B is for...

Brunch at Sayers.

June 2013 - A photo a day

The Challenge Continues

Last month I only completed 5 out of 30 days of the Photo a Day Challenge. Overall a poor effort partly due to being busy, tired and generally uninspired but there's always this month.

The list:

Here's to trying at least 6 out of the 31 days :)

Where's my Teddy?

This is fast becoming my favourite book, I might just go as far as to say THIS IS my FAVOURITE book, but just maybe. Yes it's a children's book, but it's fun for all ages. It's lighthearted, short, there's pictures and it's really quite funny. It's a story about a boy who loses his teddy bear in the woods and finds a gigantic surprise instead. That description did it no justice, seriously, read it. It'll be well worth the 2 minutes.

A place

Trigg Beach

Tiny

On your plate

So good that I almost devoured it before remembering to take a quick snap

Bahn Mi Thit

The Goose

The Husband, the lil guy and I had lunch at The Goose when we were down in Busselton. The restaurant has a great relaxed atmosphere, its bright and inviting with stunning views of Geographe Bay. It's located right next to Busselton Jetty, which is the longest (1.8Km) timber piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere.

*Photo courtesy of The Goose

*Photo courtesy of The Goose

Lunch begins at 11:30am. The Husband ordered the free range pork belly, apple cream, watercress, confit fennel, cabbage, seared scallop ($39.50). Visually appetizing although on the small side and unfortunately the skin was not crispy pork crackle. It was good but rather ordinary and nothing to write home about and quite expensive.

I ordered the Goose's seafood chowder, West Australian fish, prawns, scallops, black mussels, cured salmon croute ($38.50). It was deliciously creamy with succulent seafood although very small amounts of fish. I loved the dill and baby spinach through the chowder and the cured salmon croute was a highlight. I'm a big fan of chowder so I would definitely eat this again if my wallet would permit, it is on the expensive side.

Busselton

Last weekend we made use of the four day long weekend and headed down to Busselton with some friends and their kids. Our first family holiday!! It was great getting away although there was traffic heading down and coming back and the lil guy, just like his Daddy hates traffic. 

Holidaying with the lil guy is very different. The amount of things we needed to bring along looked like we were moving house. Going out was scheduled around Kobe's routine. We mainly chilled out at the house and took long naps. There were lots of precious moments spent together as a family and good times hanging out with good friends. 

We did manage to see Busselton Jetty, have lunch out at The Goose and go to the beach. There were lots of 'first moments' for Kobe: first time being on holiday, being in the car longer then 30mins, out at a restaurant with just Mummy and Daddy, tasting baby cereal and the beach. 

It was a great first taste of what holidaying with the lil guy is like. 

Sydney, Melbourne, KL - look out!!

Something good

Friends

This happened today

Went to Jamie's Italian for lunch with the Husband

Spaghetti Vongole with a side order of Polenta Chips

Challenge Accepted

I have been wanting to resume blogging for such a long time, yet every time I sit down to start I draw a blank. I have also missed taking photos. Today I read a friend's post about taking a photo each day in the month of April. It's something I have done before but on my own and this time around they'll be themes. I'm inspired, thanks Clare.

It's a great feeling starting something new. Something purely for myself, not for the baby, not for the house, not for family, just for me. I'm rusty so hopefully the photos will get better as the month progresses. Come quicker April :)

Over a weekend in February, I was fortunate enough to be able to head to Sydney for a bit of a 'boy's/nerd's weekend'. I can't thank the wife enough for letting me go, as it was the first 'extended' weekend away, leaving the wife to take care of the Lil Guy by herself, potentially. Luckily, Kobe is blessed with a great grandmother who is both willing and capable of taking care of him, and Naomi took Kobe there for their own little weekend away. 

I went to Sydney for Street Fighter - but I'll blog on that another day perhaps. 

In Sydney, I met up with a friend I've known since childhood for lunch. We went to primary school, high school and university together.  I've known him for over 20 years. After university, he moved away from Perth to head to the bright lights of Sydney to pursue a finance career, although he graduated primarily as an engineer. 

