Oh, Vanuatu.

Three weeks ago, The Husband came home and declared that we should go on holiday with the requirements that it be somewhere hot and that we should leave within the week.

Of course this presented a slight problem being that Nelly did not have a passport so I trotted off to the passport office two days later and had her passport in my hot little hands thanks to their express service and you better believe that she looks like a baby thug in her photo. Pure criminal. We must look like a family involved in a smuggling ring judging by our passport photos.

I had a really tough time deciding where we should go, like a kid in a candy store - complete first world problem, I know.

We went from Fiji to Hawaii and then settled on Vanuatu as the flight time is short and it wasn't going to be so hot that we would roast Nelly.

I fully expected the flights to be hell, as did the rest of the passengers when they saw us boarding with Nelly but she probably only cried for 5 minutes in total and that was as soon as we boarded but by take off she was milk drunk and snoring her head off.

I had packed some bottles and formula and am so glad that I did as she refused to breastfeed on all flights, she was far too interested in being a sticky beak and I didn't want to feed in the toilet in case of turbulence so the bottles did the trick. 

We arrived to rain and about 90% humidity but it was hot and that's all we cared about.

The rain only lasted one day but what ever website that The Husband was looking at predicted rain every day, so who knows what he was looking at.

The curls make a return on holiday. They are gross and end up matted but I am not about to waste time straightening my hair when I could be laying about, doing nothing.

A holiday is not a holiday if there is not a club sandwich consumed, take it from me.

This calamari salad was delicious and I don't know why, but I am always shocked when vegetables taste different in different countries. 

On our last night at Iririki Resort I started to feel a bit off and decided to stay in the room with Nelly snoozing rather than venture out with The Husband to the restaurant and thank goodness that I did because I was violently ill all of a sudden and the worst part about it was that I woke Nelly up.

I can't work out what it was that made me sick but I feel like it may have been karma for always teasing The Husband about his weak stomach on holiday and saying that I have a stomach of steel.

Here we are the morning after my food poisoning struck, and it was a hell of an effort to pack up our hotel room feeling like that, trust me.

Iririki was a lovely resort with the staff being a real stand out.

We had Nelly babysat for 2 hours one day when we went jet skiing and despite me being pretty anxious about leaving her, we came back to her snoozing and the baby sitter offering to keep her!

When we were on our way to go jet skiing, I told The Husband that if a shark was to attack then clearly he would sacrifice himself first as Nelly needs me more, to which he agreed but told me there is no way we will end up in the water..

Surprise! We ended up in the water in the middle of the ocean. 

I am not a good swimmer but let me tell you, I doggy paddled like a pro and left him for dead - scrambling on to that Jet Ski quick as a flash with The Husband bobbing around not wanting to jump on too quickly in case I ended up in the water again. I may have muttered some profanities at him for tipping us, but I was just glad to be back on dry land, so to speak. 

Maybe you had to be there.  

I have borrowed this Baby Bjorn from Liz and they really are lifesavers. 

After Iririki we headed to The Holiday Inn (Meet me at the hotel, motel, Holiday Inn) where we had booked your run of the mill hotel room over looking the pool, but as soon as I opened the balcony door I smelt swamp.

I have never seen nor smelt a swamp, but I know that this is what swamp would smell like and it was not pleasant. I was still feeling like crap and that night Nelly woke up every hour crying despite only waking up once per night the first half of the trip and we had killer headaches so we decided that this room was not for us and upgraded to an over the water villa which was a good 10 minute walk from the main resort, but well worth it.

This spa bath was the source of much amusement to Nelly who could not work out how it was the exact same temperature as her bath at home (of course I travel with her thermometer ha) yet it bubbled! She kept trying to catch the bubbles and put them in her mouth, leaving us in tears.

This window over looked the lagoon.

The pillows were weird though. 

Half of the living room, which could be couches or beds but just became our storage chairs for our luggage.

This water was so beautiful that Nelly even had a nice paddle, despite completely losing her shit when we tried to put her in the resort pool.

I found shopping for a swimsuit really difficult as I just didn't like anything, but it was all due to my hips down - not even my belly, but after aging myself 15 years and embracing a sarong I was fine. 

I must have tried on 30 tankinis and one pieces at Swimwear Galore before settling on this Jets by Jessika Allen one piece but it could have offered more support for my giant boobs and then it would have been perfect.

I was happy to splash around in a black bra and underwear too when nobody was around, which was every day in the lagoon if my swimsuit was wet as I only took one and cant bring myself to put on wet bathers. 

