Sporty George circa 2005....and today

Back in September 2005, I took the photo above. We called it 'Sporty George'. Georgia couldn't even stand up by herself back then. Somehow, in the blink of an eye, nearly 5 years has gone by. I took the photos below this morning.In September 2005, Ethan wasn't even a twinkle in his Daddy's eye. And now he's 3-1/2. And he and Georgia had a MOMENT this morning where they weren't looking like causing greviously bodily harm to each other :) Ethan was playing hairdresser and pretending to spray Georgia's 'pokeytails'.

And Little Sporty George is much bigger sporty George. She was all dressed in her sports gear for a fun run at school today. The girl who couldn't stand up back then was running in a fun run today. Oh how far she's come.

The beauty of writing.....

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And to me, these pics of writing are about as gorgeous as writing gets....even if the bottom one is upside down (It's hard to get good help! Try as I might I can't rotate it so it is being posted upside down!!!). Because they are by Georgia - working completely unassisted. Forget calligraphy or flowing script, give me letters formed by our little girl any day.

At the moment, all she wants to do is write. She scoffs down breakfast (because her Mamma MAKES her eat it!) and then it is off to write. Isn't it amazing how much her peers inspire her? Isn't she fortunate to have the opportunity to be in mainstream school to learn from those who are doing things she desperately wants to do?

When she proudly showed me her word below, I thought it looked like DAVE. Well DAEV which I thought was close enough to DAVE. I have no idea what she was trying to write. I was in 'I'm packing your lunchbox so yes Georgia, that looks marvellous Sweetheart' land as she was spelling something out and I wasn't listening. Shame on me. And then she came to show me what she'd done and my mouth all but fell open. I was so proud of her.

And more importantly, she was so proud of herself :)

What a difference a few days makes.......

Wednesday morning and Ethan is in the Emergency Department of the Wesley Hospital on an IV drip. Sitting on Daddy's lap and listing to a Thomas book helps pass the time.Friday afternoon and I can almost see a smile as Ethan finds the energy to do a little bit of bouncing to The Wiggles. It's a stay in pyjamas day after coming home from hospital on Thursday night.
Saturday night and Ethan is eating chips and tomato sauce for dinner. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see him eat something so yicky as I was tonight.

The Thinker.....

The Thinker by Auguste Rodin......
The Thinker by Georgia :)

Georgia's Day One of Year One

How much does our girl LOVE school? Look at her smile for the 'first day of school pics'. We were to find out 8 hours later when she had a fever and had vomited all over her bedroom carpet that she had a middle ear infection! She spent the next two days being cuddled by Grandpa, sleeping and being given regular doses of anti-biotics and pain relief.

Her enthusiasm for school and for learning, as well as for socialising with her friends (!), is inspiring. She's a remarkable little girl.

It's SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO me!

Four (4) photos of a bed/bedding. Hmmmm. Get the drift that I love the linen that Luke bought me for Christmas?

I LOVE red, white and blue. I LOVE stars. I LOVE the land of Uncle Sam. I LOVE quilts. So can you imagine linen that could have been any more appropriate for me than this set?

Luke and I were out on our pre-Christmas shopping rampage in December (remember where we did all our Christmas shopping in just a few hours??) and I saw this set in the window of a linen shop. I just stopped in my tracks. As did Luke. And as if I were pulled by some magnetic force, I turned and walked into the shop. I just looked at it and didn't speak. Yes, I know, that in itself is miraculous :)

I could only think 'I don't need more linen BUT it is SOOOOOOOOOOO me!'. So I started to ponder the pros and cons of it - i.e. how could I justify it? And my darling husband could see the cogs in my brain turning and just walked up to the counter and said 'We'll take one of those thanks'. God Bless that man.....particularly when he's shopping for me :)

Was it really necessary to post the fourth and last photo showing the linen from yet another angle? Yes it was. It shows on the wall above our bed are frames with some of the photos of us taken on our 3 month pre-baby around the world trip in 2002. They are from exotic places like Gallipoli, Stonehenge, Florence, Istanbul, Santorini, Rhode Island and Paris. I love those photos, I loved that trip, I love those memories. So had to include the last photo showing those photos.

Next question would be WHY has it taken be until February to post this? The joy of being a Mum and having no time to do important things like blog :)

Happy Days!

The 1 January walk/ride/debacle

To see the eight photos from this little walk/ride/debacle, click on:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=133833&id=750294732&l=7fa6786c88

It seemed such a good idea at the time. It was New Year's Day, I'd just read a Facebook post from my favourite Sante Fe (USA) marathon runner and he'd been out for a run....in the snow. It was a beautiful day so I suggested we go for a walk, or ride for the smaller members of the family. All who know me that I'm totally allergic to exercise so this was behaviour way out of my ordinary.

So sun screen and hats on, bikes in the car, we drove down to our local bike path and off we set. Ethan's enthusiasm lasted about 2 minutes. He decided he wasn't going anywhere. Hmmmm. Georgia was as keen as mustard to keep riding. I wanted to walk. So Luke suggested he take Ethan back to the car and drive to the end of the bike path and meet us there. Brilliant!

BUT, we were sharing one car key as I had 'misplaced' my car key. And I had Luke's key on a lanyard around my neck. And I found the key still around my neck when Georgia and I made it to the end of the bike path 45 minutes later. We were HOT, we didn't have water (it was with the backpack I'd left with Luke) or a mobile phone and as I had the car key, no one was coming to rescue us. OH NO!!!!!

After all but dragging Georgia along the bike path to get to our designated pick up point, I now had to drag her back again. Not good. So I carried her bike, she yelled, screamed, refused to walk and needless to say, it was more than a bit stressful. Thirty (30), yes count them, THIRTY minutes into our return walk, we were staggering along about 500 metres from our destination and Luke appeared in our second car. What a marvellous sight.

Luke had dragged Ethan back to our car, realised I had the key, put Ethan's little Audi into our car in the carpark, carried Ethan home, used his house keys to get in here and get our second car and had set off to find us. He's driven out to the end of the bike path so he'd been backwards and forwards along the route a few times trying to find us. Eventually he stopped a cyclist and asked if he'd seen us (a screaming woman, a bike and a screaming child - yep, just down there mate!) so knew which street parallel to the bike path to look in.

The result? It will be a LONG time before I attempt to exercise with children in tow again.