Have I introduced you about our neighbours? For the purpose of my own amusement and the prosperity of the tradition of giving important people superhero names.. they shall hence forth be known as Rogue and Wolverine (yes, I’m slightly addicted to X-Men ;)).

Rogue and Wolverine have a gorgeous son, Wonderboy, who is 12 7th of awesome. Yesterday Rogue and I were outside playing Wonderboy Pong while Ickle happily practiced gardening in Em’s non prize winning rose moving dirt one handful at a time and relocating it to the grass or her mouth. Even Rogue’s airplane rides could not break the habit so I suggested Ickle jump in the bath.

Ickle is a big fan of baths, she tries to climb in full clothed and has started to undress herself thinking she’ll get in quicker. Yesterday she’d played with so much dirt there was even dirt in her nappy… and she was wearing a onesie!

We’re down to a week and a bit until we go away. We’re so excited and seem to have everything under control at the moment; random. We still need a few things and I’m hoping Ickle will be interested in coming shopping with me today to pick them up. I managed to find the only shop that was selling shorts in Winter in Adelaide and picked up two pairs of shorts that actually fit - within the week every store must have heard I needed shorts as they all started selling them. I need to call all the airlines we’re traveling on to ask about car seats on the plane - I guess I should do that now while grunge is asleep

I know I already mentioned the day at the zoo with Aunty Smorgy however I’d like to thank her again for a great day out. Having family so close is awesome!

It’s a little over 30 days until we head overseas; we’re getting really excited. We’re looking in to buying another car seat to take with us however we’re having trouble checking the laws in Canada and Greece. I’m booking all our Canadian accommodation, each place is a one bedroom suite which means Em and I can hang out in the living area while Ickle sleeps (she’s a light sleeper and will do anything to not nap). Our Toronto hotel has babysitting services so we might be able to get to the last Blue Jay’s game of the season and are hoping to ask Em’s host parents if they’d like to come too.

Nothing else exciting happening; the recovery from my knee surgery is slower this time and it’s much sorer than last time and Em has had tonsillitis the last week so we’ve been hanging out watching lots of tv. Em’s also being the engineering manager at her work so has been really busy the poor poppet.

Oh, freaky thing, the youtube video I posted a while ago… in the recommended video section of it the second link is the little guy from next door and down further is Stacey and Angele’s Riley - a bit spooky.

Anyone want fajitas? I’m off to make dinner!

Ickle is a character, she’s always doing something to show how clever she is.  She has a new sign for Mia which is part of the song “Clap Hands Till Mia Comes Home” and likes to do the actions for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  She’s always “reading” her books and pointing out things in them too.

Aunty Smorgy took us all to the zoo on the weekend, it was a lovely day and I got a bunch of photos.  Ickle ended the day with a mini meltdown which was totally acceptable given all the “Dog” and “Duck”s she had pointed out to us…. After a month of saying “Cat” in context, every animal is now a dog or a duck.  She got very excited at all the animals and the other people and enjoyed the hot chips from the cafe; she even claimed my cup and fished her own out!

The afternoon milk drink has finished which means we still have the ninighs bottle and that’s it.  I still pack a bottle for day care for just-in-case but she seems fine without it.  She’ll eat pretty much anything and we get told she’s a “great eater”.

More teeth are charging through and today they were upsetting her and she wouldn’t eat any dinner, poor Ickle Grunge.

This week I had my second knee operation and got some sad news, it seems the cartilage in my knees is degenerating which is really rare in someone my age however it explains why my meniscus keep tearing.  This year I’ve had 50% of the meniscus removed from each knee and after speaking to the doctor tonight it doesn’t look like I’ll be going back to soccer again.  Positive side is that I don’t need the painkillers I’ve got as the surgery wasn’t too bad this time

I realised tonight that I’m no longer as excited about my birthday as I am doing our accounts with the accountant…

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Who would have guessed Em’s daughter would dig Tiggers

Hey, where have you been? Oh.. really? Ok, so maybe I’ve not been that good at updating.

