Narelle, Shaf & Damien visiting......

Ok, I feel like I've been slack, but honestly I haven't... My cousin Narelle and her hubby and son have been up for a week and I just haven't had time to edit all of the photos and update my blog.... so here it is....

They arrived on Monday night, Jade was already asleep - so we just sat around talking and hoping that Jade wouldn't wake... we managed it reasonably well - around 10:30 Jade started crying so everyone went downstairs and I went to sort out Jade who had gone back to sleep before I even got to the room.. so that worked out well for me..

Tuesday morning I had to go to work for a planning meeting and then I was able to come home, I had to get a few things done - so I was in at work at 6am - but that was all good - meant I only lost 4hrs annual leave for that day by the time I left...

Bath Time - Tuesday night...

Wednesday - Narelle & I took Damien and Jade to Sea Urchins to play in the morning - then got them home in time for their afternoon sleep - then in the afternoon we headed to Tannum Sands Beach... Jade wasn't overly happy with the idea of getting into the water at the beach - but she was ok once we'd dragged her in... although she was happier once Rob turned up and she played with him in the sand burying her legs etc.

Sea Urchins

at the beach..

Thursday we took Narelle to the local hairdressers to have her hair cut - they kind of went a little overboard and she wasn't able to tie her hair back fully - but luckily her hair grows really quickly - so it wont be such an issue in a few weeks... after that, we came home - fed the kids and I put jade to bed - Narelle and Shaf took off to see the local dam (and other places I'd imagine)...

Friday morning we got up and headed off to Rockhampton to head to the Rock Pool Water Park with the kids... The baby pool at this place is awesome, Jade and Damien loved it - complete with all the ballpit balls and the slides that slide directly into the water....

Saturday was a simple day - the boys (Rob, Greg and Shaf) headed off in the morning to go out on the trials bikes and by the time they were ready to go it was too hot to ride, so they decided that they'd go in the afternoon - so we dropped them home (complete with Jade and Damien) and Narelle and I went shopping for food for the BBQ that night.

Saturday night - obviously - we had a BBQ at Mom and Dad's place with Gran and our friends Bec and A.J. came over... Bec is 21 weeks pregnant - Narelle is 31 - and I'm 8... so it was a house full of pregnant females... but the good thing was - we had to make fresh salads and not buy pre-made because we couldn't eat them... so I guess at least it wasn't one person worrying about upsetting people by saying "I can't eat that that and that".... All good!

Narelle, Shaf and Damien left yesterday morning at 11:05 and headed back to Melbourne - I believe totally worn out from a busy week (as were we)... we got home - got Jade to sleep - and I began editing all of the photos taken during the week - I believe there were over 300 between our camera and Narelle's although there may have been more....

After Jade woke up - we headed around to Mom and Dad's place for a swim.... Jade is now confident enough to just jump to anyone - whether they're watching for her or not... this is going to make for scary times ahead - but I'm sure she'll give herself a fright at some point and reconsider jumping in without calling out to the person first....

Jade had her swimming lesson today and then I dropped her back with Mom and I headed off to print out photos at Harvey Norman and get a few things done around the house while she slept... then I went to pick her up... she's been in a shocking mood - not sure if there's something up with her or if she's just severely overtired from a busy week.... lets just hope she goes to bed easily tonight and I can have an early night and get up fresh for work rather than look like I need a week off - rather than the fact that I've had a week off....

Good to be back..

Tharyn definately deserves a break, she's been pretty much flat out this week with Jade and Greg and Work. Whilst I've been sitting my arse down in a car touring casually around Australia.

I am proud of getting Jade to sleep though - Tharyn has been having problems with getting her to sleep, but I managed to do it! Yay me! Of course, this will probably be the last day that I ever manage to do it, knowing my luck.

The Vito is ALMOST at '024680' on the odometer. It's CURRENTLY at 024512, so it's not too far. I want to get a photo of it.

I'm such a nerd.

Ooh, Tharyn also went to Gold Class at the local Cinema. Apparently it's good. I don't go to the movies, but Gold Class MAY encourage me to.

--Rob

Busy Busy.....

