Bub Club

I've recently found another online parenting resource.

This one provides a great forum and a good social outlet. It has members who have kids or are trying to, or are in the process of having kids. Most members are from Australia, however there are some from overseas. It has some general parenting forum areas, but also some more general and social forum areas. It has a very relaxed and social feel. It also has a special dad's only passworded area - so we can't check out what they're saying.

However, you do need to be a member before you can check any of the forums out, but I recommend it.

http://www.bubclub.com

Filthy Disease Ridden Children

We went to one of Genevieve's playgroup friends 1st birthday parties yesterday and cam home with more than we bargained for! It seems that a gastro bug has been doing the rounds in the playgroup set and I was the lucky one who came home with it.

I ended up in bed for the whole day feeling dreadful. I tried to avoid contact with Genevieve as much as possible but she really wanted to give her mummy a cuddle so I had to let her give me one.

But I've come good, and it's now Cory's turn to feel woeful. Hopefully the little girl doesn't get it.

Genevieve did end up getting it the next day. So I was coming out of it, Cory wasn't great and the little girl was in the thick of it. Poor thing didn't understand, but really was a trooper and was happy most of the time. Can't say the same for us, who had to deal with what came out of her!

Evening read

As a part of our regular evening schedule, after her bath and getting dressed and a quick hair comb, it's time for reading.

As mentioned in a previous post, she will now help out by turning the pages - sometimes even at the right time!

Elmo shmelmo

My clever, clever girl

There's been heaps of little things that Genevieve can do that we've failed to tell you about. I suppose the combination of a lot at once, as well as them being nothing too earth-shattering, means we've failed to say anything - but all together, it shows that she's learning.

The big thing is she now, very obviously, associates words with actions or objects. Some of the new words she knows include:

• No - Probably good she knows this one. Of course, that doesn't mean she always listen to it! She'll test us at almost every opportunity.
  
• Down/Up - When standing up (still holding on to something that this stage), saying 'Down' will get her squatting and 'Up' will get her back up again. You can actually get her doing squats. Saying 'down' again will get her sitting.
• Baaaa - She has a little lamb hand-puppet. 'Where's Baaaa?' will get her looking for, and generally retrieving it. Same for Pooh-bear and Piglet.
  
• Time for bed - She knows... and she starts crying...

She's also really loving the reading time I have with her before we put her into bed. When I read, she'll turn the page - often in the right direction! But she's really getting into the books... So much so, that when she's got some free time and she's playing, she'll often grab one of her books and read it to herself. Turn the pages, babble away. It's adorable!

When dressing her, she really does help you - putting her arms through the sleeves. That is, of course, unless she doesn't want to get dressed. Then she'll do her best to prevent you.

Some of her educational toys are doing the trick. She's starting to learn where things go, and what buttons to press etc.

So not only is she the most gorgeous little girl in the world, she's also the smartest. We're both so proud.

Our little girl is growing up...

So just when do they become a toddler? Is it when they 'toddle'? And what is toddling anyway? Is it walking, or is it holding on and doing laps around the coffee table?

Genevieve reached two milestones today, and both through purchases. The first was that she has finally graduated to a front-facing car seat. Many people put their kids into car seats (ie: out of rear-facing capsules) too early. Our capsule was rated up to 9kg (some new ones go up to 12 kgs now), and Genvieve is now only just over 8kg but she was getting a bit tall for it, so it was time to move up. We got a brand new Safe-N-Sound Maxi Rider from our guy in Arden Street, North Melbourne, who installed it (showing us how), as well as how to use it properly to keep Genevieve safe.

The other purchase was her first pair of shoes - or sandals actually. She's received some shoes as gifts, but this is the first that we've bought her and that she's actually worn (as shown in the top photo). She'll grab on to anything these days and get up for a better look. It'll be any day (or possibly 6 weeks!?) before she's walking around.

I finally unwrapped my birthday present

Cory and Genevieve got me a nice present for my birthday. It was a couple of nights accommodation in Daylesford, complete with spa treatments of my choice.

We decided to leave it until after the silly season, so there would be more likelihood of having a good time. Unfortunately, this coincided with some of the hottest weather in quite a while.

Cory had booked a great little miner's cottage where we'd stayed before - however this didn't have air-conditioning, so I managed to change it to a gorgeous little place, which we think has only been recently renovated for B&B.

We arrived early afternoon on the Monday, but the place wasn't ready yet so we grabbed some lunch at one of the many cafes until we could go and get the keys. The place was even better than we'd thought, with everything we needed.

The first night we stayed in and enjoyed the spa bath, watching the birdlife from the luxurious watery surrounds, complete with a wine or two and local cheeses.

The next morning we walked down our street to the lake for a quick dip before the heat of the day was going to hit. We continued around the lake and walked up to the main road for some basic supplies.

In the afternoon I headed off for my session - body scrub, massage and facial. This photo is of Genevieve out the front waiting for me, in a very relaxed state, to come out. Then in the evening we went to Sault, for dinner. Nana and John kindly drove across from Ballarat to babysit for a few hours.

The next day we made the most of the spa bath before checking out another quick stop to a cafe (this time the chocolate-themed one for a hot chocolate) and then heading home via Sunbury where Ben was being spoilt (err... we mean looked after) by Nanna.

We'd all like to make it a regular occurrence.

Tri, tri again

Genevieve escorting us to the triathlons is going quite well. She gets a bit of feed while I'm doing mine, and then has a bit of a sleep while Nai is doing hers.

In this photo, you can see Genevieve (looking the other way, but soon to be) looking at her mummy coming from the swim leg in her transition to the bike leg. Yay Mummy!

After her sleep, it's jockeying for a good position up near the finish line to see her come up the finishing race.

We are constantly amazed with how great she is. We really can take her anywhere and she has a great time. As long as there's colour, movement and people, she's in heaven.

It'd been a few weeks since we tried Genevieve in her bike trailer, so we thought we'd give it a go again. We just rode the 1km down to our local riverside and then along its paths for a while - probably about 8km all up.

Even before we got to the river Vievey was asleep, so I guess she finds it comfortable. I have the trailer hitch connected to my old fluoro beast, so I'm not tempted to ride very quickly. I gave it a quick wipe to get the dust off - man that fluoro really hurts your eyes!

As you can see, the helmet is still quite big on her head, however it adjusts so that it fits her quite snugly. In fact, her head has grown quite a bit!

Happy Birthday Amber!

Today, Genevieve went to her first birthday party of a friend of hers - Amber.

Just like mine, it was held in the local park. It was a lovely day and Genevieve enjoyed playing with all of the new toys that were provided for the kiddies. She also enjoyed playing with all of the parents of the kiddies, or is that the other way around?

She like reading the storybooks too, as you can see here. You can also see her in her sunhat and sunglasses, which stayed on for about all of 5 minutes. We're slowly getting there - if you distract her they can stay on for quite a while.

Double Trouble

Today one of my friends from Mother's Group needed an emergency babysitter so as I was free I offered to help out. Although it was Genevieve's normal sleep time she decided that she wanted to stay up and play as soon as she heard Henry. I had them up playing (and getting into mischief) together for about an hour before they both started getting grizzly. I gave them both their bottles - which was no mean feat with both of them sitting on the kitchen floor yelling at me!

After their bottles though they both went to sleep and it was bliss! I don't know how people with twins do it though. After 2 hours I was exhausted!!

Oi - Darlin, giddus a bottle!

Today's effort

She's doing so much these days, it's hard go get it uploaded!



Now she had to do it on a Monday didn't she??? Not on a Sunday while Daddy was home.

Genevieve takes the brakes off

One fish, two fish...

Every year my family gets together to remember my dad, Boardy. It's difficult to believe it has been five years.

This year, we went to a local Chinese restaurant, now run by a guy who knew may Mother and Father pretty well. Just one of those local characters.

This was the first one that Genevieve has attended (or at least... outside the womb) so it was a bit different for me. As you can see, however, she really enjoyed Aunty Sue showing her the fishies.

NYE down the beach

Last year's NYE was a quiet affair. Naomi was seven-months pregnant, and the temp was over 40 so we didn't feel like doing much.

This year had a similar sentiment. So, instead of taking up one of the array of 'party' or 'restaurant' invitations we received, instead we took up Kellie's offer of heading down to their place in Queenscliff for the weekend.

We also took the opportunity to have a bit of a surf, with our good friend Andrea who lives in Barwon Heads and who provides lodging for our surfboards. It was great to see her again. Naomi managed to get five or six good waves in, but the surf started to die when I went out. (Either that, or Naomi is a good surfer and I'm crap).

Genevieve adores the beach. Nai has taken her to our local beach at Williamstown a few times, but that doesn't really get any waves, so this was her first real experience with it.



And, of course, because we hadn't caught up since Christmas, there was the customary exchanges. And, as usual, Genevieve scored well. This, however, was a gift that we got for Kellie and Erich's boys. I'm thinking Genevieve might be getting one for her birthday.

The NYE itself was pretty chilled. Just a BBQ in the backyard (sorry... one of the best BBQs I've eaten in a long time!) Lots and lots of red wine. A bit of annoying the neighbours with some loud music.

"We've got three children in here you know..."
"Funny about that... so have we!"

But by the end of it, we were very happy to get home, relax, start the whole washing/cleaning cycle and get ready for the dash up to Sunbury to pick up Ben (thanks Nanna!)