Dinner with J

Had a hot date tonight. With J. 

We went around the corner to try the Vinoteca, a wine and tapas bar. This particular night however they had a buffet on and we just did not fancy it. We went to Fattinis instead and had some Italian food. Bruschetta , zucchini flowers, pasta  vongole and pasta ragu.  Chocolate ice cream for dessert.  It is not a fancy restaurant but the food is ok and so nice to be out and about just the two of us.  We had a lovely chat about life in general and travels in particular. A really good night! 

Salads

Loving the salads at the moment yum! 

Old fashioned phone....

O loves his old fashioned phone and keeps dialling! 

Yeah

Saturday night we cooked some beautiful chicken and made a wonderful salad.  It is winter and we're not Keats in the mood for salads but oooooh yeah this one with feta was delish....  

Baby Bjorn

Tried out the Bjorn for the trip today.   Did not think he was going to fit into it still but he did !! Good news as I am going to need it in Singapore and Helsinki carrying  O around.  This is the solution..... 

Progress

Oliver now crawls. Backwards. He is really quick so I can't leave him anywhere he just pushes off.  He is a bit frustrated as he wants to get places quickly and he has a good workout getting where he wants as quickly as possible.... Won't be long now until he is crawling forwards...... 

Bring it oooooon!

Sleepy dog

The dog is so tired after the walk and play on Rushcutters that she fell asleep on Jonathan's leg!!

Food

After hours of cooking Oliver now has Napletana sauce, broccoli , roadyed pumpkin, chicken stew and cinnamon apples.  Lots of it....

Oliver's room

I have not shown you Oliver's room yet.  I realise I have to take more photos but here is a quick view BEFORE......

...... And AFTER......

Seriously?

Coca cola just released a new ad here.  Against obesity. 

They are promoting a healthier lifestyle.  

Oh well that's all good.... But their punch line is that they put the kilo joules on the bottles and now also on the vending machines.... Ehhh seriously? 

Park

In The park With The dog and a very rugged up baby..... 

Busy days

Busy days at the moment getting all sorted for the trip.  I just want to leave now and get there , not too fond of the time just before when all needs to be fixed, packed and sorted.  

8 degrees

8 degrees this morning.  Can't wait for summer on the other side of the world! 

Prawn curry

J is cooking an amaaaazing prawn curry. Can't wait for dinner!!! 

That's not my dinosaur...

We have a few of these books and he loves them.  A favourite right now is; 

That's not my dinosaur.   

Every dinosaur you touch and you can feel a fuzzy tail, slippery slippers, rough horns etc.  in the end you get to 'your dinosaur' and it has an endearing feature.  In this case soft spines.  Very cute. 

I recommend them all! 

Lunch with daddy !

Cot

Borrowed a travel cot from frank and Caroline as we're going away this weekend. Have trialled it at home so he is used to it and it worked - he loves it.  Also good to see the bed as I've now decided this is the one we need to get for him.  Has a proper mattress and folds up easily. Also suet light so can even be hand luggage on planes if need be. I'm excited to have found one that is light and easy to put up and fold back together again! Happy days. I really hope he sleeps well on Saturday now.... 

Toys

Early morning arrival of Swedish wooden toys. Every boy needs a proper garage I thought..,. Also some wooden blocks with the Swedish alphabet including å,ä and ö.... A must for him hey? 

Finally a very cute wooden race car with driver.  Very cute toys Must say... 

Today we're off to lunch with J then off to fix my dodgy elbow... Finally ! 

Another present!

We are very blessed with friends and family giving us lots of presents this week. This arvo Oliver received a package from grandma Lis.  So many cute new things! I especially have fallen in love with the beanie - adorable!

Thank you xx

Now Oliver is sleeping and we're about to start cooking some Swedish meat balls .... Yum! 

Goldilocks?

Maybe time for a haircut...., 

Phone

My fancy phone is not working as it should. So maybe it's not so fancy after all....

 I have noticed I have a large number of emails and texts that have failed, i.e. not been delivered! I'm not happy.  Now I have to figure out who did not get texts or emails and go back and resend!! 

Maybe I should have stayed with the old bb after all....

Boardies

Forgot to show you the cute pair of boardies that Nanapants got in Bali for O.   She gave them to me last week but I had so many other presents I forgot to show you hehe.  I love them, real Aussie boardies for the little dude! 

Playing

Love playing with O.  He's had a good morning nap and is happy and curious. Learning new things every day - exciting times...

Rushcutters

This morning we went to Rushcutters again. Had a cuppa and a walk with Frida whilstOliver was sleeping.  Frida had a swim and was happy as Larry. 

Sun was out and clear blue skies - happy days! 

We also met up with Peter and Leigh who are going to look after Frida when we're in Europe. They love her so I am sure she will be well looked after..... 

