We also made Valentine’s Day cards to give to people we love tomorrow, ie DH and The Possum.

This last weekend DH and I had an early anniversary/Valentine’s Day night away while mum kindly minded the kids. It was our first night away together since The Possum joined our family. We had a lovely time. We booked a Wotif five star mystery room, which turned out to be the Sofitel Brisbane Central. Nice room and oh bliss a bath! For dinner we went to Alchemy, a restaurant on Eagle St. The food was amazing and the service excellent, plus we had a riverfront view of the Storey Bridge. We had a six pm booking so we could watch evening fall on the river. Later, when it was dark we saw a flotilla of maybe canoes set out, each with its own little light, a  procession of lights travelling up the river. Pretty much perfect. We recommend the Liquid Nitrogen Gastronomic Nibbles for dessert.

We are sick of course, Little Bear has gone down with tonsilitis but with some antibiotics he’s on the mend. Possum and I just have the initial cold so far, so hopefully it stays that way.

We’ve caught up with family a few times which has been lovely and we’ve had a couple of lovely playdates as well, one to a playcentre in Strathpine and one to the Queensland Museum and State Library Corner (ahem, great for kids but quite probably were we got the cold from since our cousin’s little girl  who we went with got sick as well at the same time). LIttle Bear was disappointed at the lack of olden days farm machinery at the museum. There’s also been playgroup so my boy has had some socialising time.

Possum has started crawling (sort of) or at least going forwards in an army crawl style that looks more like breaststroke crawling. She also has started clapping. I looked up what Little Bear was doing at her age (7 and a bit months) and I know he wasn’t clapping but he was already crawling up stairs and walking along holding the wall. He was also pulling himself up on things. Mrs is a bit slower in the physical department but along with the clapping and eating solids like a trooper there’ve been a few more sedentary activities she can do that her brother couldn’t at that age. I’ve noticed her sitting looking at books and also trying to put puzzle pieces back into puzzles. She also is happy to just play by herself, something her big brother is only just starting to do.

There’s also a definite ‘Mummmmmm’ happening when she wants me.

The solids thing though is definitely blowing me away, it’s so much FUN to feed a baby who’s happy to try anything and LIKES to eat. Amazing. I’m actually prefering to make her food rather than buy.

What else…I’ve been bored with our house so have been rearranging furniture a bit.

Oh and I’ve actually been writing! We’ll see how long that inspiration lasts.

Three things I am grateful for this week:

My Mum’s visit on Sunday – Little Bear was supposed to visit her for the weekend but was too sick, so if Little Bear’s can’t go to the Nanna’s, Nanna’s come to Little Bears.

Writing inspiration. Wonderful to feel creative again.

The availability of a medical centre open til 11 pm on a Sunday night and a chemist as well.

I think my son has enough.

He’s always initially keen for a reward chart which is a plus, and today we talked about a reward. I suggested buying a bunk bed with star canopy that he loved playing in at IKEA but he decided he loved his little bed so I won’t push it – I’m also a bit worried about how he’d go in a bunk bed with his occasional night terrors (the exorcist kind that result in throwing oneself out of bed and trying to climb up walls).  We’ll think about it.

We took a trip to Alma Park Zoo, a bit sad that it’s taken this long, given that we’re Brisbanites.

Then we went to my parent’s for the weekend and saw the grandies and also caught up with DH’s family as well.

checking the cows with Nanna

lunch with Mum’s parents, Miss Possum is holding court at the head of the table

nothing better than playing with uncle’s old toys

bonfire in the evening

Aunty and Uncle

Catching up with cousins

Finally presents are nearly all given out! Just got to see my sister next weekend for the last post unfriendly items for her.

And finally, for the last day of DH’s holidays (and mine as well really), we took a day trip up the Sunshine Coast for a swim at Noosa and lunch at Montville.

And now it’s the weekend again! I went out last night with a girlfriend for my designated monthly night out – we’ve decided to each go out by ourselves one night a month and also hire a baby sitter so we can have one date night a month too. Just so we get some me and us time. Tomorrow we have more family catching up scheduled with a trip to a cemetery with my grandparents (it’s how they get their kicks) and then lunch at my Aunt’s.

And today I made cheesecake!

Every day I draw up a circle on the fridge with white board marker, divided into twelve segments representing five minutes each. The segments are shaded in as tv time is used up. Little Bear can watch tv whenever he wants for as long as he wants until the circle is full, then no more tv til tomorrow. It’s worked really well so far, Little Bear has autonomy over his tv viewing and can also see how much time he’s using. There’s been some suggestions that we could start a new circle once the old one is full but the pestering and tantrums have toned down because I say yes to tv a lot more and he can tell when his time is going to be up.

