16 Days To Go!!!

16 days!

Tonight, Jonathan is vying for "Fiancé of the Year" and will be taking me to see Wicked at the Capitol Theatre as his wedding present to me. I have always wanted to see Wicked - we've both read the book and loved it, so tonight is going to be simply amazing.

I now have the unenviable task of finding a perfect wedding present for Jonathan!

I had my final dress fitting today. This is it. The next time I see my dress, it will be all put back together just as it should be, and it will be the dress I wear on the big day. And it will be the first time Mum and Grace will have seen me in the dress too. I am very much looking forward to showing it off.

My make up trial is tomorrow, so here goes nothing!

Janine from the Vibe Hotel Milsons Point has been very busy dealing with my questions, which are flying thick and fast to her now. So many questions, so little time, and Janine has been an absolute trouper dealing with all my queries. We hope to have everything (and I mean everything to do with the wedding reception) finalised by no later than mid next week.

I finally got around to asking my darling friend Lloyd to do a reading for us at the church on the wedding day. Lloyd readily agreed, so we are all set for the wedding day, and the Order of Service can be finalised and printed. Here's hoping Miss Fiona will have time to finish designing it soon, as I need to get it all printed at work and taken home to be put together.

The special candle for our Candle Ceremony has been ready for pick up for a couple of days, so on my way back from the dress fitting, I dropped in to the Church Store and collected it. So pretty!

Funniest thing about my excited wedding countdown is the reaction (i.e. mild panic) that is being felt at work by my managers. "You can't have 2 and a half weeks off" and "Can't you just get married, have a day off and come straight back to work" have been mentioned a number of times, mostly in jest, but I suspect there is an underlying tinge of panic behind the sentiment. I always counter with "just wait till I take baby leave", which always make them panic more, which in turn makes me giggle.

16 days to go. Yippee!

18 Days To Go!!!

18 days! 18 days till I become Mrs Hill! Woot!

More items to tick off the list:

* I now have the perfect hairstyle for the wedding day, thanks to the gorgeous Eva at Xquizit Hair. After 2 trials and 4 hairdos, Eva's last creation last night was the winner. I'm so happy with it, and Jonathan thoroughly approves as well.

* I have finally locked in a time to do my make up trial, with Judy the new beautician engaged through Xquizit Hair. I'll be seeing Judy on Saturday to get pretty.

* Janine from the Vibe Hotel Milsons Point has been in contact with us and is busy helping us to finalise all the wedding reception details.

* Our gorgeous glowing (and growing) florist Jennie from Merci Bouquet has now confirmed our flowers for the big day. Jennie is so lovely - not only is a talented florist, she is also a first time mum-to-be, so we have been busy swapping stories of our growing bubs. I can't wait to see the amazing arrangements!

18 days to go!

20 Days To Go!!!

OMG! 20 days to go!

With the time ticking away, I am starting to get a little bit panicky over the little things that are still left to do.

We picked up Jonathan's ring last Thursday night, and it's gorgeous. Jonathan tried it on while we were at the shop and it looked really good, and he's very happy with the result. While we were there, we asked about cleaning Stella (my engagement ring) before the wedding. Disappointingly, if we were to send the ring away for cleaning, Craig wasn't able to guarantee that we would get the ring back by the wedding date. So instead, we bought a jar of jewellery cleaner and a new cleaning cloth, and we'll do the cleaning ourselves.

After we collected Jonathan's ring, we ran into my sister Grace and her family. Grace had taken Kiran to get him fitted for his rental suit, and within half an hour, Grace had stumbled upon a suit in David Jones that was also perfect for the occasion. What's more, the David Jones suit was cheaper to buy than the rental suit was, so Grace made an executive decision to buy the suit and cancel the rental. Grace showed me the suit and it's so cute! We can't wait to see Kiran in his smashing suit.

Our lovely lovely functions coordinator Kate has now left for her overseas trip, so we are back to liaising with her boss Janine. We met Janine when we first got engaged, and it's been a few months since we've spoken with her. We hope Kate has a great time overseas, and that Janine is on top of everything to do with our wedding reception.

Our darling friend Miss Fiona has now moved back to Melbourne for good, but she has been working hard to continue designing our Order of Service, place cards as well as our Thank You cards. We hope to finalise the Order of Service in the next few days. Once these get finalised, we still need to print and put them together. Tonight, Jonathan has kindly volunteered his services to help put the booklets together. Here's hoping he won't regret it!

We went and saw our wonderful travel agent Mel yesterday and arranged our travel insurance. Mel has helped us so much, and we are so grateful to have found him. We are now all set for Vanuatu!

