Love, bubs and life on our little farm

As much as I tend to record the hecticness of our life - lets face it, it is more interesting to write about something than nothing! We do actually try to make sure our weekends have time that revolves around the girls.

We buy annual theme park passes every year and love to squeeze visits into the weekends whenever we can.

This year is the triple park pass which was perfect timing as Seaworld has just brought in a Dinosaur display and Miss Elka is doing Dinosaurs at school at the moment. She wasn't too keen on the life size feature nor the moving and roaring some of them did but she did warm up to it. I managed to scare the pants off Bronte by "raahing" behind her ear when she didn't realise I was there - whoops.

Not sure about these moving dinosaurs but determined to have a picture to take to school!

But Miss B is my daredevil - only just two but she holds her own with the big kids, scootering, trampolining, walking alone and refusing to hold your hand EVER and.... climbing ropes three stories above the ground. She led the way with a more timid Elka following along behind.


And then she piloted a plane up high in the sky with nothing but grins.

My amazing little one with big beaming smiles for Mum

I love this girl - with hearing aids in both ears, she is going to need to be tough and plucky. And I have no doubts she will leave them all for dead and make it cool at the same time.

I have been quiet on the blogging front - since I got back from my US trip, well I was jet lagged hideously and back at work within 24 hours of hitting Australian soil, Jase left immediately for a work trip (high five for tagteam parenting), I had three days to finish organising my girls joint birthday party and had my young horse at a competition the day after that. So you can guess what happened next? Uh-huh I got SICK and then sick and then sick for a 3rd time, and then Bronte was sick so I had to take time off work and Jase had lots of work travel, oh and I had the biggest microbiology conference of the year to attend (and had nine different presentations with my name on it, yes nine!). And more other little things and big things that I won;t bore you with listing...

And now my lecturing starts, I have a new Masters student plus my current two and I agreed to take a Honours student, I had all of my staff's yearly reviews to complete, three manuscripts to edit and write, I have been invited to give a guest seminar for Aus Society of Micro and am an organiser for Science Week. Stupid.Busy.

And I have dressage competitions, Bronte's speech pathology and hearing tests, Elka has school events that require costumes (!), a horse arena complete with council approval to organise, I have an abdominal ultrasound to try and find time to schedule (no I am not pregnant and no the Dr was not impressed when I said I wouldn't be able to squeeze it in for a few weeks lol), Jase is heading to the US for a work trip and then we have our own little interstate holiday with the kids to sort.

So blogging was the last thing I felt like doing when I opened the laptop at night to try and write lectures and veg on facebook.

But bit by bit, I have got my energy back and I feel like there is time for blogging.

So that is my update.  More to come!

I have been waiting for brooches to be back in for about 6 years! (yeah OK they never went out for Nannas)

Nothing beats a gorgeous brooch on a knitted top or on the lapel of a coat. I had a gorgeous plum cardigan with a teal jewelled brooch on it that I wore to death in my early twenties - loved it..

Well guess what is back on the runways! (Thank you What Would You Wear for the images)

And yes I have been missing in action - combination of busy life and missing my blogging mojo. But i think I feel like I want to blog again... stay tuned

I read an article title like that recently and inwardly groaned but I was glad I read further. Because this statement was said by Helen Fraser, the chief executive of the UK's Girls' Day School Trust at a conference and it really made me think.

She was arguing that career women need to beat the "nappy wall" these days rather than the "glass ceiling" and that in order to do this they need the right support from their partner. Helen was inspired by Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg who said, "The most important career choice you'll make is who you marry." (or not get to marry if you happen to be a women who likes other women but that is another whole post hey!).

You can check out an article about it here.

As a career women, a wife and a mother of little ones, I feel somewhat qualified to comment. And you know what, as much as I like to be independent and think I can do everything alone, I agree wholeheartedly that a supportive husband who respects and values my career has been essential to my success so far. A husband that does not let me indulge in that stupid label of "Mother Guilt"

And I want my girls to grow up to understand that they should also be ambitious in their requirements of a life partner. I want them to be able to have whatever career they choose, kids if they want and the love and cuddles at the beginning and end of their day from their loved one - and NO-ONE making them feel bad about trying to have their "all". They will get that lesson from me every day and more importantly their standards will be raised by seeing their father do exactly that.

May there be no nappy wall in their futures.

My training has been AMAZING - more amazing than travelling in the US on someone else's money, more amazing than beautiful historic buildings and great food and company. Although getting to meet like minded scientists from American states scattered from Alaska to Florida and getting to work with them intensely bonding over work that can kill you is a pretty close second - definitely builds strong relationships that have been very rewarding!

