Growing Up!

Princess had her first day of Preschool/Kindergarten/Nursery School today! She's a bit younger than they usually take (because she turns 3 in September she was only supposed to start in January) but they had spaces free and I reckoned she was ready.

Princess had a ball! I got there at 2 to pick her up early, as that is usually right in her nap zone, and Princess was still bounding around all over the place. We came home and after a snack (she hardly touched her packed lunch) I tucked her, protesting, into bed where she immediately conked out.

The teachers say she did very well, and next week I'll leave her til 3 and see how she goes. At the moment she is only attending one day a week, but in September we might increase that to 2 days a week.

My baby is growing up!

...but not too fast ;-)

Your Royal Fix

My Dad has just been back in hospital for transfusions. He's home now, which is great! I shall be there in just over 3 weeks, and can't wait.

Here are some pics and vids to cheer Dad up.

King on the couch. No, he's not crawling, climbing or cruising yet. I'm just trying to show him what's possible! King spends a fair amount of time on his front every day, going backwards and getting more and more frustrated. It will click someday.

My boyz.

The highlight of any shopping trip is the coffee shop stop. Princess has a cookie and a babycino. King has an empty space as he's still a destructo menace!

Your Royal Fix

I should be doing Milord's tax return... or I can throw a couple of photos at the internet and watch the Tour with lots of wine. Hmmmm...

Fairy Dancing...

"What's this Mummy?"
"It's a megaphone. Like a microphone. You can sing into it."
"Lalalala! Lalalala!"

...half an hour later...

Some more park time on a chilly day, with arm painting!

And so to bed...

Legs and Stuff

We are having a quiet week. Milord had surgery on his left leg last Friday and is a bit of an invalid...

Milord's left knee has been troubling him lately. I should say "troubling him more than usual" actually, because as an aging rugby forward his knees were ruined many years ago and are always a bit of an issue. However, his left knee flared up badly a few weeks ago and so last week Milord went along to the GP for a specialist referral. While he was there the GP also decided Milord's leg veins were looking dodgy (Milord was aboard a helicopter in the Air Force that had a crash landing decades ago, and some of his left leg veins have been varicose ever since). So he also threw in a vein scan.

3 days later Milord was in hospital having a load of defective veins removed! Seems they were pretty bad and were even harbouring a clot so had to come out ASAP. It's fairly major surgery as they had to go deep to get some of them, and Milord has been weak as a kitten since. He's been a very good patient though as it's not too painful, and he is encouraged to be mobile so he's walked to the shops and to the park over the weekend. Now Milord is back at work, although he's taking it easy and coming home early if he runs out of steam. We are still waiting to hear about his knee!

In other news we are adding 2 feet of privacy screen to 15m of our fence where the raised house extension overlooks the bad neighbour's place (apparently we should have done this as part of our reno). While I'm thrilled that soon I shan't be able to see the bad neighbour any more, we really can't afford the $2000 cost right now - especially not on top of Milord's doctor's bills. Plus I'm flying to South Africa again in August to visit Dad who is not doing well.

But enough about money!

The kids are awesome. King is getting over a horrible headcold, and Princess is testing her boundaries by running away from me when we walk to the shops. Next time I'm going to make her wear a backpack with a leash!

Your Royal Fix

I have heaps to write about, but little inclination. We are all well.

We are trying to finish off our house to let it, and are looking around for a bigger place to rent before Mom gets here in December. So far the estate agents are frothing at the mouth for a chance to let our place! By moving a little further from the city we should be able to afford a couple more bedrooms and a bigger yard. Hopefully without obnoxious neighbours... I have plenty to write about that subject but perhaps should not commit anything to writing!

I have a robot vacuum cleaner. It is AWESOME! Vacuuming is a pet hate, and now I just have to flick a duster into the odd nook or cranny the thing can't reach every so often (or just leave it until the cleaners come every 2 weeks!). King finds "Mo" (nickname chosen from Wall-E - it's the little cleaner bot who follows him around going "Foreign Contaminant!") fascinating, and Princess ignores him unless he actually bumps her ankles.

Looking for puddles in her new wellies. Princess hardly falls down now, but she still walks with her elbows up like a marionette!

More puddles.

Rocking the Peruvian jacket - hi Aunty Jane!

Seesaw.

Snacktime.

Mummy! He's breathing on me!

Helping mummy make biscuits... 

Solids. Finally we progress past biscuits! Broccoli is a big hit, especially the pulverising part.

Long Weekend

I don't feel like writing lately. Dad is awfully ill, and that makes everything else seem petty...

