Bring on 2011!

Well it's NYE 2010! Where has the year gone? And what a year it has been!
We bought our first house together. Lots of our friends had their first child. We got married. My parents turned 50. My sister and brother in-law celebrated their first wedding anniversary. And we finally found out we are pregnant!
I have loved 2010 in every way. And I imagine 2011 is going to be just as good, better...

Wishing you all the best for an amazing 2011 what ever that might be. Have an awesome NYE. Celebrate in style and have a Champers for me!

My most memorable 2010 moment was walking down the isle to marry my Mister and saying I do.
What was yours?

Yippie!

Image from www.weheartit.com

You can not wipe the smile off my face today!
But you could wipe away tears of joy from my husbands eyes.
I had my doctors appointment today at 9.15am.
Our doctor has been through all the diabetes issues with my husband and he knows our story.
He was very delighted to hear that I have OCD and took 9 HPTs and they were all positive!
No need to do a blood test. That's confirmation enough he says!
Now what? I asked! Not much really... I'm 5 weeks pregnant. Due date the 4th of September.
I need to book in with hospital... If that is the way I am going to go?
I seriously have no idea! I thought I would know it all! Know what to do! I don't! Help!!!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone!!!
I have an amazingly wonderful day!!! I hope you all did too!!!

Firstly, here are some pictures of different things at my mum and dads house.... And this isn't even half of it!!! We even have Christmas toilet paper!!!

(apologies for my poser brother Matt... And the crap layout of the photos... I'm not using my computer)

Our Christmas eve started very very early. We were on a 6am flight to Melbourne to spend the Christmas with my family.

We had a lovely day. My husband was put to work carting hay and helping dad around the farm. And I went shopping with my sister!

Then in the evening my patents always always have a bit of a party for Christmas. It is always so nice to see everyone and have a good catch up and a laugh. Fun!

Christmas morning was just lovely. We all eventually get up. The youngest, my brother Jack is always the last up (And always had been - even when he was little)

We all gathered around the Christmas tree to open presents - See the pic above.... Santa still had not been! (I forgot to take another photo)

Then once all the presents were opened my husband made a little announcement - That there would be another family member joining us next year.... It is very early days and we haven't been to the doctors yet, but after 9 (yes you read right) HPT we are expecting a baby! - Do you believe me? I don't quite believe it myself!

At 10.45am I then drove my husband (the father to be!) the airport as he was heading back to Sydney to spend Christmas with his family.

At about 12.30 all of my mums family started to arrive and my sisters husbands mum.

We had a beautiful lunch and my uncle and wife announced that they are expecting a baby! - Due end of June.

My mum decided to secretly open a 2000 bottle of Moet and I had 1/2 a glass (mum and sister shared the rest)

We finished the night off just my family with a crazy funny sit and laugh around the table. My dad saying that I wasn't allowed to give this child any 'crap' name and that I should consult him later down the track and he will advise me if the name was allowed! - all very funny and in jest.

We have had a lovely day today lounging around watching those Aussies play some very crap cricket

We now have some guests over, but I just wanted to pop in and post.

I am heading back to Sydney tomorrow afternoon and will be making a doctors appointment to get a blood test and a confirmation and I suppose we take it from there. I still don't quite believe it and when I was down the street before buying some mineral water for myself I was going to buy some more HPT's!

Only my family know and for now it is one big big secret. Well you guys all know now... How could I not tell you! All your support and kind words over the past months have been so great and helpful. But Shh Don't tell anyone!

I do hope you all have had a wonderful Christmas! I have checked out a few blogs and so far it seems to be the case!

I will be back in a few days with the doctors verdict!



My sisters present

3So for quite so time I have been talking about my sisters Christmas present. Well it was supposed to be her birthday present...
Well this is what I got! (I think it's safe to post now...)

3 x beautiful 'love bird' prints from Etsy. Seller: onceuponapaper

They don't look all that big in the photos, but they are quite substantial in size.
I'm quite tempted to keep them for myself!

Please ignore the terrible photography.
Also please ignore the horrible carpet. Can't wait to rip that up next year!

Lunching and Gifting

Today we had our "Christmas lunch" at work. 8 of us headed across the road to what I think it quite a nice restaurant Trevi
I had a scrumptious piece of Barramundi and then the most delicious cannolli. Yum Yum Yum!!!

 We were also giving out or KK presents. Laura and I are the only girls so I think I was very very lucky that she had me!!! I got a beautiful Witchery makeup compact!

Now we are back in the office after a 3 hour lunch and as you could imagine.... We all really really don't want to do anything.... Bring on 5.00pm



I have been very spoilt!

On Friday morning my wonderful husband presented me with one of those stunning "blue" bags and box with the most gorgeous ring inside!

Bummer. It was too big. I needed the size down. So today we headed into the city to Tiffany to change it over.

No size 6 left. Bummer. Ok well lets just order it in... 6 week wait... No thanks.

So I decided to look around and maybe get something else? 

I spotted this necklace:

Great! (Cheaper too - more money to spend somewhere else!?!?!)

