as i'm feeling rather fat, frumpy and front heavy. My feet are sore, my back is worse and sleeping is an option rather than a necessity lately. (i guess i won't get much more sleep when B2 arrives anyway).

Kirrily is also a bit bored hanging around the house as i can't drive much either. The steering wheel is rubbing against my belly so it's not comfortable at all to get around. She's gone from going everywhere to stuck in the house going nowhere. No wonder she is trying to escape out the back door and run through the back yard any chance she can. She always waits til i'm 'Occupied' before she escapes and i can't really just dash off and get her.

We had another Dr's appointment last week and the baby has turned around. It doesn't make much difference apparently for the operation but at least the baby is doing what baby's should be doing in there. Turning, kicking and squirming. Only now it's kicking me up in the ribs and it's not very comfy.

Enough of that.

Today we had a visit from James and Susan. James is 1 month younger than Kirrily and he is Kirrily's swimming buddy. Susan is (you probably can guess) James' mum. She said she would pop buy each week to see that we are going OK and take kirrily to the swings to get her out of my hair for even 15mins which is lovely. James is having the "terrible 2's" and doesn't like having me talking to his mum or kirrily so smacks kirrily in the head and today through sand in her eyes. We quickly got him to stop it and used our knowledge from our books and they ended up hugging each other to say sorry and played with our hose in the backyard for a hour.

Kirrily also had her first BOY KISS!!!! James said "bye" to kirrily and then turned around (i was waiting for him to smack her again), and gave her a huge kiss and cuddle. Kirrily looked at him rather disgusted and said "don't James" then wiped her mouth. She'll learn one day.

So that's about it. here are a handful of photo's . Yeah there are millions more that i haven't even downloaded yet as i'm a bit too tired.

We had a visit Bryan, Vaughan & Zoe, Anne & Howard too. Howards camera is brilliant but i've only managed to download these few from them at the moment. If your wondering, kirrily is playing 'aeroplanes'.

Kirrily was lucky enough to get some presents. One of those was some ice-block makers which went into the freezer that afternoon and gobbled up the next day. Kirrily couldn't quite grasp the concept of eating the ice-block but she did enjoy using the straw to suck up the melted goodies.

Pop Swimming

During the 2nd term of swimming i got the dreaded cold. I quickly rang dad and asked if he would like to do the lesson for me. Since then, he has done all the classes and had one happy little girl tagging along with him.

I think dad was unsure about taking Kirrily in the pool at first as one of the other children's grandma's took them in the pool and all she did was cry, scream and want to get out, but not my little monkey. She can't stop smiling for the whole lesson.

She walks to the pool from the car yelling "Pop swimming, Splash Nan".

With only a few lessons to go, i thought i'd take some photo's. Well that sounds easier than it actually is. They have a no photo policy just in case your a pedophile, a ferral that takes photo's for no good reason or today i got told, some bizaare custody battle that the parent doesn't want anyone taking photo's of her child as you could be taking photo's for the other parent? What is the world coming too. So 1 A4 page of questions and signatures later, i took some photo's. (note the lack of other children in the photo's. if i was to have them in the photo, i would have needed further permission and more paperwork).

She's come along way since the very first lesson where she was determined to run off and never get in the pool.

The do a circuit in the pool. Running along a mat, 'spider wall' which helps them to do hand over hand along the wall to safety if they need, watering the dolls hair with the watering can which will help them put water on their hair (which we are still working on) and swimming through a hoop under the water. I'm not going to break the news to her that lessons are almost done for this term. but i guess we are pretty lucky with beaches and ocean pools up here that it won't be long before we can get back in there.

Busy few weeks!!!

So far late August and September are turning out to be a quite busy. We've had many Novocastrians make the journey up to Qld.

'Grandma and Grandad' went on a bus trip to Cairns from Newcastle, which stopped at the Ginger Factory on the way through the Sunshine Coast. That gave us 2 1/2 hrs for Kirrily to show everyone around. This is Kirrily's favourite spots to visit. What more could a little girl want - The Ginger Man and The Ginger Train, all packed into one place (and then there's the coffee shop across the road which i like to visit to so it's not all kiddie stuff). We had some yummy lunch then Kirrily went on a ride on the train with Grandad. She came home proudly telling David how she had been on the train with 'dad-dad'.

