Thursday, January 15, 2009
This post is for w/e Monday 12th January 2009.
We farewelled Grandma and Granddad BQ on Tuesday and since Dan had returned to work that meant I was home alone with both Joseph and George. I can admit that I found it hard going being an at home mother...I don't think I'm cut out for it on a full time basis! As a result, Joseph got to watch a lot of DVDs - either Thomas the Tank Engine or Cars...as I needed some time out and Joseph needed a rest!
Speaking of time out...there was a degree of illegal activity (jumping on the leather couches) so Joseph spent a bit of time out in the hallway. Here he is pleading to come back into the lounge!
I did venture out with both boys...we went to Newmarket for one specific job! We also tried George out in the small buggy. Joseph was a big help in pushing it along for me.
We had Vikki (Dan's cousin and Joseph's Godmother) and Andrew visiting for a few days. Joseph took a few days to warm up to them despite being very curious about who they were and what they were doing.
Finally, George has been working on his sitting skills and is getting really strong through his mid section. Plus, he's super cute!
We farewelled Grandma and Granddad BQ on Tuesday and since Dan had returned to work that meant I was home alone with both Joseph and George. I can admit that I found it hard going being an at home mother...I don't think I'm cut out for it on a full time basis! As a result, Joseph got to watch a lot of DVDs - either Thomas the Tank Engine or Cars...as I needed some time out and Joseph needed a rest!
Speaking of time out...there was a degree of illegal activity (jumping on the leather couches) so Joseph spent a bit of time out in the hallway. Here he is pleading to come back into the lounge!
I did venture out with both boys...we went to Newmarket for one specific job! We also tried George out in the small buggy. Joseph was a big help in pushing it along for me.
We had Vikki (Dan's cousin and Joseph's Godmother) and Andrew visiting for a few days. Joseph took a few days to warm up to them despite being very curious about who they were and what they were doing.
Finally, George has been working on his sitting skills and is getting really strong through his mid section. Plus, he's super cute!
This post is for w/c 5 January 2009. (slowly but surely getting back up to date).
We were kept busy with lots of festive, family outings - trips to the zoo, the museum, swims in our neighbour's pool.
We started the new year with a big family picnic near the Kauri stand in Cornwall Park (the same place we held Joseph's 2nd birthday). We took lots of food, a bike and a couple of balls. Here's Grandma starting George early with his bike riding skills.
Despite all the toys we took, Joseph, Harry and Alfie amused themselves amongst the trees and found sticks to use as guns (and hitting). Here's the three of them getting up to mischief.
And as we had so many people around, we were able to get an up to date picture of the four of us!
Unfortunately, Kate, Simon, Harry and Alfie left on the 2nd of January to return to Bristol...poor old Joseph was quite lonely and kept asking where his cuzzies had gone.
Ofcourse there was work to do around the house as well and Dan decided to trim the hedge...his faithful helper (not be confused with slave!), Joseph, was right in the action! We need to get him his own pair of earmuffs as we just can't keep him away from the work. Joseph was really great at helping put all the hedge clippings into the rubbish bin as well.
When Joseph had had enough of being up on the ladder, Granddad BQ was there to help him down.
We were kept busy with lots of festive, family outings - trips to the zoo, the museum, swims in our neighbour's pool.
We started the new year with a big family picnic near the Kauri stand in Cornwall Park (the same place we held Joseph's 2nd birthday). We took lots of food, a bike and a couple of balls. Here's Grandma starting George early with his bike riding skills.
Despite all the toys we took, Joseph, Harry and Alfie amused themselves amongst the trees and found sticks to use as guns (and hitting). Here's the three of them getting up to mischief.
And as we had so many people around, we were able to get an up to date picture of the four of us!
Unfortunately, Kate, Simon, Harry and Alfie left on the 2nd of January to return to Bristol...poor old Joseph was quite lonely and kept asking where his cuzzies had gone.
Ofcourse there was work to do around the house as well and Dan decided to trim the hedge...his faithful helper (not be confused with slave!), Joseph, was right in the action! We need to get him his own pair of earmuffs as we just can't keep him away from the work. Joseph was really great at helping put all the hedge clippings into the rubbish bin as well.
