A couple more....

Our children
Matthew on Andrew's bike
Just chillin'
At the zoo with Jett

Keeping busy

After a fairly traumatic start to our life down under, life is really starting to feel more settled. We're both keeping fairly busy and the children are thriving.

Dave continues to do well at work. He has settled into his new role and seems to have found his niche. He generally leaves home at 7am and gets home around 5:45 although two mornings a week he leaves at 6am. A bit of a drag but at least it's only two mornings and we both agreed that it is probably easier for me to deal with the children for longer in the morning by myself than at the end of the day when we've all had enough! I'm glad we were able to have a weekend away before our trip to England as Dave really did need a break from it all. He spends all his free time playing with the children and is now ensuring Sophie gets thrown around the place as much as Matthew did, much to Sophies delight. She is definitely her Daddy's little girl (already).

Matthew is doing brilliantly. His vocabulary continues to astound us and we are beinging to realise just how much is going in! We now have to be very careful what we say around him. We had a pretty nasty episode a few weeks ago with his allergies and the doctor has now given us an EpiPen for him as his reaction to nuts seems to be getting a little more agressive. On a positive note, he seems to have grown out of his egg allergy and now enjoys his boiled egg and soldiers. We have been told by the doctor not to give Sophie any nuts until they test her at 18 months. Matthew is spending plenty of time out in the garden perfecting his golf swing and his criketing. He has informed me that he will be swimming for Australia and playing cricket for England!! Although 99.9 percent of the time he is a very good boy, he really does make up for it when he's having a moment. We get the full stomp!! I have to say that he has got a lot better over the last few weeks and has realised that when we tell him the consequences of his actions, he knows we mean it!

Sophie is just beautiful, and completely cheeky. She is very gentle in her nature and already quite different in behaviour to Matthew, although she does mimic a lot of what he does. She is still pretty frustrated about the fact that she isn't on her feet yet, but I think we've only got another couple of weeks before she's up and about. She enjoys being out in the garden with Matthew, digging up the sandpit and climbing in the cubby house with him. Really anything he is doing she wants to be involved in, much to Matthew's frustration sometimes! She continues to suck her thumb when she's feeling tired and cranky, and usually has a muslin in tow to hold against her face. Thankfully we've got plenty of muslins as we've lost a few on the way recently. She is proving to have a healthy appetite as her mother and will sometimes pack away more than her brother!

Mum and Dad continue to be a great help to us, especially with the children. They were on hand for our weekend away, helped tremendously with Sophie's birthday, and always there for family days out down the beach. The children absolutely love being around them and both Sophie and Matthew love spending time in the garden with their Grandpa. Matthew and his Nanna are constantly cooking up a storm in the kitchen, and even my Nan, their Tata, gets involved, helping Matthew with his colouring.

I'm keeping myself pretty busy. Mondays we still see Sue, Abi, and Julia with the children. It's almost a year since we started meeting up and they have become very close friends. The children all get on very well and we usually don't have much referreeing to do! Julia is away in the UK at the moment, hopefully having a relaxing time with friends and family. We have been swimming on a Tuesday morning and both children continue to do well and seem quite at ease in the water. Sophie is proving to be a real beach babe, whereas Matthew is still a little apprehensive in the ocean. Thursday morning we got to a playgroup up in Buderim which both children enjoy, and in the afternoons I get together with the girls I met at the mother's group after Sophie was born. Our afternoon get togethers have now ended up at our houses as the children are a little difficult to control when we're out at the moment. Friday's we go to another playgroup and in the afternoons we usually have a trip around the supermarket. Ah what a life I lead!!!! I do love being with the children although it can be pretty hard going sometimes especially with Sophie being so active at the moment, but not really mobile enough.

Well it's difficult to believe that it's the beginning of April on Sunday. We've only got eight weeks to go before we leave for our trip to the UK! It'll be 20 months since we arrived in Australia by the time we get to England so it'll be interesting to see how we feel about it. We are really looking forward to catching up with everyone and have Dave Dad's wedding to look forward to also. We're going to get stuck into a diet between now and then as we've got a few currys, Pizza Express, chinese, and pub meals to catch up on!!!!

Weekend away

We have been trying to organise a weekend away with our good friends Andrew and Lisa for a little while. Our original plan was to go away with the children before Lisa gave birth to baby number two (due in July). This plan was quickly replaced with a 'let's go away for a weekend without the children'!

Lisa spent a couple of weeks searching for somewhere that would be far enough away from home to not be able to pop back but close enough that we wouldn't be spending ages traveling. She found a fantastic unit on Moreton Island. It was beautiful. White sand, clear blue sea, and no children! We spent three days and two nights there and most of the time we were either eating, drinking or bobbing about in the sea. We all needed the break and it was nice to get some free time.

Mum and Dad were fantastic and had the children for us for the weekend. I think they were more excited about having the time with the children than we were being away!!! It was nice for us as we knew we didn't need to worry about them and as we found out they didn't miss us at all....

The URL for the resort is http://www.tangalooma.com/ We stayed in one of the villas http://www.tangalooma.com/accommodation/villas.asp which was right on the beach. Absolutely fantastic.

The wrecks off the beach
The view from our front deck
A little relaxed!
Some wildlife

First birthday, another tooth, and a few steps

Well our little girl turned one on the 2nd March. Thank you to everyone who sent cards and presents. Dave and I are still in shock that a year has gone by since Sophie came into our life, and what a wonderful, if not tiring, year it has been! Matthew has also settled into the routine of older brother very well and is quick to let me know when Sophie is doing something she shouldn't!!

As well as her two bottom teeth we had a new tooth arrive just before her birthday which was on the top of her gums but slightly off to the side. It looks a little strange but we can see the other three making their way out. It's been pretty horrible for her. Last weekend we had a few independent steps although as soon as Sophie realised she was walking on her own, she quickly sat down. I don't think it's going to be too much longer before she's running around.

We had a birthday party on the 4th March for Sophie. It was a lovely day and lots of friends came over. Sophie looked very pretty in her white (!) party dress that her Nanna and Grandpa bought her for her birthday, right up until she found a piece of chocolate cake!

The birthday girl
Her birthday cake
With the chocolate cake
More cake!
With her Daddy