Just Popping In ...

... amid the gazillion trips to Brisbane to look for a new house (no easy task after living in this beautiful home!) to remind you to head over to KK's to check out the second instalment of Real Mummas on Mondays. It's fair to say that this week's question had us all fairly stumped so I can't wait to read the other Mumma's responses!

Much love to you all, hopefully I'll have some clearer headspace soon to get back to regular posting.

Vic xx

I'm In Love.

Utterly and absolutely in love with our new house and land! We have been here for just over a week and it is already feeling so much like home. It is so quiet and peaceful. At the moment I'm sitting on the verandah with a cuppa listening to the birds. Life doesn't get much better than this!

Elliot, who doesn't always take change well, has been having the time of his life. His favourite thing is showing visitors around and giving them the guided tour. He runs through the house "This is the bathroom ... this is Archie's room ...(and my favourite) this is a toilet for Mummy and Daddy when they're busting in the night time". Ah, three year olds! Elliot's room looks down the front towards the dam next door and out the back to the neighbouring horse paddock, so he can see the horses from his bed which he loves.

Archie, who has never been a good sleeper, has only been waking once or twice for a quick feed and then straight back to sleep.  His talking has also exploded in the past week or so and one of his favourite words at the moment is "duck" which he says (in that 17 month old way) over and over and over again at full volume on the verandah, calling our new duck that lives on the dam next door. His other favourite new word is "Pop" which he also repeated endlessly while following Pop around the house wanting cuddles.

Both boys are spending so much time outside, digging in the enormous sandpit, exploring in the jungle/forest/secret garden, running up the hill, rolling and tumbling back down again. I can only assume that they both love the house and are feeling very comfortable and happy here.

Matt and I have been unpacking and organising but thanks to the help of my wonderful parents we're pretty much done. They worked like Trojans and I'm sure were very much relieved to get home and away from boxes and heavy lifting! Now I'm just spending time enjoying the house and yard and fitting in organising around that. All the important stuff is done (ie the kitchen ;) ) everything else is just figuring out where to store things. I just got new curtains for all the bedrooms on Monday when a homewares shop had 20% off everything so I'm spending the next few days hanging curtains and installing a couple of rods that were missing.

The planning work in the garden has begun. We now have 2.5 acres! Yay for space! Yay for room for the boys to run and yell and yahoo and not wake the neighbours up at 6am! Yay for room to grow more of our own food! Yay for Matt mowing the 2.5 acres of grass that is here at the moment! Ha! Actually the ride on is a lot of fun to drive, the boys are loving going for rides too! There are three very young fruit trees already here a mango, an avocado and a citrus of unknown variety. We've got ideas for an orchard, veg garden, chook house and compost placement but just need the time, money and hard work to get it all done! But now we're here, we're not planning on going anywhere soon so we've got time. Well, Matt has until my birthday in October to get me chickens, but apart from that deadline, we've got all the time in the world!

A friend came around last week to check out the new place and as we were sitting in the sandpit with the kids she said "I bet you feel like you can just exhale". And it is so true. I can feel that all of us have 'exhaled'. We're home.

I've Fallen Off The Wagon!

Big Time!!!

With the move looming (settlement is this Friday, movers are coming the following Monday) our usual routine has completely gone out the window.

Instead of cooking from scratch, baking, menu-planning and thoughtful shopping we've been buying more ready made food (pasta, bread, etc), eating up what's in the freezer and open in the pantry. Our 20kg bag of wholemeal flour has just run out, but I'm not going to order another until we get into the new house. I've not made bread for about a week and Matt has had to do several trips to the bakery to get more.

The boys and I haven't been doing many fun activities lately. We've all had a bit of a flu and have just been trying to survive the day and get things packed! Craft activities seem like a thing of the past! Poor El keeps asking and I keep saying "When we get to the new house!"

After a few days of rain the washing basket was "turning into a mountain" according to Elliot. I kept putting it off thinking that the sun would come out tomorrow but by this stage we had no clean clothes so I thought I'd better get some washing on. Our clothes airer can hold one load of washing so not very convenient, and while I was hanging said washing, Archie pulled on the airer and broke it! So I had to resort to the drier! Luckily the sun came out the next day and I did 3 loads one day and 2 loads the next. We're finally up to date in that the washing is clean, but our three-seater lounge is now the 'folding up zone' and the boys have been given fair warning that if they touch that lounge there'll be trouble!!!