We have now confirmed most of our readers for the Church ceremony. We have asked Jonathan's brother David to do a reading, as well as my very good friends David and Chuck to share the Prayers of the Faithful. I have one more person to ask, and hope to get a hold of our final reader by tomorrow.

Today, I wrote to Janine to finalise the reception details. We have finally decided on using a DJ, after weeks of going back and forth on the idea. In the end, we just couldn't be bothered looking after the music on the night, so we'll pay for someone to look after it for us.

I also wrote to our lovely florist Jennie to get a revised quote on our flowers. We've decided not to go with floral arrangements in the church, so the price should reduce a little. We can't wait to see the gorgeous floral creations that Jennie has in mind for us.

I confirmed numbers with our gorgeous cake lady Diane. Mmmm ... I can't wait to dig into our wedding cake in 20 days time!

My next dress fitting is this Friday. The dress is coming along very nicely and it's so beautiful in every way. I can't wait to wear the beautiful dress in 3 weeks!

All the plans are falling into place. I will have an itinerary soon, detailing where and when everyone is suppose to be for the days leading up to the wedding. As soon as I draw it up, I hope to feel a lot better about having a "proper" project plan.

I can't believe it's only 20 days to go! Woo hoo!

Speedy @ 15 Weeks

We had our 15 week scan on Thursday, and got to see our little surprise again.

It always amazes me when we are shown the ultra sound images of our baby. At 15 weeks, you can clearly see his heart beating, his face, his spine and his rib cage, his body, his arms and his legs. Speedy is clearly a baby, and growing well.

Dr Baber was really pleased with our progress, and was able to answer a few questions for me. Such as things I can and can't eat - I have been craving ham for a few weeks, and wanted to know if I would be allowed to eat ham. Dr Baber assured us that as long as the ham is either fresh off the bone and/or has been cooked, I should be fine. So this weekend, I'm looking forward to some ham!

I think I'm now starting to show a little. Hopefully, I won't show too much too soon - I'd love to not show too much by the wedding date!

We have an appointment on the day we leave for our honeymoon to have our 19 week scan, at which time, if we choose, we can find out whether Speedy is a boy or a girl. So far, we are still undecided about finding out the sex of the baby. We may decide to on the day, but really, all we want is a healthy baby.

We will be seeing Dr Baber again a few days after we get back from our honeymoon. He really is such a lovely man. We're glad we went with him.

All set, and Speedy is growing well. Stay well, Speedy! Daddy and Mummy can't wait to meet you.

27 Days To Go!!!

CRACKERS!!! 27 days to go. We're well and truly on the countdown!

So close to the finish line, yet so far away. Thankfully though, we really are almost done.

I've now got a quote from the make up artist for me and the ladies on the day. So much more reasonable than the original quotes I got from others. We are locked in. No make up trial yet, so I'll be sure to organise something soon. My hair trial is tomorrow night, so here goes nothing!

The flowers are all but confirmed. Jennie at Merci Bouquet is coming back to us with a revised quote, so as soon as we see it, we should be able to confirm it right away.

Father Coleman has given us the Gospel reading, so the Order of Service is all ready for Fiona to pretty up before being printed.

Jonathan's wedding ring is finally ready to be picked up, over a week after we had expected it to be ready. The delay has meant that we won't be able to get the engraving done in time, so we'll just go and collect the ring and see about getting my engagement ring nice and clean for the day.

Joanna at Sew Special continues to work her magic on my dress. I have another fitting this week, and let me tell you how much more stunning the dress is starting to look!

Our technical glitch has been rectified, at a massive cost. Jonathan found some people who recovered all my data from the now broken portable hard drive, and I'll be sure to back everything up more regularly in future. The good news is all the music and photos have been recovered. That's the main thing.

All our guests have RSVPed, so we can now get on with finalising the place cards, and the seating arrangements at the wedding. The fun begins!

One last thing is to check that we have taken out some travel insurance for our honeymoon. I'm pretty sure we didn't purchase the insurance when we paid for our honeymoon, so we'll need to make sure that we get that paid soon.

Only little things to do, and then we are all set! 27 days to go!

35 Days To Go!

5 more weeks. 35 days till the Wedding Day. Yay!

Without meaning to sound ungrateful, I'm really glad that the wedding is so close. I'm kind of over all the organising.

So, what else needs to be done?

I still need to have a trial with my hair and make up, so I'll have to set something up with Lou soon - hopefully he'll have time this week do the trial.

We need to confirm the flowers. Jennie at Merci Bouquet has been an amazing help, and so wonderful and considerate with our requests. We should be able to lock everything down by the end of this week.

