How did we end up with an 18 month old?

A few months have passed and it's been busy busy busy! It's now coming into Autumn and having my mum and dad out to visit seems like a distant memory.  Looking forward to our trip back home in October, only 4 months to wait.  Eek!  Never thought I would say this but Eva is now happily engaging in some mind numbing children's TV which will obviously assist with toddler entertainment when 35000ft in the air…..time to start practicing with the headphones!

Easter was fun, we organised an Easter Egg hunt for a few friends of ours from mums group.  Eva, Lucas, James and Millie were in the veggie patch, 'hunting' for eggs.  Very funny to see how their wee personalities differed…..James found one, ripped the wrapping off and proceeded to gnaw away until it was gone in 5 seconds.   Then asked for more.  Eva found one, took herself away to a corner to slowly peel the paper off and nibble at it, making sure no one was around to take it off her….Millie grabbed one and ran around waving it in the air, sharing it with everybody.

In March, Bob and I, Meg and Gary had a ball at the Summit Survivor in Trafalgar while Eva stayed behind with Auntie Deb.  Mud and more mud, with some obstacles thrown in including an ice bath and a water slide.  So much fun, but I really do need to work on my upper body strength! And no, I wasn't game enough to run through the high voltage wires soaking wet!

In May, we popped Eva off to Corinna and James' house for an overnight stay while we went to see the Lion King in Melbourne.  Absolutely fabulous! Eva had fun playing with the clothes pegs apparently and seemed to sleep well enough in a strange environment.  Gold star.

In July, we went to Wilsons Prom for a 'Christmas in July' get together with the Dickinsons, Hulls and Meg and Tammie.  A cosy fire, red wine and a fabulous roast cooked up by Becky made for a wonderful weekend, despite a mild case of 'dodgy tummy' doing the rounds.  Christmas jumpers an excellent addition.

August arrived and we were off to Sydney for the World Netball Championships! Cheering on my old team mates was fun, quite bizarre to watch as a spectator this time but the atmosphere was amazing.  Caught up with Claire Cooper and Lisa Harper to watch the Scotland vs Samoa match, can't say we had much of a voice left after that victory, amazing.  Bob had a night out with Alan and Matthew and Eva had a great time at Sydney Taronga Zoo, especially loving the cable car rides over the elephants.

Now we are on our count down to the next big holiday.  Can't wait!

Goodbye UK, hello jetlag!

Cannot believe I haven't posted on here since February! However, there are several reasons for this.  Since my parents visited, and encouraged me to set up my own business, it has been 24/7 work for me trying to establish myself with runners and dancers as a musculoskeletal screening service.  It is an all-consuming, time consuming process and very difficult to switch off and have some down-time.  Furthermore, Bob has been doing his leadership course with local government and has just been promoted to Senior Manager within the council.  And in addition to this, our little girl has been growing up so quickly and is now talking and running and generally being rather cute and mischievous.  We have barely had a minute to scratch our backsides! This parenting malarky can be rather full on at times.

Having said that, we are just back in Oz following a fabulous month in Scotland.  We may be somewhat jet lagged but I can honestly say it was worth it and to be honest, Eva was a gem on the plane, give or take a few moments of boredom and frustration.  Let's just say it could have been much MUCH worse.  Hurrah.  We all survived.  Let it be said that we will not be going on a plane for a very long time!

So what has been happening in the last 7-8 months?  Winter has been long and tedious in Australia, just a bit wet and miserable.  I have been playing hockey most Saturdays instead of netball (just for a change) and Bob has been playing golf as usual.  And we have our usual steady stream of box sets ready to watch when we get home from work and put Eva to bed! Ah, the confinement to home when you have a toddler, no wild nights out for us!