It's interesting to see where people end up in life and how lives change. We tried to summarise our lives over the past couple of years in a couple of hours. The conversation drifted between career, passions, life as a father, respect for our parents, social responsibility, chasing dreams... Possibly overly heavy stuff for a Friday lunch. 

My friend is one of the smartest guys I have ever known. Not only just book smarts, but smart at life also. He eventually gave up his banking job and pursued a job setting up a dot.com business and on the side, he helps lead Social Startup 48.  

What is Social Startup 48? [http://ss48.org/about/]

"Our vision is to be the launchpad for entrepreneurs who will go forth to create significant social impact in cities in Australia and around the world. 

Check out the website if you're interested - pretty awesome stuff. 

As our conversation shifted between passions and the future, I reflected on how far both of us have come in life. This was a kid I used to walk home from primary school with. I saved him from the wrath of a burly man once, who's window he had a broken with a poorly executed rock throw. We went to detention/rubbish-duty together, for throwing toilet paper through the entire boys bathroom. Now here we are, twenty years later, and he's talking about things like changing the world (which I fully respect and admire) and I'm talking about being a father. 

Upon closer reflection, I can't help but feel a little bit 'ashamed' really. I was in Sydney for a Street Fighter tournament. He was there trying to change the world. Two slightly different things really. 

I admire his sense of social responsibility and desire for change because I was once like that. I once dreamt about having a platform to inspire people to effect change not through business like he is trying to do, but through love, grace and truth. I had once very seriously toyed with the idea of giving up everything and pursuing a different calling but now, that world just seems so far removed. I find myself increasingly drawn to the rat race, not necessarily dreaming about social change and seeing people's lives transformed, but bigger houses and bigger cars. For what exactly?

I think that side of me is still there. I feel him trying to push through the crap that is the rat race, and into my mind and more importantly, my heart again. Maybe it's time to let that side of me have a bigger place in my heart and voice again.

But God... That's a scary thought. 

Modelling

What A Difference.. A Day Makes..

In this case.. A week.

I'm sitting here watching Kobe through our baby monitor. We've just fed him, put him in his little baby cacoon and put him to bed to fall asleep by himself. He is smiling, chuckling, talking (sort of) and generally having a good ole time by himself. He should fall asleep soon (hopefully!).

How things have changed...

If I think back to literally a week ago, there was no smiling or chuckling if we had done this, just lots of hysterical crying, scrunched up faces and tears - and that's not even including what the baby did. Kobe would not sleep at all during the day and it made life difficult. His naps during the day consisted of 10-15 minute bursts, which would require hours of bouncing, walking and general movement to even achieve. By the end of the day, Kobe would have slept maybe an hour, maybe two (if we put him in a baby carrier) and we were consistently left with a overtired and cranky baby to handle.

One week later, he can now (generally) fall asleep by himself without the aid of movement and us being around. If he startles or wakes up, he can often (with a bit of luck) put himself back to sleep without us intervening. This has resulted in him sleeping up to four sometimes five hours during the day which has given us what seems like an eternity of free time. This free time is spent doing exciting things like taking naps, cleaning the house and preparing dinner but at least we're not spending entire days on an exercise ball bouncing a baby.

Maybe it's a result of some sleep training we've been trying. Maybe it's a result of natural baby development. Maybe it's a bit of help from God and some amazing friends we are blessed to have in our lives. Who knows..

All I know is.. we're starting to feel a bit more sane....

But who knows what difference.. another week will bring.

The Corner

This is a corner of my house.

Corner

To you and I, it is indeed, a corner - unassuming, mathematically at 90 degrees (or close to it) and is painted white. To you and I, it really doesn't deserve a second look.

But to Kobe.... by golly.

This corner brings forth much joy and laughter out of our little Kobe which in turns, brings forth much joy and laughter out of us. He will stare at it EVERY single opportunity he gets. Whether it's from his change table or whether it's from our arms.

He stares at it, smiles, chuckles to himself, then does it again. He will do this every single day. His mum and I often look at it, when he is, just to make sure he isn't seeing anything that we've missed. Sure enough, it's just a simple corner.

Our minds may be too "sophisticated" to enjoy the simple pleasures of a corner, but we promise that we will never be too sophisticated to enjoy the simple pleasure of seeing him smile and laugh.