Almost human...

I can't believe it - our little girl gave me a decent sleep last night, going down at 10:00pm (eventually, after several hours of crying and feeding) and not demanding another feed until 6:00am. Good thing Andrew convinced me that everything else can wait and we went to bed at 10:40pm. I'm amazed - she's not quite 3w old, too!

She's a bit of a chubby chops, and obviously loves her milk. I'm a bit of a jersey cow too so when I make milk, I make it in bucket loads. As a result she is stacking on the weight and at an outpatient clinic check on Tuesday (we went to ask why she is soooooo unsettled every night and see if they could help) we were told she'd almost gained a kilo since birth, weighing in at 4.8kgs (up from 4.1), which averaged out to a 57g/day gain since she left the hospital. They expect 20g/day and she's almost tripled it! So I daresay she will continue to top the charts like her brother did.

Unfortunately we've been hearing a lot of this... every evening for hours on end...


...which was the reason for her check-up. But apparently it's quite normal, we were just spoilt that Austy wasn't like this.

Talking of Austy, he continues to adore her and ask for cuddles one hundred times a day.

Luckily Madelyn sleeps well in the mornings, which gives Austin some Mummy time. Here he is on Tuesday having a marvelous time painting in one of his Daddy's yard tees. A smock is on order as soon as we can start getting Maddy to bed at a decent hour on a regular basis so I can find the sewing machine again. He asked me to make him one on Christmas day when he opened the easel from us. We managed to convince him that using the chalk and duster that Santa gave him would be just as much fun until I came up with the idea of adjusting Andrew's tee-shirt with a few pegs!!

And more news on the Austy front, the poor boy had his first sting yesterday... For some unknown reason our car battery went flat and while standing on the front porch chattting away to the roadside assistance man, he grabbed at his ear, pulled something off and threw it on the ground. About 30 seconds later he started to grizzle, which quickly worked up into a pained scream. I took him inside and put ice on his ear lobe which was already bright red and blowing up like a balloon, while Andrew and the roadside assist man were on the hunt for the culprit. I managed to get out of Austy that it was black, and big and had wings, but mostly he was upset about why it bit him, and for that my only answer was because it was being naughty. All this happened while Maddy was having an unsettled period so between the two of them it was quite loud in our house with me flitting between the two of them and cuddling both simultaneously while trying to hold ice to Austy's ear which looked quite painful with two stinger holes.

Andrew quickly found the source of the problem - a wasp nest under the window ledge to Maddy's room. Right where Austin was standing at the edge of the porch and just centimetres from Austin's head height. We don't know if he had touched the nest, or just had bad luck being the height he is, which might have threatened the wasps. Andrew removedd and sprayed the nest and went to the chemist for more panadol and cream. Austy was afraid to go outside again so when Andrew was sure the wasps were all gone he got Austy to come and tread on the nest and he squirted it away with the hose so now he knows they can't get him any more.

I got my belliance back!

Those were the words Austy used this morning while talking about swimming with Daddy yesterday afternoon. We are sure he means "confidence" but hey, I think his word for it is cute, just like when he couldn't remember the word for radio at about 20months and asked to "turn Daddy's moment on". What's more, he told me that his "belliance is here to stay and it's not going to go away again!"

So what was he on about? Well ever since he went to the toddler class at swimming and not the baby classes where I was allowed in the water with him, he has clung to the instructor, terrified to swim by himself. He had been swimming without holding on from about 12-18m but then his "bellience" dissapeared somewhere when I was no longer in the pool too.

But look at this....

His belliance is certainly back...

He swam to the edge all by himself!

Miss Madelyn is here!

Our darling daughter was just as stubborn as our mischievious son when it came to evacuating the womb! She was due on the 14th December but when I had my last check up at the obstetrician's office a few days later, we discovered she was nowhere near ready to pack her bags and get out of there. The ob feared she was going to be bigger than her brother who we had some dramas in getting out so the evacuation orders were in place for Friday the 19th.

