hot hot hot

yep, it's hot here in Victoria. We're sweltering through a bit of a heat wave! 45.3 degrees yesterday, ouch!!! I almost burnt my hand on the door handle checking how hot it was outside yesterday!! I can't remember the last time Lily wore any clothing and Toby has spent most of the time butt naked, lying on a towel and some bamboo muslin staring and giggling at the fan above my bed . Upside, less nappies to wash; downside, more towels, wraps and sheets. Baby boy's wee is so unpredictable.

At least today is tipped to be a bit cooler here at only 40 degrees. I seriously contemplated driving the two and a half hours drive to my mum's when I saw their forecast was only 33 for today. But then I figured, we're on the coast too, the Surf Coast is tipped for cooler weather, surely it won't get to 40 here, maybe in Geelong but we might get some coastal cooling. Here's hoping!

Now I've experienced heat like this before, we lived for a time in Paraburdoo, and 40 degrees plus is average temp this time of year. Heck, it gets to 50 there. But, you expect it there, you aclimatise to it, you have big-ass aircos in your house. There is a reason I live here and not in Paraburdoo. 40 degrees plus for days on end is just rude!

down to the beach

So the summer holidays are just about over... just about. Teachers are back at school today. And the kids, depending on the school; anytime between tomorrow and next Monday. True to form, the hot weather begins, it's too hot to be honest. A week of 40 degrees. bleugh!! That's not fun :( Despite the heat wave and Andy having to go back to work, we do love this time of the year. The tourists all head back to their homes and leaves ours alone for us. bliss.

Last night in the heat of the evening we headed down to the beach at about 6:30pm.

Lily had a bit of a play in the waves and then headed off to build sand castles; probably for the imaginary princesses that seem to go everywhere with her.

I frogged Toby's legs up and popped him in the ergo for his first visit to the beach. I can't believe he's 10 weeks old and it's the first time we've taken him to the beach. Ah, that's what tourist season does. He's very at home being carried and is used to being in either a wrap, pouch or mei tai but I think he liked the ergo best of all and dozed off pretty much straight away after checking out the water.
He spent most of his time covered up by his hat but had a little peak out for some photos of this big occasion.
ahhh bliss, the evening beach. Beautiful!

more mini

A square for a baby blanket
in Cleckheaton Country 8 ply

Three fishy washcloths for three little monkeys
in Bendigo 8ply cotton

Two Ballband washcloths
in Bendigo 8 ply cotton

These were supposed to be dishcloths for Megsie who was complaining she needed some more. When I gave them to her she declared them too soft for dishcloths and has put them aside as washcloths for her new bub. Now I'm knitting her some more dishcloths. Cunning, really. Lucky I'm nice.

Rainbow Dress wool kits

How cool are these!!!

Rainbow Dress yarn kits with all the yarn to knit a rainbow dress with contrasting bodice!!! I've seen Fi's dyeing, and can honestly say she's pretty damn good. The girl is a chemical engineer after all!!

Seriously, I'm really stoked to see Fi doing these and I know that anyone who purchases her yarn will be thoroughly delighted with it. And even though she's based in NZed I did hear a whisper she may ship to Australia. ;)

Loving..

1.  the cocky's crest on Toby's head that tickles my nose when he snuggles on my chest.

2.  Lily's random declarations; "Mum?"  "yes, Lily"  "I love you."

3. the feeling of bare feet on the cool floorboards on a hot day.

4.  staying up late watching Planet earth and snuggling with Andy on the couch.

5.  crunchy iceberg lettuce and juicy cherries.

6. knitting with cotton.
7.  bits for bots cloth nappies.

8. going to bed with just Andy and I in the bed and waking with all four of us snuggled up.

9. Re-reading Kate Grenville's 'The Idea of Perfection.'

10. listening to Lily play while sitting here feeding Toby.

guess where we've been

well, if you've read Megsie's blog you'll already know.  

we've returned from a lovely visit to the pint household. I found this little reminder on my camera, a photo taken by Tully.  Pretty good for a four year old, in focus and well composed.  

the girls had their usual wonderful time playing together and creating their jolly havoc; so much fun that my photos of them were all blurry. Sometimes they even let the big smiley boy join in.  It was very cute to see them fighting over whose prince Asher was.  
Tully was absolutely gorgeous with Toby, very gentle and extremely loving. She was so very eager to look after him and please him; she's going to make an awesome big sister when her new little sibling arrives.
We ended up staying an extra day due to a rare extremely hot day in the Mount. But that wasn't quite enough for Lily, she had quite a few tears on leaving, poor little mite. She really loves her time with Tully.
Lily has been an absolute gem since being home, but has been missing Tully so much.  This morning I while still in bed I had to pretend to be driving to Tully's house to visit them.  Lily knows we'll be going back for a visit after the baby arrives, so the premise of her game was that the baby had arrived.  

As part of her game some of her toys had to take on the role of the pint family. Megsie was played by Jemima, a baby doll was the new baby, another soft bodied dolly became Tully and a newborn Pumpkin Patch baby stood in for Asher. For some reason, Lachie was a pink fluffy bunny. Not sure on that choice.

mini

A little post about some mini knits.

Lily has been wanting me to knit Belle a dress for ages and ages, she'd even chosen a pattern which I was a bit hohum about.  Then in my friends page on Ravelry up popped this little beauty, for those who are not Rav savvy it's a little rainbow dress modified to fit a baby doll. *Light bulb* moment.

I love the fact that I was inspired to knit a version of my own pattern my someone else's modifications of it!! Fantastic!!

So here's Belle in her rainbow dress :)

This little bag arose out of the dreaded plastic toy epidemic sweeping all good supermarkets pre Christmas.  Lily found a revolting plastic cash register toy with pretend food and a lovely shopping basket that would have been broken in about 10 minutes, and of course she wanted it for Christmas.  Luckily she understands that Santa can't make plastic toys in his workshop, he can only make wooden ones ;)  So Santa was lovely enough to bring her a wooden cash register and some more wooden food for her collection.  I knit her this to do her shopping with, and she loves it! The plastic crap hasn't been mentioned since *phew*

Pattern: Grrlfriend Marketbag

Mods from: this clever person

(apologies for the rav links)

knit in some Spotlight cotton bought on sale a couple of years ago.
And for something completely cool and mini to knit, check this out! The little boyo here will be getting one of these pretty soon me thinks!!

happy new year!

A little belated but hey, good intentions nonetheless!

So the blog blitz got a little waylaid while these two little cherubs kept me busy, they really are very adorable! Toby is now a big 7 week old, and when I say big I mean BIG!  He is Mr Smiley, smiles at everyone non-stop and continues to be a happy content little man. Big sister Lily is very adorable with him and loves him so much. I'm really proud of the way she has been so accepting of this little creature suddenly needing to share her mummy's attention .

Amazing how looking at their birth photos they look almost identical, but now at 7 weeks Toby looks so very different.