Noah and Eliza - fast forward 3 big years

Noah was not even 4 years old the last time I blogged. Eliza less than 2.
We had just moved to Frenchs Forest and I had just started another full time job.
The children moved preschools/long daycare and we didn't realise how much work a house with a garden took!

No wonder I stopped blogging! I think I was barely staying afloat.

Lets talk about Frenchs Forest first. What a beautiful neighbourhood. We are so lucky to have been able to have moved here when we did. Had we left it another 6 months,  I doubt us being here.  We are so lucky that our neighbours are beautiful. We live on a battleaxe, sharing a driveway with a lovely lady and her beautiful sausage dog Jake. How the kids have become fond of Jake. Every opportunity to pat and play with him, they do. The kids have not had the opportunity to be surrounded by dogs so having Jake enables to build their confidence around these lovely animals.  Another next door neightbour has a pool - and oh do we have pool envy over the summer! Just as well the kids have their paddling pool which keeps them happy, but sadly not really made for adults, or is it?

Wonder if the neighbours have pool envy too?!

Over the last 2 years our street has hosted two Christmas in July street parties. These parties have allowed us to meet our neighbours and somewhat get to know them. The last party, a neigbour opened their home and spoiled us, including providing sparklers and loot bags for the children. How lucky are we to live in such a wonderful community.

Some of the older street kids 2015

Some of the younger street kids 2016

I am interested to see what is ahead for Frenchs Forest but that is another story to tell.

Work! I work for Landcare Australia, which is a not-for-profit land and water focused organisation. I am with their partnerships team, responsible for bringing corporate revenue in. NOT THE EASIEST ROLE!

There are many things I love about my job, but sometimes I wonder how I ended up there. I still laugh remembering when I first told my brother that I was working for an environmental organisation. He distinctly said "You, environment, are you serious". Ha!

Getting my hands dirty!

Well Landcare has definitely taught me so much more than I ever expected. Today, I know what biodiversity means. I know what corridor links mean. I know what citizen science is. I know why it is important for each of us to support our local farmers. I know why it is important for our children to learn about where our food comes from. I know why our kids need to get their hands dirty. I know the value of volunteering your time and your energy, and of community education and engagement.

Noah and Eliza learning about soil health from Costa G.

Yes, me and the environment! Who would have thought?!

In the 3 years that have passed, Noah attended an amazing preschool for a year and has been at OLGC, our local Catholic primary school for 2. I am so grateful that we found Little Bloomers, the preschool that Noah attended. I came across them through asking a Mums facebook forum. Thank goodness one of the mums told me to Go fot it, as we did and haven't looked back. Eliza ended up attending Little Bloomers herself for almost 2 years! Thank you Caroline xo

Noah and Eliza at the Little Bloomers disco

OLGC, I will dedicate a separate post to!

I have to mention the first long daycare Eliza attended after our move. Since you needed to be 3 years old to attend Little Bloomers, we had to find another place for Eliza. We found a lovely place in Frenchs Forest bordering Allambie. While the place was lovely and caring, it was the worse year EVER. I would say that the place is no more than 3 kms from our home. 3km, on weekends, take no more than 5 minutes. On weekdays, it takes up to 45 minutes one way! 45 very painful minutes especially when I know that I still needed to park the car and get the bus to work. The day Eliza moved to Little Bloomers, the weight of being stuck in traffic was lifted off my shoulder. I seriously have not experienced wasting my time sitting in the car, on a daily basis, until we needed to do that routine. No wonder I kept away from blogging. I would have just been a miserable dried prune.

Homeownership and homekeeping! Oh my goodness.


So we bidded for our house the first time we saw it. We had been looking for a house for about 4 months, taking the children with us every Saturday to open houses. Tim and I fell in love with our house immediately. While we had to compromise on some aspects, we knew that we had found our home, possibly our forever home. Little did we realise that owning our own home equated to a whole new level of responsibility. While Tim and I have both owned our own homes, we have owned units - where we were only responsible for our 4 walls. This time, we were not only responsible for our 4 walls, but we were also responsible for the garden, the trees, the fences, the roof, the gutters, the drains....EVERYTHING!

I remember distinctly that within the first 6 months of home ownership, Tim and I decided to have our trees trimmed. We live in Frenchs Forest, and we literally have a forest in our garden. That initial work cost us almost $2K, and I remember asking the tree lopper how often we would need to get the trees trimmed. Every 18-24months at least he said! Who would have thought we needed to budget for that?!

Early last year, we decided to have 1 of our 4 big trees cut. A $4K exercise! Sigh!

1 out of our 4 big trees

Just as well Tim (and his helpers) enjoy gardening so there is no need to engage a gardener to help us keep on top of our garden.

Thank goodness that even princesses help in the garden

 We are giving our local plumber plenty of business though!

Let's try again!

This morning I woke up and had a wild thought.
Maybe I can blog again.