We still need to confirm the Gospel reading from Father Coleman. I'll give him a call tomorrow if I don't see him at church today.

Jonathan's wedding ring is still getting made. We're getting a bit anxious now as we would like both our rings to be engraved, which can take another 3 weeks after Jonathan's ring is finished to completed. We still need to get Stella (my engagement ring) cleaned prior to the big day too.

My wedding dress is now in the safe hands of Joanna at Sew Special. What a lovely lovely lady! My first fitting is next Tuesday, and I can't wait to try on my gorgeous dress.

We've purchased the candle for our candle ceremony - along with a family Bible - the Catholic version.

We've suffered a fairly major technical glitch, in that my portable hard drive has decided to pack it in. This portable hard drive contains ALL of my music, not to mention all of my photos since 2004. Jonathan will hopefully be able to get this fixed some time next week. Please please please let all the data be recoverable!!!

Still to do (in no particular order):

1. Get the photography paperwork back to the photographer.

2. Have Kiran measured for his little suit for his role as page boy.

3. Finalise the guest list - RSVP is next weekend, so hopefully, all of our grown up friends understand that "RSVP to a wedding" means!!! We're a bit thin on the ground with RSVPs.

4. Finalise the place cards - which we can't do until after we finalise the guest list.

5. Finalise the Order of Service - which we can't do until after Father Coleman confirms which Gospel reading is being read during the wedding.

6. Finalise the wedding cake - which we can't do until after we finalise the guest list.

7. Finalise the flowers.

8. Confirm the wedding car details.

9. Finalise the arrangements with the reception venue - which needs to be done last.

10. Get the hard drive fixed. Otherwise, no music on the wedding day - at the church or at the reception.

11. Book a rental car for Jonathan's family to use while they are in Sydney.

I'm sure there are a few more things I haven't thought of. Here's hoping there aren't too many things I've forgotten!!!

5 weeks to go!!!

Our Little Speedy Hill

Finally, we are now at the point where we can tell everyone all about Speedy.

First of all, you might like to know why we've called the baby Speedy. Well, he's a baby Hill, so in effect, he's a little bump. He caused a few problems by joining us sooner than we expected, so he's like a speed bump in the road. And of course, by being so impatient to be part of the family, he's speedy in nature. Hence, Speedy!

Oh, and we're calling the baby a "him" until we are told otherwise. Jonathan and I don't care whether the baby is a boy or a girl, as long as the baby is healthy. So, Speedy, we hope you're listening!

For the past 6 weeks, we've had to be really quiet about our news. It's been so hard. A few people had to know along the way, like our families, and my managers and my team. And of course, all of our wedding suppliers, due to the fact that we moved the wedding date.

We had to wait until after the 12 week scan (for Down Syndrome) before we could happily tell the world. The scan was yesterday, and the words "perfect baby" came up a few times. We were so happy.

If there is one thing I can do perfectly in this life, that would be to grow a perfect baby.

Even though Speedy was a huge surprise for us, he is a much wanted and much loved addition to our family. We thought we would have some major problems getting pregnant considering my age, but apparently, I'm extremely furtile and there's nothing wrong with Jonathan either! We're a bit ahead of ourselves here, but we hope we have the same luck for the next one too.

So far, the pregnancy has been mostly trouble free. No morning sickness, no weird cravings. I get tired quite easily, but that's about the only "problem" I've had. I've been craving fresh salads and avocado, which is healthy and good for me. No chocolate cravings or fried foods, so here's hoping I won't stack on too much weight over the next few months.

Speedy is due just after Christmas at present, right on Jonathan's birthday. Wouldn't that be a nice birthday present?

Now that we've had the screening, and we're in the clear, we can start to enjoy the pregnancy!

Introducing Speedy Hill

Surprise!
12 weeks and 5 days old today.
We can't wait to meet you!

48 Days To Go

With 48 days to go, we have received some great news.

More family members are expected to join us for the wedding!!! How cool is that?

We originally weren't expecting so many family members to be joining us - as it stands, there are 10 coming from Jonathan's side of the family, all from New Zealand - and we were only really expecting to see his parents! We will now be seeing Jonathan's parents Malcolm & Robin, Jonthan's grandmothers Gran & Nana, Jonathan's Uncle Mike & Aunt Heather, and Jonathan's younger brother David, sister-in-law Jolie and their girls Alyssa & Tammi.

My Uncle Henry and Aunty Karen surprised us by telling us they wanted to be part of the celebrations. As they live in Cupertino (about an hour south of San Francisco), and they'd never been to Sydney before, it was a wonderful wonderful surprise. We can't wait to see my "fun uncle and fun aunty" - we had such a great time when they hosted me and my folks for a week a few years ago.