I went in on the Thursday night to have gel tape applied and get things happening. Andrew went home at 11pm to get some sleep and I tried to sleep as well. Of course, I couldn't. Knowing my baby would be there the next day, and wondering if anything was going to happen overnight, worrying whether the labour would be as long, hard and as scary as last time were all factors that got in the way of the much needed zzz's. Then just as I did drift off, someone would press a buzzer or a baby would cry and I'd be awake again. I tried to tire my eyes a bit by handstitching the binding down on the baby quilt I'd brought in for that very purpose, but even that didn't work. I think I got maybe 2hrs of broken sleep all night, giving up when I woke at 5:30am and the midwife came in to do my obs.

My obstetrician came in and broke my waters at 8:15am and Andrew returned at about 8:45am and we wandered the grounds of the hospital for a bit, enjoying the beautiful day and waiting for contractions to start. They did, and got nice and regular quite quickly and a "show" an hour later gave me hope that my body knew what it was doing this time (none of that happened last time until massive doses of syntocin were given!). I wanted to avoid the syntocin at all costs as I knew that meant ultra pain and contractions on top of each other for several hours (going from past experience). So I was quite pleased that the contractions were good enough for the obstetrician to leave me alone for a while. She then got caught up delivering another baby so I was silently cheering as while she was busy, she couldn't hook me up to a syntocin drip!

Unfortunately she did eventually get to me though at around 2:30pm, and decided my contractions weren't close enough together to do much in the way of getting that baby out. So the syntocin came. And so did my tears... until I got a grip and decided just because I needed the syntocin again it didn't have to turn out the same way, and who cared if I needed drugs, all I wanted was for this baby to be healthy enough to room in with me. The ob started the drip on the lowest dose just like last time and left me to see if contractions would get closer. About an hour after she left, I started being sick, feeling like I could cope no longer and got teary again ordering an epidural (I figured nothing else worked with Austy so why bother!). The midwife I had was wonderful and positive throughout the whole labour, perhaps realising how scared I was the second time around, knowing what I was in for, and having had a bit of a hard time of it last time. She told me it was likely to be "transition" and got the baby stuff ready to encourage me. I told her it wasn't transition as it got to that point last time and nothing had happened - it was just the synto doing it - and I still had hours to go. She wasn't convinced, so told me to wait for the obstetrician before we made the epidural call!

My ob arrived and checked to find I had dilated 5cm in just an hour and it wouldn't be long before I was ready to push. She suggested I use the gas and since the anesthetist was nowhere in sight I gave it a shot. I couldn't believe what it did to me - the midwife told me it was on a low dosage just like I had asked for with Austin, but a few deep breaths and I almost passed out, scaring the life out of Andrew, and I couldn't move or talk for a few minutes, easing his anguish by responding to his frantic "Joy! Joy! Are you okay?!" calls with a very slow and slurred "I'm gooo-ooone..." That was it for the gas - the ob told them to take it off me as I was too relaxed!

She went off for her hairdresser appointment with her three kids in tow, and then as soon as she got out of the car, her phone rang to tell her to come back to the hospital as I was ready to push. She didn't muck around as she knew the pushing stage was super fast with Austin. She just had to get her husband there to take over with the kids and then she could come back to deliver my baby. Luckily, having not had an epi, I was much more exhausted than I was at that stage with Austy, so the pushing took a little longer giving her time to get there.

Our beautiful little princess, Madelyn Anneliese arrived at 5:05pm, weighing exactly the same as Austy (9lb,1oz) and measuring 51cm (1cm shorter than Austy) and having a head circumference of 34cm (1.5cm less than Austy). She seemed a bit smaller than him so I don't know where she put that weight. Instead of back fat like he had, hers was deposited on her rolly little thighs. So cute! She had also had the cord around her neck, although not twice around like Austin's so she didn't have to have it cut before she was out like he did.

