I can’t blog!  I’m not even sure I want to at the moment?!  I know it’s just a time thing…blogging takes time, and I just don’t have a lot of it right now and I don’t think that is going to settle down anytime soon because it has been like this for months now.  I have even contemplated just shutting down my blog, but I don’t think I can do it!  Though I do curse Kate for getting me into this blogging thing in the first place - I even abstained from it for ages, but it got me in the end.  I’m even a shocking blogging buddy and hardly ever comment on anyone’s blog any more.  What’s wrong with me?!

Anyway, I got my hands on a few of the professional photos from the wedding last month - totally gorgeous!  I need to get around to blogging some, I know, I have so many people asking me to, so right now, please be happy with just these two, which totally melt my heart…

Holli is in the back, I am following behind:

This is Caleb kissing the bride, I could look at it all day long!  It was late afternoon, hence the glow: 

Thought it was about time I got back here!  I think I have stayed away from it because there is just so much to say that it’s a bit daunting to start, but here goes!  First up, the wedding that Holli and I were in last Thursday.

The Hen’s Day

On Saturday the 19th April, only 5 days before the actual wedding, we held Jo’s Hens Day.  We started with a Kitchen Tea at Jo’s place, where we had around 45-50 girls attend, so it was pretty big!  We had some delicious food, yummy punch (because I made it! LOL), and even alcoholic jelly shots!  We played a few games: Answering 12 questions about Jo to see who knew her the best, standing up with both hands on head and being asked risque questions - when the answer was no, you took one hand off your head, then the next, then sat down, so the last person standing is, well, pretty raunchy! LOL  The girls were asked to make penis’s out of playdough, oh, and there was a game of pass the parcel with a few naughty gifts being unwrapped here and there.  Then we went inside to watch a video that some of Jo’s friends had prepared, which was an interview with Steve, to see how well he knew Jo, and the boy was spot on!  It was a great afternoon with heaps of laughs.

We then boarded a mini bus and drove into Crown Casino in town, and we even had front-row parking thanks to my DH (James) and his work.  Off to Fusion we went, to watch a show called ‘Princes’ - basically a bunch of 5 male strippers prancing around on stage, dragging the Hens up there with them!  I can’t say I was wrapped when I heard we were going to Princes early on in the organising stages, but it was a really fun show, and nothing distasteful really at all.  Jo’s stint on stage was so funny, and actually, the best of the lot we think!  Here are some pics of her being swooned by ‘The bods’, the pics aren’t the best quality (taken on my phone):

We stayed at Fusion for a few hours after the show for the nightclub, and then we went partying to another club.  I had a great night with all the girls, and drinking with my SIL and another friend and not getting home until 3am!  No hangover either - yay!

The Wedding

The wedding was on Thursday 24th April, and it was going to be a perfect day weather-wise.  I arrived at Jo’s place just before 9am before heading off to the hairdresser’s in Essendon at 11am.  I had no pre-conceived ideas of how I wanted my hair done, and the bride wasn’t fussy, so I told them I wanted half up-half down with the rest left up to them.  I ended up with exactly that, but the half down was swept to the side, and the half-up was gently curved here and there (hard to explain), but I loved it!  Then it was off to Crown Towers Hotel for makeup and to get ready - we were ready early, so we had a few glasses of champagne and were nice and relaxed.

We arrived a little bit late to allow for one of the flower girls who was running late - she was one of 10 flower girls!  When we got there, I couldn’t wait to see Holli, who by then (thanks to Mum and my friend Donna) was dressed in her gorgeous flower-baby dress, with her hair up, and sitting in a wagon that was made by one of the Dad’s.  GORGEOUS!  I actually didn’t let her see me in case she wanted me to pick her up, and she was sooooo good!  She happily sat in the wagon and got wheeled down the aisle with another little girl in front of her, as I promptly followed.  The service was a full mass and was loooooong!  Ok, it wasn’t that long, but when you have 10 flower girls ranging from 9 months to 7 years, things were a bit restless, but overall they were very well behaved.

The bride - OMG, stunning!  Jo wore a Marianna Hardwick beaded dress, which was fairly slim-fitting and simple, but very elegant.  She was under strict instructions from the groom not to have a long train, which she kept to as the dress only had a short train, but she made up for it in veil - all 6 metres of it!  He wasn’t impressed, but eh, the dress needed a little something more, and the veil was perfect for it!  Plus, it was us who had to fix and straighten the darn thing all day until the reception!  Jo really did look like a supermodel, I only wish I had some photos to share, but being a bridesmaid meant that I couldn’t exactly have the faithful Nikon hanging around my neck!

