Barbara

Rob's mum Barbara died in hospital in New Zealand this morning. Rob was with her.  She was diagnosed with lung cancer towards the end of last year and her health had been declining steadily ever since. She was here staying with us just a month ago and although she was clearly a shadow of her former self,  we had a great visit with her with plenty of laughs and a chance to say goodbye. Barbara was very popular and had many friends, many of whom she had known most of her life, and who were still coming to see her until the day she died. Barbara spent her last weeks with all her family around her.  Rob's brother Craig, his sisters Catherine and Helen and Rob's dad Ian, had all been staying near her in Greytown, where she lived for the last few years, and were taking turns caring for her until a fall, that broke her hip, sent her to the hospital in Masterton, where she died. Barbara was a super mother-in-law, always up for a white wine and good long chat. She leaves her four children and an affectionate ex-husband in Ian, and six grandchildren - Nicole and Ryan in Brisbane, William and Libby in London and Scarlett and Florence. She was much loved and will be missed and remembered with affection and a smile by all of us.

Above are a couple of photos of Barbara taken at Florence's christening in July last year. x

Packing

We are about to vanish into a black hole of packing boxes and there maybe radio silence for a week or two on the blog. That last couple of weeks have comprised mainly of trying to fit work and children's activities in around packing and organising all that has to be done before we move in next week. There are now soooo many boxes piled up around the house that we have made a fort in Scarlett's bedroom by throwing a blanket over four of them. I can't complain as I secretly really like packing. Have decided to splurge when it comes to the kitchen however and we are paying for it to be packed for us ( by 'us' I mean 'me' as Rob is not 'into' packing). The hardest bit is knowing when to pack the girls' rooms and all their toys. Yesterday Scarlett asked for something that had already disappeared into a cardboard box abyss. Greg the handyman is working at the house this week knocking the hell out of the hideous blue tiled water feature in the garden (in terrible rain that shows no sign of stopping), planing and rehanging doors now the carpets have been laid and generally being fab and adding more jobs to his list every time I think of something else I know we can't do. Yesterday we went and chose our Jetmaster fireplace and tomorrow, with the girls in daycare, we are off to buy wardrobes for their rooms, curtains, a tv cabinet and a new bathroom vanity unit. All very exciting. Today is my last day at work for 2 weeks. Huzzah.

This week I had to go back to the ABC to visit the Play School set to watch the filming of the epsiode I had seen in rehearsal. At the last minute the Play School director invited Scarlett to come with me. Rob leapt into action and delivered her to the studio to meet me at 10am and we spent two blissful hours meeting the presenters, the toys (there are 3 Humpties), helping make icing for the gingerbread making segment and watching all the action. Scarlett was thrilled and was made a big fuss of by Georgie Parker. I will post pics of this dazzling event when we get the mac set up in the new house.

Open wide, come inside...It's Play School

Play School has come back onto my viewing radar after a delay of, ooh, about 35 years. It plays a pivotal role in the bedtime (and disciplining) routine of the 4-year-old in our house. We tape it every morning and it is watched every night between bathtime and books. Naughty behaviour is punished with its withdrawal, with devastatingly effective results. As I've sat watching toilet rolls tubes become a happy family, hummed along to Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star or listened to a story being acted out with the help of the toys, I have considered that this is not work at all, but grown ups having a laugh and getting paid for it. I mean, how hard could it really be? Having mentioned this to the Tv editor, this morning I found myself at the ABC studios taking part in rehearsals for an episode of the show. It was brilliant fun, amazingly tightly scripted and a really good laugh. After the reharsal I was taken downstairs by the set designer to the magical, props-stuffed workroom she calls her office. Though cramped and windowless, it is a craft lovers dream, housing every conceivable kind of cardboard, cotton reel, box, pipe cleaner, paint, glitter, glue, cupcake case, feather, ribbon and loo roll. Heaven. Here I am cuddling the toys, with actor/presenters Georgie Parker and Rhys Muldoon (who were hilarious) and in my costume apron playing Old Mother Hubbard.