But we finished off today - exhausted, inspired and barely able to keep my eyes open, I decided to make the most of a spare Summers afternoon in Richmond, Virginia and go sightseeing.

It is a truly beautiful city - the Shockoe canal area is so vibrant and full of great bars, restaurants and cafes. We have had some great experiences at Ale houses, organic cafe's and Cuban club's so far.  Today, with the early mark, I soaked up the sun and watched the canal flow past whilst eating lunch near a funky cafe pumping out music, before jumping on a cruise.

Then thanks to my hotel being booked out by graduating high school students (and its a big hotel!) I had to move across town for my last night. I am now staying in the most amazing historic hotel made of restored row houses, built where Edgar Allan Poe grew up. It is fitted out with antiques loaned from the Richmond historical society and still has the slave quarters standing.

My room with real fireplace and huge bed and ceilings

The back of house of hotel - renovated row houses, these wooden verandahs are the access to your rooms and are very creaky, amazing - I feel like I am in old day Richmond!

View from my other hotel

The Capitol

Cruising the canel to look at Tobacco way - all the old tobacco warehouses have been renovated into amazing loft apartments - this is the old Lucky Strike warehouse

So I left home at 3am, June 2nd to catch my plane to the US for this work trip. When I snuck into my girls rooms to whisper goodbye to their angelic sleeping faces and stroke their warm soft hair one last time, I also silently wished my little Bronte a Happy Birthday.

As luck would have it, I had been booked to fly out on her birthday and so early I didn't get to spend any of it with her. I am sure I was sadder about it than she was, since it just meant she got two days of cake and fun, celebrating early with me and then Jase and Elka threw her a little celebration on her bday day.

So now I am trying to come to terms with the fact that the little cutie that is singing me twinkle twinkle over Skype is actually a two year old. Wow. But I think she will always be my baby, just like Elka will always be my special little first born.

My big girl

Unwrapping her helmet and bell for her big girl bike

She knew you had to blow but she was a bit keen and we hadn't had a chance to put the candles on yet!

Time for the real candle blowing out

Her bday "party" with Jase and Elka

Absolutely everybody comments on just how happy she is all the time. She is most definitely a little happy character with a devilish grin that no one can resist.

Happy Birthday my little one - can't wait to hug you as a 2 year old xo

Wow, one minute it was 3.30am and I was blearily packing the last few things in my bag (which I did a terrible job of - I forgot HEAPS!) and then it was a blur of 32 hours, five airports, four planes, airport lounges, rushed ticketing for boarding passes, a long desperate run for a plane changeover of only 10 minutes and more pat downs and security checks then I care to remember. And I found myself in Virginia, US.

In a lovely hotel room actually. In a gorgeous area full of cobblestone lanes,old fashioned street lamps, canals and old flour mills converted into apartments and restaurants.

But after only 3 hours plane sleep in 32 hours of travel - boy did I sleep deeply for 9 hours straight in the plump bed. I don't think I moved at all - probably also a left over habit from trying to sleep in a plane seat without bothering my neighbours...

This is my first time in the US and I am loving that it is all the cliches I expected - all fire hydrants, big yank tanks and copious amounts of inventive junk food - corn chips inside a cheese burrito anyone?!

I have also found that they are struggling to understand me with my accent, that I loathe sale tax preventing me from working out exact change to pay for things and that tipping is irritating. That LA was grey and ugly when I arrived but I saw a celebrity within 10mins of landing (OK so it was an Aus celebrity lol - Curtis Stone but still!), that they know how to build pretty homes in the country areas and that they are terrible at giving receipts which is going to make my work expense claim back a nightmare.

I went jogging this morning and loved the beautiful canal walks where the old buildings are being done up and where the city is embracing its creative art reputation with street art everywhere.

The canal walk

Some of the street art scattered amongst the old architecture

Then I hit the shops. It wasn't easy to get to them actually - it took two very expensive taxi rides as they are so far out of the CBD and had non-existent public transport (thanks to my personal taxi driver Ed, who drive back out 2.5 hours later to bring me back to the hotel, such a country sweetie!). And they don't open until midday on a Sunday - weird. But oh how I enjoyed them. Particularly as I left all my work pants at home and needed a full five days of work clothes for my workshop - good work me. I scored lovely work pants and a thicker cardigan (who told me it was 28 degrees here! Its not my version of Qld humid 28 degrees, brr! ) from Banana Republic, some great presents for the kids, a belt style I have been looking for in the shops for over 3 months now and then.... spoiled myself with the prettiest Michael Kors bag.

