Love, bubs and life on our little farm

Seriously who springs a hens night, nay a COSTUME hens night on someone 5 days before it is scheduled?! 

That is what has happened to me - its interstate and requires dressing up in 1920's theme. Feel free to throw suggestions my way. I might also point out I go back to work tomorrow and I have zilch free time or shopping hours. Soooo at this stage I am thinking of wearing a column shaped beaded lack dress with long beads, a beaded headband with some feathers and some stacked black heels that do up with a button and channel the 20's somewhat.. thank god I already have a bob haircut hehe


Mild annoyance at dropping a themed party in my lap on my last day of holidays aside, I am am muchly looking forward to a cocktail party and girls night out dancing. I am guessing I am going to need a few drinks after this week back at work nursing my damaged finger and a huge workload....

The holidays were brilliant and I am almost feeling recharged but also a little sick at thinking how much needs to be achieved in the next couple of months, not to mention the fact that Jase is acting in his bosses position for the next few weeks so he will be working ridiculous hours. No easing into this year it seems!

It has been a busy year - no where as crazy as last year with the whole having a baby and extending our house but still very intense.

It has been Year of the Career - with both Jase and I dealing with promotions and really throwing ourselves into being the best. I went back from Maternity leave to find myself made head of a lab with three scientists and one technician to manage... part time. I bumped my work days up to 4 and with overtime etc I have been working well over 5 days of hours a week. Jase has had a lot of national, international and statewide travel - sometimes on one to two work trips a week. I have learnt to juggle the two girls, long hours at my work, the farm and working at night and despite a number of people telling me it wasn't sustainable, have been fine although it has involved learning to function on 6 hours sleep a night.

We have taken our house extension/renovation from new and empty to a lovely homely house - staining decks and french doors, adding furniture, wall hangings and electrical items, putting up curtains, landscaping driveways, planting new gardens and building over 20 metres of new retaining walls. Our home and land are lovely, it is know everything we dreamed it could be five years ago when we bought it (besides the pool, outdoor woodfired pizza oven/kitchen and extended horse arena that are our next dream projects) and I am so content when I walk around soaking up the peace and quiet of the snowy gum trees waving over our dams.

Before

After (and curtains have been added since!)

I sold my competition horse as his bad hoof was just not holding up to the unforgiving hard paddocks on our property. He is now a much loved Pony Club horse on the Sunshine Coast and looks wonderful. I had a difficult hunt for a new horse, requiring 100kms of driving, vet checks and aborted sales before I finally found the perfect horse 5 minutes down the road, unadvertised, sold through word of mouth of a horse friend.

We had our first flying holiday with the girls to Sydney and Jase and I enjoyed some weekends away to ourselves thanks to my parents babysitting. I visited Tasmania for a conference, Jase had a surprise work trip to Paris. We had interstate friends come and stay and have planned a number of trips for next year already. We threw a New Years party to kick off the year, hosted our combined 30th Birthday party and had a Teddy Bears Picnic themed Birthday for the girls 1st and 3rd Birthdays.

The girls have grown and grown. Bronte has  changed from a 6 month old baby barely crawling to a independent communicating 18 month old. We have taken her through hearing aid fittings, umpteen hearing tests, endless speech pathology and a general anaesthetic cat scan on her head. She is developing on target for a child of her age with normal hearing, and that is all we can ask for. We have been through all the preparation for Elka to start school in a short three weeks - hard to believe we are that stage.

The difference a year makes

The girls have discovered what it means to have a sister - being the best of friends and the worst of enemies. I love having two little kids rather than babies - they constantly delight me with their little quirks and funny mannerisms. I am excited to watch them both continue to develop into little people in the next year.

Sisters

We were blessed with good health - my broken finger is as serious as our injuries and sickness have been. We were spared the worst of the SE Qld floods thanks to a new dam being built on our river system the year before. We did suffer some trees down in some severe storms but no structural damage.

Life has been very good to us. We work damn hard for it but we wholeheartedly appreciate all that we do have. I believe in siezing every moment and making the most of it. And I can say we truly have done that this year.

