Archives for July 2011

I need to get it out of my system already

July 30, 2011 · By ·

White. White. White.

I have this obession with white lately.  As in, in home decor. I have this vision in my head…white-washed walls, white slipcovered sofa, white coffee table, white cabinets, with accents of colours, olive green, yellow, coral, turqoise etc. With white, I can change colour schemes every 6 months to a year with my handmades cushion covers, table linens…etc.

Bright and airy.

The interest of home decor came up the last one month as I am moving. From our comfortable flat of 10 years to another flat.

Did I mentioned that it is just a vision? White is hard to maintain when I have a 4 year old at home and besides, I do not want the hassle of upholstering the slipcovers on my blah beige coloured sofa.

Besides, most of my furniture are in shades of tan, brown and dark brown. No plans to change most of the furniture as I am planning to keep decorating of the new home capped at $500. It will be interesting to play with such a serious palette and brighten it up with my stash of fabrics in various shades, and white.

In the meantime. I will be busy with re-decorating with new handmades for the home and second hand furniture shopping.

So, stay tuned for more posts on home and decor in the next couple of weeks.

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Categorized: Home, Mom's Musings ·

A permanent resident

July 11, 2011 · By ·

We have found ourselves a new permanent resident…

In hb and my room that is.

Just when I just declared to someone who visited our house last month that Kyle sleeps alone in his room. Technically, it is not wrong cos he has been sleeping by himself since he was 2.5 years old and somehow discovered the joys of co-sleeping :(

The routine has been like this for the last 2-3 months;

1. I tuck him into bed after bedtime stories, bible devotion then a prayer

2. I lie down next to him on his bed and we chat for like 5-10 minutes, until I declare that he needs to sleep and stop talking or asking me questions

3. I announce that I will only be next to him for like 5 minutes, halfway through that 5 minutes he ask for extra 5 minutes. So we end up with more than 10 minutes. When 10 minutes ++ is up. I declare loudly that I am moving to sit on the floor next to him, for like 1 minute. Will then do a mental countdown of a 1 minute and then tell him time is up. He asks for one more last minute, I tell him this has to be the last '1 minute'…then I do another mental countdown. After the 1 minute is up and stand up, kiss him on the cheek then say goodnight, he then grudgingly answers me with a muffled goodnight with his head buried in his pillow.

On good nights, he sleeps when I leave the room. On not so good nights, he quietly opens the door, stands outside my study, and hides at the side of the door until I feel a set of eyes watching me from behind my back. On regular nights (at least for the last 2 months), he sleeps through for like 3-4 hours, leaves his bed and room, opens our door and climbs in hb and my bed. Some nights when I am too tired, I set aside space for him in our bed, on other nights when I feel less lethargic, I will walk him back to his room while berating him loudly in the wee hours of the morning.

Most days, he ends up crawling into our bed again when he hears the birds chirping…usually at daybreak.

I am certain most sleep experts have no problems picking up all the problems in this routine that we have. But I am feeling so tired of starting sleep training all over again that I think he will be getting away with this for now. Like how long can he go on wanting to sleep with us, by 7 or 8 years old? Oops…that's like another 4 more years to go…sigh…

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Categorized: His World, Parenting ·

Tasmania June/July 2011

July 8, 2011 · By ·

Kate's Berry Farm on the way to Freycinet National Park, Tasmania East Coast

Our first stopover on our first day in Tasmania, about 2.5 hours drive from the Hobart International Airport. Broke our no desserts before meals rule when Kyle tasted delicious berries ice cream and some handmade chocolate at this farm. There were no fresh berries though, as it was out of season.

 

View of Cole's Bay from Freycinet Lodge Cafe.

This was where we had our first burger in Tasmania, that was accompanied with a breath-taking view of the bay. After the lunch with the forgottable burger, but addictive shoestrings fries and memorable view, we checked into our cabin at Freycinet Lodge. Initially, Nana's was not too impressed with her first look of the cabin from the outside…

But was presently surprised when she realised how cosy and warm it was on the inside!

