Time flies when you are having fun!

Hi everyone

well, finally started some maternity leave which has been great. Here i was thinking i can relax a bit, but there is heaps of stuff to get done before bubs is born...you know, like arranging raffle prizes, house stuff and a bit of cooking. Im almost one week down today with about 6 weeks before the big arrival...i think my body will say slow up a bit before my brain engages and tells me to!

The house, well....it started in a blaze of glory then we didnt see the builders for almost 2 weeks! Although they did grace us with their presence a couple of days ago and put the steel beams up (apparently there was a delay in the ordering)...its nice to see it all come together - even if it is slowly!

Ive tried my hand at being a bit high tech...we have had a couple of those digi frame thingy's given to us (almost a couple of xmas's ago)...but ive never really felt the need to get pictures on them! Well, last night i bit the bullet and went through a few of melon's photos (bit emotional really) and got them sorted to put on. So hopefully by the end of the week, we will have at least one of the two up and running! I think i will leave the second one for the new edition...

What i did discover was a few new pic's (or ones i havent seen in a pretty long time)...so i will post them below.

Anyways...better scoot for now...got a few more jobs to do before heading into bairnsdale this arvo.

For those that have asked, Im travelling really well and just clicked over 34 weeks. Amazing to think how fast that time has gone. Still pretty much walking every day and still feeling relatively comfortable. Feeling lots of movement which is great (and comforting)...although the kicks in under the ribs is a tad uncomfortable at times...i think bubs will be born with a few bruises as i sure do alot of poking (especially when he is positioned where he is not supposed to be!).

Anyhoo...take care everyone...and remember, if you would like to get involved with Worlds Greatest Shave, just email me at eli-simpson@hotmail.com

luv and sunshine

the simpsons

xoxoxox

Eli on his first birthday

dad and melon out and about (and proud as punch!)

mmm...mum's glasses...noice

first day after diagnosis...only 15 weeks of age...and we have all lived a lifetime.

Baby steps

Hi guys

i think its been a month or so since i last blogged...again, like many of you, we have all been pretty busy...

First things first though...we have finally had a fair bit of progress on our house...its amazing how things come together so quickly! Within about 3 weeks, we have had bricklayers, plumbers and just yesterday, the slab was finally poured...quite exciting stuff to watch really. Our builder said that he should be around mid next week to finally start putting the frame up...which will be terrific (and apparently definitely no turning back)...due to all the delays with council, we are sure we wont be in before bubs arrives, which is no great distress to us...we have been in the cottage now for nearly 4 years and love it here...even though it really is a little bit tiny! but its home and we have some really great memories here.

So, i will post some pic's as the new house comes to life...and keep you updated.

We cant believe we have just ticked over 31 weeks with our pregnancy. That time has absolutely flown...its hard to imagine that we are going to be a mum and dad again in around 10 weeks time, and eli is going to be a big brother. Its great to know that Eli will always be there for this baby, and he will very much be with the simpson family as we move forward. I feel so proud of all those mums and dads out there who have lost a child and they decide to have another baby. It is one of the hardest decisions i think any parent makes as the experience of losing a child never leaves you. Its remarkable to hear people say "you can finally move on now, you have another baby"...we can never move on, or past the loss of a child. All we can do is take baby steps forward and learn to live with the pain. Its hard for those who have not lost a child to understand that, and i certainly acknowledge that everyone is so different. But pete and i are part of a lucky group who has managed to keep our lives together and add another chapter to it. One that we are really looking fwd too and one that we know eli will continue to be a part of for as long as we live.

Anyways...best fly...there is a break in the weather so i can get some more pictures of the slab.

For those that are interested, please take a look at www.worldsgreatestshave.org under team Melonhead to sponsor us...we have done so well this year, almost $1700 raised...a phenominal effort...