2012 is a year concentrating on our health - we want to make sure we are eating fresh foods, concentrating on balanced nutrition and taking time for exercise. We have a lovely holiday to the Great Barrier Reef planned for our wedding anniversary (7 years!) and another couples-only weekend away booked for a friends wedding. We are planning on taking the kids on a family trip to Canberra and surrounds to see old friends. We are also thinking of another short trip to Sydney. Jase and I both have work trips already booked for the first few months of 2012 and of course more to come, our careers are only advancing not slowing down. I have a number of publications currently submitted and more to write. I have two Masters students to supervise as well as all my staff. I plan to get this finger healed and get some time to compete my new horse. We have plenty more landscaping plans for the property and gardens to fill with plants. Elka starts school and I have to adapt my working schedule to accomodate this somewhat. Bronte will turn two and we will face the parenting challenges that come with that.

But right now - well its time to get off the computer and get into a party dress as we will be heading to a New Years Party very soon!

Happy New Year to all my followers :) Thank you for all of your support and great comments xoxo

So prior to Christmas I had a fall whilst showjumping - I ended up with a mild concussion that included nausea, passing out and blurred vision and speech. I also had a terribly sore and swollen finger from getting it caught in the reins as I fell. I am no stranger to falling from horses - showjumping and Cross Country tends to result in higher chances of falls during high speed air-bourne maneuvers. But I tend to land on my feet - years of practice you could say! So I was yet to have a fall on the hard clay paddocks we have here. And now that I have, I discovered two things - One, its way harder than the soft volcanic soil of the Byron Hinterland where I grew up and Two, you just don't bounce like you did when you were a teenager!

  So I tucked myself into bed expecting to feel better in the morning, like I always did. And I did - the concussion anyway! But my finger only got worse, so swollen the skin was pulled tight and shiny and it turned black and red. I have a high pain threshold but I was struggling to do things with the girls and the farm and with looming public holidays, I decided it was time to visit a GP clinic. Long story short, he immediately sent me for X-rays, where they found a fracture in the middle joint and I was sent to hospital to check for tendon damage. I was in a sling and bound up. I "rested" as much as any mother of little kids on a farm who is hosting Christmas can (ie not much) and got increasingly frustrated at the constant pain and lack of improvement in the finger.

I was asked to visit the outpatient clinic today at the hospital and the orthopedic registrar was also not impressed with the state of the finger. So off I went for more X-rays, more waits and more orthopedic consultants. Lo and behold, they found that in the top joint, the tendon had torn from the bone and pulled away a piece of bone at the same time. A "mallet fracture"
Untreated - it results in a permanent droop and bend in the finger as the tendon is over stretched and won't reattach properly. Treatment - 6-8 weeks of being splinted and taped, that CANNOT be removed, not even for showers. One bend of the finger without the splint in that 6-8 weeks puts you back at day 0 with 6-8 weeks of treatment again. Wow. This is going to be tough. It is my right hand and I am a molecular biologist - all I do is write formulas and calculations, pipette tiny volumes, open small tubes, handle highly infectious bacteria wearing tight gloves (double layers!) and write reports and documents. Nevermind that I have two kids under four and a farm full of animals, including my new young horse in training. And my birthday, wedding anniversary and two beach holidays away in that time. Aaarrrghh.

The pain of the finger being bent straight is nothing to the pain of being told you are useless and can't do anything. Sigh.

Of course, could be way worse. But definitely not what I had planned for my two weeks of holidays!

Life always has a way of throwing you something unexpected!

Broken finger and all, it was a gorgeous Christmas. It all started with a peaceful Christmas Eve (although Jase and I were exhausted from a very stressful night before - but that is a whole blog post in itself!), with family arriving all day to settle in for the celebrations. Our farm work and landscaping was completed and we enjoyed grabbing a few last minute groceries, soaking up the chaos and christmas spirit before settling onto the deck for sparkling wine and cheese platters.

We tucked two super excited girls into bed at a respectable hour before we knuckled down to cooking the Christmas dessert (me) and constructing the piece de resistance Santa present, the trampoline (Jase and the other men). I found the horses in the dark paddock to get them to leave bite marks in the carrots left out for the reindeer and cajoled my Dad into eating the bright green xmas tree biscuit Elka had left out for Santa. Jase and I marvelled at just how much we had spoilt the kids when we packed up their Santa sacks and stockings before we all fell exhausted into bed.

