Our wonderful, gorgeous girl at 3 years of age.

Growing something special.

Pictures taken 16 weeks pregnant.

Baby Anatomy Scan.

We had our formal anatomy scan this week and our little growing girl is fine and healthy. This was a great relief after the ordeal she must have endured with Cath's episode of AF and the drugs she recieved.

Be still my beating heart!

Unfortunately, Catherine spent all weekend in Armadale and Royal Perth Hospitals, the night we arrived back from holiday!
She has a history of a heart problem called Atrial Fibrillation with an Arrythmia. She has not had any problems with it for 2.5 years and has not been on medication for the same amount of time. But it decided to rear its ugly head again and she spent 42 hours in AF as the drugs the doctors were using were not working. As they were reluctant to cardiovert her, being that she was 18 weeks pregnant, they tried various heart drugs to no avail.
Then suddenly, after 42 hours, just as they had decided to anaesthetise her and cardiovert her heart - it spontaneously reverted back into a normal sinus rhythm!
So she is now back on heart medication and has been thrown out of the Family Birth Centre for her pregnancy care and birth as she is considered too "high risk"!
She is back under the care of her cardiologist and consultant obstetric physician at King Edward memorial Hospital, much to her displeasure!

Baby movements.

All this peace and relaxation has allowed Cath to sit still long enough to start to feel the wee little girl inside moving, squirming and wriggling! An amazing time. Currently 17 weeks pregnant and very relaxed, healthy and happy!

Our holiday in Kalbarri

We are currently on holiday in Kalbarri, the weather is gorgeous and sunny every day. We are even having to use sunscreen!

Our days consist of a leisurely breakfast on our verandah overlooking the ocean, a walk across the road to the beach, sometimes going out on the dinghy, exploring the rock pools, reading, relaxing, BBQs and trying the local food at the cafes.

Bliss, relaxation and peace with just the 3 of us. A lovely 2 weeks!

Catherine finishes studying once and for all!!!

The day has finally arrived - i passed my exams and finished my Post Grad Midwifery course and have now finished all university study forever ..... or at least for a very long time (never say never)!!

It is a GREAT feeling knowing i will now be a lady of leisure, being a mum to Laura, only working the 3 days a week she is in day care and enjoying my life and family.

I am now a Registered Midwife as well as a Registered Nurse and start work at Armadale Health Service working on the maternity unit as a Midwife, on the 2nd August 2010.

A career dream i finally get to live!

Armadale is only 3 minutes from home, so that will be an added luxury - not having to drive an hour to work each day!

Yay me!!

Disappointment with the building fiasco.

At this point in time, after many problems, delays, stress, arguing and dealing with clowns in the office of the (unnamed) builders - we have decided to terminate our contract. This is a huge blow to us as all our dreams have been resting on this beautiful block and our dream home, for the past year.

So we move onward and upward, leave the stress behind and make new beginnings and plans.

At this stage we are unsure what plans we will make in terms of homes and where we will live, but we are keeping our block, still have Cope Place on the market and will think about what we want to do over the next few months. We may just end up staying where we are, although not ideal (its a small house for 2 adults and 2 children, with no garden safe for kids!), it is safe, easy and stable until we decide what we want to do.

Good news in a sad week.

We are thrilled and blessed to be expecting a new little member of our family! We already know Cath is carrying a healthy, perfect baby and it is another girl!

She is due to arrive in our world around the 4th January 2011.

A special little sister for Laura.

Farewell to a wonderful Poppa.

On Tuesday the 8th of June we said goodbye to Poppa Foster at the age of 86 years, he is now resting in peace after a 6 month battle with lung cancer. He was Catherine's dad's (Brent) father and Laura's only surviving great grandfather. He has left behind Nanny Foster after 60 years of marriage together. Although it was expected, it has been a terrible time for the faily and we say our last farewell to Flin Foster on Wednesday 16th June.
Say hello to Matthew and give him a hug from us upstairs poppa xxxx

Cope Place goes back on the market.

Our beloved home for the past 4 years will be back on the market and open for inspection this week. A bit sad but a big step forwards and towards the big move to Parkerville. Hopefully it will sell quickley this time as none of us are looking forward to home opens every fortnight and trying to keep the house and garden spotless!

Good news on the building front!

Well after many months, the building licence was finally signed and granted so we can commence the construction of our home! Finally! This has been a looooong haul (we started plans with this builder October last year!!). So we are very excited about the pad finally going down - hopefully next month.

Laura's first haircut and the hair dresser.

Note the healing black eye sustained at easter!

Laura has never had a proper haircut, only mummy chopping at it with a pair of blunt scissors when she wasnt looking! So it was time to neaten up that hair and giver her a proper trim! We went to Banana Skins in Applecross and they did a fantastic job. She felt very special and loved the whole experience, which makes it a lot easier for next time. Her favourite part was sitting in the car and getting sparkly glitter hairspray!

Easter 2010

We even made and decorated an easter cake together.

Laura's second easter, she was excited this year and enjoyed following the bunny footprints and the egg hunts!

She actually had 3 hunts, one at home, one at nannys and one at nanna and poppas.

Unfortunately we did end up at PMH hopital for children half way through the long weekend because she tripped and fell face first onto a piece of furniture, giving her a very swollen face and 2 black eyes! There was no broken nose or cheek bone thankfully. All the chocolate helped her recover!

Fire in the sky.

Tonights beautiful sunset from our loungeroom window.

Operation Sick Roo.

Errol the kangaroo whisperer (David's dad!) got quite close with the lure of a piece of Rockmelon!!

Cath just managed to trip and fall over the vegetation!

We had a little, or rather big, visitor again today. We thought it was the same Kangaroo that David bumped into on our steps eating apricots from our tree a few weeks back. I also met him laying by the fish pond a few weeks ago. Both times he has stood taller than David - about 7 feet tall. But on closer inspection, this handsome boy was actually badly injured with a swollen back leg that he cant use. He is very skinny and quite weak. He doesnt seem as tall as our other friend. We are hoping it isnt the same majestic boy that has come to visit us before. If it is, he has become sick very quickly.

So, we figure we cannot leave the poor roo in pain and suffering and we just happened to have a trained wildlife carer over for lunch who is a roo expert, at the time the roo visited (clearly the roo knew this!). He has been laying by our back fence all day, not worried about us at all, most likely because he is unwell. So the plan is to give him fresh water and food over the next few days, see if we can get close as he gets sicker and humanely put him out of his misery. Not a nice thing to do, but it will be much nicer for him. The leg looks beyond help and really painful, bless him. He cant use it, so escaping any predators would be useless for a roo of his size, on 1 leg.

The laundry.

Everyone needs to have a designer laundry! Well maybe not! I just wanted light and bright really. Top tile is the border tile, then the laminate bench top, cupboards and limestone floor tile.

Cope Place goes on the market!

In the next month, the place we call home will be up for sale to make way for our new home in the hills. We have had some profoundly special times and memories here - our first home together, our engagement, our wedding, the birth of our first child. Not to mention the many summer BBQs and partys!