They do shopping centres, sorry "malls" well here - too pretty to walk fast through!

Oh Macy's - I am in love - and thanks to Mum for telling me to push for discounting!

My one little treat (well besides some duty free make-up, but that is practically a requirement!))

OK no more shopping - I have welcome drinks in 1 hours time for the course and then it is all work and no-play for the rest of the week until my free day in LA on the way home next Sunday..

I don't love too much spontaneity. My life is hectic and I roll from one thing to another but I like having it all timetabled and written into my diary.

So thanks to the chaos that is my work at the moment (aahh nothing like a change of gov to throw the cat among the pigeons), I got one weeks warning that my work trip to the US is a goer. So now I have 7 days to prepare for 11 days away - I am desperately sorting clothes, power plugs and organising maps and airport links. And trying to ignore the pangs of guilt - flying out on the morning of Bronte's second birthday, not even having time to have a cake with her pang, leaving the girls for the longest time I have ever left them pang, knowing how hard, tiring and lonely it is going to be for Jase pang. The girls were with the babysitter last night as Jase and I both had work functions to be at and I felt rotten that they went to bed without seeing me all day with only 7 days of trying to give them maximum love and cuddles pang.

Uurggh. Having a career and being a Mum - a minefield of emotional guilt trips.

Must really concentrate on the whole pro list. All expenses paid trip to two beautiful US cities to achieve one of my career goals I set a few years ago and was never sure I would get to ever tick off, not to mention the little bit of free time to explore and sightsee.

This is actually my third international trip paid for by work/study funding. I do feel very lucky. Though it is going to take over 24 hours and three flights, four airports to get me there - I am guessing that travelling sans children will feel so easy that I won't be too fussed lol

This is one of my hotels.


I have plans for shopping - a new handbag is on my list, and of course duty free scotch for the ever patient husband!

If I had a dollar for everytime someone said to me, "I don't know how you do it", well.... I would be buying myself a coffee every second day of the week.
 Normally, I internally shrug and think "what is there to 'do'? It's just life" But I am feeling a little worn out this weekend, like I haven't got much left and I have had those flashes of how/why do I do it.....

Bronte has been sick and Hubby and I had to tag team days off work to look after her. The list of things to to-do at home and at work has never felt longer - we spend hours a night working on work we have brought home from our jobs, the girls birthdays are 2 and 4 weeks away and so is their party. Elka's school is constantly demanding us to attend "parent events" during work hours that we struggle to find time to get to. I am possibly flying to the US for a work trip in 1.5 weeks time but am still yet to have the trip confirmed and flights booked, so I can't plan for me to be away properly. I have more work conferences than I care to think about in the next few months and they always manage to clash with Hubby's work events, so that involves organising our babysitter. I am supervising two Masters students (why did I agree to take two!) who need full time support and work reviewed. I have my second job lecturing at uni to squeeze in, preparing exam questions and marking assignments. I am trying to get my horse trained and up to competition standard, we are organising the major earth works to put a new arena in for me, building metres and metres of retaining walls for the new house extension area, we have huge gardens to care for and the paddocks and fences all need work. Hubby is trying to get fit and enter some marathons so he needs time to go for runs. The girls want to play with friends, do dance lessons and so on and we need to get them back into swimming lessons, let alone make time to see our friends. There are just not enough hours in the weekends for all of this.

There are not enough hours in the weekdays for that matter! In the evening, by the time we have arrived home, fed all the farm animals, the kids, played with them and put them to bed, prepared lunches for the next day, cooked dinner for the next night (since we get home late), done some work on our laptops, hit the gym weights and exercise bike and fallen into bed, it is 11.30pm and we finally get to chat and catch up.... to the loss of sleep. The kids have taken to waking us in the night to tuck them back in and then the alarm is unrelenting at 5.30am the next morning.

Recently, I have found myself wondering if life would be easier if we lived in a city suburban house with a tiny backyard that takes just 20 minutes to mow, that is only 10 minutes from shopping centres, the kids schools and not a monster commute to work. No farm animals to feed and rug, no fences to repair, no farriers to schedule, no bankrupting yourself to just buy the timber for one tiny piece of landscaping, no mud, no cleaning gutters to ensure your water tanks are clean for drinking, no watching the weather to worry about rain - just existing and "easy".

And then I get out of the car after my big commute and look out at the sun streaming through the gum trees, watch the girls delight in the joey jumping alongside the mother kangaroo up our driveway, hear the koalas grunting in the trees above the house, see my beautiful horses watching me expectingly and the ducks come waddling up from the dam, and laugh at the girls throwing on their gumboots and racing around the gardens or feeding the chickens.

