Happy birthday Linc!

Today's objective was to make Linc's birthday feel special, despite the fact Mum and Dad have had very little sleep and felt VERY ordinary. So we started the day by meeting Nan and Grandad at the local McDonalds for breakfast. The boys enjoyed themselves (Addi slept the whole time) and it was nice to have someone else cook breakfast!

Then we headed home, and Linc played his new Xbox game 'Forza Horizons'; he also challenged Grandad to some car racing in 'Forza 5' and Grandad ended up being pretty good at it! They also had a bit of fun with their new Skylanders Superchargers.

This afternoon we had family and some close friends come over for birthday cake. Linc loved having Jeremy here, and he was absolutely stoked to be able to show Jeremy his new GT Aggressor 24" mountain bike!

But his number one gift? His Timex Ironman watch!

We did it!

As this blog post title exclaims - we did it!

After many years of deliberations, in the first quarter of 2015 we decided to try for another baby; not long after, Mum fell pregnant; 9 months later, we have been blessed with the most beautiful baby girl ever....welcome, Addilyn Grace to the family!

Unlike the previous two pregnancies, this one progressed without too many dramas; the worst part of it was some ligament damage very early in the pregnancy - but thankfully no pre-eclampsia and no stratospheric blood pressure readings! But as the pregnancy seemed to fly by in the first eight months, it really seemed to drag on in the last month; especially when we realised that she may come on Lincoln's birthday, or even on Carter's first day at big school; so with that in mind - and the worsening ligament pain - the obstetrician agreed we could be induced. So on Wednesday we were admitted to hospital, some medication applied to get things moving, and a far from restful overnight stay in the hospital (although Dad was ordered to go home to get some proper sleep - yeah right).

Next morning Dad arrived at the hospital bright and early ready for Mum to be carted off to the birth suite to have the induction started. While Mum had some minor cramping/contraction-like activity from early morning, it wasn't until 8.09am that her waters were broken; and at this stage the cervix was posterior and 2cm - both factors that indicated things had a way to progress before anything serious started happening... 54 minutes later baby Addi arrived into the world in a real big hurry, demonstrated by the delivery occurring in the bathroom, and Dad having to run to press the emergency call button to call in reinforcements. Thankfully they arrived within seconds, and our obstetrician not long after who got there just in time to deliver a healthy 47 cm long, 2.73 kg (6 lb) baby girl with a 34 cm head circumference.

So without further ado, here she is...:

Last blog post...

... as a family of four...! I just wanted to make sure I got one last blog update in before the imminent arrival of baby 3.0!

Mum is 38 weeks today; a check up on Tuesday confirmed all is going well with the pregnancy, and even the blood pressure is well under control - 120/70 - can't get much better than that...

The reason I finally write today is that Mum has been feeling quite uncomfortable today, with a bit of cramping, but a little less pressure under the ribs - which may indicate baby has engaged and we are closer than ever to meeting our little princess! While our OB pretty much offered to induce next Tuesday if we wanted, we decided to hold off - at least for another week - as Carter's inducement was not a pleasant experience.

We have been absolutely blessed that the pregnancy has gone so well; the first eight months absolutely flew by, but this last month is really dragging on. It's certainly been a bit tough for Mum who has had to entertain two active boys who are well and truly ready to head back to school! Not to mention that on the weekend before the hottest week in over twelve months the evaporative cooler failed; despite my best efforts to get every last bit of cooling out of it (which resulted in periodic cooling of 10 minutes at a time after I was literally forcing the fan from on top of the roof!) the cooler motor finally ceased on the eve of a very uncomfortably hot night! A bit of charm with the ladies at Climate Master and we had big Dave the head technician arrive two days after my initial service request - not bad at all! $700 for a new motor (on top of $1100 for a failed rainwater tank switch three days earlier) is certainly very, very bad timing.

Mum is enjoying her time off work, and I have one more day to go before taking six weeks off. Can't wait...

PS- we just got the blog printed into a bound book for 2014-2015. The price must have gone up from when we got 2013 done.. it was $131, even with a 10 per cent discount!

Merry Christmas!

Coast trip!

For the first time in many, many, many years, we did a December coast trip! Despite the drive there and back being a little frustrating due to traffic and roadworks, overall we had a great time - the weather was perfect, so we spent heaps of time at the beach. We even saw an Octopus!

Mother and daughter having some quality time together on the beach!

