We’re All Going on a Summer Holiday

Greetings and Merry Christmas Eve from beautiful Corlette.  We have been up here for the last week and a half staying with Gideon’s parents.

Gideon has been busy helping his parents out around the house and garden, while for Jade and I it is business as usual – eat, play, sleep.

Here are some photos from the last couple of weeks.  As always they are mostly of Jade.

 

Our Little Buddha -
Sometimes Jade falls asleep in the car, so we leave her in the capsule.  Occasionally she’ll sleep for hours!

 

Nappy change on the parcel shelf -
on the long trip from Melbourne to Corlette

 

 

 

 

Jade
with Amma (Anne-Marie)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bath-time!
In a very cool inflatable bath.

 

 

 

   Jade hanging out in
   all her new clothes. 
   She has just
   graduated from
   000 to 00.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love getting Jade out of bed after she wakes up. 
There are usually some lovely smiles and laughs for us, especially first thing in the morning.

 

One morning last week I woke up and laughed a lot when I looked into Jade’s cot.  I found her wide awake.  She had managed to rotate her body 90 degrees and wedge herself horizontally across the width of the cot!

 

Cuddles with Mummy and Daddy

 

Playtime – Jade’s dexterity and hand-eye co-ordination has improved rapidly over the last couple of weeks.  She is grabbing everything and putting lots of things in her mouth now.

 

Tyke the cavoodle

 

All cheeky smiles and laughs

 

We had a lovely visit from my Auntie Hillary and Uncle Brett this week who drove down from Taree.

 

Brontosaurus impersonation

 

Sunset over Port Stephens

Christmas Cheer

 

Caught up with the girls from school almost a week and a half ago for our annual Christmas get together.  The kids had some fun with bubbles.  Here are some pics.

 

Hanging out in the Garden

 

The Culprits

 

Free Spirits

 

Adults can have fun with bubbles too…

Tales from the Toybox

 

Despite my inconsistency and unreliability in updating this blog, I have agreed to become one of several regular contributors to Tales from the Toybox.  It is a blog from mums to mums, covering advice, information, experiences and anecdotes all related to being a mum or mum-to-be.  It went live last week, so if you are interested, check it out.

http://toyboxtales.wordpress.com/

HP7, P1

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1: 4/5

Cast: Same as the last 6 movies!

In a nutshell: Just like an old friend who has returned.  Setting the scene for all the action in Part 2.

Brief Synopsis: Voldemort’s death eaters have infiltrated the Ministry of Magic.  Harry Potter must find and destroy the remaining horcruxes in order to defeat him.

Much has been said about the greedy money making tactics of the film makers of HP7 in splitting the seventh book into two parts.  Most critics have said that Part 1 was slow and the story did not warrant splitting into two movies.  Having devoured all the books a long time ago, I look forward to each movie as a guilty pleasure, and I do not want the series to end.  Part 1 did not have a lot of action, but I felt it had enough suspense to keep the story going, and you can just feel it ramping up for some all out action in the last instalment.  I also enjoyed the interaction between the main characters now that they are much older and more mature.  It is like seeing your nephew or niece grow up.  Perhaps not the best of movies if you are not a fan of the books and movies, but very enjoyable for the rest of us.

Must be someone else’s child!

 

Jade hit the 12 week mark this past week.  At her 12 week check up, she weighed in at 5.44kg and measured 62cm long.  In relative terms, she’s pretty much slap bang on average for weight, and somewhere between the 85-90th percentile for length.  With a mother who is only 4’10”, something weird is going on!

 

 

At 12 weeks she is a lot more vocal.  In particular, the baby talk seems to ramp up when she is tired or complaining about something.  Even then it is still very cute!

 

My favourite thing that she does at the moment is put both her fists in the air and keeps them there for ages.

Dancing with the mouse

 

Kungfu Baby!

 

She is also starting to grab things now.  Sometimes we put the maraca in her hand and she’ll shake it around for about 10 minutes without even realising she’s holding it.

 

Still hates Tummy Time though.

 

  

 

 

  Pretty in Pink!

  I don’t like drenching our little girl
  in pink (can be hard to find non-
  pink clothes for baby girls), but I
  have to admit it does make her
  look prettier.

   

Loving these cute baa lamb overalls,
a gift from Jade’s Ang Aunts and Uncles.

 

 

  The social butterfly, hanging out
  with:

  Michael, Amy, Daniella & Dante
  (above)

  Gong-gong (right)

 

 

 

 

Beautiful Jade