She's got his eyes!

There's no doubt where Jade's eyes came from....

(Can you tell my new scanner arrived???)

Daddy's Little Guy!!!

Seems like Rob's genes have taken over the creation of Blake...  the only look in I got in this one was the fact that he's stuck with fair and sensitive skin (poor kid!!!!!)

Anzac Weekend

For a 'non' long weekend - it was a very long weekend at the Thomas Household....

Yesterday I got a call from Jaime to ask if we'd have Xander for the night - so we had to re-arrange Jade's room as Xander is no longer able to sleep in the Nursery (due to it having another resident these days)... 

Jade's room with Blake's top mattress put into it for Xander to sleep on...

There was no challenge involved in getting Jade into the bath tonight... always better when there's someone to play with....

Blake enjoyed watching the bathroom fun from the walker....

After bathtime it was time to watch a movie to calm down for the night...

Xander wasn't overly happy with this concept as the DS's got put away for the evening....

Then came bedtime!

This is FUN for a number of reasons...  firstly - Jade's not used to having someone in her room - so it was very exciting having another bed and giving her someone to talk to - instead of just talking to herself until she falls asleep....  secondly - because when one child gets upset - then both do.....

Xander nearly went home last night, he was getting a bit upset... then when I said "ok, grab your stuff, your Dad will be here soon" - he suddenly decided he wanted to stay... and the rest of the evening was a breeze!

We got up and had pancakes for breakfast... then got the kids dressed and headed to the Marina for the morning and then for a BBQ lunch....

This thing that Blake is chewing on is a "Sassy Teething Feeder" - it is awesome!

Blake's been getting really upset if someone is eating and he's not... which - when you have a 3yr old isn't something you can avoid....

The Teething Feeder is a mesh bag with a handle that Blake can hold - it gives me a way to give him snacks without having to puree everything...  so I use this to shove in pieces of watermelon, grapes, banana or pear (or anything else - those are all that we've tried so far and I've only had them a few days) - they're great because you can put cold foods in there to ease his gums...

Jade & Xander setting up hopscotch that Aunty Bethia and Uncle Mark gave Jade when we were in Sydney....

Blake's decided to find new things to chew on....

Soccer with Grandpa

Blake with his new "Alex" toy from Uncle Frank.. (wearing Uncle Frank's Akubra)

Jade & Rob on the "beach"

At Spinnaker Park they've made a beach... it's enough to keep the kids happy... not as nice as Tannum though...

Blake zonked... still with his Alex toy...

After we'd finished at the Marina we headed back to Mom and Dad's place as Jade wanted to have a swim... when we arrived she changed her mind and played with the Alex toys (Blake's one - and the one that Uncle Frank gave Jade for Christmas 2006 - hers is much bigger - but Blake's one is a great size for Blake right now)...

Mom took Blake to the pool to dip his feet...

Wouldn't you know it!?!?!  Jade changed her mind AGAIN about wanting to go for a swim!

Blake playing with the water feature....

After we'd bathed Blake tonight - we put him on the rug in his room for some crawling practice...

Bum Up.... (not as impressive with the baggy suit on - but he's not fat enough to fill it and his body is too long for a smaller size....)

Leg pulled forward - and fall to the side!

Other leg forward...

Head up at all times!

So far Blake's crawling attempts have been face down and dragging his nose... (even from the first day we brought him home from hospital.. he used to push himself with his feet (as long as you had your hands at his feet to stop them sliding backwards) - andhe'd drag his nose right along the bed.... he's getting the idea... hopefully soon I'll have a video blogworthy to share!

The REAL start to solids!

Now that we're back from our holiday, it's time to start Blake on solids... (he's trying too hard to get our food all of the time - I just can't be mean and hold out until 6 months (mind you - it's only a week and a half away!))...

We started the day with Weetbix...

he's still looking "reasonably" clean here....  it gets messy!

Jade having her Weetbix too!  (she's still a Weetbix fan)

The fact that he kept getting the spoon is most of the reason why he's so mucky....

(but also the spitting out everything that was put into his mouth didn't help!)

Bath after breakfast....

(Jade decided to bath too - so that she could "help")

Straight to sleep after breakfast (slept for nearly 2hrs)

Lunch was fruit salad & rice cereal (it wasn't nearly as messy! plus he'd decided to swallow some of the food!)

After lunch Blake had his second bath for the day... followed by a 4hr sleep...

Then Dinner:

Potato, Pumpkin, Broccoli & Carrot

Jade got some too....  it upset Blake when she was eating hers and I'd stop to take a photo... I think he thought she was eating his dinner!

Again with the spoon!!

Clean after Bath #3 and outfit #4 for the day!

Mucking around with Greg while I made his (Greg's) dinner....

