quick update on the boys

and we're rollin'!

the boy who does nothing by halves has rolled onto his tummy from his back for the first time today (about 10 minutes ago) and then from his tummy onto his back abd from his back onto his tummy again. straight off the clean mat onto our dusty dirty floorboards. smartiepants.

xo

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.