not seventy six, but still thrilling!

liamtrombones1
Originally uploaded by summer pickles

The gherkin has a new fascination. Trombones. Who would know why (though there was a redheaded trombonist called James on playschool recently), but he is hooked. It's all about the brass.

So this week, we caught some of the Melbourne International Festival of Brass. Did you know it was on? We didn't, I only stumbled across it by chance.

So on Thursday, off we went, the three of us - gherkin, mummy, little pickle. But not to a whizzy-bang concert. Instead, we went to the trombone warm up. This $20 ticket gave us an hour and a half of pure trombone joy. The gherkin was not overwhelmed by the noise, but thrilled by it, not bored by the repetitive drills, but entranced. What an amazing morning!

One of the exhibitors then gave us one of his trombone pamphlets. You can see the gherkin reading the trombone end of this pamphlet in front of the South Melbourne Town Hall in this photo. The "trombone book" is such a treasure now at our house!

There is always so much going on in this amazing city, [sigh] I love Melbourne.

I wonder what the gherkin will be like when he grows older? Still loving music? Brass? Trombones? What were you fascinated by when you were younger? Does it still tickle you?

Chat soon xo

playing around... and scaring myself!

There are some days when living with a toddler is just heaven. There are other days when it is just plain old hard work. Today was one of the better days. Yes there were tantrums, there were tears, there were toys thrown*, but there were also great cuddles, there was dancing, reading books, giggling. But even though today was fantastic, when I was skyping and playing with my new laptop (and webcam app), I scared myself silly. I put on one of the filters when skyping with mum and dad, just for a laugh... and look what happened..

I am impressed by each and every one of you who has twins. Just seeing gherkin twins on the screen was enough to make my heart miss a beat or two (and not in a good way!). Ah, living with a toddler can be hard, but at least I am not outnumbered by a pair of them!

Chat soon xo

* and that was just me... no, I'm kidding.

yes, it is that time of year again...

yep! it's nearly september everyone! nearly spring, which means nearly nearly summer!

so... it is that time of year again... time for family and friends to start browing the summer pickles flickr page and selecting your favourite 10 photos of the two small pickles of the past year. and to make it less tricky, this year you can select 20 photos each (as we have two boys now, and we know how hard you found the challenge last year!).

so.. get cracking! you can continue to make photos a favourite until mid-November and then the door will be firmly closed for voting.

don't forget that you can also nominate photos from December 2009 as favourites.

have fun everyone! xo

ps. please mark photo as a favourite using the favourite star above the photo. you can also type in fave [your name] in the comments so we know if there are more than 2 votes for the one photo coming from the one house.

yummy mummy 101

It has occurred to me in the past few days that perhaps I am letting my little family down. There are plenty of gorgeous yummy mummies out there... surely all it takes is for me to make the decision that this is how I will be, from this day forth?

So. here goes, my new commitment to becoming a yummy mummy, from this point forward... in my new life as a yummy mummy I hereby pledge:

1. to wipe all vomit from my shoulder/collar/back immediately
2. to put on makeup each and every day
3. to relegate all trackie pants/saggy jeans/those grey leggings with baggy knees to the local charity store
4. to ensure hair is always done - straightened, cowlicks flattened
5. to wear highheels at all times
6. to ensure each outing involves carriage of a designer handbag (carting nappies, of course)
7. to lose baby weight immediately
8. to allocate any spare moment available to appropriate coiffing, peeling carrots (see point 7) or engaging in home workout
9. to ensure children are always wearing coordinated outfits, clean noses and freshly washed faces
10. to change outfits (mine and theirs) immediately if they come in contact with dirt, bodily fluids, food etc

Hmmm... by extension, would this mean...

1. to cease all digging in the dirt in the frontyard with the 2 year old, hair scratched back by an old hairband
2. to end trackie day - an almost religous event in our home involving children remaining in their pjs and mummy wearing trackies and staying at home all day (also known as slow day)
3. endless hours of managing our appearances, which could have been spent playing with playdough, hiding in cardboard boxes, singing songs, cooking together, painting

Nope, the yummy mummy life is not for me. I am hereby signing up for more of the grubby, cuddly, dirty, cheeky, somewhat crazy mummy. I hope the boys won't be too disappointed.

Chat soon,
xo

mmm delicious

mmm delicious
Originally uploaded by summer pickles

we have all heard of the two year old food fads. of toddlers who will only eat pies, or go off their veges all together, or will only eat cheese if it is cut into triangles...

our boy has a new love... of frozen peas. his love of this new snack of choice, it seems, is genetically predetermined, with a mummy, a nanny and a gran who have all habitually stolen the odd frozen pea from the bag when making a meal for the family... poor little man didn't have a chance!

frozen peas... mmm... delicious!

picnic at the park

picnic at the park
Originally uploaded by summer pickles

nothing beats fresh anzac bikkies in the park on a cool melbourne day.

a few of my favourite moments

Having a newborn in the house again has been a bit of a shocking experience, no, more like a surprise, a happy shock, and certainly less of one than the first time around! Life is completely different. It circles around feeds, carefully stolen moments of precious sleep, settling over those few intense hours of the evening. And this time, for the pickles household, also involves ensuring a certain fabulous toddler (aka the gherkin) doesn't feel deserted or that he has lost his place.

I have had the time this time around (and the ability, being that much calmer) to reflect on some of my favourite moments as a mum. So here they are, just in case I forget them later...

* the very special time in the wee hours, when only little pickle and i are awake and feeding. it seems at this time that we are the only two people in the world... it's quite romantic.

* watching the gherkin show little pickle to his friends at daycare, with such pride and ownership!

* discovering what little pickles likes (quite different from his brother), such as being upright and bounced gently, having his feet massaged, having a bath, being awake (!), having his head rubbed.

* waking up in cuddles with the gherkin, after he has come into our bed in the early morning. being woken by having my face poked and hearing "hello mummy. i love you." ah, being a mum is the best job in the world!

* singing songs, dancing (and dipping), translating what the gherkin is saying, feeling proud of my two boys and all they are, feeling so fortunate to have a fantastic man in my life (yep, that means you mr pickles), the list goes on and on...

ah... this is a good job. today at least, i wouldn't swap it for anything in the world.

have fun xo