Christmas Treats

I have been itching to make things for Christmas for weeks now. If my sewing machine and box of crafty treasures was with me and not in some container somewhere on the Pacific Ocean I'd have perhaps made something like this for our fireplace or a few of these for our Christmas tree. I might even have made a stocking for E and some little boxes for storing her toys. But such lofty goals will have to wait for next year. This year it's all about simple.

**A note to my family: If you think you might be getting a stocking present from me this year and still want it to be a surprise on Christmas Day, don't read any more!**

Some Christmas paper, bought on the mandatory "new home" trip to Ikea.

Cut and pasted onto old jam jars filled with a Christmas inspired granola, based on this recipe here

And because you're never too young to start enjoying the making and creating that comes with Christmas, some labels, made by E (with a lot of help from her Mama) inspired by this post here.

All culminating in some very delicious, but oh so simple, homemade Christmas-y goodness ready to be sprinkled onto yogurts, fruit and other breakfast-y kind of things on Christmas Day.

Rolly-polly

There was a time when we worried that she wasn't gaining enough weight. It seemed that everything she drank (and sometimes more) ended up being thrown right back up.  Everyone had an opinion. Too much milk. Too little milk. Wrong feeding position. I should drink more of x and less of y. Eat this but definitely not that. Mostly we just ignored all the advice and got on with being us. Eating, sleeping, playing and in amongst it all plenty of posseting with frequent clothes changes for us all.  And you know what? She's doing alright. Right now she's our rolly-polly dick-sie Maedchen.  There's a small part of me that would like to send these photos to all the well-meaning do-gooders who suggested I/she/we were doing something wrong.

Perhaps I just have.

weekend-ing

After a week of cold weather the sun finally came out to play this weekend. We ventured out to Gunaroo, a small town a short drive from Canberra. Apparently it's where all the cool-kids from Canberra go to play on the weekend.  E slept there, charmed the socks of everyone while we ate our pizza and then slept on the way home.  We declared the afternoon a success.

Round Here

The move, from Berlin to my parents in Melbourne and then up to Canberra has been gruelling. Turns out that babies don't "do" change very well and my sweet, sweet girl has been giving us the round around.  I've had a few people ask me where I am. I'm here but at the moment all my physical and emotional energy is going into E. In amongst the nursing, rocking, feeding, shh-ing and playing (yes, there's a bit of that too) I've been etching out some time to work on a jumper that I'm knitting for my Dad. A line here, a line there it's slow going but with worsted weight wool it knits up relatively quickly making me feel like at least I'm achieving something.

We're still without furniture but I have plans for a few simple Christmas decorations that I might share here if I get the time. Oh, and I also recently won a knitting book, Bambeanies from Wooly Wormhead, which even contains a hat named Emilia. Yep, I plan to share that one with you here too. When I get the time.

Then and Now

One of the great things about living back at Mum and Dad's while we've been waiting to move into our new home has been discovering lots of old bits and pieces that Mum has saved from when my sisters and I were growing up.  Turns out that babies needs haven't changed that much in the intervening years and little E has been having a great time playing with all our old stuff. Check out the then and now picture of me and Emilia at about the same age playing with the rolly-polly Clown. I'd like to say that we look 'just the same' but really, Emilia is still Papa's girl in the looks department.

Life is still pretty topsy-turvy around here. If the rain ever stops pouring, tomorrow we'll be packing up the trailer and driving up the Hume Highway. The keys to our new place will be ready for picking up Monday morning. It'll be nice to be our of our suitcases finally and into our new place. I already have grand plans for putting our stamp on our new pad, including (I hope) the planting of a vegie garden and maybe, perhaps, even some chooks!

Back in Oz

So, yes. We've moved back to Australia. It's something that I've been dreaming about for such a long time but I was never quite sure it was going to be possible. There seemed to be so many obstacles; jobs needed to be found and visas applied for, not to mention the uneviable task of finding a new house and the logistical challenges of moving across the world with a 4 month old baby.  It all just seemed too hard. And then it happened. Just. Like. That. 

Well that's how it seemed anyway. In truth it was many months in the making. Matthias and I actually applied for our jobs way back when I was still pregnant. But these things always take longer than you think and we sat around wondering whether it was going to become a reality until the end of October. And then we were offered jobs and a few days later Matthias' visa came through and we looked at our diaries and said, "Well, really, the most logical thing is to be in Australia in three weeks". Yes, we really did say that. And truthfully even if it was not the most logical choice there is something to be said for doing these things fast. Moving is never fun and perhaps if we'd had more time we would have procastinated more and had boxes and endless 'to do' lists floating around for ages. When you move in two weeks there's no time to 'umm and ahh' about whether you keep your sister's ex-boyfriend's crappy birthday gift (it got ditched) or your 'Boston winter coat' (kept). You make decisions fast. You pack up and you leave.

And now we're here. Temporarily calling my parent's spare bedroom home.

In case you're wondering, Emilia coped splendedly with the flight right up until about the 18 hour mark. Like almost everyone she'd had enough. She screamed pretty much solidly for the next six hours with intermittent bouts of sleeping on my shoulder, whimpering as she slept. One week on she's still jetlagged. If anyone has any tips on curing baby jetlag I'd love to hear them.

Four months

A lot can happen in a month...

You can find your hands.
You can take a big breath and turn something you've been dreaming about into a reality.
You can learn to stick fingers in mouths and laugh when you make yourself choke.
You can pack up a house.
You can buy flights and hope that your little girl will be a good traveller.
You can find your voice and delight your parents with your 'talking'.
You can say goodbye to two years of memories, two years of friends and a European winter.
You can meet two aunties for the first time.
You can spend 30 hours in airports and airplanes and fall, jetlagged, into the arms of a waiting family.
You can say Hello Australia!.. Home for the next little while.

Yep, it's been a big month. Too big for blogging. Too many decisions and plans and then boxes and suitcases and goodbyes and hellos and in amongst it all our little girl has been growing into a big baby with a voice and hands and a strong personality bursting to get out.

I've missed this space. I'll be back. Soon.