New Blog

Hi there

So I've decided to get back on the writing bandwagon with a new blog:

and one for my baby

I hope it wont completely become one of those "mummy blogs"* where besotted mothers only post things about their darling baby. 

I do have some rather amusing experiences to share. 

Yes, a lot of them do involve being pooped on.

So if you want to see what the three of us have been up to, head on over!

xxx

B 

* It is totally going to be one of those mummy blogs

She's here!

Hi everyone,

On the 2nd of March at 7.19pm my beautiful daughter entered the world.

She is totally perfect - a real mix of M and I with fluffy strawberry blonde hair.

We love her so much already and are slowly settling into something of a routine (dictated by her of course) and adjusting to this life-altering new person in our lives.

Nothing beats watching M with his daughter - he loves to cuddle and talk to her and gets impatient when she wont wake up to "play" with him (umm - she's 10 days old......)

I don't think I've ever been happier.

I can't guarantee there'll be much in the way of blogging in the coming weeks and months, as being a milk truck seems to be my full-time occupation.


But it's the best job I've ever had.


Love
B 
xxx

Let’s do Brunch

Being new to Melbourne – and new to the area our house is in of course, a lot of people have been asking me how I like it here.

My answer usually goes something like this:

“It’s GREAT, we’re so happy with how it has all worked out and we LOVE this area, there are THREE awesome cafes within a 5 minute walk, a bakery, an amazing Deli and Gourmet produce store, we’ve been to the Thai restaurant on the main road and it was excellent and apparently Laksa King and the Malaysian restaurant are good too, and there’s this East African restaurant that’s meant to be excellent – oh and there’s a Farmer’s Market 5 minutes away every Sunday morning and it’s a quick stroll to the supermarket and ......................” 

It’s usually at about this point that I realise the person asking the question was probably NOT looking for a run-down of all the eating spots within a 5km radius.

 And then I mumble something about

"being close to transport and tree-lined streets and how quiet it is ..... "

all the while wishing I was really telling them about the sensational Irish Pub that’s 10 minutes away that serves these incredible Irish Stews in home-made loaves of bread.

I guess not everyone is as food obsessed as moi.


Although, having said that – Melbournites by-and-large seem to be a pretty foodie bunch.

This is nowhere more obviously reflected than in the tradition of Sunday Brunch.

Not confined to inner-city urbanites, the quest for creamy organic coffee, perfectly poached eggs and a comfy chair to repose in while reading the paper is a serious business. And one that seems to affect people from all walks of life and every neighbourhood. EVERYBODY goes out for bunch on the weekend it seems. There is a genuine buzz around the streets as people walk their prams and dogs to trendy little cafes and the best places will have lines out the door of people waiting for a take-away double-shot latte or a table to become free.

There are dozens of blogs devoted to finding the “best” spot in Melbourne to have brunch but I have to tell you – from my un-scientific research thus far, there is no shortage of great places. I’m willing to do the leg-work (belly-work?) to qualify this though! And read blogs to help feed the obsession!

All photos from Brunchalot Brunch Blog - which is well worth a read; great reviews and beautiful photos. 

As mentioned in my neighbourhood run down, we are blessed with three rather excellent eateries near-by. And we have “brunched” every weekend thus far. Actually – we have brunched both Saturday AND Sunday the last two weeks – how devilishly decadent is that?!?!

I’ve already explained my deep affection for bacon at the moment, so it’s probably not surprising that I’m so taken with brunch, but I think it will be a long-lasting affection, as the ritual of a slow meander down the street for a cup of coffee and some quality, freshly produced food is hard to beat. I’m also counting down the days til I can eat poached eggs and hollandaise sauce again. Due date is 9 days away and my first meal after baby and when I’m up to the walk down the street will Eggs Benedict. Oh yes.


 So, as little Orphan Annie said – I think I’m gonna like it here!




B
xxx

Pigging Out

Hi all.

No baby news.

Still cooking that bun and getting heavier and more cumbersome every day. I now have a whole repertoire of noises that seem to accompany everyday tasks and activities - like grunting when standing up, sighing when sitting down and an odd kind of groan/squawk that bursts out if I squat for too long and then need to stand up. Getting in and out of the car is also a 3-step process and I'm wondering if a little old lady somewhere has a Zimmer frame I can borrow to make getting around easier.