Yesterday, Mum told me that we can now expect 3 more overseas guests. My Aunt Magdalen, always one to do things in a rather unconventional way, told Mum she'd booked tickets to come to Sydney from San Francisco for the wedding! I don't think even my mother was expecting Aunt Magdalen to come to the wedding, considering she'd already said that she wasn't available in August when we had to change the wedding date.

Also arriving in Sydney for the wedding are Uncle Charles and his daughter Carolyn, from Hong Kong. Now this was a huge surprise!!! They had been adamant that they were't able to come due to work commitments, and now, they will be here after all!!! Uncle Charles is a well known dentist in HK, and he is always busy and well booked up in advance. Carolyn is a high flying HR director - a workaholic, her schedule is always mad. So for these two to make it to the wedding - well, it's just made our day even more special.

Quick update from our meeting with Father Coleman. Firstly, Mina was so perfectly behaved, we almost forgot she was in the room with us! Father Coleman took us through the motions of the ceremony, and gave us loads of readings and other people's Orders of Service to glean ideas from. We are now narrowing down the music we are going to be using for the church and the ceremony - which is fun, as I'm picking the songs, and Jonathan is either agreeing or screwing up his nose. Now, you tell me, what's wrong with walking down the aisle to "Somewhere Out There" from Disney's An American Tail???

Speaking of Mina being on her best behaviour, we've now told her she can definitely be a flower girl because she was so perfect during our meeting (and in fact, she's been perfect all weekend this sleepover weekend, extended due to today being a public holiday). We dressed her up in her flower girl garb yesterday and she looked so gorgeous! Can't wait to see the other little girls in their matching dresses.

We've bought Jonathan's wedding ring. The ring will be ready in a couple of weeks, with the engraving to be completed in 2 weeks after the ring is ready. Just in time!!!

We still need to work out a time for Kiran to go to the formal attire hire section of Myer to get him measured for his suit. But we still have a little bit of time.

I still need to talk to Jennie at Merci Bouquet about the flowers for the church and the reception, and I also need to add a few more things to our order - a button hole for Uncle Charles, and corsages / lapel arrangements for Aunt Magdalen and Carolyn. We've decided not to go with any more flowers for the reception, but we definitely need something for the church. We'll work something out with Jennie.

Less than 7 weeks to go!!!

50 Days To Go

50 days to go!!!

More tasks on our "To Do" list now have ticks against them.

We've met with Jennie Keogh at Merci Bouquet, who is just gorgeous! Jennie was very helpful and we are sure she will create some gorgeous floral arrangements for us.

We're meeting with Father Coleman later today. Mina has been asked to be on her best behaviour. She has promised she will be. Fingers crossed the meeting goes well, and quickly, and Mina keeps her promise.

We finally met Kate at Vibe Milsons Point and sampled the menu items. We were so surprised that Kate is only 20 - she has so much poise and confidence about her, and she is so organised! We had a lovely lovely evening sampling all the food and wines, and we hope all our guests will enjoy the food as much as we did.

We have found the most perfect wedding ring for Jonathan. He is totally happy with the ring from Hardy Brothers Jewellers, which we will pay for today. We loved the very personalised service we received from Craig in the store, and it also looks like they will do the engraving for us as well.

Good news on the wedding dress front. The dress has been made and has now been dispatched to me! I'm expecting the dress to arrive next week or the week after. Yay! Can't wait!!! I'll need to get the underwear to go with the dress, but I'm waiting to see my dress before I go out and get the appropriate "suck it all in" underwear, to give me the streamlined look.

There are not a lot of things left to do, which is just as well as we need a little break from organising the wedding, and enjoy the down time before our overseas guests arrive and the big day actually happens. There are definitely still more things on the list, such as getting a little pillow for Kiran to hold with our wedding rings attached, finalising all the details with the ceremony, putting together the Order of Service, finalising wedding music, finalising the guests numbers, and finalising the plan of attack on the day. And of course, we have our Bach Nights to look forward to, the organisation of which has started - I've at least booked the table for me and my girls - with 16 people coming, we are going to have a great night!

50 days to go!!!

60 Days To Go

60 days to go!!!

We have done so much in the past 10 days. And just as well too, as we really are on the home stretch now.

All the wedding invitations are now ready to be posted. Fiona and I spent the weekend making the gorgeous invitations, which we hope our guests will love. Jonathan and I just need to put all the labels and stamps on the envelopes and away they can go!