The photos were taken in a garden in South Melbourne, a narrow cobblestone laneway in the city, and the Post Office in Bourke Street (GPO).  The locations coupled with the bride and groom will make for some amazing looking shots.  We then arrived at Studio 3 at Crown Casino for the reception where my feet were about ready to scream out loud being stuck in the ‘toe-killers’ all day, but I had to make it at least until after the bridal dance!  The speeches were fantastic, and very touching, and my BIL who was the best man did a really good job on his.  When it came time to do the first dance, Steve and Jo took to the dance floor, followed soon after by the bridal party…all except for me!  My partner was nowhere to be found!  Turns out he was in the men’s room, so luckily James stepped up and took his place until he returned!  Ah well, what can you do?!

After I literally kicked off the heels, I proceeded to spend the rest of the night on the dancefloor, having an absolute ball with all my friends, as well as a bunch of Jo’s friends who I had got to know over the last few weeks.  They were known as ‘The Bubble Girls’ because of their short ‘bubble’ dresses, and they were all so nice, I’m really going to miss hanging out with them!  The bride is 11 years younger than the groom, and my friends and I are all more around the groom’s age, so there is a bit of a generation gap, but it just made things even more funny!  After the reception, we ended up at ‘The Pub’ at Crown where we sat and had a few drinks and chatted the night away.  James and I finally made our way back to our room at Crown Promenade Hotel at 3am, and it took me around 30 minutes to take all the pins out of my hair and wash my makeup off!

So all in all, a fabulous day!  As much as it has been great and such an honour to be in the wedding, I am also really looking forward to life getting back to normal again.  You can only palm your kids off to your parents so many times, iykwim?

Other news

Going to keep this brief…Holli has been taken off all dairy, which includes changing formula, to see if the rash she has had for months now will finally disappear!  Too early to tell yet, so stay tuned!  Holli is still very much toothless, and still not crawling, but close….oh so close!  She does like to stand up though, and is pretty proud of herself when she manages it!

Not much different with Caleb really, he was very well behaved at the wedding and didn’t even cry when, um, he fell backwards off the church seat!  He’s a pretty tough little thing!  He’s enjoying life, and still driving his parents crazy at times!  Oh 3 is such a fun age!

I will update this blog again…soon!I am in a wedding this week, and with two young kids, it’s been pretty full-on trying to organise things for it around them.  Holli is in the wedding too - she is one of 10 flower girls, yep, a photographers worst nightmare!  Though from what I hear, the photographer is quite looking forward to it!So stay tuned for all the Hens Night/Wedding wrap-ups! 

Life is crazy again, not much time to blog, so I’ll just give a few quick notes and some of my fav pics from the last few days.  Last Sunday we went to one of the local parks to play some cricket, go for a walk, and then we headed to the ice cream shop for a treat!  Love this photo of my boys:

Caleb is right into ‘best friends’ at the moment, and often tells Dad, Oma, Opa, Holli and I ‘You’re my best friend’.  I’m so glad we’re friends because I love him to bits, but it’s so nice hearing that, melts my heart every time.  He’s also loving using scissors, and cuts something up every day!

Onto Holli…she went through a rough patch for probably close to 2 weeks there.  I suspect teeth, and then towards the end she got a cold on top of that, so there wasn’t much sleep happening, let me tell you!  I was so worried she had changed and that she wouldn’t go back to how she was, but she’s back to her normal, happy, content, sleeping self again!

These were taken today, just before a dip in our pool:

My, what BIG eyes you have!

Holli is rolling around the floor a fair bit now, but not really showing any signs of crawling yet, which is fine by me!  She is really eating well now, but it took a while to get there.  Put a rattle in her hand and she instantly knows what to do with it.  Put Caleb in front of her and she instantly smiles - she has only got eyes for her brother most of the time, it’s so cute, he makes her laugh!

A few weeks ago I met up with Deanne, a friend from quite a few years ago who went to Ireland to live for a while but is back in Oz now!  It was fantastic to catch up and felt just like old times.  We both share a love of photography, even though we are still both beginners really, so it’s great to have that in common.  Look forward to the next catch-up!

This cheeky face looks like it has been up to no good, don’t you think?

