13mths and counting

Hi All,

Jasper is 13mths old today and I think I can say that he is WALKING!!! (not all the time but he can walk for maybe 10-20 steps on his own)


For those that haven’t seen the video on my facebook page I will try and get a better one over the weekend to put on here :-))

I am the Mum of an over one year old, that’s just CRAZY!!

His fav word is still Ta and he says it with meaning, so when he wants stuff he will point to it and say Ta, pretty smart little man. He can recognise what other words mean like when I say its bath time he’ll head to the bathroom and if we say breakfast etc . .

He still gets emo in the evenings with other people if he is really tired . . .and not just with other people but with me too if he is really tired, just what you want at the end of the day!!
 
Food well just wave some in his way and he wants it :-))
 
We have a play date this Sunday with Auntie Jenny and Nyah to go to the indoor playground up near me which I have started going to atleast once a weekend, its lots of fun and Jasper really enjoys it . . unfortunately you can't take pictures in there so you'll just have to try and picture his smiling face playing in the ball pit and climbing up everything!!
 
13 more sleeps and we are on holidays YAY :-))))
 
Love to All
Cara xo

Holiday / Research trip

Hi All,

Jasper is going to have his second plane trip early next month, I have booked us a trip over to QLD to check it all out and have a look at some daycare centres etc . .


There actually is a house that I think might be perfect for us, we will go and see  it when we are there, it’s in a suburb not too far from Brisbane CBD and has recently been renovated. The owners are going overseas for a year at the end of October which is perfect cause that is when I am heading over and wanted to give it at least 12mths over in QLD to see if it’s for us or not.

If that house is as awesome in real life as it is in the pics and descriptions I have had from the owner then Jasper and I will have lots of time to holiday and relax because that cuts out my suburb research I was going to do when I first booked the tickets. Instead I will check out the daycares and get my name down and I think just do some relaxing . . .find some fun stuff Jasper and I can do together.

The first night I am staying at a hotel near the airport but the other 5 nights I am booked in a 1 bed apartment that I got really cheap on the Gold Coast. The only thing I haven’t done yet is book my car rental. .. .

It’s been a bit of a headache with deciding what to do with my furniture and belongings (for the actual move in October/November) however I think I may have come up with the solution but I won’t finalise it all until I have come back from QLD next mth :-))

I am looking forward to having a week off work and some warmer weather!!

Love to All
Cara xo

Jasper and Chloe before she left daycare

Jasper and Kable unwrapping at his bday party!

Decisions Decisions Oh So Many

Hi All,

As the title says Decisions and too many of them!! Don’t get me wrong though I am thankful that I have a great life and live in an awesome time and place that I have choices.


That said . . . my head is spinning!

I had my head and heart set on the Gold Coast as a place to settle in Queensland, I just love the atmosphere and location, beach’s etc . .

Then I decided to google again the commute time to work in Brisbane and also chatted to someone that has moved from there to here just recently . . .lets just say I don’t have enough time in my life to spend 3hrs a day getting to and from work!! It would mean I would basically drop Jasper off go to work, pick him up then put him to bed . . .NOT the lifestyle I am wanting.

Some may be asking why working in Brisbane, basically the answer is that there aren’t too many jobs in the gold coast in my industry, and I don’t want to take a step backwards work wise at this time of life, not when I will soon be paying for schooling costs.

So this has led me to think that perhaps living in Brisbane would be better, of course it will have to be the right location and the right cost . . .so that I can go to the gold coast on weekends and stay over etc . .

NOW let’s talk about the cost of transporting your goods and car across country FAR OUT! I have had a few quotes so far and neither is particularly cheaper then the other even backloading which everyone says is supposed to be cheaper??!!!

This means I am now thinking wether its worth taking it all over or wether to leave it in storage here for say a year then decide if I am staying over there or coming back. That means though that I need to get a fully furnished rental or buy really cheap furniture when I get over there and just a minimal amount

Arrrgghhhh that’s just a small snippet of all the things running through my head!

Anyone out there reading with some advise I can use???

Love to All
Cara xo

Biding Time

Hi All,

Now I have made the decision to go to the Gold Coast I feel like I just want it to be time to go. Its not that I dislike it here in Perth or that I won’t miss my family and friends very much its just that I feel like I am treading water waiting for it to be D day.