I love this Pure Baby cotton blouse, she is such a little charmer.

Kitty gave me these ruffle butt bloomers at my baby shower, they are by Eeni Meeni Miini Moh and have a matching head band but it is still a bit too big for her 75 percentile head. 

We travelled with our pram and wasn't that hell.

I had the pram in a giant Mountain Buggy Duo Pram travel bag as Joolz don't make one and that thing was so huge that it fit our Phil & Teds Travel Cot, the pram and plenty of room to spare but in total it weighed about 17kg and The Husband was shooting me dagger looks when dragging it around. 

I won't lie though, once we actually had the pram assembled we used it multiple times every day, and really would have been screwed with out it. Plus, it looks so cute with it's little parasol. 

Our bungalow is on the right.

More over water bungalows.

On our last day we ventured out to The Cascades which were incredibly beautiful and if you ever find yourself in Vanuatu you just cannot pass this up.

The walk to the top is about 15 minutes and a moderate walk with two tiny river crossings.

Nelly was strapped to The Husband for the walk up and then we took it in turns walking to the base of the water fall (no photos as my camera is not water proof) which was definitely the highlight of our trip, just incredible.

It is definitely different going on holiday with a baby as I used to worship the sun until I was burnt to a crisp, go out whenever and generally do nothing but with a baby I was in the shade, working around nap times and taking it in turns to lounge. 

Our last morning sees me with curly matted hair, a slight tan and infinitely more relaxed and rested.

Speaking of matted hair, my hair tie broke on our 4th day and I spent the remaining 6 using one of Nellys headbands as a hair tie until I lost that and then my hair was so matted that it just stayed up in a bun if I piled it up there. Getting that monstrosity out was a killer. 

Nelly has a cute little Pure Baby outfit on. 

And because 98% of our holiday snaps are of the kid - here you go.

When did my girl get so big?

I'm heading to Perth tomorrow to see my sister Cat who is 12 weeks pregnant, I am so freaking excited that it feels like I am pregnant all over again.

Here's to hoping that Nelly is good on the plane again since I will be travelling solo this time!

Cyrus - The Car that Could.

Last night The Husband walked in and said "I have a surprise for you!!" and obviously a statement like that would pique my interest.

I harassed him for awhile and came to the realization that there was no surprise, to which I got rather pissed off about as why get a girls hopes up for nothing? Cruel I tell you. I may have even gone to bed grumbling. How mean am I?

Anyway, today after I schlepped to the bank and back in the freezing conditions, The Husband had messaged me a few times asking when I would be home which I found intriguing yet again as it was definitely out of the ordinary... 

After he said "Hrmmmmm...." I just so happened to pick up the activity mat so that I could straighten out the lambs wool underneath when a note fell out, which I nearly dismissed as a left over from my shoddy cleaning until I saw handwriting on the other side.

I raced (ha - as in, I stepped 20cm to my left) to the fire place and found the next note which left me tearing up the nursery and not finding anything.

Our next text message trail has me cursing him as I cant find the next clue and him wondering how 

I had found the first one to start of with as he was planning on ringing me and being on the phone whilst I started my treasure hunt. 

I finally found the third clue under one of Nelly's shoes yet it had no further clue and I had reached a dead end which is when I turned to my Domestic Divinity Facebook Page and asked for help as The Husband had told me it was in the house but that I would never find it and would have to wait until he got home. 

A number of the girls suggested it was a car, some others jewelry and others were stumped just like me.

After exhausting all possible hiding spots and giving up I got back to the job at hand, taking photos of Nelly for her 3 month shot which is when I saw The Husband walking up the drive way, which is odd in itself as he would normally drive in. 

I stood at the window with Nelly, waving, and watched him check the mail box.

When he got to the front door he told me that the next clue is in the mail box to which I told him that I know it wasn't as I check the mail box about 3 times per day out of boredom and I knew for a fact that it was empty.

He steered me down the drive way and when I opened the mail box I found some shiny brand new car keys, which opened the shiny brand new car on the street!

I know we had been looking at cars but I thought we were waiting awhile to get one, so I was completely taken by surprise and could not believe it - a car, for me!!

He bought the car the day after we test drove them at the start of the month and somehow managed to keep it a secret for 3 weeks yet obviously hit breaking point last night but still refrained, leaving me to think he was just being odd.