Octopus tetricus (Sydney Octopus), common along the NSW coast

...can change colour, shape and apparent size!

A bit of a hot spell over the last couple of days, meant it was a great time to get the water snake out - especially timely to celebrate the end of the school year! Another hot one today, but not as hot as Adelaide which is heading for 44 deg (the hottest December day on record)...

33 weeks on Thursday, and Mum has now officially finished work for a year (or so). And it was just in time, as she has struggled to stay on her feet all day at work, so is now enjoying a well deserved break! Baby's legs measure at 33 wks and her head at 34 wks; all very average (and nothing wrong with that!)...

General Update

It was 30 weeks on Thursday...and if you have to ask 'for what?!', then you're almost as nonchalant about the whole pregnancy thing as we are; not in a bad way, mind you - it's just that everything is cruising along so well (fingers crossed) that the time is flying by. Before you know it, this little girl is really going to take centre stage!

Not a lot else is happening. The boys have started Little Ninja classes at Flip-out (trampolining facility) and they're loving that. Linc is on a break from swimming, while Carter continues with his classes and has been doing really well.

Summer is almost here, and we've had some beautiful weather lately. Haven't been doing so many nature walks lately, but have been out on the bikes more, which is great for Carter as he is needing the practice!

The boys continue to demonstrate how different they really are; for example, Carter will just about float up the rock wall at the local park, while Linc tackles it with a heap more trepidation - Carter surprised me the other day when I was in the roof as he climbed right to the top of the ladder; Linc, well he freaked out after going up two steps of the same ladder. But a funny thing he said this morning... for context, we were watching some old MotoGP footage and there was quite a few crashes and he said, if my team mate crashed I would stop and help - I wouldn't care about winning... I would stop and help him. Beautiful kid, he really has a heart of gold (which is probably going to be the cause of some interesting/emotional times later in life!)...

Carter had a day at his big school last week - he's going to love it!

Found this little guy, at the little playground 10 minutes up the road!

Mum has nine more days left of work and then she's off for a whole year. While most will be on half-pay, it's still going to be interesting maintaining the life we have become accustomed to! Which is an odd thing to say as life will be nothing like what we have become accustomed to when little miss joins the family!

Adelaide holiday

This school holidays we finally made it to Adelaide to visit the grandparents. And it was one of the most relaxing holidays we've had in a long time; the kids had a ball and it was sometimes difficult to drag them from Nan and Granddad's huge house and backyard. You see, Nan and Granddad had spoiled the kids so they had a bunch of new things to play with when they arrived - like a new scooter each!

But when we did manage to pry the kids off their scooters, we visited the Adelaide Zoo, Moana Beach, Victor Harbour, Granite Island, Urimbirra Wildlife park, and even did a nature walk near Chapel Hill winery / Blewitt Springs on Wine Gum Trail (fitting name!). And yes, we did find a couple of scorpions...(!)...

For Mum's birthday I shouted her (and me!) a night at the Stamford Grand Glenelg; our room was upgraded to a VIP room and we had a spectacular view. It was nice to reconnect and spend some time eating fine food and GELATOS!

All too soon (yep, we could've stayed longer!) the holiday was over; back on the Qantas jet and home in 1 hr 10 min. No issues with the boys and flying; they're already used to it - but the Qantas club helped with free Playstation 4 and Youtube (so Linc could Youtube Minecraft videos!)...

Adelaide Zoo (with Flat Lincoln - part of Linc's school project)

Granite Island

Urimbirra Wildlife Park

Linc with a Childrens Python

Mum, our little girl (hidden) and a cuddly Koala

Snake wrangling (Carter's term)

Moana Beach

So, would we live in Adelaide? Yes. And no. It would be difficult for me to find a job that pays so well so we could afford to continue with the life we have become accustomed to (which has gotten all that much better after re-financing our mortgage at 3.89% pa!). And despite the fact it would be fantastic having a beach nearby, and where winter wouldn't be so soul-destroying, it's a long way from Mum's family, and the ridiculous speed limits and over-zealous enforcement of said speed limits would drive me crazy - try an eight-lane motorway where the speed limit is 70 km/h... seriously...

Back home and we (read, I) have been busy in the garden, planting a row of pittosporum silver sheen to give us some privacy between our deck and the neighbour's ensuite! Oh, and we've entered the sharemarket - just dipping a toe in for now, but it's a marathon, not a sprint!