Photos

Aoife's boyfriend-to-be Charlie.

St Paddy's Day '07

We had a quiet night in watching the footy over a couple of Guinesses.

L'il Leprechaun

Bigger L'il Leprechaun

Although two of the people in this picture bear a strong resemblance to drunks sometimes I assure you we are all sober.

Most recent photo. 8 weeks old. What a smile!!

Library = books.

It is amazing the concepts a toddler will grasp if it involves something they love. Euey and I have been to the local library together 3 times since he was born. The first was long enough ago that it doesn't count. The second was yesterday. When I asked him if he wanted to go to the library today (a question I was expecting a 'Yes' to because I said it in a tone that suggested fun, not because he necessarily understood) he looked up and said 'Ssyess! Book'.

We went to story time (which involved a lot of parent-involved singing unfortuately) and came home with a book about a Duck with a Truck. Euey was beside himself - a book with a Duck and a Truck! Holey Moley!! (Do you think if I keep saying Holey Moley as a substitute for swearing, and Euey picks it up, people will mind?)

Little Ball of Suck

Notice to all Mums whose babies don't sleep well:

The following post may be harmful to your mental health.

Aoife is a dream baby. Literally. She feeds like a demon from about 4pm 'til 10ish, but this is only because she's stocking up. At 10pm (sometimes earlier) she goes down for the night, only waking once around 4am, then up for the day around 7 or 8am. If I'm really lucky she doesn't wake 'til 6, by which time I'm feeling so rested I get up and actually get to have a cup of tea before Euey gets up.

This long sleep means at 4am she wakes feeling so hungry that her whole body is absorbed by the hunger. She draws her knees up to her chest and forms a ball. Then she balls up both fists and tries to stuff them in her mouth at once. She doesn't cry. It is the sound of very loud sucking that wakes me. It is difficult to carry her to the couch; (1) because I'm nearly in tears laughing at the desperate sucking and (2) because that round wiggly shape is damn hard to hold.

I wish I had a photo, but stills would not do the sight justice.

Update.

Just thought I'd update everyone a bit on what the kids are up to developmentally.

Aoife now smiles as soon as she sees Will and I, and sometimes Mum, Dad, Charlie or Gus. She absolutely grins her face off when she sees Euey and if he's in the room she has eyes for nobody else. She can follow things with her head and her eyes, but her eyes still sometimes go cross-eyed without her permission! She wears 000 clothes but the body and arms are too long and the legs too short. None of her hair has fallen out and the Mohawk just keeps getting longer and longer!

Euey recognises the letter 'D' in upper and lower case where ever he sees it now. We pulled up alongside a huge truck today and he looked up and said 'Dada' and pointed. We were directly below a huge 'd' in the word 'cold'. I will have to teach him that 'D' has a name - and it's not 'Dada'. He can nearly do a somersault (puts his head on the ground and rolls over, but usually falls sideways before completing the whole thing) and can jump down steps. He wins wrestles with Bubble now, so Bubble has taken to hiding under the bed and behind the couch. He loves Tractor Tom on DVD (but that is the only cartoon DVD he owns, so maybe that's part of the attraction). He also loves playing cars and has finally learnt to let them go when he pushes them so he can see them roll. He is an absolute Dada's boy and will drop everything and launch himself on Will when he walks in the door.

Consider yourselves updated!

Gnuck!

Euey's first trip in Dada's Gnuck (aka truck). Very happy about the situation as you can see.

J & J Down Under (for Bonnie)

A month goes pretty quickly doesn't it? I can't believe Jen and James have left already, it was just beginning to feel like they'd be around for ever. I wish. We're working on getting them to move here, you never know your luck.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with J & J, they are very close friends of ours from Korea. Along with another Canadian couple, Bonnie and Dave, they were our little family over there. Jen, Bonnie and I were pregnant together in Korea for a few months before we all went our separate ways. Jen had Zoe in March, I had Euey in June, and in between Bonnie had and lost Finn.

Having such close friends living so far away really sucks. It is all the more noticable when something really good or really bad happens. We got the email from Bon and Dave about Finn's birth and death just after our wedding. Both events were hard to take when we couldn't be there to cuddle, congratulate and console. Distance really highlights just how useless words can be.

