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!

Australia Day 2010

This past Tuesday was Australia Day. It's kinda like our 4th of July, where people BBQ, go to the beach, watch fireworks and just hang out. We started the day putting our new BBQ grill together (as our US one will not work over here) and then the idea was to proceed to South Perth to have lunch and take a walk along the river. I must tell you now that I have only been to South Perth one time, and that was to drive around and find the eating areas, so I only knew how to get to the cafe street one way. This did not help us out on Tuesday. The only way I knew to get there was closed because of the fireworks for that night.

We eventually got to a street that we thought would get us close and parked the car. I will make this a short story and tell you that it was a very, very long walk to the restaurants and Jamie and I were already starving before we parked! We could smell food, but couldn't find it anywhere! To make matters worse, we really had no clue how close or how far away this area of the street was that I was looking for. I didn't even know the name of it, just that it was close to the water! This walk was even more shitty due to the fact that I am experiencing as much swelling right now as the freakin' Michelin Man (I have the photos below to prove it!!) and it was 90 degrees outside.

In the end we eventually found the street in question and found a nice little cafe where we were able to enjoy a great lunch. Afterwards Jamie got a snow cone (or what he referred to as the tasteless cup of ice), I got a milk shake (what I referred to as slightly thickened chocolate milk) and we headed down to the river for the walk back to the car. I must say, the walk back was much better than the walk there! It was a clear day, and the view of the city was beautiful! Jamie and I took some photos, but unfortunately we didn't figure out how to use the timer until late in our walk so we were only able to take 1 photo of us together.

Photo Jamie took of two guys and their cooler. The guy you see bending over was actually riding it seconds before this photo was taken but got nervous when it started going pretty fast. The other two guys are in their "Harry Potter outfits" as Jamie called them. Believe it or not, there were actually quite a few people, of all ages wearing this get-up.

Me, hanging out at the cafe. Look how fat my face looks!! I look like if you tried to squeeze me I would pop! That's about how I feel too!!

Perth skyline over the Swan River, what a gorgeous city!!

Me, with half of the city behind me and Jamie with all of the city behind him. Man I know how to take a great photo!! Not sure what Jamie was doing when he took mine!!

Jamie and I on the river... don't we look cute!!

We had already decided that we would hang out at the house that night, as we didn't want to fight the crowds that would be there to watch the fireworks. So, we stayed home and cooked hamburgers on our new grill. One of the nice things about where we live is that it's pretty close to the city. We could actually see the fireworks from our house. Later that night while the fireworks were going off we took the girls on a walk and it worked out great. They got their walk and Jamie and I got to enjoy the fireworks.

Other than that it's life as usual. I had an appointment last Tuesday but no luck on any photos or videos this time as she was in the breech position and we weren't able to take any good ones. I go back on the 9th of Feb so maybe better luck then. I'm still feeling pretty good, no cravings, no crazy mood swings, just lots of swelling. My hands have been swollen since right before Christmas but the swelling in my face and feet at that time came and went. Since about 2 or so weeks ago the swelling is everywhere and doesn't go away! I am drinking tons of water and take the girls on a 1-1.5 mile walk everyday (well, for the most part it's everyday although I have missed a few) and it doesn't seem to be helping. Hopefully it doesn't get much worse or I really may pop... seriously!!

Jamie has more business trips over the next couple weeks and actually leaves tomorrow for Melbourne to watch the Australian Open men's and women's finals. I know, rough job, right?? From there he heads up to Brisbane until Thursday and then heads back home. Then, the following week he's here for our appointment and then he's off to Adelaide for a few days.

I'm going to try to get Kylies room painted while he's gone but some of it may have to wait until he returns, either way I'll post pics when were done!!

The McMillan Curse

As you have read in the past if you keep up with this blog when Jamie and I travel there is usually an issue. Whether it be a big issue or a small one it's usually enough to piss us off for a little while but it's never really ruined a trip. This past weekend travel plans were made, there was an issue, and I have to say this is probably the closest we've been to a ruined trip.

I may have mentioned it before, but Jamie's good friend Jason was getting married in San Francisco this past weekend. Since it was so close to our trip home we thought it would be best if Jamie made the trip alone and I stayed back in Australia seeing as though I am quite pregnant at this point. I made all of his travel arrangements back in November. I checked, double checked, and triple checked all itineraries, dates for hotels, etc.

