Last weekend of winter

Goodbye winter, hello spring! Last weekend was officially the last weekend of winter here in Australia, and boy am I glad to see the end of it. The past month has been cold, rainy and ridiculously windy, but this weekend we were treated to blue skies and temperatures of 17 degrees. I'm even sitting outside on the balcony while I type this! Spring is definitely on its way!

Our weekend started on Friday night. With both kids were tucked up in bed Andy and I indulged in a take away and some wine. This has become a weekly ritual for us that I look forward to on Fridays. Not cooking or having any dishes to clean up is such a treat after a week of stay at home mom-ing. It’s probably the closest we’ll have to a date night for quite a while! This week we ordered from Teta Mona, a Lebanese place on Lygon St., and old favourite that we haven’t had in ages. We decided to watch the movie Like Father on Netflix and were just settling in when we heard Ella wake up. Andy went to check on her and ended up bringing her upstairs as she felt hot, and yep after checking her temperature we discovered she had a slight fever. Oh no! She had some water and panadol and went back to bed pretty quickly, but I was sure she’d be up in the night again. Although, that's not really my problem... at the moment our sleeping situation is a bit unorthodox: Andy sleeps in the spare room that is next to Ella’s, and I sleep in our bedroom with Ollie. It’s the setup that gives us all the most amount of sleep, as we each only have to wake up to one child. I sometimes miss my husband in bed, but I miss sleep more, so we’ll probably be sticking with this set up for a while! Once Ella went back to sleep we continued watching the movie, although I went to bed before we finished it as I was pretty tired. 10:30pm is a very late bedtime for me these days!

Saturday 

I heard Ollie start to make noises at 5:45am, and then again at 6:45am. Both times I ignored him and he fell back asleep (yay!) finally waking for the day around 7:30am. When I went downstairs I was shocked to see that Ella and Andy were both still asleep. Turns out Ella was up a few times in the night and she ended up sleeping in Andy’s bed. They finally stumbled upstairs around 8am, both looking pretty tired. 

Fortunately Ella’s fever had gone down but she was clearly not her usual energetic self. Andy took her for a walk around 10am and she had a nap in the pram. During this time Ollie was also asleep in his cot so I enjoyed a nice quiet house while I did some yoga and got a few chores done. 

Once both kids woke up and were fed, we took them out on another walk, this time with Ollie in the carrier. Ella said she would walk but lasted about two blocks before wanting to get into the pram. Going on long walks with Ollie in the carrier and Ella in the pram have become a bit of a thing for us the past few weekends. Ella stopped having naps months ago, but I actually think she still needs one. She refuses to lie down in bed during the day though. However if she is in the pram or car anytime from about 11-4 she’ll usually fall asleep. The walks have been a nice way for Andy and I to get some exercise and actually have the opportunity to talk to each other while both kids are asleep. 

Ella didn’t initially fall asleep this time as she’d just had an hour nap but she was content to stay in the pram while we walked down Lygon Street. We were looking for a housewarming gift for our old neighbours, Ben and Shanti, who moved house about a month ago. We were really sad when we heard they were moving as we get along with them really well, but luckily they found a rental property literally around the corner from us, so we still bump into them occasionally when we are out and about. We had plans to go to their new house for a drink later that afternoon.

After getting the gift (and some coffees and pastries of course, as that’s what you do in Melbourne), we went to a playground at Ella’s request. However, once we got there all Ella wanted to do was sit on a bench on Andy’s lap. She stayed there for ages, just watching the other kids play and having some snuggles with her daddy. Ollie was still asleep in the carrier so I took him for a little walk around the grounds where there was a lacrosse game going on. Lacrosse! Canada’s other national sport! That’s the first time I’ve seen it played in Melbourne. Finally Ella agreed to get back in the pram where she fell asleep for her second nap of the day.

We walked around a little more as both kids were pretty content sleeping in the carrier/pram, finally going back home once we figured they’d wake up. However they both stayed asleep for ages, Ollie having a whopping three hour afternoon nap, which is unheard of for him!

Once they woke it was time to go over to Ben and Shanti’s, where we had some lovely antipasti and wine. They have two kids who are 12 and 15, and the 12-year-old usually plays with Ella a bit, but unfortunately they were both out when we got there. Ben and Shanti’s new place is so lovely, with this huge backyard. I'm a tiny bit jealous! Ella liked the swing they had hanging from a tree and got to visit with their pet guinea pigs, but overall I think she was pretty bored while we were trying to carry on with a very adult meet up. We lasted about two and a half hours there, which I thought was pretty good, and then bundled both kids up for bath and bedtime. It ended up being a bit of a late night, with Ollie finally falling asleep at about 8pm. After that Andy and I finished watching Like Father before heading to bed around 9:30 pm. Such crazy Saturday nights when you have two kids!

Sunday

Sunday morning Ella was still not quite herself, but her temperature was normal so I took her grocery shopping with me. I’m trying out a new Sunday ritual where we do the shopping together and then go for a coffee/babycino date. It’s a nice way to spend a couple of hours alone with her, while Andy stays at home with Ollie. It has been hard to have one-on-one time with her these past three months, but now that Ollie is getting older and is happy to drink from a bottle I would like to try and do it more frequently. This week we went to a cute little café called Toledo in Brunswick. They had some toys to play with and loaded Ella’s babycino with chocolate on top which she loved. However I could tell she was still a bit sick as she didn’t want a treat to go with her babycino, and it is very unlike her to say no to a treat!

When we got back it was time to get ready to go to Steve and Michelle’s. Their son, Archie had his christening that day, and they invited us over for lunch at their place afterwards. It was nice to be included in the celebration as it was only family there besides us. Steve and Michelle have a huge immediate family (Steve has 4 siblings and Michelle has 3) so it was a busy afternoon with lots of cousins around. This is the kind of thing that makes me really sad that we don’t live near any family of our own. Ella had a ball playing with their daughter, her BFF Gemma, and running around their backyard. Around 5pm she started looking really tired so we decided to head home for the evening. Michelle’s mum packed us up some leftovers to take home which was awesome and meant we didn’t have to worry about dinner that evening.

We managed to get both kids into bed nice and early, so there was time for us to chill out together before getting ready the week ahead.