It was delightful to be woken by the happy voice of Elka exclaiming that Santa had bought her bubbles, but it wasn't so delightful that it was 5.20am! However, we somewhat blearily watched the girls dig through their presents, laughing at Miss Elka peering into her Santa sack and announcing that "oh Santa hasn't given me a trampoline". We constructed an excuse to get her to the back door where she stood in shock looking at her shiny new trampoline before turning to us with tears in her eyes - it was beautiful.

We had Jase's family tradition of ham and eggs for breakfast (doesn't go quite so well with my family tradition of a two course hot lunch but I guess excess is somewhat suitable at Christmas!) before finally tucking into the massive pile of presents overflowing far from under the tree. I was spoilt with a great new laptop, Peter Alexander Pjs, a one-off handmade art-deco bracelet, perfume, dayspa voucher, Horseland voucher, expensive eye cream, books and so on, so on.

My big hot lunch was a success - the lemon and garlic butterflied lamb was the biggest hit although the turkey served with roasted plums was a pretty close second, the fetta, pancetta and green bean side was delicious and the Christmas trifle was lovely. The french champagne way too easy to drink and we settled in for an afternoon of chatting and laughing at the girls playing with their million and one presents.

We finished the celebrations with Boxing Day at the sales (I scored a great Cue dress and some lovely Forever New shoes for over 50% off). And we are now throughly enjoying the quiet of our holidays, we have hit the beach, met with friends and have plans to spend tomorrow at Dreamworld as a treat for the girls. I can't believe it is almost time to think about New Years! I haven't even picked an outfit for the party we are going to!

Christmas is just magical with little kids and I was ever mindful of just how lucky I am to have such a peaceful celebration with my healthy family. Sometimes I feel like I can't contain my appreciation, like my heart is just overflowing.

Such a blessed Christmas.

There is something about looming holidays that all of a sudden make you impatient and discontent with the status quo. I am on call over the Christmas break this year so I have taken a one weeks holiday before Christmas instead. I love the build up to Christmas with my little ones as I savour their excitement, so I am really looking forward to our little break.

Even better, we organised for my parents to take the girls for the weekend before Christmas, so we can enjoy wandering the shops buying their presents in peace.

EVEN better, Jase has booked us a 5 star hotel in the city so that we can shop until we drop... or feel like eating and drinking ourselves stupid in the executive club. Its a surprise for me - I have no idea which hotel he has booked, always nice to be spoilt! So much to look forward to - that is only the beginning.

But as a result, the long hours at work I am currently doing with a number of my staff away and the large amount of work travel Jase is squeezing into the last few work weeks, is really wearing on me. I am fighting to not show my short temper to innocent bystanders!

So much to fit into the last 2.5 weeks until our break but at the same time, how I wish the time would fly!

I always wanted a kitten but my Dad hated cats and always said no. So when I moved out of home at 17 for uni, my Mum took me to the RSPCA and bought me a cat for my early 18th birthday present. It made her happy to know that whilst she was leaving her little girl alone 1000kms from home, that I would have something to love and care for.

I walked the cages and looked at all the sweet tiny kittens but I got distracted by a 6 month old cat that climbed the wire to my eye height to get my attention and miaowed plaintively. I asked to hold him and he snuggled up to my chest and delicately picked up my crystal pendant in his mouth. He was soft grey and had strength in his eyes, I was hooked. So rather than choosing my own cat, I think I got chosen instead! I didnt leave with the intended tiny ball of fluff but rather a nearly full grown cat, such was his power. I called him Ferdinand after the gentle bull in the cartoons, since he was big but sweet, he became "Ferdie" immediately.

And while I spent long lonely afternoons and nights studying through my early years of uni, he purred from my lap or the side of my desk in my in-tray. He snuggled with me through the freezing cold Canberra nights and later he glared evilly at Jase, unimpressed with having to share me.