Anyway. Last weekend was a long weekend here in Oz, and we went away to visit friends. Princess' godparents have just bought a little hotel (8 rooms arranged around a small lake/dam on many acres of land where kangaroos wander past) in the Hunter Valley - a wine region about 3 hours from my house. While the hotel rooms are fully equipped, the owner's residence is still a bit sparse and the guest wing has no more than a bed in each room... but then what more do you really need?!

Milord went there last Tuesday to help move furniture around and have a little fun, and Princess, King and I drove up on Friday. The kids were brilliant on the drive. I timed things so that King was fed just before we left and he doesn't mind napping in the car, and Princess snacked all the way on fruit, biscuits and carrot and celery sticks... yes, she's not your normal toddler! Half an hour into the trip she asked if we were almost there, but luckily she's a good girl, plus I had enough of her toys with reach to keep her happy.



Other close friends with a 4 year old girl (J) and 2 year old boy (M) were also invited. I had my doubts because in gatherings before the kids (J and M plus others) have been a shrieking mass barreling past Princess and generally bowling her over, but this time it was a perfect mix! Princess can walk now, albeit a little unsteadily, and J and M were gentle with her. They were constantly taking her by the hand and leading her off into the distance, teaching her to roll down slopes and throw oranges in the orchard, picking her up when she fell and slowing right down to her pace. King is still at the sit and watch (or scoot backwards on his tummy) phase, but he had plenty to watch and was very happy to park on the camping mattress (no rug yet) in front of the log fire and observe chaos.

The Hunter Valley is a lot more inland than Sydney, and gets a lot colder. There was frost on the grass in the mornings but the house was well heated and cosy and we had plenty of layers for going outside. The company was pleasant - while the people are more Milord's friends than mine, the place was big enough and the kids distraction enough so that the certain folk who can't hold their drink weren't a bother. One can always say "Oops, gotta check on King!" to get away from an idiotic debate...



Milord cooked all breakfasts (champagne brunches), lunches were help-yourself, and dinners were shared among the other couples so it was very relaxed catering. Mornings start at 5:30am with King (ugh) and being with friends means late nights, so we were pretty knackered, but to be honest I haven't known what it is to be rested for the last 9 months anyway! Milord surprised me by organising a masseuse one morning though, and that was awesome!

Princess had a ball with acres to explore and nice kids wanting to play with her. Milord hung out with some of his best mates, and I had a lovely time too and enjoyed not needing to do laundry or cooking (except for the kids). I ran around once with the vacuum and somehow managed to avoid the dishes heheheh.



The weather was clear and cold most of the weekend, but on Monday morning when we were due to drive home it started to rain. A bit stressful on the roads, but luckily the kids were brilliant again and we got back to our little, delightful, well-equipped house without incident, put the kids to bed for a nap and relaxed with a glass of wine. Ahhhhhhh.... it's always good to come home!

I have video from the weekend, but it needs editing. I'll post it once I get the hang of things!

Your Royal Fix

We all enjoy the new daybed ;-)

King's new teeth are all through and he is happy to sit on the floor again or do tummy time. He's thinking about crawling - he's at the inching-backward-while-trying-to-go-forward stage. When we put him down on his front he automatically goes to hands and knees for a second, so hopefully he'll get the hang of it.

King still doesn't like being spoon-fed, but he can now handle lumps of stuff and today had his first vegemite sandwich morsels which went down a treat! I may try him on big chunks of banana and pumpkin to gnaw on, as self-feeding is definitely his thing.

Princess' walking continues to improve slowly. Standing still is obviously a very advanced skill, and usually if she encounters an unexpected obstacle or another rocketing kid she has to fall down to deal with it. Today during dancetime at playgroup Princess managed to halt momentarily to avoid the others a few times, and provided they didn't actually bump into her she was able to stay upright and keep going! This is a huge improvement!

Princess has mastered spoon feeding herself porridge in the mornings now. I imagine most kids can do this at her age, but I'd chosen to skip the mess until she had enough control to do it properly! Most days she doesn't mess at all. Awesome.

Hmm, what else? Princess can count to 100 with a little help when she gets to each new set of ten (30, 40, 50 etc). Then she'll gleefully continue "Firty-One! Firty-Two! Firty-Free!". She's a right chatterbox and we have just moved from the "What" questions to the "Why" questions. Good fun.

Oops, someone is awake - gotta go!

New Back Yard!

From this...

To this...

Milord has fancied a Balinese-style daybed since his first honeymoon there many years ago, so now we have one dominating the space! The kids and I have spent a lot of time playing on it already.

While there is still a lot of finishing off and tidying to do (and there ought to be a lot more cushions etc on the daybed) the area is now mostly kid-safe. Princess loves being able to potter around outside, kicking a ball or scooting on her bike.

I can't wait to have friends around to christen the barbie - it has been years since we were able to entertain outside!

Still Here

Just not really in the mood. Lots going on though!

