Meals on Wheels - Round the Way Bagel Burgers

You like bagels. You like burgers. Now imagine combining the two. Genius! That's what you'll find at the Round the Way food truck: toasted bagels with a range of delicious fillings. It's breakfast, it's lunch, it's any meal you darn well want. We cruised on over to Round the Way at the farmers' market on the banks of the beautiful Lake Wendouree on the weekend, on our way to visit Sovereign Hill. I was in a brunch mood and was dreaming about a classic toasted sesame-seed bagel with cream cheese (my go-to breakfast from the Thompson Cafe downstairs in my building when I lived in SoHo).

Unfortunately the friendly Round the Way fellas were way too sophisticated for that so, instead, I 'settled' for a slightly sweet filling of orange and chia-seed cream cheese. Let the person who didn't get so stuck into her bagel that she forgot to photograph it until half way through the meal complain about that!

Other options on the menu for the day were mixed berry cream cheese; smoked salmon with capers, red onion, fresh dill, rocket and cream cheese; a good old BLAT; grilled sheep-cheese with rocket, tomato and beetroot pesto; and a grilled chicken bagel with spiced Cuban rum, lettuce, tomato and lime mayonnaise.

Oh and freshly squeezed orange juice, to perfect the breakfast experience. We took our juices and bagels down to a bridge by the lake so Madeleine could watch the swans, and I promise I didn't throw anything to the ducks. Not even a crumb.

I'm eating my way through the wares of all the food trucks in Melbourne. Here's where I'm up to so far. The things I do for you guys.

Victorian dispatch - Sovereign Hill

It was a pivotal moment in time for Victoria. In 1851, gold was discovered in the area we now know as Ballarat. Thousands of adventurers and risk-takers rushed to the region and turned the muddy goldfields into a bustling town, all-but overnight. Within two years, there were more than 20,000 miners of countless nationalities working on the field. Visit Ballarat today and you can still see grand Victorian architecture everywhere, all built on gold. (Not literally you understand. At least probably not).

And just around the corner you will find Sovereign Hill, a place that recreates the atmosphere and events that existed in the 10 years following that momentous first discovery of gold.

I love a good historical tourist-attraction, I really do.

{Side note: when I was little I loved to visit Old Sydney Town and imagine myself travelling back in time. There was a "Time Tunnel" that you walked through to get from the place where you bought the tickets to the actual town. Eight-year-old Naomi harboured fantasies that she could do this MUCH better. For example, I would have built the Time Tunnel so that you couldn't see one end from the other. And I would have had swirling coloured lights (something like the ones on the cover of 'A Wrinkle in Time' which I was totally into at the time) throughout, deliberately creating a disorienting experience as you walked through the tunnel. Half way into the Time Tunnel, when you could no longer see the entry or exit points, there would be change rooms and the biggest dress-up box you had ever seen, with enough clothes to fit everyone. And you would have to get changed into period costume so that when you emerged in Old Sydney Town, you and everyone around you would look the part. That way, nobody (let alone a very romantically-minded eight-year-old girl), would need to suspend their disbelief. Pretty cool huh?}

Back to Ballarat...

At some point during Primary School, everyone in Australia learns about the Eureka Stockade, which happened on the Ballarat goldfields in 1854. It was a rebellion, and the most significant of its kind in Victoria's history. The rebels objected to the imposition of a Miner's License, an exorbitant form of taxation on their gold findings, and at least 28 men died, with many more wounded. It was a classic (and in this case tragic) Australian story of the common man standing up against an abuse of authority, despite the odds and regardless of the consequences.

So this is Sovereign Hill, circa last Saturday:

One of the handy things about being the mother of a toddler is that you can go to these kinds of places and pretend you are doing it for your child, when really it is all about you.

Actually Madeleine could not have cared less about where we were or the cool costumes people were wearing or the historical significance of the town. Her key interests were: climbing up and down muddy steps; looking at turkeys in a sheep paddock; imitating the calls of the crows flying above us; licking my toffee-apple and then smearing sticky, red, stains all over her face. Most of these (minus the turkeys in the sheep paddock) we could have done at home, without the entry fee.

We tried to interest Madeleine in panning for gold, but she was more interested in walking at top speed into the creek, completely oblivious to her inability to swim or the sudden-return-to-winter climate of the day.