If you would like to be involved in the shave this year, please write to me at

eli-simpson@hotmail.com and let me know...

even if its just to help out with a few raffle ticket sales!

anyways...take care everyone and will write again soon

luv and sunshine

the simpsons

xoxo

the slab! finally...

preparation is the key!

petes retaining wall...stirling job!

rest of slab (eastern side of house) The concrete men...bit blurry but you get the gist

xmas, birthdays and HOUSE!

Hi guys

wow...i cant believe its been 2 months since we last posted. Like everyone, our lives have continued to be extremely busy, with lots of things to do...

Xmas was a fairly low key affair really. We put up our lights again (with no mishaps this time!)...and i reckon they looked great...we had heaps of cars stop and have a peek! I remember how much i loved xmas lights as a girl, so its nice to do something for the local kids! I think our place is on the 'xmas lights map'!

Santa was extremely kind to us both this year...As with every year, pete and i went to kmart - to the wishing tree and bought something for a little boy Eli's age in Eli's memory. Its always a tough gig really, because you never know what 3 year olds are going to like...i just hope whoever received the gift loved it...I think its a tradition we will always carry now...and nice to do something for someone less fortunate at xmas time, as well as remembering melon.

The excavation on the house block FINALLY started just before xmas...it was a real tease actually because then we had to wait until 17 Jan to see some posts go in the ground so the concrete man can lay the concrete. We are very much hoping to see more action this week.

So things are FINALLY moving on the house front. It would be wonderful to see Melon's Cottage open for all and sundry by around October this year...we are both really hopeful it will happen!

Pete and i went to melb on 9th Jan to participate in the City to bay Fun Run which supported Challenge this year...apparently, just over $52,000 was raised at the event...bloody fantastic. It was so lovely to catch up with Micka (who we spent alot of time in hospital with)...I volunteered for bag duties (along with another 8 or so ladies)...and pete did the run. It was so lovely to be a part of...Bit hard with a big pregnant belly, but we got there...and everyone looked after me! Pete was happy with his run (although had never really run with almost 3o00 people, so that was a test for him!)...it was a great weekend away really.

My birthday has come and gone for another year...and we have started getting ready for our new arrival - "nesting" is probably the best word for it! Again, some really difficult decisions to make (as the cottage only has 2 bedrooms, ours and Eli's)...Eli's room has been pretty much left until the last month or so, but the time has come to get some stuff sorted. We bought up some stuff from the shed and repacked the draws with what we could...and we bought a new cot for the new edition...something we wanted to do. There have been many tears over the past 6 weeks, and i really empathise with parents who have lost children...where do you start to pack up memories...what do you hold onto, and what do you let go. I guess i go by my own rule, if it doesnt feel right, or I dont know what to do with it, i wait until the time is right, that way i will have no regrets...boy oh boy its a real test though...making room for number 2, without losing Eli's memory. Anyways, i know we will get there in the end and we will make the right decisions for us as a family.

We are also gearing up once again for World's greatest Shave...so if you would like to sponsor us, just go to

"www.worldsgreatestshave.org" and sponsor a team/individual. Like previous years, we have kept "Melonhead" as our team name, or you can sponsor me - Jodie Simpson from Victoria. I know its a tricky time this year, with so many people needing $ due to the horrendous floods we have experienced. There is absolutely no pressure, just if you can...

If you would like to join team Melonhead and shave, please let me know at eli-simpson@hotmail.com

This year, eli is very lucky to have his 3 cousin's support - Kyle, Blake and Connor. Connor starts school this year, and after speaking with them yesterday, they are all very keen to shave their heads at their school in memory of melon...It should be a ripper day.

We are also running a raffle this year...so if you would like to help us sell raffle tickets, please let us know...the more the merrier...we are just trying to secure our first and third prizes, but they will be rippers...

anyways...best sign off for now...

will try and get some pic's posted, and get some regularity in my postings...i promise!

Thanks all so much for your continued support of the simpson family, and may they year 2011 be a ripper for you all.

love and hugs

the simpsons

xoxox

Our first and only xmas with Eli...