 

The small harbour at Cole's Bay

 

Kyle saw his first rainbow on our drive back to Freycinet Lodge. Rainbows seem to be a common sight in the East Cost, as we saw double rainbows the next day near the coast.

 

Stretch of beach next to Freycinet Lodge with a breath-taking view of the sunset

 

Our 2.5 hour hike up one of the trails in Freycinet National Park

 

The little trooper was so game during our hike that he completed the whole journey of the trail, and only needed to be carried when the path got a little steep along the way.

 

The bay at Bicheno town, behind the Sea Life Centre. www.sealifecentre.com.au

The seafood here is fresh and the cooking is extremely competent. We were so pleased with what we tasted that we had both our lunch and dinner at this place.

 

East Coast Wildlife Park @ Bicheno

This wildlife park is recommended when you travel to Tasmania East Coast with kids. Kyle was so thrilled to pet and feed the free-ranging kangeroos which made the trip to the wildlife park all worthwhile. We almost had the whole park to ourselves, as there were only 2 other families in the 65 hectare park when we arrived at 3pm. It was a chilly late afternoon, temperatures went below 5 degrees and I had to put on my gloves as I was freezing my fingers off.

Kyle got to see his first Tasmania devil from this wildlife park. (See animal above top left). The creature might look cuddly and harmless but they are carnivores, they can easily crunch through kangeroo bones with their strong jaws and teeth. But they are only scavengers though, not hunters.

 

Japanese food and a gorgeous view of the sea from Kabuki by the Sea, Swansea Tasmania

Apart from the welcoming change of Japanese food. The owner of the inn had a pond of ducks, a miniature horse who had a ram for companion and gorgeous flowers in their compound.

 

A rocky bay right after Kabuki by the sea

 

I suspect Kyle will be quite happy to spend most of his time throwing rocks into the sea, if we spent more time in the East Coast.

 

Back to Hobart for 2 days before moving on to the West Coast.

Along Salamanca Square @ Hobart

The serviced apartments that we stayed for 2 nights, with room views of the Hobart pier, and with the best Fish and Chips in Tasmania . www.fishfrenzy.com.au

 

Historic Richmond Village Tasmania. Quaint little village town www.richmondvillage.com.au

 

Next leg of our Tasmania adventure, the West Coast.

Lake St. Claire, West Coast Tasmania

 

Cradle Mountain Lodge

The key highlights of the place definitely have to be the cold weather (pity Kyle did not get to experience snow), warm fireplaces (he was extremely thrilled to finally see a fireplace, and was super excited when he realised we had a fireplace in our room). And having to see wild wallabies, even touch a wild wombat (which I think we were not supposed to) and experience the nature walks around Cradle Mountain Lodge

www.cradlemountainlodge.com.au

The walks that we took at Cradle Mountain felt surreal and magical. The foliage, stream, waterfalls, accompanied by the cold cold weather looked like something out of an Enchanted Forest from an Enid Blyton story.

All ready for his walk!

The things that Kyle will certainly remember from our Cradle Mountain walks will be the waterfalls, from mini streams to a medium sized one with loud cascading sounds of falling water, to poo…lots of animal excrements along the trails that we took. Which proved the existence of plenty of Australian wildlife that lived in Cradle Mountain.

 

 

On the way from West Coast of Tasmania to Launceston, we stopped over at Devonport and took a short 30 minute trainride for the experience.

www.donriverrailway.com.au

 

Bruny Island stopover in our last day at Hobart

Tasmania is indeed the best that Australia can offer in terms of nature, seafood and friendly people. Kyle and I will definitely be back to visit beautiful Tasmania again if we do get another opportunity to, and the next time Daddy will surely have to come along with us…

 

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Categorized: Discovery · Tagged:
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