For my part, I loved the whole shebang. In particular, the toffee apple was the first I'd had since I was about 10. It was really REALLY good. Better than I remembered the toffee apples of my childhood being. And I went home with a red, sticky face, too.

Junior fashion notes: Madeleine's adorable, furry vest was a gift from Target Australia. I must thank them (again) because it kept her warm and cosy on a very cold day, she LOVED wearing it, and I think she looked cute as pie in it, especially when teamed with skinny jeans and little love-heart sneakers (also from Target, purchased by me).

Please don't blame me for the non-matching hat (knitted by a kind volunteer at Mr B's work). Madeleine loves her hats, and she chose that one all by herself before we left the house.

A brief semi-political interlude

I eased myself down into Madeleine's bean bag on Saturday night to watch the Federal election coverage. It was predictably depressing. If you were following the Australian elections at all, you'll know what I mean. I read a tweet a couple of weeks back that said choosing a Prime Minister in this election was like choosing a boyfriend in prison. That about summed it up.

There were two happy moments, however. The first was watching the Greens get up in my electorate, against the odds and against all predictions. At a time when Australia seems to be growing increasingly self-centred, I felt proud (but also a little sad) to live in the only community in the nation that succeeded in giving voice to the Greens.

And that's all I have to say about politics (on this blog).

The second happy moment was when my daughter waddled over to the bean bag for a robust series of games of Stealing Mama's Headband, followed by Bouncing on Mama's Knee and then Tickling Mama's Baby-Belly.

Of such things (complete with impressive double-chin action) are cheerful Saturday nights made.

ps. Yes, those are moving boxes in the background. So exciting!

Bare feet

I had planned to bring you a Father's Day post today. I am truly blessed to have not only an amazing dad who (with my equally-amazing mum) gave me a wonderful childhood, but also a husband who is such an incredible father that he inspired I-don't-want-kids me to enter parenthood! That post is still to come. But today, I just couldn't resist bringing you this little barefoot angel. Sometimes (about two or three times a week), Mr B asks me, "Can you believe this is your life?"

He asks it when my baby throws herself backwards and upside-down into my lap and dissolves into giggles. He asks it when I slump in a chair, exhausted, wearing daggy maternity jeans from Target, stains on my shirt, and with hair looking like I've been dragged through a hedge backward. He asks it when my little girl throws a tantrum because I won't let her put her hand in the orange juice.

Then Mr B says, "When I met you in New York, you conned me!" He says this because when we met in New York I was single and fancy-free and had nice clothes and nice shoes and we had one of those first-date conversations during which you quiz one another about everything. Mr B quizzed me about children and I said "I love children but I don't want to be a mum."

I meant it. Really I did.

Last year I wrote about what changed my mind. If you're curious, you can read about it here. A week after I wrote that post, Madeleine was born.

Oh, Madeleine!

She is light and shadow.

She is willful, affectionate, funny, passionate, clever and loving.

When I carry Madeleine into the bedroom at night, she wraps her arms around my head and kisses me all over my face. When I tell her not to let the dog lick her food, she lets out a screech and tries to bang her head on the floor in fury. When I call "Bath time!" she bursts into giggles and runs away as fast as her chubby little legs will carry her. In the darkest hours of the night she wakes up and nothing - nothing - will calm her but to snuggle down in between us. If she finds one of her dad's dirty socks, nothing pleases her more than to place the sock on my knee and hear me say "Disgusting! Get it away!"

Today was the first day of spring, and the weather celebrated. There was a wind, but it was soft, balmy and floral. And for the first day in more months than I can remember, Madeleine went barefoot in the park. And for the first time in her life, she ran barefoot in the park.

Joy in my life, these days, is  bare feet. Chubby baby toes in cool green grass. It's watching Madeleine's dress billow behind her in the wind as she races, arms akimbo, toward the playground. It's shadows lengthening and sunlight, golden on my baby's eyelashes.

It's funny how life never ceases to tumble you into the unexpected, isn't it. I never would have expected motherhood to be part of my world. Yet as I type, Madeleine is sleeping beautifully in her cot after her energetic day in the wind and grass. Baby B2 is growing, waiting, dreaming, inside me.

