Highlights of 2019

Our First House: After

Nine years in our first house, here's what it looked like before we moved out:

Outside

Kitchen & Dining

Living

Main Bedroom

Bedrooms

Bathroom

Click here to see the before photos (there's a massive change to pretty much every room!)

Highlights of 2018

We had lots of adventures (big and small!) in 2018. Here are some of the highlights:

 

Once again, this video was created using the 1 Second Everyday app. This time I didn't worry about trying to capture one second every single day, I just tried to take a short video whenever there was something I wanted to remember.

Family Photos (Bali Edition!)

Highlights of 2017

I'm finally back on this much-neglected blog to share some of the highlights of 2017:



This compilation was created with the 1 Second Everyday app, which is amazing and so simple to use. It's also a lot easier to take videos rather than photos of two energetic kiddos!

I'm carrying on this method of documenting in 2018 (and probably beyond!).

PS I thought about creating a lowlights video as well, but does anyone really want to see all the fighting, tantrums, arguments, and huge piles of laundry? I decided not ;)

Family Trip to Melbourne

A week and a half in Melbourne was perfect for our first family overseas holiday. Great company, great food, and lots of adventures!

We spent the first weekend at Lorne and I came to some conclusions:

• We should definitely have a lot more Hennessey get-togethers
• Chocolate ice cream is always the best option
• Cards Against Humanity has been added to my wishlist
• My husband is actually a Disney Princess

Back in Melbourne we spent a lot of time at various playgrounds, checked out Melbourne Zoo, played in Jem's Kombi, made our compulsary visit to the aquarium, and Owen and I escaped one evening for our first date night in forever!

These wild ones are already looking forward to our next trip!

Rory's Birth Story

Preparing for birth the second time around was a lot easier. After the drama of Shae's arrival it was clear that this birth was going to be really different: either a straightforward and reasonably fast natural delivery, or a decision early on in the labour to have a caesarian. My preference was the natural delivery but I honestly wasn't too worried either way, I knew that once the baby was here the details of his arrival wouldn't matter.

Girl or Boy?

First time around I was happy keeping the baby's gender a surprise, but this time? As soon as I realised I was pregnant I wanted to know yesterday.

Once I convinced Owen that we should find out, we spent awhile trying to figure out a fun way to reveal the gender. I was keen for a cake (mainly because once the surprise was over we still got to eat cake) but Owen wanted something more exciting.

The winning idea was fireworks - red for a girl or blue for a boy. We packaged up two Roman Candles (so we couldn't tell which was which) and asked our friend Anna to put aside the right one. So the other night we rugged up and took a little trip to the beach for some fireworks.

From the start of the pregnancy I thought the baby was definitely a girl, Owen was leaning more towards girl, and whenever I asked Shae he said the baby was a girl (apart from one time when he said it was a dog...)

We had a few extra fireworks before the main event (Shae kept asking for "more, more" after each one), and then it was time to find out...

We're having another boy!

Some Exciting News

A quick post on my much-neglected blog to share the news of our upcoming adventure...

Our second baby is due to make an appearance next April!

I'm really looking forward to meeting our new family member, but also glad that there's still a few months to get everything sorted (like finishing the house renovations, weaning, and trying to work out how to wrangle a toddler and baby at the same time). Wish me luck!

Adventuring

Today we ignored the pile of dishes in the kitchen and the lawns in need of mowing, and went on a family adventure instead. We drove out to Taylor's Mistake and took a walk around the coast then stopped for a little picnic before heading home.

This summer has felt so busy, so it was nice to have a little time to wander around the countryside together.

I might have to spend more time cleaning the house tomorrow, but it was worth it!

Kiddo Food

I've seen a few other bloggers share some of the meals they feed their littles and I've decided to do the same. Mostly so I can check back when I'm feeling uninspired, but maybe it'll help someone else too.

So here are a few of the meals I've offered the Toad in the last week:

Field notes:

• He's getting close to eleven and a half months.
• We've been doing Baby Led Weaning so these sort of meals have been typical for the last few months. It's been going pretty well.
• Not everything on the plate ends up in his belly (especially broccoli, although I offer it he never eats it).
• When he's finished he'll often start dropping everything on the ground, or sometimes throw it across the room. I try not to laugh when this happens but usually I can't help it!
• We've got a lot of zucchini from our garden that needs to be used up so I'm putting it in everything I can think of.
• The homemade bread is thanks to Owen.

Our Latest Game

He's learning new skills so quickly at the moment, this is the latest (and one of my favourites!)

Snapshots: Willowbank