Chasing my tail

I think I may have biten off more than I can chew this festive season. I seem to be losing my mind and also questioning whether I indeed had one in the first place.

Why is it that I can never say NO to people. I feel like i'm constantly trying to please and it's driving me crazy, yet I can't do anything about it.

We've been so busy this past week with lots of Christmas gatherings, end of year parties and functions to attend. It's been wonderful but I feel like i'm chasing my tail. My house is in complete disarray which is not only driving me insane but I fear my husband as well. I feel like i've got so much to do and not so much time to do it all in.

And to top things off we fly out to Melbourne on Friday morning for the weekend as our good friends are getting married on Saturday out at the Mitchelton Winery. I'm really looking forward to it because the break will be nice but I'm not looking forward to leaving Cooper behind. He's staying with his grandparents for the weekend and i'm getting super anxious about being away from him for that long. We've only never spent 24 hours apart since he's been born and so three whole nights away from my baby boy is going to be hard to say the least. I'm hoping the copious amounts of Yarra Valley wine will be enough to take my mind off not having him with us. Blake will be getting lots of expressed milk this weekend.

Did I mention I love this time of year ?

~Christmas tree 2008~

You can smell it in the air, there is something about Christmas that is just so special and magic.

Cooper is beside himself with excitement every day when he gets to open yet another window in his advent calendar or at night time when the Christmas tree lights get turned on. Even after a rocky start this year with Santa he's now completely in love with him. He waves everytime we go past him at the shopping centre and he was so excited when he got to sit with him the other day at his Playgroup Christmas party. The fact that Santa gave him a present had nothing to do with it of course. Nanna came along to his end of year celebration and he was so excited to show her off to his little friends but even Nanna got ditched at the mere sight of Santa.

And as I suspected Cooper is already driving me batty redecorating the tree every five minutes or pulling down all of the decorations that i've put around the house. But I wouldn't have it any other way.



Cooper had a blast at Abrakidazzle for his Playgroup Xmas party, he didn't stop running the entire time we were there. Well actually he did, for Santa!!

~Santa is now my friend~

~It's 'toot toot' Mummy~

~Look Nanna it's 'toot toot'~

We took Cooper & Blake up to see the Myer display at Pacific Fair the other night. Cooper's eyes almost popped out of his head when he saw the train ride and all the lights and decorations. I didn't think we'd be able to get him off the train when we wanted to leave but we bribed him, I mean told him we would go and 'eat' so thankfully he was hungry enough for that to have worked. Amazing what we have to do these days, I never thought i'd be the kind of Mum to use bribery, whatever works for you I say!!

My heart is going to burst

I love my two little boys so much that some days it feels like my heart is going to burst. You're such amazing little men and every single day you make me smile and oh so proud. I still can't believe I created such gorgeous masterpieces, ok so your Daddy helped too. You are the light of our lives.

Dear Blake,
Could you get any cuter ?? Could you be more happier if you tried ??
You are such an amazing baby, so content and happy. At almost 11 weeks I can already see your personality shine through. My heart melts when you look up at me with those gorgeous blue eyes. I could stare into them forever. My favourite time of the day is when you're feeding, nothing beats watching you get all excited as my breast gets closer to your mouth. You are such a fantastic sleeper and I really do appreciate it, please keep it up. I love how you follow your older brother around the room with your eyes, watching his every move. I can't wait to watch your bond grow stronger with time. Mummy loves you chubba bubba, to the moon and back times a zillion.

Dear Cooper,
My first precious son you are longer Mummy's baby (sob sob) you are a little man. You've stopped wearing nappies and I could not be prouder or happier. You are such a gorgeous spirited little boy who drives me crazy but I wouldn't change it for the world. I love how you lovingly kiss and stroke your baby brother. I love how every single time Blake cries you run to him yelling out 'baby Blate crying' and insist on giving him 'tuddles and tisses' You make my heart melt as I watch you dance around the room to your favourite Wiggles song or see your face light up when Mummy gets out your craft box and we sit and draw and colour for hours. I love how every night when Daddy & I tuck you into bed you insist on reading just one more book. Where has these last 2 1/2 years gone my little boy ?? You'll always be my baby, love you to the moon and back times a zillion.

xxxxxxxxxxx

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Today is the 1st of December, one of my favourite days of the year. And even more exciting that this year we have two special little men to share it with. Today we are going to put up our Christmas tree and decorate the house, i'm so excited. Yes i'm just a big kid at heart. Christmas has always been my favourite time of year and this year seems even more exciting.

