Ooops....

This is how I found Fraser after his nap today......


he was crying out in a way like he needed help, and this is why! He was stuck! Hehehee

Cookies and Cream

We were so proud of Isabella today!
She was chosen to be one of the faces on Peter's Classic Ice Cream packaging!!!

We got the call last week that she had been casted and were so excited. After weeks of encouraging her to wobble her top tooth so it comes out, we had to tell her to stop wobbling it so it was still in for the photo shoot!!! Not to be! She lost her tooth the night before :) It didn't matter, the Peter's people were fine with it and commented that it added to the cuteness :)

After hair and makeup she went to the set where they chose "Cookies and Cream" as her flavour. They made her a cone of icecream and all she had to do was lick it and smile. She loved it!!

She was such a natural too... the comments the photographers / stylists were making were just like from Top Model. Things like - she has such wonderful arms. Who says that??! LOL They were talking about how natural they were and not stiff. It was so funny!

They kept topping her cone up and melting it with a hair dryer so it was running down her hands. Anyway, after about 3 icecream cones they took some shots with a paddle pop.

Isabella was such a natural! During the shoot and afterwards when we were going through her photos they asked her if she would buy the icecream - and she nodded and said a big 'yes'.
But afterward in the car she said to me: "Oh mum, that was so disgusting!"
Oh dear!!! But what a true professional not to let them know she didn't like it!

The new packaging should be out sometime in August / September. In the west of Australia it will be marketed as Peter's. But in the Eastern states it is known as Toppa Icecream sold only in Woolworths / Safeway.

Here is a sample of how it may look. The images they took were amazing.... I wish I could have kept them.


She has a Target catalogue shoot next week too. I wish she got more work as she really does love it.

TOP TOOF...

Isabella FINALLY lost her top tooth today! It has been wobbly since last year and we were certain it would be out by Christmas!!




She was a bit sad when it came out as there was quite a bit of blood and it was while she was in bed in the dark too.


But after 5 minutes she loved the feeling of sticking her tongue in the hole! LOL

7 Months old

Well our little munchkin is growing up so fast! 7 months has certainly flown.

Giggles with Shabba

Me and my buddy Sean.... I am 3m older - can you tell?? :)

Sucking on my toe!!

Fraser has really enjoyed his solids so far. He is now on 2 meals a day which completely satisfies him. How loves all his veggies and fruit – not too keen on tinned baby foods that have meat in them but likes home made meats. He mainly has home made food but still handy to have canned food when we are out. I haven’t really dropped a breastfeed as yet but maybe next month.

He also is sleeping through 11 – 13 hours a night again. Ever since we moved him to his own room and started the solids he has gone back to being a great sleeper. He is also having 3 good naps a day for about 2 – 3 hours each. Nice to be back in a routine which I think helps him. He loves his room – as soon as we walk in there when he is tired he starts sucking his thumb and relaxing on my shoulder as if he is relieved he is going to bed!

He really does remind us a lot of Isabella – she was exactly the same.

Fraser well and truly recognizes us all know. His little face beams when his sisters walk in the room and also when he sees mum or dad. He loves it when Rick puts him at the front window when I get home from picking Belle up from school – he watches us walk in with such a big grin and a little happy dance. He is also recognizing strangers and becoming a bit wary of them.

He still isn’t sitting up on his own – shows no interest at all. He is more than content just playing on his belly and is starting to attempt commando crawling. He sees a toy he wants and has such a determined look on his face, purses his lips and off he goes belly shuffling. He has tried to get up on his toes but doesn’t quite know what to do after that. He has commando crawled once while he was in the nuddy! He also mastered pushing himself backwards in his walker which he just seems so chuffed about.

Apart from his laughing and ‘oohs’ he isn’t really talking much. I do catch him ‘practicing’ his raspberries and changing the shape of his mouth (like he is trying to talk) but he only does that when he thinks no one is looking – he won’t do it for us! He is giving big open mouth kisses now though which is so adorable – except for the pool of drool he can leave behind!

Still no teeth! Everytime I am sure they are coming – they don’t! The gummier the better I say! He loves to hold my finger in his mouth and shake his head to make a squeaky noise against his gums. He thinks that is so fun! Oh and Fraser is completely in love with his talking spiderman baby doll! Loves him!

