Carter teething (yes, finally!)

As anyone with sore gums would know, it makes you grumpy - and Carter has been no exception. He also appears to be getting multiple teeth at once (which we thought might happen considering how late it started). So he's had ongoing cold symptoms for about a week and a bit now, and is grumpy a lot more than usual. Once he has teeth though, he will be the happiest Squidge around, as he is a great eater, and will love the wider variety of food he will be able to have once he can chew!

Look closely, and you can see his two upper front teeth starting to break through

Linc is going really well with his toilet adventures; he still won't do no. 2s in the toilet, and demands a nappy for that, but his no. 1s have been fantastic with almost no accidents at all - he even went in a disgusting old portaloo at the airport open day today! Oh, and yes, Mum is working this weekend, and Dad took the boys out to see the aircraft, which (for Dad, and maybe the kids) was a bit daunting without the rock solid backup of the Mum! It went very well though, and we even popped in to Mum's work for five minutes on our way home.

Carter's first haircut and Linc in big boy undies

After taking some brave pills, Mum finally took Carter for a haircut - we were trying to do it when Dad was around, but we refused to pay adult prices for him on a weekend...so it was a weekday or nothing! He of course screamed, but it was over quite quickly as they only trimmed the back of his head and didn't touch the front.  He looks so different though, as the curls have finally gone!

After a couple of weeks of potty use, Linc has progressed to the toilet. Not only that, but for the last week he has been wearing big boy underpants! He still asks for his pull-up nappies to do no. 2s but we're working on that one! He's been really good - whenever he wants to go the loo he just asks - he's even been out to the shops a couple of times and used the toilets there. We are very proud of him.

Have to admit though, that we're going through a lot of stickers; it's his bribe, and works very well. We just bought a Lightning McQueen sticker book with 350 stickers, so we should be set with that!

New car has arrived

A lovely road trip was had (sans kids) to pick up the new family steed. It's beautiful - very European - and feels like a car that's twice as expensive!  Two Fords in the garage.  I can't believe it.  But if Holden offered something as good (from Europe of course) we would've bought it... but there is nothing currently available that offers the blend of style, sophistication, safety, pace and boot space required for the family!

Exciting news for the family

I am so proud of my wife. So proud. I happened to mention a job that was in the newspaper, that looked like something she may be interested in. She decided to apply. She got an interview. She got the job. Not only that, but she was ranked first out of 83 applicants. It's in the public service, in a customer service role, and she starts in March! Well done from all of the family. And a huge thank you to Gran who has agreed to look after the boys two days per week, while Dad will cover every second weekend.

Linc is finally using the potty. The toilet just didn't seem to be working, with him disliking the whole thing immensely. But then, thanks to Huggies, we got a Lightning McQueen potty, and ever so slowly he's using it more and more with stickers as rewards. What started off as a once a day thing is now 4-5 times a day!  He even did no. 2s the other evening, but I think that was as much of a surprise to him as it was to Dad ... Dad!  Borry! I did borries!

Carter is saying a couple of words now, like Peppa (as in Peppa Pig, their absolute favourite TV show at the moment), Mum/Dad, Car, Bubble...and his favourite word whenever there's food around - MORE MORE! He's a great eater, and even finishes his breakfast quicker than Linc.

The boys go through periods of playing well together, then they both have meltdowns, and start snatching toys off each other and screaming. Sometimes it ends in them giving each other a whack, which is kind of funny, but kind of not I guess! Carter is a stubborn kid, and doesn't take kindly to having toys snatched away...or being told what to do in general, actually!

And to some other news - we are sadly trading our 2002 VXII Calais V8 on a 2011 Ford Mondeo Zetec hatch with the 2.0l turbo ecoboost engine and six speed dual clutch auto transmission. It's very safe, with seven airbags, ABS, DSC, EBA. How exciting!

