Hi everybody,

Goodness the last month has just flown by.

We have celebrated Valentines Day and the anniversary of when we met in 2004 (any excuse!!) Iain surprised me with a swish new set of kitchen knives for Valentines which might sound very boring to you but to me it was great! Something I’ve been after for a while. With my new found love of cooking, they have been a delight to use. Iain was presented with a batch of chocolate heart shaped biscuits with messages on them that I’d iced with a red icing pen. Both he and Amelia enjoyed them and I think they were all gone in a couple of days!

Iain has started his trips to Melbourne for the year and enjoyed a fun weekend with his friends there at the end of February.

I hopped over as well to see Nicole and Katina and had a super time. Her boys are lovely – it was really nice to see them. As Nicole has been living in Japan for the last few years I haven’t been able to see much of her.

I went with Katina to see ‘Wicked’ (the musical) and the movie ‘The Reader’ that Kate Winslet won her Oscar for. As I don’t get to go to the movies or the theatre much these days it was a real treat of a weekend. Nice to be back though on the Sunday and then enjoy a super day out at Carrick Hill (house and gardens on a hill overlooking Adelaide) on the Public Holiday Monday (Adelaide Cup) with James, Zoe and the kids.

We are trying to keep our weekends quiet and homely at the moment. Having said that, Iain is back in Melbourne the weekend after next!

This weekend there is an annual event held in Aldgate called the Enchanted Garden Party. It’s for kids and is held in the grounds of a heritage property that has 4 acres of Camellia gardens. We will be taking Amelia and meeting some of the mother’s group there who I haven’t seen for ages. So that will be a nice outing for us all.

The Adelaide Fringe Festival is on for a little while longer and while we haven’t been to see much we did go with a group of people to see Going Ape at the Zoo which is 4 stand up comedians putting on a comedy show in the heart of the Zoo. We have been before and it can be a bit hit and miss but it’s a nice environment, something a bit different and you can take a picnic. 2 of the 4 comedians were very funny and so was the MC so it was really enjoyable and a chance to catch up with the group that we went with.

I have also booked to see Phantom of the Opera with a friend when it comes to Adelaide in May. I haven’t seen it for years so I’m really looking forward to that.

I’m now almost 5 months pregnant and all seems to progressing well. I have started to feel some movement and now well into my maternity clothes. I have a scan next week where we can find out the gender - we thought we’d do that this time so that’s very exciting. Then we can make it a bit more real for Amelia and talk about her brother or sister. She understands very well and we’re lucky that one of her carers at childcare is the same amount of weeks pregnant so they talk about it there too.

I made my first purchase for the new baby at the Pregnancy and Babies Expo that was on in Adelaide this weekend – some new bottles! Not very exciting but we do seem to be pretty well set up this time round! Don’t have to think about too much.

Amelia is such a happy little girl – her language is coming along and her sentence structures are really very good. It’s so nice to be able to have a conversation with her.

Work is busy for both us. I have managed to take on even more responsibility in the last month or so which is great for my resume and experience, challenging but new so a good change. Iain is busy setting up a new part of the business which will concentrate on COTA membership acquisition and retention.

His board of directors have been astonishingly flexible and we have decided to take 3 months off each when the baby comes, with Iain still being able to work 2 days a week from home or 1 of those days in the office with the baby. Of course we’ll have to see how it pans out in practice but they have been very good indeed in looking at flexible options so Iain can keep his finger on what’s going on while taking time off to care for the new one.

The weather has started to turn now into autumn type weather and we are pleased for the cooler air. While it means we have closed up the pool and don’t expect many more weekends where we can use it, if any, the garden should return to a non scorched look and we can go for walks with Amelia in the milder weather. We’re looking forward to the beauty of the Hills in Autumn and the amazing colours.

Hope you’re all keeping well and we’d love to hear your news.
Caroline, Iain and Amelia xxx


At the Botanic Gardens for a Valentines picnic.

Getting really into her lego

James and Zoe at Carrick Hill last week

Iain with his Valentines present - chocolate biscuits - Amelia couldn't wait and tucked in straight away!

At Carrick Hill on the children's literary trail which was great fun. Reminded us all of the books we read as kids.

Here we are on the real grass benches at Carrick Hill - so clever.

We took Amelia to the beach on Saturday with her bike

Amelia and 'big' Amelia on the grass bench

On a hot day staying in the shade with her colouring book

Last week at Carrick Hill