Does that make sense to people?

I have lots of things to do before I leave including organizing movers, narrowing down suburbs, researching childcares, sorting stuff to go into storage (not going to take all my books and childhood things) etc…

D day actually doesn’t have a date yet cause there are lots of factors that make that up however I hope to know be the end of this mth fingers crossed!

On the home front things are good, Jasper is continuing to grow and get stronger on his feet . .still no walking yet. He was very much enjoying some fresh pretzel that I gave him yesterday and still eats heaps of anything with rice, I swear if they didn’t know me so well at daycare they would have me up on starving charges . . .Jasper has had 3 bowls of lunch a few times this week!

Our daycare is something that I will very much miss when we leave . . . I am lucky that the first daycare I got him into is the best. The facility is nice and new and bright and fresh, the staff are just awesome, I think it does help too that I take the time to talk to them and find out how he is going. I don’t just dump and run or pick up and run . . .quite often I will sit down on the floor and have a chat when I go to pick him up.

Jasper went to his first 4th of July thing on the weekend, unfortunately we got there a little too late to get the good food and things they had on sale . . .I don’t think they expected it to be as popular as it was.

I am considering a few days break somewhere maybe next mth, however will wait till I do my tax and until I decide on a Gold Coast departure date.

Love to All

Cara xo

Move over Canda, Gold Coast here we come!!

Hi All,

As you can see from the title and also from my facebook status I have finally made my decision . . .well actually Jaspers Paed made my decision.

I got Jaspers blood test results back and the Dr called to go through them with me, everything showed up as fine his iron, white blood cell count etc. However his Allergy test was slightly higher then it should be, which at this stage of his young life just means that he has an allergy . . .no idea to what yet but its nothing really bad or else he wouldn't be as happy and healthy as he is.
The slight allergy with the Laryngomalacia coupled with cold weather wouldn't make for a very happy healthy environment for my little man so the warm sunny weather here we come!

Of course there were a few other factors like money for medical expenses in a foreign country etc which came into it too :-))

This means I have tickets to cancel, accomodation to cancel and removelist quotes to get. I don't see the point of putting things into storage and paying for that I may as well just send it all over with us including my car.

Stay tuned for suburb research, housing research etc.

Anyone with cross country moving advice please leave me comments or anyone else who just wants to comment on this please do :-))

Love to All
Cara xo

3rd Celebration was fun

Hi All,

Jaspers 1st Birthday celebrations are officially over :-((

We had a awesome time at the party on Sunday, some yummy food made mostly by Auntie Mel with Sausage rolls made by Auntie Ash. I of course made some sweet food, Choc crackles and lemon cupcakes.

Unfortunately I forgot to give someone camera duty and hence we now only have a few pics, BUT I did borrow a video camera so we did get some fun footage and I am looking forward to viewing it in a few weeks :-))

We nearly didn't have the helium balloons, I only remembered late Saturday afternoon that I had to pick them up from Spotlight!

Jasper was completely spoilt rotten by everyone, he recieved some really cool books and very cute clothes Oh and a noisey but fun toy from Auntie Libby.
(His bookshelf is filling up which is nice and I will work out a time of the day thats best to read to him soon)

He constantly astonishes me with how much he eats but still manages to stay under the average line on the little graph thing they give you when they are born . . .hmm I wonder when exactly that gets updates over the years . .
When we went to the Paed last week he got weighed and was 9.76kgs.

Yesterday I took him back to get his blood test done, hoping this time that they would find the vein and they did YAY so I should get those results in a few days.

My head was starting to get a bit overwhelmed in deciding Canada or the Gold Coast . . .and I have still not made a decision, I am waiting for the blood tests and then may wait until I have done my tax as this will allow me to have a better idea how much money I will have by November.
The financial year ends tomorrow, then I have to wait for all the group certificates and statements from Health funds, Government etc . .before I can actually do my tax.
So it may be awhile before I make a complete decision regarding our place of living for later this year.

On a lighter note, I think it won't be too long till Jasper is walking . . .he is getting much stronger on his legs and just wants to walk everywhere.

Love to All

Cara xo

We have a diagnosis

Hi All,

All of you that have met Jasper will know that he is a slightly noisy breather (which in medical speak is called stridor) and has what sounds like a chesty cough. Yesterday I found the answer as to why he is like this.