We've been using more disposable nappies due to the above washing situation and that I don't want to be doing any more washing than I absolutely have to. Sigh, a poor excuse I know, but I just can't do it at the moment.

It's our bin day today and the entire bin was full! Moving is a great excuse for a clean out, but it also fills the bin! We've got a bootload of stuff to donate to charity, plus another pile of things that I'm going to sell to get a bit of extra cash.

I completely forgot about my monthly bookclub meeting last week! I hadn't read the book, so even if I had remembered I wouldn't have added much to the conversation, but it wasn't until I saw the organising librarian a few days later that I remembered! Oops!

So that is where we are at this week. Trying to keep our heads above water while balancing a lingering flu, Matt working a ridiculous amount, packing, keeping the boys sane (and me too I suppose!).

Luckily Matt is bringing Mum back up with him after his day trip to Brisbane tomorrow so I'll have company as I slowly go insane ... HA! Seriously though, I just can't wait to get into the new house, get back into the kitchen, get started in the garden and get back on track!

I'll post again once we're in!

Vic xx

A Day of Journeys Ending Part 1

Today has been a big day, with two big events taking place. For the ease of reading and me typing it all out, I'll post about one today and the other tomorrow!

This afternoon at 2:30, our house in Brisbane settled. We are no longer the owners of a sweet little post war home in a beautiful, quiet street in the leafy suburbs. We will in a month or so be the owners of a new, big home on 2.5 acres in the quiet, leafy country.

I am so relieved that the settlement went off without a problem. I am disappointed that I am so relieved, as I am also full of sadness and happiness and anticipation too.

I am sad because this is our sweet little first home. I am sad because this is the home we brought our two babies home to. It is the home of Elliot's first smile, words, steps, Chirstmas and his big first birthday party. It is the home of Archie's first smile and his newborn loveliness.

I am happy because we have made wonderful memories within those walls, memories that I will forever cherish. I am happy because through living in that house I have made some wonderful friendships.

I am full of anticipation at the next step, our new home. We have lots of plans for the garden and yard of the new house, chickens, an orchard, a bigger and hopefully more productive veg garden. Space for the boys to run and play and make noise without disturbing neighbours at 5:30 in the morning while I hang out the washing!

It has been a day of mixed emotions. Matt brought home some champagne to celebrate, and it was lovely however tinged with sadness.

A Simple Reminder

In a Wordless Wednesday post a couple of weeks ago I posted a picture of the house that will hopefully be ours in a month or so once it settles. Conditions of the settlement are the usual building and pest and finance and also an extra condition of the settlement of our property in Brisbane. Everything had been going swimmingly until a chance conversation with a lovely friend and old neighbour yesterday put everything in a spin.

As a result I spent all yesterday afternoon on the phone with the real estate agent and property manager, and most of the day today on the phone, again with the property manager, but also the agency principal, our solicitors, the Department of Fair Trading and the REIQ, the professional body for real estate agents here in Queensland. In between all these emotional, difficult and tiring phone calls was one lovely phone call to a dear friend who listened to my moaning and groaning with not a word of complaint! Thanks Helen! Thanks also to my wonderful Mum who listened and dealt with my tears in the way only a Mother can!

Today I was also spoilt by both the boys, each in their own special way.

Archie again had a night of optional sleep, so Matt and I were both up until after 1, then I was up again at 2ish, 5 and actually had a sleep in until 7! As a result he was soooo tired today he slept from 12 to 2:30 with a quick feed back to sleep in the middle. What a treat!

Elliot is a boy who likes to be with people he loves all the time so phone calls can be hard. I've gotten very good at being able to carry on two conversations at once, although I'm sure the person I'm on the phone with doesn't always appreciate it! He must have sensed today that the phone calls were different. Between calls I'd play a quick game of snap, or do a quick puzzle with him but for the most part he was on his own. During one phone call I looked over to see what he was up to and saw this:

He had lined up and ordered his Thomas the Tank Engine number cards in the correct order all by himself! We did it together for the first time yesterday, and I knew he'd enjoy it because it combines his loves of numbers and lining things up!

In this one simple act I saw his pride in completing this activity of his own choosing, I was so thankful for his patience during my phone calls and I was immediately reminded that in this crazy world it is the little things that matter, being at home with the people I love.

Under Contract!!!

