First Day Back at Work

Yesterday was my first day back at (paid) work. Its been nearly eleven months since I started on maternity leave and I can hardly believe how quickly time has flown. It was nice to see my work mates again and great to work with my new colleague Emily. I'm going to be at Nexus two days a week and Emily (who's been covering my position while I've been on leave) will be doing the other three. Not only is Emily a fantastic dietitian, she also has a surname that begins with a vowel. OK, so there isn't a grave in her name but there is an apostrophe, so overall I think the O'Connor/àBeckett combination will work well.

There have been a lot of changes at Nexus and it felt really quiet. I guess the quiet was good cos I needed some slow time to get my head back into work mode. There were some bright sparks, Liz and Katy amongst them. Always fun to hang out with them!!

Overall the toughest part of the day was leaving Ben at day care. He was upset and it really pulls on the old heart strings when he's crying. I'm sure he'll get used to it and the carers are lovely. They also assure me that he's happy 90% of the time. I'm just glad it's only two days a week. I'm feeling good about the split days (Mons and Thurs) because it gives Ben a break. Although I didn't realise when I said that I wanted those days that they are weigh days! For those blog readers who are in the business you know how weigh days can be.

Catherine's Birthday

It was my friend Catherine's birthday on Tuesday, and on Wed night a group of us went out for dinner to celebrate. Catherine of course was there, as was Amanda, and they're both pictured in the shot above. Ronnie and Renee were there too but I really liked the shot above, so they didn't make the blog. This shot was a bit of an accident because I had the camera on colour accent mode and the girls didn't know I was taking it. Anyway, I really liked it and i think it sums up the vibe of the night. We had a great time dining at Lans (I highly recommend the Red Cooked Beef), followed be dessert and coffee at Goldbergs. It was fun to catch up with the girls and help Catherine usher in what I'm sure will be another fantastic year. I think it's also worth mentioning that there were five of us there and none of us accessorised with our husbands. However, we did have nine handbags between us.

Our Back Yard

Apparently the Great Aussie Dream is to own your home. Well that dream is a long way from realisation for us. But the nice people at the Commonwealth Bank have got this amazing deal where they charge only $2000/month and after 30 years all your Aussie Dreams come true. Of course we signed up and now have only 28 years to go! When we first got on board our dream included a beautifully landscaped backyard with shade and lots of grass for dogs and the inevitable offspring to play on. But it seems that a blank canvas doesn't autonomously sprout lovely shade trees, pretty flowers and manicured hedges. So over the last few weeks we've been putting in some work in the back yard (actually it's been mostly Matt and a couple of paid fencing contractors). We now have a new fence on the western side and the dog yard has been moved to a more discreet corner at the back.

The old fence comes down. The boys found four baby brown snakes during this process!!

Matt starts to dismantle the old dog yard and move the garden shed up the back. Not sure why his orange undies needed to be hanging from the tap.

We also have a very impressive garden bed on the eastern side. Today Ben and I planted some Murrayas in the garden bed with the hope that we will have a big leafy border within a couple of years. Two more garden beds are close to completion- thanks mostly to Matt's handy work with some old metal that was left in our backyard by the previous neighbour. Ben has really enjoyed helping Matt with the garden.

Mojo, Bella and Ben check out the new garden bed and Ben finds some kind of tasty treasure.

Bella displays her impressive volumes of patience and tolerance.

The dogs have had fun too - helping us dig was their favourite bit. I gotta say that the dogs behaved like a pair of prise winners around Ben. Ben has been climbing all over them, putting his hands in their mouths and pulling their fur. They don't even blink an eye. This from two pooches that are VERY boisterous most of the time. Maybe they're growing up, or maybe they just have some kind of sixth sense about babies!

Matt surveys his handy work while three workers wait at the door for their dinner.

Clap Hands!

This is Ben's latest trick!! Makes us all laugh. Another trick that he's learnt to do with his hands is to give a very dramatic flourish after having a drink from his cup or taking a mouthful of food. He kept us entertained for ages during dinner last night!! He's developing a real personality. For those of you that can play videos I've uploaded some moving footage below. My first success (after many attempts) at uploading a video to the blog.

What's Happening in 2008

Lots happening already in 2008!!! I find myself never having enough time to document! Here's a snap shot of some of our adventures since the New Year arrived. Ben and I have become 'Beach Combers'. I'm officially one of those eccentrics who gets a thrill out of finding 'Sea Glass'. Ben is pictured above with some of our treasures.

I've also had a couple of reunions with old friends. Just after the New Year, my friend Michelle Vaughan and her tribe came to visit. Michelle and i worked together in Orange and I haven't seen her in nearly four years. She came with her husband and her all singing all dancing package of three children. The Vaughans are pictured above. And yes there are three boys in that Stroller. Max (2)is asleep and lying down. Hugh (4) is in the toddler seat at the front. Oscar (6) is standing at the back on the "hitchhiker" attachment. The big boy pushing the stroller is Richard.

My other reunion was last weekend at King Edward Park, with my uni mates. Dietitians came from far and wide with their families and food. It was particularly nice to have two other core group members at the reunion. With Manda coming from Sydney and Susan all the way from Melbourne. We were very lucky to have Manda stay at our place (where I tried to convince her to ride my bike through torrential rain) and we've also been lucky to have Susan in town for the rest of the week.

Giving Ben lots of opportunities to catch up with her little fella Will.

We also had a lovely lunch with Nanna Judy at a really nice cafe at Lorn.

Ben had ice cream, which he eventually liked. But I think he was a bit unsure about the temperature. Obviously no damage done to teeth or taste buds. He's still able to have a munch on his cot.

A Touch of Bollywood

Kel and I had dinner with the charismatic and charming Penny Maxwell last night. Since having the boys we've been meaning to catch up with Penny, but haven't managed to connect until last night. We had dinner at the Surtag, where the food was sensational (as always). So sensational was the food, that we were inspired to break into song and dance. The paparazzi went wild. These snaps were just a few of the choice moments captured.

Sleeping In

For about a month now Ben has been doing the most warm and fuzzy thing. He goes to sleep at aboout 8:00pm and generally wakes up at about 5:00am. We've been bringing him into our bed at that time and giving him a bottle. Nine times out of ten he falls straight to sleep after that early morning bottle and stays snuggled up with us until about 7:00am. It's lovely.

Benjamin's First Day at School

On Monday Ben had his first day at Blinky Babies. It felt weird leaving him with complete strangers (as lovely as they were). He was the youngest person there and when we arrived he took about 2 mins to take in his surroundings and size up the bigger kids. But he soon seemed really happy and there were no tears from either of us. As I was leaving he just gave me a bit of a look and then went back to playing with the soft blocks (I took the photo below as I was walking out the door). Ben even managed to have a sleep while he was there. I thought this was a big achievement, given that he was in a totally new environment with lots going on and no mummy around. I left him there for 3 1/2 hours and when I came back he was being removed from on top of another baby. Obviously the fact that he was the youngest didn't stop him from pinning his peers down. Before I went in I watched him for a little while. It was strange to see someone I didn't know removing him from on top of another child and generally doing the Mummy things. When I did go in Ben was really excited to see me and he still had bits of lunch on him, so I cleaned him up and we went home. He has his second day tomorrow. I hope he handles it as well as he did on Monday.

A Few Milestones

Ben has given up the 'Commando Crawl'. We never see it any more. He is now a completely orthodox crawler.

And the crawl is getting faster. I thought he was going to disappear into the ocean on the weekend.

Ben's also pulling himself up onto anything he can get a grip on.

He even managed to climb onto a mattress (which has now been moved). He's pictured above combining the 'climb-on-something' skill with his other favourite love; the 'open-and-shut-door' manoeuvre. Nothing's safe. He's constantly standing up. Especially when he's supposed to be safely sitting in his high chair.

He's also learnt that there are interesting things inside cupboards. He hasn't learnt how to reverse out of cupboards though, so I've had to retrieve him several times.

Ben's also been quite keen to hold his bottle and feed himself. This generally only happens in the mornings. He seems to lose his independant streak as the day wears on.

And the big fella now has four teeth. He got his two front teeth for Christmas and has

been putting them to good use.

He now much prefers finger foods but hasn't quite worked out how to feed himself. So Matt and I contiune to pop the food in for him. It's like feeding a baby bird! Having four teeth is fine, but I really think that he was biting off more than he could chew when he took on this watermelon.

Ben was also the happy recipient of his first set of wheels when Nanna Jude gave him the Dino Explorer for Christmas. Ben is pictured here taking his new best friend Fritz for a spin in the back yard.

And of course, you can't be 9 months old without having a snotty nose. Yes he's had a cold before, but nothing quite so mucus producing as his most recent one. It didn't stop him from smiling. We still get lots of those.

Happy New Year!!

OK so we didn't actually stay up to see in the New Year but we did join a party or two before midnight. Beth and Paul had a bit of a shin-dig in the afternoon. But they somehow neglected to mention that it was an 80s themed party. So we're pictured above in non themed attire. It was all very confusing for Ben who seemed to think that it was a James Bond themed party. To help decrease Ben's confusion and increase the 80s vibe, Kel and I agreed to a make over by Beth. The results are below.

This was all good fun, but given that we were trying to celebrate the arrival of 2008, not 1988, Matt, Ben and I headed back to Stockton to check out the 9:00pm fireworks with Jane, Trent and the boys. The fireworks were great and Ben was mesmerised. Totally worth the 1800m drive from the foreshore to our house (which took 25 mins!!). The traffic was nuts in Stockton, we really must walk next year!! My New Year's Resolutions:

1) Ride my bike to work 1/week
2) Have dinner ready by 6:30pm 3 nights/week.
3) Floss my teeth more often.
4) Walk to the foreshore to see the New Year's Eve fireworks.
5) Be pregnant by August.










Matt's still working on his New Year's Resolutions, but has agreed to support me with mine.

Christmas Country Style

Christmas 2007 has been HUGE!!! A fitting end to an enormous year. To all our family and friends we'd like to say thank you for sharing our most amazing year ever. Christmas, for us, has been injected with all new excitement now that we have our Snow Man on board. No wonder people keep having babies!!!