Me and Micka at the City to Bay (Micka is NATURALLY SKINNY)..lol

Always a memory on our tree

Micka from Challenge...great work boss!

2nd year anniversary

Hi guys

well...its now 2 years since Eli gained his angel wings and left us...i really dont think this thing gets any easier...perhaps it gets more bearable for the times in between these anniversaries, but the days themselves are still extremely difficult.

We didnt really plan much today...just got up and spent some time in his room and lit some candles. We got out into the garden again and put up some solar lights (i reckon you can see the cottage from the moon!)...and then welcomed David Rogers - CEO of Challenge - Supporting Kids with Cancer to our Melon's cottage to see if it will fit the bill of becoming a respite area...amazing effort for david to travel from melb to lakes and spend a couple of hours with us...David said that challenge would be super keen to use the cottage for families so we are closer and closer all the time to getting our dream up and running...it sure has taken a while, but something we have wanted to do...just need to build the house! All the ducks are lining up which is great...sometimes patience really is a virtue!

It was good timing for David to come down on melon's anniversary. It really helps us keep on track as well as keeping melon's memory alive.

thanks to those who have sent a poem to us...i have a couple i would like to share...(and one you have probably heard before but it is just lovely)...

Im not sure who wrote it...

I thought of you with love today

but that is nothing new

I thought about you yesterday

and days before that too,

I think of you in silence

I often speak your name

All i have are memories

and your picture in a frame

Your memory is my keepsake

with which i will never part

you spirit lives within me,

forever in my heart...

The other one i would like to share came from Aunty Hayley, Uncle Dale, Kyle, Blakey and Connor..

It doesnt need a special day

To bring you to our minds

for days without a thought of you

are often hard to find

A brave little soldier, a special little face

someone we loved so much and cannot replace

Eli, you are close in our hearts and there you will always stay

loved and remembered every day.

The other phrase that was sent which is truly spesh is from Wamma - Eli's grandma in WA

Gone from our sight

never far from our hearts

where he shines with the brilliance of a thousand suns.

Miss you every single day Eli Charlie Simpson...and love you forever

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Phew!

Hi everyone

im sorry its taken THIS long to blog...as always, work and play has kept us away...keep reading and you will understand!

what a couple of months it has been for us...

I will start off by saying that I attended the light the night celebrations on 15 September...thanks so much to those of you who joined me in the treasury gardens. It was a lovely night...i thought i would be ok to be honest, but found it extremely overwhelming when i first got there...so many old and new faces, and sad to hear the new leukaemia stories which have affected peoples lives...if you ever feel the need to feel humbled, attend one of these nights...it truly is a very special time to share the success stories as well as the grief and to remember loved ones lost - regardless of the age of the patients.

a couple of pics for you to enjoy below!

I got to put a candle in the first "E", right in the middle...The effect of the candles took my breath away

You kind of get the feel for evening with all the gorgeous balloons...

Tania Cushion from the LF and me...Tania spent a fair bit of time in hospital with Eli and us...she is a good stick and it was awesome to catch up with her again...

we have also FINALLY made progress on our house...i wont go into details, but i can say the hold ups due to the ridiculous red tape has been the only factor. On a good note, our planning permit came through about one week ago. Given the delay however in permits, our builder cant start now until after christmas...it has been a very 'character building' experience for us both...we just cant wait to see the thing started...the closer we get to the house 'happening', the closer we will be to opening up melon's cottage...will keep you posted on progress!

