Today, Owen and I have been in NSW for a whole year.

A whole year…..

12 months…

365 days…

Some days/weeks it feels like we have been here forever (well, for a long time anyway) and it really does feel like our home.  These are the good weeks.  The ones where preschool is good, the boys are behaving themselves, we have been out and about with friends, or we have had a few activities during the week, and not stuck at home with no excuses to go far.

Then there are those days/weeks where it feels like we are still the strangers down here.  These are the bad ones.  But they are getting fewer and farther between, thankfully.  This is mainly because we have made some really great friends since we have been here.

Of our new friends, half are newbies to NSW, just like us!  And we all seem to help each other settle into life in NSW.  Having friends in the same situation as our family has been great.  And these friends all mostly have young children too.  Children really do help adults to make connections that we would have otherwise missed out on!

While this is not our true home (we will always be QLDers – even Reuben!!!) we are all happy enough to call Rouse Hill home for the time being…

Hopefully the next year will be as interesting as the last!

(the picture was taken from our house, about a month ago)

• catch the ferry to Manly (apparently this is THE thing to do on the weekend)
• see the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House from the harbour
• eat fish and chips followed by and ice cream at Manly.

Done, done and done :)  And we got to do all of the above with a great bunch of family and friends!

Lauren and Owen outside the Opera House

Captain Feathersword’s ship.  Well that’s what Owen thought anyway.

We snagged a spot in the shade and watched some of the surf carnival.

Owen couldn’t resist the lure of the ocean.

Playing in more water while we ate the required fish and chips.

What else would you have for lunch when at Manly???

Michael and Owen on the ferry.

Having an ice cream on the ferry back to Circular Quay.

Michael and Owen

Anyway, this morning I met my new people – Katrina and Laura – at Tunz of Fun in Castle Towers for a play and a chat.  A fast two hours later, after much talking by the girls and lots of playing by the kids, it was time to leave.  But not without making another date to catch up in the near future.

My new people will fast become friends I think.  They are a great bunch (kids included) and fun to hang out with, not to mention easy to talk to and above all they are NORMAL!!!  Well, as normal as we Harvey’s get anyway!  I can’t wait to meet my new people again soon :o)

I’m so glad we did, for a few reasons.  The Castle Hill library has a much larger kids section than our local Rouse Hill library, they also have a over sized wooden sand castle that is filled with books on the outside of the castle walls and has room to play inside the castle.

While Owen was playing with the sand castle, I met two lovely youngish Mum’s and their daughters (who are both around two).  They were really friendly, and the first ladies I’ve spoken to, other than our neighbours and a few of the Mum’s from preschool, in what seems like a very long time.  We stood around and chatted easily for nearly half an hour, while their girls and Owen chased each other round the sand castle and generally had a ball together.  When it was time to go, we even swapped numbers and I got invited to come to their mother’s group and to meet up at our local shopping centre for a play and a chat!

It’s only taken me five months to meet some people.  You just can’t rush into these things!

So, thanks Marc for wanting to try somewhere new :o)

So yesterday Mum, Owen and I went for a drive to Penrith for some supplies.  Why Penrith?   Well firstly because Spotlight and Lincraft are in the same homemaker type shopping complex, and secondly because I really need to clock up kilometres on the car, so going anywhere that is just that little bit further is a welcome trip.

While I wasn’t planning on buying anything at all, I came home with this:

Husqvarna Husky Star E10 Sewing Machine

I haven’t sewn anything since my grade 8 Home Economics class (with top marks for my sewing I would like to add!), leaving any sewing/mending/hemming to my more than capable Mum.  We now live a little too far away to just do the usual pop over to her place with a pair of pants to hem, or stash of material and a request/idea.

I figured I probably should at least have a go at saving ourselves the $19 it costs each time for Marc to have any new dress pants hemmed at the local alterations place!  And what better time to buy a sewing machine than when Mum is here to show me how to use the thing.

After traipsing round the countryside most of yesterday, we are going to have a day at home today and have a play with the new machine.  I informed Marc last night that first guinea pig was going to be his new dress pants that have been waiting to be hemmed for a few weeks.  He looked a little scared…  Wish me luck :)

Update

Well, I’ve successfully made a (not very exciting, but useful) replacement peg bag and here’s the proof :)

From this:

To this:

This time twelve months ago…

A few of the Big Boys all sat around at our place for the entire day, ate lots of junk food, drank beer and watched the race.

Very blokey.

And Meegan, Mum, Jodie, Owen and I went to the Ginger Factory in Yandina for the day.

This year Rob Mac is at home watching the race in Wynnum, Queensland and Marc has transformed into a V8 couch potato for the whole day, with Owen is only company in Rouse Hill, New South Wales…

(Note:  Both Boys have their team shirts on for the race…  I will not let Marc go out in public with me in this shirt.  It may only come out once a year.  If he’s lucky!!)

Apparently it’s not as much fun watching it on your own.

Maybe next year the Big Boys will be back watching the race together again :)

Listen to me Weather, it isn’t Summer yet.  I want Spring.  I like Spring.  A nice 27° would be a good start.

Play nicer tomorrow.

Thanks.

~~~

Been drinking too much water of late (yes, there is such a thing!).  So, I have started drinking soda water and red cordial.  It’s delicious and cold and sugary, albeit not a very healthy alternative to water or straight soda water ;o)

I may just have to go back to soda water and lime or lemon.  Not as much fun, but refreshing none the less.

Why buy them now?

Why not wait a couple of months, just in case he has a growth spurt?

This notion in itself is a little on the hilarious side.  If you have ever met Owen in person, you will know that he just isn’t going to be tall, even though Marc and I aren’t short people, the poor boy is a Carter through and through and will most likely be as tall as my Dad, and built the same.

Sorry O, there’s nothing we can do about that Buddy…

But I digress

Last year, I bought Owen some cotton PJs right at the beginning of the season, and could not, for love or money, get him another set.  I even tried Myer and David Jones as last resorts, hoping that because their kids clothes are more expensive than those of the department stores (Target, Big W, Kmart) they may have some stock all through the hotter months.  Nope.  The child gets super hot during the night and satin boxers don’t seem to be his thing (I’m sure this will change as he grows up), neither do the PJ sets made of t-shirt material.

Now I hear you say, well just make some, right?  Wrong.  I’m not a sewer.  I don’t own a sewing machine and I am not allowed to touch Mum’s machine.  Not because I have had a crack at it before and wrecked her machine in the past (although, I can see how that would happen), mainly because it’s a Mum thing.  I don’t think my sister, who can sew, even touches Mum’s machine!  But that’s what Mum’s are for (among other things), aren’t they?!  My Mum made him a couple of cotton sets and we made do until it got cooler again and he could wear the cute little satin boxers.

Since we find ourselves far away from all people who can sew, I know I will need to be on the look out for some new PJs from now on…  As it was, Big W only had one pair in size 3 left…  Plenty if he was a size 5 or 6 though!  I’ll not be making the same mistake as last year :o)

Here’s a picture of the Boy in his new PJs.

Dinosaurs and skateboards, what more could a three year old want!

My apologies for the photo, Owen was trying to watch Bananas In Pajamas (this is the truth, I swear!) while I tried these on him and would only stand still for one photo…< -->

Since my I whinged my way through that last post, I thought this one needed to be a little more on the positive side!

It has been a lovely day today with the sun shining for the whole day.  We have stayed home just doing “stuff”.  Nothing really important or impressive, just bits and pieces and a whole lot of nothing much while enjoying the unusually pleasant weather of the day.  I am hoping that the day is as nice tomorrow as Marc wants to go for a drive to Cronulla for the day…

How was your Saturday spent this weekend?

]]> http://www.harveysathome.com/2008/08/change-of-subject/feed/ 0 http://www.harveysathome.com/2008/07/hospital-visit-5/ http://www.harveysathome.com/2008/07/hospital-visit-5/#comments Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:45:48 +0000 Meegan http://www.harveysathome.com/?p=1160 We are down the down hill slope from now on :o)

29 weeks today, and our fastest visit to the antenatal clinic and the doctor ever!  Owen and I were in and out of there within 25 minutes.  I’m sorry to admit, that Blacktown Hospital leaves the RBH for dead when it comes to time/patient management and appointment scheduling!

Nothing exciting to report other than this one is lying sideways, but has plenty of time to shuffle around to the right direction.  Explains why I feel so round at the moment.  We never had this issue come up with Owen as he always seemed to be lounging around in a vertical position, sticking out more in the front that out to the sides.  I am hoping that Squirt rights him/herself very soon, or at least within the next few weeks.

Back again in three weeks time for another midwife check and doctor visit…

The belly today, at 29 weeks