Aunty Megan has also made her way North to warmer weather and stayed for 4 days. All Kirrily wanted to do with Megan was "Megan - Swings". She said this for weeks leading up to the big day. And to say she was excited when somebody else was on the swings with her other than me was an understatement. We parked on the Mooloolaba Spit and headed back to Mooloolaba, via the bush walkway near the beach. There are millions of bush turkeys wandering through this bit of walkway and this definately slows the walking down when EVERY turkey has to be pointed out.

THE SWINGS AT MOOLOOLABA BEACH

And then there's - THE STRAWBERRY FARM!!!!!!

My brain was beyond thinking where to go on Sunday, the last day of winter. With temps in the high 20's (got to love Qld), David headed up the M1 towards Noosa, stopping at the Eumundi Strawberry Farm, "Strawberry Lane". For $12/kg, it's $2 more than most farms around but when the man at the desk says "have a feed while your down there" to a pregnant lady, a massive strawberry lover and a 2 year old who's favourite food is strawberry's, they weren't going to make much money out of us. I picked a strawberry double the size of the palm of my hand for kirrily to eat first. Silly me thought this would keep her busy for a while but she chomped into them very fast and who wouldn't when they are warm off the plant, red through like red paint and sweeter than sugar. David said he probably ate more than 1kg, me pretty close and Kirrily only a tiny bit behind. If your every visiting the Sunshine Coast during June-November, you have to visit this farm. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

if you look carefully, kirrily has both hands filled with berry's. She insisted on having both hands filled so she didn't waste time in gobbling all she could.

Needless to say, we didn't need or want much lunch.

Week 28

28 weeks already. Boy isn't time going slowly. i think somebody slows the clock down when your pregnant. Off to the Obstetrician on Monday for a check up in Nambour. It seems the world revolves around Nambour. They have the best farmers markets there and all the good Dr's are there too. even the hospital is there.

anyway, we've been laying low for a while. I've had the cold that has been "going around" apparently. Not so nice when you can't take much for it. At least Kirrily was there to keep me amused.



Vegemite!!!! / The hose - again



This is Kirrily's new 'big room'. She is now sleeping in the big bed and loving it. She asks to sleep there at night but at the moment we are still putting her in the cot just so she gets used to the bed, gradually. I built this bookshelf for her new room and she loves looking at her toys and books in there. Wow!!! was her response. maybe next week she might be in the big room for good. She just looks so tiny in the big bed. She doesn't get out at all which is good, she just sits waiting patiently for me to come in and get her after her day time sleep.

No more news to report, hopefuly next week will be more exciting. :-)

Weather - Ahhh Queensland!!!

Well we all complained loudly up here this week and last when the temperature dropped to 3 deg overnight, and reached a small 15 in the day but who can complain when today

IT'S 27 DEG!!!!

Well the 2 weeks of winter are over for the sunshine state. Back to warm sunny weather for us. Back to the singlet shirts and shorts. (well i don't have a great range of clothes being pregnant so it's singlet shirts for me anyway).

One would think i was getting a bit soft living in Queensland. The newspapers all had front page stories on the 'freezing' weather, 'frost' on the Downs, stories about scarfs, beanies and hot food. The even had their news people doing the news from Stanthorpe where it got to a "knee knocking, toe tingling" (we've heard it all this week) -2 deg overnight. What is the world coming to. :-)

Pelican Spotting

Apart from frogs, Kirrily also loves Pelican's. We have been pretty lucky lately as the baby pelicans have come from, whereever a baby pelican comes from, to Pumistone Passage. In particular, the jetty near the ferry. We went walking last week to try out Kirrily's new shoes which we bought from Rivers and headed off to find some pelican's. We found some. 27 of them actually. Some in the water gobbling fish, some drying their feathers and other's just waiting for the easy way to catch dinner when the fishermen come in and wash their fish.

Kirrily got rather close then the pelican made a typical pelican noise (bit hard to discribe in words other than - AAAAAAAAAARKKKK) so she scampered back to me yelling "hand, hand, hand" as she wasn't sure of that noise. Of course, i had my camera and couldn't resist taking photo's. i wasn't quick enough to get Kirrily standing near them.



We then headed back towards the car but had to stop and just watch the world go by. Kirrily demolished a muslie bar and then i got this photo, which i thought was rather cute.