I probably should have clued on earlier as he asked me about 3 times what the name of the store where we had our car seat installed was, saying 'a girl at work needs to get one put in' and then this morning he rang to told me that he had accidentally knocked the car seat out of place and can I send him the number of some local installers.

I was ready to call the place and tell them that their installation was shoddy if all it took was a bit of a nudge to come out of place, but of course I now know that he was making an appointment to have the car seat swapped so that I would be good to go - he thought of it all!

The Hyundai ix35 was my favorite out of a long list (Mazda cx5, Honda CRV, Ford Kuga, Dodge Freemont, Jeep Compass and Kia Sportage) that we checked out, so I am definitely a very happy girl.

The Husband did go against his two rules:-

- Never buy a brand new car
- Never buy a black car

and let me tell you, I am glad he did!

Hello grumpy child.

I sold my car in 2010 and we have shared a car ever since, which was well and good when we lived in the CBD as we walked everywhere, not to mention the fact that we had to pay for a car park so I never really needed another car of my own until we moved to the 'burbs and the weather turned chilly and even though The Husband would leave me the car whenever I needed it, it's not quite the same.

I'm lucky that we live about 10 minutes walk from a train station and 25 minutes to the shopping centre and doctors so I never really grumbled about not having a car but it will be so nice to have my freedom to just hop in and go wherever, whenever.

The car has been named Cyrus. Cyrus the Virus.

Swing, baby swing.

Happy Long Weekend!

Sometimes I forget what day it is and even though I am not working I am still excited about a long weekend. Who wouldn't be? It means I get to lounge around and The Husband does all the work around here.

Nelly got sent these beautiful clothes from Little Boo-Teek a few weeks back and now that she finally fits in some, I can share photos!

Mini Kiniki Stripe Onesie - On sale $29.95 (Cannot wait for her to grow into this, I wouldn't mind it in my size actually!!)

Fox & Finch Creme de la Creme top - On sale $22.95 (She is my creme de la creme, no doubts about it kiddo)

Baobab Ice Grey Hoodie - On sale $35 (I love this coat as it is 100% gender neutral. Nelly has so many gorgeous girly things but every now and then I like her to be a bit more neutral and to know that if we have a son that he can also wear some of the basics!)

MiniFin Cotton Rib Leggings - $17.95

This outfit must be a tad too gender neutral as I got a lot of "What a cute son!!" when I ventured to Southland with her in it!

Little Boo-Teek is also offering Domestic Divinity readers a really generous 25% off discount code, to use just enter DOMESTIC25 at check out (Excludes furniture, play houses, strollers, high chairs and personalised art. Cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer.)

Enough is enough Mum, how many times do I have to freaking tell you that I am not a doll to be played with?!

I had these little Charlie & Me shoes which matched the outfit perfectly, and I'll be damned if I let the fact that they are too big for her stop me!

I got all of these on OzSale and none were more than $5 for a pair! Grow faster, Nelly.

Actually I take that back. I cannot believe that she is 10 weeks old and growing up so quickly. 

The Husband came home with these roses two weeks ago and I took this photo today, they are going strong. 

Mum is ensuring that Zena never gets cold, seeing as though she is a human these days. 

Doing what we do best, nothing.

I made these Peanut Butter Cookies with a dollop of Nutella, and they looked amazing but were dry as hell. 

I left them out as I was going to throw them in the bin and then the next day I nibbled on one randomly and they were 10x moister - what is going on?

We headed up to Ballarat during the week and in true Ballarat form it was freezing.  What's the deal with that?

We stayed at the Ballarat Lodge which is quite nice and the surroundings are definitely gorgeous but I have seen one too many horror movies which take place at a motel with surroundings that resemble this.

Bruce and all his buddies.

Nelly making good use of the King Size Bed after the confinements of sleeping in her pram bassinet. 

The toiletries were nice, as was the incredible heater and electric blanket.

I need an electric blanket in my life again.

When I was younger I wet the bed constantly so my electric blanket was a risky move to make, but I think that I have control of my bladder once more (well, after childbirth I'm not so sure...) so maybe the time has come to reinstate the ol' bed warmer.

Is there anything better than warm scones with fresh jam and cream? No, I'm not quite sure there is.

I went to the most beautiful christening on Saturday, it was exquisite! I have cropped the other girls out of the photo as I am not sure they would want to be on the ol' blog but I was proud that I was wearing something other than trakkies or pajamas.

This Leona Edmiston dress is still a little snug but beggars can't be choosers really.

I need to do something about my hair, layers or a fringe perhaps?