Maybe I can start capturing, once again, memories that are being created around me. I know that one day and I have said this before, I am going to need something and someone to remind me of my journey - the things that have made me laugh and the things that have made me cry. The things that have bothered me and the things I wonder about. I also want my children to be reminded of the experiences they have had, their family and friends, the people around them, their DNA, each ingredient that little by little contribute to who they will become. Noah and Eliza's own journey!

Thank goodness for email as it was the only way I could find my own blog. Ha! I told you that one day I am going to need all the help remembering things!

So here I am, three years on from the very last blog I wrote.

Funny that my last blog was also written in January. Maybe it has something to do with starting the year fresh. Maybe it is my own psychological new years resolution. Maybe every January I say to myself, I am going to do a better job of diarising our memories. I will do a better job of keeping in touch with the my own family and friends, and the people who have been part of me - the people who have been part of my own journey.

I will finish this post here. Let me now gather my thoughts and think about the last three years.
How I wish I have already captured the memories!!!

Welcoming 2017 from the top of our road.

The end of an era

Today was my last day working at the AGSM.
Today was also moving day for my team. Tomorrow,  my colleagues will no longer be based in the city but instead Kensington.
Today was a big day.

Yesterday was Noah's last day at the Roundhouse kindy.
Yesterday his little friends sang him a goodbye Noah song and gave him a beautiful card with lots of spiderman stickers on it.
Yesterday was the last day we needed to do the drive to Manly from our house to get to kindy.
Yesterday was a big day.

This week marks the end of an era.

Next week, Noah will start at his new kindy.
Next week, I will start a new job.
Next week, our family will find a new routine.
Next week is the beginning of another journey.

Life is never without change.

2013: The year that was!

It is only an hour and a half away from 2014. A new year! Fresh! The beginning of a new page in the beautiful life of Jo.

As I close the chapter on 2013, I reflect on the craziness of the year that was - 2013.

I would most likely describe my year to be crazy! I started full time work this year  meaning that Eliza also started attending daycare at the tender age of 9months old. Both kids attended daycare 4x a week with having Thursdays off to be minded my either my Mum or Dad.

When Noah started going to daycare, he did get sick so we were expecting Eliza to also have her sick days. Little did we expect that Eliza would be sick almost every 2 weeks from January to July. Apart from the regular cough and colds, Eliza also acquired pneumonia, hand foot and mouth disease, bronchiolitis, asthma and nits. I became very familiar with the Triage procedure at the Emergency Room at Manly and the Royal North Shore hospitals.

Apart from Eliza being sick, I too fell very ill at the beginning of the year. I was asleep for almost 4 straight days, suffering over 40C temperatures and could not keep anything down. Tim took me to the hospital but was not admitted. Based on my symptoms, Tim unofficially diagnosed me to have onset of mild meningitis - possibly getting it from Eliza's hand foot and mouth disease. We later learned that there were other cases in our area at the same time.

Thank God for Tim's work allowing him for a bit of flexibility as without that, I am not sure I would still be employed. This year I managed to use up ALL of my 15 days of sick leave. Never in my entire career history have I taken so much sick leave from work. Let's hope that 2014 is not as bad!

2013 is also the year when Tim and I travelled to the UK with both children, Being in the UK, attending 2 beautiful weddings of 2 very special couples, spending time with our families and watching the children create brilliant memories in the 10 days that we were there was amazing but oh my goodness, Tim and I never expected the travel to be as painful. Doing long haul with 2 young children completely wrecked us, especially as we were only there for such a short time.

2013 is also the year when I had my 2 minutes worth of fame on paper and tv. Despite having more than enough on my plate, I agreed to being the champion to fight against increases in our day care fees from our Council run centre. Nothing came to fruition but we fought for our beliefs and cannot wait to show Noah and Eliza the newspaper print photo and the video again when they are older.

This year, we finally bit the bullet and joined the Sydney property market. We knew that we had outgrown our 2 bedroom Fairlight rental but was not prepared to move until after our UK trip. House hunting was fun to begin but that did not last long. After 3 months of spending almost every Saturday afternoon driving around, Noah was over it and told us that he did not want to see another house again. Tim and I felt the same, watching 30-50 groups of people go through open houses with us and learning of places selling at least 20% over their asking price! It was ridiculous! Thank God that we did find our house when we did as we could not do another open house and get our offer rejected again.

In as much as for most of the year, Tim and I felt like we were riding the roller coaster of life, trying to manage and balance the kids and work (and constantly feeling that we are shortchanging one), I think this year has brought Tim and I closer through the challenges we have faced and the decisions we have made.

This year we also saw our kids grow so much closer. They truly have started to become friends and have each others back. We have heard Noah refer to Eliza as his best friend or no longer his best friend when  she chooses to not listen to him.

Tomorrow, I will be waking up and it will be a fresh year. A year that Tim and I are looking forward to. We are hoping for a more settled year especially in our new home - a year where we will continue to grow as a couple but hopefully also manage to pursue our own individual interest (which Tim and I have had to forego this year). We can only hope!

So my dear family and friends, I wish you a wonderful 2014.