I took the boys down to Westfields this morning to visit Santa. We tried last week with Cooper but he didn't want to know about the scary man all dressed in red with that scary beard. Well that was until he realised he was going to get a chocolate out of it. But still even with Cooper's favourite treat used as a bribe he wouldn't sit on his knee. So i've been talking about Santa ever since and trying to make light of it all so I think he's actually been really excited about going down today. He was still very hesitant at the start but after seeing his little friend Caitlin go up to Santa with confidence I think he realised that he wasn't that scary after all. I was so pleased because he smiled away confidently once he was up there and we managed to get a gorgeous shot of both boys on his knee. My gorgeous boys looked so cute and it reminded me how many amazing and fun Christmas's we are going to share in the future together.


Here are some gorgeous shots that Caroline took of the boys. These are the ones i'll use for our Christmas cards this year. You can tell i'm getting super festive this year, can't you??





So when Luke get's home from work we are all going to put the Christmas tree up and fill the house with lots of red and gold ornaments. All of which i'm sure Cooper will drive me up all with trying to grab over the next month.

Baby Wearing

I discovered baby wearing with Cooper when he was about 4 months old and of spent many hours on the net researching the best option for us. There was so much to choose from. I ended up ordering an Ergo Carrier which I absolutely loved but probably didn't use as much back then as I should have. I guess with only one child the idea of being hands free wasn't quite as important. Whereas now with a toddler who loves to run away and get into mischief the idea of being handsfree is a must have. Blake is still too young for the Ergo so i've been using these amazing carriers that Kristi makes called the Mei Tai. It's the most comfortable carrier to wear and best of all Blake loves it and barely lasts five minutes n it be fore falling sound asleep. I even used it in Wiggles Bay yesterday over at White Water World so that I could catch Cooper as he came off the water slides. Even with all the splashing and Cooper's squeels of laughter Blake still remained nice and cosy and sound asleep.

I love it so much that I brought one for my sister in law Amanda for her to try with her newborn baby Jasper. I hope she gets as much use out of it as I will with Blake.

Best of all I can now chase Cooper around without worrying about leaving Blake in his pram when we are out and about.

Morning tea at Kristi's house

~Keegan, Vienna & Cooper~

This morning we headed up to Brisbane to Kristi, Vienna & Aston's house and met up with the girls for morning tea. Kylie, Keegan & Rory also came down from Ipswich to meet with us. We had such a lovely morning. Kristi, Kylie and I have been meeting up regularly since our first born babies were 3 months old so the kids have grown up together and they get along so very well. Cooper & Keegan have very similar personalities and bounce off each other (literally) whenever they get together, it's so nice to watch though. Cooper loved bouncing around on Vienna's new trampoline. I hope he loves the one Santa is bringing him just as equally.

The sad news though is that Kylie and the boys are moving to Adelaide for 3 years. I am so very happy for them because it's a great move as they'll be closer to family but at the same time, selfishly, i'm devastated. Three years is a long time but as i've told Luke at least it gives us an excuse to go down that way for a holiday. I've never been to Adelaide before so I think we'll definitely make the trip while they're down there. The best thing is Kylie and I will still talk every day, well at least every week online so we won't lose touch.

Unfortunately my camera was playing up on me today so I didn't get many photos as most of them were out of focus.

~The gorgeous Rory, Kylie's youngest boy~

~Blake enjoy Aston's bouncer with his xmas pressie from Kristi~

Thank You

Today I finally organised Blake's announcement cards that we're sending out to all our gorgeous family and friends with our thanks for their gifts, cards and messages when Blake was born.

