Ben :: 9 Months

9 Months! We just love this little/big guy to bits. Having his picture taken was something he didn't want to do. Red cheeked and teething and a bit of snot added in there didn't make for a very cooperative photo shoot.  More teeth are breaking though. He's pulling up on things. He's seems heavier everyday. Eating well, but still gets a bit pissy at dinner time. Baths with Annmarie are his new favorite thing. We're down to two naps a day and in bed at night a bit earlier. Still waking once during the night for some milk, I'm kinda over it. I mean the kid is a tank, is he really that hungry? We started going to the library for this little session with bubs under one on Fridays. Ben's favorite thing to do is eat the paper they give us with songs we sing on it, and when I take mine away from him he has no problem going after the other Mum's papers. He has no problem going to other people on his own, but if I hand him off to someone he'll freak out.

Jamie and I went out this month - finally! We got a babysitter. And my Mother's Group has been going out at night the last Tuesday of every month for the last few months - it's been awesome to get out.

The rest of pictures I took looked like this:

 (pulling up)

 So so so done with this.

It's ok Mate - we love you!

Random

Man I took a lot of pictures of Ben this last week. Most of these are taken when Ben and I are out and Annmarie is at preschool. We go for lots of walks and recently have had some great sunny days. As for the Vegemite sandwich, not sure if I'll ever get use to making it. Also, to add to Annmarie's Aussieness, she has started saying tomahto versus tomato and I've caught her a few time using "Zed" for "Zee" - it's very endearing. Like her self portrait? Also, Annmarie and I made a French Yogurt Cake inspired by this book.

Soccer

Annmarie started Soccer this term. She LOVES IT! We ended up changing her activities around. We are not doing swimming now because we're wimps - it's just too cold for us. And the dance studio changed the classes around again and the times just do not work for us. Therefore, we started soccer and a little activity called Hop Skip Jump. She was starting to be a little indifferent to dance, wasn't really excited for it, but would go and not complain. However, she does want to be in another concert/performance, so we'll see. Meanwhile soccer has been a huge hit and she constantly asks when she gets to go again.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was simple. All I wanted was some alone time. Jamie had been gone all week again to Japan. I got to sleep in until 8:30! Then when Ben went back down for his morning sleep I crawled back into bed to read and Jamie kept Annmarie occupied. Then when Ben woke up he took them both outside - see above. It was great. I snapped a few photos and then crawled back into bed. Annmarie was a snotty mess, so we stayed around the house and the day progressed as usual - cleaning up, laundry, yada, yada. Annmarie gifted me these handmade preschool goodies above. We ordered take away for dinner and that was the end of the day.  It was nice, simple and sweet.

9.52

I weighed Ben yesterday - 9.52 kg! Or nearly 21 pounds! He's solid. Annmarie was like 15 months before she even hit 20 lbs.

BTW - I live by the converter app.

Bits

 1. Out on ANZAC day. 2. I love coffee. 3. Made my first pavlova. 4. Flowers on my walk. 5. Happy after a good sleep. 6. View from Annmarie's preschool. 7. Sleep in the Ergo. 8. Skyping with Ben's girlfriend. 9. I love coffee.

Fun with the Skitch app.

Necklace

Ben joined the Amber Bead Necklace party! All the babies are doing it - Ben felt left out. Here is some chessy info about the necklace. I have no idea if it really works. I haven't seen a difference in Ben since he started wearing it. But he was/is showing a lot more signs of teething, so I thought I would try it. If anything I think he looks really cute wearing it, it only adds to his Aussie surfer look that he is going for. I never really saw these in the States with Annmarie, but maybe they are gaining more popularity now.

