Maternal Mayhem

Update on Zeke...

2010-07-05T11:52:00.004+10:00

Just realised I never updated with his 2-year stats and why we were so busy on his birthday.

Well, we had a developmental check at the children's hospital as part of the follow up for his head operation. He is generally doing GREAT. Very switched on and thoughtful, he whizzed through simple puzzles that he's never had a chance to play with at home before, and his motor skills are awesome. He can thread beads, stack little blocks, post coins into a piggy bank, all kinds of things. He was pretty worn out and exhausted by the end of the day, but really enjoyed a special birthday lunch at Mc Donalds!

He's not talking heaps yet though, so we've been referred to speech therapy, just to make sure everything's on track. Given that he's only just 2, and a boy (boys generally are slower to start talking) we're not overly concerned, he does want to communicate with us, and he's far more interested in sounds (woof, moo, ding ding, beep etc) than he is in proper words! But given the LOOOOOOONG waiting list, it will be better if we get him into the system now, and have him assessed soon, even if nothing's going on and he's just stubborn (which I suspect) so that if he does actually need some speech help, he can get it sooner.

Part of that was having his hearing checked, which we got done last Friday. Again he did pretty well, but he's old enough to ignore the test sounds in favour of the toys he's playing with, and too young to give us a cooperative response (eg: tell us when you hear the noise) as he doesn't really understand what hearing is yet. So there were some sounds he definitely appeared to hear, but as he seemed to ignore them, they couldn't really be marked as heard. It was the higher pitch at very soft volume that he was ignoring, but he looked at me and made his signal for 'mouse' (not that we're teaching sign, but he's invented one of his own) when it was playing, so he definitely heard it, so again it's not a big concern, especially as he definitely heard and responded to it a year ago. He just didn't respond within the framework of the hearing test. We're going back again in 3 months to see if he'll respond better, and also hopefully teething will be over, which will take away a lot of the irritation/distraction in his head.

Of course since getting a referral to a speech therapist (the evaluation is 22/7, but we may not get an actual therapy appointment for 6-9 MONTHS) he has come up with a few new words, bear, ball, ow and Babar (the cartoon about the elephant family) furthering my theory that he's just doing things in his own time!

Now, some facts and figures...

He's about 13kg, (28ish pounds) and I think (I can't find his book to double check) 83cms tall (32 inches - not quite 3foot!) His head hasn't grown ANY, which means he is finally (for the first time ever) BACK ON THE GROWTH CURVE, he's high-end above 95% but he is back within a normal growth curve - hooray!

What else? He's still in size 1 (12-18 month) but is beginning to transition into some size 2 (24mth) for some things, he will probably be fully in 2's by the end of winter. Oh, and still eating everything in sight as usual. He LOVES weetbix, and would eat them for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I let him.

He is in love with the Wiggles, and knows all the moves to Hot Potato, he can dance through the whole song, and uses the dance move for 'cold spaghetti' to ask for spaghetti for dinner (which he loves!) We can also sort of play Patty Cake rhymes with him, he has an awesome sense of rythym, he keeps time perfectly the whole rhyme, or he deliberately speeds up or slows down his hands to make me adjust how I'm saying the rhyme, and is very pleased when I do!

Haven't got any new photos of him though :( a friend has taken plenty, but I've got to remember to actually get a copy from her!

So that's where we're at at the moment, waiting for a speech assessment later in the month, and generally playing and having fun!

Happy Birthday Zeke

2010-06-04T14:05:00.005+10:00

Zeke turned 2 yesterday my goodness! (We had a busy day, so no time to blog... )

Can't believe it's been 2 years since I was looking like this:

Or that he started out like this :

But then he grew...

And grew...

And grew some more!

And while not every day has been happy...

In fact, some days have been downright terrible...

Zeke has been an amazing gift...

and his rocking attitude...

sweet cuddles...

cheeky grin...

and enthusiasm for life...

Never fail to bring me joy!

Happy Birthday to my sweet not-so-little Zeke!

365 Photos... or not

2010-05-29T10:11:00.004+10:00

I'm WAY behind in my photos as you probably noticed. Planning a wedding, honeymoon and then trying to get Zeke back into a normal schedule is hard work! There were just some days I didn't take photos, and to cap it off, I've broken my camera.

So the 365 photos thing is not going to happen for me, I'm too far behind, and can't take photos to catch up. Sad, seeing as I was doing so well, and really enjoying the record of what we'd been up to, but just not possible anymore :(

Will have to get busy uploading photos and get some catch-up posts started.

So things to post updates and pictures about... let's see:

Hen's night
Wedding
Honeymoon
Zeke (because who doesn't want to hear about him & see more photos?)

We have generally been well though, no major dramas really. Zeke will be 2 on Thursday! 2 already - how can that be? He is working on his second molars on and off, thankfully they're not bothering him as badly as the first ones, his gums aren't bruised black this time, and he's not off his food. We've only got 3 more teeth to go before we're done with teething till it's time for the tooth fairy!

We've not had heaps of new words from him lately, he has added car though. It sounds a bit like "ga" but the meaning is clear! It sounds like he might be getting into the mimicking stage as well - I was talking to him about Babar - that cartoon about the elephant family, and he said "Babar" back to me, but I suspect he was just mimicking "Bubba" more than what I was saying, but time to watch my language none the less!

His current obsession is trains - he can make an '"oo-oo" sound like a steam engine whistle, and also goes "ding ding" for railway crossings, or electric trains, because they look so much like trams. He thinks the trains that run here, and trams are the same thing.

His other new love is The Wiggles - he knows the actions to all of Hot Potato, and part of D.O.R.O.T.H.Y, Henry The Octopus, Walk, and a bunch of other songs, he dances along with them - it's very cute!

Anyway, his birthday party is next weekend, best get a head start on cleaning up for then. Photos and updates to come!

One Year Ago Today....

2010-04-15T00:33:00.002+10:00

Well, yesterday now, seeing at it's after midnight! (I didn't get Zeke to bed till 14 past - little stinker!) Apologies for the shocking layout, I copied straight from another post... it formats differently.

Zeke had his operation to reshape his head. Thought you might like to see some before, during and after pics.

Notice the way the back left bulges out heaps:

The front of his head was very narrow:

Very prominent forehead and bulging fontanelle:

At the hospital, first cuddle after the op:

Sitting up and playing the very next morning:

Bandages off on day 3 post-op - you can already see a difference:

One month(ish) on, you can still see the scar, but the shape is so much better:

Six months later, the scar is all but gone:

One year later - a lovely round back of head!:

His head is less triangular too - and hair covers what tiny tiny faint line is left from the scar:

Fontanelle are smooth and no longer peaking:

He still has a big forehead (just like daddy!) but his forehead sticks out far less:

All in all he is my beautiful, smart, sweet, funny, feisty, cheerful little man. I am so incredibly lucky and blessed today. I wanted to share it with you!

365 Photos - Mar 16

2010-04-02T12:41:00.002+11:00

Just a day at home I think, I'm mostly waiting for Photobucket to finish rotating the photo from today, and trying to remember what happened! Note to self: edit and rotate photos before uploading them, the site based editor is SOOOO slow!

Zeke is definitely becoming more determined, today he wanted weetbix for lunch, which he then decided to wear, so a bath was in order. Let me tell you, weetbix cement is not fun to clean out of a child's hair, especially one who hates having his hair washed as much as Zeke does!

He added another new word today though - teeth. I gave him his toothbrush (he always brushes teeth in the bath) and he said "teeth" clear as anything. Of course, like most of his other words, he hasn't said it since!

Tuesday 16th March 2010

Zeke LOVES going outside, apparently clothes aren't even necessary! Shoes on and he's ready to go!

365 Photos - Mar 15

2010-04-02T12:36:00.002+11:00

Another Monday, another playgroup session, lots of lovely weather so we spent a lot of time outside, and did some finger painting with the kids. Zeke is pretty enthusiastic about painting, so we had lots of new pictures to add to his wall! (I'll do an entry for that when I find a day without photos!)

Monday 15th March 2010

One of the most popular outside toys is the steering wheel on the play equipment, Zeke and Kayleb often have battles about whose turn it is to drive. Only problem is they don't understand the concept of taking turns, and both think it is always their own turn!

365 Photos - Mar 14

2010-04-02T12:33:00.002+11:00

My goodness I am behind! Like, A LOT behind. Been so busy with wedding plans and preparing for my hen's night, and goodness knows what else. I can't even remember what we got up to half the days I've missed. Thank goodness for writing some things on the calendar, or status updates on FB, at least I can jog my memory a little like that.

Not so much for this entry though. I think we just chilled at home.

Sunday 14th March 2010

Zeke loves playing dress ups with anything he can find, particularly things that can become hats. Here's my little goof playing around with the bucket for his blocks!

365 Photos - Mar 13

2010-03-21T10:26:00.002+11:00

Another busy day. I was up early to keep tidying and to pack Zeke's bag. Zeke, Ryan, Grandave and Erin went to Healesville Sanctuary for the afternoon, while I stayed home & had my bridesmaids come for a dress fitting.

The dresses are looking GORGEOUS. The colour on the girls is just fantastic :)

Ryan came home with a very pooped Zeke, he'd only had a short nap in the car, and refused to go back down. They'd had a great time, Zeke had been especially enamoured with the yabbies, had called every bird he'd seen a duck, and didn't know whether the platypus was an 'oof', a 'duh' or an 'ah-ah' (dog, duck or cat!)

I'd charged my camera and sent Ryan off with a full battery and empty card, only to find he hadn't taken ONE photo. Erin had taken heaps, but still... not even one!

Went to Cat's for dinner again, but both Kayleb and Zeke were pooped so we didn't stay long at all, the boys were tired, screamy and fighting with each other the whole time. Zeke was VERY glad to get to bed!

Saturday 13th March 2010

Zeke taking a turn at pool... the cue's a little long for him though!

365 Photos - Mar 12

2010-03-16T22:42:00.002+11:00

Friday... Zeke resumed with the crankies. He was upset because we'd borrowed CJ's car to get to music class, and had to go past their house to drop CJ home again, and Zeke was utterly distraught we didn't go inside to play with Kayleb. He cried for 15 minutes, really sad crying with big fat disappointed tears rolling down his face. He cheered up when we got to music, but was not quite himself the rest of the day.

Grandma came to visit in the evening, and took Zeke for a walk in his pram before dinner, which definitely put him in a better mood, although he was back to whining and clinging as soon as they got back. He was pretty thrilled with dinner though - his very own prawn skewer, and then having Grandma around to bath him instead of boring old Mummy!

Friday 12th March 2010

Zeke loves prawn skewers, but on seeing how Ryan & I eat them (straight from the stick) he refused to let me separate them onto his plate, and insisted on going at it himself - what a big boy!

365 Photos - March 11

2010-03-16T22:01:00.002+11:00

Thursday was a busy day! We were up early, and I decided to take Zeke on the bus to Mountain Gate shops to put some more money on my wedding ring, and to have a look in the really cute clothing store for something for Zeke to wear to the wedding.

Zeke did NOT like the bus. He cried every time someone got off, because he thought we should be getting off too, but we got there in the end, and went to the jewellers, then started to look for the shop I had seen last time. Took me ages to find where it should have been, and turned out it had closed since the last time I'd been there!

We grabbed some lunch after that, and Zeke decided he would only eat the little things of tomato sauce I had bought for him to eat with his chips! Caught the bus home, and Zeke went straight down for a nap, and I got online to chat with my JM buddies!

Once Zeke was up again, I realised I needed to get something for dinner, so back on the bus to the shops. Not having a car sucks sometimes! I also found Zeke's suit for the wedding, turns out there is a GREAT, well-priced shop right near us and the lady who owns it is lovely, will be heading back for shoes soon.

Boy were we pooped by the end of the day! Zeke was down early, as was I!

Thursday 11th March 2010

And impromptu family photo as we snuggled up with Zeke ready for bed. As normal, Zeke looked away from the camera, he always does this for these types of photos!

365 Photos - Mar 10

2010-03-16T21:40:00.002+11:00

Woot for 6 days behind again... this seems to be a recurring pattern for me.

Wednesday was a day of ultimate cranky. Zeke woke up on the wrong side of the bed and remained there for most of the day. There was very little that could cheer him up, not even a visit from Aunty Kyla in the evening. Spent most of the day playing around trying to find out where my happy little boy had gone, and why he was replaced with this whiny, cranky grizzling beast!

Wednesday 10th March 2010

I made chicken parma, with wedges and salad for dinner, and although it's blurry, here's a shot of Zeke chowing down on some lettuce. He's finally learned to chew it and now cannot get enough!

365 Photos - Mar 9

2010-03-09T23:13:00.002+11:00

Wahoo - caught up again! After this I'm watching the NCIS episode we recorded, and then off to bed - I'm worn out, today was busy!

We needed to do a couple of things today, and unable to borrow a car, we decided to take the bus to Knox City (a nearby shopping centre.) This was Zeke's first time (in his memory, he was 3 months old and asleep the last time) on a bus, so he was a little freaked out, but settled down soon enough, and watched everything go by.

We got everything we needed to do done (Ryan got his shirt for the wedding - hooray!) and then went up to the food court for lunch. Ryan headed off to Subway to get his & my lunch, and I walked around with Zeke to find something for him.

We stopped at one of those little Asian places, which had the tuna seaweed rolls he loves, so I lifted him up to show him what there was and asked him if he wanted a tuna roll, and he said no. We moved along the display case a little more, and I asked if he wanted fried rice, or Singapore noodles, he looked at both carefully and pointed to the noodles! He's getting so grown up, and he was really happy sitting in the high chair at the food court and eating his noodles too :)

Back home on the bus Zeke wet right through his nappy and onto my lap - oops! We were glad to get home, and Zeke was glad to get into a dry nappy and off for a nap!

Grandma dropped in for a visit this evening, and Zeke was happy to show off to her for a while too, telling her Uh-oh, and showing her he knows how to take his nappy off! He does it almost as soon as he's wet now too... looks like he's getting warmed up for potty training!

Tuesday 9th March 2010

Zeke broke a pair of my sunglasses, but still likes to play with them, even as they are. He likes to put them on me too, and then usually smacks a big kiss on the one lens that is left! Apparently half a pair of sunglasses are essential bedwear!

365 Photos - Mar 8

2010-03-09T23:03:00.002+11:00

Another busy morning, although thankfully Zeke let me sleep in a little. I finished cleaning up in the kitchen, got all of the veggies for dinner prepared, and told Facebook breastfeeding isn't obscene... ALL before playgroup :)

Zeke decided he didn't want his usual nap, and went down only 40 minutes before we had to leave, so I had to wake him to go, and when I get to Cat's I find out Kayleb had done the same thing... must have been in the air that morning.

Cat & I decided to cut playgroup short, as both the boys were tired, and the weather was looking iffy and we didn't want to get soaked on the walk home. We did catch a little bit, but nothing a coffee at Cat's house couldn't fix!

Back home, I finished making lasagne for dinner, and discovered I had got WAAAAAY excited and went overboard with quantities, ended up with a lot more than I planned. Never mind - more for the freezer!