We've also finished her new bed. We had put the railings on her bed to stop her falling out and started taking her toys across to her new room. We will have a trial sleep tomorrow afternoon. I know she loves her cot. i'm just hoping she loves her new bed just as much. I'll keep you posted how that goes.

The Wiggles - Colouring Book

Kirrily has been rather busy lately. She has 6 new coloured pencils (we have 5 left, the 6th one is put somewhere 'safe') and she loves the Wiggles so what better present than a Colouring in book from who else but The Wiggles. Aunty Megan kindly gave this to Kirrily for her birthday.

Here is some of her handywork:

You might notice it says "Big Red Car", not in her eyes. it's a multicoloured, rainbow style of car. Her next favourite page is the back, inside cover which is blank and she scribbles like crazy.

If she isn't watching Poko, she is colouring in. A new Picasso in the making I'd say.

Pecking Chickens!!!

Well I did forgot one present that Kirrily got for her birthday but it probably deserved it's own post anyway. Vaughan and Zoe went to China on a Wendy Woo tour. Vaughan spotted this toy and instantly 'had to have it'. There was a wooden frog but he thought that would drive us nuts with the noise it made. Instead, we have pecking chickens.

Words to the effect of "Kirrily probably will get to play with it once David stops" and "If Vaughan stops playing with it". Poor Kirrily didn't sound like she was going to get a look it but alas, Vaughan and David have passed the toy on and Kirrily has fallen in love with her 'chickens'.

By now your probably thinking "well what do they look like". well i haven't taken a photo of ours as they have been in the repair shed (overused or just underglued), so i've glued them up and they are still drying. Instead, i've jumped onto trusty Google and found something similar.

The idea is you swing the paddle bat around, the ball at the bottom swings and the chickens heads bop up and down going "peck, peck, peck.....". It's awesome.

2nd Birthday

Well my little girl is growing up fast. 2 already - my word.

So i did my usual "i have to make a fancy birthday cake" trick and also had the "the cake isn't working" debarcle. mmmm..... maybe next year i'll just make it simple. after all, David did say "just remember you'll have to make 2 fancy cakes next year". uh oh.

Kirrily was all excited and was telling us how old she was all day. we blew up balloons, set up the party table, bought her favourite 'cheerios' from the butcher (cocktail frankfurts for those NSWelshmen), i'd made sausage rolls, bruchetta for the adults and some nibblies. But Kirrily was so excited with her new presents, she didn't touch any food. Then when it came time to eating the cake, she wasn't keen either. I think it was because we took a knife to her giraffe and she got upset.

She was very lucky and got lovely presents. She got some clothes (as she is fast outgrowing anything she has), a Wiggles colouring in set, a watering can, a puzzle and matching cards, some Dora figurines, a Dorothy backpack (which now goes everywhere), some clips and some bobbles for her hair, and of course - THE PRAM!!! I made a suggestion that she get a pram as she pushes the dodgy one at Playgroup around for the 1 1/2 hrs. She is now doing that here.

My advice to those wanting to make butter icing as a last minute thing - don't. My icing split, my stress levels rose, i had no icing sugar left, i'd used all my marg, David was still out buying bread (does it really take 1 1/2 hrs to find a french stick)...... Need i go on. I just went back to my basic icing receipe (thanks Mum!!!!!) and wah lah - orange icing and it was perfect (even though it didn't look very appealing). I must also thank Womans Weekly for underestimating the size of the cake tin. The cake went over the tin, into the bottom of the oven and poooooeeee did that smell burnt or what!! But i guess by the time Kirrily is 30, i'll have these fancy cakes down pat. :-) I think i might start planning the 3 cake already so i'm prepared.

Not Much Happening - just 3 wins for Qld!!!!

Better Homes and Gardens - Kawana Forest Style

Well have you ever had one of those moments watching BH&G on Friday nights going - "Tarra Dennis is making what? That junk still looks like junk once she made the final thing. She's better off just buying a new one that making THAT". Well I do, but decided to go against the trend and actually have my Tarra moment. I had an old lamp that was once pink and white. I painted it long ago to be blue and white with a yellow lampshade (don't laugh). I've now decided to repaint it back to being pink and white and repaint the lampshade and sponge on pink flowers so that Kirrily can add it to her new room. So i went to Spotlight, bought all my goodies and they have sat in the bag for over 3 months when i decided enough was enough - it's time to paint.

