Gorgeous Cousins and Curryoke

Busy, busy, busy... that about covers the last few weeks. Had a fabulous trip to the zoo with my cousin Rob, his gorgeous wife Beth and their spectacular little girl Daisy (or "cousin Daisy" as Maddie calls her). Mads thinks that Daisy is the bees knees. We also had a lovely afternoon with my other cousin Chris and his beautiful girls Kylie, Bella, Charlie and Ashley. It was Ashley's first fiesta and it was a fantastic affair with lots of happy kids, a pinata and the paella was a triumph!

The weeks just seem to zip by. Still not much going on in the hair department for Maddie, but everything else is developing marvelously! She has now settled into day care, in fact she actually seems to look forward to it. The ladies who look after her are astounded by her vocabulary and say that it is freaky for a toddler of her age to be such a good communicator. I can't help but think Maddie is an old soul that has been here before. The way she looks you in the eye and emotionally engages is beyond her years. Having said that, she is also pretty good at throwing herself on the floor in the middle of a shopping centre and having a good old fashioned tantrum, so I am not sending her off to university just yet!

Had a funny night at an Indian restaurant on Oxford St last Friday. I ended up drinking way too much and singing 'Islands in the Stream' with a tranny on the 'curryoke'. Was not feeling too flash the next morning, but pulled myself together and had a lovely catch up in Paddington with some old girlfriends and consoled myself with WAY too much white wine. A girl's got to let her hair down sometimes!

Lots of love to all xxx

Nursery Hysteria

A couple of weeks ago poor little Maddie had to make the transition from spending her week days playing with her beloved daddy to becoming a nursery kid again. She is only going to nursery two days a week, but each morning when I drop her off she "clutches her pearls" and screams as though she will never see me again. As soon as we drive into the car park of the nursery she starts gasping for air and squealing for cuddles. By all reports this behaviour is fairly normal, but it is a stark contrast to the little girl who used to leap out of my arms to play with her friends at nursery in London. I guess she is a little older and wiser now and has become pretty attached to her mum and dad. I know she will get used to it, but it is pretty heart breaking to have to leave her when she is in such a state.

The other joyful thing about Maddie returning to nursery is the wonderful germs she manages to bring home. She and I have both been coughing a spluttering in unison for the past couple of weeks. Joy, joy, joy!

Apart from her nursery hysteria, Maddie is in fine form. She loves dancing to the Wiggles (and is particularly keen on Leo Sayer... which is a bit of a concern!) and she can't get enough of; reading, playing in the park, going to the pub (in fact she demands a weekly visit to the pub!), singing and hanging out with her best friend Linus. Her favourite book at the moment is called 'The Lady Who Was Beautiful Inside'. It is quite hysterical. She makes a special request that I read it to her before she goes to bed each night... "beautiful inside, beautiful inside, beautiful inside"

Life in Sydney is pretty great... hectic, but great. My beautiful friend Cherie and her husband came to stay with us last weekend to help celebrate my birthday. Cherie is four months pregnant and expecting a little boy. Very, very exciting. She is such a wonderful person and will make the most amazing mum. I am always inspired by her kindness and sense of calm. She has a wisdom that is very rare to find in this life.

We also had a lovely visit from Simon's parents who came to Sydney for a weekend adventure with Auntie Sue and Uncle Gordon. This was followed by a fly-by visit from Uncle Mikey the B-Grade Celebrity. Maddie absolutely adores spending time with her family... There is nothing quite like being with the people you love.

Maddie's God Father Benny has got himself a wonderful job as a Producer so we have seen a little less of him and Richy lately, but the time we do get together is always full of laughter and madness.

We have had a couple of very special arrivals in the past month. Our dear friends Meagan and Martin welcomed little Edie into the world and Gav and Tracy had a beautiful baby boy called Taj. The innocence of a new born baby is just bliss. I must admit, it has made me very, very clucky....

Simes cooked me the most wonderful dinner for my 36th birthday. He is quite the old romantic when he puts his mind to it. He wrote me a poem, cooked me a meal, thrust a glass of red in my hand and we had a good old heart to heart about life, love and the universe. We both miss London more than we ever imagined we would and we particularly miss our incredible London friends. I guess that is the problem with making wonderful friends and letting them into your heart... it hurts when you have to say good bye.

I hope everyone is happy and well. Sending lots of love to all xxx

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.

Saying Goodbye...

When Simes and I first decided to move to London, it was supposed to be a 12 month adventure filled with travel and good times (I remember us both saying that we were going for a good time, not a long time). Here we are four years later and it’s time to head home to Australia with our little baby girl. I never imagined that we would meet so many amazing characters and that our lives would be filled with so many riches.