But other than that - and the fact that baby likes to use my insides to practice her high kicks - all is going smoothly still and we just have to sit back and wait for the big day.

Oh - except that "sit back and wait" isn't really what's been going down.

Our shipping container arrived! Whoo hoo! So we have furniture which is GREAT but also a whole lot of stuff to find homes for and between M and I two VERY different approaches to putting things away.

I like to get everything out, figure out where it's going to go and put it there or leave it in a box until we've decided/found the right spot.

M - who hates clutter, just wants to put everything away NOW even if that means his hiking backpacks are where I think our clothes should be and there are bags of electrical cords/computer equipment etc in the baby's room ...... Luckily he has to work during the day so I can plod about putting things where I want them. As it should be.

But we'll get there.

In other news:
I think I've discovered my "craving" food. 
I'm not actually sure if it counts as a craving because (a) it isn't weird and (b) I don't want it at weird times of the day and (c) I liked this food item a lot before getting preggers.
But I'm obsessed with bacon at the moment. 

I cannot get enough of it. I'm not QUITE eating it every day ..... just every other day.
I don't want it with eggs though. Not being able to eat my favourite forms of eggy goodness: poached or in an egg cup with soldiers - until after baby is born, means that eggs are off my menu for now.

So how am I consuming all this glorious bacon I hear you ask?
Mainly in two forms:
With French Toast and Maple Syrup at the great cafe down the road from us for brunch. (Washed down with a hot chocolate just in case there wasn't enough sugar or calories already!)
OR - most often, as part of a B.L.A.T. 
A what?
B.L.A.T. It's a B.L.T (Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato - or as I like to call it, the Holy Trinity) with Avocado added served on thick wholegrain bread. I make this for myself and it's DELICIOUS.

I could eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
But I don't because I know my growing baby probably needs a few other essential vitamins and minerals.
But I wanna.

SO does that count as a craving or am I just a bacon obsessed loony??


And finally - in the spirit of Valentine's Day yesterday:
M and I didn't do anything special - he cooked meat on the BBQ, I made a salad and we sat and talked to each other, which was perfect. He also brought home special ice creams AND a Cadbury Creme Egg for me because he is lovely.


I give you this e-card which my sister sent to me:

Hope you all had a great day!! hehehehe.

B
xxx

Learning to relax

Well, we are in the new house.

Our shipping container with furniture and household goods still hasn’t arrived, so it’s a rather empty house and it feels rather like we are camping out (or squatting??) rather than living but it’s lots of fun and so nice to have our own space. And 2 bathrooms. M keeps telling me we can "tandem poop". I'm yet to take him up on that offer but I'll keep you posted .....

We've got the essentials too: bed, TV, Internet, camp chairs, bar fridge, BBQ and then a random assortment of goods we left boxed up in Australia which mostly consists of fancy wedding gifts we never unpacked and extra crockery we didn't ship to France. So I have one (borrowed) frying pan, one saucepan about 13 platters, a whole lotta crystal stemware and kickarse wine and beer glasses. It makes me giggle. I can’t microwave anything, nor produce toast but I can offer you cheese and crackers off a rather expensive Villeroy and Boch platter if you’d like??

What didn't make me giggle was my foolish attempt to make a Sticky Date Cake with Caramel Sauce for our friends coming over for dinner with such limited kitchen resources.

I went out and bought a new cake tin, as my old one is cactus anyway, and I happily bought some new measuring cups and spoons as I have been missing the ½ a cup and ¼ a cup for some time .... which are kind of necessary when baking - unlike good ol' 1/3 of a cup which I still have kicking around the place, mostly unused.  So that was fine. I was also happy to start stocking the pantry with brown sugar (real true blue brown sugar! Huzzah!) flour and vanilla extract, so ingredient shopping was fun. And even though the instructions clearly said to “beat butter and sugar together with electric beaters till thick and creamy” and I was decidedly without electric beaters I was still full of confidence in my ability to do it by hand.

Well bollocks to that.
BOLLOCKS I SAY. 

Hand beating butter and sugar is for idiots and masochists.
I think I may have strained my wrist.

It probably didn't help that we had accidentally turned our little bar fridge up to Maximum so everything on the top 2 shelves (including the butter) were pretty much frozen.

Side note – frozen milk on cereal is gross. Why is that?? 