We've made a time to meet with Jennie Keogh at Merci Bouquet on Saturday this week. We're very much looking forward to working with Jennie to create some gorgeous floral arrangements for the big day.

We've now made a new appointment to see Father Coleman on 12 June to go through the wedding ceremony. We had wanted to meet with Father Coleman without the hassle of looking after Mina on the same day, but alas, we will just have to lump it. Mina was so rude the last time we met with Father Coleman, so we may just have to send her to another room to play quietly by herself.

All the flower girls' outfits (as well as matching outfits for the other little girls) have now been bought. I went to Market City on the weekend and scored a great deal on 5 matching dresses from Cotton On Kids at $10 a piece, and then lucked out again later in the day when I found 5 matching cardigans to go with the dresses at $8 a piece. Gotta love a bargain!

We're meeting with Kate at the Vibe Milsons Point on Thursday night to go over our questions relating to the wedding reception, and to also sample the menu choices we have selected. We'll also be tasting the wines on the night. Can't wait!

It looks like I've found the wedding hair and make up artists who won't cost a fortune. I don't even know why I didn't start with my trusty hairdresser Lou, owner of Xquizit Hair in The Forum at St Leonards. Lou will engage a make up person for me who won't charge like a bull, and he is more than happy to do my hair on the day too. Thank goodness for that!

And big news - we have finally decided on a destination for our honeymoon! Our wonderful travel agent Mel "Chairman" Kaga from Flight Centre Chatswood Westfield helped us again with our travel needs, this time to a gorgeous resort in Vanuatu for 7 days. Just lazing out and doing absolutely nothing for a week sounds like heaven to me right now!

We have come so far in 10 days. But that's not to say we've now done everything. There are still a few more things to do, such as buying Jonathan's wedding ring, having both our wedding rings engraved, finalising all the details with the ceremony, putting together the Order of Service, finalising wedding music, finalising the guests numbers, finalising the plan of attack on the day, and waiting for my wedding dress to arrive!!! And of course, we have our Bach Nights to look forward to.

60 short days to go!!!

10 Weeks Today

We met you yesterday.
You waved at us.
And you did a little dance.
You dance just like Daddy.
We saw you had lots of room to grow.
And you have lots of time to grow.
So keep safe.
We can't wait to meet you, Speedy!

70 Days & Counting!

70 days to go. That's 10 weeks. 10 weeks from today, Jonathan and I will be getting married. Right now. During this very hour. How scary is that?!

Time has just crept up on us, especially since we changed the date. I just alerted Jonathan to the fact that we will be sitting in a church being married by Father Coleman at this very time in 10 weeks' time, and he's very excited - just like me. I can't wait to become Mrs Jonathan Hill.

We have done so much more with the wedding. First thing yesterday morning, we drove for an hour to Engadine to meet our cake maker, the extraordinary Diane Black of Cupcake Dreams. What a wonder she is! So creative, and so lovely. Diane invited us into her lovely home and gave us samples of our wedding "cake" to taste - so scrumptious and creamy and gorgeous! We can't wait to share this with all our guests.

We've now hired Jonathan's suit - it was as easy as walking into Myer's men's department and asking for him to be measured for a suit. Within half an hour, Jonathan was all set for a gorgeous gorgeous Spurling lounge suit for the big day. And let me tell you - Jonathan looked hot. Damn fine!

We looked for his wedding ring yesterday too, and we're pretty sure we've found the one he wants. Mind you, no expenses are spared for Jonathan's ring - we did find the ring in Hardy Brothers, but if Jonathan is going to wear it for the rest of his life, then we know it's worth it to spend a little bit more for his wedding ring.

We were to meet with Father Coleman yesterday, but due to a clashing commitment, we weren't able to meet with him to discuss the wedding arrangements. We'll meet with him another day in the near future.

The car for the big day has been booked. I will be arriving in style in a London Black Cab. Woot!

My dress has been ordered - the sizing was confirmed last week and I should receive my dress in about 4 weeks. Can't wait!

We looked for flower girl dresses today - with no luck. We really need to step on this if we are going to get something nice. We may have to suck it up and buy the dresses from the internet in a hurry if we are going to get them on time.

I'm looking for another pair of shoes - and why not?! The ones I had are now going to be too summery for the winter weather, so I would like to have some other shoes that don't freeze my toes.

I'm still to book a hair and make up person - who knew these people are so expensive?! At nearly $1,000, the cost of hair and make up is almost 4 times that of my wedding dress!

The wedding invitations are still being produced - here's hoping we'll be able to send these out shortly. Fiona has been ill, and she is also working again, so it has been hard to get her to finalise the wedding invitations. We still have a little bit of wriggle room with the invitations, but not much!

