2011, the year that was.

This time last year, I could never have envisaged what 2011 had in store for me. It's been an incredible year, with lots of surprises. Trying to sell our home, travel problems, wonderful holidays, good times, worrying times, big milestones, hospital visits, having a new baby. Before we move on to 2012, here's the year that was in pictures...


January

Australia Day

We went on a Mini adventure for a weekend with some friends and had a ball

Lil-lil started preschool, a massive step for her (and me).

February

Goosey and I got to spend one-on-one time together for the first time.

Goosey got her tonsils and adenoids out.

Pink Patent Mary Janes and I went away to BabyMac-land for  a weekend.

March

A quiet month, the autumn carnival and the blogging conference the only highlights. The lowlight was nausea...

April

We announced we were expecting our third bub.

We got stuck at Sydney airport for hours in a security breach

We finally got away on our wonderful holiday and had a fabulous time.

May

My bloggy buddy sent me an INCREDIBLE package from the US.

We spent family time together on Saturdays while our home was open for inspection (we failed to sell).

I made the Kidspot Top 50 Bloggers!

Skip had a birthday.

June

We went on a road trip to Western Plains Zoo.

Lil-lil went to the fire station on her first excursion, she talked about it for the rest of the year.

July

I had a birthday and had a gorgeous night out with Skip and a great day with the girls and the bump.

The girls continued to be the best of friends and worst of enemies.

The girls started to get used to the idea of having a new baby.

I finally got to see one of my favourite bands live.

Goosey had her third birthday.

August

Goosey started preschool

Skip and I had an amazing weekend in Tassie. One of the best weekends of my life.

I developed pre-eclampsia and our precious baby boy was dragged out 6.5 weeks early.

September

September was spent in hospital getting our boy well enough to come home.

Goosey had her first ever dance concert.

October

We spent time getting to know our little boy.

Lil-lil had a birthday.

November

The girls were flowergirls and Skip a groomsman.

Goosey got up close with the firemen at preschool.

December

My mum celebrated her 70th birthday with a party at our home. 

Lil-lil had her ballet concert.

Our boy is thriving.

Lil-lil had her last day of preschool before starting big school in 2012.

Phew! No wonder I'm tired and ready for a month of relaxing! Bring on 2012! And plenty of blue skies ahead...

My favourite week of the year

The week between Christmas and New Year is my favourite week of the year.

We're always on holidays, the rush of December is over, the fridge is full of food. We potter, go to the beach, catch up with people we love, chill out, go to the park. Nothing is ever rushed. Nothing is ever too planned. It's always fun. Most people are on holidays so there's that relaxed feel in the air.

This year we've got a special little boy to get to know a little bit better. He's developed a smile that lights up the room, so he usually has four people around him doing anything to get him to flash it.

Plans for the rest of week? More relaxing, trying to read, playing in the backyard, the beach,  trips for takeaway coffees, a day at the track, reflecting on the past year and dreaming about the year ahead.

What are you doing?

Christmas Eve/Christmas Day/Boxing Day

Wow, what a good couple of days! Don't you just love Christmas? The weather in Sydney has been craptastic for December, but about 2pm on Christmas Eve the sun finally came out and thank goodness for that. Three days of feasting, socialising and having fun.

Christmas Eve was spent at my Dad's place with my side of the family. There were presents, eating, drinking, swimming in the pool and going out on the boat. The girls had a ball with their cousins and were asleep before we got to the end of the street on the drive home. This was OK as it meant that they were bright enough to go and see Christmas lights later that evening with their dad, while I stayed home and wrapped the last of the gifts.

Christmas morning arrived in a flurry of wrapping paper, presents and joy. The kids were super-dooper spoilt. So was I, as I got an iPad! The sun was shining and the air warm, so we jumped in the car for our traditional Christmas morning swim at the beach. It was absolutely gorgeous at the beach and the swim was the perfect start to the day. By the time we got home, Skip's family was arriving for Christmas lunch. Another few hours of feasting, drinking and presents. 

Boxing Day, a fridge full of leftovers and an esky full of drinks. Friends came over to generously help us dispose of them. Another few hours of feasting, drinking and catching up. 

Today, it's cold and blustery. Perfect for a rest day at home. Lounging on the couch, reading, catching up. Everyone's a little over it and tired. 

One of the best Christmases I've had in ages. Relaxing, stress-free and full of fun. Here are some shots from a fabulous three days:

Christmas lunch at my dad's.

View from my seat at lunch. Not bad.

Santa was very good to me...

Demon D ready for his first Xmas morning swims.

My trifle, which was a hit.

Spending time with family and new toys

Our shortbread and gingerbread

Loving every moment.

Happy Xmas

To everyone out there, I hope you have a merry Christmas, filled with joy, laughter and fun.