Anyway, after much swearing and carrying on and splattering the nice, new, clean kitchen with frozen butter chunks, I did eventually manage to cream the butter and sugar together, add the eggs and other ingredients and make the cake. In the fancy Miele oven that I think is smarter than me.

But by the time M got home – and after I’d made the 2 salads and the cake and raced about town buying meat and things and waddling around supermarket aisles and shopping centres. I was done. Pooped. In fact when he came in the door I was leaning on the kitchen bench breathing deeply which prompted his voice to raise about 3 octaves as he questioned whether I was about to have our baby on the kitchen floor. No – Silly mummy just needed a bit of a lie down.

So that’s one thing I'm slowly learning; that little things, simple things are much harder when you’re practically 9 months pregnant.

And that perhaps buying a cake would have sufficed.

It’s hard though – I'm not saying I’m not naturally predisposed towards laziness, that’s a given, but it is surprisingly difficult to do nothing, or to do very little. I guess I should enjoy this quiet time while I can.


Oh – and finally – if you’re interested: The cake was delicious.


xxx
B

Summer in the city

Hi all

Well we're still ticking along quite nicely here - enjoying our time in Melbourne and getting things organised.

Most importantly - we've found somewhere to live!!!

Not that living in a hotel for 3 weeks hasn't been sweet - having someone come in and make your bed every day is rather nice as is the close proximity to the CBD's shops, cafes and restaurants. However having our own space - indeed having a home is something we are quite looking forward to! .

It ended up being a lot easier than we thought. We spent last Saturday racing around to a ridiculous number of open inspections and every one was attended by between 20 - 40 people, many of whom already had the paperwork filled out and were offering more money than the asking price. I started to feel a little stressed thinking we had played it all wrong and that we would be staring down the barrel of having nowhere to live, having to put our shipping container of goods into storage at an exorbitant cost and having nowhere to take our baby. So I hit up the agencies first thing Monday morning and put 3 applications in, hoping for the best but not feeling overly confident.

And then we found out that all THREE of our applications were successful and it was then up to us to choose the place we liked the best! How's that for an unexpected outcome?!?

I jokingly said to M "it's my very own Sophie's Choice"!!
M, being slightly ignorant at times of great literature/cinematic lore asked me what Sophie's Choice was ... so then I had to briefly explain the plot and emphasise that I was being ironic ...... yeah? M gave me a fairly disgusted look and told me it was a terrible analogy. Hurumph. I hate having to explain witticisms, they totally lose their effect.

Anywhoodle - we eventually went with a great 3 bedroom house with beautiful polished floorboards and a modern kitchen in a good location close to public transport, shops, parks and cafes. Here's what it looks like from the front:

We get the keys on Friday morning and can move our small amount of belongings in over the weekend, borrowing from generous friends the bare necessities until our shipping container arrives.

Very excited!

All is going well on the baby front - getting bigger and heavier every day it feels like so walking long distances is less fun than ever and rolling over in bed requires a 3 point turn manoeuvre. I've been enjoying my Yoga classes though and trying to swim when I can. I had the most AMAZING massage last week - my mum gave me a voucher for a 1hr pregnancy massage at a beautiful spa for Christmas and it was incredible - I basically got to lie on my side on a bed, surrounded by supportive pillows and have my back, neck, legs and feet rubbed expertly by Bart, my Swiss masseuse. It was soooooo good. We also started antenatal classes yesterday which was very informative .... and graphic!  And we met some other nice couples expecting their first babies, so that was great.

Other than that we're enjoying catching up with friends, watching some great tennis at the Australian Open and M is working hard.

I'll try and put up some photos of our new place once we're all moved in. I feel like it will look very empty as the furniture that worked in our small apartment in Cannes may not be enough for a solid 3 b/r home - but that just means some fun furniture shopping is ahead! Woo hoo!

Hope everyone is well
Raj says hi!

B 
xxx

Alive and kicking!

Thought I'd better do a blog post to let those of you en France (and of course my huge readership worldwide *ahem*) know that not only am I alive and kicking but thriving!

It would be pretty much impossible to try and re-cap the last  few weeks in detail but I'll give it a whirl.
Suffice to say it has been hectic.
Hectic and awesome.

We arrived tired and rather discombomulated in Melbourne late on the 10th of December. All of our luggage arrived too, thank goodness and I was less tired than normal thanks to the benefits of Qatar Business Class. Oh yeah baby. Travelling in luxury is where it's AT.

