Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Countdown

Here's Piper's countdown calendar (we are up-to-date, she's just used a light pink texta for the last few!). One week from now, exactly, we'll be in the car driving to the airport. Kinda hard to fathom, but time just rolls past inexorably, and things come to pass!

Haven't had much time to blog lately. I've had this strong urge to make lots of Christmas gifts, but I've had to keep on letting go of that idea. Just not enough time. I'm flat out finishing the gifts from family and friends who had birthdays in October and November!

We have, however, been taking lovely photos, so I thought I'd put some up here while I could. I'll probably post next time from Canada. Love to all.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Mr Carlson exits stage left

We've enjoyed having Jesse, a friend from Canada, stay with us. He's been so enjoyable to live with, in fact, that he's renewed my desire to live with other people.... other kid-friendly people! Oh yes, that and having the experience of being surrounded by a dozen amazing women for five days and then coming back to the reality of my comparatively individualistic life!

Gord, Jesse and Jasper this morning

Jasper this arvo, munching on sourdough from the market... ummm!


Did I mention Jasper and I were hanging out in the backyard because I told Piper we could go to the toy library in the arvo, and then realised the toy library wasn't open in the arvo on Thursdays, so instead I said we could go to the pool after she had a quiet time reading books in her play room while I had a little lie down, but then when I woke up from what turned out to be an hour-long kip, having slept through the departure of the legendary Mr Carlson (BUMMER! so sorry, mate!), and went to wake her up so we could head to the local billabong, I could not for the life of me rouse the girl! I talked to her, I rubbed her back, I pulled her blanket off a bit, Jasper banged on the jack-in-the-box and gurgled, all to no avail.

So instead, Jasper and I had a kind of picnic in the backyard, in the shade of the nappies on the line. (Today was pretty warm, mid-twenties? In fact, I got sunburnt at 11am when Jesse, Piper and I were sitting outside enjoying a cuppa (well, Jesse and I were enjoying our coffees; Piper was enjoying her dinosaurs from the toy library.) And the sun was still warm at 5pm. So yeah, that's a snippet of our day.

Did I say Jasper loves eating?!

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

AWOL on retreat

Hiya! We are alive even though it doesn't seem like it! I was going to post yesterday morning and then realised we didn't have any new photos to put up, which always makes a post more interesting. Given that yesterday was Melbourne Cup Day (a public holiday in honour of one of the longest horse races in the world - and no, John, I didn't head to the bookies this year!) and we were heading to Mum and Dad's for lunch, I thought I'd bring the camera and remedy the situation. Needless to say, I walked into the study to get it, forgot what I'd come in for, and walked out of the house without it. So for now, this is one boring ramble, with nothing to break it up. Apologies, but at least you know we're alive!

I was away on a retreat for five days last week, and Gord was away on a five-day retreat the week before that. We only saw each other for two days out of twelve, so communicating with a broader audience wasn't quite on the agenda. And we all know that Gord doesn't blog, hardly ever!! So I should really say, communicating with a broader audience wasn't on MY agenda! My retreat was pretty amazing - thirteen women in the circle, two babies. I felt very clear and happy most of the time, and it wasn't until I got home and had a massive downer the next day that I realised, oh yeah, it's easy being a fantastic mum when there's heaps of people willing to hold the baby any time during the day. And oh yeah, I was away from Gord and Piper, and they're the ones who push my buttons these days, much more so than Jasper. It was hard to come home and feel I had to instantly start compromising on my parenting, because I now had two kids to deal with, and because I wasn't in that ultra-supportive circle. Thank goodness Anna and Sam came over that day, and Gord came home early from work, otherwise things could have been dreadfully grim - well, grimmer than they already were!

This is just life, I'm pretty sure, this compromising balancing act, but it was just hard running face to face with it, and my own gaping limitations, on my first (and second) day home. My mum used the analogy of gravel rash to describe the rude shock of coming back to reality after a totally fantastic experience, and I think it's rather apt! I still haven't really connected with Gord - I'm in a wierd introverted headspace. One day I guess I'll emerge.

On a different note, since coming home, and since it's now November, it's really felt like Canada is coming up quickly. This is our month for getting everything done: the packing; pick up Gord's visa; get new credit cards; find out about a visa for me, given we're staying longer than six months; find a storage solution; use up all the food in the pantry; see all our best friends; and of course, for me, MAKE CHRISTMAS PRESENTS!! Ha, we'll see how much I get done. Gord is hoping I don't make myself too busy. It has been known to happen before!

So yeah, we're slowly gearing up. I'm collecting stationary, getting into a letter-writing headspace more and more. Somehow I'd like to write a Christmas newsletter too... anway, lots of stuff on the go. So yeah, that's why we've been a bit AWOL. Oh yeah, the kids are going really well. Jasper was so amazing on the retreat! And Piper absolutely loves hanging out with Caleb and Miri at Gembrook - they're in a real swing of being together. Interestingly enough, if we weren't going to Canada we're pretty certain we'd be moving to Gembrook in the not-too-distant future. As I keep saying to people, life feels pretty dynamic, full of possibilities (except when I'm in a shitful mood!!!!!!) Okay, so maybe it hasn't seemed so full of possibilities in the last couple of days, but hey, from a broad perspective, longterm, meta-narrative... Get my drift?!

Love to all...