A year in the life.

Olive.

You are a year old. (And one month.)



You are growing up so fast; this year, you got to meet your Grandad for the first time. He was so excited - it was hard for him to wait so long, but he's a teacher, and it's hard to get visas for Turkish people, like his wife and stepdaughter. They made it, and they loved you.

We had a hot summer; you and your mummy and daddy and Nacho moved house, and it's great. There's so much room to grow, and you have a garden to play in as you get bigger. Your parents are really happy and so are you.

Last month, we threw you a big party with all your friends and all the unicorns we could find. You had the best time and it was awesome to have everyone together. You got so many gifts; toys, clothes, books. You're so close to walking, now, so your mummy bought you a new pair of shoes - which you don't try to pull off your feet.


You're getting so smart; you can say Mama and Dada, cheese, doggy and 'iya! This week, I introduced you to Rainbow Brite, and you loved it. You recognised the horses and made 'clip clop' noises. I don't think your daddy was very happy with me showing it to you, though.

I can't get over your intelligence, your beauty and your bright little smile. Everyone is clamouring to see you all the time and you're still lighting up our lives. We're waiting for the moment you pick yourself up and strut across the living room; you're so nearly there and we're all excited.

Now it's Christmas all over again, and it's so hard not to spoil you, shower you with gifts and toys and clothes that you'll grow out of. But one thing you'll get a whole lot of is love and attention. I love you, baby.

Christmas.

Olive and Gaga.

 Olive, it's Christmas!

Your parents said no presents... well, we didn't listen. Everyone who loves you wants to spoil you for your first Christmas. You've had toys and clothes and cuddles. You've slept a bit and screamed a bit and smiled a lot. Your grandparents bought you a teddy that matches your mummy's... which is 30 years old.

We've taken you for a walk with the doggies; your best friend Nacho and Nacho's cousin Honey. It's warm today; the sky is white, but not with snow; just bright sunlight pressing against the clouds. We've all said it doesn't really feel like Christmas because the weather is weird, but it doesn't matter, because you're bringing all the magic.

In a few days, you'll take a trip to visit your grandparents' house in Upper Boddington for the first time ever! There, your parents will have a chance to relax and be taken care of; right now, they're putting all their energy into taking care of you.

Your grandad in Turkey and your Auntie in Australia miss you so much; they wish you a happy first Christmas and they hope to see you soon.

The world has changed. It all revolves around you, now. We are all so happy to have you here and we all want to hold you and rock you in our arms. You're the best Christmas gift and we're so grateful.

Love you, baby.

Olive.

07.12.16 - cuddles at mummy and daddy's.

Four weeks old. You! You little bundle of cuddles and big blue eyes and frowns, you're four weeks old.

Olive Bel, you've brought light to all our lives and we can't get enough of you. We know your mummy and daddy are tired and probably sick of us clamouring for photos and updates, but we can't help it. You're just so special.

In your short life, your mummy and daddy have taken you all over. You've met your big brother, best friend and fierce protector, Nacho the pug, you've made some friends and you've been out to see the Queen (at least, one of her houses). You've been to Costa coffee, the place I used to work and the place we all go to catch up and chat away while you snooze in our arms. You've been to baby sensory classes and you've been officially registered.

You've grown already, and you go through three baby-gros a day. That's okay, though, because we can't stop buying you clothes. Every time I see you, I fall more in love, and I can't wait until you have cousins to grow up with.

Olive, it's nearly Christmas! Last week, I bought you a decoration to hang on your tree for your first Christmas. It might not hang there in every year to come, but hopefully, it'll get tucked away in a little box of memories for you to go through when you have children of your own. Your mummy and daddy don't want us to spoil you for Christmas; you've got so many toys and clothes already. But there will be a bank account with your name on it, and we will build it for you as you grow, so one day, you can buy your own car, or go on your own adventure.

The day after you were born, I took pictures, real ones, and handed them out to your family. We carry you with us everywhere we go; you're our angel and the light of our lives, even when you wake mummy and daddy up, or won't drink all your milk, or won't go to sleep. Those big blue eyes - turning brown - are all we need to forget how tired we are and keep on loving you.

Keep being you, full of life and personality and curiosity and cuddles.

Your Auntie Emma.

Happy New Year

The Grange in Adelaide

I'm a bit late with this seasons greetings, but since I'm one of these travelling types now, I'm sure you can forgive me.

Happy New Year, everyone, and I hope you've all had wonderful Christmases, Hanukahs, Yules and whatever else you celebrate. It's been a busy month for me and as it always does, the time is flying. Christmas was a hot one here, and unfortunately, my uncle was working, so we had to wait for him to come home. We had a lovely day anyway, and we all spoilt each other with an excessive amount of gifts and plenty of food and love. We're still working through our Christmas stash. Slowly.

In the short period between Christmas and New Year, I managed to fit quite a lot in. My auntie and I took a trip into the city to catch the third day of the boxing day test match, and thoroughly enjoyed the cricket. I'm an Aussie supporter, as my love for cricket was only discovered four years ago in Cairns; to me, it seems natural to support the team that caught my interest.

It was another very hot day, but the atmosphere was fantastic and even though we were sticky and sweltering, we had a really great time. ALL the boys put on a great show.

 

 

After the cricket, I hopped on a plane to Adelaide to visit my lovely friend Jacquie, who before now, I haven't seen since we were both in year nine together. I spent New Years with her and her boyfriend, family and friends, and we spent the night on the Grange Beach, somewhere between a dozen sets of fireworks and the ocean. It was a beautiful warm evening, and we swam until it got dark, ate cheese and crackers, home made chicken burgers and hand picked cherries.

