Love, bubs and life on our little farm

Jase and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary yesterday. We had a beautiful day on our holiday with a gorgeous beachside breakfast, a lovely long walk around the river and the headland, lots of beach time and a swanky Italian dinner in a very dark candle lit restaurant.

Its been a very busy 5 years -we threw our dream wedding, had a lovely honeymoon in Samoa, saved for a year and went backpacking through Europe and Japan, compeleted my PhD, moved states, got fantastic jobs, promotions, bought our first house which just so happened to be the farm we dreamed about, had our first child and are now awaiting the arrival of our second who will complete our family. Phew its been wonderful! What a ride.

And our relationship is still as special and strong as ever. We are best friends and love spending time together and share all the same goals. We just make life easy for for each other. We have been blessed that lifes challenges just draw us closer so far.

May the next five years be just as blissful and busy!

And we normally spoil each other with surprise anniversary presents but this year we agreed that a lovely holiday away and a huge house extension were pretty good gifts to each other :)

My walk down memory lane...

After eating my weight in chocolate fondue at the Max Brenner Cafe for my birthday celebration yesterday (yum!) we are now preparing to head off on our babymoon this morning. Elka hasn't given me the time of day since Nanny and Poppy arrived yesterday, so I am doubting she is going to miss us too much lol!

xoxo

Its been over 3 years that we have had our horses and owned this farm. So its time for some pics of course!

First of is Sam - our rescue horse. He is a ex-racehorse that was locked up and starved and then sent to the sales for the meatworks. He was bought by a lovely lady who saves horses and she passed him onto me when I rang enquiring about another horse she had. He ticked a lot of boxes for me - I wanted to save a horse as a companion for my competition horse and he is 17hh - very tall and lanky, great for showjumping and also good for Jase to ride who is 6ft. When we floated him home, we were worried he was too weak to stand up for the 50min drive.

Note the sunken neck and rump and the exposed ribs. Poor boy.

After three years of hay, hard feed, paddocks and dentist appointments, he is now a lovely big healthy boy who is still gentle. He has a lovely shiny coat now and a nice big muscly neck, officially a successful rescue case! I have lots of plans for competing him but the babies are currently slowing me down - in a few years time I hope to get him going in some cross country events.


The other before and afters I have are from our "Rainforest Garden" - when we moved in this house basically had NO gardens literally. We have spent the last three years establishing gardens throughout the property - no mean feat with such a large yard around your house! One of these garden areas we planned was a sprawling rainforest garden which will eventually have large trees and a waterfall and pond (once the little ones are older and can be trusted with a pond). Jase has already built the waterfall face though.

This is what we started with - this photo was taken by the real estate agent for the sale.





And this is what we have now - a long way to go but we are so pleased with how it is looking - we are getting layers of lush plants and lovely shade and screening now.

Its nearly time - I am getting excited. Jase and I are celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary (wow where did that time go!) by going on a "babymoon" without Elka. Its 4 nights and the longest I have ever been away from her (although I have done numerous weekends away) so I am hoping that I will not turn into a big hormonal mess and miss her too much. I doubt that she will miss us much in return - she is staying with my parents who are her favorite people around at the moment and she is going to be terribly spoilt!

I am determined to make the most of this time with my husband, particularly as with number two on the way, this sort of time is so precious. We have little planned besides relaxing in our apartment, sleep-ins, enjoying the free in-house movies, visiting the beach, possibly taking a boat cruise, exploring the hinterland and eating ourselves silly in all the gorgeous restaurants, including picking the poshest nicests restaurant we desire for our wedding anniversary dinner. Bliss!

Anyone that has a toddler will know that relaxing, sleeping during the daylight hours, watching movies and eating out for longer than 30 mins comes rarely, unlike when you were a couple pre-children. So it's going to almost be weird to get to do it again!




Only three days until we head off and I am looking forward to packing "nice" clothes - living on a farm tends to reduce the number of nice outfits you get to wear in a week! I also have a number of lovely silk tops that I am pretty careful of when wearing near an eating Elka so it will be nice to swan about in them, only having to worry about my own food spillage (which admittedly happens quite a bit too lol).