And I wonder that "easy" might also feel a little empty in comparison.

This quote sums up what keeps me going...




And today - as busy as we were, we took the time to laugh at this idiot. My silly horse who is determined to annoy Hubby (having kicked him in the ribs last week) pulled up a plumbed in irrigation tap today and then was reluctant to hand it over. Life is never boring!

Not a sponsored post ( but would happily do one Revlon! Hehe).

 I am a lip gloss wearer from way back. I have happily worn my MAC lip glosses for years. Mainly because lip gloss is so easy, it goes on lightly and your lips feel great. I would always try to like lipstick but it would dry my lips or wear off unevenly and I would need to be near a mirror to keep checking it was not looking weird (uurgh when it wears off on the inside of your lips and not the outside - shudder!)

 But all of a sudden, I am wearing lipstick, lovely intense colours and they last - thank you Revlon ColourBurst Lip Butters. It is like lipstick and lip gloss had a baby - soft and easy to put on, shiny and wears off gently. No lip staining, wearing and bleeding. (Yes I sound like an ad but am really just so pleased!) I even put their bright red colour (Candy Apple - cute name!) on without a mirror and feel confident that it is all good. I love the boost of wearing red lipstick!

They are $22 each at Priceline but I snapped some up in the last buy one, get one free sale - bargain! This one below is Pink Truffle - I wear this nearly every day when I am not feeling boom-boom enough to pull of my cherry red lips.

 When was the last time you wore lipstick?

I am a big fan of the Bloggess. If you have never read her blog - do yourself a favour and read this post at the very least. And this one.


She makes me smile at the end of long tiring day. I have been impatiently waiting for her novel to be released and it has finally arrived. And it is good. I am torn between reading it slowly to make it last and devouring it as fast as possible. I think hubby wants me to go the fast option as he is waiting to read it after me.

well not really but I finally bowed to fashion pressure and bought a pair of coloured denim jeans. I am still unsure about them, they just smack of the mid 90s to me (or was I the only one getting around in coloured denim then? I wasn't well known for my style back then so I could have been), so I just grabbed a cheap pair from Cotton On ($40 too easy).








They fit snugly (for now) and I love the dark plum colour - I have a heap of cream, grey and black tops that are I am looking forward to wearing with them. I got a great zebra print scarf from Witchery in plums, creams and blacks which will get quite a run with these jeans, I think. Likewise, I have bought a cute pair of low motorcycle style ankle boots and they are great with skinny jeans.

I think I am selling this look to myself hehe.

Has anyone else embraced the coloured denim? Anyone brave enough to do the bright reds or blues?

A big thank you to all the lovely comments and well wishes from people about my loss of my best mate. I have been so busy and worn out and so flat and not feeling like blogging, hence the quiet. But I am starting to feel a little more motivated, although still time poor. I have had this post open for about 4 days trying to find time to write it. And a rainy Sunday afternoon, where we are all resting after an exhausting weekend of farm chores, seems pretty perfect.



I haven't updated on my little ones for a long time. Life is a blur and I do forget what they were like as they grown and change - my updates on my girls are my favourite posts to revist. Would you believe that Elka is 2 months away from turning 4 and Bronte is 2 months from turning 2? That time has flown.

They are great fun at this age though - they play together and boss each other around. I end up referring a lot of fights and tiffs over who owns which doll or so on, but at the same time, watching them hoik on their dress up handbags, shove a mobile phone to their ears each and wander off down the driveway pushing their doll strollers together is just the best.

Miss B is a social butterfly now, so far from the clingy little bub she was. If I had a dollar for EVERY person who says to me on a daily basis "Oh she is just so happy!" as she grins her crazy big smile at every stranger who gives her eye contact, I would have lots of spending money. I never get eye contact from shop assistants anymore as Bronte immediately engages them - its actually getting a little tiresome!
She has no fear or separation anxiety. Great for dropping her off to daycare, terrible in that she is a runner at shops - she will run away and not give two hoots that I can't find her. I often just stand at the doorway of larger shops and wait there so that I am confident she hasn't left the shop, as she is so hard to chase down. Needless to say, she gets strapped into the stroller a lot!
Her language has finally taken off, to my relief. She sees her speech pathologist who is happy with her development but she has been on the slow side of speaking. But she is now repeating most words back to us and she is quite clear with a lot of words and stringing words together. She is quite lazy with language as Elka tends to speak for her (typical second child syndrome!)
She leaves her hearing aids in most of the time. Although she can randomly pull one out and just drop it - we have lost one just recently this way.
She is very coordinated - spends most of her time outside playing. She can jump really well on the trampoline - both feet way off the mat, landing neatly. She even jumps up with her legs straight out and lands on her bum and jumps up again.
She adores music and songs. She will dance wildly anytime she hears any tune at all and loves singing Wheels On the Bus. She loves dancing to the Wiggles.
She is also a big bossy boots - at daycare if the teacher says Sit down, then she runs around repeating it at every kid who hasn't immediately sat down. She also checks everyone else's nappies.
She has learnt to do thumbs ups and if you ask if something was good, you get thumbs up from her, which is adorable!
Quite the little character, and with her strawberry blonde hair, pale skin and a sprinkle of gold freckles across her nose, terribly cute.