If you said yes, you would be correct!  The other day, Caleb was sitting on the couch with a bowl full of fruit and nuts, having a bit of a snack.  I was in the kitchen when I dropped a plastic bowl on the floor, which made a loud noise.  Caleb immediately got up to have a sticky nose at all the noise Mum was making.  When he saw it wasn’t all that interesting, he jumped down again - and it was then that I heard a noise.  The noise of the bowl full of fruit and nuts spilling all over the couch and floor.  Oops…

Caleb thought is was pretty funny.  Mum just shook her head and went off to get the vacuum…*cough* camera *cough*

This blog post is for my friend Deanne, who was hassling me on MSN and email today about updating my blog again! Hehehe!  Deanne and I go way back to my basketball and partying/nightclubbing days, probably when I was about 15 or 16 I think, and of course it was Deanne who completely and utterly persuaded me to go out partying and drinking bourbon and coke all night. *ducks for cover*  But seriously, Deanne and I used to do pretty much everything together, from playing basketball, to hanging out, to going out, to shopping, to watching the local footy, you name it!  I probably became a surrogate daughter in her house for a few years there!  Of course, years later, Deanne met an Irish lad and eventually left Australia to live in Ireland for quite a few years.  We recently found each other on Facebook again, and hope to catch up in the next couple of weeks!  Very exciting and can’t wait!

I haven’t blogged for a while, mainly because Ms. Holli has taken to waking up a few times in the middle of the night, and sometimes taking anywhere up to 2 hours to be sleepy again!  The lack of sleep was getting to me, so I would jump on the PC at night, take care of business, and then head to bed early.  I suspect that her first teeth might be bothering her, though I really don’t know for sure, but she is also suffering from a rather nasty rash at the moment, which 2 doctor’s yesterday weren’t able to diagnose.  So at the moment I’m trying all different sorts of things, from the cream the doctor prescribed, to changing washing powder, to steering clear of any new foods she has had in the last few days.  We have a referral to a specialist if we can’t sort it out soon.

We’ve had a couple of kid’s parties to go to the last couple of weekends, both of which I went alone with the kids because James was working.  It would be so nice for him to be able to actually come to a party every now and then, but unfortunately, working Saturday’s is part and parcel of the construction industry.  At one of the parties, to my surprise, and after perhaps a little bit of coaxing from his Mum, Caleb asked to have his face painted.  I asked him what he wanted painted, and he replied ‘A tiger’….just like Hunter the birthday boy had.  So here we have my little tiger:

And here is what the little tiger was doing about 30 minutes after we arrived home:

Holli is now at the stage where she is enjoying the finer things in life, such as the Jolly Jumper (and Mum thinks with the size of those chubby legs she NEEDS to enjoy the Jolly Jumper quite a bit!):

And the swing:

I received a call from someone I used to work for a few years ago offering me a part-time job.  Good money, and set your own conditions (ie. 1 or 2 days, whatever hours, and work from home or office).  Too bloody tempting!  The thing is, I had decided that I would stay home for a few years for the kids, but how can you refuse an offer like that?!  So it got me thinking…IF I was going to go back to work, I would probably prefer to stay at my current job.  So I spoke to my boss and he is willing to be fairly accomodating, I’m just a bit worried about the workload.  I even asked my parents if they would be willing to look after Holli for a couple of days until she is old enough (by my standards) to go to daycare, and they agreed.  Well, that was last week…

This week, I’m wondering what on earth possessed me to think that I could possibly handle the juggling of 2 kids, the house, working 2 days a week, and Pickleberrypop, and remain happy and reasonably unstressed?  I mean really, this bird is only so human, yanno?  So the current thinking is to not put myself under so much pressure and not go back to work so soon.  This is all subject to change again next week of course!  I think part of my current thinking is that while speaking to my boss, I mentioned that I was scared of losing my skills that are currently in demand, by staying home for a few years, and trying to then re-enter the workforce and there not being a place for me as my knowledge was too out of date.  My boss replied with something that really struck a lightbulb with me.  He said that he doubted there would be no place for me, and that reputations and work ethics that a person has tends to be remembered, and that he is sure I would slot in somewhere no problem.  I guess I hadn’t thought of that…that technical skills alone do not make the employee.

Lastly, this upcoming wedding in April has me on a strict fitness regime.  I say strict because if I don’t exercise every night, James is on my case!  So since Sunday, I have taken the dog for a rigorous walk every night and I plan to keep it up, because I am actually quite enjoying it!  Tonight’s conversation when I got back, however, went like this:

James: How was your walk?

Annette: Yeah, pretty good!

James: Are you extending yourself?

Annette: Uhhhhhm, well, I’m walking up 2 hills, and while I’m walking uphill I make myself take big steps, so yeah, I think I am!

James: And have you extended your walk yet?

Annette: No, not yet.

James: Why not?

Annette: Because it’s only been 3 days and my calves are feeling it!  I will extend the walk soon, but it’s only been 3 DAYS!!!

