At the park

Meeks and I were hoping to go to Fagan Park today to look at the international gardens. Unfortunately the car is stuffed again. Crappy transmission. So we're temporarily without a car, until I can pick up the rental tomorrow.

So instead we went to the park in Asquith where we could walk to. It was still fun. Here are some photos.






Last night we had the Blairs over for pizza and games. Mmmm ... PizzaCutters. Then we played Jenga and Pictionary. Sharon "Hands of a Lumberjack" Blair lost the Jenga (nice "jame" Shazzy) and the boys smashed the girls in Pictionary, but overall a really fun night.

Shortest day of the year

Today is the shortest day of the year. Generally, I don't mind the winter - the cool crisp air, warm winter stews, etc. But I'm glad today is the shortest day of the year because I'm a bit sick of getting up in the dark and coming home in the dark. On the other hand today is not all bad, it's my Mum's birthday. Happy birthday Mum.

At Mum and Dad's with the family

Last Saturday we had a lunch at Mum and Dad's to celebrate my birthday. Mitch and Cousin Lilly got to play together.



And one final one of Mitch:

A couple of bits of news

I forgot there are a couple of bits of news.

We have been putting Mitch to bed with his teddy lately and yesterday Meeks put him to bed without teddy who was sitting on the trunk opposite his bed. Mitch stood up at the bars of his cot and pointed to teddy and then when Meeks got him he lay down again, giving teddy a cuddle. A beautiful moment.

Last night, after his bath, we put Mitch in his little sleep suit which is dark blue and has stars all over it. Mitch very clearly pointed to the stars on his arm and said "Darr!". Very cute.

New Banner

I thought I'd make a new banner for the blog (that is the picture at the top in case you hadn't noticed something had changed). What do you think? Better than boring old text if you ask me. What do you think? Leave a comment!

I might start adding labels as well. They make it easier to search the site later one and we don't have to remember when we posted a picture or milestone.

Apart from a new banner, no new news or pictures. Sorry! I did take some on the weekend but haven't had a chance to go through them yet. Maybe tomorrow on my day off.

Getting older ...

I aged another year yesterday, such is the progress of time. I don't feel any older though which is always good.

On Wednesday Mitch and I went to the park:



After that we came home did some drawing.



Apparently Meeks used to do the tongue poking out thing when she was concentrating as a little girl.

Mitch is walking more and more now, in fact probably more than half the time. He's still a little unsteady on his feet and it's more of a stagger than a walk but it is very cute.

In other news, Meeks and I have decided it's time for us as a family to start going to the morning service at church. We've been trying to do the evening service thing, but unfortunately it just isn't working out, so starting in a couple of weeks we're going to start going to the morning service. We really wanted to be able to go to church as a family and for Mitch to get used to the pattern of going to church and creche initially and then Sunday school. We've been to the morning service a couple of times and he's been to creche but it is so unfamiliar to him, he gets a little upset. I am also stepping down from the evening service worship team as well (but not for a month or so). Thanks to El, Lachie, Deb, Phil and the bands. It has been a wonderful time sharing in service with you all, and I will miss it. Initially I wont be singing in the morning just to give us a chance to settle in but will probably end up doing that closer to the end of the year. So ends one phase in our life, I guess, and another one starts!

Mitch's creative side

We bought Mitch and easel from Ikea so he could explore his creative side. He only has textas and crayons at the moment. He also has an enormous painters smock which is very cute. Here are some pictures:


As always there is a bit of mess, but thanks to the smock it's only on his fingers:

He knows how to make the diamond from "Twinkle Twinkle". Now that is very, very cute!

Mother's Group 1st Birthday Party Picnic

Today we had a joint 1st Birthday for all the children in Meeks Mothers' Group. It was at Fagan Park in Dural and it was a beautiful warm winter's day.

Meeks and I got there a bit early so Mitch had a chance to play on the play gym by himself.

Then we had some fun on the slide.



When the other's had arrived we had lunch and Meeks made another huge birthday cake.




In other news, the car is repaired and back home again which is great.

Car Disaster!

The car is one month out of warranty and the automatic transmission has packed it in. What a pain! The car is going to be be off the road for a week and is going to cost a fortune. Fortunately the car is leased so that will soften the financial blow somewhat as the cost will be before tax and effectively spread across 2 years. Having no car for a week is a pain and having to fork out cash on a car that is one month outside it's warranty is a pain too, but there are worse things in life.

NRMA has a 15% off deal with Thrifty so we have hired a car for that period.

Apart from that all is good! In fact Meeks and I were just saying last night, that things are good. We are all coming out of our colds, although Mitch still has a bit of a cough. Meeks' working arrangements have changed a bit with her doing a bit more of what she was doing before she left which she finds more interesting, which is great and I just got a really good appraisal at work, which is also good news.

Mitch is walking more and more. He is almost able to get up from the flat and walk now. You can see him wanting to do it but not quite being able to, it's very cute. He's going through a very affectionate stage. He'll be playing by himself and then he'll look at you and come over and give you a cuddle and then go back to what he was doing. Very, very cute! I have tomorrow off so maybe I'll take some more photos.