I picked up a nice big new memory card for my new camera today so I am set to play and take lots of pics. Stay tuned!
xoxo

I am now officially less than a year away from 30! Gulp!

I had a nice low key birthday - unlike most people it seems, judging by the comments, I was quite happy to go to work on my birthday. I mean a lot of my friends are there anyway! We went out for lunch too which is always a nice way to spend a work day :)

I was woken by my lovely hubby and about five interesting shaped gift wrapped boxes. Much to my delight he had spoilt me with a Nikon SLR camera and multiple lenses to go with it! I used to take photography and actually topped it in high school and have lamented that my old SLR was not digital for many years. Any reader of this blog would now that the snap shots I post are hardly anything quality. So its just wonderful to have something to play with again and I have high hopes that I can at least take some decentish photos when I get the hang of it!

We finished my birthday with a nice dinner out, little Elka was a well behaved angel. Finally there was the perfect end to a birthday, with a white chocolate mud cake. Not to mention that my little princess learnt how to say "Happy Birthday Mummy" and to sing "Happy Birthday" for me!

We will finish the celebrations next week with my family as they are coming up to mind Elka whilst Jase and I go on our wedding anniversary holiday. Hopefully I can document the holiday beautifully with the new camera!

Alas due to long hours at work I haven't had much time to play with the SLR yet but I did take a few shots while Elka and I fed the animals this evening, despite the failing light.. (I suspect this is the first of many photos you will be subjected to!)

I have been very unsure about the bathroom colours for our new ensuite - I have toyed with charcoal and white but our house is not about modern - its sort of french country and very bright and light. Our extension includes a wall of sliding glass doors in the living area and white plantation shutters in the new master bedroom so its continuing the bright light theme.

This bathroom really jumps out at me and would match what we are thinking for the bedroom style... Maybe not such a modern style vanity and we are not having a bath - rather a double head shower area and then a toilet with seperate door at the other end. But the vanity and window are in the exact spots ours will be...

I am not a huge fan of Valentines Day. Although, I was a hopeless romantic in High School, I think I mooched and wallowed my way into realism at university. That and the fact that I have an amazing relationship where we show love everyday and don't need someone to tell us what day to do it. I get very spoilt with flowers - I get them alot :) and I don't really like chocolate... and my hubby has bought me numerous diamonds and little blue boxes full of bling. Plus we have date night where we cook delicious meals for each other most Saturday nights. Yep loved up, you don;t really need to hear it all :)

But in confession time - every Valentines day, I get this twinge of guilt. You know that Kate Miller Heike song "Caught in the Crowd"? Well that kind of captures my guilt about being a High School lemming over being a decent person.

In year 11 I think (?), I had a rose delivered to me in class on Valentines Day from a Secret Admirer. Now we had a rose delivery service set up at school for Vday but basically the only people really using it were the couples. So it was a big stir that someone had actually used it to deliver a true confession of "love"! I was more than a little thrown, I had absolutely no clue - I knew that my current crushes were not reciprocated at the time so that left well....anyone! I had to carry that rose around all day and home on my hour long bus trip and face all the stares and sniggers. Standing out in High School for anything was never really ideal was it - and well I felt singled out!

Now in hindsight as an adult - I should have felt flattered and even chuffed but no as an awkward teenager, really I was just embarassed. So fast forward a few days when it comes out to everyone in my year who the rose sender was - he revealed himself I guess realising that I wasn't asking questions or searching for him (rather pretending nothing had happened was my plan!). Now I didn't really know him - in my year but never in any of my classes bar one and I had never spoken one word to him. So I was pretty shocked when I was told who it was. What was worse - I was embarassed that it was him :( He had been picked on in past years and wasn't one of the more "popular" boys.

So I continued to ignore the situation (that was my approach to a lot of my love life in high school - hmm such a mature approach) and was actually ticked off by one of the "pretty and popular" girls for being rude to him by not acknowledging the gesture. Well did that make me feel 2 cm tall - if someone that most of us thought was pretty self-obsessed could say hey you are being shitty, then I was really being a horrible person wasnt I!