King has 4 top teeth appearing together! This may explain why he has been a bit... clingy... lately. He is such a happy baby that his discomfort only manifested as an unwillingness to be put down on the floor to sit or do tummy time. He was only happy on someone, or moving in the pram, or in his bouncer - not unlike when he was a lot littler (and at 11.5kg he isn't that little any more!). Now that I can see all 4 top incisors breaking through he is once again happy to sit and play with toys or do limited tummy time.

He is nearly 9 months old and showing no signs of crawling... of course not letting us put him on the floor for the past few weeks hasn't helped!

Princess' walking is coming along very slowly. The physio has finally talked me into going back to the specialist pediatrician because she is still so wobbly... which meant I had to go through with the urine and blood tests he wanted. The urine was fine - she hit the cup first try clever girl. The blood though. OMG. By the end (the doc wanted 5 tests, which means 5 vials of blood) both nurses and I were just about in tears too, as each vial obviously hurt and Princess was howling "Ow!" "That's sore!" between heart-wrenching sobs and wails as we held her down. King was oblivious to his sister's distress though.

Luckily I'd thought to take along special Winnie The Pooh plasters and a handful of jelly beans, and she got over it pretty quickly.

As for myself, I am finally fed up with being blobby and have rejoined Weightwatchers. They have changed things a lot since I was last a member and it's a lot better. All fruit and most veg are "free", so you can snack on them to your heart's content. Conversely other foods, and especially alcohol, are much more "expensive" in terms of points. Plus you can't carry points over from day to day, so no starving all week to allow a binge on the weekend! There is a weekly "extra allowance" though to cover the finer things in life, so I can have a couple of glasses of wine on the weekend.

It makes a nice change to have to search for more food to eat in my plan, rather than trying to cut food out like before. I've actually lost 1kg in 2 days since starting, but I was obviously bloated - there is no way I can have lost body fat yet!

Stopping wine every night and stopping eating all Princess' leftovers has got to help anyway! Anyway, my weight today was 74.5kg. My first goal is 70kg - my wedding weight - and then I'll see how I get on.

Milord has stopped Lite n Easy as it gets jolly boring after a year! His clothes are a bit tight, but my much lighter evening meals have got to help!

We almost have a back yard! It is fully decked over, with bench seating and bbq and a daybed. Lots of things need finishing off though and we are once again out of money, but it is looking great. Princess loves being able to go outside and play, although I still have to supervise her closely as there are tools lying around.

There is more to tell I'm sure, but if I don't post this now I don't know when I'll get back to it...

Your Royal Fix

I don't think I've mentioned it, but while Princess was pretty much ok with me being gone for 2 weeks she did have Milord and the Nanny wrapped around her little finger while I was gone!

Princess totally refused to walk or to to use the toilet (only the potty) while I was away. I sorted out the toilet thing within half a day (I'm not dealing with dirty potties if I don't need to! Luckily she can't get down once plonked up there, so had to stay no matter how much she complained until her business was done) and I worked really hard on getting the walking thing back up to speed too.

It took a day or two for Princess to get steady again, as after 2 weeks of only crawling she was a bit wobbly, but then we were back to where we'd been. I make a point of walking somewhere every day, even if it's just around the shops, and Princess holds onto the pram or my hand.

A few days ago Princess let go of the pram while I was paying for something and started to wander off! This is a first for us, and a harbinger of things to come, no doubt. So then I decided she was probably ready to walk 50m to the park unaided... and she did so perfectly! A bit like a clockwork toy, but no tumbles, and she was so chuffed with herself that she just kept on going around and through the park for ages. That was Friday, and we did the same on Saturday and Sunday too.

I have a walking Princess! At 2 years 8 months she is finally up and away! I imagine I'll be less thrilled about this shortly, but right now I'm over the moon.

Here is Princess being a Fairy. She has to have her wings and wand to watch the The Fairies tv show ;-)

Fairy Dancing.

Why yes, Cinderella, you shall go to the ball! (Either that or she's trying to turn him into something?)

While we were away King made a couple of giant strides of his own... he mastered sitting and started eating solids!

She is trying to kiss him and he is trying to grab her - the day he gets it right we're going to have trouble!

Who me? Butter wouldn't melt...

King may have started solids but so far he only really likes biscuits. He won't open up for mush, but bigger bits of banana and avocado etc make him gag and throw up. I have decided that nomming on biscuits is just fine! He'll get to the rest when he is ready... I do try him with other food every so often, then mop up the vomit and hand him a biscuit. It's not like he's wasting away!

Biscuit mmm!

This was from this morning in the park. Funny how when I lived in the UK 15C was a nice balmy day, and here I have to really wrap us up because it's cold!

And a couple of random shots of Princess at the top of the slide, disappearing into the distance, and playing with the iPad.