So having Jen and James here was bittersweet. It was awesome to see them and meet Zoe, and have them meet Euey and Aoife. It seemed so normal having them sitting around our living room and Euey and Zoe got on like a house on fire. But where were Bon, Dave and Oscar, the son they had about a year after Finn? Why couldn't he be crawling around getting belted up by the two crazy toddlers we have here?

These pictures are mainly for Bonnie. I know she's insanely jelous, but I'm sure she'll appreciate being able to see us all together. One year we'll figure out somewhere in the middle of Canada, Australia and Korea/Sth America (depending on where J&J are) and we'll all meet with our families, I promise Bon. In the meantime, here you are ...

Zoe passes out after missing her usual nap time and having to deal with some nasty molars coming through.

Taking a dip.

James and Zoe.

Shopping on Swanston St, the Aussie Kitsch strip of Melbourne.

At the Melbourne Film Museum.

The result of Euey teaching Zoe to jump off a bench onto the beanbags. Neither of them were very adept at it, but no disaster ensued.

The beanbags made for a great feeding place.

Euey and James. Wow, check that out!

At home again the kids had a bath together and tried out their new towels.

And all the while Konrad slept!Kon is another of our really good friends from Korea. He is a Polish Aussie and was home for awhile seeing his family. He took the opportunity to sleep on our armchairs a lot. It was great to catch up with him :)

After hanging around Melbourne for awhile we took JJZ down to Wilson's Prom. We borrowed Dad's 4WD, put Zoe and Euey's seats in the very back and Aoife's in the middle of the middle-back. It was very cosy and were it not for James's uncle organising a trailor for us we would have been completely devoid of luggage!

Despite being close enough to fight these two just patted eachother's legs most of the time, before settling down to a nap.

Euey, Will, James, Zoe.

The boys and their not-so-babies at the beach.

JJZ

Will catching Euey.

Euey and Zoe were fascinated by the act of digging a hole.

Euey found a hole of his own. He waded in here from the beach and was absolutely shocked, but overjoyed to discover how deep it was.

Then of course Will had to chase him to get him to come out (despite the fact that any normal non-Canadian / European would not be putting their precious goods that close to water so cold).

"Dada, up?"

No, I'm not pregnant again, that is Aoife in the carrier.

Relaxing in our cabin with a well deserved drink after a long day at the beach.


We stopped in at a Fauna Park on the way home because JJZ had yet to interact with the Australian wildlife. What better way to interact than to feed a kangaroo or six.

Euey loved it.

The kids goet close to a wallaby. This was as close as they got because Euey kept chasing them all!

Koala

Around Our Place

Just a few pics of us doing our thing around the house. Stay tuned for lots of photos of Jen and James's trip down under soon.

Pretty little Daddy's girl.

Monkey grip

Teaching the monkeys how to howl

T-shirt courtesy of Grandpa Leprechaun

First recorded smile.

Uncle Gus visits on the way home from Uni.

D is for Dada

I've started teaching Euey some letters and today I was shocked enough to decide it is time to brag. I started a few weeks ago with his building blocks. I told him D is for Dada, M is for Mama and B is for Bubble and Bubba. It only took him a few days before he could find the 'Dada' block or would respond to questions like 'Euey, what is M for (holding up the M block)? I'm sure at this age he doesn't really understand what he's doing, he's just learnt to associate the shape with the word, but it is definitely a good party trick! (Or it would be if he didn't say 'Mama' for the D block whenever someone else is around!)

He has made little steps away from the blocks and will now point to the letters on his giant Caterpillar and say the word he's learnt for that letter. He will also ask us to write the letter when he's drawing a picture (by saying the word, not the letter).

Today he was watching Sesame Street and I was (heroically) cleaning the living room. He started saying Dada Dada Dada over and over. I was just responding with the normal 'Dada's at work sweetheart', until I tuned into Sesame Street and realised they were doing the letter D and kept showing big pictures of different Ds. Wow, what a genius! He was proud as punch when I realised what he was doing and told him how clever he was.