Here's the Photo I promised.

I love this photo.


Now off to do the last minute stuff before Christmas begins in earnest.
If you are driving on our roads this Holiday Season, Please Stay Safe.

Merry Christmas!!

Jo and Family.
xxxxx

Time to Update!

Hello World, I'm still here!!

I have been so run off my feet these past few months that I never seem to have the time to update my blog (not that I think anyone reads it anyway) lol.

I'll do a bit of a family update first.

Josh has finished Grade 6 and will be Grade 7 next year. I can't believe that he is the same little boy that I sent off to preschool what seems like only a couple of years ago. He brought his report card home a couple of days before school ended and it's so positive. He has done so well this year. We are very proud of him. He got mostly B's and C's with an A in there as well.

Shane starts Prep next year. He looks so grown up in his uniforms. It'll be interesting the first day of school to see if I can keep it together till I'm out of eyeshot! I know I keep joking that I'll be doing the Happy Dance and the front gate but he's my little boy and I can't help getting a bit teary every time I think of him going to school every day.

Tamika is now 6 months old. She weighs 7.8kg and is 68cm long. I don't have a photo of her at the moment as Mum has the Christmas Photo that was taken at Orion Shopping Centre a couple of weeks ago. I'll put it up as soon as I can. She's rolling over by herself now and gets very jealous if I give another baby more attention than she's getting. I think she has the makings of a Diva myself but only time will tell!


I have decided to do something for myself this year. I am going to be an Independent Consultant for Le Reve I will be doing demonstrations in home for Le Reve. They encompass Aromatherapy, Skincare and Perfumes. The perfumes are divine to smell and so is the Aromatherapy Range. I have some oils that I burn most days and it makes the house smell lovely. My launch party is on 16th January at 2pm and I would love it if my friends would stop in for a visit. My aim is to have 6 parties in the first 3 weeks of operation so if you're interested in hosting a "Rendevous" please let me know. There are fabulous Hostess Incentives.

Anyway, must be off. It's late and there's so much wrapping still to be done.

Merry Christmas.

Jo.
xx

A Beautiful Wedding Day.

Two weeks ago my husband was best man for some very special friends of ours. He looked pretty good dressed up in a suit and tie, something I haven't seen him wear since our Wedding Day in 1998. Danny and Belinda kindly let me post these photos on my blog.




It was a little windy but still beautiful all the while. We even stayed away from home for the night even though we had little miss with us. She was very well behaved thank goodness.

Miss Tamika is 8 weeks old on Monday and finally just making it into size 000 clothes. I don't have a camera at the moment so I can't take happy snaps but I'll rectify that situation this weekend with a bit of luck.

We've been in quarantine for just over a week thanks to suspected Swine Flu. Ralph was home sick and went to the Doctor who decided that was what he had and promptly sent him home with Tamiflu ($55 for 10 tablets!) Consequently when Shane got sick on the Saturday they immediately said he had Swine Flu too and there goes another $55 PLUS the Dr fee for seeing him on the Saturday. My poor wallet has copped such a beating in the last 2 weeks because of sickness that the Dr joked yesterday that I am racking up the Frequent Flyer points at the Medical Centre/Pharmacy. If only that were true. LOL

Must be off, it's starting to get cool and the heater needs to be turned on.

Bye for now, stay well.

Jo.

School Goes Back Tomorrow!!

Yay!! Whilst I love my boys dearly, it's always a great day when it's back to school time. They get bored very easy with just me for company and because Tamika is so young, we haven't got out of the house as much as we normally do. Hopefully next holidays will be a little easier on everyone.

Tamika is growing in leaps and bounds. She's put on a kilo since birth (4 weeks ago today!) Doesn't time fly when you're having fun? If I didn't have to do the labour/birth bit, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. She's stretching her feeds out at night so I get 4-6 hours unbroken sleep some nights. It's just great.

That's it for now. Happy Back to School Day.

Jo.
xx

More Photos of the kids

Are they priceless? Tamika is 3 weeks old tomorrow (doesn't time fly?) Ralph goes back to work tomorrow after being home on holidays with us for the past 3 weeks too. I'll have to learn to get 3 kids and myself out the door by 8-8.15am of a morning for the school/daycare run. Could be interesting.