James: *shrug to indicate agreement*

Life kinda got busy there for a while, glad that’s starting to settle down now.  So, our little dude is now 3, we just had a small-ish party at home with family and a few friends, turns out it was a hot one, so the kids and Dad’s jumped in the pool.  Caleb got some ace presents, and some money from my parents because really, he has enough toys, so I went and opened up bank accounts for both kids last week.  I’m setting up an auto direct deposit into their accounts each month, so that by the time they are 18, they might have $10-15K in their accounts.  The thinking there is it might come in handy for school fees, travelling, a deposit on a car or house, or whatever they choose to do with it, as long as they don’t waste it.  James also never uses coins and comes home every night and empties his pockets of coins, so every few months I count it all and take it to the bank, so that money will get divided between the two of them.

Anyway, onto some party pics!  Nothing spectacular really, but all in the name of ‘documenting’ his party! ;)  Caleb’s main present from us was this digger and he loves it!  He also got a beanbag, some clothes, and a voice changer.

Even though the baking the night before was disasterous, I ended up with THE best fudge brownies I think I have ever tasted!

Nanny and Poppy spoiled Caleb with a few Tonka Trucks, because ever little dude needs Tonkas!

Caleb loving having Happy Birthday sung to him….not!

At least he blew out the candles, but it looks like both kids are giving it a good crack here!

The big blue-eyed dribble monster was out in full force!

And the day ended with some swimming and splashing…

Remember my post about our good friends Steve & Jo getting engaged?  Well, they’re getting married towards the end of April, and oh my god, they asked me to be a bridesmaid!  I’m excited, and nervous!  How the heck I am going to squeeze into any sort of dress I don’t know!  Gah!  Let’s just say the fitness regime has begun!  Oh, and Holli will be in the wedding too, as a flower girl, how cute!  She won’t be walking, but will get to wear a cute dress matching her Mum now!  Yes, this year is the year of weddings for us, with my BIL getting married in March, then Steve & Jo in April, and my other BIL planning to get married later in the year, though having just had a baby before Christmas, I guess we’ll see what happens there.

Must get some more Encyclopaedia of Me happening again soon…the letter F…hmmmmm

Caleb’s party was great today, but I’m just about to head to bed…can’t keep my eyes open!  So stay tuned for the ‘3yo party wrap’ soon, but until then, as promised, a photo of the cake!

The cake is supposed to look like a shipping container, and it actually turned out looking better than I thought it would, but it was a mud cake, so it didn’t rise very high, but that’s ok.  I also cut up the fudge brownies, sprinkled them with icing sugar, and put them into a crate from a bottle of Booker’s Bourbon that we had in the bar, just to keep with the theme.  I love the whole theme, and am quite proud of myself for thinking of it!

…yes, it is now officially the day before Caleb’s 3rd birthday.  Wow, my little dude is growing up.  Although his birthday is on the 28th, his party is tomorrow, and so as not to confuse him we’ve decided to give him his presents tomorrow, wish him a happy birthday, and just not mention that his birthday is actually the next day!  You really are growing up my son, you’re not that crazy, energetic boy who couldn’t sit still for 2 minutes any more…no, you now sit still for at least 5 minutes!  But I love ‘ya all the same.  At the moment you say your favourite colour is blue but I still think you have a soft spot for your last favourite colour which was pink, your favourite song is ‘Jingle Bells, Daddy smells’, you love cutting paper with scissors, you can count to 18, and you love riding your scooter…indoors!

I’ve been baking tonight, it’s nearly 1am and I only just finished about an hour ago!  I hate baking.  I’m no good at baking.  The instructions said to melt the butter, sugar and chocolate in a saucepan, but it didn’t say it was meant to look like this goop:

That is the first and third attempt at melting the stupid butter, sugar and chocolate.  I managed to waste 400gms of butter, 3 cups of sugar, and 2 blocks of cooking chocolate.  But, the good news is, I managed to make some yummy Chocolate Fudge Brownies with Macadamia nuts, as well as a Chocolate Mud cake which will be iced tomorrow and transformed into a shipping container.  I’ll take a photo of the final cake setup, crane and all, tomorrow and post a pic sometime next week.  Here’s a pic of my brownies and the goop…

For the last week or so, Holli has been eating solids, or shall we say…experimenting with solids because not much gets eaten really!  She’s now starting to open her mouth at the beginning, but after 4 or 5 mouthfuls it’s hard to squish that spoon in there!  She basically eats half of what you give her and spits the other half out, not in disgust, just spits it out!  She is such a different baby to how Caleb was, and not very demanding about food at all really, so she’s in no hurry about this food business, but I’ll keep offering it to her and she’ll get better at it in time.

This was her first ever food:

And this is how she usually eats…keeps her mouth open! Hehe

Lastly, big news, Tracy Ann Digital Art is at PBP for the week as our first ever Guest Designer!  Tracy is one talented designer, one of the best and most creative Aussie digi designers around, and I’m so glad she agreed to guest for us.

Hope all my Aussie readers had a fantastic Australia Day, and enjoy the long weekend!