First coat of white on the lamp, she's looking pretty dodgy. With BH&G in the back of my mind and mocking myself at even bothering with this, i pressed on. 3 coats of white later, i'm feeling better, the lamps looking pretty good. This today, i started with the pink paint over the dark blue. Well that looked shocking. the paint didn't want to cover so 5 coats later on the fiddly little bits, it's all done. I was getting a warm fuzzy feeling, finally. I sponged on the flowers using my template with light pink paint and what can i say - IT'S BRILLIANT!!!!. Would i do it again, probably not, but at least i can tell Kirrily that I created that for her new room. So here it is.





We also had a trip to Logan to visit Ikea. Apparently 'they say' it's bigger than the Gabba. I'd have to say it is pretty big but also haven't been to the Gabba. We bought Kirrily a little table of her own so she can eat, drink and colour in and make as much mess as she likes and it's contained to one spot (well almost). After that we saw the signs to the Gold Coast. Why not, we're this close. So off to Currumbin we go. It was a beautiful day, lovely and warm although a little windy. It feels strange that the Gold Coast is now the same distance as Sydney was to Newcastle.

We also went to Cotton Tree again and had the buffet breakfast at the Surf Club. Kirrily polished off 2 servings of my scrambled eggs and was still begging for more when we left and took her for a walk.

We also had a visit from Maz, Dave and Jacob. Jacob is now a boy, not a baby and i almost didn't recognise him. Kirrily and Jacob played on the swings and we all had lunch which was great, although not long enough as they all are home back in Newcastle already.

It's also time to get back to having another Tarra moment. what else can i make.

What can i say!!!!!!

Q U E E N S L A N D E R

Noosa is a mess

Well we survived yet another 'June' storm. We were here this time last year when it was raining and a big red boat landed on Nobby's Beach. Noosa main beach is still closed to the public with 6-8m of sand washed away out to see. There is nothing left but a rock retaining wall which was there 'just in case'. We had water views in our backyard as our neighbour behind us, Des (who sounds like Sam Kecovitch the Lamb Man) and Cheryl (who is a lot like Colleen from Home and Away) kindly drain their water into our backyard. Some people pay big money for water views. The grass was fertilised jsut before the rain hit so the lawn is brilliant green and very healthy and thick. The plants did need some water.

All this rain led me back to my beloved stamping desk. I had 2 precious cards to make:

1. Sophie had a little girl. i jsut love making baby cards. For those that are going "oh yeah never heard of Sophie" she did the make up at my wedding. If you ever need makeup from Myer, she works there. She's absolutely awesome.


2. Izzy B's birthday (aka Isobelle Zwort). She was here for a visit last weekend visiting her Grandma and Granddad as Dick turned 60. Not good weather for b'day parties. I gave Abigail the present for Izzy so she doesn't know what's inside yet. (by the way, it's an I not a 1 if your wondering).


Nothing else has been happening as we've been inside hiding from the rain.

Next week, Maz arrives. YEAH!!!!!!!!!!! can you tell i'm excited to see people. I must show her the Copenhagen Icecream shop at Noosa. mmmm.........

testing out the 'slide' show

Swimming Lessons!

Kirrily has been going to swimming lessons now for about 5 weeks a the pool at Cotton Tree. Since the first day she has improved a lot.

The first day she didn't want to get into the pool but Davina (her teacher) had 'the duck' which luckily for me, meant Kirrily would get into the pool after-all.

Since then she has been jumping in the water, running along the mat, spider wall and paddling back to the edge and even doesn't mind being plunged under the water. Today she was also a wizz at floating which is definately a good thing to know if she ever needs to save herself.

Today she had and extra lesson to make up for when she was sick. This nasty little girl, Roma (who names their kid after a tomato anyway) bashed Kirrily in the head. Kirrily said "naughty" back to her but Roma's mum just laughed it off and claims her child doesn't like other children and she just does this. grrrr... Nasty Roma. Lucky for us, we aren't normally in this group. We go back to our nice group tomorrow with our nice teacher, Davina. Davina was hit by a car on her bike and hasn't been there for 2 weeks. She is OK apart from a few broke bones, a broken bike and terrible scratches. Imagine what the chlorine does to those scratches if they weren't healed. eeeek.

So here are a few happy snaps that 'Nan' took. I have cropped my face out of some as the facial expressions where shocking when i was getting splashed by the water.