We still have to taste the menu items at the reception venue at Vibe Hotel Milsons Point, which we really should get around to organising. The reception venue has been really helpful so far, and we are looking forward to working with them to a gorgeous wedding reception.

Jonathan's parents, grandmothers, brother & family, as well as uncle and aunt are all booked and locked in to head across the ditch for the wedding. We have secured 3 apartments in our building for them to stay in, and have even inspected 2 of them. We know they will love staying here, and we are really looking forward to seeing them.

The biggest and best surprise so far is that my Uncle Henry and Aunty Karen will be flying over from San Francisco to join in the fun! It will be so great to see Uncle Henry and Aunty Karen - I last saw them 3 years ago when Dad and Mum took me to the States, and I well recall how much fun my week with them was. I can't wait to see them in Sydney!

And as for our honeymoon, Jonathan and I are still deciding on what to do. Looks like we might be doing something local now that Uncle Henry and Aunty Karen are visiting - as we'd like to hang out with them as much as they will allow, for the fortnight they are in Sydney. Still to decide - no real hurry - yet.

So, still on the "To Do" list are:

- Finish off the wedding invitations and get them all sent out.
- Organise flowers for the big day - we really need to speak to Jennie Keogh at Merci Bouquet about the flowers. I'll need to give her a call this week.
- Meet with Father Coleman to discuss the wedding ceremony.
- Buy Jonathan's wedding ring, and have both wedding rings engraved.
- Buy flower girls' dresses.
- Sample the food and choose the wines at the reception venue.
- Find a good make up and hair artist who isn't going to cost a fortune!

These are the big things. I'm sure there are plenty of other little things we'll need to do along the way. Slowly does it. Can't believe it's only 70 days away! Woot!

86 Days To Go

Only 6 weeks ago, we reported we were 200 days away from the wedding. Today, we are sitting at 86 days. Confused?

Don't be! We've changed our wedding date!

Our new date is 01.08.2010. We've had to change the date, as certain family members have thrown some spanners into the works. Changing the date is no biggie - Jonathan and I just want to be married, so we don't really care any more about the date.

Yes, it would have been nice to be married on my dream wedding date - 10.10.2010 - but it will still be my dream wedding, as I'm marrying my dream man, and the date will eventually be just another day in the calendar. I just want to be Mrs Jonathan Hill, so any day will be just fine.

With 86 days to go, I'm happy to report that everything was moved without any fuss or hassles, nor monetary penalties (thankfully). We have now booked the cake, and I'm about send off my order for my wedding dress. Our darling friend Fiona is working hard on our wedding invitations, and have been able to show us some samples - which we love!!! Things are moving a lot faster than they have been, and many more people are being roped into helping organise this monster. We are so grateful and appreciative of such good friends and the fantastic support we have been receiving.

So, stay tuned. There will be more news on the wedding in the frantic lead up, and we'll be sure to share the news as they break.

Guess what???

We have a reason to smile.
To grin like complete idiots.
To skip and jump and be all giddy and giggly.
It's a teeny tiny itty bitty reason.
A complete miracle and an amazing blessing.
All will be revealed in time, and just in time for Christmas too.
But please know this is our secret.
A very big secret.
So please be happy for us, but only in secret.
For now. Thank you.

Counting Down The Days

200 days to go!!!

It dawned on me today that I haven't yet been stressed about organising the details of the wedding. People have told me over and over again how stressful it is to organise a wedding, yet so far, we have not encountered anything remotely resembling stress.

With the exception of the usual family politics, everything has been smooth sailing.

- We have booked the church and met with Father Paul, who will be officiating our wedding. We have even attended the first session of our pre-wedding preparation course, with the second and final session to take place this coming Saturday. Father Paul has been wonderful and very good humoured about everything, so we are really looking forward to future meetings with him in the lead up to the wedding day.

- We have locked in (and paid our deposit) our wedding reception venue. Some time after Easter, we will be meeting with the events manager again to discuss menus, music, decorations and other important details for the reception.

- We have secured the services of a photographer.

- Our gorgeous friend Miss Fifi is designing our wedding invitations. Miss Fifi is so wonderfully talented and artistically creative - we know we will love her designs!

- We're looking for a perfect wedding ring for Jonathan. There's plenty of time, so we are carefully perusing different websites for something that Jonathan absolutely loves. We had already bought my wedding ring when we were in New York, at the same time we got Stella.

- I have bought my party shoes already!