As they took her to the table to be rubbed and wrapped, we both just stared in silence with our jaws dropped waiting for the cry that never came with our son until he had been whisked off to the SCN and out of my sight. And then suddenly she became nice and pink, and there it was. "Waaaaahhhhh aaaaaahhhh aaaaaaahhh!!" I can't tell you how wonderful it was to hear that sound! They handed her to me and I asked if she was going to be okay to stay with me. They told me she was, and I beamed at Andrew, realising that not only did I get my healthy little baby, but I managed the birth relatively drug free (except for the syntocin and those few puffs of gas), just as I had hoped for with Austy.

My recovery was quite quick too, I felt more like I had done a few push ups (thanks to holding onto the bed too tightly while I pushed) rather than had a baby. It was a huge difference to last time. She fed straight away (and for most of the first night until the midwives dragged her out of my grasp at 12:30am so I could have a couple of hours sleep until I rang the buzzer at 3am and demanded her back!). She loves her milk as much as her big brother does, and is certainly thriving on it!

Madelyn's personality is a lot different to Austy's at the same age (except for the milk guzzling and needing milk NOW!!!). She sleeps a lot during the day, but still wants to feed all night. With him, he was brilliant at night but awake most of the day staring at everything going on around him, taking everything in. She couldn't care less - give her a full tummy and a nice snuggly wrap and she'd much rather be in dreamland! She does get a fair bit of wind pain at the moment which upsets her a bit, but it's probably from the way she guzzles at the breast like she's never been fed and will do it again just 2hrs later.

Austy is thrilled to bits (as are we) and tells us often that he is glad she came out of Mummy's tummy, always asking for cuddles. He just adores her, which is wonderful to see. While the tantrums have stepped up a notch and the "listening ears" seem to spend more time switched off these days, he is always very gentle with her. We feel so very lucky to have two beautiful children, and one of each at that!

Oh and just look at how similar they look - it's unbelievable. Both photos were taken on their first car trip, on te way home from hospital. Austy is on the left, Maddy on the right.

Austy is THREE!!

How fast does time fly when you have kids?! It still seems like only yesterday that I held my boy for the very first time and am now about to do it all again, so I thought I had better get around to updating his blog before he shares it with his new baby brother or sister.

In the lead up to his own birthday Austy had a couple of other 3rd birthday parties to attend, one for his best friend James:

and on the same day we headed to anbother party in the afternoon, this time for Lizzie:

He had a great time at both parties and although exhausted and on the verge of a tummy bug that showed itself all over our rug that night (yeuckkk!), he was very much looking forward to being a big three year old himself.

He had already toilet trained himself about a month before he turned 3, as Andrew and I had a couple of weeks off work with teh October shutdown, and he decided on the first day of holidays that he didn't want to wear nappies anymore. We were silently cheering as we'd pretty much had him toilet trained during the day not long after his second birthday but with the news of a new baby on the way he went backwards and decided to wear nappies and be a baby, perhaps realising that the limelight wouldn't be all his in a few months time. But as the due date drew nearer, Austy has embraced the "Big Brother" gig and just can't wait.

So for his third birthday, we decided to throw him a real kids party rather than the standard family gathering, hiring a jumping castle and making kiddie cupcakes with butterflies and caterpillars on them (he chose them) and playing a couple of party games. The jumping castle was a big hit with everyone, and it was gorgeous to see his litle face light up and break into a ginormous smile as the man set it up out the back. Unfortunately though, since we'd decided to save our gifts for his actual birthday, the tears came when the man came back to take it down - Austy thought we had given him the jumping castle for his birthday!! He told the man he couldn't take it because it was his and kept yelling out "Stop, I don't like it - it's MINE!!" So we had a little chat and I asked Austy if the letters on the front of the castle were Austin's name. He looked at it and sadly said to me, "No, that doesn't say Austin". I told him it was the man's name because it was his castle and we were very lucky that the man let us borrow it for the party. So Austy politely went up and said "Thankyou man, for letting me borrow your castle, I had lots of fun!" then walked inside to play with his new toys. He is such a beautiful natured little boy (when he's not throwing tantrums!) and I am so proud of the child he has grown into.