As the old song goes… you don’t know what you got till it’s gone. The moment we decided to leave this big, bustling city, I fell more in love with it than ever before. I love that it is rich in history and culture. I love that it is truly multicultural and that when I catch the bus to work I hear at least five different languages and see faces from so many different backgrounds. I love that it is full of creativity and allows people to be exactly who they are without judgment. I love that I walk past St Mary’s hospital in Paddington on my way to work and look up and remember bringing our beautiful baby girl into the world in that funny old maternity ward. I love that it is so close to the rest of Europe and that you can be in another country in a matter of minutes. I love that Simes can revel in his passion for football and see world class players on a daily basis (well I kind of love that, except when I want to watch something else on TV!). I love that the UK is so regional and that every part of the country has its own identity and characteristics. I love that as I walk through Soho each morning I see the characters that make the West End tick (everyone from cross-dressing parking inspectors to cheery fruit stall owners). I love its beautiful big parks and the cheeky squirrels that run around them. I love the London pubs and the bangers and mash that fill our tummies on cold winters days. I love the summer music festivals and the amazing, fresh live music scene. I love the long summer days when the sun doesn’t go down until 10pm. I love that Simes and I are still crazy about each other and that Maddie has enriched our lives more that I could ever have imagined. But most of all, I love that we have made friends that will always be in our lives regardless of how often we see each other.

Saying goodbye is always hard… but I had totally underestimated how hard it would be to leave this amazing city. I can’t wait to be home with our treasured family and friends. I just wish we could bring parts of London with us. I remember when we left Sydney my mum gave me some great advice. She said “life is a great big canvas and you just have to throw as much paint as you can at it” (I think she borrowed the saying from the actor Danny Kay). I like to think that the London part of our canvas will be one of the most beautiful sections.

The last couple of weeks have been a series of catch ups with friends including a trip to the Cotswolds with our dear friends, a visit from Maddie's Godmother (Cherie) and her lovely husband Brendan, and a fun catch up with Maddie’s baby mates and their mums. It was Maddie’s last day at nursery on Friday. It was a teary farewell and the lovely ladies that have looked after her made a fantastic photo book to remind her of her time at St Stephens and each wrote her a little poem. The week ahead looks like it will be mayhem with leaving drinks, a night at the Brit Awards, leaving dinners, moving out of our flat and a trip to Brussels.

We are staying with our dear friends Simon and Nattie next week. They have been unbelievable friends to us. They welcomed us into their home when we first arrived in London, so it made perfect sense to end the journey in the same way. We love them so much. I can’t imagine how it will feel to say goodbye on March 2nd

Lots of love xxx

Maddie Walks for Australia...

Well it has finally happened... the little Minx has found her feet. The lovely thing is that she chose to take her first steps on Australia Day. She has been threatening to walk for so long but we were beginning to think that she would bum-shuffle her way through life! We were so thrilled that Simes and I were both present for this momentous occasion. It wasn't very glamorous really... I was folding washing and Simon was on the sofa nursing a dreadful hang over when Maddie suddenly stood up and teetered towards me. Naturally, she was greeted with ridiculous squeals of delight and a huge round of applause from both of us, so 'teetering' has now become her favourite party trick.

Our second big headline is that we are heading home! I have been lucky enough to get a promotions job with 20th Century Fox in Sydney, so they are helping us transfer from London at the end of February. Simes and I have very mixed emotions about the move. We have been living in London for nearly four years and experienced the most life changing moments from travelling through Italy, Spain, France, Egypt, Jersey and the UK, to seeing some of the worlds best bands playing at phenomenal summer music festivals, to bringing our beautiful baby girl into the world and watching her grown into a little English toddler. We have met the most wonderful people and seen the most extraordinary things. It has been an amazing adventure and we feel SO terribly sad to leave our London friends who really have become like family. On the other hand, the thought of climbing off the plane with little Maddie tottering next to us and seeing her grandparents (who have longed to cuddle her for so long) and her loving uncles and gorgeous auntie Bianca fills me with love and joy. So many of our dear friends and family have married and given birth to their own special babies while we have been away and I can't wait to see everyone and catch up on all the goss over a glass of wine.

We have been making the most of London by catching up with friends and enjoying the beautiful crisp winter walks in the park. Maddie is just big enough to start enjoying the playground at our local park in Maida Vale, so I thought I would share some pics of her loving the swings and the slippery dip!

We have a busy few weeks ahead including a weekend away in the Cotswolds with friends and one last cheeky European weekend in Brussels. I am finishing work around the middle of February so that I have a week or so to pack up our life and make the most of this fabulous city before we head home to the glorious sunshine.

Here's to the next exciting chapter!

Lots and lots of love xxx

PS: Saw the Spice Girls live on stage last weekend. Bloody marvellous!