Tomorrow (7th July) is Ickle’s due date anniversary so I’m taking my girls out for dinner It’s strange to think that this time a year ago we were already out of the baby factory and home with girls.

The first birthday celebrations went really well. All our friends stepped up and helped out at Ickle’s birthday party and both Em and I got to socialise and chat with everyone Ickle’s Aunty Mish helped us out the day before with all the preparations and helped me with the cakes which came out really cool! Ickle had a great day and was still partying in the car on the way home. It really is times like these that I realise how lucky we are to have such a great group of friends and family.

Ickle is still in love with daycare; it’s so much easier to take her when you know how much she loves it. I was reading Fletcher’s blog and realised I could have cut and pasted from it and said the same things about our carers and how much Ickle loves it She’s still not sleeping so well there and can be Captain Mega Grumpypants when we get home however it’s totally worth it.

Ickle is a funny little one; she loves books, socks, babies and remote controls.. and apparently all these things can be used as a makeshift phone to talk to Nanna Kez “Haaallllloooo Naaaannaaa Kezzz”. She loves to be involved in our conversation and laughs along with us. It’s my favourite to watch her dancing along to the stereo in the car and I’ve missed the lights changing to green a few times having chats with her in the car. She’ll eat pretty much anything but mango and mandarin.. she even ate fish curry at daycare last week (none of the other kids did) and tonight fed herself pasta that I’d made.

We’re off to the zoo this week to jump in puddles And today is our 6th anniversary of living in Adelaide

So there has to be cake right?:D

Day care held a party for Cody’s birthday today, the chef made a very tasty banana cake and all the little kids from the infants, toddler and kindy rooms came in to the music room (it was so cute, the all lined up and sat in a circle and sung) and had cake.

We made a year

Extra special birthday squishes to LMN and Fletcher who also share this special day - what a great day to be born. Congratulations to Kylie and Carolyn for making it through the first year.

I cradle her in my arms jiggling slightly; it has been a long day. The last rays of the sun streak in to her room casting long shadows from the bars of her cot.  Her tiny hand clasps around my necklace, her little fingers tangled around her Mia’s ring.  She finds comfort gripping the ring, almost like she knows it’s a fusion of her Mum and her Mia.  As the sun sets over our back fence and her room decends into darkness, her breathing softens and she falls gently to sleep.  She hasn’t been with us for long, just short of a year and I cherish the moment as she’s not the sort of sprite to sleep in our arms.  I lay my head back and close my own eyes almost drunk on the moment.  Being her Mum is the most honoured I’ve ever felt.

I’m a little bit in heaven!  Today we visited a new (to us) cake supply shop, it’s closer than the one I got the ingredients for the Ladybug cupcakes from and it was bigger, the people were nicer and they had everything I wanted!  The shop keeper gave me some tips for the fondant I wanted to experiment with and the buttercream I’d like to try.  I’m keen to use the Crabapple Buttercream again and maybe a marshmallow fondant for the cake - however I’m still not sure.

The invitations for Grunge’s birthday party came today and we think they look fantastic - it’s mostly our family coming however I got a great idea from a forum I’m on for invitations and made something personalised.

Em has been sick over the long weekend so I got to take Cody swimming.  We had to cancel most of our plans however my sister and brother-in-law came over yesterday and we started making the lolly bags for the party and make some balloon topiary.

I know.. still no photos… I need to upload some!

Shhhh both my girls are asleep.

It’s been a long week - Ickle got her first ear infection this week and has been clingy and grumpy. I had the pleasure of staying home with her and getting free cuddles and naps. We were napping in the big bed and I’d just dozed off when I felt Ickle shaking in my arms. In a panic I woke up thinking she was seizing from her fever but no, she was sleep krumping…. my kid dances in her sleep.  She also dances to invisible music when she is awake.

I found out this week that the Blue Jays are playing their last home game for the regular season when we are in Toronto… and it’s against the Yankees; if we didn’t have Ickle it would be a no brainer to go however I don’t think taking her to a ball game will be quite her thing :)  Last time we were in Ottawa we got to see a Senators game at the Corel Centre and it was one of the highlights of the trip

Nothing else exciting and no photos.. next time!