One day I will get the hang of this thing....

Ohhh we all just love him to bits – he is so delightful and happy.
You can see all his photos from this month HERE.

Easter 2008

This kids had a blast this easter! The Easter Bunny didn't go overboard at all which was a nice change.



Fraser however, managed to unwrap this egg and pick it up to suck on it!! No child of mine escapes the fun of chocolate - no matter what age!!






Ahhh the joys of eating chocolate for breakfast......






Does this go in my ear??

First Footy Match !

We took Fraser to his first AFL match tonight! It was St Kilda v Sydney.



This is always the game we take the kids to as I am a Swans supporter and Rick is a Saints supporter. So it is always an.... um.. interesting night!!! When we took Isabella when she was a baby the score was a tie!



Mummy forgot to bring the swans jumper but take special note of the football booties!! Oh and Saints won in a nail biter by TWO POINTS!!! Bugger!

VIP DAY

In the classroom

Isabella's school held their annual VIP day today. It was a chance for students to invite a special person to the school for a tour and a concert.

Due to work commitments our family members couldn't make it - so I was Belle's special person today :) Even though I am there almost everyday in some capacity she was still so excited to show me around and show me what she does everyday.

One of Bella's favourites... naturally!

Playing with the music / performing arts teacher's hats!! Mr Piggot is known for his crazy hats.

And of course the concert was a hit as always! I love how all the students end the day by linking hands and forming a big circle around the amphitheater and all the guests. They all then sing a gorgeous 'circle of friends' song that always brings a tear to the mums' eyes!!




I know the uniforms look a bit messy at the moment. The school is in the throws of changing their entire outdated uniform.
Isabella is in the 'old' uniform that is brown and yellow. You can see most of the new uniform being phased in (Navy and Teal).

6 Months Old

Our poor guy has fitted into the ‘third child’ role perfectly. On a daily basis he is dragged all over the place and often plucked out of a warm slumber to drop off one of his sisters at school, kinder, dancing or swimming. He takes it all in his stride though and each time he goes in the capsule he just looks at me as if to say * sigh * ‘Here we go again”.

Fraser started waking overnight again this month. Sometimes every 4 hours but then every 2 hours! Eeek! We rode it out and I just put it down to another growth spurt, plus he has had a bit of a chest cold and a cough which probably hasn’t helped. Later this month he slept in his cot for the first time in his own room. He loved it – and better still we could turn his ceiling fan on full which drowned out the noise from him sisters!!

Fraser started solids at almost 6m old too. We figured the overnight waking could also indicate he was hungry so we started him on rice cereal but he didn’t appear to be ready. So we waited another week and tried again with veggies and he loved them. So far no real issues. One thing he does that is extremely cute … if he finds a particular food yummy then he sticks his thumb in his mouth after each mouthful. It is like he is trying to ‘savor the flavour’. If I give him something he doesn’t like he just spits it out after several facial contortions and gags.

It seems Fraser has inherited his Mummy’s eyes – looks like we have a brown eyed boy J Just another feature that makes him look like Isabella moreso than Alexandra. His eyes still aren’t completely brown but the centers are starting to darken even though the outside are still quite light. Would be nice if he had green eyes – one of each then!

Fraser is rolling all over the place now. He LOVES tummy time – something his sisters never liked. He gets around on his tummy too – not commando crawling but more of a 360deg turn. He would much rather lay on his tummy and play but does roll over and play with toes too – oh and suck on his big toe. I think he loves having 4 options to suck on now!

He still isn’t close to sitting on his own but he is happy enough laying down for now.

He takes a cup of water with no problem and is trying ever so hard to hold it by himself. Just hasn’t worked out that he needs to tip it.

Favourite toy at the moment is mummy’s hair – still! Just like Alex he loves to twirl my hair while he is breastfeeding. And when he isn’t breastfeeding he loves to eat my hair!

At his 6m checkup he still hadn’t gained a lot of weight – only gaining 450g in 2 months (making it a gain of only 590g in 3m). He dropped from the 50^th% to the 25^th%. The MCH nurse suggested we started him on two meals a day but otherwise he is happy and content. He just isn’t a chubba bub. His stats are:

Weight - 6760g

Length – 63.8cm

HC – 43.5cm

Still wearing 000 / 00 clothes.

More photos of his 6th month can be seen HERE.

Oh and I am starting to get terribly clucky….. arghhh!! When will it ever go away??

Isabella's haircut

While I did expect my girls to attempt to cut their own hair at some stage in their early years, I did NOT expect it to happen when Isabella was 6 !!! I thought she might skip that 'rite of passage' but no......

Here is her lovely, adorable attempt at trimming her fringe. What a silly chicken!

Thankfully it isn't too bad! But she does have a Target catalogue shoot in a few days so it will have to pinned up!

Roller Skating Lessons

Alexandra had her first Roller Skating Lesson today. She loved it - had an absolute ball.



She went with her friend Bailey and they learnt how to stop, get up after you fall, and played a few games and sang songs to help with their balance. Then it was snack and drink time. After that they got to play hockey with a balloon and a hockey stick. So much fun had by all!



She wants to go back again but it is right in the middle of our Playgroup session so we will have to space them out. At least she is confident on her skates now. She was skating up and down our hallway but always had the wall to rely on, so this was a good challenge for her.

5 Months Old

What a fun month it has been. Fraser has grown so much this month and started to do lots more things. He really loves rolling! And one thing that the girls just didn’t enjoy is tummy time – but Fraser LOVES being on his tummy. He props himself up and watches the world go on around him. He is also holding on to things a lot more now and reaching out for things too.

His aim is getting much better. But everything he gets his hands on goes straight into his mouth! Another thing the girls didn’t do – suck on everything! You would swear he was teething… but of course you can’t predict these things. I thought the same of Isabella at 5 months but she didn’t get her first teeth till 13 months. I love gummy babies so I hope Fraser’s teeth don’t come too early. He spends most of his waking hours gnawing on my fingers so that won’t be lasting too long once the teeth come.

He started to play more in his Jolly Jumper. He is happy just to hang there but once we get going he will copy me and jump about. Cracks himself up he does! Thinks he is very amusing. He has also started covering his face up to get himself off to sleep . Freaked us out the first time he did it!

This month Fraser went for his first swim. We went to a friend’s pool but he HATED it – probably because the water was icy cold so that was a real flop. He only got his toes wet too!

We had a trip to the Emergency Dept this month. Fraser had very high temps that were fluctuating. He didn't have any other symptoms so I wasn't too concerned at all - until we noticed his fontanelle bulging. It was bulging so much that you could see it from across the room. It didn't go away when we sat him up so I thought it safer to go have him checked out. The staff were wonderful and didn't make me feel like an over cautious, over-trained nurse mummy!!
He did have a few nasties growing in his urine, and of course as with most kids, the time it takes to get to the hospital and be seen they come good. The doctors weren't sure why it was bulging so much and because he had no other symptoms weren't too concerned - just stumped! But he was fine and that is the main thing.

We went on our annual family ‘camping’ trip this month. Well – camping has slowly turned into caravanning and now cabin-ing over the years as we continue to breed! Fraser was an absolute gem and I am sure loved the adventure as much as Bella and Alex. We spent a lot of the time in the pool at the park we stayed at and as it was a heated pool, Fraser loved it! He was so content floating around in his swim seat and also didn’t mind going under water. I don’t hold back when it comes to this and have always put the kids under water from a young age. It also seemed to help his conjunctivitis. Poor thing had it pretty bad for a week and took forever to clear up. He kept waking up with his eyes glued shut from all the gunk and you can see in the photos this month and from camping just how sore it looked.

He does like his routine of a good morning sleep and a good afternoon sleep. He has been such a great sleeper but started waking again overnight. It isn’t so bad as he is such a cuddly co-sleeper that he just comes into bed with us and I feed him if he wants it.

Still a happy breastfed bubba.....

More Photos can be seen HERE!

KINDER KID :)

Well FINALLY Alexandra started Kindergarten! She has been so desperate to go to school or kinder for such a long time now so it was a very welcomed day!


She just loved getting ready and waltzed in like she owned the place. However, she was rather disappointed that she doesn't have any 'kinder clothes' to wear. She meant a uniform like Isabella wears to school!







She took great pride in choosing her hooks for her bag and hand towel.



As suspected she had no issues with me leaving at all. After I picked her up I asked how her day was. Her reply - 'Good! Now can I go to school? I have done kinder'.

Didn't have the heart to tell her that she still has 2 years of kinder before she can go to school!

Werribee Zoo

Today we ventured off to Werribee Zoo to celebrate my Mum's birthday (Happy Birthday Mummsie!) and to watch my younger sister's boyfriend perform. He is a dancer with the Rhythm of Africa twilight shows the zoo was running over summer.



The day started with us setting up camp on the grass and then heading off for a safari bus tour. This was fun! The kids loved seeing all the different types of animals up close. Fraser found it all too exhausting and had a quick nap on Daddy.







After the safari we had a walk around the zoo looking at the animals we didn't see on the safari. The lions were our favourite and we spent a long time watching them - so majestic!






The twilight shows started and it was good to see some of Raelene's friends perform. Her boyfriend was amazing - as were all of the dancers and drummers. Mum got right into it and was bopping away with them - it was hard not to actually. After the last set Shabba (Raelene's boyfriend) did a bit of a dance workshop and got all the crowd up to dance. It was awesome - the place went off! There were hundreds of people there all getting into it. Alex adores Shabba so went up to him and started dancing with him. The kids loved it.







Bella and Alex got their faces painted and looked the part :) Me and Alex aslo got a braid put in our hair.










It was quite a hot day which made for a lovely evening. We took our picnic dinner and made such a good night of it all. The band sang happy birthday to Mum and got her up on the stage.... helps that she is the future mother-in-law of the star of the show!!

Lots more photos of the day can be seen HERE.

Back to School

Well Isabella started GRADE ONE today!!!

She is such a big girl now.

Camping .... errr, well sort of!

Over the Australia Day long weekend we ventured down to Wonthaggi as we do every year. Again, we went with the Finch and the Bradley families. This year however, we didn't take the tent or the campervan but decided it was time to lash out and book the cabin! As much as we love camping it was just so much easier with 2 kids and a baby to have a self-contained cabin. Wise choice - made packing and unpacking SOOOOOO much better too! The drive down didn't start off too good as Isabella had terrible travel sickness. Poor love spent most of the way throwing up into a bag. She was so brave though. Fraser also had a bad case of conjunctivitis which hit him pretty bad. His little eyes looked so sore and he often woke with both eyes gunked shut. Alex however, tough as nails! :) We had such a great time and dare I say it, quite relaxing!



Our cabins were a mere 25 meters away from the pool so that was a big hit. The kids spent a lot of time in the pool which made them happy. Fraser's first 'real' experience in a pool too. He had attempted to go in a friend's pool a couple of weeks ago but it was fair too cold for him and only got as far as his toes! But he really loved the warm water and was quite happy to float around in his seat. He even went under which he didn't mind either. Alex spent most of the time floating around talking to her invisible friends and practicing her swimming!




And Bella had a ball with Matilda, Georgia and Michaela!



Saturday night saw us have our traditional Australia Day dinner with all of our families plus Amanda's Mum and husband and a few friends. The boys spent all of Saturday out on the bay fishing. They got such a great haul for our dinner! On Sunday, Moon had arranged some helicopter flights at Phillip Island for us all - THANKS MOON!! It was so much fun. Rick and I have already been in army helicopters but the kids were so excited to go this time. It was great fun and they loved having the headphones on and talking to each other through the microphones. It was a bit of an overcast day but still got to see such beautiful views of Phillip Island and the surrounding area.
After our flights we headed to the chocolate factory that we have been meaning to go to for several years now. We had lunch at the cafe and then went and bought some chocolate. MMMMmmm yes well you all know how I feel about chocolate.






We also took the kids to see the wind farm - another thing we have been meaning to do for years. I find them quite spectacular and so much friendlier than ugly power stations. I got a bit excited though when I found a information box that had some education flyers inside. The box looked like a clue box from the Amazing Race so me being me, pretended to be on the Amazing Race and had a bit of fun! Ok, must have been the sea air that did it to me! :)





Anyway, another successful camping trip. Actually, Emma did remind me that we really should stop calling it camping - as it was so far from camping it was not funny! All the happy snaps can be seen HERE.