On to more interesting topics, like our holiday! Usually when we return home to Scotland we spend a lot of time catching up with our friends and having a few nights out etc.  This time, the focus what on Eva getting to know her cousins, grandparents, aunties and uncles and that she did.  Caterina was a hit in Edinburgh and Fraser and baby Scott were favourites in Glasgow.  We managed to spend quality time with all four grandparents and Bob and I were celebrating the fact we had some onsite babysitters for the occasional lie-in! Eva enjoyed baking scones with Granny Barr, washing the car with Grandad, reading Fireman Sam books with Papa and was taken to the book library by bookworm Granny Mo.  We had visits to Edinburgh Zoo with Granny Barr, Caterina and Auntie Lindsey to see the giant panda, some fun at Almond Valley farm with Auntie Helen, Uncle Steven, Fraser and Scott, soft play antics at Pandamonium and mayhem at the Science Centre with the Fraser/Black family.  Time spent at Crieff Hydro and St Andrews was fabulous, with trips to the beach for some stone throwing with Papa and swimming with both Fraser and Caterina.

Highlights for me were seeing Eva interacting with her big and little cousins (she couldn't get enough of baby Scott, giving him a few 'affectionate' headlocks and big kisses), and also catching up with my sister for some days out and a takeaway curry (not the same in Australia!).  I got to have a lovely evening out with my husband at the Tower Restaurant in Edinburgh, despite us both falling asleep into our desserts (oh, how I love you jet lag).  The view of the castle was tremendous, I love being a tourist in my home country!  I was also pleased that Eva could celebrate her 2nd birthday with her family and we could celebrate my mum's 60th birthday in St Andrews too.  Thanks to Steven and Bob for babysitting so we could go out for dinner and have a proper giggle with a few bottles of wine! My dad certainly hasn't lost his touch when it comes to complaining and getting a free drink…….

I also got to spend time with my gran at her nursing home in Greenock, including joining in on the physiotherapy exercise session! Never a dull moment.  She looked happy and content there at least, despite not being sure of my name or who Eva was.  For 95 she is doing well.

Lowlights were the almost-swallowing-a-ScrewballScramble-metal-ballbearing incident at the start of our holiday!! The less said about that the better.

Let's hope we have visitors soon because I'm missing my family so much already! xxx

Granny Mo and Papa come to visit!

The days between 26th January and 13th February flew past.  From the overcast, slightly windier than expected day my mum and dad arrived in Melbourne to the scorching 30C sun they left behind, we had an action packed 3 weeks as a family.  Eva recognised mum and dad immediately as they walked through the front door, giving them a big grin albeit with reservations.  She soon warmed up.  In fact, she took to having 'lodgers' in her house like a duck to water.  More people to play with in the sandpit!

The first week was pretty chilled out, we stayed around Warragul and showed Granny and Papa the parks and coffee shops in town.  It wasn't quite BBQ weather unfortunately but good enough to enjoy Australia Day in Civic Park, a couple of rounds of golf and of course the Raffle at the golf club.  And no, of course we didn't win anything!  Eva and Granny had their little morning ritual of walking round the garden, saying hello to the (wilting) flower and picking tomatoes from the veggie patch.  Papa was responsible for throwing and catching and building towers to be knocked down.   

The second week we set off on our journey to Echuca, 4 hours northwest of Warragul.  We decided to break up the journey with stops in Healesville and a lovely little spot called Nagambie with a stunning lake.  Unfortunately our 21 year old Jeep decided to pack up the air conditioning for the final leg of the journey so we were all cooking somewhat for the last half hour!! Eva did surprisingly well considering.  Not quite as bad as I had expected - we survived!

Our accommodation was amazing.  A lovely 3 bedroom apartment within walking distance to the Murray River, complete with deck and BBQ.  The weather was superb.  We enjoyed a trip on the old fashioned paddle steamer Pevensey, Eva got her First Mate certificate for steering the boat and was mesmerised by the workings of the machinery.  Papa was of course delighted with this, maybe Eva wasn't quite as girly as he had first thought!  The next few days we toddled around town, ate ice-cream, had BBQ's and got out in a small tin boat on the Murray again.  Once Eva had gotten rid of her ridiculously oversized life jacket, everyone had a good time! Nobody drowned.  Bonus.  And Bob and I enjoyed our night off, dinner at Antonio's Italian and a few drinks in the Gypsy Bar.  Fabulous.

The way home, we stopped off in a rather unexciting Bendigo (well, the botanical gardens were nice!) before driving into Melbourne for an overnight stay.  We caught the tram into St Kilda beach and had a paddle in the water.  Lovely! After smearing tomato pasta sauce everywhere, we took Eva back to the hotel and enjoyed a relaxing cosy night in, while my mum and dad partied on.  Role reversal! Next morning, we took Eva to the Aquarium for a spot of stingray feeding, shark watching and turtle poking before heading back to Warragul.  A successful trip to a fabulous location.  Hurrah.

