Mmmm.... flesh... Mwah ha ha ha....

We're not big on imported holidays. I was never one for putting fake snow around at Christmas, for example. So the whole Halloween thing I never really got. Ask any Australian schoolage kid what Halloween means and they'll no doubt respond with that's when people give you lollies.

So, having said that, the hypocrites that we are, we thought we'd dress Genevieve in something and knock on next door. John and Neen are expecting their own next year, and love a visit from Genevieve whenever we can, so it was a good excuse.

When we arrived, they were just finishing off some chicken from the local char-grilled place. Nina was about to throw out the remains of the bird, so I pounced and hoed in. Then Naomi shocked me by suggesting that I might want to give Genevieve a piece. I asked if she was sure (as this was would be Genevieve's first meat and Nai is a strict vegetarian. She replied yes so after again confirming I tore her off a strip and plonked it in her hand. She loved it!

Postscript : Naomi bought Genevieve and I some chicken on Sunday. Not 3 minutes after the purchase, a bird crapped on her head. I think the birds thought she was safe and would not partake of murdering their bretheren. But upon spying one of their supporters, with murdered fowl in hand, took their revenge.

Farewell Dex

Today we had to bid farewell to one of Genevieve's many boyfriends. Little Declan is headed to Detroit with his Mummy and Daddy. As a chance to say goodbye, we had a nice afternoon at Melbourne's Belgian Bier Cafe - Bluestone. Here you can see Genevieve drowning her sorrows.

Progress!

Watch the video

There's been a few impressive acheivements this week.

Firstly, she's finally managed to turn from her back onto her belly, on purpose. So now she can go from front to back, and back to front. We expect her to be rolling all about the place soon.

Secondly, there's something that rates really high on the cute-o-meter. When Naomi is feeding her some cereal or vegies, she will often blow on the spoon to cool it slightly. Genevieve has taken to giving it a slight blow herself, before greedily taking the spoonful.

Finally, as you will see from the video, she is very much mobile. She thinks it's hilarious that she can do this - perhaps because of the direction?

Sometimes, it's just the little things...

It still makes me smile every time I have to fill something like this in. Although, ticking the aged 36-50 box does hurt quite a bit!

Take a stand

I am constantly vacillating between getting excited with how quickly Genevieve is learning things, and the horrors that these milestones will bring about. However, there's not a lot I can do about it, and it's all gonna happen some time.

One of these is her ability to stand. She's now quite adept at moving around on her belly - not quite crawling yet, but she is far from stationary in her regular evening play time on the floor. In the bath, she can hold on to the edge and pull herself up to almost-kneeling. She has also been able to support her weight on her legs for some time, and will often do this if we hold her up to stand her on the couch with us.

So, as an experiment, we thought we'd try putting her up against one of the seats in our lounge. Of course, Naomi was there in the ready in case she toppled. But it was all good, and she could stay there for some time.

So... again, back to the paradox. It's so amazing to see her progress and to encourage her to do so. However, I know that things are going to get very difficult very quickly once she is mobile and can reach for things. YIPE!

So THAT's what happpens!

Click To Play

If you fall pregnant and then breast feed, it can be quite a while between decent drinking sessions.

Take a look at what happens when you go to a wonderful wedding and decide to have 'a night off'.

Our best wishes to Vicky and Geoff as they commence the rest of their lives together. We had a great night (as the video shows). Also a big thankyou to Nana and John who were on Genevieve duty until the wee small hours. We'd half-planned to take her to the ceremony if she was awake, and then dropping her home for the reception. As it happened, she was still asleep when it came time to leave. It's a shame, as she could have had her photo taken with the Melbourne Lord Mayor, John So! Oh well!

Drinkies

Watch the video

Last night we headed off to Mountain Goat for a beer or two. Genevieve came along and was very well behaved. We think it might have something to do with the fact that she loves to have a drink too!

