Valentine's Day and Mr. Wonderful

You've heard me say it and I'm sure I've posted it on this blog as well, but I feel it's important to start this posting off by saying - My husband hates Valentine's Day! As a refresher if you need it, his thoughts are that "it's a hallmark holiday designed to make people spend money" and "if he wants to buy me flowers or jewelry he will do it on a day he chooses, not some day they tell him to". With that being said we usually get each other something, whether it is a card with candy, flowers, etc but it's not usually anything big.

This year I got him a card with a bag of Starburst (we've had a hard time finding them over here so I thought he would be excited). I also decided to do something different and I made reservations for breakfast at this nice little restaurant on the Swan River. It wasn't supposed to be anything fancy; I just thought it would be something nice and a good reason to spend $60 on breakfast. What I got on the other hand was something that I would have never expected, probably not in a million years!

Saturday started off as a normal morning. We got up had breakfast and talked about what we were going to do for the day. I went to take a shower and when I walked back into the kitchen there on the counter was a vase with yellow roses (my favorite) and a card that said "Soon to be Mom". Jamie was outside reading on the patio so I joined him out there to open my card. I really thought that was going to be it but when I opened the card there were two other items in there -

1) Dinner reservations for a restaurant that has the best views in town (I've wanted to try)

And

2) A spa package for a 1 hour pregnancy massage as well as a spa manicure and pedicure.

I couldn't believe it!! I was so excited and surprised I didn't know what to say! For some of you this maybe a normal Valentine's Day gift, but for me it was really special. It's just not a day we usually buy gifts for or go to fancy dinners. His reason for doing it this year? He said it was because he knew I wouldn't be expecting it and that he thought I deserved it, so he wanted to surprise me!! How sweet!! Surprise me he did, but what surprised me the most is that he actually thought to make sure that the massage was especially for a pregnant woman and that they were actually trained to do it. How wonderful is my husband?!

The day turned out great. We started with breakfast at Bluewater Grill which was good, but the views made it better and ended with an amazing dinner at The Boatshed Restaurant in South Perth. Everything about it was perfect. The food was wonderful, the views were amazing (our reservations were around sunset) and the service was the best we've had since being in Perth. They had a special Valentine's day menu and for a set price per person and you got champagne or beer, a tasting plate appetizer (with oysters, prawns and a few other items), your choice of an entree (King Snapper dish, Beef Fillet dish or Chicken Breast dish) and a Belgian chocolate fondue for two (with assorted candies, cookies and fruits for dipping). The appetizer and dessert were special items for the day, but all of the entree items are on their regular menu just prepared a little bit different than normal. It was by far the best dinner we've had in a long time! So, thank you to my wonderful husband for a surprisingly great day!! My spa appointment is on Wednesday and I can't wait!

Below are some photos from our day!

My flowers and card

View from our table at breakfast

Me and then my friend who decided to join us (he actually joined Jamie and ate from my plate when I got up)

The Boadshed Restaurant

View of city from outside restaurant when we arrived

View of city from our table, about halfway through dinner

Jamie and I at the restaurant after dinner

Kylie's Room & house photos

This week I hit a milestone in getting Kylie's room ready. The furniture I picked out arrived and Jamie spent part of Saturday afternoon getting it all put together. I am so excited about the way it looks in the room and that I decided to go with the darker wood finish instead of the white. It goes well with the wall color and adds a nice balance to the room. This past week I was also able to find some curtains to put over the shelving unit. They match well with the bedding set that we bought, but they are just a little bit lighter than I would have liked. It's so weird walking into the room and seeing everything set up. I'm so ready for her to be here, but I know as soon as that day comes I'll wish I had another few days (or weeks) to prepare!

In the past few weeks we've started to purchase the items we need to be ready for her arrival and are a bit overwhelmed with all of the stuff we still have left to buy. We've got the big items out of the way (like the crib, stroller, changing table, car seat) but we haven't even started on the small stuff like bath items, grooming supplies, thermometers, bottles, etc. Until I started writing this I had totally forgotten about a diaper bag! I didn't realize how difficult shopping for this stuff on my own would be! I've learned through this experience that one of the great things about baby showers (aside from getting to hang out with all of your girlfriends) is that if you forget something it never fails that someone else will remember it! I've never been to a shower where someone didn't say "I didn't even think of this". We did have a small, intimate shower with family and close friends of the family over the holdays, but we didn't register anywhere since we were flying back to Australia and knew it would be difficult to bring most items back.

Since we are in Perth and haven't really had the chance to meet anyone yet, we won't be having the "traditional" baby shower where you register somewhere over here either. Since I didn't do a registry I've never really walked through a store and thought about all of the little stuff I needed. I did make a random list of items at home, but after deciding that I needed to look at a check list I realized how much I had forgotten about! I just know the first month of having her home is going bring countless trips to the stores because I've forgotten something!