For his birthday from us, his main present was a bike. His first ever bike as we had no room to ride anything at the old house. He was so excited when he firts got it, but since then the novelty has well worn off... he won't give it a chance to learn how to ride and wants to be pushed everywhere which is a little hard at the moment with my bump in the way.

So what can Austy do now he's 3?

* Counts to 20

* Goes to the toilet all by himself (although sometimes he puts his jocks on with two legs in one hole...)

* Dresses himself
* Builds great castles with his duplo

* Amuses himself for hours with his playdough

* Plays some educational computer games by himself

* Chats constantly to everyone he sees

* Remembers his manners

* Says "Gday" to guys, and "Hello" to girls (no idea why?)

* Really good at reasoning and will develop his own theories based on little things he's heard

Happy birthday gorgeous boy - we hope that the next year brings you lots of fun and new experiences, and we just know that you will make the best big brother ever!

Splish splash

Today we had some lovely spring weather, so Austy delighted in "dangling" in the pool. We asked if he wanted to dangle his legs, and a split second later all the clothes were off!

Here are a couple of pics from this week's dog sitting stint - we "borrowed" Jane and Norm's beuatiful girl for a few days while they all went on a road trip. Honestly we'd take her at every chance we got, she's got such a lovely personality, and as you can see there's a little boy here that loves her to bits. When she went home, he came home and started calling her, upset that she had left before he could say goodbye :( Fortunately they don't live far away so he went up for a visit today.

We are also very proud of him as he decided 2 weeks ago that he wanted to wear jocks. No more nappies for our boy, pull-ups included. We were a bit apprehensive about those first few trips out, but surprisingly we can count the number of accidents in that time on one hand, and part of that was because of a tummy upset. So in Austy's words he is a "Grand Champion!", a title he learned from playing Pyjama Sam on the computer. Yes, that's right. Computer games. If we don't get up straight away when we hear his door open, the computer is on, logged in as Austin, and a disc put in, game loaded and boy playing quite competently on his own! Where did our baby go?


And on the topic of babies, my belly is rather huge however much to my relief, bub is spot on for dates (unlike Austy who always measured 2-3w ahead). The pregnancy is going smoothly, not much to complain about other than tiredness (bound to happen with a nearly 3yr old to chase) and Austy is very much looking forward to being a big brother. Fascinated with babies, today he couldn't stop cuddling and kissing my friend's 8 week old son, more interested in him than the equipment at the park. So far, it looks promising!

Austyisms...

I know it has been like forever since I have been in here, and I really need to get down some of the cute things Austy is saying and doing lately. He is very excited about becoming a big brother in December, and today when an ambulance drove past as we drove home, the topic came up. He was telling me that someone needs to go to hospital and then we got onto the fact that I will have to go to hospital when the baby is big enough so the doctors can help the baby come out. He added "...and I will get some lovely flowers with Daddy to give to you in hospital and help you get better!" Isn't he a darling!?

Oh and he is just sooo funny sometimes. When I called the Chinese shop for takeaway on Saturday night (yep, the tiredness is getting to me lately with the housework, full days at work, chasing Austy around and trying to finish my Masters before the bub comes) I took 5 minutes to go and put some freshly folded washing away in Austy's room. He followed me, and then went to the bathroom, telling me he wanted to brush his teeth. No harm in that, I thought so I put the clothes away and then went to the bathroom to see how he was going. He got a bit of a surprise as I walked in the door, jumped, smeared something all over his face in the surprise and exclaimed "I'm getting ready to go to the Chinese shop!". Here is what he was REALLY up to... not brushing his teeth at all!

His favourite things at the moment are sewing and baking with me, or using his toy mower while his Dad mows the lawn with the real one. He likes to do anything where he can be our "special helper". He also likes playing on the computer after discovering the sesame street PC game at childcare in the kindy room one day. He came home super keen to play so we set up his "My first computer" that I got him in America that he had hardly used. After a few short sessions at it he had already mastered mouse navigation and knows most of the letters on the keyboard. I couldn't believe it when he started playing the alphabet game and instead of asking for single letters it was asking for short words, meaning he'd gone up a few levels all by himself!