Mum and dad headed off for a few days in Mornington Peninsula, enjoying the Hot Springs and the beach.  Then back to us for a lovely dinner out in Big Spoon Little Spoon.  We failed miserably to get a game on the round pool table.  Maybe next time?? A few more visits to the park, rhyme time at the library and some more playing in the sandpit/paddling pool before saying goodbye on the Friday.  Eva very cutely waved and waved and waved at Granny before she went through the door at daycare.  Clearly she will miss having her grandparents around.  A sad day for all!

What can I say - I hope Mum and Dad enjoyed their holiday as much as we did.  Next time, make sure we collect the King Prawn curry from the Chinese and Mum, you really need to see a podiatrist!!!!! Let the next Canasta championships commence in October.    xxxxxx

Photos to follow

Goodbye 2014 - Hello 2015!

When I first started writing this blog in 2010, I didn't think I'd still be writing it (albeit in a more sporadic nature) as we enter into 2015.  I also didn't think I'd still be in Australia 5 years after moving out here and yet, here we are, quite settled in Warragul of all places, happily married with a gorgeous 1 year old girl.  We are very lucky indeed.  Sometimes I cannot believe how lucky we are to have extremely flexible jobs within walking distance of our home, extremely flexible and family friendly bosses, a great work/life balance and a great social network all on our doorstep.  No need to travel more than 10 minutes to get to daycare, swimming pool, restaurants and cafes, netball court, golf club, gym….the list goes on and I must admit I have now come to hate busy traffic and having to stop at traffic lights as this is not a regular occurrence! We are spoiled.  And what's more, we have sunshine (most of the time) to put the icing on the cake.

So do we stay in Australia I hear you ask? The pull of family and solid friendships back home in Scotland is huge.  Personally, I'd love to come home.  Only if I could have all of the above! And let's face it, I don't think that is going to happen.  Work for physiotherapists and social workers appears to be few and far between, and only likely to get worse under the current government.  We would be silly to up sticks and leave without a job offer at the very least.  Economically, we are better off here, able to afford a 3 bedroom home with garden and still have money to go out for dinner.  Socially, we have many friends who live within walking distance and who are also in a similar 'orphan' state as ourselves. This makes us feel less homesick and has led to us accepting our friends close by as a surrogate family (as we are to them).  If Australia was only a 3 hour plane journey from the UK, I'd live here forever.  As one of my patients pointed out the other day though, Australia wouldn't be Australia if it was that accessible to all.  Good point.

So I guess we shall see what 2015 will bring.  Looking forward to my parents coming out and getting to spend some time with Eva.  We miss them so much and would love for them to live round the corner.  Alas, it is not to be. So we shall enjoy the 3 weeks of intensive visiting (!) and maybe squeeze in night of babysitting here and there?! Let's hope the sun shines for them.  We are in the process of booking flights home later next year and we will keep you posted regarding dates etc.  

Here are a few snapshots of our last few months - playing on the beach, mums group 1st birthday celebrations, golf championship, learning to scooter, meeting Santa…..happy parenting occasions : )  and a few pics of 'me time' when I met up with Louisa on Sunshine Coast and completed the Great Amazing Race in Melbourne.  Fun times.

Merry Christmas Everyone, and have a memorable 2015.  We know we will! Morag, Bob and Eva xxxxx

On the move….

We have ants in our pants.  We cannot stay in the one place for too long for fear of missing out on something bigger and better.  Therefore we are moving house!  Moving into our fourth house in 4 years.  Yay.  Quite a spontaneous decision, the main reason being the lack of bath in our current unit.  Seems a rather trivial thing to the average Joe but to us, the uneven unsafe contraption we are improvising with in the shower will only end in tears if we don't do something about it!  Eva is desperate to get her hands on the taps and the only way to do this is to make a bid for freedom over the side of the baby tub that is 1 metre off the ground.  Hmm.