Beside me on the couch, Mr B just pulled out his passport to make a visa application for a trip to China later this year. He is looking over all the old stamps, awash in nostalgia. Santiago. Heathrow. Addis Ababa. Rio. Seoul. Los Angeles. And so it goes. Once upon a time (for 10 years or so), Mr B travelled overseas for more than nine months of each year. Even after we met and he had left that job, he was off somewhere new in the world every few months, and travelling interstate every other week. I've talked before about how, when I came home from New York, we moved and moved and moved again, six interstate moves in just 18 months. I don't think Mr B could ever have imagined being as settled as we are now. Buying a house, renovating it, looking at schools for our children. Watching the Masterchef finale on TV (yay Emma!).

Life, you funny old trickster. I wonder what is in store next.

10 things probably only of interest to my mum

Consider yourself warned. OK, these things, in our lives lately (please forgive the dodgy iPhone snaps, I've been forgetting my camera around with me lately and I shouldn't).

1. A butterfly landed on Madeleine's head yesterday, which kind of freaked her out but I thought it was adorable. That face!

2. Walking the dog is so much more fun than I realised before Madeleine showed me the light.

3. Sometimes, gender-stereotypical behaviour is not learned but simply innate. For example, we did not teach Madeleine to love to wear and carry hats and handbags, to want to brush my hair and steal my headbands, to prefer her pink shoes over her tan ones, to drape my (expensive, Christian Lacroix) scarf around her neck, or to wear her plastic toy rings as bracelets and walk around the house holding her hands high to show them off. She figured these things out all by herself.

4. Note to self: if you have hidden your (expensive, Christian Lacroix) scarf from your daughter, don't let her anywhere near the toilet paper or she will innovate.

5. Lamingtons get the Madeleine seal of approval.

6. Homemade jaffles, lemon cupcakes, a cup of tea and a magazine feature all about our neck of the woods... that was a relaxing afternoon.

7. I am becoming rather bump-obsessed these days. This pregnancy coming so soon after the last one, le bump seemed to pop a lot earlier than I remember happening last year (was it only last year? Eek!). Baby B2 is kicking beautifully (I'm being pummelled at this very moment), and it's just as lovely to experience the second time around. Oh and another sweet something lately? Ruby has become very attached to my lap all over again. She loves a good bump, that cat.

8. Peppa Pig! Madeleine is soooo into Peppa Pig right now, even while in the pram, in the rain. You have no idea.

9. When my baby eats real food (as opposed to mush) I am ridiculously proud. This is what my life has become. Also, it is super handy to be able to share our meals. And cute.

10. We went to the zoo yesterday with some of Madeleine's little friends (and my grown-up friends) and she had SO MUCH FUN.

The end.

(11. I have only just noticed: Madeleine sure wears a lot of red!)

We have news

Our family has a little secret to share. In December, this little angel will become a big sister! We are thrilled and terrified and exhausted-in-anticipation, in equal measure. Have you had or do you know anyone who has had two children under the age of two? I'd really love your advice.

I made a book

I wanted to call it All The Things I Wish People Had Told Me About Parenthood But They Were Too Busy Going On About Sleep Deprivation, but it's only a little book and there wasn't enough room on the cover. So I called it Welcome to Parenthood. It's a little handbook that I made for my brother and sister-in-law, who are expecting their first baby in October. There's nothing earth shattering inside, and nothing controversial. I don't go into breast versus bottle, or immunisation, or co-sleeping or any of the other components of so-called attachment parenting. Whether they ask for it or not, there will be plenty of people dishing out advice on those issues!

Instead, I focus on the things I either had to go hunting to discover, or only found out too late, about welcoming a little bub into your life. Like, what exactly do you need to have ready on the day you bring baby home, and what can wait until later? What criteria should I consider when it comes to choosing a pram or carrier (or to deciding between the two)? Did you know that newborn babies make freakishly loud zoo-noises when they sleep? This scared the bejezus out of me and Mr B on Madeleine's first night at home.

