Ten On Ten

Today I thought I’d join in for the first time with Rebekah’s ’10 On 10’ linky, a project where bloggers take ten photos for ten consecutive hours on the tenth of the month with the purpose of ‘finding the beauty in an ordinary day’.

Here’s a snapshot of how things have looked in our house…

#1  A mug of green tea on a cold winter's morning...

#2  Poor Asha having to eat her biscuits off the back door mat after Grace spilt them when feeding her...

#3  Sophie creating her first mess of the day...

#4  Grace playing 'shops'...

#5  A tear out from an interiors catalogue that arrived in the mail - am hoping to check out these vases and vessels on our travels this morning...

#6  Hanging out a load of washing in the sunshine to dry - Grace finally agreed to me washing her beloved 'Baa Baa'...

#7 One of the gifts Grace chose for my Mum's birthday today - she was adamant we had to give her a plant, so we made a quick visit to Bunnings...

#8 A lucky find in the carpark, guarded safely by Grace until she got home and put it in her money box...

#9  My keys hanging inside (alongside the spare set!!) - we locked ourselves outside on our way to run another errand.  Would you believe, I'd only just used our spare set (which is normally hidden outside) a few days ago and had yet to re-hide them... fortunately my mobile was in my pocket and my mother-in-law came to the rescue with her spare keys...

#10  Sophie playing with the pegs while I took the washing off the line...


Wishing you all a nice relaxing weekend ahead.  We're off to morning tea tomorrow for my Mum's birthday, are having one of my best friends over tomorrow afternoon for a long overdue catch up and then have a quiet Sunday planned.  How about you?  What have you been up to today and what do you have planned for the weekend?

Our Baby Girl At Nine Months

With us well and truly into August now, the prospect of being three quarters through this year is starting to scare me a tad.  Why are the weeks whizzing past so fast?  In only a few months our baby girl will be one! A fortnight ago, Sophie hit nine months and it is such a cute age.  She is growing and changing and learning so many new things every single day.  However, while these milestones are unbelievably exciting, it’s the unique little ‘Sophie-isms’ that make my heart literally burst with love.  Here’s just a few I want to remember…

·         The way she strikes the same ‘pose’ with one leg crossed over the other, balancing on her toes every single time she rests or pauses for a second.

·         At night, once I’ve zipped her up in her sleeping bag, she waves to the photo of herself and then nestles her head into my neck for one last cuddle as I turn off her lamp and sing her a goodnight song.

·         She has the chubbiest little toes and feet and loves to be bare foot, taking great delight in pulling her socks off at any opportunity, especially in the car or in the pram.

·         Her hand grips sweetly onto the neck of my top or front of my bra as she’s feeding, like she’s pulling herself in closer for more of a snuggle… I’m cherishing these last few months of breastfeeding.

·         When I ask for a kiss, she opens her mouth wide like a little fish and leans in – so cute!

I can’t wait to see what the next few months brings for our feisty, cheeky, happy little bub…

Discussing Death With A Three Year Old

Up until recently, we hadn’t had to discuss ‘death’ with Grace.  There was only one occasion earlier in the year when she found a baby dove which had fallen out of its nest.  Its lifeless, barely feathered body was lying underneath the jasmine bush just by our back door and she was rather puzzled by what had happened. While I told her he had ‘died’ and we lovingly buried him in the garden under the lily-pilly, I don’t think she really understood that poor little bird’s fate.

Then a few weeks back, the topic of death came up as we were watching the movie Finding Nemo.  Up until now, Grace didn’t seem to realise that the two fish at the beginning of the movie were Nemo’s dad and mum.  She thought they were the dad and Nemo himself.  That week, she clicked on. 

“I think that’s the mummy and daddy Nemo,” she told me. 

As the scene where the nasty swordfish swoops in finished, a scene where the viewer can assume the mother fish and the fish eggs have been eaten, Grace asked, “Where has the mummy one gone?” 

I tried to avoid having to explain things further with an “I’m not sure” but Grace wasn’t convinced.  “But I saw the mummy one just then,” she said, “she was there, where is she now?  Nemo needs his daddy AND his mummy.” 

We talked about the possibility that the mother fish had been eaten.  I told her not everyone was lucky enough to have a mummy and a daddy to which she burst into tears exclaiming, “But I need a daddy AND a mummy… Mummy, are you going to die?”

I assured her there weren’t any swordfish in our house and I was staying put. 

Then a few weekends back, we stopped by the cemetery to put some flowers on Dad’s grave.  “This is a boring shop,” said Grace. 

“It’s not a shop,” I said, “it’s a cemetery, we’re putting flowers on Pop’s grave.” 

“Why?” came the response. 

I explained Pop had died because he had been very sick and had a bad heart.     

“Will you die Mummy?” she asked, clearly concerned again. 

I explained that Mummy was young and healthy and that she didn’t have to worry about me going anywhere. 

“But you were sick before,” she said, “You were coughing.’

We have conversations like this a lot lately.  It's hard to know how to answer at times or if I'm giving the right type of response.  Grace is at an age where she is so inquisitive and curious about the world and its workings.  Ours days are filled with endless ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ which are exhausting at times, but I love helping her learn and understand and wouldn’t have things any other way...