Elka is shining at school. She is getting very mature and helpful. She is a great little companion as she chatters away and has a wicked sense of humour. She doesn't miss a trick and takes advantage of any chance to get ahead. She had a handful of crunchy noodles the other day as a treat and was told "Only one handful", well she comes back to me and says all innocent big blue eyes "Bronte would like me to take her a handful". I say "No you will just eat them and I said no more for you". To which she denied it looking all injured. So I re neg and give her a handful. As soon as I do, her face lights up with a pleased grin and she says "Bronte will share with me!" as she races off to "share" with Bronte (who always does share, as Elka had counted on).
If i had any doubts about sending Elka to school early, then they would have been scrapped the other day when the teacher informed me that Elka was one of only three students that had progressed so well in her reading that she needed to go up a level of reader and we had to go into the back room to get special homework for her from now on. Since she is the youngest in her class, that was pretty impressive. She adores writing and reading , sport and drama - the intense curriculum really suits her. I am so pleased we made the decision we did.

The girls are just such a pleasure to care for - they play together for hours and I love how they communicate what they want. I marvel at how other people love babies and mourn their kids getting older. I LOVE them not being babies. I don't miss those baby stages at all.


We have taken the plunge and interviewed a babysitter. Our nearest family is over two hours away and we just don't get much help with juggling our out of work hours career commitments. The military precision that we have to compare our diaries and negotiate for each night who gets to work late, travel on a work trip or attend a networking event is almost comical. I moved some night lecturing to suit Jase who then promptly accepted another work commitment that clashed with my new dates. I was pretty unhappy (lol the mild description) and demanded that it was time we found someone local to help us. Well we are very happy with the sitter we found and she has her first night with the girls on Tuesday. I have never left them with anyone but family (besides daycare of course) and its a little scary but I am also relieved that we finally have some help when needed.

And that was a long update! Not sure if anyone but me will read this far :) but hey its recorded.

I have been offline a lot lately. My puddy cat, Ferdie passed away. He has been my companion for the last 13 years, bought for me when I moved out of home at 17 and saw me from a teen through my 20's into my 30's. He kept me company through long cold hours of uni study, was a member of our little family when I married Jase, moved to Queensland with me, reluctantly shared my side of the bed with two breastfeeding newborns and never failed to give my cuddles in the evenings with his beautiful purr. He was my beautiful velveteen rabbit, I loved patting his little velvet head. When I wrapped him up to bury him and realised that I would never get to pat that velvet patch ever again, my heart cracked a little. He died at home with me patting him and except for the last few hours of his life when he was slipping away, he never stopped purring as long as I was patting him. Oh how I miss him. I see him everywhere and my heart literally jumps with hope that he is back, then I realise it is just a shadow or a crumpled piece of clothing. The rest of my life will be that little bit lonelier for his loss.

My poor sick old boy

I am definitely feeling a little less tough than usual. Struggling to embrace all the hecticness of our life. In fact I have a terrible head cold and a stomach bug and am having my first sick day in work for years. Nice to rest but I need to pull it together, I have a lot to organise in the next two days as we are heading off on a road trip and then flying to Sydney for a child free weekend for a friends engagement party.

My girls are my balm. Elka was so brave and sad in the face of the loss of the cat she has followed around for the last 3.5yrs. Bronte is a bundle of cuteness and nearly-2yr-old attitude, who can make me laugh and shake my head.

We took them up on the big Brisbane wheel the other day. These photos make me smile.

Bronte likes to wear her sunglasses upside down, never fails to make me giggle

I am rejoicing in Autumn - love the chill in the air and being able to add more layers to my outfits.

I love simplicity and elegance. Nothing beats a simple top with a blazer. I picked a gorgeous navy and white stripe blazer that I am dying to wear.

Here is to classic dressing.