Jasper has whats called "laryngomalacia" or 'floppy larynx syndrome'. Bascially, he was born with a slightly deformed larynx, which effectively narrows his windpipe resulting in whistly breathing. Its a benign (harmless) condition that he will grow out of by the time he is 2yrs old when the whole throat area stiffens up with cartlidge and no longer is floppy (until then he has to sound like darth vardor). The cough is as a result of the build up of mucus at the larynx, so he must constantly clear his throat. More details here... http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-laryngomalacia.htm

On further reading I discovered that alot of babies with this condition tend to have gruff voices (due to the mucus and slight swelling from clearing the throat)
. The Paedeatrician gave him a clean bill of health (apart from the larygomalacia that is).

The only problem he might have is that he might be more heavily affected by a common cold than most other babies, and I have already found that to be the case over the past winter. Also with teething and the build up of more saliva this will cause more coughing SO hey I wasn't so wrong when I put his cough down to teething as well.

Anyway I just thought I'd update you all. Its quite amusing that such a little problem has such a big complicated name, and at least you no longer have to think I am letting him die of pneumonia everytime you see him.

If anyone reading has any stories about this condition please leave me a comment.

Love to All
Cara :-))

PS. Yes this may change my descision to move to Canada . . .might be the warm weather of the Gold Coast that wins out instead.
Jasper is having some blood tests done too so I will make a more informed decision after I get those back. xo

A Letter to Jasper on his First Birthday

Dear Jasper,


Your first Birthday has been and gone and wow the time has flown.

I have watched you change from a tiny little wriggling baby to a little boy who can move around and is always ready to smile and giggle. You find such joy in the small things like a person at the shops smiling at you or watching Mummy do a silly dance move.

You enjoy most foods but are not particularly into strong tasting things like capsicum, garlic or onion. Also we are working on getting you to eat more fruit! Your favorite food is Rice, you don’t care if its plain or in a risotto or fried just as long as its rice :-))

I think its very easy to say your favorite things are balloons! Mummy got you some helium balloons for your birthday for you to take and play with at daycare with your friends, though your best friend at daycare Chloe is leaving soon which will be sad. However I have no doubt you will be finding a new best friend soon there.

You enjoy being out and about and around people. When we are out at a restaurant you will sit in your high chair and just watch people go by (that’s in between bites of Mummy’s food!) It's like that when you are in your pram too. We go to Coles most afternoons after I pick you up so that you can sit in the trolley and smile at all the shoppers, you like to try and hold everything that Mummy gets off the shelves even if it’s really, really cold.

Teeth are your biggest owwee at the moment, you have 4 teeth at the moment your two top ones and your two bottom ones. However I think you have one of your eye teeth cutting through at the moment.

You're crawling around everywhere at a very high speed, and also pulling yourself up to your feet on everything then cruising around. You can’t quite walk on your own yet but I have no doubt that you will be in the next month or so cause you are getting stronger and stronger on your feet everyday and your balance is improving.

You are so cute and Mummy is very blessed to have you in her life so are the rest of your relatives and Mummy's friends. We have Uncle Kurt and Auntie Ash living with us at the moment and you are getting more used to having them there everyday that you are even going looking for them around the house now if they walk out of the room.

Your Auntie T is still your favorite Auntie (well she tells you that all the time) and you have sleepovers at her house once a mouth. She can’t wait for you to sleep a little later though then 6am :-)) Auntie T spoils you lots you’re a very lucky little boy to have her as your God/Earth Mother.

Nan also spoils you and she has looked after you a few times too when Mummy has had to work, she can’t wait until you are old enough to go on the horses with her, you have hugged one of her horses Shamrock. Actually you could start your riding on Missy her dalmation doggie then move on to Harley her great dane doggie! Pa I think is waiting till you start playing footy (Aussie Rules of course, don’t let your Auntie Liz ever teach you that soccer is football or footy!) and can tinker with cars.

Grandma Gail is your most regular babysitter and has the most number of cool toys!! You were a very lucky little boy and came on holiday with her and Mummy when you were only 10 mths old to Bali. We had such fun together all of us, you enjoyed playing in the pool and getting us to push you under the water fountain. Of course you got to eat your favorite food there every day RICE!