It's been a busy day, preparing fruit and vegie dishes to freeze - so I've got a fair amount of food in there now.... hopefully tomorrow will be more relaxing for me....  but tomorrow Jade'll be back at school - so I need to work out how to organise his meals around Jade delivery!  I'm hoping that he can wait for Breakfast until we get home...  I'll get it all sorted in time to go back to work and have to work out another routine!

Sydney Trip - Day 7

Today was our final day in Sydney, well, morning in Sydney....

Rob's dad came to see us off at the airport - as did Rob (how nice of Rob!! hehe - he *was* considering just dropping us at the departures gate and taking off to Queanbeyan - but he knew his life wouldn't have been worth living if he did!)...

The Boyz

Jade found her happy pills stashed in her pencil case....

Jade playing with Blake prior to departure.....

The flight was great, we had a couple sitting over from us who hadn't flown with a youngen before - their son was 15 months old, so I reassured them that people don't get cranky if babies get upset on flights (well - toddlers as well)....  turns out that she disliked flying more than her son!

Mom was at the airport ready to greet us and Jade ran straight to her... from the airport we headed to Maccas to fill Jade up before driving back to Gladstone..... (and also to give her a chance to stretch her legs before being shoved into the car)....

Blake's first sit on Ronald McDonald's Lap!

Do you get the idea that someone is sick of the camera???

Jade fell asleep about halfway back from Rocky, when we got back to Mom and Dad's place I got her out of the car - she woke a little and said that she wanted to have a sleep - so I put her down on "her" bed - and she slept for another 1.5hrs (and could have done with a lot more sleep!)

Blake's first time on the grass.... (although - he probably has been on it before - this is the first photo of it... ehehe - and last time he wouldn't have sat there all on his own!!!)

Jade (awake!) and making sure that Blake doesn't fall over.....

Thanks to everyone who put up with us over the last week, we had a fantastic holiday -this is probably the best holiday we've had in a long time - and the least distracted one by Rob's work.... he didn't even have to leave to fix a broken servo at all... so that was good for us....    Am looking forward to the next time we can book to go away for a week again! (Don't see it happening in the near future - but I can live in hope!)

Sydney Trip - Day 6

Today is "technically" our last day in Sydney... it's the last day that we'll be going anywhere and visiting anyone....

Tomorrow we get up - get dressed and put all the packed stuff into the car (we were going to get it all into the car tonight but it's been bucketing.... it's pretty much rained every day since we've been here - but it's still been good...)  Rob's dad is going to come and see us at the caravan park in the morning and he's going to come to the airport too to see us off.... Then Rob will be getting back into the Prado and driving off to Queanbeyan and then off to Emerald - we should hopefully have him home by Monday/Tuesday next week if all goes well...  (not sure how much he has to do in Emerald)...

Anyway, back to today:

We headed off to Dolls Point this morning to have "breakfast" with Rob's Dad...  Bethia and Co. were supposed to come down there with us too - unfortunately Tom had had a bad night and had a temperature - etc this morning - also Tiny Baby wasn't 100% either - so they kept the kids home and got them back to sleep....

We phoned Aunty Bet to ask her if she'd like to come down to catch up with us again, so she headed down to Dolls Point too...

We had a great morning with feeding birds and playing at the park again....

Jade feeding the birds....

We managed to get Blake to sleep fairly soon after arriving at the Cafe.... so that was good....

"Look - Bread for the Birds!!"

(Jade kept coming back for more and more bread for the birds...)

Blake woke just before Aunty Bet arrived and went straight to her....  he loves his Aunty Bet

Aunty Bet feeding Blake whipped cream from her iced coffee.....

Grandad continued with the feeding of cream to Blake....

Jade trying on Rob's glasses...

This kid has the most adorable eyes...

After we left Dolls Point we headed off to Angela's for a lunch BBQ....

Jade had been playing with the conveyor belt mat thingy of the treadmill - so was covered in black.... her hands and face were covered....  (you can't really see it on her face - just looks like she's been bashed up a bit!)

Model in the making!

Jade & Tom running around in circles....

Table set up for lunch - this is in the "leisure centre" at the complex where Angela lives...

Mark trying to avoid the camera....

Mark, Tiny, Blake & Bethia

Bubbles for the kids....

Even Blake loves Bubbles!

Jade enjoying the Big Sister duties!

Blake was so worn out from such a big day - he went to sleep on Tom's Thomas Bed

Jade wanted to hold Tiny too.... 

Cheezles are for fingers!

It was a great week, with Rob only having minimal type distractions from work duties..  his phone still rang on a daily basis - and he'd have to get online to do work - on a daily basis... but it could have been a lot worse.... I believe this is the most time he's had away from WPM4L work for quite some time....  here's hoping we can do it again at some point....