When Joseph had had enough of being up on the ladder, Granddad BQ was there to help him down.
Thursday, January 01, 2009
This post is for w/e 28th December 2008. Merry Christmas!
We have had a great Christmas season. Lots of food, lots of presents, lots of entertaining and lots of fun with my famiily. My sister, Kate was here from the UK (along with her husband, Simon, and children, Harry and Alfie)...and our parents came over from Brisbane. Joseph has loved having his "cuzzies" over to play with. Here's a picture of all four of them taken on Christmas Day...they're all wearing their Christmas tshirts from Grandma Milly.
We kept George to his routine and here he is having his sleep on Christmas Day.
On Boxing Day, some of us went to Devonport on the ferry...the weather was great but the boys were a bit tired and emotional so we didn't get as far as Cheltenham Beach as we had planned.
On the 27th we had another big gathering as my cousin, Dinah, was in town from Wellington with her partner, Alan, and two daughters, Olivia and Alice. We had some great lamb and then a rather large dessert buffet. Here's Dan making some old school style ice cream cones for the kids.
Finally, here's our two boys looking cute at Christmas time!
We have had a great Christmas season. Lots of food, lots of presents, lots of entertaining and lots of fun with my famiily. My sister, Kate was here from the UK (along with her husband, Simon, and children, Harry and Alfie)...and our parents came over from Brisbane. Joseph has loved having his "cuzzies" over to play with. Here's a picture of all four of them taken on Christmas Day...they're all wearing their Christmas tshirts from Grandma Milly.
We kept George to his routine and here he is having his sleep on Christmas Day.
On Boxing Day, some of us went to Devonport on the ferry...the weather was great but the boys were a bit tired and emotional so we didn't get as far as Cheltenham Beach as we had planned.
On the 27th we had another big gathering as my cousin, Dinah, was in town from Wellington with her partner, Alan, and two daughters, Olivia and Alice. We had some great lamb and then a rather large dessert buffet. Here's Dan making some old school style ice cream cones for the kids.
Finally, here's our two boys looking cute at Christmas time!
This post is for w/e 21st December 2008 (yep - I'm a little behind!).
George has been on the move - well, really only in his cot. We find him all over the place and he often gets stuck. He still can't roll from his tummy to his back so once he's awake and on his tummy he's marooned and we have to come and rescue him. I found him like this, fast asleep and please note the thumb is carefully enconsced!
Joseph's big job this week was to have his hair cut prior to Christmas. We went back to Karin at Kids R Hair (where every child from Bear Park seems to have their hair done!). He's still not entirely comfortable with the whole thing but there were no tears and he seemed to enjoy watching "Ice Age" on the TV. Here's the pre hair cut shot.
The during...
And the after...I asked for him to not to look so much like a criminal (as per the last hair cut!).
As we approach the Christmas holidays we're anticipating some long days as Joseph prefers not to have a day time sleep. In preparation we've been watching some DVDs in the afternoons (a way of having a compulsory rest!). Here's the three boys of the house watching "Cars" on Sunday afternoon. George loves the big screen TV!
George has been on the move - well, really only in his cot. We find him all over the place and he often gets stuck. He still can't roll from his tummy to his back so once he's awake and on his tummy he's marooned and we have to come and rescue him. I found him like this, fast asleep and please note the thumb is carefully enconsced!
Joseph's big job this week was to have his hair cut prior to Christmas. We went back to Karin at Kids R Hair (where every child from Bear Park seems to have their hair done!). He's still not entirely comfortable with the whole thing but there were no tears and he seemed to enjoy watching "Ice Age" on the TV. Here's the pre hair cut shot.
The during...
And the after...I asked for him to not to look so much like a criminal (as per the last hair cut!).
As we approach the Christmas holidays we're anticipating some long days as Joseph prefers not to have a day time sleep. In preparation we've been watching some DVDs in the afternoons (a way of having a compulsory rest!). Here's the three boys of the house watching "Cars" on Sunday afternoon. George loves the big screen TV!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
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").
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").
Monday, December 08, 2008
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!
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!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
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 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!
Sunday, November 23, 2008
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!
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!
Monday, November 17, 2008
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!
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!
Sunday, November 09, 2008
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!).
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!).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