I blame a cold for my appallingly tuneless rendition of I'm A Little Teapot. Nonetheless I have been invited to go to the taping of the episode next week to see how the rehearsal compares to the real thing. As a sweetner there is the promise of the chance to sing the song again on the proper Play School set (OH MY GOD!) so I can have a tape to show Scarlett. It's too fabulous to resist. In my research I have discovered that Jemima totally lives up to her reputation for being difficult and that Humpty isn't as big in real-life. Who knew?

Me and my girl

Me and my girl Scarlett both tried something new last weekend, one of us more successful than the other. On Saturday at 9am we all turned up at Leichhardt Public School for Scarlett's first ballet class. Scarlett has been badgering us for ballet classes since she watched her first episode of Angelina Ballerina. She looked quite the young novice dressed in her beautiful pink ballerina dress and matching bolero. Of course, Scarlett was much talented than all the other children who were hopeless jokes whereas she was clearly a young Margot Fonteyn in the making.Oh how the other children looked on enviously. On Sunday, I subjected myself to total humiliation with my first (make that my last) trapeze lesson. Goodness me it really does look easier than it is. Which is not to say I didn't enjoy it, I did. I was particularly proud of my ability to face my awful fear of heights which exists in spite of an ability to toss myself from a plane and climb a 98 foot mast on a moving ship, but I have also frozen solid on top of the high board at the pool and half way up Angkor Wat. Stepping out on the narrow ironing board-sized launch platform was a breeze compared to stepping off it into an abyss of shame and humuliation and within seconds being expected to swing my legs up over the bar I was holding on to. It was hell on the stomach muscles and my hands were blistered by the end. It didn't help that while I was a beginner, while the other 3 in the class were aged 11, 14 and 15 and were on their 10th class. While they were backflipping, attempting catches with a catcher swinging on a second bar, I was flailing in mid air still trying to get my legs over the bar while stopping my leggings from slipping down. Scarlett was very proud however.

We have had a few visitors of late. Rob's mum Barb has been staying with us for 10 days,and while she was here her brother Barrie and niece Susie flew up from Melbourne for a visit. On Saturday night our old mate Sarah-Kate came for dinner. She was in Sydney for a few nights and will be back again soon before heading off to live in Mexico for the best part of a year while Mark works there on the new third Narnia movie. Also, some pictures of the girls wearing glasses. I don't know why it's funny, it just is.

Finally, next week I am auditioning to be a Play School presenter for a story for the paper and the week after will be interviewing The Wiggles.

I don't look a day over 39...

...however I am now 40. We celebrated in style with a week on magnificent Lord Howe Island. A drop in the Pacific, 2 hours' flying time from New South Wales, it is quite the island paradise. There are pristine empty beaches and the most beautiful lagoon where we did the best snorkelling I've done, apart from in The Maldives. We took the girls kayaking in glass bottom kayaks, went on a turtle spotting snorkelling trip and a round island boat trip. We cycled everywhere and took the girls on lovely walks along the beach, we fed kingfish on Ned's beach and watched them whip into a frenzy as we threw them bread. Our hotel was particularly gorgeous with just 12 little bungalows dotted in a rainforest, surrounding a day spa, which was filled with some really interesting people. At happy hour drinks each night we had some great laughs with other guests including Brits Joe and Janet Royle. Joe played football for England and used to manage Man City. We also enjoyed some great evenings with Dick and Juliana O' Bryan from Melbourne, the most well connected couple we have ever met. Scarlett was very well behaved (most nights) when she joined us for dinner, always finding a willing victim among the other guests to read her books or play cards and only passing out in the restaurant twice. The weather was a bit hit and miss, but on my birthday it was a perfect. We took the bottle of champagne sent by the McPhersons (thank you, you lovely people) and cycled to the lagoon with a bbq packed lunch, prepped us by the hotel, of fillet steaks and salad. While Florence slept in the pram, Rob got the fire going and Scarlett and I swam out to the pontoon in the lagoon for a sunbathe, returning for lunch and champagne. It was absolutely perfect. Later in the day I had a massage and facial before drinks and dinner with some of the other guests. Thank you to everyone who called me on the day, even if you didn't get to speak to me, it made me feel very special, and to everyone who sent gifts for Rob to bring over with us. I'm looking forward to enjoying one of my gifts this weekend - my first trapeze lesson. Watch this space...

