settling in...

Still total chaos up here, but we are starting to settle in. I made dinner tonight and am really loving this kitchen. It works so well, which is so great, seeing as I was getting over smacking my head on the oven hood in Ormond. We took the train to Belgrave today. It's a pretty full-on hike to get there, not in distance but steep incline. If I do that everyday I should be back to pre-baby Jo pretty soon. Eli and I went Christmas shopping for the boys yesterday and had such fun. We went a bit crazy I think. Oh well, this may be our last Christmas with a little cash in the bank so we decided to go for it. I am just so excited to see Kai's face in Christmas morning.

had a great birthday

We all had a really great time in St Kilda, waiting until E was finished moving us into the new house.
We had breaky at the Gal first. Liam had his first bubbacino which was funny.
Then we played at the park and had a rest. Gaye made one of her famous walnut cakes with Smarties. The highlight of the whole day was when we had all finished singing happy birthday and Liam sang "Happy Birthday to you" as clear as day. None of us could believe it. He hasn't come close to speaking as clearly since, so it was really special to have that happen then.

kids at bonkers...

Took the boys to an indoor playground today. It has been raining all day, which is great for the earth, but not so great for our move tomorrow. The boys loved bonkers. It was not too bad for me. Sometimes these indoor centers are just an anxiety attack waiting to happen. Then I went and did a little Christmas shopping.

carm's birthday, but no pics of carm...

oh well... he we are on Gaye's patio.

last days in ormond...

We are pretty much packed. Sunday still seems an eternity away. Kaisy, Liam and I spent the day soaking up the sun and apricots, in the backyard. We went to a park earlier today and that was fun. Liam is walking a lot these last couple of days. He and Kai were really having fun together today.

the power-golub household on friday afternoon...

the apricot tree is producing so much amazing and sweet fruit.

we visited simmone and lily...

So lovely to finally meet Lily. She is so small and delicate. I find it so hard to believe Liam and Kai were that size once. Liam looked like a giant next to Lily. He was very interested and affectionate with her too, although he made it known he was not happy with his Mumma holding another bubba. I wish I could have sat and held Lily for longer. Simmone seems to be taking to motherhood easily. She's a natural. It was so funny when she half jokingly told me that "Lily is the boss of me". If you knew Simmone you would think it impossible for anyone to be the boss of her. We had a really lovely visit and I think we have started to shape up a plan to visit them in Tasmania this March. It will be fun. We would take our car over on the Ship and stay for a few days by the beach in their family's beach house. Should be wonderful for us to get away for a while.

life through kai's eyes...

he is loving taking pictures. The image of Woody is genius : )

power family picnic

We had a really fun day. It was boiling hot but we had brought some spray bottles full of water and everyone loved them. Kai had so much fun and ran around until he was exhausted. He was really excited to see Santa and loved his present (a safari book).
I am pretty tired with the heat and sun and am just about to flop down on the couch and hopefully not have to get up again for the day.

Here are some photos from today

i got my hairs cut yesterday

feels much lighter
for summer : )
PS: Image is PS'ed
due to a bad skin
day. If celebs can do it,
so can I!

liam walking (sideways)

monday at the park...

Took the kids to the park this morning. Boys crashed out afterwards for over 3 hours, so I decided another park trip was needed to tire the troops out. We had fun showing Liam how to skate on the board. As usual Kai was elusive to the camera, but I managed to get a couple of pics. We are all anxiously waiting until we move into our new home.

yuuuuuuummmmmyyyyyyy!

susanna came over with the boys...

It was great to see them all again. Susanna is in town for a week visiting her parents, we all ate yummy cake and ate bagels, then we played trains in the kids room... just like old times : )

OK, I am throwing up the white flag... I have rung tweddles, baby sleep school

It has taken a lot, and at Mum's suggestion I have decided it might not be such a bad idea to get a little help. I think that if I can start a fresh with them sleeping in their own beds in the new house we will all be a lot happier...well E and I will be anyway.
Here is a photo of the boys opening a big box from Nana Judy. So many lovely things. They were thrilled.

we all went for a little drive to upwey...

Mum and the boys and I went for a drive to Upwey. Mum wanted to see the house, even though we couldn't go in. Afterwards we went to a little park down the road. It was really beautiful and so fun to know soon it would be our home. As I was turning out of Deans Road I got a little confused and went back to driving on the American (Righthand) side of the road. A neighbor was coming into the road and gave me the worst look...ahhhh...hope he doesn't remember me.

Mum loved the house, location and atmosphere. She thinks it will be so great for Kai to be able to explore around the garden and land. I also imagine him running around and having so much fun.

