December

Wow! Can't believe it has nearly been a whole month since my last blog ... where does the time go. We've had a good and busy December. James is now four months old and is thriving. He had a visit to the doctor last weekend for his four-month-old vaccinations and did not like it one little bit! He was also referred to a paediatrician for a couple of things so we will be going there on New Years Eve - at $400 a visit I hope this is not going to be an ongoing thing!!

Liam has had (yet another) cold for the last couple of weeks but finally seems to be getting over it. I succombed to this one as well, and it was a doozy. Luckily I was unable to wallow in self-pity as we had Sophie and Toby with us for their first week of school holidays. We had lots of fun together - we played mini-golf, went roller-skating, went to a Christmas party, visited a playland for the day, and of course swam in the pool. Liam absolutely loved having his cousins on tap.

James graduated on the weekend from his bassinette to the cot - a momentous occasion! He looks sooo cute tucked up under the blankets in the cot, and he seems to have made the transfer really well - he slept from 7pm to 4.30am his first night in the cot - can't complain about that!

Even though I am a stay-at-home mum now, I still manage to squeeze in the odd party or two at Christmas time and this year I had two in one week! Oh the decadence!!! We had our mother's group Christmas party at a local restaurant on Tuesday night - was very nice and a well deserved night out after all our hard work for the year (we thought). Then on Saturday I went to my friend Karen's house for a MacGillivrays girls Christmas lunch. Kerryn was there and she is blooming with her twinnies!!! She is now 27 weeks preggers and looks about 40 weeks!!! She seems to be doing really well.

We are very excited as the O'Dowds arrived on Saturday night! They are staying for a week and then they're off to Sydney. It was so good to see them all again, especially after having that time with them in April. It hardly seems as if they've been away!

The countdown to Christmas is on ... only three sleeps to go. Liam has managed to find his stash of Christmas presents so will have to find better hiding spots next year.

Hope you all have a safe and fun Christmas. Love to all!!!

Ange, Zane, Liam and James xxxx

Liam, Toby and Sophie preparing for the Oriel Park Xmas Party

Sophie and Toby - lunch time!

Mother's Group Kids Christmas Party Oriel Park

Christmas Portrait!

Look at that little face!! Almost unbearably cute!!!!

Me and the boys

Zane and Liam having a dip at Grandad Knight's house

All this playing is hard work!

Peekaboo!

At Suttons Beach Redcliffe

Liam being a tiger ... GRRR!

I love my play mat, Grandma!

Various

Mother's group kids - Frederick, Sam, Bella, Liam and Keelee
James!

James and Penny

Uncle Brent

Grandad

James gives lovely cuddles

And Liam does too!

Daddy and James getting some work done

Oops - don't know how to turn it around!

Liam's new sandpit

Hi, don't have much time for blogging so will just put as many pictures on as I can ... have finally figured out how to upload pictures from my new camera!

Kezza's Wedding!

Kerryn and Charlie got married last Sunday! Here are a couple of pics of the blushing bride. Didn't she look beautiful! She is about 22 weeks pregnant here - and for those of you who don't know already, she is having twins - two pink ones!

It was a lovely wedding, just family and close friends, very intimate and elegant. It was great to be there. We took James along and he enjoyed himself too. As you can see from the picture above, he found it much more interesting than a night at home! He could hardly believe his luck to be let out so late at night amongst his adoring fans!!! Liam had a sleepover at Aunty Kerrie and Uncle Rick's house - apparently he wasn't too keen on sleeping either ..... sorry Kez!

Fun with Grandma and Grandad

James had his two-month injections today and he has been sleeping like a log for most of the day which has freed me up to finally post a blog! For the record, he was a very brave boy and only cried a little bit when the needles went in.



We have been having a great time with Mum and Dad. They have been a huge help and we will really miss them when they go home. Between all the housework and mountains of washing that a 2 year-old and a 2 month-old generate, we have been managing to get some leisure time in with a few trips to Chermside and various lunches / coffees / etc. We had a great dinner a couple of weekends ago with the Masons.



Liam is absolutely loving having his Grandma and Grandad on tap. In fact he has started bypassing us in the morning and going straight downstairs to give them his morning cuddle! We are feeling very left out. James is getting lots of cuddles from Grandma and Grandad and he is rewarding them with gorgeous smiles and lots of delightful baby cooing noises. He is quite a little sweetie!




See below for a few pictures of what we have been up to around here. We have been spending a lot of time at home (for obvious reasons) but we have still been able to get out for the odd breakfast or visit to the Masons.



The neighbours had some topsoil delivered last weekend and the boys had a great time getting it EVERYWHERE!!





Liam has shown quite a talent for jigsaw puzzles. He can do a 30 piece puzzle all by himself!


Mutual Adoration Society.




Liam has graciously allowed James to share the bath with him. Note the distance between them ... still not 100% sure about it yet!
The girls had a great time catching up at our bbq the other weekend.

Mum and Dad had a weekend at Twin Waters a couple of weeks ago and we decided to go up on Sunday and shatter the peace.

Zane and Liam cooling off in the pool.
Mr Sunsmart.
The Knights. James is about six weeks old here.
The proud grandparents.
Our little cherub ... James loves chatting with his grandma.

September

I've called this blog "September" as its probably the only one I'll get to do for this month! I seem to be a bit "time-poor" since baby James arrived.

We have been having a lovely time with Mum and Dad staying and they have been a huge help with everything. I am thinking it will be very busy when they go home .......

We had a nice Father's Day breakfast at the Victoria Park Golf Course last weekend, the Masons, Knights and Warrens attended. Zane got spoilt with some crystal whisky glasses from Liam and a Jag polo from James.

At the Masons last weekend

James being cute

Liam being silly

Ange (and Liam) trying very hard not to look tired

Bath time

Meet Baby James

We welcomed our beautiful baby boy JAMES SYDNEY into the world on Saturday, 9th August 2008 at 8.04pm.

I ended up having a natural delivery with a very short labour and no complications. James weighed in at a healthy 7lb5oz.

We are all adjusting to life at home as a family of four and James is fitting in very nicely. Liam is absolutely chuffed to have a little brother to play with.

As you can see from the pictures, baby James enjoys a little nap here and there - just like his Mummy!

Liam's 2nd Birthday Party

Showing Grandma my new train set

Opening my pressies!

I LOVE my new Thomas scooter

Cutting the cake

My new keyboard from Grandad and Chae!!

It was Liam's birthday party on the weekend and we all had a fabulous time. There ended up being 32 people there!!! That child has more friends than I do... We were a bit worried about where everyone would go but it all seemed to work out really well, not too crowded. Liam had a great day - not one single meltdown! I was a bit worried that it all might be a bit too much for him but he proved me wrong.

The Masons brought over a Thomas the Tank Engine scooter - Liam couldn't believe his luck. I haven't been able to leave the house without putting it in the back seat of the car!! I am sure he would sleep with it if I let him. Luckily he has a new teddy bear called Oscar for that which would be a bit more comfortable to snuggle up to!

We also had the mother's group joint birthday party for all the kids yesterday at a play centre. So much junk food, so little time. It got quite manic there for a while! Once again Liam did me proud. He is becoming quite the party veteran.

Liam's 2nd Birthday - the day of

Brekky time!

Helping Mummy make the birthday cake

Hey Mum ... I think you need to come and see this ..... there's a big box with trains on it!!

Are you kidding me??!! This is A-MAZING!!

Well I don't know what you're doing for the rest of the day - but I'm sorted!