My first guitar

Normann Copenhagen

Met u with Nic this morning as you know.  She gave me two gorgeous tea light holders from a shop called Nordic Fusion in Manly. She bought them to say thank you for having her and Poppy to stay for a week. Very kind if her , a nice pressie.  I am mad about candles so will certainly be used ! 

Ehhhh lunch .....

Of course I forgot to blog about the lunch the other day..... 

I can tell you that we did scoff down all of the below tapas dishes..... 

Stuffed mushrooms w goats cheese & thyme (v)

Steamed prawn dumplings w sweet soy drizzle

Kangaroo wellington w red currant sauce

Gremolata soft shell crab w chilli jam

Lamb belly w mint sauce (gf) Duck spring rolls w plum sauce

...BBQ hot rock

Chilli lemon chicken w salsa Verdi (gf) 

Tom Yum lamb w garlic yoghurt (gf) 

Haloumi w lemon chutney (gf) (v) 

Garlic prawns w seafood sauce (gf) 

Hoisin ginger beef w dipping sauce (gf)

Lemongrass pork skewers w chilli tomato sauce (gf)

.....and it was delicious.  We sat outside on the balcony in the sun , chatting away.  Great day! 

Pressie

Tom and Ellie and the girls got us this lovely book and card for O. I am so happy - it is gorgeous. 

Such a beautiful book I am sure Oliver will love it! 

Barbie

Had 7 hungry blokes here for a bbq today.  

They ate a ton of meat but not much of my cakes as beers and rugby seemed to be more on the agenda hehe ! 

They have all gone out for the Lions game now and the house is very quiet..... 

We did all sorts of yummy food and i made brownies and a lemon sponge.  

Thought I'd share the recipe with you as was yummy ! 

6 eggs separated

250 gr softened butter

1 1/2 cup white sugar

2 tsp lemon rind (I had a bit more) 

1 1/2 cup thick Greek yoghurt (full cream)

3 cups self raisin flour 

3 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 180. C 

Grease and flour 26 diameter ring (I did not have a ring so used normal cake ton) 

Whisk egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peaks 

Beat butter and sugar using paddle attachment   

Add the egg yolks one at a time 

Add the rind 

Add yoghurt 

Gradually add the flour and baking powder ( that I pre mixed) and beat with lowest speed! 

Fold in the egg whites 

Spoon mixture into tin

Bake until cooked circa 40- 45 min 

Once out of the oven and whilst still hot turn out and dust with icing sugar 

Yummy! 

 

 

Morning mathematics !

Child genius....

 

 

Queenslander...

Frida is born in Queensland and misses the heat as you can see.......

For most of the winter she has been lying really close to the 'fire' (gas heater) - sometimes so close her head is hot!

She hates the cold and curls up in he bed if the fire is not on. Or she goes upstairs and lies on the top of the stairs where it's warmer.

Poor dog - and she's got a few more months to go before spring is here......

New world

I am finally joining the rest of you and leaving the Blackberry behind...

Sleek, sexy and unwrapped. I am excited to get this one up and running!

Woohoo - think I'll never look back!!

Preparing...

Preparing a bit for the trip.

Today I got a cute travel pillow for Oliver. Isn't it just too cute!

Morning cuppa

A morning cuppa at my favorite cafe!

Here comes the sun!

After 2 weeks of constant rain the sun has returned.
So lovely to be out and about and the sky is blue and clear. Everybody is out and about, kids playing, parents chatting, people exercising, dogs getting long walks and I even smelt a bbq going yesterday evening. Ah the sun makes us all so much happier!

Clothes...

Needed some new things for the trip to Europe...

2 new linen dresses from Laura Ashley. Very 60's look and I love them both. Hopefully the weather changes though, dad said they had 9 degrees yesterday - no weather for the dressses hehe

Also a new bikini and a pool/beach dress to throw on. All from Seafolly. Love the dress, even though doesn't look too good on pic . It's nice...

Still have to sort out the dress for the wedding we're going to... And we have winter here so not an easy task...

I don't get it....

A couple of my friends feel 'nothing should change' and 'the baby has to fit in with us' and in some have even said 'I feel like running for the hills'....
I don't get it. I just don't get why you'd want nothing to change in your life - when evrything about your life has changed? Why have children? Why must the baby fit in with you? You'd have a lifetime to just look after yourself - now you have a baby , why then not try and do what's best for the baby and not what's best for you? I get it , occasionally you have to take your kids to places and do things that doesn't fit in with their routine - that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the general idea of some people that kids seems to be some kind of 'obstacle' to their 'normal' life.
I just don't get it.
Personally I was ready for the change. I want the best for him. I am not important in comparison.
I don't want to do what I did. We did it for a long time and it was great fun. Now another way of life has started.
I am sure I will be tired and fed up at some point but some of these women feel this way all the time....
I find it so strange!
How can you in any way pretend that you can (or want to) do the same things anymore? If the focus is not on what's best for the baby, then where is your focus? On yourself?