Week 1 of the School Holidays has been cruisy to say the least. Because of Ralph being home, I got to the Big W and Kmart Christmas Layby Sales. The kids are all done. I have to write it all up in my book to make sure I've covered everyone. Josh and Ralph went to see Transformers 2 on Tuesday at the movies. They really enjoyed it. I'll wait till it comes out on DVD as it's 2.5 hours long. I don't think my little girl will sit still for that long. Neither would I! They went fishing on Thursday and Josh caught his first fish. I can't post a photo yet as it's on the phone not the camera.

Poppy came to meet his little granddaughter this morning. He thinks she's gorgeous but so do we. I have to get myself into gear and make some Thank You cards. We have received the most gorgeous gifts for Tamika since she arrived.

Must go, housework is calling me.

Jo.
xx

p.s Please leave a comment.

What has this world come to?

That's right. What has this world come to when a man can't go about his daily business i.e His Job without fear of something really bad happening to him.



This photo is of a friend of my family. He and his family have been friends of ours for the best part of 30 years. On Thursday night he was minding his own business driving his truck home to his wife when he passed the KFC Outlet at Milperra in Sydney. Unbeknown to him, 6 lowlifes were busy having a shootout in the carpark of this restaurant (God only knows what the reason for the shootout was!) and he was caught by a stray bullet. His truck rolled for another 200 metres before coming to a stop. I can only hope that he did not suffer. The world is a sadder place for not having him in it.

R.I.P My Friend.
xxxx

Introducing................

Miss Tamika Joyce Hutchison.

Our little girl is finally here! She was born at 3.45pm on Monday afternoon (15/6) weighing 7 pound 3 oz. She's very small, not at all like the monster baby that we were led to believe we were going to have! I took 0000/000 size clothes with me to the hospital but they are too big for her. Looks like she is going into 00000 for a few weeks. Not something I expected I can tell you.




She spent 5 hours in the Special Care Nursery at the Mater Hospital as she inhaled/swallowed meconium at and before birth which made her quite sick. She was working very hard to breathe when she born so the decision was made straight away to whisk her away in a humidicrib to SCN. I can't speak highly enough of the Midwife that I had in the Delivery Room and also the SCN Nurses. They made us feel so much more at ease with their explanations of what was happening. We came home on Tuesday night.

Shane turned 4 today so it's been a pretty full on week for me.
I think I need a rest now.

Bye for now.

Jo.
xx

Dontcha just love the weather?

No, not really. I had to drive through torrential rain for approximately an HOUR each way to do what normally takes 25 mins to drive just to get to the hospital for my OB appointment on Wednesday. Had I not had DH with me I would have packed it in and rung the hospital and said see you next week! We persevered though (even trudging up several flights of stairs in the carpark because the bloody lifts were flooded) We were hoping that because of bub's size that the OB would say, you're here to stay and have your baby today. Of course he didn't agree with me (he's not the one who's going to push it out) but he did say that because of my age (39) and bub's size that I would not be going past my due date (19th June) I, on the other hand would be as happy as the proverbial if she made her way into the world just a little bit earlier than that. Not being able to bend over without nearly passing out and being breathless all the time is starting to take it's toll on me.

But anyway, haven't really done much in the past couple of weeks. I finished work last Wednesday (13th) so am now officially on Maternity Leave till May next year. I went to the Scrapbook City Retreat on the Anzac Day Weekend and had a ball with the ladies. Maybe next time I'll get to spend all 3 nights away from home. Oh what bliss!! I still haven't finished all of what I started that weekend but I'm sure I'll find time somewhere in the next 12 months (maybe) I have grand plans of what I would like to do but we all know that they come undone by very small demanding people. I don't care, I can't wait!!

I hope everyone is safe and well during this bizarre weather pattern that we are experiencing. The sound of rushing water in the tiny little creek that runs behind my place is not the most welcoming of sounds late at night, especially when it's the only way out of the street. My old workplace at Herston was flooded half way up the walls the other day. I don't know if they've been able to get in and take stock of the place yet. I know of several people that have lost cars etc. But then I hear from my Great Aunty in Winton that she's had no rain in God knows how long.

Cross your fingers that it doesn't get worse.

Bye for now, please leave a comment.

Jo.
xx

Hello!!

It's been quite some time since I blogged. I don't really know if anyone still checks my blog. Sorry. Life has been a bit hectic to say the least!

I found out in October that we're expecting a little surprise! Here's the proof.
I didn't believe myself at first.



Most of you already know of it but I just couldn't resist putting a picture on my blog (plus I just learnt how to use my scanner - LOL)

School Holidays at the moment so it's a little more busy than usual but I promise to be better at blogging.

Bye for now.

Jo.