Granny and some of Zeke's aunties came for dinner, and Zeke was in a crazy show-off mood. He jumped around everywhere, played with his toys, and put on a show for everyone. He was a bit worked up and hard to get to bed once they left, but he was obviously pooped as he slept through, and slept in this morning!

Monday 8th March 2010

3 - that's right 3 trays of lasagne! The big one was used on Monday night, Ryan Zeke and I had the smaller white dish for dinner on Tuesday night, and the glass one has gone in the freezer for a night I decide I don't want to cook!

365 Photos - Mar 7

2010-03-09T22:52:00.003+11:00

Sunday... two days ago, but I was so pooped I can barely remember what we did! Ryan had a sleep in, so I played with Zeke during the morning, and then caught up on some dishes and photo blogging while he napped.

Pete & Kat came around for dinner in the evening. Coles BBQ chicken and pasta salad in rolls yum! I was starving, I had two at dinner time, and then when we were watching NCIS reruns, I had another roll with butter... crazy! Think it was the sudden drop in temperature, cold always makes me hungry.

Ended up staying up too late, and just as I was about to go to bed Zeke woke up, and I brought him into the lounge room to have a cuddle with Ryan and he saw that his wooden building blocks were all over the floor still and HAD to pick them up and put them away - at 2.30 am! He saw them, and he wouldn't stop whining and fighting us till we let him go, and he toddled over and put most of them back in the tub, then carried the tub to its usual place! Of course he was hard to get back to sleep after that, but he was obviously most satisfied with his cleaning efforts. Ended up cuddling him in our bed till he was ready to go back to sleep - took nearly 45 minutes ugh!

Sunday 7th March 2010

We're really lucky with Mocha, she's extremely affectionate, and very patient and gentle, not at all aggressive. Even though I don't think she is very bright, she has a wonderful nature and will put up with almost anything.

365 Photos - Mar 6

2010-03-09T22:28:00.005+11:00

Zeke decided to get up earlier than usual for some reason, and was cranky during the day too. I was tired as well, and there was not enough coffee in the world to make the morning a pleasant place - blah!

Today's big event, was (as most Melbournians will agree) was undoubtedly the MASSIVE hailstorm we had in the late afternoon. We had expected some rain or storming during the day, but what we hadn't expected were hailstones the size of golfballs pelting us! There was so much rain, our driveway was a complete wash out too. The gutters on the road were overflowing and the rain was just streaming down our driveway. The corner a little way down from us was completely flooded as well, only 4wd could get through, and they were almost up to their windows!

No serious damage though, my car (which is dead anyway) has a few small dints in the roof from the hail, and a hailstone hit the plastic casing on the cat flap on the back door and cracked it, but otherwise fine. Zeke was not at all scared (although Ryan and I were worried the hailstones would break the windows with how hard they were hitting) and just watched the whole thing from his high chair.

Saturday 6th March 2010

Mid-storm, taken through the window (no way was I going out in that!) You can see the layer of hailstones forming on the ground, and the streams of water running down the drive - intense!

365 Photos - Mar 5

2010-03-09T22:08:00.002+11:00

Up and off to music class on Friday morning. Zeke may take a little convincing to play his instruments along to the music, but he sure knows what it means when the music stops. He's up on his feet like a shot to give it back to Judy and to wait for a new one! He really does enjoy it though, he keeps asking me to put his Mini Maestro's CD on during the day so we can dance!

The weather was pretty rainy so we decided to stay inside for the rest of the day, but despite avoiding the mud Zeke managed to be utterly disgusting (both in cleanliness and personality) by the evening, so it was into a desperately needed bath and into bed. I think it was the humidity, it hadn't really cooled down, so he was pretty sweaty and sticky, which in turn made him cranky!

Actually, the disgustingness may have had something to do with the FOUR (yes, 4) entire meals he ate during the day. Weetbix for breakfast, leftover chicken stroganoff for lunch, scrambled eggs with (ham, cheese and peas) on toast for dinner, then he decided he was hungry again when Ryan & I were having dinner, and had another entire serve of strog! (Not adult-sized serves by any means, but a whole toddler sized plateful!) If he's about to do a growth spurt, I want to know BEFORE I buy him nice clothes for the wedding!

Friday 5th March 2010

Zeke is trying very hard these days to put his own pants on. He can't quite coordinate his foot into the right hole, but he's certainly got the idea! He will pull them up most of the way once they're on though - and is expert at taking them off, especially for bath time!

365 Photos - Mar 4

2010-03-09T21:59:00.003+11:00

Zeke was awake early and restless, so I decided to take a walk with him to the shops. We needed lunch and dinner for the day anyway, so I loaded him in the pram and off we went. When I asked him what he wanted for dinner, he told me "anana" (Banana) but I decided on chicken stroganoff instead.

On our way back, I decided to see which lot of shops was closer to us (there are two that seem about equal distance away, but in opposite directions) so we hopped on a train, we only went one station, but I decided the Ferntree Gully shops are much closer than Boronia, the walk back was a killer! There's a lot more uphill coming home from Boronia... won't be doing that one again in a hurry.

Grandave and Aunty Erin came around for a visit in the afternoon, and Grandma (my mum) dropped in during the evening, it was a busy day! Then Uncle Jay (his godfather minus the god part) came for dinner as well - it was good dinner too, Zeke kept going "MMMMMMM" with every bite!

Thursday 4th March 2010

Mocha went crazy for a bug that got in the house while I was making dinner... even to the point of climbing the flyscreen! She's getting bigger sure, but she's definitely still a kitten at heart!

365 Photos - Mar 3

2010-03-09T21:18:00.002+11:00

I seem to be holding steady at 6 days behind right now, but I would like to try and catch up again.

Wednesday was a quiet day, I didn't even take many photos. We went for a bit of a walk around the back streets in the morning, and Zeke took a nap when we got home.

The Minister who will be marrying us came around in the afternoon to do all the paper work, so the wedding will be legal - yay!

Zeke was extra lucky today, he got two walks! Daddy took him out on the trike for a bit while I made dinner, special, I only put him in the pram because I suck at steering the trike!

Wednesday 3rd March 2010

Here's some artwork we did today, I drew around Zeke's hand for him. Love the 3 hands!

365 Photos - Mar 2

2010-03-07T14:42:00.002+11:00

Just another quiet Tuesday really. Mondays really do wear us out! Zeke played some more box games, the novelty STILL hasn't worn off. I dread to think what will happen when it finally collapses! (It gets pretty hard use between him and Mocha LOL!)

We also did some more drawing, and some dancing. (He holds my hands and jumps around - but when we get to music on Friday, he refuses to participate... cheeky boy!)

Tuesday 2nd March 2010

Zeke after a bath, Ryan decided to wrap the towel like it was a toga, I especially love the way he was holding it... he really looked the part!

365 Photos - Mar 1

2010-03-07T14:25:00.003+11:00

Slightly in shock that it should be MARCH already. Not sure where the last two months went, even though I have a daily record of each one now! Although Granny wasn't coming for dinner, we were able to see her in the morning, when she came to give Ryan a lift somewhere, Zeke was very surprised to see her, although he decided he was much too busy drawing and playing to actually talk to her... cheeky thing. I was able to show her the photos of my wedding dress, so excited to be able to show SOMEONE! (I want to keep it a surprise for most people for the big day, but it's so lovely and I'm so excited about it, I need to be able to show it off a little!)

After a LONG nap, time for playgroup! The weather was lovely, although there was rain due later in the day, so we sent the boys outside, we didn't stay as long as we would have liked though, because of the clouds coming in (Cat & I walk to playgroup and didn't want to get caught out) plus the boys' moods were not so great, and we had to pick up Monique from school.

Because Zeke had skipped lunch, I made him sandwiches to take with us, ham, cheese & lettuce. Zeke wasn't hungry, so Kayleb and Nick (the other boy in playgroup) had most of it... naturally it meant Zeke was starving come dinner.

Back to Cat's house, where we set the boys loose again, and ended up staying for pizza. The boys were starving while they waited though, so they had noodles instead, and oh my goodness... I didn't know they could make such a mess! It took Cat & I like 10 minutes to pick all the teeny tiny squishy noodle pieces out of the rug!

Monday 1st March 2010

Zeke has been getting more adventurous with climbing, this was a small set of steps on a plastic play structure, it's only about 3 feet high, it's one of those portable ones you can buy for the back yard. Not a full playground structure. He wouldn't get off the steps onto the platform, but climbing to the top and then back down again is a huge milestone! I was very proud of him, and as you can see, he was proud of himself!

365 Photos - Feb 28

2010-03-07T10:39:00.003+11:00

Finally caught up with February. Pity I'm already a week behind in March... I should do this more often!

Sunday morning was pretty quiet, after a late-ish and busy Saturday. Zeke decided to nap later, because he woke up later, which threw our plans off. I was supposed to head up to Kat's for hair practise for the wedding, ended up doing a full dress rehearsal - looks stunning by the way - and Ryan wanted to work on the skyline with Pyro and AB. Zeke's being asleep meant I had to leave him at home, and Ryan had to keep an ear out for him, so slowed down the car fixing progress considerably, but they did get it started!

Once everyone was back up at Kat & Pyro's we had dinner, Nandos, a particularly spicy (if you order it so) Portuguese chicken, Zeke mostly had chips, but still stole bites of my wrap, which was quite hot and loved it!

Home again, all worn out and excited about my dress! When I came out in it, even Zeke stopped and went "Ohhhh!" Can't wait till the big day to wear it properly!

Sunday 28th February 2010

Pete and Kat had been to the ACDC concerts earlier in the week, and had bought these very cool devil horns, naturally we couldn't resist popping them on Zeke's head for a shot of his 'true' nature :P

365 Photos - Feb 27

2010-03-07T09:44:00.002+11:00

Saturday turned out to be busy! Zeke was up early (he's getting into a slightly different routine) again, so he napped early, which was great - gave me time to get baking! (Had a birthday cake to make for the evening)

Grandave picked us up to have lunch at his house. After stuffing down a massive sandwich with ham, cheese and lettuce, Zeke played the piano a bit, and then went outside for a while and checked out the garden with Grandave and Aunty Corrie.

Once we were home again, I decorated the birthday cake for Monique's birthday (CJ's daughter) while Ryan and Zeke played and got ready. Once we were up at Cat & CJ's Zeke and Kayleb had a lovely evening playing, although the bath was not successful, they both cracked the sads for some reason.

Monique's butterfly cake was a big hit though, everyone loved it. Zeke couldn't get enough!

Saturday 27th February 2010

While Zeke ran around the back yard at Grandave's I took the opportunity to snap a few photos. He loves this stack of wood next to the fence for some reason, he kept running back to sit on it. He does it every time we're there!

365 Photos - Feb 26

2010-03-07T09:30:00.002+11:00

Friday again, meant music class. My car had crapped itself during the week so we'd borrowed a friend's car, which was an auto. I've never driven an auto on the road before, so I was freaking out about not having a clutch the whole way there! I got Ryan to come with us to make sure I didn't do anything ridiculous, so he drove home.

We stopped at Hungry Jack's on the way home, and Zeke had 1/2 a cheeseburger and some chips. After his nap he woke up hungry again and polished off the cheeseburger! I've gone blank on what we had for dinner (it was well over a week ago now lol) but he ate heaps of that too! He never ceases to amaze me with all the different things he eats, and how much of it too.

Friday 26th February 2010

I had picked up the loungeroom, and reorganised everything while Zeke was asleep, then when he got up to play again, I left the room for 5 minutes... and came back to this! The whole room was tidy before hand...

365 Photos - Feb 25

2010-03-04T19:17:00.002+11:00

Yet another fairly quiet day. Zeke had a cool new toy - a massive cardboard box! (It also meant Daddy had gotten a cool new toy - a sub for our surround sound - but really, what's that compared to a box?)

We spent most of the day playing with the box. Mocha loved it too, and spent much of the day in there as well. Zeke had heaps of fun closing the flaps and shrugging in the way he does to go "where's that?" then opening them again to find Mocha still inside!

Thursday 25th February 2010

Naturally of course the photo from today had to be of Zeke sitting in the box... what else? Mocha is attacking the side as well, Zeke found this hysterical!

365 Photos - Feb 24

2010-03-04T14:16:00.002+11:00

Lots of lovely weather meant lots of laundry getting done! Good thing too, it was getting a bit dire. Zeke wasn't thrilled by this, apparently laundry is fairly boring when you're a little guy.

We went out in the evening for Vindaloo against Violence, (eating at an Indian Restaurant to show that not all Australians are racist basically) and Zeke was SO good. The service was a little slow, so he got pretty bored, but he LOVED the food. He ate probably 3 large papadums with yoghurt & cucumber dip, had a little of each of the entrees and HUGE serving of butter chicken, rice and daal (sp?) (mild curried lentils) finished off with mango yoghurt... he especially loved the lentils, and I don't blame him, they were the nicest I'd ever had too. He seriously ate more than I did though!

Wednesday 24th February 2010

Zeke was not afraid to let us know he was hungry between courses! He didn't think his bottle cooler bag was very tasty though. I didn't get many other photos though, had to keep Zeke entertained and too busy eating!

365 Photos - Feb 23

2010-03-03T23:08:00.002+11:00

An uneventful Tuesday, although I was right about Zeke's getting up early. Tuesdays are generally quiet though, after the excitement from Mondays, we're all pretty worn out. Ryan did some work, I did some cleaning and Zeke did some playing... nothing major.

Zeke impressed me once again with how much he could eat though, he had a whole plate of chicken & cous cous stirfry, and then stole heaps of mine! It wasn't a light dish either, Ryan and I were both stuffed full after a fairly average sized serving.

Tuesday 23rd February 2010

Zeke's still in love with the bath - thank goodness! He's getting very coordinated with pouring from one container to another, so another shot of him practising his skills!

365 Photos - Feb 22

2010-02-23T00:20:00.002+11:00

Whoo-hoo, caught up agian!

Zeke woke up sometime during the night and came into our bed, so we were up a bit earlier, but that meant he got in a good long sleep before playgroup. Somehow, this didn't stop him & Kayleb having a lot of fights about who got to play with certain toys!

Despite the brawls, they're pretty great together, as soon as the boys saw each other, they walked up and gave each other a hug and a kiss without Cat or I prompting - so cute! Zeke has a habit of walking over and kissing Kayleb at random too - he's such an affectionate little man.

Granny and 2 aunties for dinner tonight, and Zeke was thrilled with that. He ate HEAPS for dinner as well, 3 fish fingers, some potato, some beans & peas, and some capsicum and lettuce. Yes, he's actually eating lettuce now!

He was in bed at a good time as well - actually I should do the same, he's probably going to get up at stupid am just because I'm up late!

Monday 22nd February 2010

This was one of the finer moments in the boys' behaviour this afternoon, on Cat's back verandah. They were playing peek-a-boo behind around the chair, and cracking each other up no end - pity they weren't like that the whole time, Cat & I thought it was gorgeous!

365 Photos - Feb 21

2010-02-23T00:13:00.002+11:00

Well it was Ryan's turn to get sick overnight, although he took himself to the ER. The same virus Zeke had made his asthma flare up really badly, so Sunday was very quiet as well. I pottered around and did some cleaning, but generally we all just chilled out.

The best part of the day was Zeke waking up at his usual time, napping at his usual time - and GOING TO BED at his usual time. Woot! Made being horrid to him on Saturday worth it! He had a lovely long play in the bath before bed too - he's getting so good at pouring water to and from his cups, and worked out on his own how to fill an old bubble bath bottle by holding it under the water for longer instead of just scooping like a cup. Smarty pants or what?

Sunday 21st February 2010

While I was tidying up, I spotted the rose Ryan had given me for V-day and decided to take a comparison pic of the change a week makes. Interesting enough, but I need to learn to compose shots better.

365 Photos - Feb 20

2010-02-23T00:07:00.003+11:00

Saturday ended up being busy, we had to go put a deposit on my wedding ring, buy envelopes for wedding invites, and stop by Grandave's to pick something up as well. It meant that Zeke missed his usual nap, and he was pooped, bored and cranky in the shops, but had a wonderful time playing with Grandave, and even said 'Camera' again! He also showed Grandave how fantastic he's getting at jumping, and all the different animal noises he can make (as well as scoffing half a slice of toast with tuna and grilled cheese!)

By the time we got home it was so late in the afternoon, I only let him have 45 minutes to sleep, otherwise I knew he'd be up all night. I felt horrible waking him up, he was so tired. Thankfully our usual Saturday playdate was off this week, but ZEKE WENT TO BED AT A NORMAL TIME! Ryan and I both breathed a huge sigh of relief, and followed not long after!

Saturday 20th Feb 2010

Another thing Zeke loves as well as drawing and building is music. (Although he gets all shy in music classes!) He has a xylophone, a kazoo, a mini drumkit and a toy guitar, but best of all is Grandave's piano - he heads straight for it as soon as we arrive there. I got Ryan to play with him this time, I can't actually play anything, and it was nice for Zeke to play with someone who can play something properly.

365 Photos - Feb 19

2010-02-23T00:00:00.002+11:00

Friday was music again - hooray! Somehow ended up being a little late to that, not really sure what happened there, the morning just kind of got away from us.

Zeke wouldn't nap when we got home though, which was frustrating, meant he was so tired and miserable later in the day, although he did go to bed a little easier.

We decided to have Hungry Jacks on Friday night as well, I was so proud of Zeke, he sat up in his high chair, and held and ate a cheeseburger all by himself! He's really getting grown up now - even checked out one of the waitresses - cheeky boy!

Friday 19th February 2010

Unfortunately I'd left my camera at home so I only have photos of Zeke and his cheeseburger on my phone, and I didn't end up taking anything else, so I snapped a photo of the gorgeous portraits we had done in Feb 08... I can't believe this was a year ago! How much Zeke has grown... I've not changed much though!

(Apologies for the crappy lighting. It's too dark w/out the flash, but reflects with it. )

365 Photos - Feb 18

2010-02-22T23:53:00.002+11:00

Another quiet blah day with a late start. Really didn't get up to much at all. Tried to get Zeke to have a shorter nap (in hope of a better bedtime) but instead fell asleep on the couch myself - genius! Still, I got him down by 11, which was definitely an improvement!

Ryan was out at bedtime too, which didn't make things easy, Zeke was very disappointed that he didn't get to say goodnight to Daddy, and sat in his cot crying "Dada Dada Dada" every time I tried to put him to bed. My little heart-breaker!

Thursday 18th February 2010

Here's my sleepy-head boy rubbing his eyes in the morning. I had woken him up a little earlier. Funnily enough, he's wearing a shirt that says "Heart Breaker" on it - very appropriate given his bedtime antics later on in the day!

365 Photos - Feb 17

2010-02-22T23:46:00.002+11:00

So... Wednesday was a bit of a write-off after the crappy bedtime we had. It was warm/humid too, which made Zeke cranky, not to mention the last of that virus bugging him.

We went shopping with Grandma for a little while, and I FOUND MY WEDDING RING! (You all have to wait till the big day to see it, unless you're a JM friend though :P)

Despite doing my best to wear Zeke out again (and waking him up earlier) he was still horrid at bedtime again, I think we got him down maybe slightly earlier, but no easy task all the same!

Wednesday 17th February 2010

Zeke loves drawing, so we got him an easel with a whiteboard for Christmas. It's the perfect height for him, and it means there's less paper strewn around the house - awesome! Anyway, he's worked out that he can smudge the marks with his hand (less awesome, the texta goes on his hands, and then on everything else) to change the effect of the drawing, and he is quite deliberate about it, this is one of his finished products. I love the pink & black colour scheme - really vibrant!

365 Photos - Feb 16

2010-02-22T23:22:00.003+11:00

Playing catch up again! I just got caught up from last week, and then this weeks flown by somehow.

Tuesday was quiet, because on Monday night Zeke became extremely unsettled and appeared to have a red blotchy rash all over, not raised or anything, just red, as well as being quite sweaty (but no fever) and sounding rather hoarse and congested, so off we went back to the ER late at night. Of course the rash had all but disappeared by the time we got there!

The Paediatric doctor took FOREVER to come down to the ER, but said he had a virus, and generally seemed okay, and off we went back home, all of us VERY tired. Could have done without the midnight trip, but rash + young child = probably not serious, but needs to be seen right away.

Unfortunately a late night on Saturday, and what ended up being a late night on Sunday with V-day dinner, and then this midnight ER run meant Tuesday night bedtime was FOUL... I think it was 12.30am before I got Zeke to bed at last... only problem is I'm so tired after that, that I sleep in too, and don't get up in time to wake Zeke at his regular time to try and get him back into routine.

Zeke did do something awesome on Tuesday though, he learned a new word - Uh oh! He says it whenever his blocks fall down, it's more like a hoot the way he ways it though, very high pitched, but the meaning is clear, and he will knock his blocks down deliberately in order to say it! He's got heaps of new words now - which is so much fun, but still not communicating regularly with them. Just waiting for the day he suddenly replies to me with a whole sentence rather than babble or a single word!

Tuesday 16th February 2010

Part of our quiet day was lots of fun stacking Zeke's blocks. He loves them... I regret buying 100 of them when I'm collecting them from every corner of the loungeroom (it's an odd shaped room, so there are 7 corners!) but the fun he has is well worth it. Ryan, as you can see loves them too. I love the way Zeke is posing in this one as well - he's such a cutie!

365 Photos - Feb 15

2010-02-15T22:28:00.002+11:00

Up to date at last! Can I sleep yet?

Zeke slept in after last night's hysteria so he didn't get a nap in before playgroup, so he was shattered most of this afternoon. Fingers crossed he won't wake up tonight! I need some rest!

Playgroup was great as always, and on the way there the boys had an ACTUAL conversation, Cat & I were very impressed. It went something like this:

Kayleb: Would you care for another pizza flavoured Shape Zeke?

Zeke: No thank you Kayleb, I believe 6 is my limit!

Kayleb: Of course, I will enjoy it instead - thanks!

Okay... maybe I exaggerate a little (a lot!) It was more like this...

Kayleb: *holds pizza flavoured Shape out to Zeke* Babbles at him. (Cathryn and I stop and pull the prams level, they have been passing biscuits back and forth this whole time like this)

Zeke: *Shakes his head and turns away from the offered snack* Babbles back

Kayleb: *Takes biscuit back and eats it himself*

Not quite a full conversation, but Kayleb said something Zeke understood, who then replied in a way that Kayleb understood. How awesome?!

Had Granny and some of the aunties around for dinner, which seeing as I'm so pooped Ryan cooked, although I did the hard bit ;) Zeke is now in bed, and has already woken up once. He's sounding a bit chesty now... but seems to have settled with his mattress elevated. I hope it's just this hot again/cold again/windy/pollen-y/rainy/sunny weather and not an actual bug!

Monday 15th January 2010

Zeke loves the little doll strollers at playgroup, they're the first thing he heads for - anything he can push around on wheels! He was especially pleased I found a baby for him to give a ride to as well. I think I need to get him one of his own.

365 Photos - Feb 14

2010-02-15T22:17:00.002+11:00

Happy Valentine's Day! Well, my beloved Ryan let me sleep in, thank goodness, seeing as I had a busy day... lots of cooking! Ryan and Zeke played for most of the day, while Kat & I organised a Valentine's dinner for her, Pyro, Ryan & I, and also a surprise dinner for Cat & CJ. We ended up making:

Roast chicken & potatoes w/ gravy
Garlic Bread
Peas, Beans, Corn & Carrots
Peach & Custard tart (homemade base & custard)

and for our friends:

Bolognaise pasta bake
Cheese & Garlic Pizza
Chocolate Cake

We were exhausted, satisfied and full at the end of it all! All except for Zeke... he cracked it at bedtime, took us till 12.30am to get him to sleep - lots of screaming and refusal to sleep. Then he was up again and needed to come to bed with us. Not cool!

Sunday 14th February 2010

Normally we're fairly happy to let Valentine's Day go by without much fuss, but seeing as it was also Pyro & Kat's first anniversary we decided to do something a bit special. Ryan also got into the spirit and bought me the second flower he's ever given me in almost 5 years - hence the photo!

365 Photos - Feb 13

2010-02-15T21:53:00.001+11:00

Saturday was busy! I had the dressmaker for my bridesmaid dresses (and all the bridesmaids, and mum, and my aunt and grandma!) come around to get the girls fitted up for their dresses!

Oh boy was it noisy... so much chatter. Zeke was pooped, he wouldn't nap properly, all the noise and general activity kept him awake for ages. He crashed the second everyone left!

Around to Cat & CJ's for dinner again, the boys were both pretty tired though, we needed to keep them fairly separate for a lot of the evening so they wouldn't fight. They both mellowed out nicely after the bath though - hooray!

Saturday 13th February 2010

This, obviously is after their bath (hence PJ's) and they were sitting down to watch some Wiggles, chill out and have a few snacks. We're drilling the idea of sharing into them, so they now both try and share any food they have with the other - cute!

365 Photos - Feb 12

2010-02-15T21:46:00.004+11:00

Friday meant music again! Zeke was more into it this week. He especially loved the prop we made - a coloured star on the paddle pop stick. There's a particular song we wave it during, and he's had me sing it many times since, waving his star all the while!

Grandma came around for a while, to help me tidy up for visitors on Saturday, but I was really so pooped as soon as Zeke went for a nap so did I!

Aunty Kyla visited in the evening too, Zeke was thrilled as always to have visitors!

Friday 12th February 2010

Zeke & Aunty Kyla reading after his bath, all ready for bed. His favourite par tof reading is pointing to everything on the pages and having you name it (rock, tree, cat, etc) It was 10 minutes of "Iggle Piggle, Pontipines, Upsy Daisy!"-ing that made Kyla decide to never ever let her children watch In The Night Garden!

365 Photos - Feb 11

2010-02-15T21:33:00.004+11:00

Thursday... I was up early to meet the guy coming to fix the window, who then of course was over an hour late. Zeke & Ryan BOTH slept through all the noise!

Out again with Cherie, this time to Knox in search of the perfect bridesmaid shoes. Ryan dropped us off this time, and would pick us up later, because he needed the car during the day. Of course the second we get there, Zeke who had slept in, and only been awake for an hour or so immediately decided he was tired. Shopping with cranky baby = no fun! Took a LOT to distract him long enough to find some lovely shoes. Then Ryan took ages to pick us up... Zeke & I were exhausted when we got home, so had a lovely quiet evening.

Thursday 11th February 2010

Because we were all so tired Zeke had noodles for dinner, unfortunately he loves to play with them as well... makes a huge mess!

365 Photos - Feb 10

2010-02-12T23:44:00.003+11:00

I was up early to vacuum the carpet as we were having some people to visit, and Zeke's sleeping skills impressed me once again. I ran the vacuum outside his bedroom door, and at one point dropped the metal tubing, making an almighty racket and he didn't even flinch.

Turned out to be a quieter morning than we were expecting with some of our guests being really busy and only able to drop by for a few minutes, but was lovely to see everyone all the same! Zeke turned into a great show off when Keira arrived, he gave her toys, scooted around on his little bike, and generally showed off.

We went to Nandos for dinner, and I discovered the merits of extra-extra hot sauce... I think the skin in my mouth is STILL healing! The waitresses fell in love with Zeke, and gave him a helium balloon, which he absolutely adored. Took a lot of convincing to get him to bed without the balloon!

Wednesday 10th February 2010

Zeke was playing with his balloon after the bath, it was a hard shot to get all of him and the balloon (we have cathedral ceilings in the hallway, so the balloon was rising right up - it had to have a long ribbon so we could retrieve it!) and he was still naked, so I didn't really need to capture his 'bits' as well.

Anyway, although you can't see the balloon, he is still utterly delighted!

365 Photos - Feb 9

2010-02-12T23:35:00.004+11:00

Tuesday - Zeke was cranky! Heat, teething, terrible twos... I'm still not sure. We were supposed to go shopping with Cherie, but decided to stay home and rest instead. I needed to tidy up for visitors the next day anyway.

In the evening, we went around to Leah's for dinner, and while Zeke was having his bath, he said ANOTHER new word - bubble! Leah & I both heard it, and kind of looked to each other to be sure he'd said it. That makes 7 new words recently, although camera, thank you and bubble have only been said once.

I really think we may be hitting the word explosion as Zeke has also got a new sound 'ga' although I am not 100% sure if it means something or if he's just impressed he can say it!

Tuesday 9th February 2010

Zeke was playing cute with Ryan under his high chair, and I had to get in with the camera! This is a bit of a milestone for Zeke, he's not been crazy about climbing under things in the past, so pretty impressed by this as well. He won't reach under his cot yet, but a few weeks ago, he wouldn't have reached under his chair either!

365 Photos - Feb 8

2010-02-12T23:12:00.004+11:00

Monday meant back at playgroup! Zeke slept in HEAPS, and wouldn't nap before we went, so of course was a bit tired and cranky. The heat wasn't fantastic either, and when we got back to Cat's we filled the baby bath with the hose for the boys to play in, they had an absolute riot, water was everywhere, and they both needed a full change of clothes, but at least they were cool and had fun!

Zeke impressed me very much as well, he said 'camera' clear as anything! He hasn't said it since of course, but Cat & I both heard it exactly! Then, later he told Cat 'thank you', repeating what she'd said. I didn't hear that one, but two words in one day! So proud!

Back home I got Ryan & Zeke packed up to go to Julia's for dinner, while I was off to a committee meeting for playgroup. Get in car, start engine, fuel light comes on, detour via a petrol station, and pull up outside the centre to see all the cars there already. Never mind, race in, seeing the meeting already in progress, and apologise profusely, it's only once I sat down and looked at the clock that I realised it was only 20 past 7, and the meeting wasn't supposed to start till 7.30?! I'm the committee secretary this year. Have to take minutes at meetings, pretty mundane, but liveable.

Anyway, after the meeting, head around to Cat's, Kayleb's in bed, and Ryan still has Zeke so we figure it's time for coffees and normal adult conversation... till well after midnight! Had a riot of a time, lots of giggling, shared stories of misspent youth, and too much coffee! Definitely good for one's spirit though.

Monday 8th February 2010

Cat & I took on a messy, but fun art project at playgroup - shaving cream and paint. The boys LOVED it, but it was a big clean up job... took us forever to make the place spotless again! Well worth the work and mess though, we got some awesome pictures, but we wont be doing it again in a hurry!

365 Photos - Feb 7

2010-02-12T22:59:00.003+11:00

I am so far behind! I've been crazy busy though, had something to do practically every day this week, but I want to get caught up again while there's a lull, so I don't get too far behind, and then even further when things get busy again.

Sunday we went to see Cherie, and hung out with her for a bit, then decided to go get seaweed rolls for lunch. Drove all the way to Eastland, only to discover I'd forgotten my wallet. Drive home again, and Zeke falls asleep in the car, so I decide seeing as Ryan's still home, to put him down for a nap and Cherie & I would go out again. Zeke won't sleep - naturally, but Ryan was exhausted and hungover from the night before, so we packed up the car again with Zeke and headed out again.

Zeke naturally was pooped while we were there, but was still pretty good, stuffed down a tuna seaweed roll, even with a little soy sauce! (He wanted some for himself as soon as he saw me adding it to mine) We went shopping with Cherie to find a couple of things she needed to wear with her bridesmaid dress, but by then we were really tired, and couldn't find any good shoes anyway.

Bumped into someone from the past, who I had not expected to see, and did not expect to say something she did - all good, but did my head in somewhat.

We had dinner at Pete & Kat's, and Zeke had a bath while we were there... their poor cat Specks LOVES playing in the bath when it's empty and couldn't understand what all this water was, and why this small naked screaming thing kept splashing her! Mocha has at least learned to stay out of the way or deal with it.

Anyway the photo!

Sunday 7th February 2010

Right next to where we sat down for lunch they had one of those rides you put a dollar in and it plays music and moves for a bit. Zeke HAD to have a turn, he absolutely loved it, and chucked a pretty epic screaming fit when I carried him away. I still haven't actually put any money in one of those, the longer he can have fun for free the better!

365 Photos - Feb 6

2010-02-07T17:57:00.003+11:00

Daddy headed off early with his groomsmen to get suits for the wedding, so Zeke and I decided to head out with Grandma to visit her cousin. Naturally, when needing to leave at 1.30, Zeke decides his usual 11.30am nap time is redundant and doesn't sleep until 12.40. Although he was obviously a bit tired, he was on his absolutely best behaviour! Such a good boy :)

After that visit, it was home for a quick nappy change, re-pack his back and go to Kayleb's for dinner! (It's our Saturday night routine now!) The boys had a lovely time playing, although neither of them ate much dinner, some law of toddler logic I guess. After dinner we put them both in the bath, and boy was it a splashy one! They were having heaps of fun, and Cathryn and I were laughing too hard to stop them. Zeke got a bit overwhelmed by it in the end, but it was great fun! I was so drenched I had to change my clothes. Thank goodness for never cleaning my car out, I wouldn't have had nothing to change into otherwise!

Ended up getting home MUCH too late, but Zeke as usual was just fantastic, so well behaved, even when he was fall-down exhausted - he really is awesome!

Saturday 6th Febraury 2010

We were trying to get a group shot of the kids, Zeke, Kayleb and Lillia... this is about the best we got. Pinning two toddlers down for a photo is hard work!

365 Photos - Feb 5

2010-02-07T17:48:00.002+11:00

Mini Maestros, our music class was back! Zeke naturally (after dancing and clapping half the morning) immediately turned shy on arrival, and wanted to sit on my lap the whole session. He'll warm up to it again soon no doubt!

I can't be sure, because there was a lot of background noise at the time, but I think Zeke told me "up up" while holding his hands out to be picked up at music! If he did, that's 3 new words in a week (Lillia "Lala" Done/There "Deh!" and up...) maybe this is the start of a word explosion for Zeke? Should do a new post counting his words while I'm at it!

Back home for a nap and then a play. I have a feeling we got up to something else, but I'm pretty tired, so cannot for the life of me remember what. No, wait, Ryan worked all evening and Zeke was cranky without his Daddy.

Friday 5th February 2010

No time to take pics at music, we're too busy dancing and having fun! We were playing with blocks later in the day, and Zeke was so proud of himself for stacking all those blocks on his own! Not the best picture ever, but I have about 3 seconds from the completion of the tower to him demolishing it in one flying blow, if I want to get a photo!

365 Photos - Feb 4

2010-02-05T23:10:00.002+11:00

Another warm day - more tantrums, but HEAPS of sleep. He slept 11 hours at night, and 3.5 hours in the day. He was ready for bed by 1/4 to 8, but was up again an hour later, back in bed by 9.30 after a bath. Getting more and more sure teeth are coming!

He was really really trying to tell me a new word in the bath too, it was either 'there' 'that' or 'done' the context he was using it in suits all of them. It's sort of "Deh" (as opposed to Da or Duh) and he says it quite sharply, when he's giving you something, but because it is something he wants "that," what you've asked for "there" or something he's finished "done" I can't be certain 100% what it means.

Thursday 4th February 2010

Zeke was very active and had a great wrestling session on the couch with Ryan. I was playing with the multi-shots option on the camera, and caught this. That blurry thing is a pillow Zeke was about to whack Ryan with. Not the best pic, but it amuses me all the same!

365 Photos - Feb 3

2010-02-05T22:49:00.003+11:00

Wednesday... I really shouldn't get so many days behind I forget things! Zeke slept for 13 solid hours! I was very surprised to wake up at almost 11.30 am and find he was still asleep! We were both obviously in good moods though. We needed the rest... turns out he was just storing energy for an epic quantity of tantrums. Fun fun.

I really think he's teething though, the whining is far more like teething and we're into more clear runny nose again... but it's so hard to tell with the weather being so warm whether it's actually teeth or the terrible twos, or just being hot & bothered.

Zeke also turned 20 months old today... holy crap, only 4 more months till I'm the mother of a 2-year-old!

Wednesday 3rd February 2010

Zeke is developing some kind of love-affair with his hat. Probably because he knows he gets to go outside (and this hat actually fits comfortably, he has a big head, so wears hats for 3yos!) Anyway, he loved it so much, he wouldn't even take it off for dinner, which he did with his usual messy flair!

365 Photos - Feb 2

2010-02-03T00:06:00.002+11:00

Today was a quiet day, it was too warm to want to be active, and we still haven't quite caught up with the broken sleep from Monday. I spent a lot of today emailling people and organising lists for the wedding... guess that means tomorrow I need to clean up!

Granny and Aunty Kyla dropped in for a bit, and Zeke was thrilled to see them. He was less thrilled though when he woke up from his nap and Daddy had gone out! He was really upset about it, he went and looked for him in every room of the house, and then when that failed brought me his hat and shoes to go find him outside! Fortuantely of course Daddy did come home in the end, but not before Zeke had had a good scream to express his sadness.

Still not sure if the heat is causing the screaming tantrums, or if it's the teeth, or just the age. It's been more intense the last few warmer days, but he's showing some signs of teething, but then he's almost 2! Guess I'll have to wait and see :)

Tuesday 2nd February 2010

Zeke's been really focused on his fine motor skills, holding and drinking from regular cups, putting lids back on pens, coins into a piggy bank and the like. Now he practises any of those any chance he gets - in this case drinking from a cup in the bath!

365 Photos - Feb 1

2010-02-02T23:51:00.003+11:00

Welcome to February... how did a whole month go by so fast? To celebrate a new month Zeke decided it was necessary to have another ER visit. (We had the splinter on his foot visit on NYE.)

This time he was waiting with Ryan for the bath to run (it was well past bedtime, but he was hot & sticky so we decided a bath was in order) when the cat jumped into the room and startled him. The poor little guy being so tired lost his balance and crashed down HARD... right onto the metal track for the shower door. He screamed the place down, I was at the other end of the house and heard it. Well there was no blood, and he seemed fine, but wouldn't stop shivering (it wasn't a seizure... just like we'd dumped iced water on him) so we decided to take him to the ER just to be safe.

Miraculously we walked into a completely empty ER... there was literally NO ONE in the waiting room! Thank goodness for that, and we were there for less than an hour from going in to going home! The doctor said that he was fine, (he wasn't shivering anymore) but the shivering was likely from shock after the fall, and we could go home and give him panadol if he seemed to have a headache. Better safe than sorry, but an adventure we could have done without!

We had a crappy night sleep after that, combined with him being now well over tired, still warm and sweaty and a bit shaken up by it all.

He was up early as well, but fortunately this meant he had a nice long nap before we went to PLAYGROUP! He and Kayleb were both so excited about this, they started singing and yelling when they saw where we were walking to! They had the best time, although Zeke started back on the 'Mr Sensitive' behaviour, screaming as soon as something upset him. Not sure if that was still being tired from the night before, or molars, his nose has started running and he's becoming really dribbly again, so those 2-yo molars may be on their way.

Then we had dinner at Granny's house... so a very big day indeed!

Monday 1st February 2010

There were so many awesome pictures from playgroup that I wanted to use as my photo of the day, but then when I uploaded them, I came across this one I took early in the morning before we'd gone out. Zeke put the beanie on all by himself, and was zooming around the house, looking very pleased. I think it's time we started a dress up box for him!

365 Photos - Jan 31

2010-02-01T01:21:00.002+11:00

The last day of January already - how can it be a whole month is gone? I'm still not even convinced its 2010 yet! I saw Kyla's diary today and it has a big 10 on the front... took me forever to work out why... it has a 20 on the back cover too, that only confused me more, I was busy going "ten-twenty...WTF?" Then I realised when you lay the diary flat with both covers visible it would say 2010... duh!

We had lunch with Grandave today, and Pete & Kat around for dinner. Zeke spent most of the time showing off his new peek-a-boo skills. He was cranky and hard to put to bed this evening, which led to a whole other adventure, but that's a story for Monday's post seeing as it happened after midnight!

Sunday 31st January 2010

Just a cuddle with Daddy to try and convince Zeke that it's bedtime. Lovely to have a photo of Ryan where he's not flipping me off or pulling some ridiculous face too!

365 Photos - Jan 30

2010-01-31T23:10:00.002+11:00

Seriously we need to stop doing things! We went to Lincraft and Officeworks yesterday, then I went food shopping and then off to Cat & CJ's for dinner and to let Zeke and Kayleb play. They seemed to be getting a bit sick of each other though, the squabbles were more intense than usual, but generally they have fun.

Zeke seems to have a new word too, "Lala" which means Lillia - Ray & Glenda's little girl. He is very taken with her, and always wants to know what she's doing. He's said it a couple of times relating to her now... but he doesn't say it when she's not there, so I think that's a new word!

Saturday 30th January 2010

Cat got Kayleb's old walker out for Lillia to have a chance to sit up with everyone else. Of course both the boys decided they needed a turn too - amazingly enough they still fitted! Zeke saw the camera and immediately posed... a nice change from the usual stunned looked I get!

365 Photos - Jan 29

2010-01-30T00:34:00.003+11:00

Out to play again with Kayleb! We've been seeing a lot of him, and we'll be having dinner there tomorrow night! It's awesome having some friends just 10 minutes up the road.

This time we went to the swimming pool, and Zeke was so much more enthused this time. He got a bit nervous and clingy when there was too much noise or splashing, but overall he didn't freak out, and it didn't take me 30 minutes to coax him into the water. He walked of his own accord!

There's this water slide in the kiddy pool as well, it's a frog, the ladder runs up its back and then you slide down the tongue...kinda gross huh? Of course when Kayleb saw Monique using it, he wanted a go, then Zeke saw Kayleb... and you get the idea. The first couple of goes I just sat him at the bottom and held his hands so he could shuffle the last bit himself, he doesn't like using big slides on his own yet, I need to hold his hand.

Then he's sitting on the edge of the pool kicking his feet and splashing me when he realised that the bigger kids were actually going right around and starting at the top. So up he hops, and follows them around. I had to sit him on my lap to take a turn. He wasn't overjoyed by it, but he wasn't scared... just looked kind of surprised! He didn't want to go on it again though, but at least he didn't scream. But I am SO impressed with how independent he's becoming, wanting to go and jump on the slide all on his own.

Too busy swimming to take any pics from the pool visit. They also have a no-cameras rule at that place... privacy rules and what not.

He's beginning to play peek-a-boo now too, he'll hide his face in his hands and open them suddenly, then crack up laughing. Tried to get some photos of that too... not much success.

Think the swimming tired him out today, he was in bed 30 mins before usual, hope this means he won't be up at stupid AM tomorrow!

Friday 29th January 2010

This is the photo I managed to get today. During the peek-a-boo games Ryan was also blowing big raspberries on Zeke's tummy, I wasn't looking at the screen on my camera when I took this, just held it over them and hoped for a good shot, turns out I got one. I love how Zeke is happy with his whole face, not just his mouth. A lovely silly shot of my gorgeous boys playing.

365 Photos - Jan 28

2010-01-30T00:15:00.002+11:00

Awesome weather for a picnic in the park! We ending up being late, between my taking longer at the shops than I planned, and then Zeke's nap being longer than expected, although really we weren't in any rush. Kayleb & Zeke were happy to see each other of course, and took off in about two seconds flat.

Had a lovely picnic lunch with Cathryn, Monique and Kayleb... I was a genius, found travel mugs so Cat & I could have coffee while the boys & Mon played - lovely! Zeke was far more adventurous too, he didn't need me there right next to him, and even wanted a go on the slide, just a few weeks ago, he wouldn't have even gone near it! Cat & I took a different route home, (the park we visited is right next to the boys' playgroup, so we will be walking it weekly as of next Monday) and there is no more nasty hill! We'll get a little bit of hill at the start of the walk going there, but it's still much better than before!

Oh, and Zeke stuffed himself FULL of hummus... I'm not sure if it's just the taste, or the action of dipping as well, but he can't get enough!

Thursday 28th January 2010

Zeke & Kayleb have been close from the word go, Cat & I were pregnant at the same time, and then when Kayleb was tiny and Zeke wasn't born, Zeke would pummel my belly when he heard Kayleb cry! They're the best of friends and the worst of enemies, and they'll turn Cat & I grey with their misadventures!

Here they are having a cuddle, we hadn't pushed them together just said "cuddles!" and they snuggled together. Zeke looks a bit stunned, but he was all for the hug - I think it was the flash that made them blink.

365 Photos - Jan 27

2010-01-27T22:18:00.002+11:00

Up to date at last! Another quiet day today, although Zeke was up inexplicably early for him. He did have two naps to compensate though. We have two or 3 busy days coming up - so hopefully we'll all get lots of rest tonight.

Absolutely stoked to hear Bec & Damien's little girl is here as well. Welcome Mia Lillith!

Wednesday 27th January 2010

Zeke loves to play with my wallet, he really likes taking the cards out of their pockets and sliding them back in. Normally this is not an issue, because I NEVER have any cash in there, although today I did, and thought I'd hidden it well enough, but apparently not.

He looks very serious in this one, but until he saw the camera, he was running around shrieking, grinning from ear to ear and flapping the money. He was so very proud of himself - cheeky boy! Boy were there upsets when we decided it was time to put it away... and he doesn't even know what it is yet!

365 Photos - Jan 26

2010-01-27T22:13:00.004+11:00

A sluggish start to the day for all of us, and another nap before we were all up and moving to celebrate Australia Day. Headed round to a friend's place for a BBQ, Zeke naturally was only interested in the chocolate cake! He had a lovely time playing with the two girls there, although he wasn't quite sure what to make of the older one, she was something of a 'mother hen' and Zeke doesn't really like being told what to do!

Tuesday January 26th 2010

Some patriotic art just for Australia Day. Zeke LOVED the little toothpick flags, and he LOVED the playdough, once he worked out the flags could stand up in the playdough, he was off to find more, gathering them from wherever he could (including stealing them from a very artistically decorated sombrero!) and this is his finished product.

365 Photos - Jan 25

2010-01-27T22:05:00.003+11:00

Zeke thought it would be a good idea to get up early this morning... guess it was the early night previous. I was not totally impressed, but it meant he got a nap in before we went out. We were minding Monique while Cathryn took Kayleb to the doctors. He had a lovely time, and actually went down the inflatable slide by himself without holding my hand - this is a big step, he would not even try the tiny tiny ones at playgroup a few weeks ago! He needed help getting up the step, but once he was up there he sure knew what to do!

We had Granny and all his aunties around for dinner as well, Zeke typically loved the attention, especially when Granny and Aunty Kyla gave him his after-dinner bath.

Only a week till playgroup is back - we are very excited!

Monday 25th January 2010

Here's Zeke post-bath, brushing his teeth and cuddling with Aunty Kyla, who is clearly not too big to sit on her mum's lap. Loved this pic!

365 Photos - Jan 24

2010-01-27T21:59:00.003+11:00

After so many busy days, we decided we just needed to stay home for a bit! I went food shopping briefly, but really a quiet day. Uncie Pyro & Kat came around for dinner, but Zeke was pretty worn out and went to bed early. Didn't stay up too late myself, after so many busy days and knowing Monday was booked too, it was an early night for all.

Sunday 24th January 2010

Zeke is a very generous little guy, he will share almost anything he is eating/drinking with you. Here he's insisting I have some toast with my coffee. (Don't mind the pink above his eye, just a bit of pre-breakfast artwork that missed the paper!)

365 Photos - Jan 23

2010-01-24T21:05:00.002+11:00

Another busy day for what was expected to just be hanging around at home. Zeke woke up acting like I'd chained him to a post for a week, boundless energy and LOUD! Ryan had some extra work to do as well, so decided it was for the best if we got him out of the house.

Phoned Cathryn and made some plans to meet at a local indoor play centre, Kayleb needed to get out too. The boys had heaps of fun running around, making noise and otherwise expending energy. Zeke fell in love with the little cars they have for toddlers, the ones that you 'Flintstone' around in by pushing with your feet. Took forever to get him off.

By the way if you go to Yoyo's Play centre in Wantirna - skip the coffee, not worth the $3.50.

Cathryn & I decided to head home so our now tired and cranky boys could nap, then Ryan, Zeke & I went back to Cathryn's for dinner. The boys had more fun, Zeke was really enthused and happy, he ran around the entire time going "OOOOH! OOOH OOOH!" like he was a train whistle or something. I've never seen him do that before!

Home again exhausted to upload the last two day's worth of photos, but by the time my computer was done I was too pooped to get them online. So here it is!

Saturday 23rd January 2010

Zeke being 'Mr Cool' in the toy cars at the play centre, he needed me to push him (he's not quite tall enough to reach the ground to use his feet, so while I paused to take a couple of pics of Kayleb on the jumping castle, he was hanging out waiting for me!

365 Photos - Jan 22

2010-01-24T20:57:00.003+11:00

What a busy day! I didn't have anything planned initially, but then late Thursday night we made plans to go to the pool, with Billi, Sam and Eliza to say goodbye before they head out to NSW for a year.

Zeke was a bit apprehensive about the water first, but in the end he loved it, Ryan got some awesome photos by playing with some more settings on the camera. I really should learn more than point & shoot. Eliza was as adorable as ever, and such a sweet snuggle bug! I got a lovely couple of photos of Ryan cuddling her.

When we got home we suddenly remembered that we'd made plans with Sal & Dave for Sal's birthday party, and we were pretty sure it was that night! So after a quick trip to the shops for some BBQ meat we were on our way. Zeke had even more wonderful fun playing with everyone, there were even a few little kids to play with, including his step-step-cousin (or something like that - she's Ryan's stepmother's stepfather's granddaughter - work that out!) But we were all exhausted when we got home.

Friday 22nd January 2010

I know this is really blurry but I like it for some reason, Zeke was playing with Grandave in the 'orchard' (not really, just the area with fruit trees, it's pretty small) at the back of the garden, and I caught this one as Zeke was chasing Dave through the callas lilies (think that's what they are.) Even though it's totally blurry, I love the action in it, I like to call it "Jungle Baby!"

365 Photos - Jan 21

2010-01-21T23:37:00.005+11:00

Zeke woke up crazy this morning, so I decided to take him out for a picnic lunch with mum. We had a lovely time, Zeke ate all of the sesame seeds off a roll (but none of the roll!) and a lot of hummous! The park is the grounds for a Resevoir, and there are usually heaps of ducks, but none at all today... very surprising! We also took him for a walk on his trike... hopefully he learns to steer soon!

Had a lot of battles with keeping his hat on today, he is normally so good about it, so I didn't get many photos taken, which was a shame, the weather was lovely and the playground had some awesome colours in it, which looked great with his red shirt and colourful shorts. The few photos I did get aren't bad, but nothing special really.

Cheated on dinner and got takeaway noodles tonight, they came with chopsticks, and once Zeke realised what I was doing, he wouldn't have anything to do with his fork! He was more interested in stirring my noodles with them than trying to master them though, and was wary of taking any food that I offered on them. Think I might wait a while before furthering his cultural diversity!

Thursday 21st January 2010

Today's photo is not of the park visit, as the photos I got were average, instead this is our kitten Mocha. She joined us just after Christmas for those who haven't 'met' her yet. Anyway, she is terribly interested in the bath, and likes to sit on the edge while it is running and Zeke has a splash. Let's just say that curious kitten + curious (and pushy) toddler + body of water = one drowned rat! This is after Ryan had dried her off some, she got totally soaked... boy was it hard keeping a straight face telling Zeke not to push the cat into the bath again!

365 Photos - Jan 20

2010-01-20T21:29:00.002+11:00

Mum, Kyla, Zeke & I went fabric shopping this morning, and we found the perfect fabric for the bridesmaid dresses! Zeke got a bit bored, but he loved having his Grandma and aunty to switch between for cuddles while Mummy ummed and ahhed!

We had a lovely silly session dancing around to the music on Play School too, but he has no concept of "and when the music stops you can FREEZE!" He just kept jumping. Can't wait for music classes to go back!

I also experience the great stewed plum massacre of '10... he got them EVERYWHERE! In the end the best thing to do was to take his high chair outside and just hose it. On the upside, he really like stewed plums!

Wednesday 20th January 2010

Zeke has been obsessed for a while with rearranging the furniture in the house, mostly light things like the dining and computer chairs... today, he turned his attention to the chest of drawers! I'm not sure how he managed it, but he had no help!

365 Photos - Jan 19

2010-01-20T21:17:00.004+11:00

Daddy was out almost all of yesterday! Zeke was not impressed by this in the slightest, he had a massive cranky for a lot of the day, however that all improved (naturally) once Ryan walked back in.

Tuesday 19th January 2010

I was playing peek a boo with Zeke while he was in his high chair yesterday, and he was giving me some gorgeous smiles, so thought I would grab the camera and get one... apparently the next time I did it, he was onto me!

365 Photos - Jan 18

2010-01-19T12:12:00.002+11:00

Well it poured yesterday! So we spent the day inside in our PJ's. Granny and some of the girls came to dinner last night, and we had a lovely time. Zeke even went to bed early! All round it really was a nice, peaceful day.

Monday 18th January 2010

This is part of what we had for dinner, it looked so nice I had to take a photo. It was Asian-style mince and rice, which you wrapped in a lettuce leaf along with some of the fillings here. Yes, I cut it all by hand too... I love sharp knives!

365 Photos - Jan 17

2010-01-17T23:17:00.004+11:00

Up early today, after staying up too late last night - trying to get some pastry for the quiche I was making made & baked. Not sure if it was making it at 1am or the 3 Bundies I'd had but whatever it was, things were not going in my favour! Anyway, got up early and made the filling for the quiche and off to Granny's house for her birthday lunch. Fortunately the quiche was delicious - and Kyla made quite possibly the best cake ever. Chocolate hazelnut and raspberry... YUM!

Back home after a couple of rounds of Articulate (it's a guess the word board game basically) and Zeke straight down for a nap... I went too, and was very surprised when I woke up at 10 minutes to 7 in the evening! Threw a bunch of things together and off to Cat & CJ's for our usual dinner, had a lovely cuddle with their friend's daughter Lillia again, but poor Kayleb wasn't feeling well and went to bed early. Zeke on the other hand loved it once L & K were in bed, he had our undivided attention AND a bath to himself!

Sunday 17th January 2010

While we were waiting for Julia to come back from church to have lunch Kyla found some bubble mix and we had a play with that... I was trying to get Zeke's feet visible behind all the bubbles settled on the carpet, but he was just moving too quickly. Still pleased with the result all the same... I'm trying to be a bit more artistic with my photos.

365 Photos - Jan 16

2010-01-17T23:07:00.004+11:00

Hmm... Saturday. It was pretty quiet all round really, we were all tired out from the beach. I went food shopping and cleaned up some... that was about it, otherwise we bummed around the house! Zeke seemed extra cranky though, I'm not sure what that was about, he was fine today (Sunday.)

Now I'm just waiting for the upload to finish so I can include the photo!

Saturday 16th January 2010

Just a sweet pic of Ryan & Zeke having a snuggle and doing one of Zeke's favourite things - drawing! Other than that, I took a couple of pics of the kitten asleep on my lap... really nothing that major!

365 Photos - Jan 15

2010-01-17T00:50:00.003+11:00

A slow morning, I tried to get some tidying done, but Zeke had other ideas and undid everything I managed to do. Cherie & her friend Nat came round and we had some more wedding talks later on... it's really coming together now! So much going on! In the evening we went with Grandave, Noni, Erin and Corrie to have dinner at Mornington, Zeke was exhausted and sandy by the time we returned - signs he had fun! He LOVED the water, even though he got cold, and he was sad when it was time to get out. We also tried to show him how to build sandcastles, but he had more fun just tipping the sand. By the time he was done, he'd buried his feet, got a bit freaked out about it too, needed to be lifted out.

He also ate a truly epic amount on Friday. 3 weetbix with milk for breakfast, a whole (2 slices of bread, crusts and all) peanut butter sandwich, and goodness knows how many chips at dinner, along with bits of my souvlaki, some battered hotdog, and I think a few bits of people's fish! Turns out he likes tartare sauce too!

Anyway, onto the photo!

Friday 15th January 2010

Zeke, his Daddy and Grandave playing in the shallows. Grandave was picking Zeke up and swinging him so his feet skimmed the water and he made a big splash, he loved it! I love the timing on this photo, it looks like Zeke is running on the water!

365 Photos - Jan 14

2010-01-15T09:14:00.002+11:00

Really didn't get up to much yesterday, just a quiet day around the house. We took Zeke for a walk in his tricycle around lunchtime, but that's about all. We're supposed to be going out for dinner with Grandave, Noni (that's pronounced Nonny, as opposed to my Noni) and some of Zeke's aunties tonight, so that should be good!

Thursday 14th January, 2010

Zeke was being cute yesterday, so naturally I had the camera out for a bit and he was VERY interested in what I was doing. I showed him how to press the shutter button while I held the camera, and let him take a few photos. He would move it around watching the screen and press the button at random. (I was still holding it properly the whole time mind you - not going to let the camera just be in his hands!) This is one of the photos he took, it's pretty out of focus, but I love his toes!

365 Photos - Jan 13

2010-01-14T10:49:00.002+11:00

Ahhhh bliss, a comfortable temperature yesterday! Zeke had a looooong nap too, which gave me the time to have a decent shower and wash my hair properly - felt so much better! We had dinner at Julia's house, her niece from overseas was visiting last night, it was lovely to meet some more of the extended family!

Wednesday 13th January 2010

I handed my camera over to Julia for most of the evening as hers was flat and she wanted to take some photos of dinner, but I snapped this one of Zeke while we were playing. He is beginning to look like such a little boy. Not a baby anymore! It's all happening too quickly!

365 Photos - Jan 12

2010-01-13T10:48:00.003+11:00

Nothing special to go on about yesterday. We were grateful for the cool change though I can tell you what!

Tuesday 12th January 2010

Another photo I love. Captures Zeke's affectionate and daddy-worshipping personality. They were both sitting up on the couch watching TV, when Zeke pushed Ryan over to lay down, and climbed up on him like that. Zeke's also holding onto Ryan's hand... awwww!

365 Photos - Jan 11

2010-01-12T08:35:00.003+11:00

It was hot yesterday, 41.4 C (106F) so there weren't many photos taken, we were all too busy sprawled out melting. Instead, I took a photo of something to show you all.

Monday 11th January 2010

Zeke painted this just before Easter 2009, but it was a long while (almost 6 months) before we hung it up where he could see it. The first time he saw it again and every time since, he says "Oof" which is Zeke-speak for dog. No matter how often we ask him what it is, or how long between questions, his unvarying answer is "Oof!"

Ladies and Gentlemen: Dog, a poster paint on canvas work by Ezekiel Fullerton.

365 - Jan 10

2010-01-11T10:46:00.004+11:00

Didn't take a whole lot of photos yesterday, was busy catching up on cleaning from when I was sick. Also, my camera was on charge for the afternoon. We had dinner at Pete & Kat's house, and I was able to catch Zeke in action, I've been trying to get a picture of this for a while!

Sunday 10th January 2010

He's a very organised little man, and knows where things go. If he finds your shoes, he will bring them to you and try to put them on. With simple shoes like thongs, he's actually starting to get it right too!

365 Photos - Jan 9

2010-01-10T10:35:00.003+11:00

Annora and Ben's wedding yesterday, it was beautiful. Zeke was really well behaved for the most part too, even though it was a long time to sit still. Also had dinner at Cat & Angel's as normal, but Zeke and Kayleb were both waaaay over tired. SOOOOOO many shits were cracked about the most ridiculous things. We came home earlier than usual and Zeke went straight to bed - didn't hear a peep out of him till 9.30am! As I write this at 10.34am Kayleb is still asleep!

Saturday 9th January 2010

The photo isn't very good, I forgot to turn my flash on, but I just love Annora's face in this. We were singing (well everyone else was, I'm not too familiar with the church's music.) There was a 4 piece band, and a singer - all amplified and I could still hear Annora... just something about the joy on her face and in her voice - I love it! Makes me excited for Ryan's & my big day in April!

Another Checkup....

2010-01-09T21:33:00.003+11:00

Friday (yesterday.... I have to keep reminding myself this, I'm so tired lately it feels like it was a week ago already!) we had another check up at the hospital with Zeke's plastic surgeon. Was supposed to be the 6-month post op check but it got moved twice, so it's actually almost 9 months now.

Anyway, we're all up early and in the car and out of the house before 8. Of course, because we've allowed for a long run, the traffic is brilliant, and we made it from our driveway to the end of the Eastern Fwy in about 30 minutes... had we left 10 minutes later, that same drive would have been more like double that.

Get there stupidly early, and head into McDonalds for some breakfast, I wasn't feeling epic, so Zeke ate most of my hotcakes... he usually won't touch my pancakes though hmph! Another bonus to having an early appointment, outpatients haven't had a chance to run late yet, so we were seen ON TIME, and if anyone else has been an outpatient at RCH, you'll know how much of a miracle this is!

Great to see the Doctor (David) again, and show off just how awesome Zeke is doing. I swear that boy knows when he's on display, he either becomes the most perfect little angel, or a screaming hell-raiser - fortunately he chose angel! David checked his head and his scar out, and said they were both looking great, and observed Zeke playing for a few minutes while he chatted to us, and checked if there was anything we're concerned with about his head or development - nothing on our end either.

The upshot of it is - and I use David's words here - Zeke is looking to be a perfectly normal and healthy little boy! (He doesn't know us that well if he used the word normal... But in this case normal is exactly what we wanted to hear!) We don't even have to go back for another 12 months!

We will probably have another neurological check around his second birthday (I'm pretty sure they said they wanted one - I can't remember!) but no more plastic surgery! We were supposed to have more 3d photos done of his head yesterday too, but their camera was broken, so we're waiting on a phone call to make the trip in and get that done.

So good news all round from this appointment. Hooray! Beyond relieved to be able to say NORMAL!

Miranda xoxo

Ps: I will do my 365 photos for the 9th tomorrow, I took a LOT of pics today and they'll take forever to upload.

365 Photos - Jan 7 & 8

2010-01-09T08:07:00.003+11:00

Got a little bit behind because I've had some horrid gastro the last two days. Thankfully Zeke seems to have avoided it. Feeling better this morning too, which is great, we have a wedding to go to later on, and I would hate to miss it. (Especially as I need some more ideas for our big day later this year!)

Thursday 7th January 2010

Happy Birthday Eliza! Zeke's little cousin Eliza turned 1, and her parents had a picnic at Lower Eltham Park. The weather was gorgeous, not too hot, and there was plenty of room for Zeke to stretch his legs. We even managed to get Zeke to keep his hat on - and tolerate sunscreen so no sunburn! (Hooray!)

Here are Zeke and Eliza playing, they haven't had much opportunity in the past, because one of them has always been asleep when we've gotten together. They were very sweet together, Zeke shared a toy very nicely with her (thank goodness, it was Eliza's!) and Eliza tried to give Zeke cuddles. We will miss them when they move to NSW in a couple of weeks!

Friday 8th January 2010

An early start today, off to see Dr Chong, Zeke's plastic surgeon for a check up. Fortunately we got a good run. We made it from our house to the end of the Eastern in about half an hour! It was Alexandra Pde that slowed us down, it took almost another 30 minutes. We decided to grab something to eat at McDonalds, and have a play on the playground before his appointment, which went really well. It was when we got home that I started to feel really unwell, so spent most of the day lying down.

Ryan is such a big kid! This is one of those rides, you put in $2 and it moves back and forth and plays music for a minute or two. I popped Zeke in it to play while we were waiting, which he loved, and Ryan couldn't resist having a go too!

365 Photos - Jan 6

2010-01-06T22:35:00.003+11:00

Wednesday 6th Jan 2010

There's some crappy virus in our house today. We're all tired and cranky, I definitely have an upset stomach and a mild fever. Zeke isn't himself quite either Zeke was exhausted, he went to bed at 7.30 pm and didn't wake up till 8.30am! I passed out on the couch not long after he went to bed myself. He had two naps as well today instead of one, and I slept through both of them as well... so yes, this virus is taking it all out of us!

We had some fun in the evening though, finally got around to setting up the little tricycle that Granny gave Zeke for Christmas and took him for a little walk, he loved it, but cried when we came home! I've had to hide it in Ryan's office so he doesn't scream about it when it's time for bed... speaking of, why is he still awake?

Today's photo...

Zeke absolutely worships Ryan, and wants to be a part of whatever he's doing. Especially when it comes to playing guitar! He's twiddling the volume knob at the moment, and about 2 seconds later went over and clicked one of the pedals... I suspect there's going to be another musician in the house.

365 Photos - Jan 5

2010-01-06T10:36:00.002+11:00

Another quiet day yesterday. We were all tired and in bed early!

Zeke still found time to have some fun though, he loves playing with anything he can wrap around his head or neck... in this case my undies. Time to start a dress up box I think...

365 Photos - Jan 4

2010-01-04T23:43:00.002+11:00

Monday 4th January 2010

More whining and crankiness today. Think Zeke is frustrated with not being able to tell us what he wants.. hurry up words! We got away with only one bath though :)

Lots of laundry done today. I'm hoping the weather isn't scorching hot again tomorrow so I can get some more loads on the line. If it gets too hot, I can't stand being out there to hang them.

Now, to the photo...

Aunty Kyla dropped around today with a VERY cool surprise for Zeke... his very own drum kit! He's been banging away like a little crazy thing, definitely takes after his Daddy!

365 Photos

2010-01-03T23:47:00.003+11:00

A few other blogging friends are trying this, basically you post one photo from each day, or 365 photos. Hopefully this will get me posting a little bit more. I have a big thing with my day to day life being too boring to post.

Anyway, without further ado here are our first few days of January!

Friday 1st January 2010

A quiet day, we were all pretty tired from our celebrations and staying up the night before. We all had extra naps, and generally lazed around the house, even Mocha!

And Ryan likes to claim he doesn't like cats....

Saturday 2nd January 2010

Went to Cat & Angel's for dinner and let the boys have a play. Can't believe how big Lilia is getting, she's such a little girl now! Won my first game of pool on their table too, as Jad said the sweetest word in the English language - 'Default!'

Zeke loves all babies, but especially real live ones like Lilia who he can play with.

Sunday 3rd January 2010

Pete, Kat and Kermit came for dinner, tacos :) Ate too many as usual, the last one I had was definitely a mistake and the second-to-last one was iffy as well. Probably should have stopped at 3! Zeke slept in for hours this morning, but had spat up over night so it was all dried in his hair - lovely. Seemed no worse for wear though. He had a bit of a fever and was clingy this evening... hope he's not getting sick.

In a couple of weeks Zeke has gone from hating baths so much it was hard to get him to have even 1 per week, to loving them so much he wants at least one per day if not two! Mocha seems pretty interested as well...

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T23:59:00.003+11:00

How things change in 12 months... look at Zeke!

Zeke December 2008

Zeke December 2009

May all of you have a wonderful 2010, filled with laughter, fun, love and surprises.

Miranda xoxox

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-26T21:55:00.005+11:00

Well, it's been a busy two days, lots of people, more food and even more presents! We are over full, over tired and over excited... but we are alive! :)

Lots of exciting gifts, the number one being my gorgeous camera! There will be LOTS more pics to share from now on!

Here's one to keep you going while I learn how to use my new 'toy'!

Because my Internet is capped...

2009-12-09T22:18:00.005+11:00

and uploading anything will take like an hour, this is a text-only update, seeing as it's also been over a month since I did anything! Not that I have a camera, but there are some webcam shots I should try and post in the morning.

Zeke had his 18mo check today, it was our first with the new nurse since we moved. What is it with women named Cheryl being nurses? Anyway, Cheryl is lovely, and approved of the way I spoke to Zeke when he was having a tantrum. ("Yes, I can hear you yelling, but I need to finish writing this first, then I'll play with you again")

Zeke weighs in at 12.55kgs (27.5 lbs) - that's a 1.2 Kg gain in 3 months! Good to know all that food is going somewhere! That boy can EAT! The other day for lunch he had 3/4 of a seaweed roll with cooked tuna & rice (he even ate the seaweed), 1 scoop of penne pasta in sauce, 250mls of juice, a churro with dipping chocolate (Spanish fried doughnuts, only not doughnut shaped) and a babycino! (frothed milk & chocolate dust.) He then had spaghetti for dinner, and half an hour later stole half a potato and 3 bites of steak from my dinner! My boy can eat!

He's 79cms tall, I've already forgotten the conversion for that... 31 inches I think... *checks FB status* yes, 31 and a bit inches. About what I guessed he'd be.

Chickenpox Vax today as well... no big deal. He shouted pretty loud though! He got over it when he met a cute little girl who gave him one of her biscuits :) My boy is such a flirt!

He's now 75th Percentile for weight (just above average) and 25% for height (just under average) and his head circumference (51cm) is slowly coming back onto the charts. We are closer than last time! We were supposed to have a check up for his head at the hospital at the end of October, (boy was that a freaking saga... remind me to tell you about that later!) He's now completely in Size 1 clothing, although the arms and legs are still a little long, size 0's are just too tight!

We've not had heaps of new words recently. He's started to use the same words to mean a lot of different things. All birds are now "Duh" (duck) and he sometimes actually SAYS "duck" I've only heard it a couple of times though. He's still really good at the non-verbal communication, showing you what he wants, or leading you to something he can't reach.

Actually I lie, we have had a few new words, new sentences actually. He's only said them once, and I'm not 100% convinced my ears weren't playing tricks on me, but at the same time it was very clear! He has said "I want my brrm brrm" (brrm is his word for anything with wheels) while reaching up to his train that was on the table, and also "Come back Daddy!" when Ryan came out of the kitchen and headed towards the back of the house instead of the lounge where we were sitting. Unfortunately Ryan didn't hear either of them, so I think he just thinks I'm crazy.

Oh, you might have noticed I wrote "Daddy"... that's because Zeke calls us Mummy and Daddy now! He still says Mama a bit, and Dada most of the time, but unlike 'Mama' which he uses to refer to any older female, and 'Dada' which can be anyone at all, Mummy and Daddy are very specifically referring to Ryan and I! How totally cool! :D

We are almost done with teething for a while, he is just cutting his top right canine, and then we are done till 2-year molars! They came in so quickly and all at once, plus he didn't like me checking on them so I'm not really sure WHEN they came in other than sometime during Sept-Oct.

There's a whole bunch of stuff I want to update about the wedding too, but I'll leave this post all about my gorgeous boy!

Miranda xoxox

It's about time I blogged it...

2009-10-25T21:16:00.002+11:00

If Astrid's already onto it LOL. (By the way, thank you so much for your excitement and congrats A - love ya!)

I'M GETTING MARRIED!

That's right, my wonderful, beloved Fungus finally got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I'm cheating and copying the story from my JM board, but I told it best there.

"Okay, so it turns out Ryan has been planning this for some time. It turns out practically everyone knew before I did. My parents and siblings, his family, and most of our closest friends. He kept it a really good secret though, I even SIGNED FOR THE PACKAGE THAT HAD THE RING IN IT TWO WEEKS AGO, without even thinking about it and just gave it straight to him, because it had his name on it!

My dad was interstate though, and only came back this week, so he asked him this afternoon. Second time in Dad's life he's been speechless. The first time was when we told him I was pregnant LMAO!

I've been nagging Ryan for months now about asking me to marry him, and he's always been "I'll do it sometime. When you least expect it... muhahahah!" (evil laugh) He actually asked my ring size a couple of weeks ago, and I thought nothing of it because he can go months with a specific detail before acting on it. Turns out he'd already bought the ring and wanted to make sure he had guessed right!

Tonight we'd had our usual weekly dinner with some friends of ours, and their friends had come too with the ittiest, bittiest little doll of a daughter. Naturally of course she makes me very clucky, and as soon as we are home I am telling Ryan I want another baby.

He tells me, "I'd rather wait until we're married for that," and me being a total smartass (and walking straight into it) goes "Oh yeah, when's that going to happen?"

The next thing I know, Ryan says "How about now?" and he's got a ring from his pocket and is down on one knee! He did in fact ask me, but I'd already gone into adrenaline shock (and squealed LOL!) so I don't remember hearing the question properly. Once he stood up I said "Are you serious?" and he said yes, and then I hugged him and squealed some more before trying on my very pretty new ring!

It's two little diamonds in a two white gold bands that run paralell and have a little kink where the stones are set. Very simple and delicate. (I've been telling him for months about the type of ring I want LOL, and he definitely listened!)"

And here's a picture or two:

Anyway, Zeke's changed his mind about bedtime, so I'd better go change his mind for him again! I'll update more as I know more :D

Disappearing tooth...

2009-10-14T22:31:00.002+11:00

Well Cathryn warned me it would happen, and it did. Zeke cut his lower left eye tooth yesterday there was a good 3-4mm above the gum line, but today? GONE! There is a little rough edge at the gum, but that is it.

Please don't tell me I have to deal with him cutting that tooth all over again! ALL 4 eye teeth are on their way as we speak, and there's still one molar missing so he can be a VERY cranky little boy.

My camera is broken, I need to take it to get repaired or exchanged or something, but with everything else doing, it's one of those things that gets put aside. However I feel extremely lost without it with all the cute things Zeke's up to lately, and a blog just isn't a blog without some cool pics. Maybe I'll follow Angie's doing and throw in a totally random pic like a spider monkey for you!

Actually, no, this is the most recent photo I have on photobucket, I'll have to get some more of Zeke on my *NEW* webcam to share with you till I have a working camera again!

Zeke's Personality

2009-10-01T13:41:00.002+10:00

One of my online friends asked what our babies personalities were like, so I described my boy and Erin suggested I make it a blog post - so here it is!

My boy is social. He loves to talk and play with everyone, has a smile for you almost all the time. He HAS to be a part in everything, from sitting up at the table during a meal, playing games, cooking dinner, everything. On the flip side though, he can have days where he is very clingy (for him) and takes a long time to warm up to the environment. He will stay by me or circle the outside of the room very slowly, and back away when he feels overwhelmed.

He plays well above his supposed developmental age with other children, and is very good. If they do something he doesn't like, he will shout, but has never bitten, hit or pinched another child, even when they have done just that to him! He and his friend will play interactively, and without adult participation for half an hour or so.

He has a great sense of humour, and will laugh when everyone else does, or babble something and then crack up. He will also deliberately eat funny, make a silly noise, or do something else that makes people laugh, and will repeat it to keep you laughing.

He is very smart, and understands a lot of what is said to him, but has a short fuse when it is something he doesn't like, and will throw a tantrum till he gets what he wants. He is stubborn and determined about getting what he wants, and although he is not overly verbal just yet, he is extremely expressive and communicative, and understands how to use his body language and tone of voice to get his point across, almost anyone can understand him, even if they don't see a lot of him. I think he will end up in a job with a lot of face-to-face interaction.

He also needs to know *WHY* already. He doesn't ask why yet, but when he is told not to do something, (like touch the heater) he will do it just once to see what happens. He has never touched the heater again! I think we will have to use a lot of logic and rational explanations, "because I said so" will not go with this boy!

Most of the time during the day he is not a very cuddly boy, he prefers to be active at all times, but he will run to me at random for a quick kiss or cuddle and then go off again, however he is very physical in his games with you, and is always wrestling, jumping on or otherwise 'conquering' someone. When he's just woken up, he is very affectionate, and will smother Ryan and I in big wet kisses, and snuggles, but as soon as he has woken up fully, he's on the move!

He is very independent about a number of things and will not accept help with them. He has to feed himself, and cannot be rocked to sleep, he must be in his bed with the door shut, otherwise no sleep! Despite this, he is very flexible, and copes with with a change in routine, or having his nap time moved around. He rarely gets upset when a change happens that pushes him too far, he just becomes very quiet and wants to stay close to me until we go home for sleep.

However he is very co-dependant physically, he will not try many new things, and always looks to Ryan or I to hold his hand for a long time when he does. He is getting more sure of himself, and slowly breaking this cycle for simple things like playing on baby bikes or climbing onto his chair. He will never attempt steps without assistance, he will wait at the top/bottom with his hand in the air, waiting for someone to hold his hand and help him.

He also has an excellent memory, and will remember a game he plays with a specific person, or a toy at someone's house, even after weeks!

All in all he is my bright, beautiful wonderful little man!

Some Numbers For You All..

2009-09-20T21:49:00.002+10:00

While I continue the search for my camera cable.

Zeke is now:

11.3kgs (not quite 25 pounds)
76 cm (2foot 6.5in)

Has:

7 teeth completely through (4x top incisors 3x bottom incisors)
3 teeth almost through (2x top molars 1x bottom incisor)
and
3 teeth on the way. (2x bottom molars 1x top canine)

Wears size:

0 tops
1 tops with the sleeves rolled up
1 onesies and sleep suits
1 pants with the legs rolled up.
5 shoes - but is on his way out of those

Size 0 is about 9 months in US sizing and Size 1 is about 12 months

Says:

Mama
Dada
Nana (banana)
Nada (another)
Duh (duck)
Duhduh (dummy)
Ba (book)
Baba (baby)
Moh (more)
No
Ah (yes, combined with a head nod)

Has said once only:

Tractor
Rabbit
Olivia
Love You
Hi

Can make these sounds:

Woof
Brrrm (car noise)
ZZZZ (bees)
SSSS (snake)
Beep Beep
Elephant trumpet
Rrrrr Rrrrr (bicycle bell)

Eats:

Almost everything.

Doesn't eat:

Raw Onion
Leafy vegetables (he just can't chew them)

Hopefully I'll find either the cable for my camera or the card reader so I can upload some pics ASAP!

Allergies - or not!

2009-09-09T11:34:00.003+10:00

I can't remember if I mentioned before, but at Zeke's 1-year shots we were approached by some people from the Children's Hossy who were being funded for a research trial regarding food allergies and they offered us a skin-prick test for Zeke.

Naturally with all of Ryan's allergies to basically the world and my allergies to peanuts (more on that later!) we said yes, and Zeke was tested for peanuts, egg, sesame and shellfish. On the shellfish one he had the tiniest bump ever, so little they said it was more likely that he wriggled when they poked him, and it was irritated because of that, but to be safe they would refer us to the hospital for more tests.

And that is where we went on Monday. Of course I lost the letter telling us where to go, and upon asking at reception, we were sent to the bowels of the hospital where the allergy clinic is hidden. I think we walked past every utility room! Anyway, we make it there and wait for 10 minutes to be told that we'd been sent to the wrong place. Because it's a research trial and not actually part of the allergy/immunology clinic they're upstairs. Good thing too, the allergy clinic was tiny and crowded!

Another trek back to the right place again, where Zeke is given a broader test. More skin pricks, they don't hurt much, but it's no fun to have cold liquid dropped on your back and then a tiny little point shoved into your skin. After discussing our assorted allergies with us, including the vicious itchy rash I have been known to break out in after consuming peanuts, she offered me a prick test as well.

Why the heck not? At least I'll know if there's anything else I should avoid. I presented my arm and had the two control drops (one is pure histamine, one is water, you react to the first, but not the second, thus letting them know the test worked properly) then drops of oil for cashew, almond, sesame, hazelnut, and peanuts dropped on and pricked accordingly.

Well... it looks as though my days of telling people I can't eat peanuts are over! Not a single lump, bump or itch! I am not not NOT allergic to peanuts anymore! The lady testing said what was likely to have happened is that when I noticed the reaction to peanuts, my body was generally very stressed and unwell (massive allergic reaction to a bee sting, and two bouts of glandular fever - mono to some - all within a few months of each other, so yeah stressed is a good word) and was producing a lot of histamine anyway, histamine is the stuff produced when you have an allergic reaction that makes the prick tests swell up, and any allergen I came in contact with was likely to have a response.

She also said it's likely that being pregnant and breastfeeding changed things too, as the last two years I have been far less sensitive to the usual array of pollens I am treated to in spring time. She recommended I get a referral to an adult allergist from my GP to find out what is going on, especially as I still have the itchy skin, regardless of the lack of peanuts.

But the lack of peanuts is not anymore. I have feasted on several slices of peanut butter on toast and the special limited edition 10% more nuts Snickers bar Ryan lovingly bought me, and I am no worse for wear. And let me tell you, after years of being denied the peanuts to which I have always been so addicted, it has been WONDERFUL!

Now, all I need is a good chicken satay (I wonder if I can convince Ryan to buy the stuff for that for dinner tonight?) and my life will be complete.

Hooray for no allergies!

Settling In

2009-08-26T13:10:00.003+10:00

Well, we've been in the new house for a couple of weeks now, and we are STILL not unpacked. But we are getting there and it is gorgeous! I am totally in love with my kitchen. Part of the reason I haven't been unpacking properly, I've been so busy cooking!

No pics till it is properly organised though! ;)

We got a new couch and two armchairs from eBay the other day, they are not brand new by any means, but seeing as we've had them for 5 days and they have already had milk, Bundy and coffee spilt on them, crackers and chips shoved between the cushions and Zeke vomited on them yesterday morning, it reinforced my choice not to get brand new, nice expensive couches.

(If anyone knows how to get the smell of vomit out of the couch, that would be great too. I've cleaned it with a billion things, but it still stinks.)

In other news Zeke had a tummy bug yesterday, but seems fine now. He is generally doing very well and loves the new house with so much room and a big garden to play in.

Well, Zeke's napping and I need to get on with more unpacking & cleaning, so I'll see you all very soon!

To-Do List

2009-07-31T23:52:00.003+10:00

This is my weekend to-do list in preparation for the big move. Posting this mostly to see how much I actually get done!

Saturday:

BUY MORE NAPPIES!
Dry current wet laundry
Wash dark towels & try to dry
Pack clothes Zeke has outgrown
Pack Zeke's clothes for next summer
Remember to eat the leftover moussaka in the fridge for lunch before it turns
Clean fridge
Put fruit & veggies away properly
Go to mum's to pick up clothes (maybe)
Organise Zeke's outfit for party (I've picked mine, Ryan can look after himself!)
PIRATE PARTY! WHOO!

Sunday:

Finish dishes & clean benches
Sweep & mop kitchen floor
Pack big kitchen things I won't use before the move. (Stockpot, blender etc)
Pick up lounge and vacuum rug
Pack formal & summer clothes for Ryan and I (stuff that won't be worn before the move)
Dry any wet laundry from Saturday
Wash any leftover laundry (this should be it bar bedclothes!)
Organise Monday night dinner with Ryan's family
Clean up bathroom, pack assorted bubble bath stuff I don't use.
Cook dinner - I have SO much fresh food in my fridge, no excuse to order take away!

I think that's it... let's see how much I actually do! We're probably not moving for another week or so, so I can spread it out more, but I would like to get as much of this crap done as possible!

Oh, and because I haven't posted a piccie in a while, here's Zeke, with Arthur, my giant pink bear!

Just Sit Right Back and You'll Hear a Tale...

2009-07-27T00:10:00.003+10:00

Well, it's a long story but we have a house now! (Our current house was on an extremely short-term lease as the owner is going to knock it down soon.) However, it's a tale worth sharing, so get comfy!

We were getting no where with the formal rental market, real estate agents basically don't want to know about anyone who is unemployed, even if they are receiving Centrelink benefits, so even the few places we could afford (Real Estate will not only rarely give anyone a fair go, but they are a greedy bunch too) we didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting.

I'd begun to search out private rental properties again, where you're more likely to get a chance, but you often have to pay a little more, so again our choices were extremely limited. My search led me to posting an add on a few websites for private rental properties, saying what we were looking for and our price range.

After not more than a day or two, I was contacted by a lady who said she had a house that was up for grabs, 2Bd and in a great area. The price would stretch us a little, but we decided to go and look, and went to meet Sharon that same day.

It was a great little house, neat bedrooms, cute kitchen HUGE backyard, so much room for Zeke to play in, and we decided we'd definitely apply, S had said she was looking for some longer-term tenants, having just said goodbye to her previous tenants of 11 years. We felt good about our chances as S had read and liked my post online describing Ryan, Zeke and I and what we were looking for, and had approached and invited us to see the house. Actually invited, and had not just assumed we would want it!

After filling in the paperwork & getting a personal reference (from our lovely Minister friend John) We dropped the application back at the house, and not even 24 hours later (yesterday) I get a message from S asking me to call, which I did. The conversation went something like this:

S: Can you remind me if you have a car?
M: Yes, my partner and I have a car each.
S: Ahh, because we've narrowed it down to two couples, you and another couple, but they don't drive and need to be quite close to public transport.

At this point I'm thinking "Oh crap, we're not going to get the place." There is a bus stop right outside the front gate, obviously making the house perfect for an occupant without a car. I could also understand where she was coming from, S had made her intentions clear from the start that she wanted to find someone who would not only be good tenants, but that she would be helping too, and naturally this car-less couple suited better. However, there was a LOT more to come.

S: But we do have another house further up the road. It is a 3 bedroom, and we'd like to offer it to you.
M: How much would you be asking? The first house was our absolute price limit.
S: We'd be asking no more than the original house, I understand you need to be realistic about price. Would you like to make a time to view it?
M: How about tomorrow?

S explained that the previous tenants had more or less trashed the place, and had left a lot of rubbish and personal items in the house. There were holes in the plaster and the house needed a re-paint, but as she understood our time here is short, she would take us through right away - without opening the house to other applicants! Basically it was ours if we wanted it!

So today we head over and look at the house, and met Sharon and Robyn, the co-owner. S again apologised for the mess, and took us through the place.

Let me tell you, despite the fact that the house really does need a good clean from top to bottom it is GORGEOUS. There are 3 bedrooms, two with big built in robes, the lounge is huge with a lovely heater, there's a separate dining space and the kitchen is to die for! The oven is massive, and there is a two-drawer dishwasher! The kitchen has storage and cabinets out the wazoo and a massive island bench in the middle. Gas cooking and hot water, with a SPA BATH in the bathroom, and the most gorgeous glass sink and mirror. Not to mention the giant double linen closet, a smaller one near the bath and a separate toilet (I never liked toilet and bathrooms in one) and a separate laundry! The backyard is massive, a gentle slope and well lit, with a big proper clothes line, and a huge lemon tree!

The downsides? Trivial really. Because of the depth of the bath I will have to bathe with Zeke, as I won't be able to reach him safely if he is in there by himself. Oh, and I expect the glass sink will be a royal pain to keep looking nice. As I said, trivial.

S is turning out to be the most wonderful landlady, and we haven't even signed the lease yet (she is getting the paper work, and we can't do the condition report and pay bond till the house is clean.) She understands that we have to move soon, and has arranged to focus on the house providing she can finish the garden after we move in.

S: I would always phone to confirm if it was okay before I came.
M: That's fine. Our last landlord would always just appear at random.
S: Oh, I could never do that. It will be your house after all.
M: That's great!

It was good that Sam came to do so much of the front gardens etc, but it was always unnerving to wake up at 8am to find him mowing the front lawns... and then putting the grass clippings in our rubbish bin!

As the house needs to be painted and S wants the place to be done when we move, she and Ryan came to an agreement, that if Ryan does some/all of the painting, she will credit us rent from our first payment for the work he does. Not all of the rooms need painting, and the ones that do only need one coat and she is offering an extremely generous rate (we told her so, and gave her the chance to offer less) so it is an excellent deal! And even though we have not signed the lease, Ryan will be getting a key tomorrow to have access to paint whenever he is able, not just when S or R will be available to let him in. She is also letting us move some of our things over already in small lots to make the main move easier on us.

S and R have truly proven to be angels, not only are they giving us an amazing house at an amazing rate, they then offered us another fantastic deal. If we're willing to help clear the garden initially (part of the previous tenants TLC included somehow letting a completely tanbarked garden become knee-high in weeds) and then maintain it, (easy as it will be getting re-topped, so no mowing and minimal weeds, only the occasional rake to keep it level really) she will knock $20 off the rent every week!

By this point we are more or less speechless with their generousity, but S and R went on to explain that they are aware they could easily ask $100 more per week for the property, but would rather know that they will be taking on responsible, long-term tenants who will be good to the house and to them. They also know what it's like to do it rough, so understand charging more would mean we couldn't rent the place, and know that we simply won't get a chance in the formal rental market. Oh and yes, LONG-TERM we're looking to sign a 2-year lease, and pretty much the house is ours as long as we want it from then on, as long as we pay the rent & don't trash it. Done and done!

After a million more thank yous, and some arrangements to get a key sorted, and exchanging phone numbers (we'd only exchanged numbers via email up to this point, so was good to actually write them down!) Ryan and I headed back home and to spread the good news.

We also realised we can now get a dining table, and it turns out fate really has been smiling on us. I jump on eBay and find a really nice table, that matches the wood floors, with 4 chairs in a style Ryan & both love (and I thought we'd never agree on anything interior design wise!) for $80! Naturally I clicked "Buy it now" - and we're arranging to collect the table sometime this week.

So that is the saga of finding a new house. We really landed on our feet this time. A stunning, long-term house, with amazing landladies, for a brilliant rate!

Best get to packing hey?

Miranda xoxo

You Know You're A Parent...

2009-07-22T22:43:00.002+10:00

When you get excited about poo!

Specifically your baby's first normal poo after over a week of gastro. That's right, the stomach bug came to visit Zeke & I... no fun at all. Needless to say we are very relieved to have things heading back to normal after a week of vomit and diarrhoea.

He had really bad gastro, and then every time he seemed to be getting better, he'd throw up again... and wow can that boy puke! After many discussions with various health professionals, the ER doctor at the local hossy FINALLY told us it was normal for a baby to go up and down in health when fighting a virus, because their body fights it in waves, rather than all at once like an adult would.

I'm glad someone finally told us what was going on because, he was getting better, and then almost exactly 12 hours later would start up vomiting again... and it scared the daylights out of him... poor little guy didn't understand at all. :(

Now I'm catching up on all the cleaning that needs to be done. When you're playing shortstop to baby vomit, everything that does not have puke on it tends to get ignored in favour of mopping up.

Now that he's well I hope to have a better update soon!

Don't even have any new pics... I fail!

A few pics from his birthday party...

2009-07-06T22:12:00.002+10:00

I never got around to posting them. (Those on FB will have seen them before.) There aren't many because my hands were so full & Zeke wasn't feeling well.

Zeke and his friends playing

His epic ducky birthday cake (the blue stuff is jelly)

Time for cake!

Finally feeling well enough for cake 4 days later.

Another new sound...

2009-07-02T22:26:00.003+10:00

Is in the works... "woof" Sometimes it sounds more like "boo-ffffff" as he exhales loudly at the end, but he definitely has the idea & knows that the little dog at the end of his "Dear Zoo" book goes "Woof!"

Oh, and did I mention he can hiss like a snake? It's more of a lisp the way he does it, but it sounds like our house has a slow leak sometimes!

Miranda xox

He can say a new word!

2009-06-30T13:04:00.002+10:00

That's right, my clever boy can say a new word - two actually.

The first one that's appeared over the last few days is dummy, he says "duh-duh" (not to be confused with Dada) he can ask for it when he hasn't got it, and will show it to us, and tell us what it is when he's holding it!

The second one, which he's been saying for a few days now, but it took me a while to work out was "nuhdah" turns out he means 'another'! He'll give us his empty bottle or cup and say "nuhdah!" or when he's finished a snack and wants more will say it then too! He can say more ("moh") but hasn't used it for a while, and obviously finds "another" more effective!

That brings his total word count to 7 now!

Dada
Mama
More ("moh")
Banana ("anana")
Duck ("duh")
Dummy ("duh-duh")
Another ("nuhdah")

It's almost 8, he says no occasionally, "neh" when he's offered something he doesn't want, but is not using it in context or consistently enough for me to be sure he's got it.

Gah, he really is a smart boy!

My smart boy!

2009-06-23T22:22:00.003+10:00

I am just SO proud of Zeke and what he has been learning the last few days, I need to tell you all!

Zeke really liked some specific pictures in a catalogue so I decided to cut them out and stick them in a page in his drawing book so he could look at them whenever he wanted. He enjoys looking at pictures that he likes frequently, so this was a good way not to have a pile of junk mail hanging around and let him keep the pictures. There's a picture of some apples, a cat, some puppies, a baby and the biscuits from the packet we'd just finished. Very proudly later the same evening, he's showing Ryan the pictures, and suddenly he points to the biscuits, says "nana" (which sometimes means banana, and sometimes food in general) and runs off to the pantry to wait for us to get him a biscuit. He can also ask for an apple like this now - so I'm definitely going to have to get some new pictures done so he can ask for more than apples and biscuits!

Last night, we were sitting (well he was sitting, I was kneeling) at his little table and eating dinner. I'd forgotten to peel his carrots before I cooked them, and he doesn't like carrot skin, so I was pulling the skin off each slice and making a small pile of them on the table next to my plate. I also spat a little bit of gristle from my chicken into my hand and put it there too, and Zeke had obviously been watching me very closely. He ate another piece of carrot and found a bit of skin I'd missed, so he pulled it out of his mouth and put it in the pile with the other skins & gristle!

Not long after that, when I was putting our plates away, he had followed me into the kitchen and was making his "mmm na na na" noises, asking for food, so I gave him a piece of carrot that was still in the pot. I forgot to peel it, so he spat the carrot out and threw it on the floor. I told him right away "If you don't want it, don't throw it on the floor, give it back to Mummy", and he picked it up, and tried to open the cupboard under the sink where we keep the bin. He gave me the carrot and was very pleased to see it go in the bin.

The last couple of days as well, he's really been noticing where things belong in the house, if he finds the phone lying around he'll carry it over to the base (which is on a small chest of drawers) and try to put it back in its cradle, although he can't quite reach. When we offer to help him, he gives the phone over and watches to make sure we put it away. He also spotted my mobile on the floor (it usually sits on the mantle next to the heater, but had fallen off) and as the mantle is well out of his reach, called for me and stretched up with the phone to show me what he wanted! He couldn't bring the phone to me, because it was plugged in to charge and the cord would only let him go 2 or 3 feet, so he shouted out until I came to him!

He's also starting to show me when he needs a nappy change, by finding a nappy, either from his nappy bag, or the actual packet and bringing it to me. He doesn't always let me, know, and sometimes he's just playing with the nappy, but it's a start!

I am still in awe sometimes that I made this boy, and how smart he is, watching him learn and play, and absorbing all these little things I teach him. There really are not words for how proud or happy it makes me to see him developing into such an awesome boy!

Back again...

2009-06-23T22:10:00.003+10:00

We've been sick - then got better briefly, then got sick again. It has been a vicious cycle! Anyway, here's an update of the last couple of weeks.

The week before Zeke's party we were all sick. I had gastro, a cough, sore throat the works. Zeke was snotty and generally cranky, turns out the poor baby had a double ear infection. Anti's cleared it up quickly enough, but oh my god - upset tummies from antibiotics make for the WORST nappies. Ryan had some respitory/cold thing as well... we were a sick bunch!

Then, just as that was clearing up Fri night before his birthday party Zeke developed a slight fever, but seemed okay on Sat morning, so we went ahead with his party, although of course once everyone arrived he was obviously not 100%, and was very tired - he didn't even have any cake!

By Sat evening he was feverish again and started refusing bottles, he was also restless and sleeping poorly though some paracetamol had helped lower his fever. He woke up around 2am and cried non-stop, absolutely nothing we did could settle him, so we decided his ears might be infected again so we took him down to the ER of the children's hossy where he had his op.

Of course he turned into Mr Personality again once we were there, smiling and flirting, but the Dr said he was obviously not well, his throat was a bit red, his ears were a little sore, and generally everything was a bit off. She Dx a general virus and told us to take him home and to push fluids, and lots of love, and to go to the GPs on Monday if he was still unwell.

Sunday was generally sleepy as we'd gotten back from the hossy at 6.30am, not to mention being pooped from his party, and he was fairly good that night. However when he woke at 7.30am Monday, had a bottle & went straight back to bed, I knew he still wasn't better. He woke again at 10.30, had 3oz, a nappy change, and then picked up hs dummy, laid down on my lap and went to sleep - just like that, after only 20 mins of awake time. He woke again at 12.30pm, and repeated the same routine and was very lethargic & dopey, not to mention hot, so I decided I wasn't happy, especially with how out of things he seemed, and to skip the GP and head back to the ER.

This time he was definitely sick and a nurse saw us right away, and said he'd try and get us seen ASAP, when he saw that Zeke was spiking at 39.8 (103.6 F). Zeke just flopped on our chests, and did almost nothing. The Dr who saw us was lovely, & said we'd done the right thing to bring him in, as lethargy + fever can be very serious.

Thankfully it wasn't serious, still a virus, which had to get worse before it got better and a big dose of paracetamol began to ease his fever almost immediately. The Dr also wanted a urine sample, so we had Zeke without a nappy on for over an hour, bribing him with Pedialyte, chocolate milk, gatorade and cordial to try and get him to produce something. He got pretty cranky being in the little cubicle, so we thought we'd test out karma for a little, giving Zeke the chance to pee on us in public - we walked around the ER station for 20 mins with him only in a onesie, Ryan following along with a cup just in case and nothing!

However the Doctor decided that given how well he was responding to just the paracetamol that there probably wasn't a UTI as well, and sent us home, saying if he wasn't improving in the morning to persevere with the sample & take it to the GP for testing & ABs if needed.

Fortunately Zeke went straight to bed when we got home & barely woke the whole night, waking late on Tuesday morning & acting like a new baby! He's been steadily improving ever since, but of course I promptly came down with a head cold, which I spent the last week recovering from, too zonked to post here.

And now... his birthday! I haven't uploaded pics yet, as there are a lot of other things I need to do here, so many unread blogs and emails! It was great, a lot of work, but a huge success, lots of fun & laughter. The cake looked AMAZING, I am so proud of myself. We of course have enough toys to start a toy store & enough books to start a children's library, but I am trying to space out discovering them, so there's something new for Zeke to do each time he gets bored with something he has had for a while.

And now an update on Zeke seeing as I've been lazy and not done a proper update - he was weighed on his 1year birthday.

Weight: 9.8kgs (21 lbs 9 1/2 oz) but just 10 days later when he was weighed in the ER has stacked up to 10.3 kgs (22 lbs 11oz) still a lightweight, but gained 500g so fast!

Height: 75cms (29.5 inches - my baby is almost 2 1/2 foot tall!)

He is running almost everywhere, I don't think he crawls anymore unless it is over the top of Ryan or I when we are playing! He picks things up and carries them too. We got him a push along toy thing for his birthday, and he only just worked out how to push and walk along behind it today - until now he's been carrying it everywhere! I think there's a photo somewhere on my camera.

Zeke has learned a new word and he is obsessed with it - "duh" which means duck. He has a few books with ducks in them now, and he will keep bringing the books to us demanding "duh duh duh!" until we open it to the right page to show him. He even knows which book has ducks on 3 different pages, and won't stop until he's seen all 3!

There's even a book which I was convinced didn't have one on it, and yet Zeke was pushing the book on my lap, slapping it and going "duh duh duh!" and I'm trying to divert to another book that I know has a duck in it. But Zeke was smarter than me, finally he takes the book over to Ryan, who looked where Zeke was pointing (and I thought he was just banging the book, bad mummy!) and there it was, his precious "duh!" barely an inch high on the back cover!

When the TV had some white geese (which for all intents and purposes are just big ducks) & goslings, which if I hadn't known better would have thought were ducklings, on it this morning, his proud "DUH!" and pointing was just too cute for words! I think it's time to rug up & head to a lake to see if we can't find some "duh" for real to feed. Zeke's good at throwing things, so I expect will be great with bread - as long as he doesn't eat it!

There are so many more smart things my baby is learning about that I want to share with you as well. I think I need to do a separate post, not to mention upload some photos of his birthday! I'd better get busy!

Mama Bear Never Sleeps

2009-06-09T00:08:00.002+10:00

The last few days have been a deluge of earaches, snot and general crappiness. Poor Zeke has had a massive ear infection, as have I, and now Ryan.

Anyway, this has meant Zeke has been restless and crappy, and spending some of the night in our bed. Last night was no exception other than we were all feeling a bit better and we were generally peaceful.

Zeke had woken, and I was giving him his bottle lying down. I must have dozed off because Ryan had taken the bottle from me, and when Zeke had finished, Ryan asked if I wanted him to put Zeke back to bed.

Zeke by now had taken his dummy back and was snuggling into me. So I cuddled him and said to leave him. Zeke and I both drifted back off to sleep peacefully. Not so Ryan, Zeke is a kicker and takes up an amazing amount of bedspace for such a tiny person.

Ryan decided to take Zeke back to bed and tried to take him from me (I was asleep with Zeke snuggled to my chest, one hand over him resting on his tummy) and I - without waking - told (and fought) Ryan off, and held onto Zeke... he tried a few more times with the same result, and eventually slept as much as he could with Zeke's little feet pummeling him!

So it turns out Mama Bear never sleeps. Even when I am half dead with exhaustion and death gunge, my baby belongs with me and you'd better not try and argue that fact!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZEKE!

2009-06-03T22:16:00.002+10:00

How can it be that my sweet, beautiful wonderful baby has already turned one? Wasn't it just yesterday that I was introducing this tiny sleepy boy to the world?

Now he's walking (running), talking (sort of) and generally getting into all kinds of havoc!

Here's a few pics from his day... you can see the rest on my Facebook.

Getting Crafty with Zeke!

2009-05-25T14:55:00.003+10:00

There've been so many things I've wanted to blog about recently. Zeke's operation, moving house, him learning to walk properly... and I've been too busy enjoying it all! Well not the operation, that was far too much gut-wrenching stress (it all went marvellously however) but the rest has been so damned awesome I'm having too much fun to want to sit down and blog.

I will try and do a proper update about his operation soon, and fill you all in on what we've been up to.

Anyway, the last few days we've been getting pretty crafty with Zeke. I've made my own fingerpaints, playdough and bought him some pastels to do some drawing, and it has been FUN!

The finger paint is very simple, just cornflour, water and food dye - I gave him too many colours so we ended up with mud, but when I took a sheet of paper and pressed it into the pattern, the end result is still very cool!

Here's Zeke having a go with the finger paints, we made a huge mess but loved it.

The only way to clean him up was to put him in the bath afterwards. (MAKE SURE YOU WASH THE BABY FIRST, if the food dye paint sets on the skin it is hard to clean off!)

The playdough recipe came from the cream of tartar packet, which is in the baking aisle. There are heaps of fun ideas online for cool colours and scents to add to your playdough too. Again, it's very simple to make, I made it plain, and halved the finished playdough to knead in food dye so we had red and blue.

"Oooh, what is this?"

"Hey, it's kinda fun!"

"Zeke SMASH!"

"Some red too!"

"Eeeeeew! Salty!"

And lastly the pastels, Zeke's quite funny about them, very specific which colours he wants, and actually seems to co-ordinate them quite well most of the time. An art prodigy perhaps?

I chose the oil pastels, because you do not have to press very hard (like pencils) you don't have to hold them a certain way (like pens) they are also reasonably hard to break (like crayons) and don't get all over his hands (like textas/markers)

Not sure why but Zeke seems to think that sitting on the paper is best for drawing!

A finished master peice!

So that's some of what we've been up to lately. If I don't blog for ages it's because I'm too busy enjoying my boy!

Zeke's First Easter! Part 1

2009-04-12T20:23:00.002+10:00

Well, Zeke's first easter has come and gone! What an awesome day it was too! The day started with an egg hunt at Granny's house, then moved to lunch at U.John & A.Jean's where we made Ressurection Buns and painted eggs. Zeke slept through the second egg hunt and rolling the eggs down the drive, but still had a great time and loved all the chocolate!

Well onto the important part... pics!

Zeke finds his first egg....

Tastes the foil...

And puts it in his basket!

He soon found some more eggs and taste-tested them all!

He also tried to steal some eggs!

Checking out his bounty with Granny

And tasting yet more foil!

Finally the real thing!

Part 2 will come tomorrow morning once the rest of the pics are uploaded!

10 Months and 5 Days

2009-04-08T23:24:00.000+10:00

And Zeke is now walking!

We were practising standing alone (which he can do when you help stand up then let go) and I was sitting about 3 1/2 feet in front of him, with Ryan helping him. I held out my arms and said "come to mummy" expecting Zeke to drop and crawl to me.

Guess he had other ideas! Zeke leaned forward, shuffled his feet a couple of times, and then all of a sudden went step, step, step, plonk and fell straight into my arms! I turned him round and Ryan called him, back he went, step, step, step plonk!

He did this back and forth game 5 or 6 times, including with time out to get Ryan's camera working so we could record this awesomeness! So far his record is 3.5 feet and 6 steps! We will be practising this often.

Holy crap I'm the mother of a toddler! On the other hand, isn't he supposed to do this later?

Urgh!

2009-04-06T23:44:00.002+10:00

Well not the most cheerful post for finally updating, but Zeke is sick and Ryan lost his job.

Zeke has a definite cold and the Dr said maybe bacterial in his lungs/throat. We have Demazin for the snot, ABs for the bacterial and panadol for the fever and likely sore throat. (Dr said it was inflamed and red.) I am also hoping that the Demazin gives us a good night rest as I am exhausted and stressed!

Ryan hurt his back at work just on a month ago and has been off ever since. He was fired this morning because "he was costing too much" let me tell you this is utter freakin shit... but because they've stated financial reasons and company downsizing as the reason they fired him, we can't do anything even though he was off with an injury he got at work.

I promise I will try to do a better update that is more cheerful soon... however let me see if I can at least find a photo to share...

Here's Zeke after a painting session at Mum's Group!