These are the chapter-ish sections:

↑↑↑ WHAT TO HAVE READY AT HOME (What you'll need from Day 1, and what you can get later) - Getting dressed - Sleepy time - Change time - Bath time - Feeding

↑↑↑ GETTING OUT AND ABOUT (Prams, carriers and cars) - Never leave home without... - Pram or carrier or both? - What to look for in a pram - What to look for in a sling or carrier - When wearing the baby - In the car

↑↑↑ GETTING HELP (What's available and where to find it) - At hospital - Friends - Community help

↑↑↑ OTHER RANDOM TIPS

The book went at the top of a little care package I put together for my brother. Just little baby things that don't necessarily occur to new parents (at least, they didn't occur to me), but that end up coming in really handy. If you're curious, this is what went into the care package:

I hope they like it!

ps. I used Artifact Uprising to lay out and print the book, and I absolutely love the result. The paper is recycled and just a wonderful texture, it feels like such great quality. I added a lot more text than I think Artifact Uprising is normally designed to take, but it was still pretty easy to use. There are layout templates and then you just drop and drag images in after uploading them to the site. You create a frame if you want to add text anywhere, and adjust the size according to what you want. The little book cost me $12.99 plus postage. So affordable!

The many hats of Madeleine

Well hello there. How was your weekend? Madeleine has a confession to make: she is going through a hat fixation.

It's a serious obsession. The second she wakes up, her hand flies to her head to check for a hat. Perhaps it helps her feel secure and warm, since she has made it to the ripe old age of one and still doesn't have all that much in the way of hair.

If she's not already wearing a hat, she'll crawl around until she finds one and then hold it up to the nearest adult for us to put it on her. In moments of particular personal urgency, Madeleine will wear two or even three hats, one on top of the other.

Recently I took some photographs to record this strange obsession, so that I can show her when she's older. This is just a selection of Madeleine's hat collection. There are more, left behind at friends' places, in shopping centres, on footpaths...

Classics for kids

What do you read to your children? Madeleine cleaned up in the book department on her birthday, and I thought I'd share with you some of my favourites. Aside from a fabulous assortment of Madeline books (including a cutie I'd never seen before, Madeline at the White House), she also received some quite lovely board-books. Like New York City. This is such a beautiful book. The pages are cut out so that layers of the city show through - glimpses of parks beyond buildings, sky beyond skyscrapers, and old buildings beyond the new - just as they do when you look at a city in real life.

Baby Lit books: have you seen them? They're literary classics, reworked in bold and beautiful graphics and colours, for little ones. So in this case, Jane Eyre becomes a counting primer...

Alice in Wonderland teaches colours...

And Sense and Sensibility teaches... what? Why, opposites, of course!

Wintergram

In between feeling sick ALL OF THE DAYS, Madeleine and I love nothing more than to rug up and get out and about and walk the streets of Melbourne. Sometimes she sleeps, sometimes she sits up in her pram and sings, which makes everyone else walking the same streets smile and I think it is a wonderful talent to make strangers smile, don't you? Here are some snippets of our wintery walks, brought to you by the letter I for Instagram (this is me if you want to say hi or follow).

Some mornings the fog is so thick the city seems to disappear, and it is as though Madeleine and I are alone in our little bubble of love and sore throats.

A couple of weeks ago it was so cold and the clouds had that funny look I remember from when I lived in New York and I indulged in a delicious fantasy that lasted the entire way along Lygon Street and down Rathdowne Street that went along the lines of imagine if it snowed in Melbourne! But it didn't.

We like to eat out, me and my little two-teeth girl. And now that she is finally growing a few new chompers, Madeleine loves to experiment with new lunches every day. It is so much fun to watch her face as she tastes something new.

Where and what do we like to eat? Top to bottom: pizza and fizzy water at Brunetti's in Carlton; jaffles and baby beets by the fish pond at Grub in Fitzroy; rosebud tea and Persian love cake at the brand new Travelling Samovar in Carlton North (this place is so lovely it deserves a whole blog post of its own, coming soon); and a take-away mini raspberry cupcake from Sweet Source, also in Carlton North.

And just like that, last week the weather went all mild on us. Suddenly sunny and 16 degrees after lunch, we couldn't believe how balmy it felt. I introduced Madeleine to the joys of the park: the swing, the seesaw, the slippery dip... But what she loved most of all was crawling around in the bark and getting gloriously muddy and filthy. As you do.

ps. Giggles and kisses with dad, over a teeny-tiny mug of hot chocolate which cannot be seen in this photograph because it had been spilled all over yours truly.