Wouldn't you know it, one of the ladies in the group, who's name escapes me as i have pregnant brain, is from Newcastle. Lived in Adamstown Heights. Small world. She now lives in Twin Waters. Her little girl, Amelie (which is pronounced more like Amity) is rather cute and doesn't hit anyone. We do have a Caitlin and she's a bit rough too but she thinks she owns the pool as she's been there since she was 6 months and is basically a fish.

That Nasty 'J' Word

Late Saturday night/early Sunday morning, we had a visit from - the SW winds. They reached speeds up to 100klm/hr and boy did they hit hard. Our fence was rattling, things in the garden had blown over and when we woke up, it was 11 degrees. OH NO!!!!! The true Queenslanders (those are the one's that have been here longer than about 5 yrs) were ringing into radio stations, newspapers and TV coverage on the terrible cold snap hitting SE Queensland.

Are they dreaming? Cold? Doona's? Winter Woolies? Huh? Maybe i'm used to the cooler temps of Newcastle but 22 in the day and 11 overnight - that's not cold.

However, i did open the forbidden cupboard. It has been left untouched since our arrival almost 8 months ago. It's "The Jumper Cupboard". da da DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. So yesterday i had on a thin cotton jumper, today a long sleeve T-shirt. the kids are running around in the street in shorts/thongs and shirts. It's not cold. We sat at Cafe Envy at Cotton Tree and the only table left was out the front in the shade with the wind gusting around us. They bought us blankets to wrap around ourselves. Kirrily looked like such a cutie with a blue blanket and her new hoodie on, but guess who forgot to take her camera and my mobile phone camera wouldn't work as it was almost flat. I must say, it's great living in Qld - it's "cold" (well sort of) but you still see most people wearing thongs or sandles on their feet.

Oh well, at least we'll have the winning State of Origin team this week. Now that's something that might warm them up.

We're Back - touch wood!!!

Well time has been flying by. Since my last blog, our computer has been cactus. Trend virus is spastic to say the least. I know, i know, i was warned against getting Trent - it will slow your computer, not good at all...... but still we got it. Works great on David's machine, but mine has been really bad. Firewall this, download problems that, help desk people must be sick of me. i'm going to invest in new software as soon as i can and be rid of this Trend crap immediately!!!!!!

Anyway, back to Qld and our adventures.

We've been laying low and i've been laying very low this last 14wks. Morning Sickness is not a good thing. I've also renamed it - all day and night sickness.

We had a great mother's day. i cooked my own pancakes which didn't last long, went to Big W to buy Kirrily some clothes as her pants are now shorts, then David took me to Aldi at Noosa to buy nappies (for Kirrily, not me). ahh romantic mother's day. :-) We did however, have a delicious Organic vegetarian lunch which was gladly accepted by my tummy, walked across to Noosaville along the River and had the best coffee eclair thingy i've ever eaten. It was almost standing room only along the river. Great day eventually even if i did cook dinner as well.

Kirrily is growing like a champion - finally. she is getting taller but as she runs everywhere flat chat, she isn't putting on much weight. still a little 10kg girl. Dr's don't seem worried. She has found the mop and loves cleaning and mopping the floors, using the vacuum and especially loves hosing the gardens (and me when she can catch me). The tears and screams can be heard for kilometres when the hose is turned off. she just loves it so much. i did come off second best the other day with all my pants wet and shirt too. However, this was histerical to kirrily so i couldn't help but laugh too. She chased me and mum and dad today and hosed everything and then got the paintbrush and was happily painting with 'special paint' or as i like to call it, water.




We've been to Manly too. Believe it or not we have a Manly in Qld as well. not quite as busy as in sydney though or as pricy. Best fish and chips ever at Manly. The photo dosen't come out very well but it was a spectacular spot. Anyone wanting to visit here soon, i recommend it highly. It looks out across the Bay towards Morton Island and Nth Straddie. I think there is also an island call Cutchie Mudlow or something like that too. what a crazy name.

and then there is this photo - no reason to add it other than i think it's cute. Kirrily loves the "wee wee's" or the swings in English. Wee wee's because i guess she goes weee weee weee on them. this was one of our 1/2 hr rides we had at Golden Beach. There's just not stopping her.

HOpefully i'll blog again soon if this silly computer behaves itself but i don't like my chances.