MrsB

When we lived in Australia we used something called the electric blanket in the winter. It’s a contraption that goes under the sheets and once plugged in and turned on, it heats up so that you don’t have to get into a cold bed.

Note that we lived in Canberra – not Sydney or Brisbane or Darwin – and Canberra winters are cold…

I’m taking part in Sticky Fingers’ Gallery this week – the theme is “Christmas of Yesteryear” :)

I chose not to go too far back in history, only to 2009 – the last time we had a HOT Christmas in Canberra.

I had 6 warm Christmases when I lived there pre-kids and I love it that way – snow and darkness are so overrated. [...]

Last Thursday night after work I headed over to the city to meet a couple of Aussies who run an ubercute website where you can buy personalised bags, books, stickers, diaries and more. The event was organised by blog-match.com and there were 18 other bloggers there.

I have never attended an event like this before and I was very pleasantly surprised at how well it was organised and how much fun it ended up being. [...]

Although I can sew and knit and crochet and cross stitch, I am not very crafty these days. A few months ago though I got an idea to make an “artwork” for our living room using Australian postcards. After a bit of toing and froing and false starts, it’s finally finished.

I think it’s not bad for a first attempt. It’s not as neat as I would have liked because the postcards all varied in size by a mm or two, and because by the time I got it back from framers I saw some edges where the glue had come unstuck. [...]

Chapter I

It was summer of 2005, I had just given birth to my first son. As he was being examined, the nurse said “Oh by the way, he’s tongue tied. Look!” and she lifted his little tongue up revealing the thin strip of skin underneath making the tongue look almost heart shaped.

I had been a tongue tied baby myself, so assuming they’d snip the tie right then and there like they’d done for me, I asked the nurse about it.

“Oh no, in this country we don’t do that. It’s not necessary, unless he develops a speech problem, but just wait and see if he does.” [...]

Since one of us is Estonian and the other one is Australian, most of our travel involves visiting one of those countries. In the summer I love to visit Estonia where the days are long and very warm, and the pace of life a lot slower and very relaxing. In the winter I love to [...]

I’m back in London. Changed forever, I think. Praying to God every day that I would stand next to this man until I’m 100.   Celebrated surgeon’s life honoured

Flying without children is amazing, a total break from one’s brain just as long as you’re able to fill it with one sitcom after another and sleep and eat in between. We arrived in Canberra at 9 am this morning, 23 hours after we left London.  It’s 5:30 pm now and I haven’t had  a [...]

This weeks’ theme at The Gallery is trees and nerdy or not, I actually took quite a few pictures of gum tree trunks while in Australia.  They are just so ragged and fascinating.

After our Sydney trip, the boys washed papa’s car… … did some more swimming… … played at the children’s science museum… … fed the swans at Lake Burley Griffin… … and were* blown away by the Wiggles store in Sydney airport on our way home :) —– * Oliver, mostly

In Sydney we enjoyed a great view again from our flat… … played in the sand… … and in the sea… … and inside while visiting relatives… … we walked a lot, once in the dark… … and spent the last day of our long weekend at Taronga Zoo…

Oskar was born in the summer, but a day after his 1st birthday, we moved to London and all of his birthdays since have been rather cold. This year we were in Canberra again for February 19th and Oskar got a ton of Lego, a Nintendo DS, an ice cream cake and a sunny day.

We saw a lot of sky in Canberra… … ate glorious gluten free friands… … discovered the best ice cream in the Whole Wide World… … cuddled a lot… … mucked around a lot… … checked up on the church where we got married 10 years ago… … met a cemetery that we’ll be visiting [...]

“You know she took over 600 photos while we were in Australia. 536 were of me. Because I’m cute like that. And because we didn’t actually see any kangaroos. But we did lots of swimming. I liked that part. One of these days she’ll finish editing some of the photos. Until then you’ll have to [...]