Every packet they opened had no chain on it??? They offered me the display one? No thanks. We will just have out money back please. 

One hour later we left empty handed. Sigh. Poor husband - thinks he can never get it right.

Hmm... Gucci are having a sale I say... Shall we? 

And here it is! My birthday present! 

I had a really lovely day on Friday.

First thing in the morning - blood test. I did ovulate last week. A very good ovulation too they said! So wait another week and if no Aunt Flo..... Then you know the go!!! (Fingers crossed - please cross them for me too) 

Lunch with Emma and baby Ellie. Gave me a beautiful candle from Voluspa.

Afternoon champagne with Sammie (and unborn baby Arkie). A got a stunning bunch of flowers!

Spent the evening with Philippa and baby Hania! Woo Hoo! We had a few too many champagnes really. And I received a Parlux hair dryer! It was from another friend Nicole too (she was at her husbands Christmas party)

Philippa, Hania and I rocked the night away dancing, laughing and having a great time. The boys were off at their companies Christmas party (Audi) - they really had to go, show their face kind of thing. Having a December birthday, you just get used to sharing your birthday with Christmas parties so I really didn't mind.

I am just editing this post now (7am - Monday 20th) to add pic of Hania giving me my Parlux!

I have had a wonderful weekend! Hope you all have too! 

About to go take the washing off the line, it looks like a bit of a storm is about to hit Sydney.

Happy Birthday to...

Me!

*** Photo taken from my baby photo album *** 

Boring

Image from www.weheartit.com

I am so bored. Still at work. Waiting for next Thursday to come around so I can be on holidays!

We really can't do much at work at the moment. All the Stores (Harvey Norman) are too busy for any training or even catch up visits.

That means that we sit around the office all day pretty much doing nothing. 

I do have a few things to look forward to this week though! Tonight I am having dinner with a girlfriend from school!

Thursday - nothing.

Friday - I'm having the day off! (Come back on Friday to find out why?) 

Then it's the weekend! Yippie!

Monday - 1/2 work day then the boys all go off and play golf so I get the day off! a $100 shopping voucher and the opportunity to go shopping! (The trade off, because I don't play golf)

Tuesday - we are having our sales V operations KK lunch. So no work again.

Wednesday - Dinner with friends (boring at work again - but I don't imagine there will be any work!)

Thursday - Packing and having an early night because we are on a 6am flight Friday morning to Melbourne. Working - but will be the biggest waste of a day yet! I imagine a few drinks at the golf club with the boys from work.

5 kilos

Image from www.weheartit.com

5 kilos.
That's how much weight I have put on since our wedding. I am so disappointed in myself. It's not good.
I have had no motivation what so ever to do anything about it till just recently.
So I have been putting my runners on quite a lot in the past few days and getting out there and enjoying this glorious weather we are having in Sydney at the moment.
I would like to see if I can lose at least 1kg before Christmas. So I am laying off the Champagne, Wine and everything else.
Then it is a new year and a new me. I have a new years resolution - To be healthy.

Have you made a new year resolution? Will you keep it? What is it?

Santa Claus is coming to town!

So how is everyone going with their Christmas shopping?
I'm done!
Well except something for Mr. Husband.... I have no idea what to get him... Help me!
Mum and Dad are getting 2 x RM Williams fold out chairs and a digital photo frame from us and my sister and her husband. I have just spent the past 2 hours loading some 200 photos onto it to start them off.
One brother is getting x 2 pairs of board shorts. These things cost $70-$80 these days! unbelievable!
Other brother is getting a wake board DVD, 2 x T-Shirts and this cool stubby holder that looks like a life jacket.
My brother-in-law is getting a book about the Melbourne Cup and racing legends from horses, jockeys to trainers
My sister I have got her what was supposed to be her birthday present (Sorry, she knows about this blog so it's a secret...)
My brother in-laws mum spends Christmas with us too! I have 2 beautiful Country Road photo frames for her.

This morning we were up at a reasonable hour and went and had breaky with some friends Emma and Jackson and their little baby Eloise (who slept the whole time BTW)
We then decided to go for a bit of a walk and I found the funniest little gift for 'all the dogs' at Duck Egg Blue

I do wonder if it will ever get used though???

Hope everyone has enjoyed their weekend! I sure have! Although I did waste Saturday a bit... Work Christmas party on Friday night... 

Vogue KK

This year I decided to take part in the Vogue KK.
Not sure why? I just wanted to.
It has been fun! And I had a really really easy person to buy for! ThatUnreliableGirl - She has a really nice blog! Check it out!

This is what I bought! Frankie Magazines Spaces.

Am now loving this magazine! Really cool and different. Just might end up buying it for myself!

And I also bought these measuring cups! I was going to get the measuring spoons too, but I had already well and truly over spent my limit that I decided that was enough.

I posted them off Yesterday! Quite exciting and nerve racking all at the same time! Hope she likes them and is happy with my choices! These were 'request' items on her wish list, so I suppose she will?

This is how they looked once wrapped

Christmas Card!

