Category: Wang

Wifey’s Angels

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My mothers group

I cannot begin to describe the amazing, supportive role these women and their babies play in my life. Many other mothers have said how they only really click with one or two women in their mothers group, but ours is made up of the best chicks a gal away from home could ask for. We all get along ridiculously well, and I feel a real bond with these women. There’s no judgment, no bragging, and no “one way of doing things.” It’s an opportunity that we get each week, to talk about the highs and lows, the challenges and milestones of being a mum.

In the absence of family, these women are the best stand-ins I could have ever asked for. We meet at a different mum’s house each week where we sit around in a circle with baked goods and coffee and put the kids on the floor in the middle to play with each other. We can just be ourselves. We don’t have to straighten our hair (or even wash it. Or even shower for that matter!), or put on our best clothes and pretend that motherhood is a breeze. Cos it ain’t. Some of us meet up and walk there in our trackies and caps, covering the hair we haven’t washed in a few days. Some of us have bags under our eyes from sleepless nights, others on the day are full of energy from (finally!) a good night sleep.

We ask each other and share advice about anything from nappies to introducing solids, to breastfeeding, to constipation (the babies, not us (-:) Out of the 9 babies, we have 8 beautiful boys and one gorgeous girl. We don’t claim to know everything, yet we share what we do.

I cannot tell you how much I’m going to miss our weekly sessions when we move. This is the biggest thing I’m going to miss about living in Wang. I just hope I can come back from time to time to visit, as I know I can just rock up and pick up where we left off. They’re just that type of group.

Our local

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Ever since I moved to Edinburgh for a year when I was 22 years old, I’ve wanted a local coffee shop. One where I can walk in, greet the owners by name, have them do the same in return, and ask “the usual, Wifey?” After almost a decade of wanting this, it has finally happened, and it’s everything I hoped it would be. The only difference is, I don’t have a “usual”.

Introducing, the Bead Shop (previously mentioned here.)

I first went to the bead shop not long after we arrived in Wang, when it was just a bead shop. It’s on the way in to town and I do love beads! They have some really beautiful stuff in there and it was always worth a look. And then came the coffee… Our friends introduced it to us back in October but it wasn’t until this year that we started going there regularly. After about half a dozen visits, the owner, Eric, introduced himself to us while he was clearing one of the tables outside, and asked our names. After that he would always address us by our names and give us a big welcoming smile.

Now I like to think we have even become friends. He and his wife Lauren run the place brilliantly. Lauren is the Queen Bead (see what I did there?) and also helps out in the cafe at busier times, and Eric does a bit of everything – makes coffee, cooks lunches and slices, and on Saturday mornings, he makes these:

I was going to take photos of the bagels before we ate them, and the coffees before we drank them, but they were just too delish and I forgot! The secret to their cappuccinos? Real chocolate sprinkles on top, some of which can be found at the bottom of your coffee cup at the end. (I had already eaten them before I took the photo!)

Lauren couldn’t believe how big Chanbe is getting, and brought him out a high chair so he could “have coffee” with us. It’s the little things that make the big impressions at this place.

Chance isn’t quite ready for the babycinos yet, but he was pretty taken with Dadda’s bagel!

This was the first time we went for bagels and they didn’t disappoint! Hubs and I probably have coffee there once or twice a week (at least!) and the coffee is so good. Every Time. And they’re ALL good. Whether you want a cappuccino, iced coffee, affogato, iced chocolate, hot chocolate, chai tea, chai latte….

So come on down and we’ll take you there some time!

6 months old

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The low-down

Weight: 9.5kg
Height: 72cm
Size: 0
Teeth: 2
Eating: pear & pumpkin
Sleeping: hmmm…. pass?
Moving: backwards on his tummy
Talking: gibberish
Growing: more hair
Tricks: pulling hair and pinching when excited (ouch!)
Looking: darn-tootin’ cute as ever

Bumper weekend part II

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After our late bed time Saturday, Chance had a bit of a rough night, so I was more than pleased when he went back to sleep at 7am and didn’t wake us til 9am Sunday morning. We rushed around and got ready for church, and were our usual 5 minutes late which isn’t bad all things considered. The service was run by a visiting minister from Albury and his message was really great. I’m so glad we made the effort to go. We did the usual mingling afterwards and played “pass the baby”. We belong to a really lovely congregation, who we will also miss once we move. Hopefully we will feel the same sense of homeliness at the UC in Mt Beauty.

