Can you believe that we are almost at the end of November? A couple of houses in our street have their Christmas lights twinkling already, and there are Christmas trees everywhere! The weather is starting to get pretty hot, it's about 25 degrees by 7:30 in the morning and the humidity is already rising.
Matthew is doing very well. His vocabulary is increasing at an alarming rate and he comes out with the most fantastic phrases that usually has us in stiches. His latest was on Friday when Dave was tickling him, he turned around and said "stop it Daddy, I'm serious"! Goodness only knows where he got that from. His skin took a bit of a battering recently with the weather getting drier but we seem to have it back under control. It was no where near as bad as it had been but was giving him a little bit of discomfort. His potty training has gone well and we have now forgotten about the potty and use the toilet. We have had a couple of accidents, but they usually occur when he is being distracted. We have also taken him out of his cot. It seems very strange to see my little boy in a proper bed. He is growing up too quickly and will be in school before we know it.
Sophie is growing and developing at a super rate too, mostly due to her brother. She spends most of her time crawling around after him and joining in with whatever he is playing with. We now have two teeth on her bottom gum which has changed the look of her face already. She is pulling herself up against the furniture and I shouldn't think it'll be long before she's chasing Matthew around the house. Sophie's appetite is proving to be as great as her Mother's and she can consume an amazing amount of food. We are having a little problem with the fact that she is waking up between 4:00 and 4:45 most mornings, which is a little painful, but I think that blackout blinds might be in order.
Dave is much happier and relaxed at the moment. He is staying with Clearmake and seems to be enojoying it a lot more. If you want to have a browse on what it is they do, the website is
http://www.clearmake.com.au/ He seems to have slipped into the Australian lifestyle pretty well, his BBQ cooking skills have much improved and will even go out without his shoes on! I'm doing ok, keeping very busy entertaining two small children (definitely a full time job!) and appreciating everything that is around us. I have been working for a day a week, just doing some administration work for a company quite close by. It's been a nice change from the normal routine and I really don't have to think too hard about what I'm doing.
We continue to see Sue, Abi, and Julia on a Monday. We've now spread our wings a little and are meeting at various parks, pools, and playgrounds to give the children (and us) a little variety. India, Josh, Harri, and George are all doing well and it's great to see them growing up together. Matthew and Sophie are continuing to do fantastically well at swimming. They both absolutely love the water and it's pretty difficult dragging them out of it. Last week Mum and I took the children down to the beach before we went swimming, which they both loved. Sophie loved being in the sea, Matthew is still not too sure. I'm still in touch with the girls from the post natal group. We've planned a little Christmas party for all the Father's to meet each other and another excuse of the Mum's to have a glass of champagne!
We've installed a new child flap between us and next door so that Matthew and Jett can play together. It's quite cute, but very funny seeing the adults trying to squeeze through! I'll get a piccie of it for next time.
Justine is over with us at the moment for a very short holiday. It's been great to see her and catch up on all the gossip of home. The children have taken to her already and Matthew is Auntie Justine this and Auntie Justine that..... It might have something to do with a couple of little trains she brought over with her!
Frank, Heidi, Alex and Leah will be joining us for Christmas which will be great. We are both very excited about seeing them all and I know that Dave is really looking forward to sharing a few with Frank. It'll be a great Christmas with all the children together and we're already planning to do plenty of different things. I have been trying to convince my sister to join us but I don't think that's been too successful!!
We're very close to finally booking our flights over to the UK for next year. It'll be great to see the place again and to catch up with everyone. We'll let you know once we're all booked up.
My brother has recently got married his girlfriend, Vika, in Moscow. Unfortunately we couldn't be with him, but by all accounts they had a simple civil wedding and dinner afterwards. We wish them lots of love and happiness in their life together.