Jamie Runs. And Swims. And Rides

Jamie participated in his first Triathlon this weekend in Sydney. Now before you get all these images of Iron Man in your head, let me tell you this...he completed the entire thing in 37 min...36:58 to be precise.  His everyday work-outs are more intense than this "Triathlon". Now I am not belittling my husband...good on him for doing a competitive Tri. He beat everyone in his office. He swam in Sydney Harbour (for 4 min) where sharks are known to frequent. But I think it took him longer to dry his feet (yes, he dried his feet, not so barbarian of him) and get his running shoes on after the swim than it look him to complete the bike and run. I'm only kidding...a little. Anyway, I am still proud of him and he is like a little boy for these events and gets everything ready and laid out the night before. He was also a little too excited that he got to write his number on this arms in Sharpie. This will definitely not be his last Tri, I think this sparked something in him that he has always wanted to do.

We didn't go with him to the race, but did meet him in Balmoral for celebratory lunch at Awaba Cafe, where he had a nice lunch and enjoyed the view.

Ben :: Eight Months

Ben
Benjamin
Benny
Benny Ben Ben
Benj
Bub
Monster
Grumps
Bruiser
Mate
Dude
Buddy

Is eight months! Those are the many different names Ben goes by.

Ben is one happy little guy. He is pretty much all smiles most of the day. Oh, he has his moments, but they are fairly basic. He gets grumpy when he is hungry and tired and it is nearly impossible to dress him or change his nappy. He HATES being on his back. 

He is everywhere. He has started crawling on his hands and knees, but after a few rotations, he resorts to commando crawling. Eating great and loves feeding himself. Loves bread. Sleeping well. Typically, will still get up once during the night to feed, but goes right back down. For the most part, still has three sleeps during the day, but sometimes two. Depends on how long his afternoon sleep is.

He is super cuddly. Loves going for walks. I have no idea what he weighs right now, but he is a big boy. It sill blows me away how different Ben and Annmarie are when it comes to their size.

We just think he is the best!

And these two fingers, they are his pacifier.

4 Pics

(Tiger, cap, Ben, Beach)

Shake it Out!

Week and Weekend

Our little mate is all over the place. He cannot be contained.
Annmarie went to a Goodies and Baddies party. She was a bumble bee. A good bumble bee.
Yikes! iPhone cracked. It had a good life. My first iPhone. We've been through a lot. Hellooooo iPhone 4. About time, right!? I know Apple is going to announce the 5 is coming out tomorrow.
He loves to go on walks. As long as he is awake and moving he is happy. Try to get him to sleep in there...another story.
Woke up to this one morning.

Easter

We had a nice Easter weekend. It was a four day weekend for us, which is always nice. Jamie was gone during the week for four long nights and got back on Good Friday. It was a lovely day, so we headed to the beach.
On Saturday we headed to Sydney to Centennial Park for a egg-hunt. It wasn't a traditional hunt where you go and hunt for eggs, rather we were given a map and we looked for clues that spelled a word. At the end was the Easter Bunny, who gave us a chocolate egg. Annmarie was a little confused with the clues, but was happy running in the open fields and going over bridges and of course she was thrilled with the chocolate egg. We also had a nice lunch at the park. It's a beautiful park and I'm sure we will be back.
When we got home Annmarie and I did a little Easter craft (craft idea found here). Annmarie loves doing crafts. We each made a little bunny - a mum bunny and a Annmarie bunny. She is learning to write her name, it's great watching her learn how. She does have a bit of a tricky name to spell - the two n's and m right together confuse her a bit and her "e" is sometimes upside down. It's too cute.
We also wrote a letter to the Easter Bunny.
It reads.
Dear Easter Bunny,
Come into my house....and bring Easter eggs and a train. And something for Ben.
Thank you!
Love,
Daddy
Mum
Ben
Annmarie (signed by herself)

She also left him a drawing of ghosts and a orange dinosaur.
On Sunday the Easter bunny brought her a train and a Snow White Book, coloring pencils and some lollies. Ben got a ball and a book. Everyone was happy.
Ben enjoyed some hot cross bun for breakfast.
We then got the kids ready in their Easter's best - Giant shirts of course. We stayed in all day on Easter, so it worked.
I spent most of the cooking. Deviled eggs, leg of lamb, sweet potato smash, brussel sprouts and cupcakes!

After dinner we enjoyed a crazy lighting storm - need to figure out how to take a pictures of that.
Monday was another low key day...
The End.

Random Bits