Time to focus on the fun aspects

Yes, it's been a hard time, but there's still plenty of fun to be had and I'm trying in amongst my exhaustion to concentrate on the joy this little bundle of fun and love brings me. I read an article this morning - actually I've read two recently that have really brought me back to reality. The first one was incredibly sad and had me very teary. It was in a Scrapbooking magazine where they were focusing on articles about tragedies and sad times in life. One was about a family that had a perfect, beautiful daughter who was taken from them tragically by peritonitis. She was diagnosed with gastro and then 24 hours later she died in their home. Their home then became a crime scene while investigations went on - but finally an autopsy revealed the killer. This darling little curly blonde haired princess died at the age of 3.5. Reading an article like that made me so grateful for every single moment I have with Ebony. She's about to turn 3 and I cannot imagine what my life would be like without her.
The second story was about Mothers. Interestingly it was in a Scrapbooking magazine also. It talked about two different types of Mum's. The ones who live for themselves and the ones who live for their child/children. I know I'm one who lives for my daughter - I rarely put my needs before hers - and I mean rarely. But I've never seen it put so clearly in a letter and I felt proud to be the Mum that I am. Some times it's tough being a good Mum, but it's at those exact times that I recognize I'm laying the foundations for the future.

Anyway - in amongst all that, we have had some fun times that I'll share with you.

First came the 'not the camera again' photo - you gotta love it!.....


Then came the attempt at a 'pout'.....


Then came my darling sweet daughter......


Then little Meiya from Benalla came visiting for a day and the girls had so much fun playing together - there was lots of giggles. What a delight it is to see any of the gorgeous girls that share the same history as Eb. We loved the day.....


Then it was Robyn's visit. Robyn came for 3 nights and stayed 6. I think she would have stayed longer if she could have! but we had more visitors arriving that night. We had such a lovely time with Rob. I had to work a fair bit, but she relaxed while I worked and then we had good times together. Rob wasn't at all sure how she'd take to a little one around - but they got on so well it was really a joy to watch them.



While Rob was here, we had one of the locals hold a get-together for those she knew 'cause she was heading to Sydney to live with her daughter Audrey. Her partner will meet her there in a few months. Her partner is the chef at Annapurna Winery and that's where it was held. We went for what we thought would be an hour or so and ended up staying 4! Eb had a ball as the photo's show (what I can't show is the exhausted state she was in by 5pm!).



Then Rob left and Roedie, Jeannette and Roedie's parents arrived for a night! It was a wonderful evening. I was SO grateful when Roedie offered to take us all out for dinner - even though it had been cooked it was easy to freeze and it meant I could have a night off and really enjoy their company. What a special evening it was. Roedie's parents don't speak english - only Dutch, so everything had to be translated - but somethings really don't need words and it was obvious how much they enjoyed our darling gir. Unfortunately not many photo's were taken - but here are a couple.