He also had a fantastic day the other day at the concert of his favourite singer - Justine Clarke from playschool. He loves her music so much that he has to play it several times a day, and sings along to every song. We really must catch him on video soon, it's so cute watching him sing. Unfortunately he got shy as he neared the front of the photo queue, but his Dad grabbed a snap for me anyway as I had to be at work so missed the thrill on his face at the concert.

Thank goodness the weather is warming up as it has been so wet and cold, and there's only so much you can do inside with a very busy two and three quarters year old boy! I can't count how many batches of playdough I have made - it's been a LOT! But soon we will be spending more time out in the park, and the Adelaide zoo, wearing a certain little someone out!

It's nice to be home

After being away in the US for 10 days with work, it's so nice to be back with this adorable boy. It seems in that short time he has learned so much more and is telling us stories like the best of them.

Ever since I got back I have been smothered in a gazillion kisses, squeezled to bits and loved every second (except maybe the tantrums in the carpark tonight at the end of a long hot day for him). We spent the weekend doing Austy and Mummy things - Saturday was the animal expo where he had a blast, feeding baby goats and lambs, watching bunnies jump a course and ferrets run through tunnels, had a pony ride and saw the dogs and cats. He also got to play in a jumping castle, do some gymnastics and jump on a trampoline, smiling all the while.

We came home in time for swimming and were told he's ready for the big boy class (where I won't be in the water with him any more - he's just growing up soooo fast!).

Yesterday we hung out at home, playing with toys and a massive big afternoon nap after Saturday's fun. Today we had a public holiday so went for a swim at Aunty Katy's... or should I say Zachary's pool as Austy has decided to call it, and then home to paint. At the end of the painting we had one very messy boy so I gave him a mop bucket to wash up in out the back. While I hung out the washing, he decided to jump in and I took a thousand photos while he stayed put for once, amused by the fact he just fits in the bucket still!

This cheeky grin...

...was giggling at me, right there on the face of my nudey bum boy sitting on the front window sill right after he locked me out of the house!!!

He dragged out his dinner eating and then when it was jarmie time he asked me very nicely if he could "be nudey for a little bit please?" Obviously trying to put off going to bed, but he asked nicely instead of the usual screaming demands at me so I decided, why not? What's the harm in a little nudey run? I normally wrap up his nappy and dirty clothes in the nappy square I change him on and put it by the back door (on the tiles) to take out as soon as he's in bed, however this time I thought "He's happy, I'll just take this nappy out straight away". As soon as I was out the back I heard it. SLAM! The back door. For a second I thought it was fine, but then I remembered we had come straight inside when we got home from childcare, too hot to play outside, I didn't bother latching the back door so it wouldn't lock, thinking we'd be inside until after Austy went to bed. My reaction was to call out to Austy, bang on the back door (as if THAT was going to help!) and try to open a window thinking I had opened them only a day or two ago and that they might still be unlocked. No luck, so I ran to the back fence and called to the only neighbours I know in desperation, not wanting to leave the yard while Austy was locked in the house. We managed to get a hold of Austy's "Gwampaaa" and he said he'd be around with the spare key soon. Meanwhile, back in the house, what had our boy been doing?

His reaction to the realization that I couldn't get to him was to cry at first, making my heart pound even harder and my shaking in stress and worry get worse. Luckily that only lasted for a few moments before a flashlight went off in his head. I swear he thought, "Hey Mummy can't stop me, I can do what I like!" He opened the bib and facewasher drawer, climbed on it like a step, got up on the bench and took off with the roller door remote. The whole time I was making phonecalls with the neighbour, I could hear the roller door going up, down, up , down...