Problem being i'm so indecisive that I can't decide which ones to actually print up and send off. I'm sure I never used to be like this, so damn indecisive. I guess this is what happens when you've got a newborn and toddler to chase after 24 hours a day/7 days a week. What happened to corporate Rebekah who had to be very quick thinking and make major decisions on the spot every day, where has that person gone ?? I think she has drowned beneath the dirty nappies, vomit stained wraps, breast pads, toddler tantrums and all else that goes with the job of being a Mother. But I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Say Cheese

I'd love to know how many times we use this phrase as parents 'Say Cheese'

Cooper has had the camera in his face since he was only minutes old so he has heard that phrase many a time and Blake is no exception. My girlfriend Caroline came up again yesterday to take some photos of the boys for me and to also get our Christmas shots done for the cards i'm making up. Cooper for the first time EVER was not that interested in getting his photo taken. He certainly didn't perform like he normally does hence the reason we didn't get many of him. Blake on the other hand was the perfect subject, laying nice and still and looking all cute and adorable. But I guess at 8 weeks old what else is there to do other than lay still and let everyone goo and ga over him. His eyes certainly talk to the camera.



Thanks so much Caz xxxx

Super Babies

When Blake was first born I was sure he was so much like his brother. It was like having permanent dejavu for the first few days but he has come in to his own now and even though they are still very similar they certainly have their own individual looks. Although they both share the most amazing blue eyes. Something they certainly didn't inherit from their mother.

This is still one of my all time favourite photos of Cooper as a baby in his little superman outfit.



So I thought i'd try it on Blake as he is the same age as Cooper was when this photo was taken. Albeit quite a lot tighter on my little chubba bubba but still very cute all the same.

Breakfast down at Paradise Point!

This morning we got up nice and early and headed down to our favourite cafe for breakfast down at Paradise Point. Luke wanted to do something special for me as he didn't get to spend my birthday with me as he was working. I of course ordered my favourite, eggs benedict with smoked salmon and Luke had the Big Breakfast while Cooper was very happy with his fruit toast and jam. It was the perfect morning for it too, although i'm glad we went early because it was starting to get very hot as we were leaving. You can certainly tell that summer is on it's way, the humidity is getting worse and worse each day.

After breakfast we headed over to the park and went for a walk along the water and of course Cooper wanted to go to the playground. They've just put a new playground in and it's amazing. Cooper's eyes were bulging out of his head with excitement. Not sure who had more fun though, Daddy or Cooper.

Cooper the fish

I'm convinced Cooper was a fish in his past life. He just loves the water, in any form too. Even puddles bring my little man joy. He would splash around in puddles for hours after the rain, nothing better apparently.

Both sets of grandparents have pools so he spends quite a bit of time swimming when he's at their place. We also have a lovely next door neighbour who has offered his swimming pool whenever we want to take the boys over which is so nice of him. We've taken him up on that offer plenty of times over the last few weeks as the weather as warmed up.

I just love sitting and watching him splash around in the water and get more and more confident with every passing minute. Luke and Cooper have a ball splashing each other and Cooper's favourite thing is to jump in from the side in to Daddy's arms. Which kind of scares me too because he's almost getting too confident but we've drummed it into him that he can only jump in when Daddy's there to catch him. He wears floaties all the time but still, never can be too careful.

~With Pappy, perfecting the art of the pool noodle~

I can't wait until Blake is old enough to join in on the water fun. In the meantime he's quite happy sitting in his pram and watching from a distance.

Happy Birthday to ME!!

Today I turn 28.
Gosh that feels so old and i'm not really sure why ?? Maybe because I now have two children, maybe because I woke up and looked in the mirror and realised that I no longer have the odd grey hair but they've multiplied and slowly taken over my head or maybe it's because of these terrible dark bags under my eyes ?? Never the less the big 30 is getting closer and closer and for some reason it scares me. But for two more years i'll still be in my 20's.

My gorgeous boys brought me breakfast in bed complete with my morning coffee and gorgeous card. My darling husband certainly has a way with words and his cards always make me cry. I couldn't be happier or prouder sitting up in bed with my three favourite men. I love them so much and it warms my heart to know how much they love me too. Life doesn't get much better than this. Okay so it actually did. In my card was a voucher to go and treat myself to a full body massage, mmmmm bliss.

I had such a lovely day with my boys!!

Blake's First Smiles

My baby boy is almost 6 weeks old already!

