Late November saw Jessica and I make a trip down Yarram way to catch up with Deb, Ray, Kate, Josiah, Grace, Noah, Caleb and Isaiah (and Titch). We then decided (very spur of the moment) to stay the night - thank goodness for my huge stash of nappies tucked in all the seat pockets of our car! We stayed in the playroom at the Fisher's house, and the following morning, Jessica stirred quite early (about 6.30) and gradually woke all of her cousins up. So by 6.45 we were all sitting on or around my bed, chatting and laughing away, having a lovely time. It was just one of those sweet moments.
We also managed to call in and see James and Steph at their house, which was wonderful. Naturally, Jessica took an instant liking to her big cousin James. I got some lovely pictures too, which are really special.
(BTW, these pics have nothing to do with our visit to Yarram - just pictures of Jessica eating flowers in the park during late November, which I think are cute)
Late in November the members of the Mothers Group I attend held a "Christmas and 1st Birthday Party" for all of the kids at Wilson Botanic Park, with all Mums, Dads and Kids present. It was a lovely afternoon, and I was embarassed to admit that it was my first visit to the park! One of the chief reasons for holding a joint birthday party was to avoid chaos in January by having everyone required at 6 or 7 other birthday parties (...but in the end we all couldn't help ourselves, as we all wanted our Mum's Group friends at each other's parties, so January was absolute madness, but great fun....)
In December my workload was very quiet for a few weeks, which gave me the opportunity to (among other things) clean and oil the deck, which I had been really keen to do for months. Work really ramped up again during the week before Christmas Eve, which was challenging, but at that time of year not much can bother me, so I got over it! One of the highlights of December was making the trip with Jen, Glenn, Rachel, Matt, Grace and Hope (and Jessica) to see Road to Bethlehem. It was so well done, and well worth braving some unseasonally cold weather!
I really loved the second-last scene (in the stable, with a lovely choir of angels), but my favourite portion of the event is the Cross. There, the kids are given the opportunity to write a note of thanks to Jesus and place it beneath the cross. It was very moving, and made me think of how I look forward to Jessica understanding the price that was paid for her. I hope we can make it there again this year.
Jessica's first Christmas was, as expected, just wonderful. She mastered the art of opening presents quite well. We decided not to buy her many things; she has been given so much, and I desperately don't want her to become overwhelmed and bored by excessive choice. One of my favourite gifts was a Mary Poppins calendar, which I found at one of those calendar stands in Fountain Gate. MP has been her favourite movie since she was about 5 months old; for a while there it was a very effective settling tool! It was so cute seeing the look of recognition as she peeled back the paper to see her friends Mary and Bert on the cover!
Christmas was barely over when Matt and I started making preparations for a "laid back" First Birthday Party which, when we decided on people we couldn't do without inviting, came to a guest list of almost 100 people. When you consider that family makes up 41 of those people, I don't think we did too badly! New Year's Eve was surreal; I was sitting on the floor of our TV room placing several 8" x 10" pictures in a large frame, and watching people on TV doing stupid things as 2007 was announced. Matt was in the garage nailing several metres of pink poplin to the ceiling of the garage and hanging fairy lights. I thought to myself that I was so much infinitely happier sitting on the floor, in my dud tracksuit pants, preparing for our little girl's party, than doing just about anything else.
Jessica's party was an absolute hoot. Matt and I must have been mad to think that we could just casually invite our family, friends, and neighbours around for a party without quietly freaking out, but we managed to stay sane - in fact we loved every bit of it. It was just so much fun, and everyone seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves. It was quite an odd thing, just matter-of-factly rolling into Brookmere Meats in Berwick (the local Meat Mecca), grabbing a few cow's worth of porterhouse, and a few raccoon's worth of sausages, paying, and going home. We weren't fazed by it; I think we were just too excited. Matt did a beautiful job of transforming our garage into a party room (complete with pink ceiling and flashing fairy lights). In fact, the garage was where most people felt comfortable, even though we had the whole house and deck arranged with chairs, too!
The morning after the party I carried on a very proud family tradition; left-over pavolva for breakfast (although I couldn't manage to finish the whole plateful - sorry Dad).
On January 15th we all flew to Sydney for a couple of days. I think by this stage we were absolutely desperate to take a holiday and just relax - Matt had been on holidays for a couple of weeks by this stage, but we were all still wrecked! Sometimes you just have to get away, I guess. Jessica was an absolute marvel on the plane, and behaved beautifully.
We stayed at the Amora on Jamison street in Sydney, which was very close to George St and not too far from either Darling Harbour or Circular Quay. It was quite surreal to be in Sydney again, having lived there for two fairly intense and eventful years. I don't miss living there at all, but I do love the Harbour, The Rocks, Hyde Park, QVB, the Ferries, etc etc. We also made it to Taronga Zoo, something we didn't manage while we were living in NSW. It was lovely to catch up with Bec and Jon on our last night in town, too, for a lovely dinner in the Rocks, overlooking the Bridge and the Opera House. It was so amazing to be able to show Jessica a number of "firsts" - first plane trip, first train trip, first ferry ride, first trip to the zoo, first icy pole, first cable car ride, first Happy Meal (inlcuding a very treasured matchbox car).... And we also tried to teach her how to drink from a straw - Matt and I must have looked like idiots, making very animated sucking motions at the straw!
I was disappointed, however, that we didn't make it to the Speed Walkway (which is really nothing, simply a large travelator linking patrons of the Domain carpark to somewhere near the entrance of Hyde Park, but I love it. So what, I am just a big daggy kid!!!).
Oh yeah, and we also managed a couple of trips to the beach in January.....naturally!!!
I think that might do for now. It's already taken me almost a week to re-cap 2 and a half months, so I'd better post what I have now before it's May and I still haven't posted anything! Thanks to all of you who have hung on to the end of this rather large and dribbly post - sorry it was a bit long!