We'll be out of touch for a week celebrating my 40th birthday on Lord Howe Island. If you need me, I'll be lolling, walking, swimming, cycling, fishing, reading, sleeping, eating, drinking and receiving facials and massages somewhere in this picture.

BOUGHT!

http://www.domain.com.au/Public/PropertyDetails.aspx?adid=2007055347#

We are over the moon because today we bought 12 Alfred Street, Lilyfield. We only saw it on Tuesday and were sure it was totally out of our price range. It has a beautiful bullnose verandah at the front, 4 beds, 3 bathrooms (including a separate self-contained studio in the garden), a formal living room and a huge open-plan kitchen/living/ dining room that opens with bifold doors out to a lovely walled garden.

At the auction there was only one other bidder apart from us and they didn't bid at all, so it was us against the vendor. Just as I placed our bid, Florence chose that moment to projectile vomit

over me repeatedly so I lost track of the second bid. When no one else bid - it was ours!. At last we have a venue for my 40th birthday party!!!

SOLD!!

We sold our much loved house in Leichhardt on Saturday. It was soooo tense. We spent the morning trying to put it out of our minds by having a long bike ride with the girls around the bays. When we arrived at the auction at 2.30pm on Saturday the street was already filling up with people but we only had one registered bidder. We hid out at number 19 where our friend's and old neighours Rob and Freya live with Martin and Drew and Dave and George and waited for the auctioneer. He advised that the woman who had registered didn't know she was the only serious bidder and Julie our agent agreed to walk among the crowd chatting to people to give the illusion of there being more bidders. At the last minute a second person registered to bid so we knew we had a bidding war to come. As soon as the auctioneer started, the woman started bidding, then the bloke bid, then she bid again and then it all stopped. The auctioneer was racing ahead with all the 'going once, going twice' nonsense when our agent walked up to the woman who had the bid and said 'will you bid more and it's yours?'. She said "ok then" and that was that! It was all over in about 5 minutes. We all piled back into Rob and Freya's for the rest of the afternoon and evening celebrating with sausages and champagne, not before putting in an offer on another house. We will hear back today whether the offer has been accepted or not.

In other news, we had a great dinner on Friday night with Rob's family's oldest friends Jan and Bryan. Their son Mark is Florence's NZ Godfather. Jan is 80 and Bryan is not far off, but you wouldn't know it, they are such great fun. Here are a couple of shot of our rock star daughter and at the pool, jumping in the deep end.

We love Horton

This week I took Scarlett to see her first film at the cinema. Rob had tried once before with Ratatouille, but strangely the old lady who appears at the beginning of the film with the shotgun scared her. As Horton Hears a Who is a G rather than PG certification, we were assured there would be no shotguns. Dr Seuss books are very popular in our house, and this adaptation of the book was a cracker. Scarlett insisted we sat in the back row for the best view, somewhere I haven't sat in a cinema since I was about 16. We had great fun talking through the trailers, eating snakes and throwing popcorn at people. It brought back many happy memories. A snuggle during the scary bit with the mean kangaroo fixed any desire Scarlett might have had to leave.

The other Duthies

Quite amusingly I have discovered that if you drop "the" from our blog address you are taken to the blog page of a young Mormon couple in Arizona called Joey and Tiffanye. In addition to their excitement over the impending birth of their first child, there is sadness over the death of their favourite 'prophet' and photos of them and their craaazy friends bowling, all set to music. You might also enjoy the breathtaking photo of them on their wedding day. Sounds interesting doesn't it?

