Week in the life of…

Week15

6th – 12th April

Every year I buy a diary, and as the days in the new year tick over, I sit down at night, and write about things that I think I need to remember. This year, I felt it was more important, to help document Jack’s first year, and list the challenges and achievements that have been met. It’s now mid April, and I cannot remember where I’ve put my diary. Instead I use my phone’s calendar to document all my important appointments – be it, coffee dates, shopping expeditions or doctors appointments. When I finally find the time to sit down and think back over the week about what I’ve accomplished, I stare at the screen, looking at the pictures that tell the story for the week. This unfortunately, is also accompanied by many green teas, chai’s or coffees, and the remaining stash of easter eggs!

Working backwards, Leanne and I went to the Chevron Market in Werribee on Sunday. While Leanne and I frequent the Flemington Market, it’s nice to have a few more options, with different stall holders at other local markets. I bought a few gorgeous and creative dribble bibs. One local mum created a dribble bib with a chewy corner, taggie bits and scrunch material – teething toy and bib all in one! The other bib i picked up had a sewn in dummy holder – her son frequently removed the dummy clips, so this was a much more reliable method to ensuring the dummy (or toy) remains attached. Her details are https://www.hand-made.com.au/HollyBearHandmade. Leanne also picked up some little wooden toy trains and a fire engine – a boy can never have enough toys on wheels! And I couldn’t go past a geometric print soft animal thing Very unique, but hard to describe too!

Friday, Megan, Liam, Jack and I ventured into the city to have a look around the Toddler and Baby Expo at the Royal Exhibition Buildings. There were some good sales in regards to sleeping bags – I picked up a Love to Dream Inventa sleeping bag and an ergopouch sleepsuit bag, as well as a few odds and ends like pram hooks and sippy cups. The boys had a quick play, well tummy time, out in the sunny gardens, before we headed back home on the train.

I was booked into an ultrasound on Tuesday, after the Easter weekend. I had found a lump that I hadn’t noticed before, and with my family’s history, I thought that I had better jump to it and get it checked. Even though everything was fine, as I lay on the bed in the same room, that nearly a year ago, showed the first pictures of Jack, growing in my tummy, it made me realise how precious life is. So for all those reading this, please make sure you check yourself monthly – I know that I will be.

Week in the life of…

Week 14

March 30 – April 5

Easter weekend heralded the start of the footy season, Hubby’s first interstate trip for the ice hockey pre-season and the end of daylight savings. I dressed Jack in his Melbourne jumper in celebration of Melbourne’s  first round win, for Uncle Jeffy. We also managed to get out and enjoy a picnic at Werribee Park while the weather was nice.  I really should have been making the most of the gorgeous summer and autumn weather, so hopefully, the rain that is falling now, will disappear and give a few more beautiful days before winter truly hits.

Uncle Sam and Aunt Abbey bought a musical playmat and a bunny suit for Jack for Easter. He loves laying on the mat, with his feet kicking the keyboard and it playing tunes. The fluffy suit had to be the cutest thing ever, and I spent a few minutes on Sunday taking some photos.  Why is it though, as soon as I have an idea, Jack becomes instantly inconsolable and won’t play along? Poor kid, he’s only four and a half months old and he’s already hating the camera!

We spent Easter Sunday down at Pt Lonsdale with some of the extended family.

 

Week in the life of…

Week13

23rd- 29th March

Looking at the photos, this is the week of funny faces. I finally gave Jack a bath in the ‘big boy’ bath, and he is loving it! His little arms and legs pump up and down furiously and if you talk to him in a sing-song voice he gets happier, and more and more water is splashed everywhere.

We’ve got new outfits this week, with his gradual progression out of the 000 clothing and into his vast 00 collection. With the cooler weather this week I’ve even dipped into winter pants and jumpers. I think the ease of dressing a summer baby is now hitting home when Mr Wriggles refuses to cooperate and help with putting on the second and third layer. I hate to think of how many socks I’ll end up losing once Jack realises how to bend and pull those off!

We had our 4 month checkup this week too, and our 4 month immunisations. Jack copped a bump on one of his legs from his needles. I hate looking at their little faces when the needles go in, but thankfully, Jack returned to his happy, bubbly self soon afterwards. Jack topped the scales at 6.74kg and 62.5cm in length. His weight has fallen back to the 25th percentile, and his height and head circumference have been boosted to the 25th percentile. The next appointment won’t occur until July when he’ll be 8 months old and eating solids. I’ll have to add a trip to Ikea soon to pick up a high chair for out future foray into eating!

With this boost in height, I’ve also had him sitting in his jumperoo activity centre. He’s learnt that leaning on the buttons makes all the music change, and he is able to spin the wheel and watch the balls go around.

This week we also borrowed Liam’s 50/50 swaddle – slowly transitioning Jack to sleeping with his arms out. On Tuesday we kept one of his arms out and on Saturday night, I undid the last arm. I now need to look into sleeping bags and figure out how many and what weighting I’ll need for the upcoming winter. Hoping that I may pick up some on sale at the Baby and Toddler Expo coming up in April.

We’re going to the zoo…

As soon as someone tells me that they are off to the zoo, these lyrics just come floating through my mind:

Were going to the zoo, zoo, zoo
How about you, you, you?
You can come too, too, too
We’re going to the zoo, zoo, zoo

What I hadn’t realised, until I sat down to write this, was that there were so many more words to this song!  The zoo has always been a special place, memories of wandering with packed crowds, the weather was always hot, and all I ever wanted was an ice cream. I also remember the ice cream cone that the hot chips would come in. The vinegar would soak through from the chips, and make the edible bucket all soggy.

I think that the zoo never held as much of an appeal to the men in the family. I struggle to convince the husband to go for a day. Even when we travelled to San Diego on our honeymoon, I had to choose between Sea World or their world famous zoo.  I could probably count on one hand how many times the family went to the Melbourne Zoo. Although we’ve travelled to the Wildlife Park in Ballarat, and there are numerous photos of my brother trying to make friends with the kangaroos that you would hand feed in Merimbula, I’ve still never made it the Werribee Open Range Zoo.

So when Jack and I were invited to the Melbourne Zoo to celebrate Aunt Abbey’s 25th birthday, I gleefully accepted and counted down the days! Abbey had set us small tasks to take some photos around the zoo.

Leanne and I had to attempt to take a selfie with an animal photo bombing in the background. Here’s our very poor, but numerous attempts throughout the day:

We also had to take a photo of an animal starting with one of our initials. This led to Leanne having her photo taken with the Lemurs. We had to find the historic horses  and had to donate our dollar!

We also had to take a photo of a butterfly on us. The butterflies loved the green of the pram canopy, and Sam’s white shirt. Jack was asleep at the time that we made it to the butterfly enclosure. Unfortunately, the butterflies seemed to avoid me like the plague!

I’m looking forward to becoming a zoo member and taking Jack along to many family outings, even with a screaming husband.

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We had a great day out and about, so thank you Aunt Abbey for inviting us 🙂

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Week in the life of…

Week 1216th – 22nd March

4 months already! This week has been about wondering which orientation Jack will be in his cot each morning and all those dribbles! I’m thinking that teething could be right around the corner with the way that he is attempting to stuff his fist in his mouth. We were at Flemington Market on Sunday and picked up a few cute dribble bandanna/bibs and, of course, numerous other gorgeous pieces.

We went and watched Uncle Sam play his cricket final on Saturday and Jack had his first, of what will be many, visits to the Ice House. Knowing April is just around the corner, with the AIHL season starting, makes me reminisce about being behind the camera, especially while pregnant. I don’t think that I’ll be as heavily involved this season compared to the last few, and will definitely miss the weekends travelling to Perth, Newcastle, Canberra and Sydney. But time will tell…

This weekend was also run for the kids, and with a few friends running, I decided to head out during the week and see if I remembered what running was about! It was still horrible, if I’m honest! I took Ben one night after Jack went to bed – most of the time he’s fantastic. As soon as he knows we’re off for a run, he grabs his lead in his mouth and that’s it, he’s on a mission until we get home. No pit stops, no sniffing, nothing. This run however, he didn’t do that. So we had to slow down and sniff a few corner fences, plants and some letterboxes. At least this meant I could catch my breath a few times. I love night running. I get hot way too quick when running during the day. I love the silence, except for the footsteps (and my out of control breathing). Poor Ben scared a guy walking with headphones in the other week. I have him running on the longest setting on his lead and he snuck up behind this guy, and gave him a good sniff on the way through.I suppose the last thing you’d expect out on a walk late at night, is a Labrador to come running beside you, and look up at you as if to say hi.

