new website

Just a quick note to let you know that I now have my own domain and while there's not much there yet, it's more than you'll find over here from now on.
So head to www.thepurple8.com and bug me if I don't update it regularly.

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Quick Update

Hi there.
I haven't forgotten about you.
I just don't have time to blog right now.
Besides, my laptop is often buried under a pile of more pressing tasks, like the invitations for our party in a few weeks, which I have only just finished.
And for awhile there, we didn't have internet access anyway.

When I'm not at the new house letting tradesmen in, I'm packing, sorting, or just trying to deal with a little girl who has decided that life is not chaotic enough at the moment and needs an injection of toddler tantrums and silliness.

But I have still been taking photos every day.
And we are moving into our house over the next couple of days.
And Graeme, being the computer nerd he is, has already gone and organised a dongle thing so we can use the internet at the new house, even though we won't have a phone line for weeks.
So, I should be able to share something new with you soon.

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12 - A full-on day

Today...

...we got the keys to our house. I took a cool photo of the actual keys then realised the background had more personal details than I'm willing to share on a public blog, so instead you get a shot of the hallway with the tiler's blue chalk line. By this afternoon, he'd done almost half the tiling (according to Graeme, not something I saw myself).


...we found out that Graeme's grandfather had passed away overnight. He had motor neurone disease and had lived longer than the doctor's anticipated, but yeah.

...I got my first birthday present from the lucky dip box at MOPS - a cute little pocket mirror. (My actual birthday is next Wednesday, so I have less than a week of my 20s left)

...I spent most of the afternoon on the couch, taking advantage of the fact that Graeme was also home, to try and kick the last of this cold. I think I also have a bit of hayfever (yay) especially since the antihistamine really seemed to help.

...Lily, not content with painting the 3 pictures we had painted, found the watercolours that I had left open to dry and decided to paint her piggy bank.



What did you do today?

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09, 10, 11

I had grand plans to catch up by doing 1 or 2 posts a day, but this week has been crazy and to top it off, I've been bogged down with a cold that makes me feel like rubbish. So, here's some photos:

09 - Hanging out at home with a walk to the shops to gather supplies for lunch.



10 - Music. I remembered to take my camera (thanks for the reminder, Sharon) but Lily decided to be silly and so I got very few photos and even fewer decent ones.



11 - Playing in the backyard in the afternoon.

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08 - Sunday BBQ

A couple of months ago, the weekend that I was down in Melbourne with my sister, back in Sydney my Dad decided he was going to cook a bbq for Sunday lunch. It was just after the family dog had been put down (he was a 14 year old cattle dog who I honestly did not expect to find alive when we moved back from the UK, so it wasn't a devastating experience, for me anyway) and meant that everyone, especially Lily, could finally hang out in the backyard worry-free (Sooty was pretty territorial). Dad decided it was such a success that every Sunday since then, when there hasn't been something else on, we've had a bbq lunch. Mum was saying yesterday that she'd really like to keep doing it even once we've moved out, which I think might be a nice way to make sure we catch up regularly.


This is Lily mid flight. Graeme throws her up in the air and she giggles uncontrollably and asks for more. Then, when he gives up, she wants me to do it too, but the kid is getting heavy...


(hey, sister, brother and sis-in-law that live too far away - see what you're missing out on? You should all move back closer, ok? ;D)

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07 - An unwilling model

So, I finished the jumper I was knitting for Lily.
First, I had to try and convince her to try it on. Once she had it on, I then had to convince her to take it back off so I could weave in the ends. She then wanted it back on, but didn't want to pose for photos. I believe the words she used were 'No Mummy, don't take photos of me' and then she made it as hard as possible for me to get a good shot of her:




It's a Weasley Sweater adjusted slightly to knit in the round. The yarn is Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic in Soft Plum. We originally used the colour in Lily's Circle of Friends blanket (check out how fat she was :D) and Graeme's Nana (so, Lily's Great-Nana) loved it so much she ordered enough to knit herself a jumper. She gave me the leftovers, just under 2 (200g) balls, and I also have leftovers.

