Sunday, August 30, 2009

Big Trip

This weekend we ventured out of Canberra for the first time since Katy's birth. We went orienteering near Tumbarumba (not far from Wagga). It was only about 3 hours drive, but with double trouble in the back there was always the thought, in the back of our minds, that things could go awry. On the way down we drove through some pretty big storms (glad that we weren't hanging around the event while those passed) but arrived without incident. Nat & I had splits starts but I was sufficiently slow that Nat missed her start, while I spent the next 20 minutes trying to avoid sweating too much on Katy. Ella's highlight of the day was playing with Max (pictured). Playtime extended well past dinner at a local cafe where Ella and Max ran amok; they spent the last part of the night lying on the floor together holding hands. Hmm, not sure about this.

This morning we got up bright and early and headed out to the orienteering again. Luckily Nat had opted out of running, since my course was close to 2 hours and she never would have got out at all. Instead she took the girls around a blue course (see picture) but cold winds got the better of Ella. Anyway, we zooted home with a coffee stop at Jugiong and made it home in time for dinner. A good practise for the Australian champs in a months time, which is twice as far away!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Katy's Progress

Katy is becoming stronger and more clever as the days go by.  Not only is her head control / neck strength improving but she is beginning to grab toys/clothes/rugs (mostly accidently) and pull them to her mouth to have a bit of a chew.  One of her favourite toys is a monkey...




Garden Jigsaw Solved

On Sunday I managed to start and complete Pippa's new path under the supervision of Ella and Katy. I thought it was going to take forever to find time to do it and then to actually finish it. Fortunately the recent rain softened the soil making the digging very easy. Quite happy with the result. Now we have to encourage the grass to grow around and in between the stones. To achieve this we have a cunning plan of buying a grey water system to attach to the washing machine. 

Who Needs Paper?

A recent early morning ritual of Ella's involves stripping off and running around the house naked. The other morning was no exception. While Andy and I were trying to catch a few more minutes of sleep Ella was naked playing in the loungeroom and suddenly there was silence. Now all parents know that silence means trouble! A few minutes later Ella appears in our room excited by the fact that she has drawn all over herself in blue biro....



Friday, August 21, 2009

Dubious uses for olive oil

Katy has always had some problems with dry skin, eczema (however you spell that) and the like. One of the stranger bits of advice we received from a visiting nurse was that the "best" moisturiser for babies was ... you guessed it: Olive Oil. Any self-respecting Italian would be horrified, but we'll try anything once. And for the most part it seemed to work.

Anyway, the point of this blog entry is that Katy's dry skin has returned with vengeance. One morning this week she woke up with half her face hanging off, and I remembered our olive oil trick. After a generous slathering of olive oil on her face, I put Katy in her rocker on the floor and headed off to get ready for work. A few minutes later I returned to find our greedy dog licking all our precious olive oil off Katy's face! (These things are hard to capture on camera, but you get the idea in the photo on the right.)

That was a few days ago. Today I'm at home with sole responsibility for Katy for the first time. We've had fun already -- taking young Duffy to the cattery (after dropping Ella off at childcare), crying, feeding, changing nappies and, finally, sleeping. So far so good.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Back to Work

Yep my maternity leave is over. I'm off to work tomorrow. Katy will spend the day at home with Andy. I think he is looking forward to spending some one on one time with her. I'll be a bit stressed as I have a fully booked list with a student as the other sonographer and no allocated time to express. Hmmm....

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Old MacDonald

Ella has recently begun to sing several nursery rhymes which I think she has learnt at childcare on Monday when they have a music session with Katie. Her favourites so far include:
  •  twinkle, twinkle little star
  • baa baa black sheep
  • hey good morning
  • once I caught a fish alive
Recently she woke up one morning and began singing old macdonald had a farm - with a duck and cow and a duck and a duck....you get the picture right.

Anyway after getting out of the bath the other night, I began to sing old macdonald as a distraction tatic while dressing her. I would pause when I got to the animal so Ella could choose one. It began fairly predictably with duck, cow followed by horse and puppy.  Then Ella ran out of animals. There was a long wait before she exclaimed 'light!' She was lying on her back and had glanced up at the ceiling to see - the light. What noise does a light make? switch switch of course!

A Whole New Level

Jase and BA tell us stories of how many comments they get from strangers about Abby and Zoe (see their blog- double trouble entry).  However this has gone to a new level. Since being on maternity leave, Jase and I try to meet up for coffee down at Guru or Riccardo's at Jammo.  We'd notice that people often give us 'knowing' smile much to our amusement especially when I was in the last weeks of my pregnancy. Today while Katy was asleep in pram, Abby and Zoe explored, climbed and swinged with our help on the play equipment. A mother who was there with her 3 year old commented to Jase about how busy we must be (or was it crazy) as she assumed we were one big happy family!

Garden Jigsaw

Problem: Pippa running a track through the lawn and bringing all the dirt inside.



Solution: Informal limestone paved path hoping that A. Grass will grow in between and B. Pippa likes running on it and doesn't create a new track next to the path!


Now got to find sometime to do the jigsaw!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Cubbies












Ella learnt how to build a cubbyhouse using Katy's gym and Ella's blanket (commonly known as a sheet).  This not only kept Ella entertained for some time as she would crawl inside, play around then destroy it, but also captured Katy's attention who was fascinated with her big sisters antics.


Break Open the Champers

She did it - Katy slept from 10.30pm - 7am on Tuesday night! What a legend. Last night was still fairly good although Andy had a go at the 'dream feed' which took much longer. It's just a pity Ella didn't join in as she has ended up in our bed for the past 2 nights from about 3am....

Monday, August 10, 2009

Monkey See, Monkey Do



Here are a few photos of Ella with her baby. I had a giggle when she surprised me by firstly expressing some milk and then feeding her baby even swapping boobs mid way through!






Saturday, August 8, 2009

Another Step Forward

Another couple of related achievements by Ella occurred in the last few days.  Started on Thurs night in the bath when Ella started crying 'cause of poo'. I looked in the bath for a floater but couldn't see any (THANK GOD!) so whisked Ella onto the toilet hoping something may happen and plop.  Say no more except that Ella was very happy with herself. The next morning she decided to wear underpants to childcare so I sent a few changes of clothes.  When I picked her up I was very surprised to see her in the same clothes - so no accidents :)

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Famous Daddy

Ella and Katy were very proud to see an article and photo of their daddy in the higher education section of today's Australian. Good work Dad!

Beds in the bath



Yes Ella transfered her bed making skills to the bath tonight.  All of the animal bath toys were put to bed in a corner of the bath with a facewasher as a blanket as seen in these pics!