Photography by Chelsea Fuss of Frolic

Desperately Belated Award Thanks

With my blogging time more limited these days, I've been a tad slack at passing on any blog awards I'd been tagged for recently, blog awards which were appreciated so very much and which I would love to continue on in order to share around a bit of blog love...

Going back a little bit now, I was kindly tagged for a Liebster Award by two lovely ladies, Claire of Scissors Paper Rock and Catherine of A Time To Create.  Thank you so much ladies!!  This award is all about the number 11... I have to list 11 random facts about myself, answer 11 questions and pose a series of 11 questions to the next bloggers I tag.

However, before I get writing about myself, I also want to thank Claire of oscarlucinda who passed on a Sunshine Award to me a few months back and Sue of Sweetpea Family who tagged me for a One Lovely Blog Award.  Rather than boring you all with too many insignificant facts about myself, I'll use the Liebster Blog Award to continue sharing the blog love.  Here goes...

1. I am attracted to anything blue - duck egg blue or navy blue in particular.
2. I have only ever lived in two houses - my childhood home and my current one.
3. I have a mug of Milo each night after tea.
4. I'd love to have chickens in our backyard - sadly Paul and our council laws don't agree.
5. My favourite thing about Christmas is wrapping presents.
6. Growing up, I wanted to become an architect, a graphic designer or a journalist.  I became a teacher.
7. At 18 months of age, I was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis - I outgrew it in my early teens.
8. I still have an 'old school' mobile... time for a long overdue upgrade soon...
9. The only time I brush my hair is right before I wash it as brushing curls = frizz
10. I have a freckle on my nose.
11. I have never tasted oysters or mussels.

Here are my responses to the questions Claire asked me...

1. One word that best describes you? This is a hard question... I'd like to think 'thoughtful'
2. Sweet or savoury?  Sweet (there is a raspberry muffin on my plate next to me as I type!)
3. Why do you blog?  To connect and share with like minded people, to record memories for my family and to fulfill my love of writing
4. What are you reading at the moment?  'French Children Don't Throw Food' and 'Simplicity Parenting'
5. Favourite film of all time?  There's a few... Little Women, Anne of Green Gables and The Notebook.
6. If you were a colour, which would you be and why? I Googled 'personality colours' for this question... I would have to say white because of my strong desire for simplicity 
7. Reality TV, love or loathe?  In general, love it
8. Describe a perfect day...  Cups of tea, fun with my girls, a clean house, time for blogging and crafting, pottering around the house, a family outing in the sunshine, not having to cook tea and an uninterrupted night's sleep 
9. Somewhere in the world you're dying to go to?  The UK
10. Biggest fear?  Ill health

I'd like to pass on the Liebster Award to the bloggers listed below...no pressure, only if you feel like joining in and haven't yet done so...

• Jenn of From Me To Mum
• Shelley of Four Point Four
• Nicole of Milk & Manna 

And the questions I'd love for them to answer are:

1. Favourite flower?
2. What colour is your handbag?
3. How long have you been blogging for?
4. Poached, fried or scrambled eggs?
5. Winter or summer?
6. Do you have a regular holiday destination?  If so, where?
7. Favourite day of the week?
8. Which famous person would you love to invite to dinner?
9. Do you have any siblings?
10. Daily must have?
11. Favourite perfume?

Thanks again to the lovely ladies who thought of me for these blog awards!

Bookworm Club: Bugs And Insects

With the feeling that this year is disappearing before my eyes, I found myself lying awake in bed the other night suddenly realising that I only have Grace home with me full time for another six months before she starts kindergarten in February.  I began to worry if our days were fun enough for her, if I spent enough time playing with her each day and if we were doing enough enjoyable activities.  Deep down I know that she loves our time together at home.  I just don't want to get to next year and look back on this time wishing I'd 'done more'.  I find I'm constantly reminding myself of the poem 'Excuse This House' lately whilst I'm doing my best to balance work and play.   

One of the the things we have been spending time on together is Claire’s fun Bookworm Club over at one of my favourite blogs, Scissors Paper Rock.  Trips to the library, curling up together reading books and using what we'd read as a starting point for some art activities are all things I want to continue with Grace over our next few months together.

This theme seemed to re-ignite Grace’s love of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' and consequently, EVERY night this week, it’s been her book of choice for a bed time story.  When we reached the page about the caterpillar building a cocoon and transforming into a butterfly, Grace kept asking, ‘but HOW does he build it?’ so together, we used this as a learning opportunity and searched for a clip on You Tube to help understand this better.  As a related art activity, we looked at the symmetry of butterflies and with some help to find the segments which matched on each side of its body, Grace coloured in the outline you can see above and had fun shaking glitter over a few parts.

By far, Grace's favourite bug related book was a great sticker book we found in the toy aisle at our local supermarket which provided lots of simple explanations and information about a whole range of creepy crawlies.  It has been a wonderful activity for rainy days. 

Now we’re looking forward to the theme for the August Bookworm Club which is Under The Sea… lots of scope for fun books and activities with this topic... can't wait!