Cheers to what is ahead. May God continue to reveal His great plan for each of us and may we always be happy, healthy and completed blessed in His presence.

With lots of love.

Our first Christmas at Chez Stentiford

I would like to officially introduce our new home to you.

Today, we spent our very first Christmas here.
Sadly, we were not blessed with the beautiful sunny weather that is depicted in the above photo. However, having more than enough space in our new home has provided us  with a pleasant, comfortable and "happy to stay indoors" type of day! Happy to stay indoors to eat, open presents, eat, open presents, eat and open presents!

Surprisingly it was already quite late when the children woke up. I have been waking up pretty early the past few days despite not necessarily having to. I think it stemmed from the week when Tim went away. That week, I made the effort to be awake at least 15-20 minutes before I expected the children to wake up, meaning needing to be up 5.30AM! Ugh!

Anyway, the first thing I heard from Noah this morning was "Did Santa come?"

I let Tim guide Noah through the loot the Santa brought and let him explain what Santa and the reindeers ate out of the feast he left for them. I wanted Noah to come up, to wake me and Eliza up, to excitedly tell us that Santa did arrive!

 

Once the mess had been made in our bedroom upstairs, it was time to move downstairs.

After breakfast, it was inevitable that the kids wanted to open more presents so Tim and I agreed to let them open their presents from us.

I can seriously say "Thank God we now have the space to accommodate this craziness, which included having a water table with an umbrella in our lounge room and a race track in the rumpus !!!".

As Tim was scheduled to be on patrol at North Curl Curl beach this afternoon, we hosted my parents over for Christmas rather than going to theirs today. Of course, despite the rain, I was adamant that we (he) would still be bbq-ing!

Luckily it was not too wet when Tim got started so he was still agreeable!

Lunch was a lovely feast. We missed Chad, Bambi, Ate and Isaac as they are away but we will be doing Christmas round 2 on Saturday with them. I think Tim and I agreed that we needed to get a bigger dining table soon!

Tim had to leave for his patrol for a couple of hours leaving us behind to digest our meal, and open more presents.

Of course when he got back, we opened more presents (and made more mess!) and ate more chocolate!

The kids are now in bed fast asleep, probably relishing the wonder of today, despite having to be indoors all day.

They did not even miss their new trampoline which is still a work in progress. Rain dampened plans of completely building it today.

To all our family and friends, wishing you a wonderful Christmas day, just like the one we had. May we all continue to be blessed and guided by God's loving spirit. Thank you too for all the wonderful greetings, cards and presents that you have showered our family with. We are indeed very blessed!

Merry Christmas!

New beginnings!

Let me preface this blog that I am not referring to Tim and I announcing that we are expecting another child. God help us if that ever happened. I love my N & E and can actually claim that I am content. I know that I am made to be a mother to 2 but not sure if I would cope with any more. I am quite happy adding to the brood with  having my niece and nephew stay with us.

Anyhow, I digress.

In several weeks time, Tim, Noah, Eliza and myself will be saving goodbye to our beloved Fairlight flat. The place where we began as a family. The place where Tim and I built our hopes and dreams for the unknown. The place where Tim and I have seen each other at our worse and at our best. The place we call home.

Tim and I are moving out of this place as different people. When we moved in, little did we know that this place would see us through 2 children, our wedding, lots of lovely family and friends coming to stay from all parts of the world, baptisms, playdates, friendships with people from the area and lovely get togethers with people we love. Soon, we move out carrying those wonderful wonderful memories with us.

I am a bit apprehensive with the move as the change is no longer about me. I have packed my life up several times. Previously, my greatest worry has been either finding a new job with the move or what the change in commute meant.

Today I am thinking about new child care centres for the children. I am thinking about first year of school for Noah. I am thinking about swimming lessons.  How will the children adjust to the change?
How will they cope?

People have asked me what my new commute may be like and quite honestly, thats the least of my worry - for now!

However, I am also confident that our new beginning could only be an extension of the beautiful blessings God has showered us with here at our Fairlight flat. I am a firm believer in Gods gift and I know that our move is a gift from God. I know because the gift was not immediate - like most gifts I have received. Therefore I know that each one of us will be given the coping mechanism to make the most of our new future.

Today,  I am full of mixed emotions.

The excitement of new beginnings and a place for our family to finally plant our feet will hopefully surpass the feeling of anxiousness of changes, new routines and of course having to pack and move!

Wish us luck!!!

Sibling love - almost a year later!

Almost a year ago, I blogged about the sibling love between Noah and Eliza.

With such pride in our hearts, Tim and I continue to notice how much they really enjoy each other's company - and as they continue to grow, they are becoming such great friends. They truly make each other laugh and as with siblings, make each other cry!

Noah calls Eliza his baby and is quite proud of her, especially at school, and the first thing Eliza does upon waking up is to toddle over to Noah's bedroom to wake him. We often hear her wail Noooooooooauuuuuuu too.

We (well Tim mostly) continue to capture the love and friendship these 2 have for each other.  So proudly we share: