Halfway through

As I was holding onto Madelyn tonight after she fell asleep and stopped feeding, I gazed at her perfect little face; her perfectly plump little lips, adorable long eyelashes (just like Austy’s), cute little button nose, and rosy cheeks. She seems so big now, such a little person instead of the tiny helpless baby she once was. I gazed lovingly at her and just as it does every night before I kiss those precious cheeks and tuck her into her cot, a smile took over my face as I wondered how she had grown so quickly before my eyes. Since she is our second baby and planned to be our last, I know how this year will feel like just a moment in her hopefully long and happy life so I try to soak up every second and capture it forever in my heart.

Madelyn is nearly seven months old now, a perfect, happy and placid little girl who loves to laugh and watch the world around her as everything seems to be entertainment to her. Andrew and I can clearly see the contrasts between our two beautiful children, who at times look so similar, as if they were twins born three years apart. Austin, at the same age was a real little joker. He’d try to do anything to get our attention, and when he got it (how could we not look at him when he did funny things like poking out his tongue or chatted nonsensically to himself for hours) he’d giggle and beam with pride at his own cleverness. Madelyn, just fits in perfectly to our little family by adoring everything her big brother does, and just happy to sit and watch and enjoy the smiles we all give her. She doesn’t “chat” as much as Austin did at this age, in fact the only sounds she makes are cute attempts at raspberries, squeals of delight and the usual “dadadadad” baby chatter, that really only just started a few weeks ago. I remember Austy saying all sorts of sounds by now. It’s almost as if Austy was the sort of baby who wanted to make everything happen for him, just the way he wanted it, whereas Maddy is the type to just be amused by what everyone else is doing that she doesn’t need to try and get our attention, we have hers instead! Their personalities compliment each other so well, Austy dotes on her, she adores him, and we know that they will grow up with the best friend they could possibly have in each other. And for that we feel lucky. Our two perfect kids.

I never did get to give you Maddy’s 6 month update, things are always so busy here, and without the laptop working I am spending much less time on the net because I don’t like to be in a separate room when Austy is playing (he doesn’t like it much either – very much a Mummy’s boy, which I am soaking up while I can!). So here are her 6 month stats:

Weight: 8.5kg (90th percentile)
Length: 76cm (90th percentile)
Teeth: Two (bottom middle)
Latest trick: Sitting up unaided
Mobility: Still no rolling, crawling or walking (thank goodness!) but she can squirm around in a 360 on the floor and hold herself up well on her tummy.

Madelyn really loves her solids, however she is taking some time to get used to opening her mouth for the spoon. She tends to try and slurp it off the spoon like a soup rather than open her mouth and take the whole spoon in. So far she has mainly had fruits and vegetables, with her first taste of red meat tonight, which she loved (homemade veal with vegetables and a little apple for sweetness). Her favourite foods are banana, and apple & mango purees. She quite likes the pear and sweet potato combo too.

Today, a third tooth cut, much to our surprise, the top eye tooth on her right. I can see a little hole where it’s matching left tooth is trying to pop out, but she has no sign of those two middle top teeth, so we joked that she is a little vampire. The tooth is well and truly out of the gum, which caught me quite off guard when I spotted it as I was trying to settle her for her morning nap and she was crying. She had a cold over last weekend and was very unsettled by it, waking 2hrly and sometimes 1hrly (lucky bleary eyed me). We suspected the 6 month immunisations had a role to play in that too, as the rotavirus vaccine is meant to hit its peak reaction at 7-10 days post dose. Her cheeks had glowed on the odd occasion but other than that, the teething signs were pretty minimal. She had been a bit grumpy this morning, trying to chew her toys, which is what made me think to look while she was crying in her cot as I patted her tummy. I expected to see a slight redness, not the sharp little tooth that sparkled at me in all its white glory! We are very pleased that she doesn’t get as upset about teeth emerging as Austy used to.

Austy is really blossoming now too. We had been having some difficulty teaching him that no means no, and in dealing with his constant need for my attention when Maddy needs me too. I borrowed a book from the toy library called “1-2-3 Magic” and followed it precisely, and like magic the monster side of our boy has vanished, and we can enjoy Austin for the bright and affectionate little boy he is. He loves to tell stories, and have them told to him, an extension of his love for books, and his way of interpreting the world around him. His favourite thing to say at the moment is “tell me a story about this day Mummy/Daddy” and then we are expected to recite with detail, everything that has happened up to that point of the day, and then continue on with what is going to happen to the little boy called Austin that is the main character of our story. If we miss a detail, we have to go back and slot it in… there’s no skipping bits! And he thinks I’m a bit silly when I try to encourage imagination, as he’s very much a tell it like it is kind of boy, and imagination only gets to come into play when he chooses it to. For example, the other day I was taking the kids to the zoo and he wanted Daddy’s binoculars. I told him that it didn’t matter as we could pretend we had binoculars. I circled my fingers over my eyes and said “See, look at my fantastic red binoculars! What colour are yours?” He looked at me as if I was silly and said “Mine are the same colour like my skin mummy”, duh!

I have been teaching him to write his name and he loves how I tell him a little sentence to help with each one, like A is “up and down and across the middle” and he recites it every time he tries to draw an A or sees an A on a sign. I am encouraging him to draw using the blackboard as he never has been much of a colour in or scribble type of kid. At the 2.5yr check up CYH said his pencil grip was “immature” and had to be corrected by kindy, so I am glad I have found something that he likes to do with drawing. I draw a snail on the blackboard and he will draw over it and decorate the shell, and he loves to draw over the letters and numbers I draw on the board for him. He loves craft at the library after story time, and is now starting to colour in chunks rather than just scribbles all over the page.

Yesterday Austy came down with a virus of some kind and spiked a fever, but he is the best patient, as long as I sit and cuddle him. Just a little tricky today with Maddy wanting cuddles today too with her 4th tooth on the way. It seems the worst of it is over though and he’ll be back to his normal energetic self in no time.

4 & 5 months

Before Maddy reaches that 6 month messy solids eating milestone, I'd better just fill you in on the monthly milestones we missed with the preparation for and return hom from that big US trip. Madelyn has now been on 7 plane flights, two more than she is months old. So what has been happening in Maddy's little world?



{Pics to add - they are on the other computer}


At four months old Madelyn weighed a hefty 8.3kgs. We didn't get a chance to weigh her properly at the CYH centre as we normally do, so I don't have a height measurement, but believe me when I say she's also quite tall. She started teething symptoms like mad, but for the whole month had no teeth to show - just lots of dribble and a few more upchucks than normal. The patchy dry skin on her forehead that she'd had since she was born dissapeared and now is as smooth an luscious as every other patch of her squishy soft baby skin. She discovered a love for chewy toys she can put in her mouth, and became even more obsessed with her older brother, only he can make her laugh just by saying "Madelyn, laugh!". It's a delight to see her cackling at him as he chats away. She loves library time and has been going with just me on Mondays for a few weeks now, having special Mummy & Maddy time. She also had her first stint in the baby bouncer (similar to the jolly jumper) just before we left for the US.

At 5 months, we're not sure what she weighed (second baby syndrome coupled with jetlag....) as we didn't get a chance to weigh and measure her. No real concern though as she certainly isn't underweight and is absolutely thriving on Mummy milk. Her newest trick is to pull her socks off with her teeth, and she can roll onto her side but not all the way over to her tummy yet. Most of the month was spent being carried around in the baby carrier, spending alot of time sleeping, so not much really to report on new developments, but she has discovered leaves and is fascinated by them. And still fascinated by her big brother, evben though he gets a bit too close and smothery at times. She's such an easy going little girl, quite happy to go with the flow, loves to squeal and giggle, and only started crying more this month due to not being able to be fed whenever she wanted it (the US isn't as breastfeeding friendly as Australia and it wasn't easy to find somewhere discreet to feed), and perhaps teething added to her unsettledness. But still an absolute delight. Oh and she's started to grow some hair, although noone believes us, and it's so blonde it's hard to see in photographs. Trust us - the bald patch is gone and a heathy littl blonde swirl has sprouted on the back of her darling little head.


That's all for now, as it's not too long before the 6 month update.

Holiday highlights

Okay, so we've been back a little while now and it has taken me this long to let you all know how our big trip went. I do have a littel excuse - a couple of them actually. A little girl cutting teeth and a little boy settling back into normal family life. Both of them had much worse jetlag on the way back than they did on the way there, with many early mornings and trying to convince them both it was still night because it was dark outside.

Here are just a few snaps of our whirlwind US holiday:

Our first stop was Hollywood, where we stayed a walk away from the main drag, and decided to just explore the first day. We did the walk of fame twice - in daylight on our way to Scoobies Hot Dogs for lunch, where the dogs were delish and again after a busy day sightseeing on a moviestars homes bus tour. We went to one of the oldest Hollywood restaurants for a good bite to eat, before dragging our very tired children back to the hotel for a good sleep. Madelyn had woken us every hour that first night, so we were all pretty exhausted by the end of a full day in Hollywood.

Next on the agenda was a long but fun day at Disneyland where Austy's first ride had to be the Dumbo ride just because there was a water fountain underneath. We wished we'd hired a car as we didn't realise how long the bus trip would be - "Disneyland Express" stopped about thirty times, so not very express at all and we didn't get there until 1pm, which chewed up some good ride time. But then again there was so much to see, and as it was Austy fell asleep in Andrew's arms as they lined up for the Toy Story ride, so who knows if he could have handled more anyway.

But he'll tell you his favourite ride was the Buz Lightyear ride where he even got to meet Buzz as we came out.

We stayed until the parks both closed, seeing the Pixar parade in one, then getting our last glimpses of disneyland via the disneyland train while the tradtional parade was on. Austy really wanted to do the train and had no idea who Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse really were anyhow so he was happy just to see Mickey as we exited the train and the parade ended. We didn't get back to the hotel until quite late, and poor Austy had been dragged from stroller to bus, to train, to stroller, to bed in a very sleepy state!

Then it was off to Michigan where I had my graduation and became a Master of Engineering in Global Automotive Manufacturing Engineering (a mouthful I know!) We enjoyed a pre-graduation reception with the Deans and Heads of Schools in the robing room, where Austy nibbled chocolate chip cookies and attacked the fruit platter that noone else seemed to be interested in. They also took some family photos of us, and some shots of me with one of my professors, Jack Hu and the Dean of Engineering, so I will post those when they arrive. For now these dodgy shots will have to do - poor Andrew had his hands full with a 3yr old who wasn't keen on sitting still and a baby who needed to sleep. The ceremony for the Engineering school was held in the Chrysler Arena. Afterwards we went out into the Michigan stadium and had a looksie while Austy safely ran and ran - it's huuuuuge! We'd skipped the earlier graduation ceremony as it was just going to make it too long a day and there was no way Maddy would take a bottle (we tried, but she spat out my hard pumped milk thinking we were trying to trick her or something!). The stadium was left open for clean up after the event which is why there is rubbish strewn everywhere, but we had to get a pic or two. Excuse my messy hair and the bunched up hat - the hat would NOT stay on despite it being a "surefit" (yeah right, they weren't expecting a pin head like mine to graduate I guess) and it was super windy.

We had a fantastic dinner with Dianne (GM TEP manager) and her husband Fred the night before graduation which was a highlight for Austy, as he grabbed her son's guitar (he apparently brings them home when a string breaks and goes and gets another so she had a few lying around) and made up his first song. He called it "In my mind" and entertained us with his musical talents at 3.5! Diane had suggested we go to the hands on museum in Ann Arbor, which we did the day after graduation. Another highlight for our boy. He wanted to go back there every day for the rest of the trip!

On our last night in Ann Arbor we met up with one of the guys that I met at the TeamCenter training when I took the trip over last year and had dinner with him and his wife and their adorable blue eyed baby girl Sophie.

Next up was a busy and drizzly couple of days in New York (we actually stayed in New Jersey as it was cheaper and only a short bus ride away). By this stage the hotel hopping and late nights were starting to take their toll on Austin and at times we thought we were absolutely CRAZY taking a 3yr old on a trip like this, while Madelyn was easily pleased keeping snuggled up to me in the baby carrier form dawn until dusk. We took Austy to the ToysRus store in New York for a ride on the ferris wheel, and also did the Empire State Building, going up all those floors in a superfast lift that you could hardly feel moving. I don't think Austy fully appreciated how high up we were as the little daredevil kept climbing the wall to look over, raising the eyebrows of the people that look after security up there. Andrew and I listened to most of the recording set that we hired to learn about each of the points around the lookout balcony before Austy got bored and it was time to come down.

One night we stayed out just a little too late, and realised just how difficult it is to stay together with a stroller to push along after 6pm on Broadway. We couldn't believe how busy the footpaths got and it was like a human-car gridlock at just about every street crossing.

After all that we were more than ready to slow the pace down a bit with a trip over to Chicopee by car, where Marty & Leslie were kind enough to let us displace them from their condo so we could have a bit more space than the hotels had offered. We were so grateful of having two separate bedrooms and a living area (the hotel rooms had all been a single shared room with two beds in them), as we were able to put both kids to bed in their separate rooms and shut the doors so we could sit up and have some time together ourselves rather than laying in the dark and silence waiting forever for Austy to nod off. Madelyn loved the floor space too, where she could be laid on her rug and have some kicking time after all that time being carried. She learned her new trick while we were there, which was to pull her toes up to her mouth and bite her socks off. Luckily it was warm enough for no socks most of the time we were there so we just let her lick her toes to her heart's content.

We met Andrew's cousin John and his family, and Austy had a ball with Spencer and Allie, even having a good long turn on their 4-wheeler. We watched Allie's softball game... well Andrew did, I played with Austin and Spencer in the plaground there as well as a few other kids that Austy was calling his best friends by the end of the game. We also explored the Dr Suess gardens in Springfield - how cute was Austy playing amongst the statues?!

And went on the Merry-go-round in Holyoke a few times.

Then it was back to LA to stop over for a couple of nights before the long haul flight home. This time we stayed in Long Beach, a really nice area, we wished we'd stayed there longer. At that stage Andrew was quite comfortable with driving on the wrong side of the road and worked out how to read which exit to take from highway to highway without going around in circles, so we drove out to Santa Monica and Malibu for a bit of a looksie.

All in all we had a great time, and enjoyed having some family time together. It was great to meet everyone in Chicopee, John, Kym, Allie, Spencer, Marty, Krystal, and the adorable Lily (Austy's age) and hope to maybe see some of you again over here one day.

*NOTE* More photos to come... sorry, it just takes too long, and blogger adds in a gazillion lines between every paragraph everytime I load a pic.

Just a pic to tide you over...

I have yet to tell you about our trip to the US for my graduation, but while we get settled back in, here's a pic taken today of our 5 month old princess. She's just growing up sooooo fast!

No longer classed as a "Newborn"

Well all too quickly, Madelyn reached that 12w milestone and progressed from newborn to infant and could almost pass as a 6m old going by the size of her. Until she tries to put a toy in her mouth and drops it, or misses, or until she is plonked down on her bottom and rapidly slides to the horizontal position that is. People are constantly gasping in disbelief when I tell them that she had only been in the world for 3 months last Thursday.

Madelyn continues to be the model baby, adored and loved by all who see her, with her happy and easy going nature, she is just perfect. She really "sings" now and loves to chat and gives us a real cackle when we chat back. She especially loves to be told she is cute (she gets a huge giggle out of that!) and makes everyone laugh with her. She still loves her milk (as can be seen by the ten rolls of fat on her legs - don't worry darling, while you're this young it's cute to be chubby and if yo're anything like your big brother those leg rolls will disappear by your 3rd birthday). She has been a tiny bit unsettled this past few days, possibly from a sore throat that Austy gave to me and maybe we gave her, or perhaps even teeth on the way (Austy got his first two at 4 months and she has been saturating her clothes with dribble and chewing on those fingers alot this week, so who knows). But her unsettledness isn't bad at all, and for any other baby you'd just think it's normal baby behaviour, as hardly any baby I have ever met cries as little as she does. She got all her tears out in those first few weeks by the looks of things.

Developmentally, the grasping is getting so much better now, and she loves her playmat or the rocker where she can grab onto dangly toys, or better still when I pick her up and there is all that hair to pull out - her favourite! She is still far from rolling (but I am happy with that, Austy took 7 months to roll and I kind of prefer it when you know that the baby will be where you left it when you have to duck out of the room to help a three year old go to the toilet!), but she is really strong in her back and neck. She can push up well on her tummy, and tries to sit up sometimes when laid on her back in a semi reclined position (like on our bed, propped against pillows). I have been too slack to take her down to CYH for her monthly weigh and measure yet, but I assure you she isn't fading away, but starting to really fill out those 00's and it won't be long before a wardrobe switch is required again. I'm still squeezing her into the size small nappies I made her, but really should get to the sewing machine and make her some roomier mediums so those chubby legs of hers have room to move.

Austy still loves her to bits, but has been heard telling me to put her down, or telling her to shhh sometimes when he's watching TV. He is really getting into his singing, and at music last week we had to bring a "statue" that he had made. Of course we had to make a monster (he has a serious addiction to the Disney movie Monsters Inc.), which in the end I had to finish with the paper mache part since he thought the flour water glue I had made was delicious. However he throughly enjoyed the painting part and got right into sticking on the spikes and glitter! He's not much of an outdoorsy type as yet, we try to encourage him to get out and play in the sand pit or kick a ball around, or even ride his bike, but he still prefers "Cutting and sticking", listening to music in his room (often bundled up under the quilt I made him, singing along), playing on the computer or acting out scenes with his little people. This last activity is one of my favourites, it's an insight into how he sees the world, and wonderful hearing all the different voices he puts on as he acts out things we have done or things he has seen.

He watched some swimming on TV last week too, and told us that he wanted those people to teach him, so they could show him how to swim fast and he could get a medal. His poor swimming teacher was devastated when we told her, but watching the swimming did give him the courage to jump into the pool without holding her finger (albeit with a tiny push from me *blush*).

Photography

I know I should have put them here, but as photography is a secret hobby of mine (I really need to get myself a DSLR one day but until then I am just a secret hobbyist!!) I put the photos I took of the kids today on my hobbies blog. I couldn't decide where best to put them, here or there... You can see them here. Be warned, there are a few!

I really should do an update here too but am having too much fun with photoshop (thanks Dad) and the photos I took today (thanks to Astrid giving me a bit more confidence after she had me photograph her wedding on Saturday).

Just a quick few lines on Maddy - she is now over her delayed grizzle reaction from the needles and back to her super happy, giggly and contented self. We are all in awe of how she can just go with the flow, hardly cries and is super snuggly. She was dragged around on a hen's day bus tour of some wineries in Maclaren Vale one weekend, then dragged along while I shot the wedding the next. Poor girl got dumped in the corner while I snapped away playing paparazzi, and since she doesn't really demand her feeds (just shows me in other ways that she's hungry) I managed to spread them out a little more while I took photos and to fit them in around the wedding ceremony. The little girl was an angel! She fits in so beautifully, and we are constantly wondering how on earth we got so lucky! She's even a better sleeper at night than Austy was, which we thought would be hard to beat as he was pretty good, but she delights us with a full night of sleep every night from about 9:30pm until 8am. Darling girl!

Two months young

That's right, our little girl is two months old... already! And of course, she's growing like a little weed. Her two month statistics have her at 61cm and 6.72kg. Our little hephalump girl. But she is healthy, and happy. So very happy. She has been delighting us with the most gorgeous smiles, little giggles and quite a converstaion. She's just the most beautiful little girl, such a pleasure to have in our lives and you can tell we are just enjoying every moment, and wishing that time would just slow down a smidge so we can take it all in.

I don't remember the last time she had colic now, it is just a distant memory, and as long as I give her the two hour feed she wants at night (yes, TWO HOURS!), the gorgeous Madelyn gives me a wonderful sleep, every night. She is even starting to stretch that out past the 7am mark and waking with her brother at 8am or 8:30am some days. So nice to feel normal again. It just makes it a little hard to have kid free time since I spend the evenings feeding after putting Austin to bed.

She has discovered that her swing is actually a good thing - thank goodness as Andrew was worried we had wasted our money when she would only last five minutes before screaming her little lungs out to be picked up again. I think since she has been able to focus on things alot better she really enjoys watching the butterflies spin around which eventually lulls her off into sleepy land. She like Austy's rocker too - the one he never liked until he was at leats 6 months old, and that was only because I'd sit him outside in it. That was actually why we bought a swing, because the rocker was useless as a settling technique. She likes to play in it though, and loves to bat at the brightly coloured toys we hang on the toy bar.

Austy has been delightful too. Of course we still get normal 3yr old mischievious behaviour at times, but lately he has been so good, and also great to chat with. Today I sat down at a local shopping centre with him for a coffee and a babychino, and he told me out of the blue: "When I get bigger I am going to be a dontist and fix people's teeth". I looked at him puzzled and asked "You mean a dentist?" He said "No, a dontist - they are really good dentists" "Oh, you mean an orthodontist!" he giggled, and agreed. "When I'm bigger, and I'm going to work in THAT orthadontist shop and make him go somewhere else" he said, pointing to the balcony of the Orthodontist upstairs.

We recently rewarded his wonderful behaviour and good listening ears with a family trip to the beach, where he went on the bumper boats, the carousel, water slides and swam in the ocean, while I carried a sleeping Madelyn in the sling I made when Austy was a baby. She wasn't so impressed with the wind, so snuggled in and dozed off. So cute, I wish I'd made Andrew take a photo...

He had a great time with his Dad with me watching on, and I decided that my sling worked much better than the bought ones I used with Austy and vowed to make a new one, this time in pretty girly colours. I'm not sure if it's just because she is younger than he was when I started wearing him in a sling, or if it's just that my preferences have changed, but I love the stability the mei tai type carriers offer when I am bending down to kiss a little bump on Austy's head or crouching down to hear what he is saying.

He loves role playing at the moment, and the little people he happily threw out of their trucks and cars when he was younger are now his favourite toys. He wanders around the house talking to them and making them talk to each other, acting out everyday things like going to the shops to buy a cheesy roll. It's amusing to watch, but also quite enjoyable because he will do this for hours, keeping himself occupied and content, leaving us free to do other things (which for me is either feeding Madelyn or sorting the never ending washing piles). And today he delighted us by making them all jump back into their box at the end of the game. Bliss!

Unbelievable - just three takes!

Austy hardly ever sits still, and many of the photographs we take of him have him blurry as he runs out of the shot, or else his eyes are shut or wide as that's how he puts on his phot smile - a blink, then open wide eyes and a little cheesy grin. It's hilarious to watch... but frustrating!

So when I had to take photographs for the children's passports (getting ready for our trip to America at the end of April for my Masters graduation) I was surprised today that I only had to click the shutter three times. It's amazing what you can do with a few carefully thought out sentences. I told him that he wouldn't be allowed into America without this photo because they needed to know what he looks like in case we lose him in disneyland and we need to find him again. If he didn't stand still for the photo, I'd have to leave him with a babysitter while we took Maddy to America without him.

Okay, so it's a bit mean, but hey, how else are you supposed to get kids to pose for a passport photo with all their rules and regulations (certain size, mouth closed, looking straight at camera, etc.). It's hard enough just getting a photo of a 3 yr old at all sometimes.

Now Madelyn... I think I'll have to try again tomorrow. She has to look straight at the camera too and have the plain white/cream background and nothing obscuring her face. It would be alright if she looked straight up at the camera when I laid her on a white sheet on the floor, but there's always something more interesting to look at on the side. Or she closes her eyes and goes to sleep. Or puts her fist in her mouth. Or she opens her mouth and cries. Unfortunately 6w olds don't take instructions well.

An update on the kindermusik - today was Austin's first proper class and again he had a great time, although there was more "acting out" and imagining things thamn musical activities today, but all of the activities had music background and singing involved. Austy was his normal confident self and got straight into it, despite me sitting at the back of the room today, and not joining in. I really had to restrain myself from jumping in there and helping him with things, so this is probably going to be great thing to teach me to pull back a bit more and just let him go and learn for himself. The other mums were suprised at how confident he was, especially for a firts timer, as their children had been going for several terms and still didn't participate in all the activities or sing along. As we left, I overheard the teacher telling her husband who had joined her for their lunch break: "That boy has only just started, and you should have seen him - he was singing ALL the songs!" And they aren't songs I have taught him either - all brand new to us both. We have ordered the home materials to do it at home together too so no doubt he'll know all the words in just a few weeks.

Surviving the heatwave

The past two weeks have been super warm with every day above 35, and the past 6 above 40 degrees celicuis. Not nice, especially with a newborn, even worse when they cut the power two days in a row to conserve energy... Maddy had a cool off in the hand basin, then I found Austy there minutes later.

And poor Austy is feeling a little penned in too we think as he has been getting a bit naughty on the days we stay at home to avoid the heat. It looks like it won't cool down until around Sunday - a whole week away, but I have found when we do manage to get out, Austin gets a bit of a break from the same four walls and he is happy to sit quietly and play with his toys or watch a DVD when we get home. Here he is at the Museum of South Australia, his first ever museum visit and at a great time, as they had a dinosaur babies exhibit on and some school holiday activities. Despite the lady at information telling me I wouldn't want to go out to the activities with a new baby, and Austin was too young for them anyway, we ventured out for a look. I'm glad we did as he had a ball with the older kids, "breaking a dinosaur egg" to find a dinosaur baby (which I had to help him finish or we'd still be there), and then taking a little brush to uncover some bones in the sandpit.

There were other activities there that he would have enjoyed but it was quite warm in the outdoor tent and Madelyn was starting to stir so I stopped him there and we went inside to the exhibit. I think he probably would have been happy with just the activities (and it also would have been cheaper since I had to pay for me to take him in!) but I thought I'd show him the dinosaurs anyway. I don't think he's quite old enough to understand the whole concept of dinosaurs and their being extinct but he did enjoy uncovering the different types of dinosaur eggs in their "nests". Madelyn was an angel and slept through most of it so I really got to spend some quality time with our boy and it really made his day. We walked back to the car and she decided to wake for a feed, so we sat in the park and he played with the dinosaur puzzle I bought him as a souvenier for being so good, while I did my motherly duties for Madelyn.

The Tour Down Under was also on in Adelaide, and Austin went with Andrew to see the start of the first day, and then to the park with all of us for the start of the last day. Unfortunately I forgot the camera for our day at the park, but it was hilarious watching Austy's face as he sat on Andrew's shoulders watching the bikes go past. Preceeding the cyclist were police motorbikes with lights flashing and sirens wailing, which I think was the highlight for the boy. The cycles were over pretty quickly in a blur of bright colours but the council had put on a free community event with activities specifically for the little ones, including story telling, pony rides, jumping castle, face painting and a craft station. We invited Austy's friend James (and his mum Emma, and sister Eleanor) to join us and the two boys had some great fun together while Emma and I got to chat. Maybe Emma will send me her pics so I can blog them later. The boys were the lucky last to get their face painted before they packed it up, and both were easy to guess what they would choose to be. James was a pink butterfly of course, and Austin (who we managed to convince to be a tiger at James' birthday party instead of the pink cat he always asked to be at childcare) saw someone with sparkles and asked to be a sparkly cat. You can sort of see him here in a blur (he hardly ever sits still!) while I captured Maddy's smile on camera. He'd had a sausage sizzle after the face painting though so all the paint around his mouth was most likely swallowed! The pic in front of his favourite DVD "Monsters Inc." is a bit easier to see.