He made my life difficult at times - he wee'ed on my poor housemate in her bed on one of her first nights in the house and numerous times afterwards (sorry Dana!) Before they made their peace and became firm snuggle buds on the lounge watching day time tv whilst hardworking Science students were slogging away in the laboratory (aah to be a Law student with like 16 contact hours a week). He made enemies with my Dad including using a timber edge to one of their doorways as a scratching post to the point it was just splinters whilst they were babysitting him for me whilst I was overseas. He has also always been a vomiter - I have long lost count of the number of vomits I have cleaned or stepped in, in the middle of the night.

He made the transition from an indoor-outdoor cat to a strictly indoor cat when we moved to Qld and did it with good grace. I am happy that all our lovely native animals are safe and he is happy to not have to stray far from his food bowl and warm spot on any bed/lounge/carpet that he chooses.

He is still narky and full of spirit and though after 11 years has accepted Jase into the fold, is still a one owner cat. I am the only one that can hold him down or trim his claws without fireworks. He still snuggles on my side of the bed and jumps up for cuddles on my lap every evening.

He is about to turn 13 and still has his gorgeous silky grey coat and still gallops through the house darting at shadows, but he is showing his age and has lost a lot  of weight and is drinking a lot of water. My heart aches at this indication of his mortality.

So I took him to the vet today for an array of blood tests to get to the bottom of potential thyroid issues or kidney problems. Of course the child in me is convinced I can "fix" him and that he will celebrate his 21st birthday like my bosses cat did.

Sometimes all you have is positive thought really. But I just don't know what life will be like without him.

Shoulder bags are in - they are so cute. They remind me of the late 80's/early 90's when Mum let me use her old handbags to take shopping and they would swing away on my shoulder. I am between bag designers currently and looking for something in a mid range price - not too cheap that every designer loving bogan wears it, but not too expensive that I can't update when I want to. Marc by Marc Jacobs bags are catching my eye at the moment but with Christmas and a few nice surprises coming up (I will update soon!) I am reluctant to spend on myself... so I just virtual shopped instead (and they all currently on sale, I am even virtually saving money Jase!)

Marc by Marc Jacob

Prada, darling

My current pick - Marc by Marc Jacob

A beautiful little girl has been on my mind a lot lately. Her story is here. I watch my girls play and I just shake my head whilst trying to fathom the raw cruelty that life can become sometimes.

Somehow being a molecular biologist and understanding this disorder at the cellular level makes it exquisitely more heartbreaking.

Sportsgirl's Pippa Sundress

Something about warm weather makes me want to wear fresh stripes - so classic and elegant. I love this little dress from Sportsgirl.

I hit Myer on the weekend with a few gift vouchers burning holes in my wallet and came away with a lovely red striped sundress with a rope belt - very sweet and casual. Can't beat dresses for ease in the holiday season! I also got a coral Tokito dress that will be perfect for a party and some Christmas drinks that I have coming up.


And I finally found my crisp white shirt - Tokito had a lovely little version with ruffled sleeve details and a sweet round neck with buttons and a filagree bottom. Perfect for dressing up for work or dressing down with some tailored shorts. 


And thanks to the gift vouchers, I didn't spend a cent. Best kind of shopping! 


My current shopping challenge is finding elegant tailored shorts in khaki - all the ones I have seen so far are too slouchy and casual. Any suggestions?

Strawberry blonde now

My littlest one is nearly 18 months old. She has hit that stage where they grow up really quickly and leave babyhood behind.

She hops up on her little lounge next to Elka's or I see her perched up on her little chair at their little table eating away with her fork, and I just marvel at how quickly it flies by.

But I love having two kids rather than a toddler and a baby. You can do so much more - both with them and independently. I can finally feed the horses and chickens at night while they play in the front yard without screaming and tantrums. Aahh the little things that make your day better.

She couldn't be more different to Elka - right down to the fact that they eat opposite things! She is more of a loner, but does have the same stubborn independent streak. She can be quite precious and easy to upset but at the same time can be very rough and tumble. She does adore her older sister and loves to mimic her, even standing behind a tantruming Elka copying the arm folding and gesticulating which had Jase and I struggling to keep a straight face.

