A special post for Wednesday 17th December - I finally managed to get a shot of George's teeth (only four weeks after they poked through!).

This post is for w/e Sunday 14th December 2008.

After two weeks of George waking at 4.30am, I decided to try him on solids so see if that would help squeeze a bit more cot time out of him (I don't know if it is the food but he is sleeping a bit longer - 5.15am on Sunday and Monday and 5.50am today (Tuesday). He's had plain Farex for a two days, then Farex and apple for a couple and yesterday banana and Farex. He seems to quite like it - I'd forgotten what a messy business it is!

Here's one of his first tastes of Farex.


And a shot to show that the thumb is still very popular!

On Wednesday 10th it was the Bear Park Christmas party. The farm animals came and so did Father Christmas. For the first time in three Christmases, Joseph was really into the whole thing. He patted the dogs, tried to brush the horse's coat, went for a ride on the horse and squashed the turtles into their bucket. Joseph wore one of this Christmas tshirts from Grandma Milly (and a few other children had similar ones on too!).


When Father Christmas arrived, Joseph was right in there and wedged himself as close as possible. He received two books from Father Christmas...we have been reading them a lot over the weekend!

Joseph is getting the hang of Christmas and has been talking about wanting to "go to Christmas". I'm not entirely sure what that means but I did mention today that Christmas will be coming to our house next week (but only if he's good and does everything Mummy, Daddy and his teachers say!). We're going to get a Christmas tree this weekend so I think he'll be quite into it once that's up!

Finally, the weekly brother shot - admitedly not the best shot! Joseph likes to compare the size of their feet, noses, fingers etc - he's quite good at the difference between big and small ("I got a bit bigger nose, he got a small one"; he's a bit smaller").

This post is for w/e Monday 8th December 2008.

I'm a couple of days late getting this post up...it is only Tuesday and already we're having a busy week. Joseph has become a model night time sleeper while George has taken the "bad sleeper" mantle. Dan and I are both feeling tired!

The week started for George with a visit to the GP for his five month immunisations and then Plunket the next day for his five month check. He's firmly entrenched on the 50th percentile for weight and still on the 75th for height. At the same age, Joseph was the same height but a full 1.5kg heavier!

Here's the updated weight chart...as Dan pointed out, spot the outlier!

Grandma Milly has sent over a selection of comedy Christmas t-shirts for the boys. On Sunday, Dan took Joseph to a Christmas street party with Jo and Lizzie...to get in the festive spirit Joseph chose a shirt to wear. Unfortunately he chose one with a rather snug fit!


On Monday and Tuesday (ie yesterday and today), George spent a few hours at Bear Park on his "familiarisation" visits. He was really good and seemed to enjoy himself.

Joseph is taking a bit of time to get used to the idea of sharing "his" Bear Park with George, especially his old Fantail teacher, Hiromi ("George not staying with my 'Romi". He spent most of George's visit on Monday hanging out with us in the Fantail room. I managed to snap a couple of shots of the boys together!

This post is for w/e Sunday 30th November (George's 5 month "birthday").

This week has just flown by...Dan was away over the weekend competing in the Taupo Cycle Classic; 160km in 4 hours, 36 minutes (an improvement of 30mins over 2007's time!) so that it meant it was just me and the boys for a couple of days.

George celebrated his 5 month "birthday" on the 30th...he enjoyed sucking his thumb and dribbling. He is still learning to sleep on his tummy and we keep having to get up during the night to "reset" him! I keep finding him in different positions in the cot.

The boys' Great Aunty Aida came over on Thursday night, just in time to give George his night time bottle.

During the weekend, Joseph and I put some bread and the rest of the beetroot cake out for the birds. Once we'd done that, Joseph told me to "go away" - I snuck up on him later on and caught him eating the cake!

On Sunday, once Dan was back, Joseph and Dan started doing some work around the house. Joseph, as always, was keen to help and here he is "painting" the deck (with water).

Finally, here's a picture of the two brothers taken tonight. George had his five month injections today and goes to Plunket tomorrow for his weigh in. Look out for an updated weight chart next week!

This post is for w/e Sunday 23rd November 2008.

George's second tooth has popped through the gum too - so, now he's busy chewing even more trying to get them through the I would imagine! There's lots of dribble too so I wouldn't be surprised if some more pop up.

We have been harvesting some lovely strawberries from our garden over the past couple of weeks. Joseph and Dan water the plants together at the end of the day. Here is Joseph with a good specimen. They also grow strawberries at Bear Park and on Friday night Dan helped out by taking some of our netting and placing it over their plants.

On Wednesday, after his morning sleep, I found George looking very cute in his cot (and in a cute outfit from Val and Steve!).

Once he'd woken up a bit more he rolled over on his tummy and was having a great time pushing against the bars with his feet.

Joseph and I experimented making a cake on Sunday afternoon (chocolate and beetroot)...it needs a bit of tweaking before I can release it for wider consumption but (quite) a bit of icing meant that Dan and Joseph tucked into it!

Finally for the week, a picture of the brothers!

