A snippet

Every day I sit down to write a blog post and I get distracted. 

I feel like I am juggling a million balls at the moment - and usually I get all stressy & bitchy....but I am actually loving it.  I am loving breaking the mundane - not doing what I am suppose to be doing, having coffee with friends I have been saying that I would for months, having date nights, random vino afternoons with unsuspected visitors and just generally.....living life for all it's worth!

Will is nearly seven months old now and I am slowly feeling like a normal woman again.  In all areas - physically, mentally, socially and spiritually.  Our family is complete and there is nothing more serene that watching your kids grow into fine human-beings (most of the time).  There is also nothing better than folding away the maternity clothes, baby swings, bassinettes and slowly regaining control over the house again!  There was a time that I seriously felt like we were drowing in swings, activity mats, and all that jazz!!!

More importantly....I feel like I am getting my mind back.  Did you know that I wrote the wrong mobile number on every.single.goddamn. Christening Invitation for William?  Seriously.  One or Two is excuseable....by 30 invitations?  You gotta be kidding me!

As always....here's a snippet into life at the cottage....

Miss Moo had her a buster on a lazy Sunday afternoon just after her nap.  She tripped and hit her little wooden chair - cried for a few minutes and then proceeded to tell us that the doctor needed to fix it!

She skipped into Emergency - told the nurses that they needed to fix her head and then asked them one hundred questions like "What is your name?"  "Where is your Daddy?"....etc.  I swear they thought she was concussed....but that is just our delightful girl at her best.

A few more tears while the glue stung and then she was happy with a milkshake from Sonnos (Best Milkshakes in Gundi EVER!).  She was so so so good!  I swear I was squirming more than her.  I loathe hospitals.  The smell makes me sick to my stomach - and here was Macie, skipping and having a great old time!  Crazy!

William is getting pretty frustrated that he can't trip over things and have scars like his Big Sis so he is working on this..... may I add that I'm not encouraging this!!  I love putting him somewhere and knowing that he will be still be there in a few minutes!

A common scene in our house!  SWIPER NO SWIPING!!!!! 

...and as much as I would love to add more photos and tell you more stories, Swiper has awoken with other plans! 

X

Fathers Day

Over the weekend, we also had the pleasure of celebrating Fathers Day. 

I can't begin to describe what an amazing Daddy Heath is to our children.  He is strict but loving, and he just one big kid that just wants to play!  There are some times when Macie tells him "Enough Daddy"....and I bet you don't hear that from the mouth of a three-year-old very often!

He is so loving.
He is supportive. 
He is accepting. 
He is fiercly protective.
He is loyal. 
He is funny.
He is snuggly.
He is smart.
He is a hardworker.

He.is.ours.

We love you.  To the moon & back.

Thank you for everything you do.

Forever and ever.

X

R&R

I sat down yesterday determined to write a blog post.  We had just got back from four delightful days at the beach and I finally felt rejuvinated, happy and relaxed for the first time in months.

I sat down, plugged my phone in to download photos (I really didn't want to take my fancy schmancy camera onto the beach) - and there was nothing.  I checked again...and again - and then I realised why a certain three-year-old had been unusally quiet in the backseat of the car. 

Yep - you guessed it.  Most photos are gone.  Most apps deleted and even a few contacts. 

Not.Happy.Jan.

I cried.  I cursed.  I wasted my monthly internet usage downloading programs that would apparently find my deleted photos....but then wouldn't work.  I cried some more.  Photos are a huge thing to me - but hey, I have also got the memories - and a few little beauties that I thankfully uploaded to FB during our stay. 

I was acting like I just lost every single photo I ever had.  I was cranky.  I was snappy.  I was a plain old bitch.....and then I looked at my babies - happy, smiling, healthy and....mine....and I simply told myself to get over it - so I did.

Life is sweet....and not worth focusing on the small trivial things.  The most important thing is that I have the photographs in my memory....forever and ever.

So here is a little snippet (thanks to FB) of our mini-holiday....

Be still my beating heart!

A very overtired and cranky William on Sunday!! 

The view from my bed at 5am in the morning....when both Will & Macie decide to come in for kicks cuddles!  We could see whales and dolphins....yep, it was tough. 

I don't think Heath & I realised how much we needed this little R&R holiday away.  Obviously travelling with two young children is hard work and we need to pack everything BUT the kitchen sink but it was still fun.

Now to convince Heath that we need to do it more OFTEN!!!

X

Out of Macies Mouth - Episode Two

Macie is nearly three.  I love this kid - like seriously love her.  But I love her even more now as she makes me laugh every.single.day! 

Here are some of her beauties....

While watching the Olympics during the week, we have been asking her what the athlete is.  This is by far her best this week:

: Gymnasts are "Fairy Dancers"
: Men Gymnasts on bars are "Monkeys"
: Basketballers are Kangaroos because they hop and jump everywhere.
: If the athlete is crying tears of happiness, she becomes very concerned and asks why they are sad.
: If they are punching their hands in the air in triump - they are mad.....apparently.  

She has been spending heeeeaps of time with Daddy lately and always tells me that he is at work spraying the naughty weeds.  The other day she came up to me very seriously and said....

"Mummy - I neeeeed to go work with Daddy on Wednesday (very specific our Moo!).  The roos are being verrrrry verrrrry naughty and eating Daddys wheat so I need to tell them to *inserts screaming and finger pointing** Stop Eating Daddys Wheat!"....then she laughs at herself because she is funny, you know!

She is obsessed with birthdays at the moment....she tells me at least five times a day that it's her birthday soon - it usually goes something like this....