It's nice to share

We thought Genevieve was teething again. She seemed to be crying with no reason. However, on Wednesday, I started to get a sore thought. So, we got to thinking, the cold-like symptoms that Genevieve had, were, in fact, most likely a cold! And one that she wanted to give me.

Problem is, for three months I've been training to do the Around the Bay in a Day bike ride. The cold hit me on Friday, and got worse on Saturday. So I made the tough call Saturday night. I would not be well enough to put my body through such a gruelling 210km ride.

Of course, she seems to be fine now - and unfortunately, my closest friend is the tissue box.

Bip bowwww

For months, Naomi has been training for the Around the bay in a day bike ride. 210kms! What we thought was Genevieve teething was in fact a sore throat and a cold, which she kindly gave to Mummy. 
So this is me, coming in off the interchange bench to do it for the team. 80km down, 130 km to go. Poor Naomi. All that training...

Daddy

When I was getting ready to leave for work, Genevieve looked at me and softly, but quite distinctly said "Daddy". That... ladies and gentleman, was no fluke!

Daddy's girl

Probably just as relevant to say "Mummy's Girl" too...

20 years

In the continuing series of me being old, yesterday the whole family attended my 20 year school reunion at Braemar College, where I attended all of my six high school years. Earlier this year I touched base with a few friends I was still in contact with, stating that we should get something going, as it's all to easy to let an occasion such as this slip by. So, after helping to get the ball rolling, apart from the odd addition, I was pretty hands-off as a few more diligent parties really dug deep trying to locate and inform our schoolfriends.

It was a spin-out seeing around a third of our year level, complete with receding hairlines and growing bellies (I've managed to avoid both of them - he he). Genevieve was, again, a bit of an attention grabber. One schoolfriend even stated that she could use her in some marketing/advertising! She seemed to enjoy it all, as well as scaling the narrow stairs up to the top of the tower.

(Oh, and in case you are wondering, I don't really feel old at all - in fact, fitter and happier than I've ever been).

Sleepyheads

Cory got to have a sleep in this morning as he had a briefing in Yarraville instead of having to go into St Kilda Rd. Genevieve woke at 6am as usual, I gave her a feed and she fell asleep on me. I was wide awake so I thought I would take Ben for a walk and leave the two sleepyheads in bed together.... so cute!

Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been?

Tabitha is still alive. She's pushing 17 years old and we've thought, at quite a few stages, that she was on her last legs but then she comes good. Unfortunately, she smells like she died some time ago.


Genevieve doesn't seem to mind her stinkiness and has started taking a lot of interest in her as she's walking past. And now that Genevieve has mastered the art of sitting and reaching for things, Tabby is no exception. Tabby seems to like the attention though, giving that it's the only attention she gets these days seeing how she is so stinky.

Happy trails

For around a year, I've had one of those eBay searches set up to try and get a bike trailer that we can put Genevieve in. They're pretty hot property on eBay, and second-hand ones go for almost as much as new ones (and there's no way I'd be paying full price for one!)

Anyway, after many that went for too much than we are prepared to pay, we got one for a decent price. It's in showroom condition - seriously, the tyres look like they've only seen carpet. It's a really good brand too, Croozer, and comes with a 'castor' style wheel for the front so you can clip it off the bike and have it as a stroller, as well as another large wheel for the front for 'jogging' mode.

So we got Genevieve a kiddy helmet and thought we'd give it a go. She really needs to be a little older for any regular treks, or decent distances, but our shops are only 5 minutes walk away and we thought we could make use of the trailer to bring home some of the staples - in no particular order, fruit and veg, bread and milk and some sparkling wine.

I took the trip there, and Genevieve seemed to really like the trailer - but not the helmet all that much. On the way back we swapped so that Nai could get a feel for it. By sheer coincidence (!) that was also when we had a lot more to carry. But it really makes little difference. You do feel the trailer on there, but it's very easy to pedal along and we were taking it VERY slowly anyway.