Auntie Jan is your photographer and part time baby sitter, she made sure you crawled properly and is getting you ready to be in her Kindy Class in a few years.

You have only been swimming in the beach once and that was with your Uncle Clay, Auntie Mel and your one and only cousin Meelah. You do enjoy being in the water though and have no fear of it, Mummy is hoping to start you doing swimming lessons later this year maybe.

Your playmates outside of daycare are Nyah and Cable, Auntie Jenny and I have no doubt that when you are walking you and Nyah will get up to lots of mischief!!

For your Birthday you had a very fun day filled with Balloons, presents, friends and cakes. Mummy got some helium balloons and put them above your cot so that you saw them as soon as the light went on in the morning. We opened some presents on our own then Uncle Kurt and Auntie Ash gave you their present. After that Mummy dropped you off at daycare with your balloons and some cupcakes to enjoy with your friends. We had dinner that night at home with Auntie T, and Kash (I will explain this to you when you get older) we got Thai food so that you could have some fried rice then we had yummy cake made by your Auntie T. Ohh and the adults had champagne, very nice champagne, that Auntie T bought for Mummy.

You received lots of msg’s through out the day via Mummy’s mobile and also on Facebook. Your Nan called and sang you happy Birthday and so did your Pa. You got sung happy birthday at daycare and also one of the ladies played you Happy Birthday on their harmonica you got a little shy when she did that.

Oh that reminds me that your other fav thing is music and dancing, you get so happy when there is music on and you start clapping and bopping away, Mummy is hoping that you keep this love of Music and dance for your whole life!

You do know how to wave goodbye and you can say oh oh which is very cute and mainly said when you drop things.

So little boy Jasper your first year has been filled with lots of amazing things with lots of fun and laughter and also some tears especially when you have had an owwee tummy which happened a lot when you were really little. You have also been in hospital overnight already when you got a bad cold but Mummy had a bed in your room with you :-)

You’re a very loved very cherished little boy and Mummy can’t wait to see what the next year has in store, and to watch you grow even more.

Happy First Birthday Jasper we get to celebrate more on Sunday with all of your other Aunties and Uncles.

I love you Jasper, Mummy xoxoxo


PS. You have lots of other very important people in your life little Man however Mummy couldn’t mention them all otherwise this would have been an even longer letter!

PPS. Thank you goes to FF for editing and remember Jasper when you need help on your English assignments, spelling etc go to her!

Bored at work!

Hi All,

The system that I need to actually do my job has been down since Friday . . .since then I have done numerous things like doing preparations for Jaspers Bday party, Taking Jasper for his 1 year shots, having long lunch's . . .putting things on ebay, ummm updating facebook pics . . .and of course blogging!

SO for those of you that work what is the first thing you do when your systems are down be in computer or maybe power outage etc . .for those of you that don't work outside of the home now what did you used to do??

I have googled everything I can think of . . .from things for Canada to Asthma stuff as I am begining to worry Jasper might infact have something not quite right with his chest.
I took him to the GP yesterday who didn't have that much to say so I am taking him to a Paediatrician next week the day after his 1st bday to see what he can tell me.
He just forever seems to have a heavy chest or some sort of cough . . .I have been going along with it for ages now but think I had best get it checked out properly especially as I am planning to move to a very cold country and away from our free health care system!! (well mainly free if you go public, however I am going to a private paediatrician who deff isn't cheap!!)

Anyone reading have any experience with infant/young child Asthma or broncial problems?

Hope her Mummy doesn't mind me posting pics of her! Was also showing the yummy cupcakes that Jasper and I enjoyed eating!!

Thanks for reading

Love to All

Cara xo

Picture overload

Hi All,

I haven't blogged for awhile and I know I am naughty!!
I think the problem is I am not sure which direction to take this blog . . .wether to keep it as a day to day thing of my life or wether to post my random idea's and thoughts as well . . .

So while I think I might just do a bit of both and see how it ends up!

Life has been busy as usual however this past weekend was pretty quiet besides attending a very cute little girls 2nd Birthday Party :-))

So for this post I am just doing lots of pictures . . .

Playing with Nan

The Bday Girl :-))Playing on the bouncy castleSmiling with MummyRolling back and forwardsI like this pic of Bday girl with her ParentsTrying to get out!

Love to All

Cara xo