This post is for w/c Sunday 16th November 2008.

We had some lovely weather this week which meant Joseph wore shorts and tshirts all week (no shoes and no long sleeves even though it was a bit chilly in the mornings!) and George busted out a few tshirts as well. He wore this funky "playsuit" from Vikki...it is really cute and I hope he gets lots of wear out of it!

George has been spending a bit of time in the exersaucer, building up his stamina. He likes to suck the edge (as per the picture). I thought he was just "exploring" but on Friday we discovered that his first tooth has come through! The centre bottom left tooth. It is hard to see as every time you try and pull his lip away he uses his tongue to check out your finger! I did have a bit of a looksee yesterday though and I could see the centre bottom right one sitting there as well.

We had a out first "family of four" holiday when we took off to visit Tracey and Brett in Havelock North. We had a great time, the boys were great in the car and travelled really well. Tracey and Brett have three boys - Tom (9), Blake (nearly 7) and Olly (3) - it was quite full on and Joseph took a bit of time to get used to things. However, they have loads of great boy toys - diggers, bikes, a trampoline, a rope swing and a huge sandpit (or sand pip as Joseph calls it!). Joseph and Olly got on really well - here they are having a ice cream cone after their bath.

Joseph tried all the different bikes - trikes, glide and ride, scooters and his favourite, the tractor.

We've also gone cold turkey on Joseph's bottle - he's not had one since Friday. He did cry for it last night and this morning (40 mins of grizzling at 4am!!) but we have been steadfast in our resolve (even though we're tired now!). I've hidden them all away in a cupboard so he can't find them. Now for toilet training!

Another first was Joseph and George sharing a bath. I'm not sure either boy was convinced this was a great idea!

This post is for w/e Sunday 9th November 2008.

A momentous week for us in that George "slept through" (ie from 7pm - 6am) on three nights!! Very exciting - it would have been even better if this had not coincided with Joseph doing particularly poor sleeping at the same time!! After that, our sleep patterns got a bit mucked up as Joseph, George and I succumbed to a head cold (runny noses and a bit of a cough).

I have been trying (with little success) to get a passport photo done for George...I can't get him to pose correctly! Here is one shot of him losing interest and finding his thumb more appealing. He has started to dribble and his hands are more often than not in his mouth. His gums have changed shape so I guess he's getting ready for teeth sometime soon.

Jo and Phil passed on Charlotte's exersaucer to us and we've popped George in it a few times. We think he likes it...it does give him a different perspective of the world!

Joseph had gymnastics on Saturday morning and for the first time we were all able to go down to the YMCA. Dan helped Joseph do lots of things and I carried George around and managed to take a few pictures. Here he is on the little pedal thingo which helps him use his legs likes he's riding a bicycle.

And here Joseph is on the rings crashing into the triangle pad...he loved this one! He's also getting much better at jumping on the trampoline too!

Finally, an updated weight chart...I took George into Plunket for a weigh in as I wanted to see how he was going since I moved his feeds out to four hourly during the day. He's stil behind Joseph but has over taken Dan and myself. He has been doing a lot of growth in the height department however and he is now on the 75th percentile (having moved up from the 50th in a month!).

This post is for w/e Sunday 1st November 2008.

I seem to have more Joseph photos this week - sorry, George!

First up, George - another great week on the rolling front; going well rolling from back to his right side and on Sunday he started to roll to his left side. He's still getting stuck/frustrated but the little nudge sets him right. He is reaching and grabbing onto toys and things are starting to make their way to his mouth. He is also doing lots of talking and giggling. He's a model pupil when it comes to sleeping - we need to get him to train Joseph!

Joseph had his 12 month grommets check with Dr Bill Baber...they're still in situ so we need to go back in another six months. Bill said we're getting good value for money!

Here's a comedy shot of Joseph (wearing an outfit from Grandma) squeezing into a small space amongst his toys. When I asked him what he was doing he replied "I'm squashing".

It was Dan's birthday on Thursday... Joseph was very helpful opening the presents and he also sang a great rendition of "happy birthday" (complete with burp mid-song). However, it transpired that it was "Joe and Daddy's birthday" so he got to help blow out the candles too. We gave Dan some Instant Kiwis and Joseph started his gambling career.

Thursday was also photo day at Bear Park. I carefully dressed (ie stage managed) the boys into matching outfits and off we went for some brotherly pics. Joseph was receptive to the photograher so I hope to get some good shots of him however George was a bit tired so I'm not confident about his pictures. I did manage to capture this one of the boys when we got home.

On Saturday, we had another gymnastics session and then Lizze came to our house for a playdate. The last couple of times they've been a bit niggly with each other but on Saturday they were very good and were telling each other when the other could have a turn on something - they watered the garden, kicked the ball around, dug the garden up, went on the see saw and had a tea party.

Finally, amongst all of this, Dan decided to trim the hedge. Joseph loves helping Dan so it wasn't long until Joseph got on the tools!

This post is for week ending Sunday 26th October 2008.