Needles hurt

Poor old Scarlett. Yesterday she was not happy. We had to take Scarlett and Florence for their immunisations, Florence had to have three needles in two legs and Scarlett had to have one in each arm. I had been casually talking about it for a few weeks, explaining that when you reach four, you have to have a couple of quick jabs of special medicine that stop you from getting sick in the future. I told her they would sting, but that then we would quickly rub her arms and go straight out for ice-cream to celebrate being a big brave girl. We even arranged to go with Amelia and her son Edward so they could have them done at the same time. I should add that Scarlett does not like doctors. She doesn't mind them if they are women, but the last time a male dr examined her, I had to physically restrain her while she kicked him in the face. The poor man was only trying to listen to her chest, not crack it. Anyway, yesterday things started well when we met Amelia at the surgery to find Edward had already has his done and was happily smiling over his new band aids, a sticker and a bravery certificate from the nurse. When it was Scarlett's turn, she skipped into the room and jumped straight onto my lap as the nurse requested, with Rob sitting in front of her on another chair. The seating arrangement was, of course, designed so that I could hold her arm tight and Rob could distract her from looking at the needles. As soon as the first needle went in, Scarlett started screaming in a way I have never heard her do before and which was reminscent of noises I last heard when I was in labour with Florence. She leapt from my grip, called the nurse 'Stupid!' and cried and screamed some more. Rob had to grab her and hold her long enough for the nurse to get the second needle in. She then pulled away, blood trailing down her arms, pulled open the door and shouted "That's It! I'm going home!" She then stormed off through the waiting room, to the amazement of waiting patients, out the door and up the street in full tantrum marching mode. It was hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time. Once at the ice-cream shop she was still so angry, that she threw her ice cream on the floor. Her fury continued all the way home when she went into complete and utter meltdown and had to be put in her room, for the safety of all, until she calmed down. After a few minutes, I went in and she literally collapsed in my arms with heaving sobs and lots of tears. I have a feeling we will now have to find a new surgery as I can't imagine us ever being able to get her through the door again. Florence's experience was much better, with a few tears fixed by lots of cuddles. I am so glad that is over.

In other news, our house is on the market, here is the link to the website, if you fancy buying it.

http://www.domain.com.au/Public/PropertyDetails.aspx?adid=2007047066

Florence is 1!

Matron, the smelling salts please. Can a year really have passed since Florence's jet-pack propulsion arrival? Our little darling turned one today and while millions of celtic fools were celebrating this saint's day with pints of green Guinness, we took a more restrained approach , today at least. As today is a Monday we had Flo's party yesterday with her Godparents. There was a lot of champagne, cupcakes and chicken sandwiches and some face painting, too. Before long the kids had got sick of having their faces painted and wanted to try it out on someone else. Being the best, nicest and cleverest mum in Australia, and the one who had drank the good part of a magnum of pop, I volunteered and the girls set to transforming my plain visage into a glorious work of art. Today, Florence awoke to a large pile of pink gifts containing wonderful gifts - books,

clothes, toys and a huge pink tortoise. After breakfast we packed ourselves off to Balmoral for a lovely morning on the beach and from there onto our favourite pool for an afternoon of swimming. Happy Birthday Florence. xx

Scarlett's 4th birthday

Scarlett turned four on Saturday and, as if this wasn't alarming enough, nothing could prepare us for the horror of 8 children hooning about in the manner of drug-crazed lunatics, later in the day. Thank sweet Christ we have a big garden, a sturdy, lockable fence and access to a reliable source of Mace. The day started well, with delight and genuine amazement on the face of our sweet girl as she opened a generous pile of gifts. She went through 3 wardrobe changes that day starting with the ballerina dress we bought her, before moving onto the dress from Maria and finally her birthday suit.

We had planned her party as a good old-fashioned sports day with egg and spoon, sack, and 3-legged races among others. Rob even bought white spray paint and marked out 8 lanes and the Olympic symbol on the lawn. We had a score board set up and water balloons ready for a game of throw and catch. The weather was perfect as were the large batch of tuna sandwiches I had made. Excitement and anticipation were running at fever pitch as we waited for the first guests to arrive at 3pm.

Of course it wasn't long before the first cries of "it's too hard" filled the air, the games (and tuna sandwiches) were abandoned in favour of a massive water balloon fight, rampant nudity on the part of the girls and birthday cake to finish. While I was disapppointed that our well-orchestrated day failed to impress the kids, they had an absolute riot.