Shaking it off

Apologies to you regulars who have been checking in but not finding a new post. I figured you wouldn't want to hear our whining about the lack of sleep, the cold Ellie caught, the deep chesty cough that wracked her little body for two days, the transfer of the cold to Stephanie and Markus, Stephanie cutting her first two teeth (adorable but so painful!), our bouts of homesickness...nah. Why go on about that? As my good friend Laura would say, "Let's have a Pity Party! You make the cupcakes and I'll do a dance!" It's a new week, and things are settling down again.

Over the weekend, we reached our limit with the bedtime woes (Ellie apparently being incapable of getting in bed without screaming until her sister awakened miserably), so we are trialing a new sleeping arrangement. Stephanie has moved to the back "children's wing" (fancy words on our PCR for "hasty addition to the house with dorm-style appeal"), where she seems much happier. She is a very light sleeper, and it's harder for her to hear any of us back there. Of course, the same is true in reverse so I'm sleeping back there too in another room until I feel sure she's okay. Yes, we have heard of baby monitors, but I have to ease into it. Besides, it's still quite cold in the house at night, and the idea of padding down the hall in my pjs multiple times a night in the cold just doesn't appeal to me. Anyway, so far, so good! She does still wake up, but it's twice a night instead of the horrid every hour or two she had been doing. Ellie is still struggling with night-waking too, but we think it's her big, bare room. It is kinda creepy. Thankfully, we got notice this morning that our things should clear customs this week! Hooray! We don't have a confirmed delivery date, but we are so happy to know it won't be much longer in this temporary arrangement.

So what have we been up to? You know we cannot just sit around at home, so we've been getting out and about, despite the colds and the teeth and the exhaustion (oops, wasn't supposed to be whining about that). Two weekends ago, we headed out to a state park in the Perth Hills to have a look around. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to do or see. It appeared to be a lovely picnic destination, but we had no picnic so away we went again.


One lovely discovery we made nearby was a cafe/restaurant called The Lavender Patch. The family who runs it also lives on the land there. It's a beautiful spot and a really nice cafe too! We enjoyed pumpkin soup with fresh lavender bread and some much-needed coffee and cakes. The toilet paper made me nervous though. I know it's just a decoration, but jellyfish do not belong anywhere near my fanny.



This past weekend, we made another visit to the Perth Zoo. Ellie is in it for the horses--the carousel horses, that is.


I really like the Outback Walk where they let the kangaroos and wallabies roam free. We got really close to one wallaby, but just as I snapped the photo, Markus sneezed.


And who can resist the adorable koalas?




Last but not least, a bit of wombat trivia for you:


Who knew a big bum could be so useful?