Been a very busy week this week....

Greg got through his first week of school, he seems reasonably happy with it all and over the week has become good friends with Isaac from next door....

Rob's nearly home from his Trip - left from here - went to Melbourne - picked up a compressor as well as webpage designs done by a friend of his for a client - went to sydney, helped his mother with some technical installations (making sure her computer was set up and ready to go when she gets her internet in a few days), then he headed over to Lil's place to pick up Greg's bed, chair and other clothing that he hadn't brought up on the flight.... (forgetting to get Greg's linen... so I had to go out today to buy a Queen Size Doona, Doona set and pillows... and OMG wasn't that an expensive episode!

Anyway, while we were out shopping I thought I should get Jade some undies, the daycare lady said that when she wants to start training Jade she'll put a note in Jade's bag to send undies along with her... so we got some Dora Undies... and apparently they go on your head.... the holes are for her tails to stick out.... (apparently - not like I'd know any better.....)



oh - and you are quite capable of wearing 3 pairs at once it just may mean that you wont get to see your tails - but thems the brakes....

Jade didn't want to sleep this afternoon, I'm not sure if she still sleeps in the Pre-Kindy room at daycare... I guess I should find that out... but I would have thought that they'd have some kind of sleep during the day....

Anyway, so we went around to Mom and Dad's this afternoon to entertain them until it was time to head home for dinner.... Unfortunately, Jade was so busy entertaining everyone that we didn't leave until 6:15 or so - so we got home - had dinner - got changed for bed (and skipped the whole bathing process....)

Little did I realise just how grotty she was... you can see in the photo that her hand is almost black from playing in the sandpit as well as a grotty face.... so I tried to clean her up a bit before bed but she's still reasonably grotty....

Oh, and Rob's said that he'll have Jade for the day tomorrow... so I get to head out for lunch and to the movies with Kate tomorrow!! Yay!!!!

Greg's got a pupil free day at school on Monday, Rob was hoping to take him out on the motorbike but it doesn't look like he wants to do that - so we may end up going and spending the afternoon at the beach (if jade is refusing to sleep again)....

Anyway, it's 8:20pm - and I'm totally worn out...

Oh, quick update - I went to the Drs yesterday and I'm classified now as "High Risk" because of the previous two shocking pregnancies - so I'm being referred directly to the Dr at the hospital that dealt with me this last time and I'll be doing all of my baby visits through him ... I've also been put straight onto clexane again - but this time 100mg as opposed to 40mg that I was on last time - I don't quite understand the change - but when I get to the hospital dr I may find that he'll put me back to the 40mg... we'll see.... (the 100's hurt and generally bruise - whereas the 40's weren't *too* bad...)

Greg's Room - update #3

Got busy tonight - and made Rob help me clear out the floor in Greg's new room...

We had a few arguments over the fact that Greg wanted to keep the lovely orange painted floor and 70's green curtains... but I'm going to get my way - and it will be tiled like the other downstairs rooms - and there will be modern curtains going up!

We do obviously still have to move the shelving and the track bike as well as other various cables and conduit stuff hanging from the wall in various spots - but that we'll have to do when we've had other things moved and we have room for it all.....

Rob's heading off tomorrow to go do some work and also pick up all of Greg's gear from Sydney... so when he comes back he needs to be able to put it into that room - or at least most of it... we're running out of spare space downstairs.....

Greg's first day of school....

Greg and Isaac have just left for school (well about 10mins ago now)... I managed to get the official photos before he left of the school uniform - still beat what we got to wear to school....

(and this is the "day uniform" it's not one he just gets to wear on days he's got sports)

A quiet child is a naughty child......

Jade was nice and quiet, Dad had her in the lounge with him - so Mom and I were sitting on the verandah enjoying the peace..... next thing we know - Jade is being brought through to us to display her artistic efforts.....

We then had to go and see the mess Jade had made of Mom and Dad's computer desk.... and people wonder why all my CD markers are hidden.... ha!

Saturday Changes......

Another busy day in the life of the Thomas household..... I spent the morning doing laundry and entertaining Jade.... then in the afternoon our friend Mac came over with his dingo to help us get rid of the hedge in our front yard so that we could get a fence sorted and hopefully a chance for lawn to grow if the wind is off the grass..... Unfortunately I found the card for the camera after they'd already done most of the work - so I haven't really got a before photo....

Rob supervising....

the pile of hedge bushes...

Mac doing his magic..

The final product - and the pile of hedge that is going to the tip tomorrow...

Tonight's sunset from our kitchen door (will eventually be our view from verandah - when we get it built)

See why Jade's hair is always tied up?

Greg's room is still in progress (obviously) - but here are the results from day two:

I'm hoping that tomorrow I can get everything shifted out of the room, but I think Rob seriously needs a day off - so I'll make him look after Jade (because, that's just such simple work and doesn't really involve much energy! hehehe)... and I'll do all the tough stuff - like moving this gear out.....

I'd like to Camera Geek for a minute..

if you don't mind!

Tharyn took the Camera and the 'big' lens (70-300mm) with her to the trial, and took some GREAT photos. Especially this one (the one of Jade, just underneath the line 'I can take shiny photos too!') which has great Depth of Field.

Unfortunately, the lens she's got ISN'T all that good. It's biggest F stop is 4.2 - which is really, quite small (remember, the SMALLER the number, the BIGGER the aperture). There's a very detailed explanation of F stops on Wikipedia - how did we live without it? - for those that are interested in the techincal information. So I now want a DECENT lens.

Drew, one of the guys from Trials, has a REALLY nice Nikon 100-200 lens, with which I took most of the photos of Tharyn on the bike with Jade, and quite a few other photos that I was happy with. That stops down to 2.5 (If I Remember Correctly) which is VERY large for a zoom lens.

So I think I'm going to have to start looking for a good lens for the Nikon. A good fixed 50mm lens with a BIG F stop (about 1.5) aren't that expensive. Especially if you don't want autofocus. eBay, here I come. I have a budding camerageek for a wife!

--Rob

Couldn't resist.....

Like father - like son.....

By the way, this is a slight view into Rob's office, it's still not complete - so all you're really looking at is the nice shiny tiles and the nice white walls and ceiling (this room used to be yellow and green..... horrid old owners had really bad taste)....

The curtains are going - TOMORROW!

The Beginnings of Greg's New Room

We're converting one of the Garage's into a room for Greg...

This required the removal of the roller door and then we need to get bricks and a window for the front - and we're having two walls put in... one at either end of the garage.... (well not the entire garage - because we're hoping to still have room for the Gym outside - but we haven't looked too much into that yet.... at the moment it looks to fit - but we haven't had to use it yet)...

It does look a little small for now, but I think that's mainly because of all the junk that is still in the room - and without having his bed and desk in there - it's really hard to judge how much spare room he'll have - but the room is bigger than both Jade's room and the nursery so I think he's happy with the sizing....

Pics to date:

Here you can see the frame for the inside wall....

(and a dusty Gym and can just make out the air hockey table on the right!)

View of the back wall

(the big square is where the window is going - yes we are willing to let Greg have fresh air!!)

and before anyone comments, there is a lot of crap in the room - but it will be moved before we move Greg in there, it's just a case of finding space for it all at the moment....

View from the back wall (towards what will be the door to his room)

Greg's here!!!!

Greg arrived at 1pm.... no make that 1:45pm yesterday (bloody flight delays!!)....

Anyway, given that he was 45mins late - my idea to go and meet him at the airport with Rob made me a little late back from lunch.... but anyway... it's all good!

So last night - we went out for a "Welcome to Gladstone Greg" dinner with my parents... but I had to get Jade home and bath her before going because she was a messy grot covered in yoghurt and other daycare pleasantries.... (yoghurt courtesy of Gran!)

So we (Jade and I) get back to the house and Greg comes outside... WELL! Jade no longer wants to know Rob or myself... Greg has to do everything - he had to bath her - he had to dress her (including putting on her nappy.... which was fun... we distracted her so that I could do it as it was getting a bit confusing for Greg... hehe- plus Jade's a wriggler - so not the easiest kid to put a nappy on at the best of times....)...