- I've been looking at wedding dresses online, and have found some great websites for dresses shipped from China for a very low cost. I've more or less decided that since I'm only wearing the dress once, I don't want to spend thousands of dollars on the dress. I have my heart set on one particular dress - just need to find a website that sells not only the dress but the matching accessories such as the petticoats and the veil as well.

- I have found a local florist whose work I admire. Just need to get in contact with her and talk details. We have decided on a simple bouquet for me, small pin on corsages for the womenfolk, buttonholes for all the menfolk, and something special for the little ones who are part of the bridal party.

- We've started looking at suits for Jonathan, but we are in no rush to decide as there is still plenty of time.

- We are still deciding on what to do about cars. Dad has driven both the sisters to their weddings, and wants to do the same for the last remaining single daughter, so it looks like we may not need to hire any cars (although that may make our trip down to Sydney Harbour and Luna Park for post wedding photos a little more difficult).

- We've made the decision to ditch the bonbonniere. It's a lovely touch, and I've always found it a lovely gesture, but it's an added expense that guests may leave behind. We'd rather put more money on the bar!

- We have been on the lookout for outfits for the flower girls and the page boy. Still time to look, but I am starting to step up my efforts.

- Jonathan's parents have all but locked in their dates for their trip across the ditch. We are just waiting on final numbers as to who will cross the ditch for the big day, before resuming our search for some accommodation to house them for time they are in Sydney.

- Our honeymoon is pretty much all organised. We'll be spending a week in Hong Kong with Dad and Mum, eating and drinking and doing a bit of sightseeing (Jonathan has never been to HK and I'm keen to play tourist with him), culminating with Dad's big party for the HK relatives on the second last day of our trip.

Who said organising a wedding was stressful?

With everything pretty much taking care of itself, I sometimes wonder if I've missed something along the way. I'm sure I've ticked all the boxes, so I keep reminding myself that no stress is good news!

200 days to go!!! It's an amazing feeling!

Mina & Momma G

Sunday 14 March was a momentous day for my little family of me, Jonathan and Mina. For the first time ever, Mina called me "Mummy".

To Mina, it was no big deal. I've been in her life for 2 years, and for all intents and purposes, I am her mother figure on the weekends when she comes to visit. To her, there hasn't been a time when I haven't been around. So it is natural for Mina to think of me as a mother.

To me, it was a huge deal. To the point that I burst into heaving sobs of sheer euphoria when Mina said "You are my Mummy". Even today, 2 days later, I'm on the brink tears of happiness as I type this.

To know why it's a huge deal to me, you need to know that I have had some moments of conflict with my status as a stepmother. Of whether it is right for me to discipline Mina when she's misbehaving. Of what my rights are to Mina. Of what my standing is in her life. For 2 years, I have treaded the very fine line of stepmotherhood, where I have held back on unleashing fully my brand of discipline, mainly because it may not gel with the brand of discipline agreed by Jonathan and JX (Jonathan's ex-wife). For 2 years, I have been supportive to Jonathan and have made suggestions about child rearing when he's been frustrated with part time parenting. And for 2 years, I've sometimes felt that I don't have a right to speak up with regards to how to raise a child, all because the child is not mine.

Jonathan has been my rock and cheerleader throughout this time, to the point of telling me that he and I are one team - The H Team - when it comes to the matter of raising Mina. Jonathan has always told me that I have a very important place in Mina's life, and that she is as much his girl as she is mine.

Still, I couldn't help but let that little thought creep through my mind - "No, G, you're not her mother - she's not yours and you're but a stepmother." On the Friday afternoons of Mina's sleepover visits, my Facebook status often reads "G is going home to her boy and his girl". His girl. Not my girl.

Another point to make is that neither Jonathan nor I have ever asked Mina to call me by anything but my name. We have never once asked Mina to call me Mummy, nor prompt her to call me Mummy. I was Gloria to her - well, I was always referred to as "Mina's Gloria", which is lovely - but never anything more than my name.

So to hear her say to me, "you are my Mummy", was a heart-melting, heart-bursting, exhilarating, all encompassing moment of pure unadulterated euphoria that resulted in my bursting into heaving sobs.

Poor Mina. She thought she'd upset me by calling me her Mummy. But when I managed to compose myself enough to tell her that I was happy, and the tears were actually my way of saying how happy I was, Mina continued to call me Mummy.

It was quite funny how Mina reacted to my tears and subsequent explanation, which was more akin to "Well, duh, you ARE my Mummy, so why are you so surprised I called you Mummy?"

So there you have it. I'm a real mother. I'm someone's Mummy. I'm Mina's Mummy. Mina is really "my girl". And I love it.

Mina's 5th Birthday Party

Mina turns 5 tomorrow, so we had a little birthday party to celebrate her milestone.