After church we headed home for some yummy leftover pasta bake for lunch and some faffing around for a couple of hours. The weather was pretty nice in the morning, and we were hoping it would continue for the afternoon as we were going to…. the local footy match! I’ve been wanting to go to watch a local footy game since we got here, and the local derby was on so I begged and pleaded with Hubs to take me and he finally agreed. I was SO excited! We walked there around 1:30, paid our $6 each to get in, and took our “seats” on the hill (i.e. sat on the grass).

(That’s a yellow teddy bear on Chanbe’s new beanie, not a flower!) A couple of the guys Hubs studies with play for the Magpies, and a few of Hubs’ uni friends joined us later on to cheer them on. I just sat there soaking up the atmosphere. I don’t know what made me so giddy with excitement – maybe it was the fact that I felt like a local. That feeling of belonging to something/somewhere is obviously very important to me, and you could not wipe the smile of my face.

Not even these storm clouds rolling in could dampen my mood.

It was a very one-sided match with the Magpies dominating over the Rovers from the start. At the three-quarter mark, it really was starting to get dark and we contemplated leaving but thought we’d come this far, we might as well stay. Plus if we started walking home then, we’d probably get caught. Just as the teams ran on for the forth quarter, down came the rain.

We had to admire these fans – they had obviously done this before!
Chance didn’t really see what all the fuss was about…

…and decided it was time for a nap!
The rain just got heavier and the clouds darker, so once the full-time siren sounded, we graciously accepted a lift home with a friend. But even that couldn’t dampen my spirits! (No, I do not pardon the pun.) Particularly since Hubs loves wet, muddy football, so he was in quite a chipper mood as well. It was quite a spectacle in the end, and the Magpies ended up winning 117-55.
And last night just capped it off. We rugged up with some yummy beef stew and watched a bit of this (QI) and a bit of that (Hung). An absolutely bonza weekend (yes, I said bonza.) And I’m still on cloud 9 🙂 Not even Chance’s worst-night-sleep-in-weeks can bring this little chicken back down to earth! (Though I’m hoping and praying for a better night tonight!)

Bumper weekend

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You know those weekends that you have every now and then where you get to Sunday night and you just can’t imagine how the last 2 days and nights could have been any better? I’ve just come off one of those. It started on Friday night when, although we watched the worst movie of 2010, (and one of the worst I’d ever seen!!) I did some maintenance work on Hubs’ dreads. It was a nice relaxing evening with Chanbe asleep in bed, and us spending quality Hubs and Wifey time together.

Saturday came around and we decided to go for a walk in the morning to check out a couple of garage sales. We only ended up with a couple of things (a book for Hubs and a beanie for Chance – see next post) so we decided to head to our favourite place for coffee in Wang – Cafe Derailleur aka the bead shop. But more about that little gem of a place later. After enjoying yet another top-notch coffee we headed home. It was lunch time and our bellies needed filling.

Dinner Saturday night was to be at our new friends house. I know Kyra through mothers group (more about that later too!) and we really hit it off once we got to know each other. The more we chatted the more we realised how much not only we, but our hubbies had in common! (like they both have dreads! More about that later too too!!) Anyway, we’ve really missed being able to have people over for dinner so I put a zany idea to Kyra – could we cook a meal and bring it over to have at their place! And she was all for it. So I put the rabbit stew on around midday, and headed over to their place at 3 to prepare the gnocchi. Once that was done (and after a cuppa) I took Chanbe for a walk in the pram for over an hour, as I wanted him to have a good sleep before our night out.

We headed over for dinner and had the stew and gnocchi with home-made foccacia courtesy of Kyra. It was all utterly delish.

We then juggled our little boys (not literally – but what a show that would be!) and tried to get them to sleep with not much luck. They both wanted to stay up and party with the big kids (us). We had some home-made apple pie for dessert and topped it off with some choc-coated glazed oranges I had made. It was so nice to be amongst such wonderful company and to feel completely at home in someone else’s house. We walked home (they live just around the corner) and I was absolutely shocked to see that it was 11:30pm! We just had such a great night that the time flew by. It’s so lovely to be making new friends, but it’s also bitter sweet as we’ll be leaving Wang in just 6 short weeks. But hopefully there will be more dinner parties to come – at our new place!

