Toothbrush {photoadayjuly}

As I was unwinding on the couch tonight I realised I hadn't taken a photo today. With no ideas of what to take a photo of I decided to turn to the photo a day list for inspiration and found that today's prompt was toothbrush. So here is the cute little toothbrush I bought Isaac the other day which is providing a bit of novelty to an otherwise boring task. 

Let the games begin

 

The last few nights I've been letting Isaac watch some Olympics before bed. Being 4 years old this is really his first games so we're trying our best to explain the concept to him.

He seems to be really interested in all the different countries the athletes are from and their flags and his favorite sports so far seem to be the swimming, gymnastics and weightlifting.

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Look at me

 

I love sitting up to play now. I also love laughing at my brother when he's being silly.

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A rivalry begins

Today was the beginning of a new rivalry in our family. Isaac has aligned himself with Sydney's new AFL team, The Giants, and today they played Daddy's Magpies for the first time in the big league. It was cute watching the two of them walk to the stadium in their competing jerseys ready for the big match.

Unfortunately I think it's going to be a one-sided affair for a while yet.

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On the road

I drove Isaac into daycare today so that he could have a bit of a sleep in and Darren could still arrive at work on time. I also stopped by for a bite to eat with Darren and his colleagues. It wasn't exactly how I'd planned my day to go but it was nice to get out of the house for a bit.

After I snapped this photo I realised it was also a happy coincidence that the photo a day by Fat Mum Slim today was 'On the road".

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Soup for the soul

We've been doing a bit of meal planning lately and it's working well for us so far.

Firstly, and most importantly, I'm not stressed everyday trying to decide what I'm going to make for dinner and whether we have any ingredients in the fridge that will actually go together. Secondly, we seem to be saving a bit of money because it means we go to the grocery store with a clear idea of what ingredients we need to buy for the week.

Tonight soup was on the menu and it was just what the doctor ordered for our sniffly noses.

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Comparing the pair

We get asked a lot whether Noah and Isaac are similar or different but I actually find it hard to remember what Isaac was like when he was a baby. I used to think there was no way I'd forget all his little milestones and characteristics but unfortunately you do. There's so much going on that it's hard to keep track and now it's usually when Noah starts doing something new that I remember Isaac used to do similar things.

To help us, Darren has been comparing photos of our two boys on his blog. He searches for photos of Isaac at the same age as Noah and then puts the two side by side. It's quite interesting actually.

He showed me a photo of Isaac at 9 months the other day so I decided to snap a similar one of Noah tonight while he was having his dinner. You can see the comparison here.

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Feeling fancy

 

I always feel more feminine when I have my fingernails painted. I just never have time to do them myself.

Today my sister and I spent two hours at the student day spa having massages, facials and nails done. It was wonderful. I haven't felt this relaxed for a while.

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Steps to enlightenment

 

These are the steps leading up to the yoga class I sporadically attend.

As with most kinds of exercise getting started is the hardest part. Each week I find myself making excuses not to go. I'm exhausted from a busy day with the boys, someone is sick, it's cold outside etc. But once I do eventually get there I enjoy it, especially the meditation at the end.

I know my body and mind benefit when I do go regularly so I really should make the effort to go more often.

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Decisions, decisions

 

After much discussion we have decided to buy a new (or near new) car when I go back to work and today we all went to look at a few of the models on our short list. Isaac thought it was great being able to get in and out of all the cars.

I think we were able to narrow our choices down a bit today but some test drives over the next few weekends should really help us make up our mind.

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Memories

 

Growing up in a Maltese family meant that pastizzi was often on the menu. Unfortunately it wasn't something that I was very fond of. Regardless, they always bring back memories of my childhood.

I stumbled upon some in the freezer at Harris Farm yesterday so I decided to grab a packet for lunch over the weekend. It's been years since I've had them so I thought that I may have acquired more of a taste for them now.

The verdict: they were ok and I ate about three but it's still not something I would crave. Darren on the other hand would have fit in quite well with the Maltese family.

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Rhyme time

 

Noah and I were invited to rhyme time at the library today. We read a book and sung lots of nursery rhymes and then spent a lovely afternoon lunching and shopping with our friends. We could get used to this...

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Special delivery

 

I bought, wrapped and posted our nephew's birthday present today. As the kids get older it's harder to know what to buy them for birthdays and Christmas' but I hope he gets some enjoyment out of what we sent down this year. I think it's pretty cool anyway.

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Mummy's little helper

 

Isaac is always wanting to push Noah's pram (he loves anything with wheels) but his normal one is too big for Isaac to see over the top of. The few times I have let him push he's nearly crashed into all sorts of things.

Today I decided to use the stroller to go for a walk to the corner shop and realised it is the perfect size for Isaac to push. He did a very good job and had a smile from ear to ear the whole way.

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Sam the ant

 

After a few free trials I finally decided to purchase a subscription to the Reading Eggs program for Isaac today. It's a great internet based program to help kids of all different levels with their reading. I can already see lots of improvement in Isaac since he started playing with it about 4 months ago. It's also a great way to get him used to using the mouse (although he's already a bit of a whiz on it).

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Poppy's birthday

 

It was Poppy's birthday today so we went to the nursing home for a visit. It was nice sitting out on the lawn unwrapping presents and eating chippies.

I'm always amazed at how good Isaac is with Dad. Since he was very little it seems he has instinctively known that Poppy needed help. He's often held his hand to walk him back to his room (when he was still walking) or offering to help him open things. It's humbling to see him be so naturally kind hearted.

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Have your cake and eat it too

 

We went to a great 1st birthday celebration today with lots of food, friends and cake. How amazing is the cake? Isaac liked it so much that he ate some of the decorations from it before it had been cut. Apparently he was afraid that we were leaving and he'd miss out on having some. Ooops, sorry Ali.

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Get your skates on

 

Our local council hosted a winter festival these school holidays with the main attraction being an outdoor ice skating rink. It was something I thought Isaac would enjoy so we all got rugged up and went for a look.

With one of us having to stay with Noah, Darren kindly volunteered me to get onto the ice with Isaac. Isaac had never been ice skating before and I hadn't been since about 1995 - even then I don't think I was confident enough to let go of the side.

I had warned him that it was going to be slippery but I forgot myself just how slippery it was. As we entered the rink hilarity ensued. Isaac lost his balance and then began moving his legs wildly while hanging onto the wall. My uncontrollable laughter and fear of letting go of the wall meant that I was providing little help. Luckily Isaac saw the funny side too. After a few repeats of this we finally got our balance and with the aide of a penguin ventured out into the middle of the ice.

Despite my obvious lack of talent or finesse, I had a lot of fun and I think Isaac did too.

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Retail fail

 

This was the state of a dressing room I went into today in Myer and this was only half of it. Every corner of the cubicle had clothes strewn on the floor and every hook was piled with garments people had tried on but decided not to buy. A quick look in some of the other cubicles revealed similar scenes.

I managed to try on some clothes despite the mess and then wandered to one of the other departments. Here I had to wait for two shop assistants to finish a D&M about one of the girl's boyfriends before I was offered the help I needed.

With experiences like this, is it any wonder more people are choosing to shop online?

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Tit for tat

 

Darren and I are pretty good at sharing responsibilities around the house and our night time routine is a pretty good example of that. Firstly for dinner, whoever doesn't cook has to do the dishes then, one person does the bath/shower and the other reads a bedtime story. It's something that has worked well for us so far and ensures that we're both equally exhausted when we finally get to sit down :)

How do other parents manage the whole dinner/bath/bed routine?

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Check up

Noah was a very obedient patient today for Dr Isaac. Thankfully everything seemed to be in order and he got the all clear.

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Flying high

Being school holidays there have been lots of exciting things to do and see at the shopping centre after swimming. Today there were trampolines set up in the food court.

Isaac is a creature of habit so he is usually very shy or standoffish when confronted with new things. Once he does get involved though you usually can't stop him. Today was no exception. He said he didn't want to go on the trampolines but I knew if he tried it he would love it. So I convinced him to give it a go but to tell the lady that he only wanted to do small jumps. It took about two bounces before he yelled with excitement, 'I want to go higher!'

Great outdoors

Yet another great day to get outside. Yeah we have a few cold, wet days but we really can't complain about Winter in Sydney - not with blue sky like today.

One of the other great things about Sydney (and probably most Australian cities) is the amount of green space we have. In fact it was recently ranked the fifth most liveable city in the world with green space a major factor. It makes getting out into the fresh air a breeze (hehehe).

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You want more?

Noah has an insatiable appetite. He would happily eat all day if given the opportunity. Lately he loves playing with his bowl and spoon after each meal. It keeps him occupied for a few minutes and also gets him familiar with handling them so he can hopefully start to feed himself soon.

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It's been a while...

... since we've had a family day out so today we decided to pack a picnic and venture out for a few geocaches. We didn't have much success on the cache front but it was lovely getting out as a family and into the sunshine.

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Music in me

My lovely sister organised a night out at the iconic Basement tonight. One of our favourites, Tim Freedman was doing a solo gig minus his Whitlams band mates. It was music the way I love it, intimate and acoustic.

I realised while at the show that many of my most vivid (and fond) memories involve music. Things like, singing in my bedroom, the music playing at full volume during my parents parties, being introduced to new albums or artists and my very first concerts to name a few. It got me contemplating how much music really does mean to me given I don't remember much else from my childhood and therefore what I should do about it...

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