We got out first Christmas card in the mail yesterday! It was from my mum and dad! Our first Christmas card as husband and wife! It's up on the mantle next to a few wedding photos (non-professional ones)

My mum always buys the best cards. This is what bottom of the card says:

With a mother that picks card like that and a family that thinks just that, who needs horrible in-laws like mine.

Also, all my Christmas shopping is done! Just waiting on a few things I bought on-line for one of my brothers. I have over spoilt everyone AGAIN. But they are my family! So who cares!

Christmas Wreaths

So the other day we bought our beautiful new wreath and popped it on our door.

So today I decided to wander about our street and check out some of the others... I felt like a bit of a stalker! But have decided that ours is definitely the best! Although I do quite like number 12's

Here is number 4

This is number 5

From the boys at number 3

And the newest addition to the street number 12

Hopefully we see a few more up over the coming weeks! We only live in a small street of 14 houses so 5 wreaths out of 14 ain't bad!

We have progress

See this! This is the approval document for our renovations!
But.... A very big BUT. This document is so big (21 pages) because its all the stuff we need to do to get our construction certificate. And that means spending more money.
Some of the conditions are crazy! We need reports on sewerage, dilapidation reports (don't even know what that is!) and there are many more.
What about this! We need to submit landscape architect plans for the backyard. Our backyard is 4 x 10 meters! We must have at least 85% native plants/trees to Sydney. We have to have at least one tree that at mature age will be at a height of at least 4 metres. A landscape maintenance strategy needs to be submitted for the first 12 months establishment period.
And the list goes on. And on.
We have to pay the council a $1713 deposit in case we damage the road or footpaths and they also charge us $200 to come and assess before the work starts and then again after the work is finished!
The asbestos report was another cost and the list goes on...

Another But! And this is a good one!!! We should have the Construction Certificate by Christmas! And that means we will be able to get everything sorted and ready to go to start as soon as we are ready in the new year!!! Yippie!
That does mean getting the bank to lead us the money first. We have been told this wont be a problem. So fingers crossed.

Day Trippers

Today after going to the fertility clinic (Got to go back for second blood test on Tuesday - we are close they tell me... Ovulation is eminent) we decided to go for a bit of a drive up the Blue Mountains way.
We headed up to Katoomba to see the three sisters. I have never been there before.

It was nice. But not really much to do. So we walked about a bit and checked out the view. That view is lovely. We did take a few photos of us up there too, but none of them are publish on this blog worthy. Sorry.

Then we went into Leura and too a look around the shops. I wanted to buy this hand painted wrapping paper it was so beautiful. But the lady in front of us bought the last 10 sheets. Damn.

I have been wanting a wreath for our front door for some time now. Because we used to live in an apartment, I never really saw the point. But now in our little house I thought why not!
So, walking about Leura, we found a few that we just loved! And for $57 I thought that wasn't bad! (well that was till I saw Maxabella's on her blog today. $10 bucks!)

Anyway we came home and noticed that two more of our neighbours had put wreaths up! (Three were already up before today) so we put ours straight on the front door! Very exciting! No tree for us. We aren't home for Christmas so I don't see the point.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend. It's nearly over. Again. Why oh why do the weekends have to go so quick?

Testing Testing 1 2 3

This morning there is no Sunday sleep in at our house. I have struggled to work out when I am ovulating. So my GP has referred me to Next Generation Fertility to help. We are going to start Ovulation Tracking.

So basically starting today, I will go in and have regular blood tests to track my cycle and help detect when I am ovulating. 

This is from their website:

Tracking ovulation is the best way to identify the appropriate time to get pregnant.

Accurately predicting ovulation can be a little trickier than figuring out when day 14 is for you. Ovulation can be irregular or it can be affected by diet, stress or illness.
Ovulation is triggered by a surge of Luteinising Hormone (LH) from the pituitary gland. LH also stimulates the ovary to begin producing the hormone Progesterone. This surge normally occurs 24-48 hours before ovulation and can be tracked more accurately with blood tests and ultrasounds.

Who may wish to do ovulation tracking?
•    Women having regular cycles, who have been trying to fall pregnant for several months without success.
•    Women having irregular cycles, to help determine the best time to conceive.

Fingers crossed for us...

I have been so so terribly busy in the past few weeks. My life has just been work work work...

I just got home after working this morning (I am an account manager and trainer for Harvey Norman) and now that's it! No more Saturdays till next year!!!

Finally I get to sit back and relax and have a lovely afternoon out for my friend Sam! She isn't having a 'baby shower' but more a chance for all her close friends to get together and have a glass of champagne to toast to baby Arki who should be with us very soon! (Due Christmas eve/day)

It hasn't been all work and no play though. I headed out on Thursday night to Surry Hills to a really nice Japanese restaurant with 6 other girlfriends for a few birthday celebrations an engagement and a big merry Christmas! We had an absolute ball! I got home at 2am... Needless to say I did not feel all that great yesterday.

I still need to fill you all in on the house and the plans and the approvals and the nightmare of a council we have and our neighbours... tomorrow.

M.I.A.

Hi all. I'm a little MIA this week. Work is crazy busy and I have a million things on.
I will be back with some updates tomorrow or over the weekend.

x