Kiama 2012

We're back! A wonderful trip to Kiama, with beautiful weather, and lots and lots of activities. We went swimming in the pool and the sea, built sand castles (and really enjoyed knocking them down), played at the park, and raced scooters up and down the road like loonies. And the kids even joined in!

We had a very wet drive to Kiama, and chose Jamberoo Mtn Rd rather than Macquarie Pass for something different. The scenery was stunning, but it was very misty! Luckily Dad had just changed the worn out tyres on the Calais for brand new ones on the standard wheels.

The kids were fantastic for the duration of the journey with a single break at the famous Robertson pie shop for some lunch. We arrived to fantastic weather (considering rain was forecast each day of our holiday), and soon after the Richardson's arrived with their three children. By this stage Linc was already roaring up and down the road on his new Scooter (early birthday present!) catching on fairly quickly to the whole scootering thing - he only had a couple of minor spills the entire time!

The next day the Bell's arrived with their two boys. So with 7 kids in tow, the families headed off to enjoy the day, visiting the beach, the rockpools, the playground, and finishing the day off in the park's wonderful pool.

Linc was also lucky enough to have his birthday on the second last day, and we enjoyed a yummy ice cream cake (which melted VERY quickly) with three sparklers! We were so happy that Linc could share the day with so many friends, and be at the coast where he was able to do things he wouldn't normally do back home.

Carter, Linc and Jeremy

The weather continued to treat us very kindly, with one particularly hot day (34 deg) and a couple of milder days, with a brief shower on the second last day, before an absolute deluge on the last day, soaking us all as we frantically packed the cars to head home! Can't wait to do it all again next year!

The two boys

The two boys

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year!

With one more day left until the family returns to normal life after the Christmas holidays, it's high time for a mega blog update.

Firstly, Christmas day was just fantastic. Linc and Carter are now old enough to really enjoy ripping the wrapping off presents and surrounding themselves in their new toys - yeah, okay with a bit of squabbling thrown in for good measure, but that's what brothers do, right?! Christmas morning was spent with all of the grandparents (Dad's stayed the night in the van, while Mum's popped over mid-morning) and unwrapping the copious amount of presents (see photo!). Popular presents included the Thomas table, the remote control Thomas, the Cars laptop and a bunch of Peppa Pig DVDs (both kids love Peppa Pig!)...

Santa had a great deal of difficulty getting these through the non-existent chimney!

Then it was off to Aunty Kate's house for lunch before coming home for a well earned rest at around 5.30pm. Carter had a quick sleep and it was dinner and then bed (although Carter took two hours to settle, so he didn't go to sleep until 9.30pm!).

We had a lovely BBQ on Boxing day where Uncle Tim joined us also. A very enjoyable couple of days.

Haven't really done much else, as we have just enjoyed pottering about the house (and completely rearranging the lounge room), and going to the shops a few hundred times to do not much else but window shop...although I think a brand new fridge purchase is on the agenda for tomorrow! Oh, and we're onto our sixth Christmas fish (a Paradise Fish, and even he is looking unwell), but the less said about that debacle the better...

The family had a lovely day at Lake Burleigh Griffin yesterday and met up with Nan and Grandad. The mist artwork was a hit, as was the stainless steel shape sculpture!

Last night the family headed down to the lake (again) to see the 9pm fireworks - Both boys were frightened at first, but Linc soon got over that (to a point), and Squidge didn't really like them at all.

Happy New Year!

Carter continues to grow into a very different person to Linc. He has almost no fear and his latest trick is to climb up the slide on his own...not the ladder, but the slide... the kid has no fear, and hence keeps bashing his head as he falls off/over things... He's really started to understand a lot more things that we're talking about and will run over to the fridge as soon as we ask him if he wants some cheese. And he definitely knows what 'NO' means!

Linc still needs to have a day time sleep, but often doesn't becoming quite grumpy at the end of the evening - he gets a real attitude about him, which is kind of funny, but kind of infuriating.

It's been a very mild first month of summer, which is good in some ways, but let's hope it warms up for our four nights at Kiama at the end of this month!