Mina was joined by Renée, Kiran and Danielle, along with Grace, for some yum cha in Chatswood, followed by a Baa Baa Sheep cake to the delight of all those who attended. Mina and Grace's little ones get along so well, and it's great to see such camaraderie between them, even though they see each other quite infrequently. I know they will make wonderful cousins for each other.

After lunch, we treated the bigger kids to a carousel ride. Grace did her "Tickle Monster" to entertain the kids, while Jonathan kept Danielle company and produced quite a few adorable smiles from the baby.

Here are the photos - as you can see, fun was had by all.

Our Engagement Party

Our engagement party on 16 January was an amazing affair. Surrounded by so many friends, we felt so very loved and so very lucky to have such fantastic friends.

Thank you to everyone who came to the party!

Waving Goodbye to 2009

What an amazing year this has been! We are now 4 sleeps to Christmas, and 10 sleeps to a brand new decade, and I am feeling so blessed.

Firstly, and without further ado, Jonathan and I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year. May all your wishes come true in 2010!

2009 has been a fantastic year. So much has happened this year that I feel I need to list everything in a chronological order:

January: Hip surgery. A success story, in the sense that I am no longer in pain, much. Every now and again, the hip still hurts, but this only happens when the weather is about to turn nasty. On the bright side, my hip has turned into a weather vane of sorts; I can always tell when it's going to rain!

January: Mum reaches "official retirement age".

January: Tommy turns 3. We had a lovely party in the park to celebrate the occasion.

March: Mina turns 4.

March: Lucas turns 1.

March: New job. I started working for the Government in March, after securing a role through the lovely Deanne. What was originally a 2-week temporary placement has now been extended to the end of April next year.

April: Holiday plans. When our darling friend Belinda announced she was getting married to her beau Pete in November, she invited us to attend the wedding, in NYC. We got very excited and started wishing and hoping and made tentative plans to attend.

May: When 2 homes become 1. After 18 months together, Jonathan moved in with me.

June: Renée turns 5. We had a gorgeous dinner to mark the occasion. She is such a little lady now!

June: More holiday plans. Jonathan and I booked our holiday to visit his family in NZ. We were to take Mina with us, making our first holiday together a family affair.

July: Dad & Mum's love story continues. My folks celebrated 39 years of marriage this year!

July: Redkite Ultra Violet Ball. This year's colour theme for the Redkite Colour Ball was Ultra Violet. We had a terrific night, and I even got up close and personal with the very tall and dashing Tom Williams.

August: NZ Holiday. Jonathan, Mina and I spent a week in Auckland with Jonathan's folks, Malcolm and Robin, and Jonathan's grandmothers Gran Pat and Nana Una. Jonathan's brother Dave, his newly pregnant wife Jolie and their darling little girl Alyssa took time out of their busy schedules and spent some time with us too, which was lovely. During this holiday, we also attended our friend Laura's 21st birthday in Hamilton, an hour away from Auckland. It was a fantastic week.

August: NYC all locked in. We booked and paid for our NYC trip before we headed off to NZ. Months of longing and wishful thinking became a reality as we locked in our non-refundable flights and accommodation. Squee!

October: 1 more niece! Danielle became the newest addition to our family, when Grace gave birth in mid-October.

November: New York, New York! Well, you know the rest. But in case you don't, we had a great time on holidays, loved every bit of New York, shopped, ate, saw the sights. Oh, and got engaged, at the top of the Empire State Building, on the same night the New York Yankees won their 27th World Series.

December: Birthdays & Christmas. I just had a birthday, and Kiran turned 3 the day after me, so we jointly celebrated our milestones with the family over a lovely lovely dinner. Jonathan is about to have a birthday, and we're so very fortunate to have Mina with us for a sleepover to mark the big day. And Christmas is a mere 4 sleeps away!

I look back on this past decade, and realise how fortunate I've been. There's been talk of this past decade being the hardest for some, but I can't agree with them. My blessings include getting my uni degree, gaining 2 brothers in law, becoming an aunty to 2 beautiful nieces and 3 gorgeous nephews, meeting and becoming engaged to the man of (and beyond) my dreams, and becoming a stepmother to Mina. I must say, this past decade has been awesome!

We are both looking so much forward to what 2010 will hold for us. Jonathan and I will "officially" begin our lives together in October 2010, and we have so many plans, such as our wedding, our honeymoon to Hong Kong for Jonathan to meet the extended family, and the possibility of buying a new (and bigger) home.

In the meantime, there is the Christmas break to look forward to, and a chance for me to upload all those photos from our trip to New York! Stay tuned!