So days later, I rushed into an empty classroom where he was, mumbled some sort of brief thank you and raced away. I think they were the last (and only!) words I honestly said to him in the remaining 2 years of high school. I bet he was wishing he hadn't wasted his $10 on a rose for me forever after!

And I still feel rotten for it! If only I had thought more about his feelings and less about everyone elses opinions, then I would have been a decent person and thanked him for such a sweet gesture and maybe even been his friend. God high school was angst ridden wasn't it!

So yeah single red roses make me feel a little bit like a crappy person sometimes!

But you have to learn from your mistakes don't you.. and I try so hard to not judge people as an adult and to give everyone a fair go and a smile.

Enjoy your Valentines Day whatever shape or form or lack of celebration it might take!
xoxo

Hot

The new top and bracelet cuff I bought today - retail therapy is the best.

Getting my hair done on Satuday - 3 hours of sitting still without a toddler climbing me and getting to read magazines sounds pretty fab. Oh and of course the additional bonus of getting nice hair and tidied eyebrows out of it lol

Work - having organised a Communicable Diseases Forum that went off without a hitch this week and singlehandly guiding two research students through 8 week projects that were presented to Australia Zoo as excellent seminars, I am feeling fairly accomplished for the time being! Not to mention, currently have three new papers in draft which I am hoping will be published soon...

My new fringe necklace - its super cute on! A new fave.

Realising that its less than 5 days until my birthday and less than 2 weeks until our babymoon/wedding anniversary holiday! Very excited about 4 nights minus the toddler - sleep ins and long restaurant splurges - joy!

Also realising that Jase and I are celebrating 5 years of wedded bliss - life only gets better and better! We are also marking 10 years of being together in May - wow a decade.


Not

Maternity jeans - YUK!!! Yet to find a pair that a remotely stylish on me - why are they all stuck like 5 seasons ago and are all boot cut?

Getting kicks to the cervix - ouch bubs!

The obs thinking I am anemic and might explain the dizziness.. although not all bad really as at least that is fixable..

Waiting for council approval for our house extensions, am expecting so much bad news when it comes to council. Also need to fork out lots more cash soon! Its not been a cheap exercise so far, just keep telling myself that we will be living on our huge deck enjoying the view over the dam by spring and the pain will recede from our memories (that is until we start the next stage of the next deck and pool urgh!)

Must get inspired to start buying the baby items we need... I hate baby stores! Strange for somone that loves shopping so much but true

Chatting to my mum on the phone this morning and I am ideally running my hand down the back of my leg.. and I feel a bumpy bit. I think hmm since when did I have a patch of cellulite there!?

oh no its not cellulite, its a massive purple varicose vein on my lower back of thigh!!! I am thinking "Eww eww" accompanied by "oh my god I have been wearing short shorts all summer!!" and then swearing at the pregnancy gods that are surely laughing at me. God I am not even 29 yet, surely my short skirt and mini shorts wearing days are not over yet!

To top it off, hubby doesn't even look surprised when I tearly tell him which makes me suspicious. "You knew it was there!" I say to him!
Yep he did, apparently he didnt think it would help to point it out. Can't really blame him lol but at the same time I feel like the last person to know! And its my body! Being a basketball and unable to twist much does slow you down from inspecting the posterior part of your body really, but I think its pretty new, cause I only shaved my legs recently and didnt notice it.

So after some assurance from hubby that I can have as much cosmetic surgery as I want when bub is out (he is helpfully suggesting a boob lift and increase at the same time, not the best timing Mister!) and some googling that assures me that its mostly pressure on my pelvic artery causing it (and my damn on-my-feet all day job) and that it should improve post pregnancy, I am feeling a little calmer. But I think the back of my legs have a date with some fake tan until my confidence improves hehe

Miss Elka had her first haircut from a hairdresser today. She was very confused when I was trying to explain it to her as I normally do it, so she kept going to the bathroom and waiting by the drawer with the scissors. But once it sunk in it that it involved a trip to the shops (her favorite place!) she was all ready and raring to go!