After a short button war with him trying to get the roller door to stay up for long enough to let me out the front where I could see him, I sat and talked to him out the front where he was sitting there in all his glory watching the door obey his pressing. Our neighbour came around to wait with me, as I was quite shaken by the whole thing thinking of all the awful things that might happen while I couldn't get to him. He suddenly got a worried look on his face and told me he needed to go to the toilet. I told him quick - you can go to the toilet on your own like abig boy. He started crying wanting me to take him, then it was too late and the carpet was wet. I think that's the only thing that upset him about the whole event - the door had already kept him amused for at least 15 minutes. At last Andrew's Mum arrived to save the day, telling me that his Dad didn't realise the urgency but she knew that when I said I was locked out that Austy would be inside and came straight over. The annoying thing is we used to keep a key hidden outside until recently - it was still out in the kennel from when we had our rottweiler, thinking he would guard it well for us. As soon as we stopped keeping the key outside, it finally happened.

Here are some pics of the day before, us both happily outside TOGETHER!

Couldn't resist

I stumbled upon this cute kids music when blog surfing tonight, just as Austy was having a meltdown because the dry bickie he was eating broke and the cheese had fallen off. I did attempt to make him happy by telling him he now had three bickies which was perfect as he also had three pieces of cheese. I put one piece on each bit of broken biscuit but he just wouldn't have it, after already throwing a tantrum and breaking down into a bundle of tears and screams because I had cooked him chicken shaslik instead of sausages with his vegies. I decided to ignore him and blog surf for a minute or two to see if he would calm down on his own since my help with the bickie only made him worse. As soon as he heard this gorgeous music by renee and jeremy, he instantly stopped crying. I went to their website and found their online mp3 player and all the lyrics so he sat on my lap and happily ate his cheese and biscuit while we cuddled, smiled and sang together. He went to bed singing "Falling back to sleep". So I thought it only fitting to link it here and have it playing on his special blog.



Austin really loves music, one thing I think he's picked up from me. Every morning he starts the day with a tune or two, mostly Old MacDonald's Farm, Baa Baa Black Sheep or Open Shut Them, but he has quite a repertoir now! When he was a baby and was upset, singing was the best thing for him. Luckily for him, I enjoy singing a few notes here and there. I learned and remembered lots of kids songs but what I was really looking for was something like this music. I have found it now, so will be keeping my eye on these artists as their music is soothing not only for children but for their parents too. I recently bought Austy "I like to sing" on DVD by Justine Clarke which he absolutely loves and likes to hear over and over. Originally it was a nice change from the Baby Classics (after 2 yrs of him asking to watch Peepo Duck) until I realised the songs although bright, fun and happy, were also very catchy and at a whole day scrapbooking workshop I found myself humming them over and over! "Can you make a laughing face?" Lets see how long this music lasts before I'm sick of it... I have a feeling it will last longer than Justine!

I think I might have to keep it under my belt as a little settling tool for those end of the day tired toddler tantrums - I was totally impressed with how well it worked tonight and hope it works that well for a while. It's such a nice way to spend quiet time with him before he goes to bed. Having the lyrics available is just wonderful as it's so easy to sing along, making him think it all the more special, gazing into my eyes and trying to sing along with me. Aaaawwww....

Autsty's "Thought of the Day"

Come ON Joy! I REEEEEALLLY must keep up. This little boy of ours is growing up at a frantic rate right before our very eyes and I just HAVE to write it all down so we can always remember these moments.

I realised today that while I had every intention of writing down what we have dubbed "Austy's Thought of the Day" comments, a few have slipped by without me doing so. I normally give Andrew a call as soon as the little guy comes up with one of his cute toddler brainwaves so that he gets to share in it too before I subsequently forget about it. I even bought a notebook for these things... but I packed it! So that's no good.

Andrew reminded me today when he rang ME to tell me one of these things Austy blurted out. His thought for today was "Austy cries, but Daddy doesn't cry". Insightful. And he's right. I've only seen a tear in Andrew's eyes a few times in our nearly 11yrs together, at times that I have been bawling my eyes out.