Sunday’s fun will come soon…

Toothy pegs

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Check out these little chompers!

Not nice to get your fingers (or worse!) caught in there I can tell you!
Pretty cool though hey!?
So I don’t know how it happened, but my 500th post is coming up! After putting so much thought and effort into my 400th, I don’t know that I can live up to my expectations. But you know me – I’ll give it a try 🙂

Help accepted!

/ Renae / 1 Comment

I went and had a cuppa with my neighbour this arvo and told her I had some housework to do when I went home and she insisted I leave Chanbe with her so I could get it done without interruption.

I accepted and it was bliss. I got SO much done – the bedroom, kitchen and half the loungeroom in just over an hour. This would have taken me DAYS if Chance was around looking all cute and distracting me. It feels so good now, to be sitting back on a Saturday night with a mostly clean and tidy house.

Aaaaaaah.

Happy Mothers Day…

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… to meeeeee!

I “suggested” to Hubs that since it was my very first (official) Mothers Day, that if he wanted to make a bit of a big deal of it, that that would be fine by me. And boy did he come to the party. I had mentioned a couple of things that I would love (stove-top espresso pot, bundt cake tin, massage) but ultimately left it up to him to buy something for Chanbe to give to me. He purchased the gift on Friday afternoon, and forbid me to go into the spare room. I do love a good surprise!

Sunday morning rolled around (after a bad night with Chanbe Saturday – teething + blocked nose does not make for a happy baby) and Hubs took Chance at about 9am so I could have more of a sleep in. Obviously I count this as present number one. At 10:45am, in came my 2 favourite men, armed with a massive present and an amazing looking breakfast! Oh, and the most beautiful card.

I was so excited as I unwrapped the beautifully wrapped prezzie:

Oh. My. GOODNESS!!!!!!! My very own Kenwood Mixmaster!! I have been wanting one of these for so long, but we haven’t been able to afford it. But Hubs got a great deal and just couldn’t resist. Woooooo!!! (Can you see the card in the bottom right corner?)

And the breakfast! Poached eggs, tomato, mushrooms, bacon and toast. It was SO delicious! Of course I had to take my new toy for a test drive immediately, and Hubs had a hankering for fancy chocolate mousse. How could I say no?!

It was deliciously decadent and we had some for dessert last night:

All in all, an absolutely amazing day. We went for a walk in the afternoon and actually ran into one of the midwives who helped deliver Chanbe! We had a little chat to her and ended the day with some leftovers (I wasn’t cooking!) and a few (7) episodes of Nurse Jackie. Hubs sure has set the bar high for Fathers Day!

Thank you Hubs and Chanbe for making my first Mothers Day so special!

Garage sales

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I love a good garage sale, but I hate crappy ones. Hubs and I have been hitting a few over the last few months here in Wang, and after the last lot we went to, I have realised there are 2 types of garage sale:

Type One is where the owners want to make money, and Type Two is where the owners want to get rid of stuff. Things that you would find at Type One’s garage sale would be an x-box for $250, a couch for $100 and clothes for $5 each. Things that you would find at Type Two’s garage sale would be this awesome coat…

… for $2. Oh yes! It’s almost new and very cute. I have never had a garage sale of my own, but that will change very soon. We are going to have one before we leave for Mt Beauty, and I can assure you it’s going to be a “Type Two” garage sale. I may even bake cookies for the punters. I can’t wait!!!

Two from two

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So last night I mastered the art of cooking steak, and tonight, I conquered the fish. I cooked up some salmon steaks and some sort of white fish (blue grenadier?) and both were just lovely! Not that I like to brag 🙂

As we were pottering around today, we thought it might be nice to call my great aunt and uncle in Stratford to see if they were free this weekend for us to come and visit. And they are! We’re leaving tomorrow morning to check out a house at Mt Beauty that we might be able to rent from July when we move there, then it’s onto Bright for lunch then we head directly south to visit the rellies.

Really looking forward to it!