Anyway, less about the safety concerns, more about our new house.  It's a 3 bedroom weatherboard house with a garden.  A large garden at that, with a veggie patch, and we have absolutely no idea how to look after a garden.  My friends (with gardens) have informed me of the top 10 gardening tools required for a beginner which is all well and good, but I actually don't know what to do with any of them (ok, I lie, I can work a lawnmower).  And as for my past history with growing things, the dead plant has been at the door now for the past 6 months and I walk past it every day thinking I should do something about it.  I also had good intentions of growing herbs until I forgot to water the seeds.  This does not bode well for the veggie patch.  And what is worse, we are still renting so it's actually someone else's beloved veggies and herbs we can kill.  Oh, the pressure.

On the plus side, we have a spare room so come and visit!

Our new house is on the same road as our friends Becky and Stuart, who have 10 month old James.  Perfect for babysitting duties and BBQ's.  Come on Summer!

Bob has managed to get his handicap down to 0.5 in the past few months so don't let him tell you having a baby will get you less time on the golf course!! It's all rubbish.  Fingers crossed this is his year for winning the club championship although much to his annoyance, his friend Ross has just joined…..and he used to be a pro.  Argh

Dusties netball team is going well, we are 3rd on the ladder so will make finals.  We should beat Buln in the first round of finals and will meet Poowong in the semi final (we recently lost to them by 1 goal so should be a good game!  I was playing WD for a change!)  We would be super excited if we made it to the grand final this year.  There is a slim chance……..

I have enjoyed watching the netball at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.  A massive well done to the Scottish Thistles on achieving 9th place, beating both St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.  A narrow defeat to Northern Ireland restricted their chances of gaining a top 8 place but credit to them for coming out fighting on home soil.  They have a fantastic documentary on BBC called Game, Net, Match about their road to the games. check it out on YouTube.

Work is going well.  I have the most flexible boss in the world which makes our lives much easier.  Being able to dictate my own working hours is amazing and the support I have from colleagues is incredible.  Today, as Eva unfortunately has conjunctivitis, I can't put her into daycare.  I start at 2pm but Bob can't leave work until 3pm so Eva is coming with me to the clinic to entertain the patients in the waiting room!!!!  Her Auntie Deb on reception will look after her and will be able to take her for a walk if the clinic is quiet enough.  Don't think I'd be able to do that in the NHS!!  I'm currently working a 9-5.20 Monday, 1-5.40 Tuesday and 9-2.30 Friday.  Eva has swimming lessons on a Wednesday and we catch up with our mum's group on a Thursday.  Works out quite well!

We recently gained permanent residency too, which means we can remain in Australia indefinitely and we can come and go as we please.  Excellent news and allows us to keep our options open with regards to where we live in the next few years.  As we are moving house, we have decided to stay in Warragul for the next 2 years.  We have a great network of friends and brilliant jobs so the thought of going elsewhere just now seems a bit daft.  All we need is our friends and family to come and live over here with us! Too much to ask?

We will post some photos of our new house once we have moved in and it looks a bit more homely.  Stay tuned!  Love Mo, Bob and Eva xxx

Sorrento!

Totally forgot - we have just been on holiday! A lovely week in Sorrento, on the Mornington Peninsula, from Easter Sunday to the following Saturday.  Alan, Kelly and Adam, along with their mates Sara, Rowan and 18 month old Henry, joined us in a fab modern house complete with trampoline, log fire and hot tub.  What more could you want for an Autumn holiday?

Truth be told, we didn't do much! I spent the majority of each evening in the hot tub under the stars with a glass of wine in hand, trying to avoid being asked for any further physiotherapy sessions by the boys who had given themselves whiplash being all Olympic like on the trampoline.  No surprise really when they are trying to do 3 360 degree turns then a somersault in mid air before landing unsuccessfully on their heads.  Needless to say, beers were required for pain relief.

We weren't so lucky with the weather but we still managed to get out and about for some fresh air by the sea.  We took a ferry ride to Queenscliff on Anzac Day and Eva saw her first pipe band during the Anzac parade.  We went for a walk along the sea front and managed to hike a pram up the steep incline to the look out in Sorrento.  How Eva managed to fall asleep during her 'off road pramming' remains a mystery. Lots of coffee, cake, fires, monopoly and poker.  All very chilled out.

Now…to plan the next holiday! x