Austy has been asking for a baby sister for many months now (one night as I kissed him goodnight he asked for me to produce one in the morning and no, apparently a brother will NOT do) so it was no surprise tonight when he came out with "Mummy needs to have a baby sister for Austy. Mummy can have a baby, Daddy can have a baby. We can ALL have a baby sister for Austy. Then Austy will have a baby sister like James has a baby sister". James is his friend who you might spot over here at my good friend (and very talented friend) Emma's blog. Hmm... the pressure is ON!!

And the Thought of the day that started it all came out while we were packing up the kitchen goods into boxes over Christmas. "Cats don't open doors". No mate, they don't. Unless they are really strong and really clever. Not like Gryffin. I did have a cat like that once, who opened the door for his feline buddy, who kept miaowing at the door anyway. But that's another story.

And on the house front - we sold prior to auction with an offer too good to refuse. Austy seemed pretty excited about it. No more house opens means more family time, and soon we get to move into the new house he makes us drive past on a regular basis.

Austy in the river!

Austy had his first trip to the river yesterday (apart from the time he was 4 weeks old and draped in muslin wraps to try and protect him from the blowing gale and 40 degree sun!). He had an absolute ball!! They have upgraded the reserve since we last went, with a little barbeque shelter, and Austy's favourite, a climbing frame. It's meant for much older kids, but that didn't stop the little guy from scaling it all the way to the top and hanging onto the little swing disc things like a little monkey.

It took him a little while to get used to the bouyancy vest that we had on him from the minute he got out of the car till the minute he went back in it to go home, and he was a little scared of the river (unlike him as he's such a water bug), but he absolutely loved riding in the boat and once we got him used to the river he wanted to paddle and kick all afternoon.

He was thrilled that Lulu puppy could come along with his big cousins, and had a good play with her. Then he noticed something sitting with another family and asked "Want to go play with the purple kitten". We had no idea at first then he took me by the hand and lead me to a tiny chocolate coloured labrador puppy, 12 weeks old, named Cocoa. The owners were kind enough to let him pat her and we were told to be careful as she is a bit of a nipper. Then Austy exclaimed "She won't bite!", quite sure of himself too.

In the end it became a bit much and he zonked it... in my arms in the back of the boat while it was running! He must have been exhausted since this was the same kid that slept only 20 mins in the long car trip between Adelaide and Falls Creek (and I think we only got that much on the way back too). The nap was short lived though as Austy's Dad kept flooding the boat with his sudden stops, and within minutes he had us both saturated and the poor boy awoke with a start!

Still, he can't wait to go back again soon.

Looking for Santa

Looking for Santa
Originally uploaded by austysmum

Just look at this gorgeous boy! How can I resist smothering him in kisses every night when I send him off to bed when he looks so adorable?!

Austy has decided that far too much fun stuff is happening at the moment to let us put him to bed in the day time, and this was taken today, after another refused nap. So technically, he is not actually looking for Santa, although it does look a bit like that. The truth is that he was actually cross at me because I wouldn't let him out the front to sit in the boat while his Dad tried to start it since we told him he could sit in the boat IF he had a sleep and sadly had to follow through...mean mum I am!

So he watched from the window instead. I got a shocker of a photo just a second later though, as he suddenly realised what he was missing out on and bawled his little eyes out. I nearly caved... (broke my heart - he sure nows how to work those heart strings) but I didn't! We want this kid to listen to us when we ask him to have a nap, since he was still taking 3hr naps until Christmas day, so definitely needs them. Also we're not too keen on the moods he gives us in the afternoon when he's battling to keep those eyelids open with those beautiful long lashes of his!

Merry Christmas! From a TWO year old!

Little Christmas tree
Originally uploaded by austysmum

I know I've been slack lately and not posted much in here, but it's mainly because I think noone reads it, so I focus on my crafty blog instead. Plus, with the study back on and full time work and life with a toddler doesn't leave a lot of time for blogging.

But I really should do it. Austy comes out with lots of little stories now and I should be writing them down.

Our boy is now two!!