Her favourite toys include the dolls and strollers, and she could push her little corn popper ride on thing around for hours on the driveway. She likes to paint and draw with her sister, but isn't too fussed by books - we struggle to get her to sit still long enough for even the shortest books. She would happily spend all day outside feeding the ducks and exploring the yards. She screams and tantrums when its time to come inside as I try to wrestle her beloved little work boots off her feet. She has also started that fun stage of racing away at the shops and insisting on walking alone without holding your hand.

She is the only child I know that doesn't like swings. She screams and whines if you dare to put her on one! But she adores slippery slides instead.

She has been slow in developmental milestones in comparison to Elka (I know I shouldn't compare but what else do I have as experience!) and I do have a little bit of a worry on this occasionally. But Elka was always at the top of the curve and I have to remind myself that its still well within normal to be slower. I do stress over her language as Elka was talking at this age and Bronte is only just expanding her vocabulary past Mum/Dad/Bub etc. However she sees a speech pathologist who specialises in hearing impaired children monthly and the speechie assures me that Bronte is very advanced in her comprehension and that her language is still right on track for non-hearing impaired child. So nothing to worry about really (and I do keep telling myself that). I am pleased that she now wears her hearing aids without pulling them off - she does whinge when she sees me get them out to put in her ears, but that is because she has to sit still while I fit them!

I am not the only one that is aware that Bronte is a little less mature. Daycare have not put her up to the toddler room yet, whereas some of the younger kids have already "graduated" out of the nursery. Bronte can be a little bit touchy with change and she loves her carers in the nursery. They are slowly getting her accustomed to the new carers with hour long visits to the toddler room but its been a slow process.

So that is my Miss B - a little tricky but a little character when she trusts you. I am excited for the next few months as I know she is going to become a real little girl!

I am currently procrastinating from organising our digital photos for printing. So here is the confession - I have not had photos printed since Bronte was 3 weeks old - she is almost 1.5 years old now!! How bad is that!

Tell me I am not the only one that puts off getting photos printed (I even do it online, it shouldn't be that much of a chore!) - confess and make me feel better!

And yes I am sure some of it is also poor second child syndrome - with Elka we had photos printed often and framed. Bronte's baby book is still devoid of a single picture! But all that will change... I am off to do it!

So since the house extension finished, our front driveway has looked a little sad - it was a major worksite for 5 months and had tonnes of crushed gravel etc dumped on it. The horse fences had all been pulled down to let the big machinery have access to the house and we had just put up temporary wire and star pickets, not a great look. Not to mention that we added new cut and fill to the edge of the house pad, which needed finishing off.

Jase and I walked the site for months, planning (and arguing as we always do about landscaping!) until we had decided on where to position the new post and rail fencing, where to put the fill, where to put new retaining walls, positions of new gardens and what we wanted out of resurfacing and changing the angles on the existing drive around driveway. We finally took the leap a month or so ago, as we wanted it all sorted before the Spring-Summer storms played havoc with mud and drainage.

A nearby neighbour, who is a dab hand on his earthmovers did the resurfacing and addition of fill to the edge of our house pad so we could finally access both bays of our new carport (yay!!). We had to change the colour of our decon-granite driveway as the old quarry had shut down but we are happy with the new colour thankfully.

And Jase has been working hard every weekend after his crazy long weeks of work and work trips (such a good sport) to construct lovely post and rail fences and new retaining wall/planter boxes to terrace the new fill drop off. Next on the list are a set of steps, a new garden and yet more retaining walls. If I am lucky, I get a horse wash bay built too - lovely!

It's looking good but there is so much more to do (not to mention the new entry fences Jase has also built for the top of our property that still need painting) - its always a work in progress really isn't it!

Here are some great Before and Afters - can't wait till the planter boxes are all filled with soil and planted in and the new garden is started!

I am a sucker for dusty pink and anything ladylike. So I am loving this sweet but elegant look from Witchery. I have some amazing pearl earrings that my Mum bought from the Met in New York and they would finish this look off perfectly. (I am not a fan of the bag though, I just can't do too matchy matchy).

This look is reminding me that I want a new crisp clean white button up shirt for Summer - the sleeveless look makes it that little bit less dressy which is always fun.