I sent a text to my sister during our 6 hour lay-over in Doha that reads "I now understand why people pay a lot more for Business Class. Because it's f*cking AWESOME!!!" And it's the truth. So good.
Though I fear International Travel may now be off the cards for me as I don't know if I can go back to Cattle Class.It was that good.

Our first 2 weeks in Melbourne were a festival of eating, catching up with friends, celebrating my birthday and trying to get things organised. Staying with my bestie Sarah and her husband Ash was so nice as I was able to find some time to relax in amongst the craziness; watch some TV, go to Yoga,  do Christmas shopping, go to various doctors appointments, take long walks and eat brunch with Sarah ........ several times. Mmmm. Bacon.

M however, didn't fare quite as well having to jump quickly into new job mode which, coupled with our very busy social calendar where we were eating out pretty much every night meant he was one tired boy by the time we packed up for the road-trip back to Adelaide for Christmas.

Being back home in Adelaide (after a long-ass 8 hour drive) was wonderful - it never changes so is immediately comfortable and familiar and we were both taken aback once again by the sheer space and openness compared to France - it's so flat and expansive and beautiful, and the amazing quality of life we enjoy is hard to beat.

The festival of eating and social events marched on - more BBQ's, lunches and excessive amounts of food which characterise the silly season. We had a lovely - if busy - Christmas Day and I received my new BFF as a surprise present - an iPad. I love her. She is awesomesauce.

M's Grandma's amazing Christmas Pudding. 

I love this photo mostly because of Tessa and Drew's faces! 

So much foodie deliciousness - this is Pork Belly in the foreground. 

And a lot of it got in my belly. Sooooo good

Check out the yabbies behind the pork! huge!

My sister and mum also threw me a wonderful baby shower. Lots of  my best girl-friends and a handful of female family members spent an enjoyable (if very warm) afternoon drinking champagne and eating chicken sandwiches and cupcakes. I might try and do a longer blog on this as Sarah took lots of great photos. Raj and I were utterly spoilt too - it's safe to say that Raj will be the best dressed bubba in the southern hemisphere! SO many gorgeous outfits.

Me and my friend Holly who is due a month after me

We rang in the New Year with a costume party "Come dressed as someone famous". It was a double celebration as my darling friend Kate (who you might know from this blog and this one and this one .... and this one) announced her engagement to the lovely Roger. They are both so happy and I am beyond thrilled for them. The party was such fun - everyone embraced the fancy dress aspect and there was a delicious dinner and then lots of dancing and silliness.

Steve Irwin the Crocodile Hunter; Kim Kardashian, The Virgin Mary, Audrey Hepburn

Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, a Fairy and Angelina Jolie + kids

Little Red Riding Hood, (me) Katy Perry  

                                      

      Katy Perry and Russel Brand  (who had divorce papers in his back pocket!)

 That's Lance Armstrong on the end - he even had a band-aid patch over the missing left testicle and a syringe in his arm. 

Attention to detail = me likey. 

A strange assortment of guests for dinner

Russel Brand enjoys Pavlova. 

All the boys doing the "Shuffl'in" from LMFAO "Party Rock Anthem"

I begged M to remove the hideous blonde wig early in the night. 

He refused. 

Now we are back in Melbourne - after driving the 8-hours again in 41 degree heat (nasty) and living in a hotel for a month while we try and find a house to rent. The hotel is great - we have a "suite" which means there is a kitchen and living room and I spent a bit of time yesterday unpacking as we are both over living out of a suitcase.

Raj is doing well and I'm feeling pretty good - getting a bit of pain in my hips and lower back and having to use an assortment of pillows for comfy sleeping but other than that, no complaints. I get lots of  kicks and movements every day - and hiccups every now and then, and my belly is doing that cool alien-like roll/undulations which is wicked. We're really happy with our hospital and Obstetrician and we start antenatal classes in a few weeks, which should be good. M continues to be awesome and urges me to take it easy. Which I should, finally, be able to do! Once I find us somewhere to live ..... before Raj arrives .......

I hope you all had wonderful Christmases and New Years with loved ones and that all is well in your worlds. I will try and post more regularly too. Next week, Mum is visiting and we plan to do some touristy stuff, so I might have more of interest to blog about!

Hope you are all well
Gros bisous

B 
xxx