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04, 05, 06

Writing the days like that made me think of years passed.
2004 was the year I did my teacher training.
2005 was the year I worked in my most rewarding job to date (teaching in a public high school in a notorious part of western Sydney).
2006 was the year we went to the UK and all the crazy changes that came with it.

It all seems so long ago. Especially considering the images I'm about to share with you of my life at 30 centre around my 2 year old daughter...

On Wednesday, we went to Playtime, as we have every Wednesday during school term since the start of the year. This week, Feature Creatures came along and spent an hour showing the kids snakes, lizards, frogs and bugs, plus a baby crocodile for good measure.


Some of the parents and kids were a bit anxious about some of them, but not Lily. She got a bit bored when they pulled out the insects, so went to play at the playdough table, but as soon as someone pointed out that they'd brought out the snakes, she was back over there in a flash, asking to hold the python.


After playtime, we had a lovely afternoon with my Mum, which included lunch, shopping (toyshop for Lily, op-shops for us) and a stop at the park on the way home.


Yesterday we went to Storytime at the library then spent the afternoon at home. I decided it was time to start packing, so I got Lily to help. She packed her toys into the box from within the box:


then tried to close herself in with them.


Mum had put candles on the dinner table that night and Lily insisted on blowing them out. When I opened the drawer to find a match to relight them, I found a box of sparklers. We all enjoyed watching Lily play with the sparkler so much that we gave her a second one to play with.




This morning was Lily's swimming lesson. She was so pleased with herself because she's just starting to actually swim without support. We came home and she watched some Playschool (she's obsessed, but I guess there are worse things she could want to watch several times a day) while I tried to finish a jumper I've been knitting for her. It'll probably be finished right as it's too warm to wear it. Actually, I should be able to finish it tonight. Then I might have something other than photos of Lily to show you tomorrow.
Anyway, we went out for lunch and the photo I'm about to show you is terrible, but I have to share it. Lily insisted on walking. And carrying her doll and backpack. Then we bought her a sandwich and she carried that too. While I was getting my lunch, she decided she was going to go and set herself up at a nearby table.


I guess if you have older kids, it's not unusual for them to do things like this. But she's only just turned 2. Surely she's too young to be so independent?

Late this afternoon we went out the front to play with the bubble blowers and were joined by the girl from next door. It is beautiful to see the mutual adoration between this 2 year old and 7 year old. Of course, I don't want to post photos of other people's kids on the web without their ok, so you just get a photo of Lily laughing at Jess.



Apologies for the Lily-spam and the three-days-in-one-makes-a-very-long-post. Now I better go finish that jumper.

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August 03

Since about September last year, I have been taking Lily to Forte School of Music for a weekly music lesson. I was worried that enrolling a 15 month old in music lessons would make me one of those pushy 'stage' parents but after talking to a family friend who teaches there, I took her along for a trial lesson and she loved it. I seriously think it's played a part in making her the way-too-clever 2 year old that she is.
Anyway, this morning I was planning on taking my DSLR (digital single lens reflex) with me to take some photos of music lesson, because I haven't actually done so yet. Of course, I forgot. And then only remembered my point-and-shoot during the last song. Add to that the fact that Lily was on the move and that I'm still not confident using the little camera to get the shots that I want and my photos came out horrible. I tried to fix one of them by adding a soft focus to it and it kind of worked, but still not something I want to put out there for the world to see. I'll try again next week (can someone remind me on Monday though? :D).

So instead, I'm going to give you a glimpse into the mess I live in. Annoyed by the photos I'd taken earlier, I spent the spare 5 minutes I had while Lily finished watching Playschool going through the little camera's settings and trying to get better results. This, my friends, is what sits directly next to the chair I am typing this post from:


Here we have a red tub that is meant to hold toys, but regularly gets emptied by Lily so she can climb in; a blue basket thing that actually does have the toys in it, but is meant to be kept in the other room; an overflowing dress-up box that never seems to have it's lid on it; the top left corner of Graeme's work/laptop bag. Now I feel like I need to spend my precious free evening cleaning up. Needless to say, we can't wait to have our own space again. Speaking of which, we get the keys to our house next Tuesday.

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