Little People Everywhere...

It seems that the Nicholls family landed in Sydney during the middle of a baby boom! Everyone we know has either had a baby (or several) in the past four years, is preggers or is trying very hard to get preggers. It is amazing for Maddie to be surrounded by so many fabulous little friends.

But I have to say, all these babies and pregnancies have made me think about how much life has changed since we welcomed our little girl into the world. I remember a time when Simes and I could open a bottle of wine, casually cook a meal, listen to our favourite tunes, talk and laugh our way into the early hours of the morning. On the weekends we would cuddle in bed until after 10am and then casually make our way to a cafe where we would flip through our favourite sections of the weekend newspaper, talk about life and drink as many coffees as we fancied. In winter, we used to grab a take away coffee, drive down to the rocks at Clovelly and watch the storms come in over the ocean for hours on end. I used to find time to paint my toenails, go to the hair dresser regularly, head to the cinema, see a live band, wander aimlessly around the shops buying clothes and not feel remotely guilty about the money I was spending. I used to find time to exercise at least 3 times a week. It was as easy as pulling on my trainers and tracky dacks and taking off out the front door. I used to spend hours on the phone catching up with my friends and swapping advice about anything and everything.

As I write this blog update, I am in bed... knackered. Our evening consisted of Simon, Maddie and I attempting to eat dinner as a family around our dining room table. Maddie winged and refused to eat most of her dinner. She then demanded that I read her the Wiggles book and when I explained (calmly) that I would not read her the Wiggles book until we had all finished our dinner, she raised the volume of her winging to a fairly unbearable level. Then came the bath (after I had read her the Wiggles book and several others) which was quite fun apart from the daily battle to brush her teeth. As for bed time... she flatly refused to even attempt to go to sleep unless she was wrapped in my arms. She just kept demanding "cuddles, cuddles, cuddles". In some ways this was absolutely heavenly (and frankly I enjoy the cuddles just as much as she does), but as I sat there cuddling, I started to think very paranoid thoughts like... 'OMG - I shouldn't be working 5 days a week'... 'she has become obsessively clingy because she doesn't have enough time with me'... 'I am a terrible mother'... 'our values are all messed up'... 'I am desperate to spend more time with my little girl'... 'there has to be a better way'... and by the time I eventually got her off to sleep it was 9:45pm and I was feeling in quite a state and the lions share of my adult / evening time with Simes was gone.

So, I have just re-read the last paragraph and realised that Maddie isn't the only one winging tonight! Believe me, I do realise how incredibly lucky I am to have an amazing baby like Maddie and a phenomenally supportive and loving husband like Simes, but sometimes the guilt of working full time and the constant battle to find a balance takes its toll. The truth is that Maddie has enriched our lives in ways we couldn't have imagined. She is the focus of pretty much everything we do. Every time I look at her beautiful little face my heart almost bursts and I can't believe that she is the result of the love that Simes and I have for each other.

OK, life with a little person may not be as relaxed or glamorous as it once was... but we wouldn't have it any other way. There is nothing like waking up in the morning to the sound of Maddie's voice and seeing her lovely little face so full of excitement about the fact that it is a new day. Watching her dance to her favourite music and play with her little mates fills us with happiness. Looking up our street to see her and Simes walking along hand in hand as we stroll to the local cafe with our friends for Saturday morning brunch makes me weak at the knees. Seeing the look on her face when she had her first taste of a chocolate milk shake was quite hysterical. Listening to her opinions as she learns how to express herself is amazing and most of all hearing her say 'I love you' and knowing that she knows exactly what it means... well there just aren't words to describe how that feels.

Moving Countries... What a Business!

Well.... where do I start? So much has happened since we set off from London in late February. We haven't had the internet at home so Maddie's poor old blog has been a little neglected. It is now 11:20pm and I am absolutely knackered, so here are some quick highlights of the past couple of months.

Maddie got quite a shock to the system when she got off the plane in Adelaide to 40 degree heat! The city of churches decided to turn on the longest heat wave on record... WORLD RECORD! It didn't get below 38 degrees for 12 days. We were all about to expire! Bloody horrid. Everyone kept saying 'at least it is a dry heat'... what the hell is that meant to mean? Simes, Maddie and I felt like we had be shoved into a fan forced oven. Luckily, we had the love had hospitality of our crazy families to keep us smiling.

Little Maddie was Baptised by the wonderful Father Gaucci in early March. She had to wait in line to get into the baptism pool as it was 39.5 degrees on the day. Uncle Mikey was kind enough to throw Maddie a bash in his garden after the ceremony. He played host to 80 guests and it was a gorgeous afternoon (apart from a few minor glitches... eg: kids pissing on his floor, his mother locking him out of the front part of his house and the odd drunken relative). The grandparents were all amazingly kind and generous doing all the prep that made the day so special.

We moved into a serviced apartment in Waterloo Sydney which was somewhat like living in Hong Kong but we have now found a lovely little terrace in Glebe and have finally started to settle into our life in Sydney.

We haven't stopped since arriving back in Australia. We have caught up with a million and one friends and Maddie finally got to meet all her beautiful cousins. She has made so many wonderful new friends and has fallen particularly in love with Meagan and Martin's little boy Linus. Simes has pretty much set up our whole life here in Sydney and is busy playing daddy daycare and slowly going out of his mind watching the Wiggles on a daily basis (Maddie is OBSESSED). I don't know what I would do without him. He is our saviour, but there is no question that he is ready to start working again and he is currently on a mission to find Maddie some day care. I am absolutely flat out at work and feel like I have aged about 10 years in the past 2 months.

It was really wonderful to have four weeks off between leaving London and starting my new job in Sydney, but it has made it so much harder to leave Maddie each morning. She is quite simply a delight! Her personality knocks my socks off. She makes Simes and I giggle every day. She counts to ten in three different languages and can say the entire alphabet (thanks to her father's tutelage). She has a cracking sense of humour and thrives on being around people. She yells 'hi' to almost everyone she passes in the street. I can't get enough of her and sometimes when I look at her, she takes my breath away and I can't believe that Simes and I made such a wonderful little person.

Benny is proving to be the worlds BEST God Father. He and Richy treat Maddie as though she is their own baby and she absolutely adores them and their cat Oliver. All I can say is thank GOD for the boys. I don't know what we would do without them.

While it is wonderful to be back in Sydney, we are missing our London friends terribly. Leaving our little 'London Family' was one of the hardest things we have ever had to do and there is no question that the London chapter of our lives will always be amongst our happiest times.

Anyway... I'm off to bed. Beauty sleep is definitely required!

Lots of love xxx

PS: Now that we have the internet at home and life is reaching some kind of normality, I promise to update the news more regularly.