Speaking of the cottage, a massive THANKS goes out to Anton and Dianne from MinterEllison who is helping us through the paperwork and legal stuff to have the cottage all systems go. We still have some time before we formalise everything (surprise suprise, we have to wait until the house starts), but we have some really 'firm' ideas on how its all going to come together which is great. Thanks anton and dianne...you have taken a massive load off pete and i...it has meant the world to us....We also have David Rogers - CEO of Challenge, supporting kids with Cancer heading down in November to have a look at the cottage. All our bookings for use of the cottage will be done through Challenge, so we are keen to get his thoughts on how it might work from their end...yep...its all starting to come together! Whooooohoooo

The chooks and i have have continued to be very busy over the past few months...with the angel ball wrapped up, we have turned our attention to more fundraising...all of us have been busy with the needle and thread and are whipping up some fantastic bags, purses and crafty stuff for xmas markets...if you are interested at all in any of our wares, let me know...i will try and get some pic's on the blog...any interest, just email me on eli-simpson@hotmail.com...we can do mail orders if needed...ALL proceeds will get divvied up between challenge, angel flight and the leukaemia foundation...

speaking of Angel Flight, i did our first 'official' presentation on Angel Flight to the Metung Lion's Club last month...it went really well and i think touched a few people..its easy talking about something you are so passionate about...its all about raising awareness of the wonderful work these charities do for regional people...they did a great job with an 'on the spot auction'...raising $105 for angel flight (by auctioning off a little angel bear and a $20 meat voucher)...it was really overwhelming and great for angelflight!...

The other thing the chooks have been consumed with is attending Bingo here in lakes on a monday night through the month of october..the lions club of lakes entrance supports community groups by allowing them to work for 3.5hrs on a monday night (setting up tables and chairs, serving tea and coffee etc) for a total of $1000 at the end of the month. This money will come in extremely handy as it will allow the chooks to run events under our own banner because we now have enough money to pay for public liability insurance. To date, we have run our events under the charities banner as we havent been able to afford our own insurance. Any money left over from the insurance will be donated...so we are really looking fwd to doing stuff on our own!

A big cheerio as well to a local chap and his gorgeous wife - Bob and Ursula Crosdale who donate money to AngelFlight through the sale of their paintings, a percentage of sale gets put aside and donated. If you would like to help us by setting up something similiar, please let me know and we can help you. It is awesome to have bob and ursula on board and if you see bob around Lakes selling his paintings (which are AwESOME by the way)...please support him as some of your money will go to one of our charities!

We have had a bittersweet couple of months. We are coming into the time when the 'anniversaries" are happening...our love and thoughts go out to Chad, Alex and Nick, who all passed away within a couple of months of Melon. We take comfort in the fact that they all are up there somewhere mucking around and eating twisties. They all knew each other. Its sad to think that our four beautiful boys were taken from us so close together. This will be the glue that binds our families together forever.

It would have been eli's third birthday on the 28th Septemeber...to think that our little man would have been three is amazing to us. What would have he been like? What would he have looked like? Would he have eaten all his vegetables? Would he have looked like a simpson or a smith? So many questions we will never know the answers too. HAPPY BIRTHDAY our baby boy...we miss you everyday...

Melon on his first birthday....love you loads melon...today and EVERY day

life is so bittersweet...Nick's mum Belinda just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Isabella Rose...we wish them all the very best...Nick would have been a fantastic older brother, and im sure he would have been as proud as punch.

The other bittersweet news i guess is that Eli is going to be an older brother...pete and i are expecting a little baby around 21 April. We are trying to keep things ticking over as normal, and are very keen not to have 'fuss'...We are both excited but sad. We know that melon will be watching over us all...and number '2' will grow up knowing that his/her brother will always be around us.

Thats the majority of our news now...i hope you can understand that even though it has been a while since posting, we have been extremely busy...(and ive been a bit crook with morning/day sickness which has left me with not much energy to do too much, and to post!)

our love goes out to you all.

lots of love and sunshine

the simpsons

xoxox

Some more goss and pic's

Hi everyone

its been another busy week, and we are moving ever so closer to the house being built...still waiting on council stuff, but at least we have our quote now...i guess thats one of the biggest things! :-) will definitely keep you posted...we cant wait...so close!