This week was also a big week for my little brother – he moved into his new place. Onwards and upwards and I hope that he enjoys the many memories that this fresh start will give him. The one really good thing is that he is only 5 or so minutes down the road. When I tell him that, he always says to me that “that will never get old.” It’s the first time that he’s had to move and this is now the first time that he is no longer living in Crawford Street. It felt sad, the last time that I drove away, and around the corner, that I won’t ever have an excuse to head back to that part of my world.

Week in the life of…

Week 119th – 15th March

I’m now the proud (co)owner of an almost new car and the most exciting thing about this for me, was that the car comes with heated seats! My first time heading out for a drive, regardless of the fact that it was fairly mild that night, I was able to inform my friend, that my bum was getting hot. I hate to think what she thought that actually meant! All I have to do now is pry the keys away from the husband and/or try and come up with some ingenious plan on how I really, REALLY need the stationwagon instead of the sedan. The idea of a costco trip had come to mind, but the husband has already pointed out that I’m able to move the pram to the back seat of the ford, and then I’ll have the whole boot to load up on goodies! To celebrate the ownership of the new car, and also because the traffic heading home was horrendous, we stopped for dinner in Chapel Street at the Soda Rock Diner.

I managed to also get Benny out and about for a few days this week, and even visited the dust bowl of a dog park, down at Saltwater Coast. I was slightly hesitant to take Ben with Jack and the pram, but it wasn’t too bad. When we arrived at the car park, I noticed several other big doggies already having  a play and eagerly awaiting the arrival of the new comer to the doggy party. Ben likes to play rough, and seeing  two chocolate labs and another yellow lab already at play, I knew Ben would fit right in. Stereotyping aside, the two yellows were loving trying to dominate the choc’s, which made me wonder if the choccies were just super laid back and didn’t mind a good ol’ humping. Always fun trying to have an adult conversation while your dog continues to embarrass you!

On Sunday we were invited to celebrate Aunt Abbey’s birthday with a trip to the Melbourne Zoo.I’d love to say that Jack enjoyed it and had a great time, but he was mostly asleep. He did have a few pictures with the giraffes and the penguins.

 

 

Week in the life of…

Week10

3rd – 8th March

With summer now over, and the months slowly creeping towards autumn and winter, I’ve realised that I have not taken full advantage of being home with these long days filled, generally, with sun. So my aim has been to get out with Benny and the pram, and walk, walk, walk. I could walk forever with just the pram – but feel like I should make the effort with Benny so he can get used to walking with the pram. He’s pretty good, except for the times he needs to swap from one side of the path to the other- obviously all the bushes, trees and fence posts need to be investigated! So we ventured out for a little walk last Tuesday, just around home. With Nan not working on Wednesdays, we headed to the beach, managed to fit in breakfast too, and squeezed in a 5.8km walk. I headed out on Friday too, with another walk around the estate.

I love walking around home.My parents used to walk around home in the late summer evenings. They’d generally take in what was grown where to see what was flourishing. Being in a new estate, I used to love watching the houses being built. Now that the estate is 95% finished, I’ve also swapped to looking at what is being grown. Old habits die hard!

With Jack being 15 weeks this week and noticing some of his clothes becoming a little tight, I thought I’d best start washing his 00 clothes! Nan, Jack & I headed into Harbourtown on Friday. We picked up quite a few bargains (for Jack of course).Officially no more 00 clothes shopping! Ollies Place have gorgeous boy fashion and you can’t go past the Bonds store with clearance items at 40% off as well!

I’ve noticed Jack grasping toys and rings and being able to pass those from one hand to the other.He was also giggling at dad more and he likes playing aeroplane on mum’s legs. Unfortunately this week also brought a leap week -signified by more frequent feedings and the incessant crying unless he’s picked up. Definitely looking forward to this passing!

Gold Coast Summer 2015

February 28 – March 2

We travelled to the Gold Coast for a mini holiday – it was our first family holiday, unfortunately without Benny the wonder dog. James needed to gather a few points to make the next stage of Virgin’s reward program and when he suggested a trip away there was no way I was going to say no!

We ended up booking the accommodation through Wotif and their mystery hotel deal as we’d figured out that it was the Marriott. We chose a Junior spa suite and it was simply lovely. It was situated on the corner, the balcony overlooked the pool complex below, and had beautiful ocean views as well. The spa bath overlooked the Gold Coast Highway and I spent quite awhile watching the car headlights and the lights at night, with a glass in hand of course.