Relax, enjoy yourself. Don't sweat the small stuff - if the turkey is dry, be thankful you have a turkey on your table. Appreciate the people you're sharing the day with, whoever they may be, even if they gave you a crappy thoughtless gift or said something silly. Smile, be gracious, be grateful. Do something nice for someone. Call someone you haven't spoken to for a long time and tell them you're thinking of them. Forget about grudges and ill feelings, bitterness hurts you more than it hurts them. Live this Christmas like it's your last.

Smile, laugh and love. Most of all have fun.

Happy Christmas, I'll see you on the other side.




PS: I wrote this this morning, then popped out for a couple of hours. While trying to park my car in heavy Christmas traffic, pouring rain with a crying babe in the back, a man felt it was necessary to get out of his car , block traffic and aggressively abuse me for slowing traffic. I looked at this guy, frothing at the mouth, full of rage. I'd slowed him down by about two minutes. Ironically, he blocked the cars behind for a further two minutes to abuse me. He must be very important. 
How much easier would it have been to feel slightly irritated, sigh, think 'sill lady', smile and move on with his day. Instead, he chose to feel angry, make me feel shaken and awful, confuse two little girls. A bit of patience and kindness is so easy and goes a long, long way. 

The best time of the year

Christmas is that time where people are often brimming with stress and anxiety. Whether it's about getting all that last minute shopping done, trying to wind up the year at work, facing a day spent with or without family, enduring the rush and the crowds. Flitting from party to party or feeling down that you're alone at this time of year.

 I like Christmas. I've been blessed to have family and friends who I enjoy spending the day with and who (generally) make it a stress-free and wonderful time. Now the kids are here, it's even better. When you have kids, you're able to go back and re-live that magic of Christmas as it was. Listening for Santa's sleigh bells, counting the sleeps, hanging out the stockings. Being 5 and 3, the girls are absolutely busting at the seams about Christmas.

For me, my favourite parts of Christmas are Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, rather than the big day itself. Christmas Eve has a spark and a crackle. All the mundane chores have usually been done, you've got all the holidays ahead of you and there's some excitement in the air. On Boxing Day, the formalities are over. You've got a fridge full of leftovers and a pile of pressies to enjoy. You can kick back, relax and get in holiday mode.

There's not much left to do. A couple of last gifts to pick up, some food shopping to do. Tomorrow, the girls and I will make shortbread and gingerbread. Then it's time to chill the bubbles and get ready to enjoy.

What's your favourite part of Christmas?

Halfway through day one of school holidays...

...and I'm already insane.

We went to see Santa this morning and dragging three kids to the local shopping centre is a fresh kind of hell. Especially at Christmas. Car whiz through the car park trying to nab that elusive spot and I try to hang on to all three kids and stop them going under the wheels. Inside it's not much better.

There was a long queue for Santa, the kids argued with me insisting the pile of faux logs at Santa's feet were in fact sushi rolls and when I got to the top there was a sign that said: "Cash only".
When the kids finally climbed on Santa's knee we finally managed to get all three looking at the camera, everyone looked OK, except Santa. Oh well, he's not family. He then refused to give D back, insisting that he needed burping. I was just about to yell at the old man, when D spewed all over Santa's shoulder and he was thrown back in my arms.

While we waited for the pictures, I heard "I'm bored" about 15 times, then "I want to do something really special". Apparently seeing Santa is not special.

We then had to take D to get his vax, a week early as the doctor told us it was better early than late and with Christmas and all that. We wait in the waiting room. It's about as fun as being in a waiting room with three kids can be. The nurse finally came out and told us she wouldn't do the vax as it was too early, it had to be on the dot according to her. Awesome. We'd have to come back and do this again.

In the car home I made the mistake of asking what they wanted for lunch. The conversation went like this:

"What do you guys want for lunch? A sandwich?"
Goose: "I want rice and soy sauce."
Me: "I'm not making rice."
Goose: "But that's what I want."
Me: "You can have a sandwich."
Goose: "Ok, a ham sandwich."
Me: "We don't have ham. You can have an avocado sandwich. I  don't run a restaurant."
Lil-lil: "Mum, we really need to get some servants. They can do everything and they won't say no like you do."

Yes, servants. Brilliant idea.
How many weeks until school starts??

And that is all

First day

Last day

Today, I'm packing Lil-lil's preschool lunchbox and bag for the last time. It feels like the blink of an eye since I wrote this post about her first day of preschool, now it's all over.

Big school awaits next year. It's been a fabulous year, albeit a little too quick.

At the first day shed a few tears, one kid thought Skip was the prime minister. Now Goosey's at preschool herself, D arrived and Lil-lil is so much more grown up. I'll probably shed a couple more tears today.

An on we go!