I have also added the pic's as promised below...they are a bit of mish-mash, hope you enjoy them.

our next little 'fundraising' jaunt comes in the form of supporting the RSPCA - with cupcake day...the chooks are catching up next weekend to make some yummy cupcakes! No doubt we will have a fair bit of fun with them...hopefully will get some pic's when we make them...

Its been a fairly quiet weekend here in the simpson house which has been terrific. Has allowed me to finish my nephews quilt (his 7th birthday in a couple of weeks)...and will head off for a walk soon...gorgeous weather! Just needs to be a tad bit warmer...

anyways...enjoy the pic's and will be in touch again soon.

big kisses go out to Pa Smith who hasnt been feeling so well...love ya loads pa...

luv and hugs

the simpsons

xoxox

The "Chooks & Roosters"...

Back 4 - from left to right - Monica, Leona, Darren and Natalie

front 4 - from left to right - Marnie, Belinda, me and 'angel tony'...

Excitement builds...definitely the best "EVER" decoration effort...

Getting right into the christmas in july theme!

Pete and I rattling tins for Challenge...apparently all the volunteers raised just over $5000 at the game! great effort...

Busy again

Hi everyone

im so sorry to blog again so late...it feels like its forever between blogs now, but rest assured, we are keeping ourselves PLENTY busy...

A few things that have happened over the past month have included selling raffle tickets for our angel ball, rattling tins for Challenge at the MCG and holding our 2nd Angel Ball!

So, i will start at the start!

in early july, pete and i did our 'turn' at selling raffle tickets for the Angel Ball. We set up at the metung market which proved to be really good...we ended up selling around 2.5 books (around $125 worth)...we were stoked because it really was an awful day weather wise! The beautiful 'chooks' have been selling the tix, with all proceeds going to Angel Flight...Just remember, that if you know someone who is travelling to melb from the country, Angel Flight might just be able to help you out with a trip! They are a fantastic mob to work with...very very positive!

Anyways...i think we raised around $2000 from our raffle (major thanks to Travelscene in Bairnsdale for donating 1st prize, Dahlesens for 2nd prize, Terry white's chemist for 3rd prize, RACV for 4th and Bairnsdale Fine Jewerllry for 5th)...all of our local businesses around bairnsdale have done a fantastic job yet again with their donations...awesome...without them, we wouldnt have been able to do what we did!

So, we held our Angel Ball last weekend and raised just over $5,000 all up...it was a terrific night. Lots of fun, dancing and frivolity...cant wait to hand over the final cheque for angelflight, thats for sure...we had a wonderful 'christmas in july' theme, and were really lucky to have a few grabs on the radio and lots of coverage in the newspaper...i will try and put some pic's on a bit later (as they filter through).

A massive thanks to Darren Chester MP who mc'd our night, and of course to Angel Tony who is a pilot for angel flight and has flown many missions...we had a great time!

the other thing pete and i have been involved with is raising money for challenge - supporting kids with cancer. We took up the offer of 'rattling' tins outside the MCG just before the Collingwood/St Kilda match...im not sure yet what the total was that was raised, but geez it was fun (and a bit cold)...Challenge are spruiking their "Great Aussie Pie Night". If you would like to know a bit more about challenge, or would like to get a team organised for their great aussie pie night, head to: www.challenge.org.au...just take the time to have a look at their website...they really do a fantastic job.

When melon's cottage is up and running, we are planning to work closely with Challenge and the Leukaemia Foundation to work the booking system to get families down to stay...we hold both these organisations in high regard...

Our house is slowly coming along...we are hoping like crazy we are at the 'pointy' end of it all...we are almost through council planning, and are waiting on a quote from our builder which is only a few days off...then the fun will begin...and we can get started on the good stuff for melon's cottage...

anyways..best fly...am planning on spending some time with my nephews, Blake and Connor and my gorgeous sister Hayley today...thinking about heading to the movies!

enjoy your day...and i will be on again shortly for all the pic's

luv and hugs

the simpsons

xooxoxox