Tuesday, August 26, 2014

grandparents' day

he



It's Grandparents' Day at daycare! Grandparents were invited for a busy hour of activities. How lovely that they were able to be in Brisbane for the morning. He was proud to show them his kindy and LOVED all of their attention! And the piggy-back rides on the way there/home!

we
After the daycare fun, we jumped on a bus and met B for lunch at the museum cafe. A very fun morning!

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

water bottle

he
A fun surprise found on the kitchen bench after his auntie visited.

me
I bought a new water bottle, exactly what I was after - small, metal, good seal, green with a pretty tree motif. Perfect! However, it turns out that it's also exactly what he wants. He asks to hold it or drink from it in preference to any of his own. And often won't hand it back. Obviously I love to share with him, but his water bottles inevitably become adorned with his signature crusty banana/toast/peanut butter (etc) and my goal is to keep my own bottle food-free. Too ambitious? I'm hoping the novelty wears off (for him) soon, so that I can be confident that this is, in fact, my new bottle and not his!

Monday, August 18, 2014

assembling

he
At the Sunday markets morning was an EWB (Engineers Without Borders) stall, with "Free Science" for kids, and we couldn't resist! He and his dad spent quite a while putting together a little boat using straws, cups, tape and balloons, and floated it in a wading pool. I'm sure he'll expect this stall to be there every week now!

me
A few lovely friends joined me on Saturday morning at a big annual event (organised by Zonta) where hundreds of volunteers gather to assemble birthing kits for women/babies in third world countries. There were 12 000 kits assembled on the day, and will make a huge difference to the infant and maternal mortality rate for those who receive them (these will mainly go to PNG Western Provinces, I think). Seeing these tiny, hand-sized kits was such a blatant reminder of how well placed we are for birthing our own babies, with incredible medical (and other) resources readily accessible. AND it was a great way to hang and chat with pals.

Saturday, August 16, 2014

pattern bandits

he
We spent yesterday morning at GoMA, playing in the 'Pattern Bandits' room. SUCH fun! See the pretty pattern made from his beanie and gorgeous blue eyes.

me
Me x 1000. Look closely!

Thursday, August 14, 2014

experimenting

he
He and his dad are conducting 'science experiments' from an excellent kiddie science book. This one was possibly about siphoning/bubbles/lung capacity/food colouring/gravity/teamwork/volcanoes/global warming. When our downstairs housemate knocked at the door, at just the right moment, he called to her, "Come and see the experiment! Look at all the green. It's soooooo cool." So. Cool. Before bed last night he told his dad that he was going to dream about (amongst other wonderful things like excavators and dinosaurs) water and experiments.

me
I've been experimenting with food and blood sugar levels, trying different meal ideas and then waiting two hours to test my levels and see if it's something I'll do again in the next couple of months. This morning I made muffins.
Let's call them:

Flourless, Sugarless (yet surprisingly tasty) Breakfast Oat Muffins

Mix together:
3 mashed bananas
1 cup almond milk
2 eggs
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
3 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup-ish chopped dates
1 cup-ish chopped walnuts
Spoonful chia seeds
Spoonful LSA

Spoon into greased muffin pan.

Bake 20-30 minutes at 190 degrees. Let cool for a bit before removing from pan.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

market morning

he
After being away/busy for the last 4 or 5 Sundays, it was nice to spend a quiet morning at the markets. He devoured a banana smoothie and chilled out to the live jazz. (Note B's "Why do jazz musicians always seem pretentious?" face. When I asked him if it was ok to publish that, he flared his nostrils and responded, "I was just waiting for them to finish tuning and play a song... But they just kept tuning all morning".)
Afterwards, we headed over to the new playground so he could fill his shoes with bark chips for a while.

me
I bought the Big Issue and a veggie juice (feeling slightly sad about not being able to have my usual sugary chai latte and oily gozleme or starchy rosti, but pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the very-healthy juice and pleased to read Helen Razer's column after too many months without purchasing a Big Issue.)

Saturday, August 9, 2014

annerley junction

he
We spent the morning at the lovely Annerley Junction with our old pals... Op shop sales and a comfy cafe.

me

Thursday, August 7, 2014

kingsize cliff

he
He overheard two conversations (between B and I) on the same morning - one about a king-sized quilt and one about heading to Kingscliff for the weekend. He connected these in his mind and was adamant that we were heading to Kingsize Cliff for the weekend. Gorgeous. He managed to squeeze in quite a few beach plays over the weekend, and loved having a matching-age pal to play with and chat to. I overheard an in-depth conversation about pelicans as the two of them sat together on their potties one afternoon.

me
The reason for our Kingscliff weekend with friends was a much-anticipated visit from a special mutual friend. Sadly, the special mutual friend ended up unable to join us, and we made the most of the weekend anyway - though her company was missed! We stayed at the same house as last year, it was as lovely as we remembered it. 

Sunday, August 3, 2014

plenty

he
Plenty fun!

me
'Plenty' is a gorgeous, friendly and spacious cafe in West End which I didn't know existed until he and I met friends there last Friday. Almost every table had kids at it. We'll be going back.

Saturday, August 2, 2014

boonah

he
 He loved playing with his 'big' friends!

Best ever kid cafe - the Story Tree.

me


We play this game with our Toowoomba friends each year, where we look at our calendars and find a weekend that both families are free, pencil it in as a weekend to play together, then as it approaches someone is busy... gets sick... goes overseas for work... etc. And we re-look at calendars and re-pencil in another weekend. I think it was only our 2nd attempt at a weekend away together this year, and we all made it to a very pretty olive grove cottage in Boonah last weekend. It was lovely. I am also a complete convert to Boonah and I think it's the best place for a weekend away with munchkins! It has the most kid-friendly cafe I've ever been to (just doors along from a massive op shop) and also the most kid-friendly pub. And, of course, country markets, roadside produce stalls, mountain biking, hikes, stunning views. Oh, wonderful Boonah!

Friday, August 1, 2014

big things happening around here

he

There was a CEMENT MIXER AT OUR NEIGHBOUR'S PLACE YESTERDAY MORNING!!! Oh my (his) goodness! He sat on the footpath and watched and grinned and commentated. And then ANOTHER one came along! Oh, life is good.

me
Following blood tests a couple of weeks ago, it turns out that I have gestational diabetes. Which means (I think) that the placenta is doing its job, growing the baby, but is trying to fatten it up too much, by blocking the action of my insulin and sucking in all of the sugar. So my body makes extra insulin, but it can't lower my blood glucose levels like it should. Then my high blood glucose level is passed onto the baby. Which isn't good. So I have to change my diet a little, and monitor my blood glucose level 4 times a day. To do that I get to play with a couple of new gadgets. Which is still a bit interesting for me - and extremely interesting for little onlookers. And it should all be over the moment Little Girl is born. This is the big thing that's dominating my days at the moment, it's fine - it just requires extra thought and constant planning!