We also had access to the Elandra Club Retreat which served breakfast, evening  beverages and canapes and general coffee, cakes and biscuits during the day. We were greeted at reception with complimentary chocolate pearls, and a glass of bubbly (well, water for me). We also had chocolate truffles and a bottle of bubbles delivered to the room. The service was fantastic!

The pools and gardens were simply a sight to see! There was something for everybody –  the saltwater lagoon pool with beach entrance that deepened into the reef system where you could swim/snorkel with the fish, through to the chlorine pool that snaked it’s way around the bar. The currents were strong enough to knock me off my feet and would make a fantastic lazy river. There were several spas dotted around the complex, and sun loungers were plentiful. The husband was happy to disappear for ages swimming with the fish, and he was even more excited when he found out that the bar delivered cold beverages around the pool.Next time I go I hopefully won’t be breastfeeding and will be able to partake in a poolside cocktail too!

We didn’t venture out too often. We caught the tram to Cavill Avenue for dinner on Saturday night, and drove to Marina Mirage on the Sunday. We marveled at the boats moored at the marina and came to the conclusion that we wouldn’t be able to afford most of them, or even the dinghy’s on the back of the boats. James went on the Vomatron for old times’ sake. He did try to convince me to leave Jack with the operator so that we could both go on it. I thought otherwise…

We stayed in at the hotel for dinner on Sunday night. We went to Benihana Japanese Steak Restaurant – my first teppanyaki experience, and Jack’s of course. We ate bugs, scallops, prawns, chicken fried rice, wagyu steak and fish. James even surprised me by attempting to eat the salad, onion soup and barbecued zucchini, mushroom and onions!

All in all, it was a lovely break – the weather was hot and humid, but it was a pity that it wasn’t slightly longer! We kept seeing all these references to Benny – Lobby (one of his favourite toys), Labrador, and even car rego plates stating “Dog”. Maybe our next family holiday will have to include the fur baby too 🙂

Week in the life of…

Week9February 23 – 2 March

The family seemed to come together this week – Ben started wanting to settle, as close as possible, to Jack. Almost to the point that he tried pushing Jack off his own mat! I’d turn around at dinner to see Ben curl up at Jack’s feet in his bouncer. I think it’s cute, but I’m sure someone out there has a reason for it- something along the lines of Ben trying to compete with Jack, and to remain the dominant blah blah blah…

One morning I crept into Jack’s room to check how he was, only to discover that he’d managed to turn himself around in the middle of the night. I had thought that hubby had beaten me to his room, and had turned him around as a prank. It’s hard to believe that in his sleep (well, hopefully he was asleep) and swaddled with arms and legs basically bound, that he could move so much!

We also had some huge firsts! Our first mini holiday to the Gold Coast just for the weekend. It was our first family holiday with Jack, Jack’s first plane trip and Jack’s first time swimming. Wish it was longer, but still very thankful for being so fortunate to be able to book these trips.

Week in the life of…

Week8

February 16-22

My little boy had a mini-milestone celebration this week. Being 3 months, he is now classified as an infant and no longer a newborn. With every milestone, new nappy size and new clothes size it brings sadness that he is growing up way too fast, but yet, happiness because I’m able to watch this little boy grow and change. Jack is quite happy having a chat with you, gurgling away in all the right spots. I can spend ages talking back and forth. And when that smile gets thrown in, oh my, am I head over heels for this little munchkin.

Struggling to think about what we’ve done this week, and my usual photos are drawing a blank. We’ve been grocery shopping with Jack’s little friend, and it was extremely cute, both fell asleep together. Think there are certain days where I’d rather be pushed up and down the shopping aisles then having to choose what’s for dinner each night.

I had 2 rides on the train this week – one to see Uncle Jeff while my cars air conditioning was getting fixed, and the other when I headed into the city to drop a present off to Sally, buy some bathers for my upcoming mini holiday and to take Jack (finally) in to see James’s work colleagues. We had a busy Tuesday covering off safety in our mothers group and baby massage class in the afternoon. Jack especially loved having his head massaged. You could see him relaxing into it, and almost watch his eyes roll back into his head.

The last few days have been fairly hot in Melbourne, we’re waiting on the storm tomorrow afternoon before the cool change really arrives. Jack’s been in a bit of storm as well. He’s suffering from his first cold, so he sounds snuffly with a fair bit of snot. I’d bought a nosefrida snotsucker before I gave birth and I’m so glad I did. There’s something in telling non-parents about your super abilities of sucking your child;s snot up and it really is quite satisfying. I think I may need to get out and about more!!!