We went and had lunch in Belgrave. There is a really great little cafe called the Queen of Tarts and i really enjoy having lunch there. Kai loves the op-shop next door. He came back with two new dolls. He loves to dress them, and then undress them. He calls them his "girls"...so funny.

It has been a warm and happy day. I have been feeling pretty wobbly with all the commotion and it's nice just to have an easy breezy day...I'll take it where I can : )

worry is over...the house is ours!

Eli just rang with the good news. Bank loan approved. Settlement day 14th December...what a birthday present.

here's the best photo of us...

Kai was off with the other kids running around. He had a GREAT time!

halloween party and extreme anxiety...

This week has been really hard for me. We are just waiting for the finalization of the loan and then the home is ours and until then I am worried sick something will go wrong. I know my worrying won't help anything or make things go faster but I am totally fixated on it. Today wasn't so bad. I have been a little more relaxed about the out come, but I am still going crazy waiting these final few days to see if everything goes through OK.
We just got back from Gyps and Brad's Halloween party, it was really fun, although a little hard with Liam. He was pretty tired and I couldn't really mingle as I had to sit and nurse him most of the night. Eli went in his kilt and Kai dressed as a fireman. I didn't get any photos as it all got a bit hectic. Luckily I got a couple of snaps of Gypsy, as she looked stunning. I went as an Indian bride/princess... it was a fun costume to put together, but not very good for nursing I found out later.

WE GOT IT!!!!

We got the house. We are so excited. Eli is really happy, he has so much space there to do all the things he does best. We are very HAPPY! HAPPY! HAPPY!

blueberry boys

It's a really windy, warm morning. The boys are outside eating frozen blueberries. I am about to leave to meet a friend for coffee. Eli and I are both quite anxious as we put an offer in on a a house yesterday and we hear today if we have been accepted. We are both pretty wary about it as we got so disappointed last time when we didn't get a house. Anyway, Eli seems in such high spirits and really excited about all the things we could do to this house. He has been a little hesitant about buying something now, but at the same time he is so frustrated at not being able to sink his teeth into any projects. I think we are making the right decision, even if it's not this one.

sweltering sunday...

I had been looking forward to a local fete that was on in Bentleigh this weekend. I really thought Kai would love it as the signs around had advertised a jumping castle, prizes, etc. Mart came over to come with us, and I didn't realize until we stepped outside to start walking there just how hot it was today. In retrospect I would have forgoed the fete and just prepared for Nan's birthday in the park. But we walked there and were all boiling by the time we got there. We had to stop and get icypoles on the way to cool off. The fete was packed and although Kai did have a great time, we were both pretty overwhelmed with the heat. We were in and out pretty quickly, but not before Kai had a go on a big slide and the baby animal exhibit.
We later all went to Nana's birthday party in a local park. It was really fun. There was lots of yummy food and we sat right next to a kids play area so Kai was really loving it. I think he also just loves being around everyone.
I have posted some photos here.
Kaisy and I are still awake (it's almost midnight). Kai has been sick all over the kitchen. I think he either ate something funny, or got a virus, or maybe just the heat is getting to him. Anyway he is lying on the couch under the open windows. I will probably lay down with him out here tonight, it's just too hot anywhere else.

fun in the back yard...

Here are a few snaps taken of the boys playing in the yard. Kaisy was just running around in a circle for about 20 minutes...he's a funny little one...

on my way out to see nick cave at the forum...

I went and saw nick cave with Mart and her friend Ange. It was OK. I think it's the 3rd or 4th time I have seen him and maybe that's enough. It's pretty expensive and I guess I get just as much enjoyment from the CDs (am I getting too old?). I guess it was just a bit loud and crowded and I just wanted to sit down and relax but it was standing room only. But it was a balmy night and it was great to be out and about in the city of Melbourne again.

watching live music in st kilda

This weekend I took the kids to go and see mum. She had just returned from her vacation up north. We walked around a lot and went to a few parks, picked up a movie for Kai (Meet the Robinsons) which he really enjoyed. Later in the day we met up with Gaye and walked down to see some live music in the park. We were too late for the Choir of Hard knocks, but we sat and watched some of the music anyway. It was pretty loud and we ended up going to Luna Park and wandering around. It was a pretty great old day for us.

fun in the backyard...

We have been having so much fun in the back yard. On the weekends Gaye, Carm, Mart or Mum usually come over and we just hang out there. I am dying for the apricots to ripen.

Kai riding Spirit...

neglecting my blog...

I have become addicted to facebook. When I first set up a page on FB it was so I could access Simmone's page and I wasn't that into it. But now I am totally hooked. It's really a pretty easy to navigate bloggy site, I find it much better than Myspace (which I also have a page on). I am playing scrabulous (scrabble) with everyone online and it's so much fun. Anyway, I had a great weekend. Mart and I took the kids to the ponys in St Kilda and Kai had a ride. I will post pics as soon as she sends them.
On Saturday I went to Simmone's baby shower. It was lovely to catch up with her Mum as I hadn't seen her in over 15 years!
Simmone looked beautiful, and seemed ready to be un-pregnant. I can totally sympathize, the last few weeks are by far the hardest. Gyps was there and it was lovely to be in the company of my two oldest and dearest friends again.

If you are interested here is where I have been hanging out... but I'm sure it's a passing faze...

goodbye roy and judy

Today is Judy and Roy's last day in Australia. Judy has booked her stay with the Brighton bed and breakfast for the same time next year. She says she will make it for the boys birthday as long as she is able.

day at the zoo...

Got up at 5am with a bubbly Liam. I decided to get ready and pack a big lunch for us to take to the zoo. We headed off at about 9am and met Judy and Roy at Flinders Street. We all caught the train to the zoo together. It was a great day. We say Lions, Tigers, Leopards, Elephants and Bears. There was so much more to see but we were all pretty tired after that. Kai got his face painted like a tiger. We all climbed a big tree in one of the picnic areas. I felt so proud of Melbourne showing Judy and Roy around. I think they have had a really nice time. Eli and I are starting to organize the back room of the house which has become the storage dumping ground. Still a long way to go until we have this place as fine tuned as we had our last house. We had storage for everything, so that everything we owned had a place to live. I loved that.

happy birthday kai, 3 TODAY

30.9.04. The best night of my entire life!

the party was a lot of fun...

check out some of the pics on my buzznet page here

happy birthday liam, 1 TODAY

Beautiful Boy

Close your eyes,
Have no fear,
The monsters gone,
He's on the run and your daddy's here,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy,

Before you go to sleep,
Say a little prayer,
Every day in every way,
It's getting better and better,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy,

Out on the ocean sailing away,
I can hardly wait,
To see you to come of age,
But I guess we'll both,
Just have to be patient,
Yes it's a long way to go,
But in the meantime,

Before you cross the street,
Take my hand,
Life is just what happens to you,
While your busy making other plans,

Beautiful,
Beautiful, beautiful,
Beautiful Boy,
Darling,
Darling,
Darling Sean

- John Lennon

little Liam

Marti took these photos of Liam in the sand pit of Adventure Playground. Liam was having a great time. I am so glad he is over the breathing difficulties.

Sunday in St Kilda

We all met in St Kilda today and walked around. It was fun showing Judy and Roy all the sights. St Kilda is so fantastic at times and you can really appreciate how fun it is when you are seeing it through new eyes.
We took Kaisy to Adventure Playground. Kai has been a little out of sorts the last few days. I think he finds is hard to process having people around all the time...he loves it, but just goes a bit haywire.

sunny morning babies

Eli and his Mumma

Judy is here. She arrived a couple of days ago. It is great to see her again. It feels like all our past visits, being so much further away hasn't changed the dynamic at all. We are all having a great time. Roy has come along too and I think it has been great for Judy. They have been navigating around on public transport and discovering Melbourne on their own. Today they went to the museum and City. We all head off to Lorne on Monday.

my beautiful boy

Mart showed me how to use some color filters on my camera. I got these great pics of Kaisy today.

finally got my hair cut

I have been watching the BBC show, What Not to Wear, almost every day. I am trying to get an idea of what type of clothes to buy to suit my age, lifestyle, shape and coloring. I really feel like I am starting to look like a tired old mum. I have been wanting to re-vamp my look for a while. Anyway the hair is a start. I want to totally overhaul all my clothes too and just get really good clothes that suit me...although I can't seem to keep out of the op-shops and It's so hit and miss.

SPOOKY!!!!

good morning

I am still feeling pretty tired from last night. I was too tired to wash off my make-up, which I know is terrible, but the boys were all cocooned around me in bed and I just couldn't bring myself to unentwine myself to get up and wash my face. We had a great time. The party was fun, lots of ghouls and yummy food. There was a live band that sounded fantastic, kind of a DJ mixing samples with live musicians. Eli and I danced a lot. I was still a bit antsy worrying about the kids...I wish I could just relax about that. It was fun to be out with Gaye and Mart. Mart's new boy Chris came too. I think I will be taking Liam shopping with Mum today, she needs new clothes for her work trip up north. Photos from last night to come soon.

what's up

We all just woke up from a lovely afternoon sleep. I'm glad Eli slept as he usually finds it so hard in the daytime. Eli has been working lots and seems pretty happy. I found a playgroup for the kids and booked in for a couple of days a week. I think it will be great and help me to meet some other mummas. Our fruit tree has blossomed. The bees were swarming it pollinating last week, so we really hope to get some fruit... we are hoping it's apricots or maybe nectarines.
We are getting ready to go to a spooky ghosty party. We are getting ready soon. I will post pics tomorrow. I feel a little bit like a flu is coming on so I hope I can stay afloat. Kids are off to Nanas. Looking forward to some fun.

my site is live...

So excited to say I finally have a website. With the help of the most amazing website producer, Brad, I have created something I am really proud of. I will add to it over time, but for now it does the job. Now I will try and make a really gentle push to get some work... but not today, we are off to the park

www.metafizix.net

dinner at a mexican restaurant...

Well it was a bit of a disaster actually. Kai is just not into sitting at a table and he was really misbehaving. The highlight was when he took a bite of Eli's burrito and then spat it back onto his plate. Let's just say it wasn't the most relaxing dinner I've ever had, Eli just about hit the roof. Oh well we got some nice atmospheric pics, and the food was great. Maybe we'll get it to go next time. Ciao.

so excited...

My very own website is being developed and should be live soon. I have wanted to create a site to showcase my work for ages but haven't even gotten around to it. Actually I have designed about 5 different sites, but always ended up not liking the design enough to move forward with publishing. Now I feel really comfortable with the image I am presenting. I hope this really gives me the boost I need to start to try and get some work here. I'll post the link when it goes live.

All is well this end. Kaisy, Liam and I had a funday at the park. We got the train there and had a little picnic. Kaisy loved that. He had PB sandwiches and fruit and he seems to really enjoy the whole concept of the picnic. It's getting a little easier with both of them at the park. Liam is playing more but they are still on completely differnt levels. Kai is racing around while I sit with Li. It gets a bit scary because I want to keep my eye on them both at all times and it's just impossible. Kai is often off and away before I can see where he has gone, he is usually somewhere close, but he never answers when I call him. I feel like I am forver calling out "Kai" just to get a response. I wish he knew the game of Marko-polo, The I could just call "Kai" from where I am sitting and he can call back"here"...it would make life so much easier.

Brad and Gypsy

Just wanted to post this pic of Brad & Gyp. I thought they were looking especially handsome when we went out to dinner.

little mischeivious boy

Liam is a lot like Kai, They seem to disappear and I find them up to mischief somewhere. Liam was reorganizing the recycling when I finally found him.

my lovely friend, Tal

I just wanted to post this picture of Taly. She looks so happy and relaxed with her littlest baby, Asher.
I really miss her. We used to have lunch at Nordstroms often...I miss the Chinese chicken salad, it was amazing.
Way to rock the Acca-Dacca T-shirt Tal!

it's been so warm...

The weather has really been lovely. Eli has been working and takes the car so I have been walking around a lot with the boys. We have been having a great time. It kind of reminds me of LA and the meandering days I used to have...just me, a pram, a fully stocked diaper bag and the open road...fun!

We just got back from dinner...

we just had a really wonderful night with Brad and Gyp. Mart baby sat for us and it was nice to be able to go out and be adults. I was a bit anxious to get home and think I may have cut the evening a little short. I guess in time I will really start to relax and be able to enjoy myself fully when I am away from the babies.

little sick boy...

Oh Liam was so sick this week. I was really worried, but he is better now. I took this photo one night when he was just so snotty and hot with fever...but he was so sweet as well. Oh well, we are all fine now and the weather has been great.

We have all had the flu

We have all been pretty sick this end. Kai seems better and Eli is OK. Liam and I have a lingering virus thing. We just sleep all day and night. I feel pretty weak in general but am trying to keep it together here regardless. If I can manage to get a few things done it helps to lessen the feeling of everything becoming totally overwhelming. Kaisy is off to school today and Eli will be working in the shed. I hope that Liam and I can SLEEEEEEEEEP all day.

Lovely Saturday in Ormond...

We had a lovely afternoon with Gaye and Mart. Mart made a chomlette* and I made egg sandwiches. It was fun and easy and reminds me of the reason I moved back here.

It always seems the same on the weekends, Eli and I both struggling to get some time to ourselves. We are both acutely aware of who has had an iota of free time so we can claim our own. Sometimes I feel like I just have to STOP trying to get things done (work, cleaning, washing etc) and just play with the kids, it's always fun and I forget that. I guess my greatest challenge as a Mum is to let things go a bit...leave the dishes and enjoy making a mess with the kids.

It seems that Eli and I really chose to sell our house at the right time, the housing market is really tanking in the States although the repercussions will be felt everywhere. When America sneezes the world catches a cold.

*flourless chocolate cake made with lots of eggs.