We then were nearly ready to head to dinner.. but no... Jade wanted to play..... so she bowls greg over.. and then she's climbing all over him in the hallway.... using his chest as a trampoline - you name it - she did it to him... (Poor Greg!!)

Having a rest between bounce sessions

We finally made it to the Restaurant and met up with Mom and Dad... on the way to our table, Jade spots this huge fish... (Oscar the Oscar).... wellllllllllllllllll - this was where she wanted to spend the night - so we all had a go at having to go to the fish tank with her (more to make sure that she didn't ruin something rather than being scared of her running off or whatever...

Mom and Dad

Jade wanting to see if my (electronic) key will float in my lemonade...

"Don't you have ENOUGH pics of me on your blog????"

Jade watching Oscar the Oscar

Aha! this is how she can see up that high...

"Ooooh - Daddy's in the fishtank too.... can you swim daddy???"

One very tired looking Wobz...

Got slack...

OK - this could be a big post....

Friday morning I got up - showered - got jade's lunch ready - then I could hear some noise coming from her room... (about 5:45am)... I thought I'd give her a bit of a chance to wake up before going in to get her up and start getting ready...

When I went in - she wasn't in her bed - and this is what I found....

Jade is addicted to sitting at her little table playing jigsaw - she now knows where all of the letters go - and which letters are for which words... (for every letter) - but she still doesn't know the letters names.

When we got home in the afternoon a parcel had been delivered from Auntie Bet for Jade's birthday...

Sunday we had another trials comp, this one was local...

Look - I can take shiny pics too!!

Our little family gets bigger.....

The news for the day is that last night it was decided that Greg is going to move up to live with us...

He flies up on Thursday next week - we'll have Friday to get school books and stuff organised with the school and he'll start on the Monday.... (so only missing the first week of school - but that's ok)...

We are now a family of four and a bit.....

Puggle on Board.....

Well, we all knew day would come where there'd be another on the way.... and even though it's still early days - and everyone says "wait the 12 weeks" - I'm not one to believe that it's bad luck...

Plus, anyone local will obviously be able to tell soon once the morning sickness strikes..... So, I did up the Nursery for Puggle tonight - before I get sick or to a point where I can't be bothered until it's too late and we have a new baby at home - in a dull boring room.... (and that's not fair now that Jade's room is all bright and colourful)....

So, here it is.... the beginnings of the nursery... (We will be changing the curtains - getting blockout curtains and hopefully in a green-flakey kind of print the same as the purple ones in Jade's room (that's if we can find something like that again)....

Door to the Nursery

Cot, plus you can see baby bed in the background

(Jade didn't use it - but it's good for playing on)

As much of the room as I can fit in a photo

Over the change table

(and you can see in the background the door that leads to our bedroom)

Why Puggle???
Good Question, I'm sure most remember... When I got pregnant with Jade - we started out by sending wedding thank you notes from "Tharyn, Rob & the blob".... that quickly translated to "Blobby".... when I got pregnant earlier in the year, Chloe became "Blobby2" - which quickly became "B2"... then there was all the talk about Jade and Chloe being B1 and B2 and we had all these plans to get matching blue and white striped PJ's with B1 and B2 on them....

When those plans didn't eventuate... we realised that we could no longer use the "Blobby" terminology due to questions by people who didn't know - but also as a fresh start....

A "Puggle" is a fictional character, even though we did research and it is also the name given to a baby echidna....

Anyway, when I was a kid - I had a toy "puggle" - and you had to keep it in it's bag else the pie man would come and steal it during the night and turn it into puggle pie... (I probably believed that for about a week... and after leaving it out and it not disappearing - may have started to question the stories I'd been told!)

I'm not too sure where my puggle is, even though I know that I've seen it since we moved to Gladstone... so I got online and found the site that sells them (25 odd years later - and you can still buy them!!!) - I bought one for Jade - it should arrive tomorrow (hopefully!) - although we're thinking that we'll put it away for Christmas.... My puggle was Red with a blue bag... Jade's is pink with a blue bag....

Anyway, it's all fun and games until the puking starts!!!