In other news, we got a new notebook computer for home through work. As a result we're downsizing our study area. We sold our massive desk (no we don't know why we ever bought one so big) on ebay (our first ebay sale!) and are going to buy a smaller one and some shelving (to keep important things out of Mitch's reach) from Ikea and rearrange the study a bit to make better use of the space available.

We're all sick

The cold that Mitch brought home from Mother's Group has now been passed around the whole family. Meeks is mostly better, I have had three days off this week and Mitch still has streams of snot and nasty cough.

As a result of being at home sick I have had a chance to spend some time with Mitch this week and take some photos.

"Hello Daddy!"

"Ooo look! The garbage truck is here! I'm going to go and watch"


"Maybe I can climb this tree"

"Perhaps when I am a bit older"

Mitch's walking is getting better and better. He still only takes a few steps at a time, but is doing it more frequently and doing it without us prompting him now. He's very cute about it. Unfortunately, being able to walk means falling further when he falls over things. The result is some tears, but he keeps on trying.

Mitchy walks!

A couple of weeks ago Mitch took his first step, but last night and this morning he strung a few of them together and managed to walk about 2 metres. He did his first decent walk at Ganny and Grandad's last night for which we were all cheering and clapping. He didn't quite know what he had done, and was wondering what all the excitement was about. This morning he did a few long walks (about 2 m) from Mummy to Daddy and back again. He's far from stable or confident, but he's certainly doing it and now knows what all the fuss is about. He's so cute about it, it is gorgeous!

Mitch visits Ganny and Cousin Lilly

Now that my alternative working arrangements have started, I get to play with Mitch on Wednesday's while mummy goes to work. This week we decided to go and visit my Mum (she insists on being called Ganny) who takes care of Mitch's cousin Lilly on Wednesdays.

Mitch and Lilly played together

"Look Ganny, a teddy!"

"See, here is teddy's nose"

Then Lilly wanted a cuddle too.

So we moved to the park and had a see saw. Mitch wasn't thrilled by it but Lilly liked it.

Meanwhile, Brandie the dog watched on attentively from behind the fence, wishing she could be part of the action, showing her willingness to participate by barking.


In other news, unfortunately Meeks has caught Mitch's cold from last week. She has a very sore throat and has mostly lost her voice and has a very real understanding of why Mitch was in a disagreeable mood last week. I hope I don't catch it too, it's no fun when all three of us are sick.

Progress and a sick little boy

No photos today as Mitch has a nasty cold and is quite unattractive with a blocked nose, snottiness and dribble. Still very cute though.

On the other hand he has learnt a few new tricks.

Last Monday he stood up from the ground by himself. He didn't really realise what he had done and hasn't really done it again. Only Meeks was home to see it, so hopefully he'll do it again soon.

Another thing new thing he has learnt to do is clapping and he's very happy with himself about it. He's very cute about it and thinks he deserves to be clapped everytime he claps and when he sees us clapping he starts again ... and so it goes on.

He's also learnt to point out things out. If you say, "Where is Daddy's nose?" he point's to my nose. He can also point to Daddy's hair, Mummy's hair, Mummy's nose, Poppy's hair, Towie (his tow truck he got for his birthday), Ball (his big blue ball), and when you say "bottle" he points to the cupboard where the bottles are kept.

Talking of food, Mitch seems to have gotten over his profound dislike of fruit. Previously, he would scarcely let it past his lips, and banana even caused him to gag. Now he makes a mess of it but eats it happily. He likes banana and mandarin, but isn't mad about rockmelon. He likes to get the mandarin and squeeze the juice out of it so it runs down his arm and then he puts it in his mouth, gives it a chew, takes it out, puts it back in again and this goes on until it is either eaten or dropped, where upon he starts on the next segment. Banana is pretty much the same story although less juicy and more gooey. Both are of course very messy!

He's mad about books too. Every time we get him out of bed he points straight to his bookshelf. Meeks and I have read "Hairy McClary", "Who is hiding under the ocean?", "Bear About Town", and various "That's not my teddy bear/bunny/dinosaur/car" books so many times we can pretty much repeat them without having to look at the words. In fact he doesn't even need us to be there, he'll quite happily "read" them himself.

Anyway, that's all the news. Hopefully Mitch will be healthy again soon. He doesn't get sick very often, so we can't complain, but it's not pretty when he does.

Ice Blocking

We did something we'd never done before this morning. We went "Ice blocking" with people from Bible study. Basically you find a big hill, get some large ice blocks, put a towel on the top, sit on them and ride them down a hill. Perhaps it is hard to explain so here are some pictures

An Ice Block


The Girls Race



The boys line up



Some spectacular stacks

Back at work

Meeks had her first day back at work yesterday. It was hard on all of us, and Meeks really missed Mitch and Mitch missed his Mummy. Mitch and I spent the day at home playing and went to the shops for a while. He was a very good boy. Mitch has his first day at home with Nana today as Meeks and I are both at work.

Trip to Shelly Beach

On Meeks last day before going back to work we decided to go down to Manly and take a walk around to Shelly Beach for a picnic. It was a perfect day for it


After a little family snack


Then Mitchy did a little exploring: