What a week

Well, what a weekend! We are now on day 5 of the great potty training escapade and it seems to be working just fine. Matthew is quite happy on the potty and regularly giving his sister updates on his 'movements'!! It's been fantastic to not have to change a nappy (apart from after his sleep). I felt completely exhausted by the end of the weekend but I think we've cracked it.....

Sophie's first tooth made an appearance on Tuesday. It has only just broken through but yet another milestone in her little life. She hasn't been too happy getting it out so hopefully she'll calm down a bit now. Bless her.

On Sunday we headed down to Yarumba beach to have some family portraits taken. Really looking forward to seeing them. It was a lovely spot and we all dressed up nice for them. Needless to say within two minutes of being near the water, not only was my son wet but so was my husband! I really don't know who is worse out of those two!!!!! We then headed over for a drink with Mum and Dad and a catch up on the gossip.

Monday, Lisa and I went out for our morning walk at around 7:30 and then I went over to Sue's for morning tea. Julia couldn't make it as her Mum and Dad are still over from the UK. The children ran riot and pretty much trashed Sue's lovely house! After another morning walk with Lisa on Tuesday we had swimming. The children continue to do really well and Sophie is just loving the water. Matthew is a little fish and Mum and I have to be really careful to watch him all the time.

We had a quiet day on Wednesday, we spent most of the morning at home. In the afternoon we went out for a walk with Lisa and Jett along the sea front from Alexandra Headland to Mooloolaba. About half an hours walk each way and pretty hilly, interesting when you're pushing a pushchair with two children in it and a Wiggles bag full of food!!! Matthew had another good day with his potty, and I'm beginning to think that we're on the home run. Finger's crossed.

Thursday was pretty busy. An early morning walk with Lisa and Jett and then we headed over to Mudjimba for playgroup in the morning. In the afternoon we met up with Judy, Linda, and Janie at the Ginger Factory in Yandina. Matthew had a couple of accidents today and seemed to take a step back. Let's hope it's just a little blip!

Matthew seemed to have forgotten that the potty existed on Friday! We spent of the day at home. Still sticking with it though.

Saturday we went out and did the shopping in the morning and then went over to see Mum and Dad, who had just returned from a week away. They seemed to have a lovely time and certainly looked refreshed. Sue, Retief and Indi braved the really heavy rain and came over for a curry and few beers in the evening.

We went out for a breakfast barbeque on Sunday morning with some friends in Noosaville. It was a lovely hot morning, a complete change from Saturday. Matthew had a good play about and was completely worn out by the time we left! The children had a good sleep and then we headed over to Valerie's house in the afternoon for Lilli's first birthday party. It was a lovely day.

I've got some pictures that I'll get uploaded in the day or so.

Getting hotter

Yet another month almost at an end and our first year anniversary of arriving in Australia is just around the corner! The shops are telling us it is only eight weeks until Christmas and the weather is starting to warm up rather quickly.

Dave is doing well and has finally decided to move on from his current job. It has taken him a while to make the decision, but should all work out well in the end. It has been great for him to get into working life in Australia and hopefully his next role should keep him just as busy. His son continues to follow in his footsteps and already Sophie is throwing herself out of my arms to get to him. It's great and I know that Dave likes nothing better than walking through the door in the evening to Matthew running up the hall shouting "Daddy's home"!

Talking of Matthew, he has just come on leaps and bounds in the last couple of months. He was only saying a few words by his 2nd birthday but now he seems to be making up for the last two years of silence! He certainly has his moments but we are really lucky with him and he generally a really good, loving little boy. He is already very protective of his sister and continually checks up on her during the day. This weekend we have started on the great potty training attempt. We only started this morning (28th) and we've already been through a few pairs of pants and a number of wet patches on the floor (thank goodness for tiles!), but we'll hopefully get there. Matthew very proudly said to his sister "look Sophie, I did a big poopoo"!!

Sophie is growing at an astounding rate and is already standing herself up against the furniture. She is desperate to be running around with her brother and spends a large part of her day sitting with Matthew and his toys. It's so lovely to see them both together like that, certainly makes all the hard work well worth it. Sophie will be eight months in a couple of days, the same age that Leila was when Emilie came over for her visit earlier this year. Only seems like two minutes ago we were getting excited because Sophie was 4 weeks old. We haven't seen the arrival of any teeth yet, but judging by the amount of drool we're dealing with at the moment, I shouldn't think they will be too long in coming.

