How is it that time seems to get faster and faster with every little one you have? It's extra bittersweet when they're your last baby - Emma will be one in three weeks, and I'm not sure my heart can handle it! 

‘I do it myself, mama!’

‘I do it myself, mama!’ We are going be late. You’ve already had breakfast, we don’t need more food. It’s winter hun, you can’t wear shorts outside. Please wait a moment, I’m helping your sister. One step at a time, so you don’t fall…

‘I do it myself, mama!’ Here, let me help you, I can do it a little faster. Let me show you an easier way. How about we do this together? Maybe your big sister can give you a hand.

‘I do it myself, mama!’ Meltdown. Meltdown. Meltdown. Baths at 7am. Cuddles and disaster naps on the couch at 9am. ‘I do it myself, mama!’ And one day, they really do just do it themselves - and you’re so proud you could burst, but you’re also sporting just a few more grey hairs from the process. Let’s normalise that parenting (especially parenting toddlers!) isn’t always sunshine and rainbows, and that you can be both proud and incredibly frazzled at the same time. We’re only human after all, and so are they - just tinier versions. Now… someone please pass the coffee and chocolate.

It has been mighty, mighty hot here the past few days - and it's predicted that Sydney is going to have one of its hottest weeks ever. To that I respond with a resounding 'UGH'. 

It's hard to blog when all you want to talk about is something which could possibly not be happening at all. The land purchase so far has been exciting but also just a tad stressful. We're in the process of having surveys done with a solicitor at home, and playing the waiting game. Buying things like property from abroad is possibly the trickiest thing we've ever done. In reality, it's always a fairly tricky process, but doing it thousands of miles away is just crazy.

What's even crazier than that, is the learning we've been doing along the way. Building, for example. I was always under the impression that a new build would take around 6 months from start to finish. I'm not sure how I jumped to that number, as the only real experience I have of home-building is through my parents journey as they built their family home. And being that this all happened about twelve years ago when I was way more interested in sleepovers and the Backstreet Boys, it seems I didn't pay much attention to it all as I'd thought.

The entire process is more than likely going to take between 8-10 months, holidays & good weather permitting. Our original plan of moving back in with the folks for a couple of months while the house is finished doesn't really work anymore. That would be a great solution for a little while, but for a year? With a cat? Living separately? Throw in wedding planning on top of that and it just wouldn't work. What if we rent for a year while the house is built? It's doable, yes, but means that not only will we have a mortgage to pay off, we'll also be forking out weekly cash each week on top of that. It's just not the best idea, from a financial perspective.

Instead we're looking into other options, like starting the building process earlier than planned - while we are still abroad. Which could be a whole new can of worms... but it's all in the future, so let's just talk about something else for a while before my head explodes.

How about... GLEE! I know I'm super late on the bandwagon, but I have quite literally spent every second of free time in the last week catching up on Season 1. I'm hooked. Jason thinks I'm mad - I suppose from where he's sitting, all he can hear are musical renditions every few minutes, but I think it's gold. And Will Shuester, where have you been all my life? Phwoar. That's all I'm saying.