I had to show a pic of her getting ready - she currently has to take her handbag with her set of keys and water bottle in it with her when we go out, she also likes to jam her bunny in there as well and she also insists on taking a "book for the car" if we are driving. So she doesn't travel much lighter than me! Typically she is happy to carry all this stuff out but I invariably end up juggling it with everything else back in from the car when we get home lol! But its so cute!



She was quite excited at the hairdressers and loved the mirrors everywhere. She was a big girl and quite happy to sit up on the padded board across the seat so that she didnt have to sit on my lap. She loved the cloak and just cacked herself laughing the whole time which had the hairdresser struggling to keep a straight face. This was alternated with staring into the mirror and checking that I was still next to her - not leaving much time for keeping her head still for the haircut!


She had layers cut into the front to try and eliminate some weight around her face - she takes after both Jase and I and has oodles of hair! But best bit ever in her books was getting sparkle spray on her hair at the end - I felt a bit like a stage mum pushing around a 20month old bub covered in glitter but hey it made her happy!
You can see the twinkles of glitter in her hair here.

It was quite the girls day out for her as she also scored a new outfit, two new pairs of shoes ( a leather pair that I wanted for her and a plastic fantastic sparkly pair that she wanted - we are about compromise lol), a book, some cartoon character plastic plates and some toy boxes. The plates were the stand out winners, so I got to push a child around the shops licking her empty plates and had to rush home so that she could have lunch off them!

But I did spoil myself with a fringe necklace - have been mildly obsessed with them since blogging about them recently. Most were too long and sparkly for me but this one fitted me just right :)

Hehe I had to put this update off as I have been really sick and I was in so much pain and discomfort that I could't think of anything nice to say about this stage of pregnancy! But all the sickness and pain seemed to evenuate into a lovely viral gastro which thankfully passed and now I am back to feeling good again - blessed relief!

But there is my big old tummy that has had a decent growth spurt this week - I am as big as I was at 30 week with Elka! My bump has started getting in the way, getting whacked into things and I am constantly spilling things on my clothes - I am just not used to being such a wide/long load! Twice I have gotten home from work and noticed that in the mirror I have stains on my clothes under the bump where I can't possibly see lol. I am becoming a hot mess!

Yesterday was one of THOSE days - any lady who has been pregnant will understand - I was public property. Every single person I passed, spoke to or even didn't, felt like they wanted to comment on how big my stomach was. I got asked if I was sure it wasn't twins.. if I had a pillow up my dress and also got told that I must be 7 months pregnant rather than 5 months. I know everyone means well but comments enmasse tend to get to you. Imagine if everybody you saw commented on your *insert body part* constantly - it eventually makes you feel so self concious... Its strange because at the same time obviously I love my bump and love "showing" and of course I am puitting my belly pic up here for public comment - its a bit of a strange contradiction but I think all pregnant women experience it!

I am getting Braxton Hicks on and off and bubs is really kicking me in the cervix at the moment. I am feeling pretty good besides tired from being ill and my tummy is very tight and makes it hard to bend over comfortably etc. I have noticed that I am struggling to carry Elka now - her legs can't really wrap around me anymore.

I have put on 8kg so far - my weight gain was jumping up for awhile there but I have sat at 65kg for a few weeks now. I am craving fresh fruit which probably helps. Also loving pasta though! I still feel pretty nauseous in the mornings unfortunately but its nothing like what it used to be.

Elka loves to kiss and pat the baby bump which is so cute. We have done NOTHING to prepare for this bub - I really need to organised! We are holding off organising the new nursery until the house extensions are underway as our master bedroom will become the new spare bedroom freeing our current spare bedroom for the new nursery. I have plans but am not feeling as "nesty" as last time - I think cleaning constantly after a toddler tends to satisfy the nesting urges lol.

The heat is really knocking me this time around - its been upwards of 36 degrees for alot of the last few weeks - we have had a few cooler rainy days since and its been bliss. All that extra blood pumping around definitely makes it hard to keep your body temperature down!

All in all its going well, although I am constantly surprised at just "how pregnant" I already feel - get reminders of the 30 weeks feelings quite often! I think its worse knowing what you are in for ;)
But I am craving horseriding so much at the moment - so I just have to keep plodding through, before I know it I will be back on annoying my horses!