Jamie was to fly out from Perth at 11:45pm on Wednesday the 13th and from there go to Singapore to catch a flight to San Francisco at 8:00am on Thursday. This would have him arriving at 8:30 am on Thursday the 14th. All week I told him "your flight is a 11:45pm, we need to leave the house by 9:30pm" and so on. Tuesday I emailed him all of his itineraries and confirmations for him to print out and organize. On Wednesday evening we went to dinner and talked about everything again. We got home around 7pm and decided to watch the newest episode of The biggest Loser before I took him to the airport.

At 9:15 he started to get ready and around 9:20 I asked where his paperwork was. I got it out to make sure it was all in order and that's when I noticed the time. His flight schedule said "departure at 21:35" and my heart stopped! I called Jamie into the room and asked him what time 2135 was. His reply was "11:00" and I took a deep breath and said "are you sure? Cause I just had a heart attack thinking it was 9:00". At that moment we looked at each other and realized it. We were obviously wrong and he had missed his flight.

In typical style I started to cry and Jamie got mad. Not because he had just missed a $2000 flight but mostly because he was going to miss a wedding in which he was a groomsmen for a friend that he's known since he was 4! I immediately got on the computer and started trying to find new flights, still thinking that his flight out of Singapore was at 8am. I was completely wrong about the times of all of those flights and it was actually a 5am flight, there was no way he was going to make it so everything needed to be rebooked. That's when the anger of the $2000 came in, thinking it was going to cost another $2000 to fix everything!

Within the hour I had new flights booked or changed where possible and luckily found a way to get him to San Fransisco by Friday morning. He would miss a full day but at least he would make it. I felt SO BAD, because I thought I had ruined his trip by not being more careful! He tried to explain that it was just as much his fault since they were his flights and he should have checked the times as well but it didn't matter, I still felt bad. The good news however was that he was going to make the wedding and after all was said and done we were able to make the changes for less than $100!! How that happened I still don't have a clue considering we had to pay to change one flight (the fare was cheaper so we were able to change it for around $40), completely lost money for one because it was non refundable (that's what you get for booking a budget airline)and then had to book a new one one day before it left. Guess the thing that saved us was being able to take a night off the room.

So to sum it up, we got lucky...once again! (some of you may remember our Krabi, Thailand trip last year!) Jamie had a great time even though it was a short trip, and was able to catch up with some friends from high school along with the groom. Here are a few photos from the wedding.

Jamie with Jason's mom Karen and her husband Pete

The bride and groom - Laura and Jason

The groomsmen - Look how handsome the the guy to the far right of photo 2 is!!!

Jamie at the reception. How much do you think he had to drink before this photo was taken!!

Photos from Christmas

Here are a few of the photos from our trip back home.

The Betty Weber cake. I'm sure you've heard me talk about it before, but it truely is the best cake you will ever eat!! She did our wedding cake and ever since we've ordered a cake at Christmas from her. She heard we were having a girl and decided to decorate it in pink instead of Christmas themed.

Christmas Eve with the McMillans

Christmas Day with the Hunters

My mom and her husband John, my neice Braylin (3) , and nephew Dylan (almost 5)

Photo of Jamie and I before the baby shower/dinner.

Photos from New Years Eve Party - Hilton, Pensacola Beach

The Holidays are over

Jamie and I have completed the long trip back to Australia and are now adjusting to life back in Perth. The flight back was just as long and uncomfortable as the flight over, but we were lucky enough not to run into any travel issues this time. We picked up the girls afternoon we got back, and I am a little sad to say that they were not overly excited to see me. Guess they had a little too much fun while we were gone! Not exactly a bad thing!

For the most part things are good. We arrived home to a huge stack of Christmas cards and photos from friends and family so thanks to everyone that sent them. Jamie's back at work (although he's been really sick since we've landed) and I have started on the domestic duties of the house to get things back in order. Even though I absolutely love Perth, I have to say that I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little sad to be back. I always get a little sad after a trip back home, but it's a little worse now that Kylie is on the way. It was a little more fun being pregnant with friends and family around to share the experience with and to not only be excited with me.

I am happy to announce that after 2 huge packages by mail (about $200 in shipping charges), 4 checked bags and 2 carry bags (all packed to the max) we were able to bring back all of the gifts and items purchased for Kylie! She has so many clothes, I am afraid she will outgrow half of them before she gets the chance to wear them! Oh well, a girl can never have too many clothes and accessories, right?

We had a great time getting to see everyone but really wish we would have had more time. To tell you the truth I don't think an entire month back would be enough time! We hope that those of you we were unable to see had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year! 2010 will be a busy and life changing year for Jamie and I, but we are super excited to see what's in store for us and our little family.

I just hope that we can make it through the year without another move!!