January 2019

Christmas school holidays seem to get longer and longer; certainly by the end of January, everyone is definitely ready to get back to a routine. What made it more difficult was that the family didn't get down to the coast again as is usually the case around late January. With one of the hottest Januarys on record (a couple of days being over 41 degrees) it would have been great, but with a looming overseas family holiday, and the exorbitant cost of coastal accommodation for five people it just didn't seem like a good idea. But the kids seemed to have fun nonetheless, and the month ended with two special birthdays; Linc turned ten (?!), and had a lovely time with his friend Joseph at iPlay before going to the club for dinner, and Addi turned three and had a lovely morning tea with the family.

Present time as Addi turns three

Addi had a lovely birthday morning tea with the family; and ate HEAPS of cake!

Looking way too grown-up!

Addi's wonderful Dora birthday cake (made by Mum!)

Yep, he's pretty unhappy with his new 6th gen iPad!

Moruya Heads and Christmas holidays

The family enjoyed a lovely summer holiday at Moruya Heads in early December. The Big 4 pool was an absolute hit with all three kids and it was hard to get them out of it! The boys made some friends and ran around like loonies well into the evening. It was also a fitting send-off for the Commodore SV6 given we will be trading it in on a new car... more on that below.

For Christmas 2018, the family flew to Adelaide to stay with Nan and Grandad. The weather was very hot, but the kids were spoiled rotten by the whole family and had heaps of new toys to play with. We did get to the beach a couple of times, but the boys didn't seem all that interested; they had another crack at fishing, but got bored pretty quickly (even after Grandad pulled in a whopping tiny fish). All in all it was a very relaxing week, drinking and eating too much.

Come on - enough with the photos - let's open PRESENTS! (Christmas Eve present opening at home)

Three beautiful kids. Until they're not.

Carter and his new mountain bike

Christmas lunch with all sorts of roasts!

Port Noarlunga Jetty

In other exciting news, the family welcomed a new addition - a brand spanking new, fresh off a ship from Tennessee, seven-seat Holden Acadia LTZ-V that has heaps of room for everybody!

2019 Holden Acadia LTZ-V in Nitrate Silver

June to November 2018 update

June - cuddles on a cold winter day

July - Narooma NSW

July - Wagonga Inlet, Narooma NSW

July - low-tide walk on the sea bed! - Wagonga Inlet, Narooma NSW

July - Narooma NSW

August - Gungahlin Jets

August - Addi's forehead has healed really well

August

September - Happy 8th Birthday Carter!

September - Birthday gifts and a party with Carter's closest friends (Ewen in background)

September - fun at the local park (awesome photo with Mum's new iPhone X!)

October - a week's holiday with the family in Melbourne for Mum's 40th

October - having fun at Melbourne Zoo (but Addi didn't like the butterflies!)

November - lots of giggles after huge milkshakes

November - post Santa interview and photos; no tears, but Addi was a little shy!

November - post Santa photo, time for more milkshakes!

November - 2018 Santa Photo - a success!

May 2018 update

The boys have both started their AFL seasons this month. Carter is in Jets Black U8 and Linc is in Jets Blue U10. Luckily they both have lots of their friends on their teams so they are pretty happy to go each week. What's even better is one of the parents on Linc's team is obviously a professional photographer and takes some amazing photos like the ones below:

So things have been going really well lately (aside from lots of travel for Dad). But then the evening of 18 May rocked our worlds when our little baby girl got hurt.


From left to right: at the hospital; two stitches in (with no anesthesia); and stitches out (one week later).

So what happened? She was playing away happily and tripped and fell onto the footstand of one of our bar stools. It wasn't a big impact, but the sharp edge opened her up like a sardine can. We were all in PJs, just about to dish up dinner and then it happened; we rung Aunty Suze to meet us at the hospital and jumped into the car to go to the Emergency Department. The Dr. that looked at her said it would probably be fine to glue the wound. So after that we went home and put her to bed. Next morning we awoke to blood in her cot and on her clothes and a gaping wound again - the glue had come out. So Mum took her back to the hospital where they had to give it a really (painful!) clean out and decided it actually did need stitches. Because of how brave she was when cleaning the inside of the wound out they decided to try the stitches with no anesthetic. And she was amazing - unbelievably brave. To be honest, Mum and Dad were more shook up about the whole thing than she was. The boys were also a bit upset, and they looked after her really well when she came home.

A couple of days after Addi's accident we took the kids to the Reptile Centre as a welcome distraction.  The kids (and Mum and Dad) had a great time:

April 2018 update

As a special way to celebrate a special birthday, the family went to Adelaide (fast becoming our second home!) for ten days. The weather was great - maybe too hot! - but we had a good time despite only getting to swim once and not making it to the jetty for a spot of fishing. Next time!

March 2018 update

Only just snuck in a blog post for March! So here goes with a general update.

Linc has had five teeth removed. Following in his father's footsteps, one of his top front teeth did not have room to break free of the gum in the normal spot, so room was made via an extraction of the baby teeth - and then some more got pulled for good measure. He was very brave though, as the needles were quite painful!

Addi is growing as fast as ever; her vocabulary is simply amazing (pretty sure I've mentioned that before!). She is definitely over her 'daddy's girl' phase, and only has time for Mum these days. Still hasn't transitioned to the toilet yet, but did her first no. 1 on the loo the other day and was very excited. She is doing much better at daycare; no more tears when Mum drops her off which is a big relief.

Carter and Linc have been doing Little Athletics this season; they have enjoyed it, and got plenty of PBs which helps maintain their interest. But they really have not been getting on of late; it's very frustrating and we are constantly pulling them up for it.

Mum did her back in two months ago, and is only just recovering after having four weeks off work. Then she decided to go the dentist where they found some pretty serious issues that required a fair amount of work (no extractions thankfully!). Her 'issue' at her work continues to linger, and we hope to have it resolved very soon as it really has caused the whole family unnecessary stress and anxiety. But it just reinforces how horrible people can be and the sense of 'community' is simply non-existent these days. Really sad.