We are at an impasse with our home – the market is depressed and our unit isn’t selling, so as our finance stands we can’t afford to buy anything bigger in an area we’d like. In the last few days we’ve come up with a raft of schemes and cunning plans including renting out our unit and renting ourselves a bigger place. However after a depressing foray back into rental-dom we ran the figures and have decided that it would be more sensible to buckle down and hit the mortgage as hard as we can with the money we would’ve spent renting for the next year so we can get it to the point where it isn’t a net financial drain on us if we rent it – THEN we can rent something amazing or buy something we want.

This means though that we need to stick strictly to our new budget while at the same time trying to contain our growing family in our little flat – so no trips to IKEA for me to buy nifty space saving furnishings (pooh). I’m very excited about this challenge though because it’s a defined amount of time and may be shorter if our unit actually sells, plus I think it will be a good example for our 3 yr old who is getting a little bit demanding about our financial resources and unappreciative of what should be special treats. In fact yesterday we had to make our first budgeting choice – grab McDonalds takeaway that day and use up our eat our budget for the week or leave it for a better time. I also faced up to our challenge this morning – the chiropractor I’m seeing about my hip recommended I get some orthotic shoes, normally I’d have just gone out and bought a pair, now I have to decide if I can spare the money out of this month’s clothing budget or if I need to wait or bring some extra money into our home.

I’ve been thinking about how to do this. There’s ebaying unwanted items of course, which I will do. The point is for me to stay home with the children full time so me getting a day time job is not an option. I’ve tried working from home on freelance work and it is stressful and impacts on family life so if I’m going to work it would have to be something at night somewhere where I could go and work that I wouldn’t have to bring home.  I’m still thinking about this because I’m tired enough as it is without working til the wee small hours. I’m thinking about writing some more…probaby the most pleasurable way of cramming some work into my spare time. We also had an idea for a website that might bring in a little bit of extra cash but it requires content from my husband. Oh well, decluttering and ebay here we come!

New year’s eve plans were written off as expected but little man had improved by evening and he was able to get involved in our family celebrations. We cleaned the house in preparation for New Year’s Day and took down our Christmas decorations so the house had a bit more space and looked a bit fresher. I put all the treats I’d bought for Christmas on the table and lit candles all around the house so it all looked a bit New Yearsy.

my helper was keen to help dim the lights 

Since we didn’t have anything special for dessert, I whipped up a half batch of cupcakes and did a quick and dirty decorating job while my husband made some amazing pesto chicken.

 After dinner we set off some party poppers and then lit sparklers. Little Bear said that sparklers were ‘magic’ – literally I think since he’s used to seeing sparks and stars come out of wands in books and on tv.

Little Bear thought the streamers that came out of the poppers would make good cow poo for his farm games.

Afterwards DH and I sat up and saw the new year in with occasional visits from the Possum who sensed her parents weren’t in bed and therefore felt she should be up too.

New Year’s Day my parents visited for a belated Christmas. We were very spoilt thanks to grandparents, great grandparents, aunties and uncles.

 We had a lunch of antipasto with fried lamb chops, chorizo and caramelised onion. So nice to finally get to have a celebratory day! Welcome 2012!

Tardis cookie jar for my husband for Christmas, courtesy of my sister – currently holding coffee.

Ahem…on our book shelf.

And if more evidence was needed, our DVD collection.

I’d like to bring a little more harmony into our family life, things seem to be jarring at the moment. Most of that is probably due to too much sickness and too much work in the past month as well as working out new dynamics as our children reach new stages in their development. Still, I can’t help thinking that this recent bout of illness which has cancelled all our plans and forced us to stay at home and regroup may be the universe telling us to REST.

So in the spirit of reflection, here is the year that was in our family:

2011 started with the floods. We got trapped three times, first at my parents at Christmas, then when we went to Hervey Bay for new years, then in the Brisbane floods themselves, but our house was safe, our families and friends are safe so we are so very lucky and all we have is an interesting adventure to remember.

The Possum was born of course, the most important event on our calendar.

We took a couple of beach holidays, some family visits, The Possum’s Christening, a trip to Sydney and went to two weddings.

And now we have moving house plans afoot, all sorts of resolutions for improving our lives and still the possibility of a birthday/Nye party tomorrow even though it is looking sadly unlikely at this stage and may end with two parents watching the new year in on the couch with our bottle of champers.

Bring on 2012!