weekend in melbourne

Dear Olive,
Clancy and I whipped off to Melbourne on the weekend and it was such fun. I had a friends party to go to, but I also caught up with many of my local friends, and we made it to the David Bowie exhibition at ACMI, too - which was so great, although being a Saturday it was extremely packed, and of course I made the mistake of thinking Clancy would sleep through it in the sling (who was I kidding). Which made it a *little* difficult for me to actually take much in - and I was asked more than once to get him down off the exhibits. (Rather embarrassingly, he even bit off a foam wall that was part of one of the exhibits! Thank goodness it was dark.) We stayed at a friends place; they have lots of space and also two cats and three chickens so Clancy was in heaven. When we arrived he stood outside the chicken pen and yelled DUCK. He loved catching all the planes, trains and trams that we rode on all weekend, and apart from the aforementioned indiscretion at the Bowie exhibition, plus some serious chopstick throwing at a dumpling house, he was an absolutely terrific little travel companion.  
What's more, back in Sydney, you and Shane had a really special, fun filled weekend too, so we were winning all round.

PS That last photo is one friends painting hanging in another friends - isn't it beautiful? She whipped up a quick portrait of our friends cat for their birthday card, too!

a week at dads

Dear Olive,
We went up to my Dads for the first week of your school holidays - you, Clancy and I. It was such a lovely week, hanging with my family and making the most of the warm weather and all the space at Dads. Clancy was really hard work (wouldn't let me out of his sight to go to the toilet kind of hard work) and by the end I was utterly exhausted. Thankfully he returned to his normal slightly more independent self when we returned home (and I suspect a lethal combination of the old teething/developmental age/being away from home was to blame).
On a coastal walk we did one day, we saw what could have been twenty whales breaching and slapping fins and seemingly just enjoying being alive. It was a privilege to behold.

in the mountains

Dear Olive,
Shane had a week off in between jobs last week. So in between a day of work for me and a show at the Opera House*, we squeezed in a few days away at the blue mountains. It was unbelievably refreshing to change our everyday routine, even just for a few days**. (And so important to do, I think.) We rented a house which sat right on the escarpment in Leura, and we did a little bush exploring and sight seeing, but mostly we just hung out and soaked up the incredible view. The sense of space - both inside the house, which was enormous, and outside, with the view extending to endless mountains - was so calming. (Actually, it gave me an insight into what life could be like if we lived in a big place with lots of space - at the moment, we get out of the house to take Clancy to the park in the morning, race him home for a sleep, and then bust out to give him another run after he wakes up in the afternoon. It's designed to wear him out, and frankly it's exhausting for us all!)

Last night you recounted to my friend (having heard it from your friends brother, no less) the dreamtime story of the three sisters; I'd never heard it before and the way you told it was so poignant. What a shame if it was made up - read about it here.

* TV on the Radio, in the concert hall of the opera house; truly, truly amazing.
** Although sadly, it feels as though we've stepped right back in to the same old shit once we got home.

december

Dear Olive,
There's so very much to catch up on. And seeing as I can barely remember what I did last weekend, let alone last year, I'll let these photos do the talking.

CC learnt to crawl. (Although that would have been back in November? He was only six months old. This past week he's been taking a few steps!) 

Apropos the crawling, his knees got a lot dirtier.

You "graduated" preschool. It was pretty emotional - for both of us. (CC learnt to clap just in time, each time about two minutes after everyone else had stopped.)

We put a Christmas tree up - our first ever. It was so exciting for you - you were at bursting point for days. The day after we put it up, you and Shane and I were in the bedroom and heard the sound of hundreds of baubles bouncing and smashing, and the sound of crying ... we ran out to find CC stuck in a tangled mess of branches, ornaments and christmas lights. He'd pulled the entire tree down on top of himself. It was a Christmas disaster scene! He was fine, although he got such a fright he learnt his lesson and didn't do it again. Plus, Shane got to dress the tree again and it looked better the second time round, so really the whole thing worked out for everyone.

We travelled up to my Dads for Christmas with my family. It was the first Christmas that you've been really and truly into it - you could barely get to sleep on christmas eve and then you were up before the crack of dawn on christmas morning to see if Santa had been. He had!

Papa, and all his Grandkids.

Our first Christmas as a family of four. The kids just love it when we get our photo taken and Mum and Dad kiss.

I would love to be able to include photos from a super fun getaway with a bunch of mates over New Years, but both Shane and I got sick and we had to stay on at my Dads for an extra week. It was the most miserable way to welcome in a new year; with matching fevers. (And I most sincerely hope it is not at all indicative of our year to come.)

And that's about it, I think .... hopefully that brings us back to regular programming from now on, folks!