Kate and Andrew Scott

Footy Fans and Snow Bunnies

 July started with the sad cancellation of Kate’s brother Ben’s birthday dinner, due to multiple illnesses in the family. Kate had a gorgeous case of infected sinuses, which was completely delightful, but it did give Andrew’s Dad Lindsay an opportunity to babysit while he was in Melbourne on holidays, while Kate went to the doctor for drugs.

But the month did pick up; Harriet loved having her Granddad around and there were lots of smiles and giggles, even more than usual! Lindsay was with us for 7 days and we had a great time, and he assures us that he did too. Lots of dinners (in), lunch with Andrew in town and we also went along to a West Coast Eagles game at the MCG. Having gone to the Grand Final a few years ago, when Lindsay got tickets through his membership but wasn’t able to come to Melbourne to use the tickets, we were well prepared for the game, even knowing the club song and team colours, although very little else. Harriet was an angel, she loved being in the Baby Bjorn for 5 hours, just one long Daddy cuddle, although Andrew was pretty relieved when we got home. She loved the football, all the noise and excitement, and luckily Kate’s jacket had a toggle which kept her amused from some hours (I kid you not). We even managed a post match drink on the banks of the Yarra, West Coast having lost and therefore a mulled wine seemed appropriate. Some very cute photos are available on flickr.

We also had our first friends-over-for-a-proper-dinner-since-Harriet-arrived night, when Sarah and Ross came over for a meal. Harriet behaved herself and after a few smiles at our guests went to sleep with barely a murmur, and we sat down to a great dinner of home made pizza and wine (the wine was not home made!). It was lovely to entertain in he evening without having to resort to takeaway to get food on the table. If we’re feeling brave we might even try it again sometime soon…. Kate and Harriet also had the pleasure of lunching with Gemma (3 weeks) and Lilah (4 weeks) and their mums, which reminded us of how far we’ve come and how big our little girl is getting.

Andrew’s birthday was the 13th and we had our favourite babysitters (aka Kate’s parents) come around so we could dress up and head out for a night on the town. We headed off to Becco’s, which was very nice, but the best bit was being out and eating such gorgeous food. We’ve been addicted to MasterChef (Kate was very sad when it finished and mutter something about how ‘Harriet has grown up with that show!’ as we watched it with the subtitles on as Harriet had her last feed of the day) and it was really great to go out to somewhere fabulous and admire the meals that were put in front of us in a whole new light. And being MasterChef fans made us appreciate the work in each dish so the bill seemed far more justified as well!

To make up for the lost lamb dinner that was to be Ben’s birthday we headed down to Mentone for a Sunday lamb roast lunch and to admire how Kate’s parents are settling into their new home. Plants are out, most of the boxes unpacked, and the place is looking great, and starting to feel like home (so they tell us). Apart from a very overactive heating system it’s all going very well. We’re getting there with our new place. After some unsuccessful attempts to get tradies to quote at times that suited both Harriet and the agent, we got a group through who basically handle the whole thing for you, project management included. They seem great so fingers crossed that we can drop enough off our ‘wish list’ to be able to afford them! We’ve also spent some time at various lighting and carpeting shops trying to pick appropriate fixtures, tricky when you’ve only been in the house a couple of times.

And then it was the 26th of August and we headed up to Mt Buller for our long awaited skiing holiday. We went with the usual gang, see photo above, and while it was very different with a baby in tow (and a lot of packing!!) we did have a good time. We skied for half days each, with the other in charge of Harriet care. The snow was good at the start of the week, and then got pretty wet, but was nicely groomed each morning. Visibility was awful (is it ever sunny at Buller in winter???) but we had a lot of fun anyhow. Andrew managed to complete the exam for his current subject while we were up there (yes our luggage did include a laptop and printer!) with only about 50 interrupts. Luckily he had a fierce overseer which kept the spectators mainly at bay. Harriet didn’t really know what to make of the white stuff but she did have a fabulous time with a whole lodge full of people to win over, including two sisters aged 5 and 3 who loved to come up and give her headlock hugs. She thought that was ace (really!). There are some very cute photos of her in the snow (and of us too).

Other Harriet news includes the fact that she now has an entire tooth! It was pretty painful to get and we can’t believe that we have to go through that for a whole mouthful of teeth (forget about her pain, what about ours! :). For an entire week she ate only her two favourite foods vegimite toast and tinned baby custard. We’ve just discovered frozen banana so at least next time there will be some fresh fruit in her diet. She’s also started pulling herself up on things, her favourite climbing posts being Mum and Dad, although she still hasn’t mastered crawling, preferring sitting or just lying on her tum; she can spin like a top so perhaps that’ll do her for now.

Hope you’ve all had a great month, bring on August.

K, A & H xxx