growing pains & giggles...

My little Huckle must be going through a serious growth spurt at the moment. I seem to be spending a whole lot more time feeding, he's starving every two hours or so. He's also decided that daytime sleeps are over-rated & kicking & screaming are the new sleep. Thank goodness night sleeping is still in vogue, or I wouldn't have the coherency to write these words, or think, or cook dinner, or anything actually. I'd be a total zombie!

Today he gave in to the sleep fairies for a few naps. Neither of them longer than 45 minutes, but hey I'll take what I can get. He must have well & truly exhausted himself. Poor little fella, it must be hard when you're trying to be the biggest baby the world's ever seen.After a feed, he's happy as larry. All smiles & giggles. He particularly likes the game where I play with his chin. So cute.

He's such a funny little person. His favourite time to chat is on the change table. As soon as the pants are off, the chatter begins.
It's so wonderful seeing how he changes everyday, watching him find his hands & then his hands finding his mouth. The way his eyes follow us around the room & listen to our voices. It really is magical.
Now that I've had Huckle, I really understand all the fuss about babies. I mean, I knew they were cute & wonderful... but this is just something else. I'm sure I'm not alone on this.
I hope your week is lovely where you are.

up town adventure...

We had a big trip into town today. Yep, we took ourselves to the big smoke... Melbourne.
I had everything planned to a 'T'. We left the house at nine & were back by five, as we had to put away the chooks & ducks on dusk. I planned our itinerary to work around Huckle's feeds. We didn't want the little guy getting upset or having to wait too long for food. The day went really well & our plan worked. We got in a bit of shopping, a visit to a friend, a lovely lunch & some ice cream too. I feel very accomplished of our feat. I've been a bit nervous about going into melbourne with him as it's alot of driving & alot to ask of someone so very small. Hopefully we can do it this well next time.
It showered on & off throughout the day. We were lucky to see at least five different rainbows! Big beautiful fat double ended rainbows. I didn't have a chance to photograph them... I run a tight ship, no time for dilly-dallying about. Until you're on the home straight that is.
We saw the most amazing scene as we were coming home. As we started the drive up the hill the sun was shining a brilliant yellow over western port bay. You can see here in this pic the mist on the left half... that was a really fine rain slowly coming over the top of us. It was such fine rain, the type that may fall upon a pixie's toadstool in a magical forest.

Gradually the rain cloud smothered the sun & made it look all hazy.

Looking the opposite direction into the paddocks, the sun was casting a warm golden glow.

Such beautiful colours.

I hope your sunday was fun & exciting & full of beauty too.

the great search is over...

I love banana bread, the husband loves it too. We've been searching for the perfect recipe for a while now & I think we've found it.
I've tried over a dozen recipes, none of them were winners. They were all good... but not great. Too moist, too dry, too bland, too sweet, etc, etc. You may think I'm being quite ridiculous about this whole thing & you're probably right. But when you bake something on a weekly basis you have to love it.
We like ours with dates & walnuts, so I've been messing around with my own recipe. I rate it & the husband gives it 5 stars.

One can only assume that I'm not the only one with this terrible problem. So as my community service for today, I present you with my recipe.

Kitty's Banana, Date & Walnut Loaf

3 rather large, brown & dying bananas - mashed
1 fine freshly laid egg
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup brown sugar or honey
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup chopped dates
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix all theses things in a large bowl & add...

2 cups Wholemeal Self Raising Flour
3/4 tsp bicarb soda

Mix well & pour into greased loaf tin.
Bake at 180 degrees celsius for approx 45 minutes.
Please be aware that my oven is gas & you may need to adjust the cooking time to suit your oven.

Ok no more pomp & ridiculousness, that's enough for one day.

hello winter...

Well, so far the first day of winter has been rather delightful. The air is crisp & the sun shines with a lovely warmth to it. Unfortunately this won't be the case in future weeks. The wind will howl across our paddocks & a misty fog will greet us when we wake.
I'm glad the first of the winter hats have been finished. Huckle has a little elfin hat & I have a beanie to match. I used some left over bendigo yarn from the ripple blanket & I think the elf hat pattern was from lion brand yarn. Very little sleep does shocking things to the memory.
Huckle's hat is a tad small, so I've got the 6-12 month size on the hook at the moment. This size was meant to fit up to 6 months!

I'm still to whip up a new hat for Samuel. I have something special in mind which requires a chunky yarn. Hopefully the local wool shop will deliver. Chances are slim, but I'll give it a shot. Does anyone know of a nice wool in a about a 14 ply?

The little man decided to fall asleep on me as I started this post, I never realised just how heavy 6 kilos is until now!

duck feet...

If one must stay warm, surely it can be it utter ridiculous style.