Matthew and Sophie are doing well with their swimming. Matthew is getting more confident in the water and Ron, the instructor, believes that he'll be swimming by himself by Christmas, which would be fantastic. Sophie is now more relaxed in the water and getting dipped more frequently. I'll have to get a piccie of them splashing about.

Abi, Sue and Julia are all doing well and the children are getting on great together. We generally don't need to do too much refereeing when we're together now which is great as it means we can sit and catch up on all the gossip! I also still meet up with the girls from Sophie's post natal group - Valerie, Judy, Ingrid, Debbie, Linda, Keren, and Janie with their children. All of the bubs are moving around now so we have to be a little more selective where we meet up. We can't leave them lying on a blanket anymore, so no leisurely drinks by the water! We all met for dinner last night and ended up at Mooloolaba surf club for a boogie. It was the first time we'd all been out together without the babies and the first time in a long while that we were all out in the evening. It was a lovely evening and one that will definitely be repeated.

Matthew with the dingoes
Sophie and Sam Julia, Josh, India, and Matthew At Mum's house when she hosted a Breast Cancer charity morning tea Matthew enjoying a coffee Girl's night out (from left Valerie, Me, Linda and Janie. From right Ingrid, Sarah (Judy's sister), Keren and Judy)

Apologies again....

Not entirely sure why my run of keeping this blog updated has slowed down, but you can rest assured that I will be making more of an effort.

Things have been pretty busy this month. We had Martin and Andrea with us for a few days at the beginning of the month, before they set off on their honeymoon to Cairns, Sydney and then onto New Zealand. It was nice to see them both.

Matthew has had his appointment with the allergy specialist in Brisbane and he has confirmed that Matthew has a pretty severe allergy to peanuts and all tree nuts and also raw egg. He said that we don't need an epipen just yet but will go back to see him in 2 years time for a retest and then take it from there. Matthew was very very brave and didn't complain once, bless him. Dad came with us, so we headed into the city for a YumCha lunch. It was fantastic and Matthew even had a go with chopsticks.

Mum and Dad are now having Matthew and Sophie on a Friday so I get a day to catchup on jobs and hopefully, at some point, take it easy. It's nice to be able to get around a little quicker although I do miss not having them around with me!

It was Dave's birthday on the 10th and he and I went out for a meal with Chris and Judy. There is a lovely restaurant called the Boat Shed which is right on the Maroochy River in Cotton Tree. Lovely. The food was fantastic and it was nice to out for dinner with friends and no children!

The children are doing really well with their swimming. Sophie is completely relaxed in the water now and Ron, the teacher, no lets go of her to see if she'll get herself up to the surface. Matthew is a little fish and you can't turn your back on him for a second. He's constantly jumping or pushing himself off the side. Ron has said that he should be swimming by himself by Christmas.

As well as crawling all over the place, Sophie is now standing herself up, both in her cot and in the bath! It seems that she is pretty eager to get out there and chase after her brother. She is now sitting herself up too. Both children are doing really really well. Matthew is finding things a little easier to deal with now that he can communicate and is being lovely with Sophie. They now sit in the toy corner and will happily play together for 20/30 minutes before they get bored. Great for me!

I see Abi, Julia and Sue each week for our morning tea. The children are all getting on really well and don't need too much attention from us which is great and means we usually get an hour or so of gossip before we have to deal with them again!

Matthew and Jett, next door, play with each other pretty much every day, either this side of the fence or Lisa and Andrew's. They play really well and it's nice to see them growing up together. Lisa and I try to get out for a walk in the mornings, which is great for us to catch up on the gossip and the boys to check out what each other has for munchies for the journey! Lisa and I are already discussing our next weekend escape. Feels like it's been months since we went away for our long weekend.

Justine has emailed to say that she is coming over for a very short visit at the end of November for a couple of weeks. It'll be lovely to see her. Frank and Heidi will be with us for Christmas which will be great. Lots of children running around the garden and drinking partners for the grown ups. I think Mum and Dad can expect to be on baby sitting duties for a few weeks!!!!

Matthew with his mate Jett (Andrew and Lisa's son) Sophie with Sam (Judy and Chris' son) Sophie looking very happy after eating her first English ruskSophie having a comfortable(!) napMatthew helping his Daddy lower Sophie's cotSophie in the ball pit Matthew at the playground in Mooloolaba Sophie discovered the tunnel!