No, it’s not a new fragrance coming out, just in time for Christmas. It’s this photo:
This is my son. I look at this photo, and I see him. I really see him. The smirk, the look in his eyes, the fact that I can see him as a teenager. I see his soul in this photo. I can’t stop looking at it. This is the first time I’ve really realised who this person is, and who he is becoming. It’s quite a revelation for me. We have so many more good times to come.
(Warning: This post may contain clichรฉs.)
Chanbe turned one yesterday. Where has the time gone? (I warned you!) Actually, I know exactly where it has gone, and we have enjoyed it so much. Chanbe woke up at 6am yesterday – we all wake up early on our birthday, right? – but I wasn’t quite ready to get up so we had a play in the spare bed and by 7 he had drifted back to sleep! We didn’t get up until 8:30 so we were all rested for our big day to come.
Chanbe had a birthday breakfast of home-made (of course) berry pancakes.
We then headed to church for lots of cuddles and kisses and birthday wishes. And then it was time for the party! Well, just a small BBQ with a couple of families from the medical centre where Hubs works. It had been raining all day Friday and Saturday (and most of the night too!) but Sunday was beautiful. The kids played in the playground (and the mud) and it was so nice to be outside after being couped up for 2 days.
Not my best effort, but the cake was delish! We had a gluten-free requirement, so it’s a flourless chocolate cake. Really quite delectable. There were no candles, but there were kids and party hats so that more than made up for it!
Ha! As if my life resembles any type of normality!
Mum and Dad left 2 hours ago, and in that time I’ve had to do things I haven’t done in 2 weeks, like get up before 10am, do the washing up, put Chanbe to sleep, get the washing in…
Now don’t judge. I’m not entirely lazy or useless, except when my Mum is around. I think since I’ve had Chanbe, whenever Mum is around I digress back into being the child (not “a” child :-)), wanting to be looked after. And Mum and Dad do that so well! Since they arrived, they have been doing pretty much everything around the house – cooking, washing, cleaning up, getting up to Chance in the morning, feeding him his meals, changing nappies, putting him down for naps etc etc.
I don’t just sit around taking advantage of their generosity, obviously, but I certainly have time to rest that I don’t normally have. And they insist! I guess I get a taste of what it’s like to have family around when you’re raising a family, and it’s nice. Really nice. I have been feeling like my old self again – rested, relaxed, not so stressed.
It was hard to say goodbye this morning, especially seeing the look on Chance’s face when his Gran and Grumpy drove away, but we’ll be in Brisbane in 3 weeks so that’s something to look forward to.
I really do hope that we settle down one day close to family and friends.
As I mentioned, we hosted mothers group at our place this week, and I decided to throw a combined birthday party for all the kids!
We had such a lovely time with all the kids tearing around, showing off all their new skills. And of course, there was cake! I saw the idea for this cake months and months ago and knew I had to give it a go. And I gotta say, it turned out pretty damn nicely.
Chance really rose to the occasion, and even though he missed out on his morning sleep (which usually goes for 2 hours) and only had 45 min at 2:30, he’s still awake at 7pm and having a great time! But Dadda just got home so Chanbe will be boarding the sleeping train and will hopefully be in sleepy land very soon. What a great day!
How can he go from this:
… to this:
… and this:
… and this:
… in 48 hours?? Chanbe has a nasty virus and he is not a happy chappy, but he’s been a bit up and down so I’m hoping he’ll be more up than down tomorrow, as we are hosting my mother’s group here at MB!! I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks, and I have a very special surprise for you all that I’ll share with you tomorrow (or Friday if I’m too tired from our big day!)
Mum and Dad leave Friday morning and we’ve had such a great time together. I don’t like to say it, but the 2 weeks they’ve been here really have flown by too quickly. I’m looking forward to being up in Brisbane (Redcliffe) so I can be close by to family again, albeit for a short time.
Stay tuned!
In case you’re living under a rock (or just living outside of Victoria) you would know that today was Melbourne Cup Day – a public holiday in Victoria. Woo! We celebrated the day by heading to Wangaratta (just for a change) to take Ma to the races. We had such a lovely day and I must say that we were 4 of the best-dressed punters there! I’ll let you decide for yourself though…
First up we have Wifey, wearing her red dress she recently purchased on line, accessorising with a Mimco necklace given to her by her darling Hubsband as an annivchrisbirthday present. Chanbe’s outfit was purchased at the local op-shop for a total of $2, with accessories made with love from 8-10pm last night by his Mama, with the help of his Dadda and Ouma. Hubs is looking dashing in his pinstripe pants that he wore on the day he made his vows to Wifey, matched with a lovely white paisley shirt and topped off with black suspenders. And Ma is wearing a delightful silk dress she picked up whilst in Melbourne last week, paired with a stunning cardi and super-cute fascinator.
Can we see a bit more for the final judgment? ๐
We really had a lovely day and the weather was spectacular. We’ve had a lovely time with Ma here, and will be sad to see her go home tomorrow, but we know we’ll be seeing her in just over a month back in Brisbane. Okay okay. I’ll give you just one more ๐
“I sleep all night and I work all day.”
Sleep all night? Baah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!
Guess who just joined the local gliding club? (I’ll give you a hint: It wasn’t me. Or Chanbe.)
Hubs went gliding last weekend with our good friends Nathan and Cal. And he got hooked. Real bad. Can you see why?
While I was in Albury for the day a couple of weekends ago, Hubs took Chanbe for a play at the local park. They had such a great time, and Hubs took some great photos and video for me to see when I got home!