He can:
Take his clothes off
Put his shoes on (he has been taking them off for ages)
Sing a few songs from start to finish, including ABC, Twinkle Twinkle, Baa Baa black sheep, Glump Glump went the little green frog, and some other favourites
Count to ten (and actually count objects)
Recognise letters of the alphabet, like "A sor Austin!"
Go to the big boy toilet (although not all the time yet)
Sleep in his junior bed instead of a cot and is VERY good and stays in bed all night
Tell you where he lives (although we have some teaching to do as that will soon be changing to our NEW house!!!)
Tell you how old he is
Tell you his whole name
Recite books - especially Slinki Malinki ones
Tell stories about what he did a few days ago (or in the case of the "Powder Incident" he tells me every day on the phone!)

What is the "Powder Incident"? One day before he hit two and we changed his cot into a bed, Andrew went to get him one morning to find Austy safely in his cot and nappies and powder EVERYWHERE!
He couldn't work it out and rang me at work to see if I had left the room like that. "Of course not" I told him. "Maybe Austy opened the drawer from the cot and pulled everything out that way?". He told me he must have a pretty strong arm then, and went to get the camera form the living room to send me a photo. As he returned, there was the scalliwag balancing precariously on the edge of the cot as he climbed onto the change table! The following week the cot was CONVERTED!

Austy loves our new house too! He kept telling us to buy the pool with that house (rather than the house with the pool), and after the auctionj, once I told him the house was ours, he squirmed out of my arms and ran to the pool "Swim in Austy's pool now!?" He semi asked - semi demanded! No mate, we can't just yet. On the way home he asked us "Did you have fun at Austy's house?"

Funny kid.

Anyway, we wish you all a happy Christmas and I hope to keep the blog updated in the new year as the cutest little stories keep coming out of his mouth!

New BIG BOY Shoes for Austy!

So Austin is a big 18 months old today (oh crap, that means more needles now, right?). In celebration we decided it was high time we got him some real big boy shoes, as the robeez "botbot shoes" weren't supporting his feet enough anymore and he tends to walk on the insides of his feet. Plus with the wet and cold weather outside recently we wanted his feet to stay warm and dry.

So, out with the old...




In with the new... a pair of Clarke's first walker boots for our little man.


It was so funny watching him try them on in the shops. It was just like he was learning to walk all over again. Or like he was trying to balance on a pair of stilts! He has been grabbing on to my leg for balance since we put them on him and asking "hand, mummy, hand" as he reaches out his own chubby little fingers to me. So cute.

So what can he do now he is 18 months old? If you ask him how old he is, he smiles and giggles out "One!". If you ask him how big he is he reaches his hands up as high as he can and says "Big!". He can feed himself with a fork or spoon (just) but still prefers us to help him and if you hand him a spoon ful of food, instead of taking hold of it he reaches his mouth down to it. He can take off his sleeping bag and tosses it over the cot (time for a big boy quilt, I think - off to my quilting friends house this afternoon so she can help me make one for him), and horror of horrors, takes his nappy off and promptly falls asleep only to wake up with the cot saturated!


He chats away like a 2 year old, and when I get to childcare he happily shows me around telling me where the fan is, the door is, the toys are, the lights are etc. etc. Then tells me to "get Austy's bag" and then "name off" and he likes to take his own name off the board now - if I do it, he takes some other child's name off which I have to put back. He loves planes and helicopters, cars, trucks and buses, and PUPPY DOGS! He is very excited to help us look after Lulu for a little while while Lulu's family find a new house. We tell him about it often and he is really looking forward to it. He had a great time in the city today after buying the new shoes as the animal welfare league had a stand in the mall, with some very well behaved dogs waiting for cuddles and I let him put some money in the money box, which is another favourite activity of his. Looks like he will take after his Dad in the money saving department!




Here he is at Mum's group last Friday, cream cheese sandwich spread all over his face, sand toy in hand, mummy made'ems tracky top on and squealing with laughter at the dogs that live at his friend Viviene's house. I'll leave you with this picture for now, and come back with stats later on when I get a chance to measure and weigh him. My baby is growing up! Such a little boy now, and oh so much FUN!

Just for fun

Austy still fits in "Gwibby's" basket... just!