I've already posted several entries on the blog about the celebrations we've had prior to the 25th Dec. This post covers our six days out west.... and it's a long one. With lots of photos! I suspect that most people reading this will find it terribly boring, so feel free to skip it - this post is only for the most dedicated followers (I know you're still with us Nanna Jude).

I was going to call this post "Christmas at Columbine", but that title wouldn't have been entirely accurate, given that we visited three other properties (Wongala, Cooinoo & Glendower). It was an absolute whirlwind and a lot of fun.

DAY 1

We set out on the 22nd with a car that was absolutely chock-a-block. Luckily for the dogs it wasn't Christmas Eve, so Santa's sleigh was available. Unfortunately the reindeer were resting up, it wasn't hot enough for the six white boomers, and two black labs don't have quite enough dog power to pull the sleigh. So we attached the sleigh to the Vectra, Mojo and Bella jumped on board, and off we went.

The drive to Columbine is a long one and this trip took seven hours! Our perseverance was rewarded when we turned off the highway onto Gowan Green Road. Gown Green Road is the 8km dirt road that leads into Columbine and it's my favourite stretch of the journey. We always see Eastern Rosellas as we approach Columbine and this year there were heaps of them. The property looks stunning once again due to recent heavy rain. We must be good luck charms because the last three times we've been to Columbine it's rained just before we arrive.

When we arrived we were greeted by some sort of wild beast that Bop had captured on the back of his ute.

We let our two beasts loose and they promptly joined forces with their Mum. Will thought it was great fun playing with the dogs. Here he is teaching them how to stay, while he runs at full pelt right past their noses.

DAY 2

On Sunday there was a bit of time in the morning for fun and activities around the house. Nick tried out the new swing that Bop had tied to a tree in the garden.

And later on he joined forces with Matt, Ben and Bop to fix a few holes in the tennis court.

The main event on Day 2 was a trip to Wongala. Wongala is home to Bill and Di aBeckett (Matt's Uncle and Aunt). It was Di's 80th birthday bash and a great chance to catch up with the extended aBeckett family.

The birthday girl is pictured above with one of her grand daughters, Greta. Greta made the icing for Di's cake. Of course there was loads of fabulous food as well as a feast of musical talent, with many of Di's family putting on a concert (the audience is pictured below). We were treated to guitar, violin, trumpet, keyboard, banjo, penny whistle and vocals. It was great fun.

Above: Matt and Mum give Ben his dinner on the front veranda at Wongala.

Right: Mum and Ben in the garden at Wongala.

Below: Ben has fun with his Auntie Sal on the veranda at Wongala.

Day 3

Day 3 was Christmas Eve. Matt spent most of the day playing golf with some old mates, while Mum and I helped out with preparations for Christmas lunch.

We found an old Rolf Harris record (yes one of the vinyl ones) with the song "Six White Boomers" on it. The boys loved it! Will's pictured to the left dancing to the tunes and doing his best Boomer impersonation. Pretty good for an 18month old!

In the evening we went to Cooinoo, which is a property close to Columbine and home to the Whittles. Di Whittle is a bit of a green thumb and her garden is beautiful. It's also functional, with grape vines, vegetables and fruit trees. Di's partner, Peter gave us a tour of the vines and then we whiled the evening away with a few drinks.

Day 4: Christmas Day!

On 25th December we were visited by Santa Claus!! Santa must have heard that there were three dietitians at Columbine, because he'd really trimmed down....

Here's Santa emerging from the chimney. In addition to losing metres off his waist Santa seemed to have lost the ability to read. He needed to find an assistant to help him examine the "Naughty or Nice" book. Lucky for us, we all seemed to make it onto the "Nice" page and Santa deposited this swag of presents. Finally, Santa made some last minute quality assurance inspections before the present unwrapping frenzy hit.

After everything was unwrapped Nick and Will put some of the presents through their paces. Will couldn't stop running around the house with his new block set. And Nick gave Ben's new Dino Explorer a work out on the front lawn.

The excitement continued at Christmas lunch, when we were joined by Matt's Aunt Nell and the Allworth cousins. Of course the food was delicious, complimented beautifully by the fantastic company.

Aunt Nell had broken her wrist on the 22nd, but she didn't let that bring her Christmas vibe down. Santa had left his hat for her, just in case she needed cheering up.

Day 5: Boxing Day

On Boxing Day, we got up early and Matt helped Bop with some mustering. Bop had been given a new saddle for Christmas and he was keen to try it out. Ben wasn't quite big enough for the saddle so he decided to try riding Bop's favorite horse, Gigi, bareback. Ben showed absolutely no fear of Gigi, putting his hand right inside her mouth.

For lunch on Boxing day we all piled back into the car and headed off to Glendower to catch up with the Gordons (Anne's Brother and his family). I forgot to take my camera, but it was another huge event with a lot of people and a lot of food. It was great to catch up with the Gordons and we even made plans to meet in Melbourne and enter a team adventure sports event!!

Day 6

We drove home!!! Still unpacking!! Happily exhausted.