"It's my birthday after Bryon's birthday.....and Jen-Jen's birthday.....and Daycares birthday (wtf?) and Mummys birthday....and then Daddy's birthday....then it's MMMYYYYY birthday.  I want a hippo cake Mummy and it needs to be pink."

As a result of her excitement, I am planning a bigger than big birthday party for our gorgeous girl.  She deserves it.

We are coming to the end of Week Two of Potty Training and may I add that I think Potty Training blows....just saying.  We have made progress and she now announces that she needs to go to the toilet, and not to come as she can do it all by herself.  She can do it so well that she actually ended up with her foot in the toilet the other day (don't ask) and even a magazine ended up in there too (again, don't ask)...but her best yet is when she screams from the toilet....
"MUMMMMMMY, MUM, MUM, MUUUUUMY - I have done my 'poo worms' in the toilet.  I'm a big girl - so now....where is my special present?" 
Did I mention that Potty training blows?

If she catches us saying something naughty she says very sternly to us "Please DO NOT say that - that is verrrrry verrrrry naughty".

If I am not looking at her while she is talking, she stops, grabs my face and says "Look at me Mummy - I am talking". 

If she catches Heath and I raising our voices at each other she will say:
"Daddy - stop being rude to Mummy.  And Mummy - you can stop being rude to Daddy too!".....nothing like being told off by a nearly-3-year old to put us in our place. 


The other day while talking in the car, she interrupted us to say "Mummy & Daddy - you are being verrrry verrrry loud.  William is asleep and if you wake him up I will be verrrry verrrry mad.  So SHHHHHHH"

She constantly talks to William and calls him "Buddy" and "Mate".  When he is upset she tells him to "Settle down and stop being silly" and when she is trying to take a photo of him she will get right in his face and then put on a squeaky little mouse voice and say "Wheeeeere is your happy face?  Is it hiiiiiding? Oh there it is.  You are so handsome William.  Say Cheeeeese.  Oh look at that.  That is a pearler of a photo!". 

Her latest trick is to be a Young Talent Time contestant.  This particular activity involves dancing on the table, with my cap on and acting like a gangstar.  She has perfected her rendition of "Old Macdonald" who unfortunately only has cows....and her latest performance involves a catchy tune of "Macie McNulty" being sung over and over and over again.  I have to admit that it is highly entertaining....and not growing old....yet!

So even though there are tantrums and attitude - that all dissolves when she makes us laugh and smile.

She is the best....and most of all she is OURS. 

All booked out....

Over a year ago, a very close friend of mine stopped me in Target and asked if I was willing to take some photos of her beautiful baby bump.  I was dumbfounded.  What? Me?  But I'm not a photographer!  But she liked what she had seen from me just simply taking photos of my darling Macie....she gave me the ultimate priviledge....and more importantly, she trusted me.

That trust from my beautiful friend has given me the ultimate confidence to pursue my passion.  To continue to try to capture the magic of darling children, glowing mamas, brand new babies, and beautiful families.

So it's a very humbling experience when I look at my calendar and realise that I am now fully booked for 2012...and have bookings already for 2013. 

Photography is a passion for me.  A creative outlet.  A dream. 

Writing is another priviledge - and one that I truly find almost therapeutic.  To think I have had over 25,000 hits on this blog....well that just blows me away. 

Thank you to each and every one of you for believing in me - and sharing the Dalli magic.

I have a long list of dreams to fufill....and the sky is the limit...

Counting....

Things have been a bit quiet here on the Dalli blog of late.  Minimal sleep, long days, full weekends and sloooow internet will do that to you....well to me. 

William turned 5 months old over the weekend - and I slowly feel like I am getting back into the groove of things.  Physically, my stretch marks are fading and my boobs are back to their miniscule-uneven-selves.  Mentally, I wake up feeling like I can conquer the day without tears or tantrums on my behalf.  Macie is happier and is an absolute delight (with a few moments here or there), William is growing into a happy, robust little boy and Heath is just happy that we are all happy.  It doesn't take much to keep that gorgeous husbo of mine content.

I suppose you could say that with all the physical and mental contributors....I have been lacking in the creative writing department.  Feeling like my life was just filled with counting.....

Counting...
- the loads of washing I could do in one day
- or the days it takes to put it away from our dining table
- or the number of nappies I could change in one day
- or the hours ABC Kids is on continously
- or the hours until Heath is home from work
- or the hours between feeds
- or the days until it's the weekend
- or the number of hours sleep we have in one night
- or the weeks until we are off to the beach for a few nights

Counting...counting....counting.

But in between the mundane stuff - our life is really beautiful.  Macie has absolutely blossomed into the most beautiful attentive, caring and loving Big Sister I could have ever have dreamed of for William.  He is happiest when she is sitting in front (or on top) of him - and his eyes literally light up and smile.  He stops crying when she claps (she has worked out that he loves clapping) and he loves nothing more than when she gets a book and pretends to read it to him.  I want to bottle this amazing bond between them and show them when they are older - but I suppose at the moment I have my rose-coloured glasses on and I believe that they will be best mates forever.

So as life begins to really settle, or more so, as I adjust to being a Mum of Two - I know I will slowly find the old Han and begin to grow & blossom too like my darling little girl.  I am meant to be a role model to her.....

but really she teaches me so much more than she will ever realise.   

Endless...

My blog has been neglected.  Life has been hectic.  Always an excuse....I know. 

But this is why it has been busy.....

Cake smashes, new babies, beautiful families - the list is endless!