Another busy week for the Warren family...George has starting to grab and hold onto the various toys on his activity mat and chair as well those that you dangle over his head. Jo and Phil are lending us their exersaucer so that will give him a different perspective and range of toys to latch on to!

His big development milestone is that he's started to roll over - from his back to his right side. He gets frustrated when his arms get stuck underneath him and he can't make it onto his tummy. All you need to do is give him a bit of a nudge and then he's right.

We're starting to find him all over his cot. As a result his bald patch is not showing any signs of repairing. He's also doing more smiling and has just started to giggle. He seems to like having a bit of a "party for one" at 3am - lots of talking and laughing in the middle of the night in his pitch black room!

We've broken out Joseph's summer wardrobe and he's worn shorts and t-shirts to Bear Park all week. He really likes wearing t-shirts with animals on them and the purple elephant one from Rebecca in Cambodia is a particular favourite at the moment (he even wore it to bed last night).

Here's a shot of me and Joseph taken on Friday night after our fish and chip dinner. Joseph is eating a gingerbread man and wearing a tshirt with a snake on it!

It has just been Labour Weekend here and Dan took Joseph to the zoo on Monday...here's a picture of them just before they left (Joseph is wearing a t-shirt from his Godmother, Vicky).

Final picture of the week is of the brothers.

This post is for w/e Sunday 19th October.

George had a big morning sleep last Monday and woke up with a whole new vocabulary...he has been talking up a storm, very busy telling me what he's up to. He loves to suck his hands and wave them around in the air. We have noticed that he is starting to connect and hold onto objects that are hanging over his head on the activity mat. The other thing he has started to do is suck his thumb (and only the right one). He doesn't do it all the time and most often when he is going off to sleep. I am now feeding him every four hours during the day and the last few nights he has slept from 7pm - 3am...I think we are getting closer to sleeping through the night!

Joseph and I have been reading "The Three Little Pigs" and on Thursday I made him a house with a chimney. I got to be "Mummy Wolf" and he was one of the pigs. We had a great time re-enacting the story together.

On Friday night, we had Robert and Patricia stay (Robert is Kate's (my sister) brother in law). They were quickly adopted by Joseph as new blood to read him unlimited stories. Here is Patricia and Joseph reading the Richard Scarry Dictionary (one of the current favourite books).


Saturday morning saw Joseph and I head off to the YMCA for our first gymnastics class...we're doing a nine week course. I haven't got any pictures of this (yet) as the parent helps the child do the activities and Dan was at home with George. There were only about six children there and Joseph was the only boy. All the girls had been last term so they knew what to do - I am sure we will learn quickly! They set up the gymnasium with all sorts of activities (ladders, ramps, slides, tunnels, trampolines etc) and then the children can explore everything at their own pace. Joseph enjoyed the trampoline and the balance beam. After that Joseph and I went to the library to refresh our book stock.

The weather is getting warmer and I've started to break out some of Joseph's new summer clothes. Last night he wore his new shortie pj's - here is his doing his best shark impersonation.

And then from this morning, Joseph in new shorts and purple tshirt from cousin Rebecca in Cambodia (he specifically asked for his purple tshirt - I'd selecte a green polo but he wasn't interested!). George is in hand-me-down clothes from Joseph! But Joseph was so much bigger that he hardly wore these!

This post is for w/c Sunday 12th October.

George was still recovering from his immunisations - evidenced by upset sleep and feeding routines. I ended up taking George to Plunket for a weigh in as I was worried he wasn't feeding enough. However, he'd put on 330gm since his weigh in 10 days previously (he's now 6.5kg). They did however recommend pushing his feeds out to every fours. I started that last Friday and it has taken a few days to get things sorted. We've also stopped wrapping George when he goes to sleep - so he's had to adjsut to have his arms free. Dan has also started giving George a bottle about 11pm - we're trying (very hard) to get George sleeping a bit longer through the night. That's still a work in progress!

He's going great guns with his tummy time and he loves sucking his hands. We were wondering if there was a tooth coming through...I'm not entirely sure but it does feel quite suspicious down on the gum line!

Here's a picture of George and I taken last Friday - he's got a cute (new) suit from Grandma Milly on.

Joseph is in a bit of a "tidy tidy" phase and likes to have a cloth on hand when he eats, dislikes crumbs being on the table and likes to line up his trucks and cars. Here's evidence of this - downstairs on the table and then upstairs in bed. He likes to take various vehicles to bed and Dan is often dispatched downstairs to fetch a "missing" car or truck before he will go to sleep.


He also had his haircut on Saturday (photos next week) - this was the first time that he didn't cry and we got a better hairtcut as a result. After the haircut, Joseph and I went to Kelly Tarlton's (the aquarium) with Finn (and his Mum, Megan, and Finn's brother, Myles). Joseph has been talking about the "train" we went on and also the whale (a mechanical orca's head that comes out of the water at the end of the train trip (the train is a little motorised wagon that goes past the penguins in the antarctic section).

Finally, here's a variation on the usual brother photo...

Joseph looks enormous in comparison to George!