He's been giving us some gorgeous smiles since he was only a couple of weeks old but today I finally captured them on camera. He is such a happy and content baby and those gorgeous blue eyes of his are always smiling back at you.

As exciting as the first smile is it also saddens me when I realise he'll never have another 'first smile' and that my baby boy is growing up way too fast. What if he's my last baby ?? What if I never have any more 'first smiles' again.

In the meantime i'm going to enjoy him, he makes it so easy!

The boys with their Great Grandmother Nornie

On our recent trip down to Melbourne we stayed with Luke's grandmother Nornie at Vermont South. She loves the boys to bits and hadn't met Blake of course so it was great timing with my brothers wedding that we got to take him down so young, he was only 5 weeks old so still a newborn, technically.

Cooper loves to play Pa Ted's piano whenever we visit her which is lovely because Ted passed away last year so Nornie just loves to hear him play, ok make lots of noise but you know what I mean.

Nornie enjoy cuddles with Blake, her 2nd great grandson.

My big brother gets married

We have just spent the last weekend down in Melbourne for my brothers wedding. We flew down on the Thursday afternoon and got home Sunday evening. It was Blake's first plane trip and he of course was an angel, Cooper on the other hand, arrggghhhh!! Actually he was really quite good, especially on the way down because my parents and my younger brother Dylan all got the same flight so he had plenty of us to occupy him. Still doesn't make it fun though. Flying with a 2 1/2 year old was never going to be easy but made a heck of a lot harder when Mummy had to hold Blake for taking off and landing and he wanted Mummy cuddles. Oh the joys of little boys!! Luckily we had plenty of bribes, I mean food and also his colouring in books which kept him happy for all of ten minutes.

Anyway we got in to Melbourne airport and found our hire car and headed straight to Nornies who is Luke's grandmother. We were staying with her in Vermont South which was only about 25 mins from my brothers house so quite handy. The boys went straight to bed after some dinner and we were able to relax for the night. It was lovely for Nornie because she still hadn't met her 2nd great grandson, she was over the moon. She loves the boys dearly.

On the Friday morning we headed over to my brothers house only to find out that almost the entire wedding party had come down with Gastro. Yes two days before the wedding they were all very sick. So we steared clear of the house and headed out to lunch with Mum & Dad and then hit the shops to get a few things. Mum & Dad and my brother were actually staying at the hotel where the wedding reception was being held so they needed a few supplies. We then met up with everyone that night for dinner at this amazing child friendly tavern just out of Heidelberg. Cooper had a ball playing with all the kids and of course barely touched his dinner because it was far too exciting to eat.

We awoke on Saturday morning thanking our lucky stars that none of us were sick. I was a stressed out mess worrying that Cooper or Blake might get this horrible Gastro. How much fun would have that been heading home on the plane with both boys vomitting arrgghhh!! But it was not to be, positive thoughts Rebekah, positive thoughts. We headed in to our hotel around lunch time after saying our goodbyes to Nornie and booked in and started getting ready. I could tell Dad was super nervous as he was petrified at making his speech. Although considering how nervous he was he did a great job.

The wedding ceremony was just beautiful and I was so extremely proud of my brother, he looked so gorgeous all done up in his suit and his bride Vikki certainly looked amazing herself. My niece Myah was their flower girl, she did a great job and well my nephew Hamish was so upset because he couldn't got to his Mum & Dad that someone had to take him out of the room, poor wee man. So despite Gabriel's bestman being in hospital on the morning of the wedding on a drip and getting morphine, the bride's mother not coming to the ceremony because she was just so sick, one of the bridesmaids being so sick that she could barely hold her head up it was a great day (chuckle chuckle)

So we danced, drinked and laughed the night away and despite all the mishaps and vomit it was a lovely evening. Blake stayed with us at the reception in his pram and bopped away to the music happily. Cooper stayed for dinner and then Luke's cousins who absolutely adore him, came and stayed with him back in the hotel room so that he could go to sleep when he wanted. We were so grateful and they had a heap of fun with Cooper keeping them entertained with his many antics.

Here are some memories from the weekend!

Cooper in his tux, my little man looks so grown up

My sweet little niece Myah

The happy couple

Preventing the gastro outbreak, gotta laugh - if you don't you may cry