Baby items here in Perth are not cheap either! Part of the reason we've bought as much as we have already is because the Toys R Us here has had a huge baby sale for the past two weeks. I was able to get a lot of the big items we needed for really good prices. Well, really good prices for here anyway. Since I've been doing lots of baby shopping and price comparisons lately, I thought I'd post my "how much it cost here" list for you guys at home. These prices are the converted prices, so this is what it would be in US dollars just to give you an idea of what I'm dealing with.

Infant travel system - $552 (Target & Big W) - $919 (Toys R Us)

Bassinet - $183 and up

Sleigh Crib - $827 (This is regular price for the one I purchased from Toys R Us, you can see in the photos below that it is nothing fancy, just a nice, regular crib)

Matching changing table - $367

Glider Chair with ottoman - $642

Fisher Price swing - $256

Bright Starts Pretty in Pink Bouncer Chair - $118

Bright Starts Pretty in Pink activity mat - $118

Diaper Pail (equivalent to a diaper genie) - $74

Diaper Pail refills - $64.00 (Pack of 3)

Avent pacifiers - $10.00 (Pack of 2 infant soothers)

Dr. Browns bottles - $36.00 (Pack of 3 8 oz bottles)

Dr. Browns microwave sterilizer - $73.00

Onesies - $22.00 (Pack of 5 from Target - Bonds a local brand)

Baby Bjorn infant carrier (the original) - $155

The prices listed are the cheapest, regular prices I have seen. Like I said before, some of these items were on sale the past two weeks so I was able to get some good deals. For instance the crib and changing table were 50% off. I found a car seat on sale for $120 and a stroller on sale for $238. Hopefully there will be more sales before she arrives so I can finish out my list. If not, we'll just have to suck it up and be happy that we only have one on the way and not multiples!!

Here are some photos of her room and a few photos of the house (since we haven't posted any since we moved in). Next week we have another appointment, so I'm hoping that the stars are in our favor and we get some photos/videos of her to post.

The proud "Daddy to be"

Her frog bedding set, it's so cute!!

Main entry

Jamie's weight room

Living Room and Dinning area

Backyard patio area

Australian Open & Kylie's Room

As I mentioned in my last post Jamie has been gone on business for the past week. He kicked off his trip in Melbourne, where they took a number of clients to the Australian Open Tennis men's and women's finals. He had a great time and was able to watch the finals from some really good seats (They were 11th row baseline for the women's finals and 8th row center court for the men's, both were opposite the chair). Here's a few of the photos he took while at the matches.

View of Tennis Complex walking up from tram

Women's Finals - Serena Williams & Justine Henin

Men's Finals - Andy Murray & Roger Federer

That same weekend he was gone I got a little antsy and decided to paint Kylie's room all by myself. I knew Jamie would be travelling a lot in the next few weeks, so I didn't want to wait to get it done. It took me two days (could have done it in one but getting up and down on that ladder is hard work!!) but I think it turned out great. The color is a little bright, but once we get the furniture and decorations in it I think it will look really good. We have a photographer scheduled to come out and take pregnancy photos on March 13th, so I'm hoping to have the room completely done by then. Now that the painting is finished we can now focus on the furniture!! You'll notice in the photos below that there is a huge shelving unit. It's sooo big!! Since we haven't really been able to find dressers that go with the crib sets here in Perth, I'm going to cover half of the shelves with pink curtains and use that as a place to put her clothes. You can see some of her clothes are already in place, but we've got more in the closet and more on the way! Think we may have went a bit overboard!

Frog wall hangings and clothes hamper go with her bedding set. It's so cute, I can't wait to get it all set up!!

If you look closely in the corner shelves you will see Kylie's first gift from her "Daddy". On his way back from San Francisco during a stopover in Singapore he picked up the stuffed tiger for her. When he told me he had a gift for Kylie I almost started crying. it was so sweet! Can't believe it's starting already! She's going to be so spoiled!!

I've said it before, but for those of you who didn't already know how wonderful of a husband I have you will after this. There are only a few Krispy Kremes in Australia (none even close to Perth) and there just so happens to be 2 in Brisbane. There are other doughnut shops around here but they don't even come close to how a real doughnut should taste, never mind a Krispy Kreme doughnut! When I picked Jamie up from the airport on Thursday he a a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts in hand! Glazed and blueberry cake are my favorite, which consisted of more than half of the box! Krispy Kreme doughnuts are the absolute best gift you can get for a woman that is 7 months pregnant!! I did miss him, but the doughnuts more than made up for his week long trip!