Subject to building, pest and finance ;)

Our Week in Short

We have just waved off Nan and Pop after a wonderful week with Nan and a wonderful long weekend with Pop. As always it was so sad to see them go but we will be down to visit them in a couple of weeks. And we have Skype in the meantime!

We had a lovely week. So here it is in short! The highlights and surprisingly, no lowlights! A whole week of no lowlights! Archie has even been sleeping really well! Not sleeping through mind you, but good for him!

* a great trip to the Fire Station with Playgroup. We went last year and Elliot was still talking about it a year later so I knew he'd enjoy it! Archie was big enough to get into it too this year, he does love a good hat!

All the children had a turn of the fire hose and getting dressed up in miniature Fire Fighter's hat and jacket.

* lots of time at home playing with Nanna! The books and puzzles and toys and games got a real workout!

* a trip to the local animal park when Matt took a day off work! The boys had a great time patting joeys and admiring all the native and introduced animals. Elliot's favourite was the camel called Boris! Archie loved the emus!

El especially loved the guinea pigs and sat so patiently and quietly waiting for them to make an appearance. They were very timid though so the man lifted the lid on their house so El could see them! How lovely!

* lots of yummy cooking! The highlight was a special Roast Chicken dinner with Apple Crumble and homemade ice cream for dessert. Sooooooo yummy!

* a special 'second birthday cake' for Nanna, a double decker chocolate cake with ganache (homemade of course!)

* we think we've found 'the house' and will be going for an inspection early this week. It is vacant so we had a good wander around the grounds and peeked in windows and it looks amazing!

I'm looking forward to getting back into our routine this week although it will be a lot more quiet and lonely now Mum has gone home.

A Wonderful Weekend with Family and Friends

We're back now from a wonderful long weekend away. We visited my parents for Mum's Birthday. One of the things we've really missed since we moved has been regular visits with my parents and brother. When we lived in Brisbane we saw them a couple of times a week, now it's a couple of times a month. Luckily in this age of technology we have so many ways of keeping in touch (Elliot's favourite is Skype) but none are the same as a good old fashioned face to face chat and hug.

We also spent a lovely morning with our old neighbours. We all have children similar ages and it's just like spending time with family! These wonderful women (and husbands and children) have been a wonderful support over the past few years, their daily friendship and chats is something I miss immensely. We all lived within a few houses and supported each other through the best and worst of times. It was so lovely to spend a few hours with them, sitting around the kitchen eating and drinking and listening to the children playing. Just like old times!

We are also blessed this week because my Mum came up home with us to spend the week! We didn't tell Elliot before hand and when I climbed in between the car seats in the back he was very excited to have me sitting next to him. He was even more excited to see Nanna get in the front! It was a wonderful moment when he woke up to see Nanna sitting next to him (we swapped places with about an hour to go, Archie was being a bit painful and just wanted me. He loved having Nanna sit next to him too!) Elliot looked around with his sleepy face, saw Nanna and just beamed. They have such a lovely bond, it's so special!

So this week there will be less posts. We are going to enjoy spending time with Nanna, showing her around the place a bit more and taking her on all our usual outings. We're also going to spend a lot more time house-hunting. We've found one we absolutely love so will take Mum out to see that for a second opinion.

Wishing you all a week full of love and blessings.

Vic xx

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions!

Let me preface this post by letting everyone know that I'm a Libran. I'm not super into star signs, but there is one trait that is associated with Librans that just is me ... indecisiveness. I can't even go out for a meal (or even coffee, eek!) without spending an absolute age reading and rereading the menu. Just when I think I've decided something else will catch my eye and then the whole process must be gone through again. Poor Matt has been good enough to even swap with me once our meals arrive if I have a last minute change of heart (or stomach!).

So I can't even begin to explain the difficulty of the decision that is ahead of us. The enormity is weighing on me, I'm spending every spare moment trawling the internet, googling (well, Google maps), going over and over the pros and cons of each option.

We're house hunting and it's driving me crazy!

In town or out of town? (this one was actually not too difficult)
A small house we absolutely love or a bigger house we like?
How far out of town do we go? Will people still visit us if it's a 20 minute drive?
Is more than a couple of acres too much to maintain?
Will one or two acres give us the space to do everything we want?

So far we've only inspected a couple of houses. One we were certain we'd make an offer on, and now some others have come up and we're not sure.

If Archie were letting me sleep, I'd sleep on it. Instead I just think about it all night, feeding him and trying to get him to sleep. At least its not keeping me awake!!!