This week saw the start of the school term so I started some weekly activities which should help keep Austin amused and keep me busy so I don't keep getting to the end of the week and wondering what on earth we did and where that week went. Keeping busy seems to help me get moving in the mornings, and actually achieve something. So Fridays are now playgroup days, where Austin will become familiar with the kindy he will be attending at the end of the year and I can meet other young families. The playgroup teacher is fantastic and really enthusiastic with the children, and Austin enjoyed having lunch at the kindy tables, and songs on the rug before home-time. They had so many fun workstations set up too and Austin loved exploring them all, including building toys, waterplay, glueing and playdough.

Saturdays are still swimming day, and Austy's favourite teacher Tabitha was back last week (this is the teacher he wanted to name our baby after whether it was a boy or a girl!) so he was very excited and had his listening ears on all lesson, earning a certificate for "Free swim with floats". This week he scored another one, "15m swim with floats". It won't be long before he'll be swimming unaided either, we have let down the second chamber in each of his floaties for swimming at home and with the daily swims, he'll be a fish in no time!

And Tuesdays are probably going to be Austy's most favourite day of all. We start his first class of kindermusik on Tuesday after our introductory class before swimming yesterday. We were in their "Our time" class this week as an introduction because that class (which is for 18m - 3y) involves the parents as well and a softer approach to getting him to start since I had to do the activities with him. He couldn't stop smiling the whole time, and has been looking forward to these classes ever since I told him we would start this year while I was on maternity leave. It was his choice - music lessons (kindermusik) or "acrobatics" classes (kindergym) and he didn't have to think for very long to decide he wanted to go to music. He has always loved music in every form or style so I think he will be in his element with the kindermusik. He didn't want to leave on Saturday, and had fun chasing the littlies around at the end of the class, hugging and playing with them. His class (Imagine That) is for 3-5y so he will be the youngest there rather than the oldest but it will also involve some drama type activities which I am sure he will enjoy. I will only need to be involved at the end of the class which is probably just enough involvement for Austy, and also leaves me to look after Maddy for most of the class and get her settled in time for me to sit down with Austy at the end.

Now, what has Madelyn been up to? Other than growing and growing and growing (her 6w weigh and measure showed her at 59.5cm and 5.98kg), she has become alot more alert and settled. We are happy to announce that night times aren't so scary for me anymore (although Andrew goes back to work next week so it might be a different story then!). A few times Madelyn has actually self-settled in her cot once fed, wrapped and content. Other times I still need to hold and rock her, but not until midnight anymore, and she is feeding better and not getting so much wind pain in the evenings. Add to that the enjoyment of 7hrs of unbroken sleep for most of last week (except last night but I think that was due to the heat and our light dressing and just a sheet on her which meant she woke once because she was thirsty and twice because the room got cool and she didn't have a blanket on). She is becoming much more enjoyable (not that we haven't adored her from the start) and I am coping a bit better now too as a result.

She faired the heat better than expected, and has also started to laugh and chatter to us. It's so cute, and we love how interactive she has become. She is fascinated by the world around her, lifting her head up all the time to have a good look. She has started to really "cuddle" when she's held, wrapping her arms tight around our shoulders as we pat her back. The only dissappointing thing to report this week is that those blasted mozzies have attacked her! She has a couple of bites on her cheek, a few on her head and about six on the arm that escaped her wrap the other night. We have hardly seen a mozzie in the house but they have been in her room when we've seen them and only one or two. Luckily they don't seem to bother her much, and she hasn't broken out in huge welts like Austin used to. I feel bad for her anyway as I'm her mum and am meant to protect her from these things...

Next week we have some 6 week appointments so more on Maddy's development then.

1 month already

Little Maddy isn't so little... she's already off the charts for length and weight and almost out of her 0-3m clothes. Not surprising really since her favourite pastime is feeding! She's rewarded my efforts with a few little smiles this past week although there's still a lot of crying happening as well.

Here are her stats for the month.

Weight: 5.64kgs (whoa!) up from 4.1kgs

Length: 58cm up from 51cm

Head circumference: 36cm up from 34cm

I'm obviously not starving her!! And as you can se she gets plenty of love!