 

The New Year gang, minus me

As the sun went down, I grabbed my camera to get this shot.

 

The night was perfect, since I'd been worried about how I'd celebrate New Years. I'm not much of a party girl, but I don't like to sit around and ignore it. As it happens, Jacquie recently stopped drinking, so it turned out we were the perfect match!

 

While I was in Adelaide, Jacquie unfortunately had to work a fair bit, but we made up for it by spending plenty of time on the beach, eating great food and watching lots of Disney movies. Throw in a couple of hysterical games of Trivial Pursuit and you've got the perfect recipe for a great Radelaide holiday.

 

I'm back in Melbourne now, and although the weather was a bit miserable when I first got back, it's certainly heating up now and it looks like we're in for a great summer. In the last two days, we've been to Melbourne Zoo, which was awesome, and St Kilda beach for a few hours. Let's keep the review short; you'll get bored of my zoo stories otherwise.

 

I was so excited at both Adelaide and Melbourne zoos to see that they had Gila Monsters.

 

 

These are one of only two venomous lizards in the world, and also one of the first dangerous animals I ever learnt about. I've never seen one in the wild, so to see four, two at each zoo, in the space of a week was mind blowing. I love these things.

 

Melbourne Zoo also had the most gorgeous baby Asian elephant running about in the sun, three big male lions scrapping over lunch, and a lovely brown bear, to name but a few of the sights. Adelaide Zoo only topped this with their two Giant Pandas, who were magnificent, but I felt a little sorry for them (and the rest of the animals), because they never get a moment's peace!

 

Yesterday, we topped off the week with a stroll down St Kilda beach. Here in Melbourne, it's considered to be a less than perfect beach; my cousin warned us to watch out for needles in the sand, but when we got there, I thought it was lovely. It's a city beach, so yes, it is surrounded by roads, cars and industrial areas, but the water was lovely and clear, and the beach was packed, so it can't be that bad!

 

As beaches go, I rate this one pretty highly.

My auntie bought me lunch, and we sunbathed for a bit, got a little burnt, and paddled along a sand bank. It was a lovely way to spend a sunny day. Today is a bit hotter, and we're planning to spend most of it just relaxing, but we've got quite a bit planned for the next month.

I've booked my trip to Sydney for the beginning of February, my auntie and I are planning an overnight trip to Brisbane (to visit another zoo), and my friend Courtney and I are talking about heading to the Gold Coast for a few days.

Anyway, that's my adventures to date, and as always, I'll keep you updated as often as I can.

Thanks for reading, guys,

Stay cool!

Em

A month in Melbourne

Healesville Sanctuary water tower, complete with Platypus

Hi readers!

So I've been in Australia for just over a month now; I can't believe it! The time has gone so quickly, and Christmas is on its way in.

I decided to wait until now to post a blog because although I've been keeping busy, we haven't been up to a whole lot out here. My auntie, who's putting me up while I'm out here, works at a school, and her summer holidays start at the end of next week. We decided to put things on hold until then, because we'll have much more time to do everything we've planned to do.

That doesn't mean I've been sitting around doing nothing, of course.

I love Australia. The first thing I thought as we were driving into the city early in my visit was how big everything is. It's so flat here that you can see so much sky and land. Even though the weather has been a bit up and down, everything is so beautiful. Gisborne is out in the country side, about an hour's drive from the city, and the views are amazing. This place makes England seem so small.

I've been doing some riding over in Melton, the next town over, and the equestrian centre is in such a beautiful location. 

There are fields full of kangaroos all over the place and the sun setting behind the school lights everything up like gold dust, even when it's been raining all day. It's been great to get back to riding, now that  I have the time and some money to spare.

 

Outside of that, we've been doing a lot of shopping. Melbourne seems to be the shopping centre capital of Australia and I've been indulging myself a little in some new favourite shops. Mostly, though, I've been Christmas shopping. Auntie Kim and I discovered valet parking at Westfield shopping centre - what a brilliant idea! I've just about finished, now, and we've vowed to stay away from the shops for a while.

In more exciting news, I got my working with children pass, which means I've been helping out a lot at the school. I love it; the kids are so creative and enthusiastic, and the teachers are great. Templestowe college is like no school I've ever been to. 

As a result of helping out there, I've been able to tag along for a couple of field trips. As mentioned in my last blog, a few days after I arrived, we visited Healesville wildlife sanctuary, which focuses on preservation and rehabilitation of Australian wildlife, and we had a lovely day. The weather was great and the kids were so well behaved. The only downside was that the dingoes were all sleeping in the shade to stay out of the heat!

 

Sunbathing 'roo

Goanna... showing his good side

Wedgetail Eagle

 On Thursday, we joined another excursion, this time to Werribee open range zoo, which is an African safari themed park. Another great day with amazing kids and fantastic talks from the zoo keepers. We met three lovely lions, who put on a good show for us, just by sunbathing and yawning.

 

Brothers

 We also got to see Nunki the Serval; the most well behaved cat I've ever seen! She was so beautiful and it was great to see her up close, and learn about these beautiful animals in the wild.

 



Nunki the Serval



Showing off her moves

At home, we've been cooking, baking, wrapping presents and watching the cricket. As an Aussie supporter, it's been smiles all round. As you can probably tell, I've been keeping busy and I'm really looking forward to things kicking off next week. Christmas will start off the summer, and I'll keep you updated on things after that!

 

 

Stay tuned,

Em