Thanks Oma

Mark received a little sheep from his Oma in the post yesterday, as she has just come back from New Zealand. Thank - you! He likes it, especially when I make it 'baa' at him.

Mark is covered in spots at the moment. I took him to the Doctor yesterday and she says it is a virus, probably brought on by an allergic reaction to something. Not sure what. She suspects it may even be a reaction to his vaccination last week, and says he may not be able to have his next needle. Will wait and see. It does not bother him at all though.

Mark has become a sweet tooth. I was giving him fruit once a day and veges once a day, but he has now decided that he will not eat his veges. So now I am giving him veges every meal! Poor little guy. Food times have become a bit of a battle. Fussy boy!

Thanks Oma

Up, up and away - Well not quite!

Mark REALLY wants to be able to crawl at the moment. He gets as far as you can see in this photo, but then just ends up on his tummy. Very frustrating for the little guy. He can now do 360 s on his tummy, and move around a fair bit when he is sitting, so he is getting more mobile. He also is getting much better at standing holding onto furniture.

Up but not quite away

Bits and Pieces

The last few days have been a bit hard on us. Mark has had trouble sleeping the last 2 nights and we have not been able to figure out why. The baby living behind us has measles at the moment - so who knows? Maybe something is going around.

He has been fairly happy during the day though. He is now saying 'mamama' all the time. Stephen is always saying 'daddy' to try to get him to say that instead. He is also now clicking his tongue, and thinks he is so clever doing it! When we go shopping now, he gets to be a big boy and sit in the child sseat in the trolleys rather than in the little baby capsule ones. He looks so cute doing this as he is still so little - we have had many people stop and say how beautiful he is - he just smiles back at them. Such a charmer!

It is getting cold in Toowoomba at the moment. It is about 18 degrees today and raining. It is so nice to get some rain, Toowoomba is so dry at the moment.

I have started to try to give Mark some formula in a sipper cup or bottle each day. He hates the stuff and refuses to suck on the bottle. I have more success with the sipper cup, but only a few mouthfuls. I am starting to wonder how I will ever be able to wean him!

Stephen's Birthday

Well it was Stephen's 28th birthday on Saturday. We drove down to Brisbane on Friday night, as Stephen's dad's birthday is the day before his. Had dinner with the family that night. The next day we had a very busy day. We visited Michael & Evelyn (Stephen's friends from Uni) in the morning - they had not yet met Mark so it was good to see them again as it had been a while. We then picked up Stephen's parents from the shops and went out for lunch at the Regatta Pub which was nice. Then off to the shops. Then visited Jo & Matt, then Stephen's grandparents, then back to Stephen's parents house in time for dinner. It was a nice day but very busy, and Mark did not sleep all day. We had thought of going home that night, but decided to wait till morning so that we could get a good night sleep. Unfortunately Mark had other ideas and we were up most of the night. We were all very tired by the time we got home on Sunday.

I bought Stephen a new BBQ for his birthday (a big fancy 4 burner). Stephen had to try it out as soon as possible, so last night we had a German night with Bratwurst, mustard, mashed potato etc. Very Yummy!

Stephen & Mark

6 Month Stats

I went to the doctor yesterday with Mark for his 6 month injections. His new stats are: He weighs 8.3kg, he is 68cm tall, and his head circ. is 43cm. He is pretty much on the average line with all of those (Stephen said to me - He isn't average, he is perfect!) - do you think his daddy loves him just a little bit?

Mark is now going to sleep a lot better, which is a relief.

6 Months

Lots of Avocados!

At the moment our avocado tree has so many avocados on it that we don't know what to do with them all. Stephen and I both were not that keen on avos when we moved into this house, but now both like them as we have eaten so many of them!

Here is one of the simple but yummy things I have been having for lunch lately: avocado, tomato, and cheese on a Sao with sum cracked pepper.

Avocado Delight

Sleeping Problems

The last two nights we have been struggling to get Mark to sleep at night. Having big hour long battles with him, where he just screams - it breaks my heart. Part of the issue is that when we put him to bed he rolls onto his stomach, but then cannot roll back onto his back. He is so tired and irrational, that even if you roll him back onto his back he is so worked up he just screams, and rolls straight back over - adding to the problem!

During the day he has started to fall asleep on his stomach. That's OK, but he is now sleeping for about half as long as he is not as comfortable, and then he is more cranky during the day as he is tired. I have tried to roll him back onto his back once he falls asleep but he wakes up immediately! Must be a light sleeper like his dad.

Anyway he has still been sleeping through the night - probably so exhausted after screaming for an hour to get to sleep at night! Hopefully things improve soon, I am starting to dread night times.

Mark sleeping on his stomach

6 Months Old Today!

Mark had his 1/2 birthday today. We went shopping most of the day so poor Mark did not get that much time to play, but he was happy the whole day. This afternoon he had some baby chocolate pudding (that Stephen made me buy) to celebrate - he ate the whole tin! He is getting to be a bit of a guts! We tried to buy Stephen a BBQ for his birthday today, but when we finally decided and had been to heaps of shops, they told us the one we had picked was sold out! Very disappointing.

Mark's 6 month achievements - he can sit by himself for ages, he can now roll from his back to his tummy by himself (a big achievement for him this week!), he is eating lots of solids, he is rocking back and forth when he sits, he loves to stand and is starting to try to take some steps, he turns to his name when it is called, he loves to play peek-a-boo, he is helping us get him out of the car seat etc. by arching his back so we can get our hands behind him easily to pick him up.

He really is growing up. The last 6 months have gone so fast, just think soon he will be 1!

6 Months Old

Bo

Bo is getting a little more pathetic in his old age. We have been finding him sleeping in strange places, like this photo taken when I found him sleeping on Stephen's clothes on the bed. Poor little dog, he really is getting old.

Old Man

Wiggle

Mark looked like such a little Wiggle in his little skivvy I bought him the other day. Oh well you can't complain for only $2.80!

I am a Wiggle

The simple things in life

Mark got an empty ice-cream container from his grandparents on the weekend. He thinks it is great and has been playing with it ever since. Simple toys are often the best. Maybe he takes after his mother, I get most amusement from the simple things in life!

What a cheeky look

Mark and his ice-cream container

Look at those arms!

On the weekend a few people commented on Mark's Michelin arms, which can be clearly seen in this photo. He also has big knee rolls to go with them! No-one can say that he is fading away!

Mark's first finger food - a teething rusk

Mark in his beach tent!

Busy Weekend

Well we have had an extremely busy weekend! On Friday night we drove to Brisbane after dinner. The next morning we left Stephen's parents house at 7am to drive to Byron Bay to meet up with Aaron and Drue (both did Uni with Stephen). We had a really nice day down there, the weather was perfect (about 25 degrees and sunny). We had a swim at the beach, the water was so clear. I could even see fish swimming around me! It was good to catch up with Aaron (he is visiting from London at the moment), and Drue had flown up from Melbourne. At about 3.30 in the arvo we drove back to Brisbane. We had dinner at Jo & Matt's house with Stephen's parents as well. On Sunday we went to church, then to visit Stephen's grandparents, then lunch, then to my nephew Matthew's 3rd birthday party.

By the end of all this Mark was extremely tired and slept for 2hrs on the trip home. Even though the weekend was so busy it was also fairly relaxed somehow - felt like we were on holidays!

Mark has slept most of today to catch up!

Aaron with Mark

Goodbye Dummy

Well we have decided to say goodbye to the old faithful dummy. Mark had not been sleeping that well at night anymore, and we thought maybe the dummy had something to do with it. About a week ago we made the decision to try to stop dummy use. Since this time Mark has slept a bit better. I think the main thing is that he no longer sleeps as long during the day, so that is probably helping him sleep at night. Though it can lead to a bit more grumpiness eg. if he wakes too early from a sleep and won't go back down, I used to re-settle him with the dummy, but now he just has to get up! I must say we have still used it once or twice eg. when he has woken at 5.30am, or when he has been cranky waiting for a feed.

My little dog - Bo

I took Bo to the vet today for his yearly vaccinations. I know he is 12 1/2 years old, but it is only when I take him to the vet that I really geet reminded that we will not have him with us for much longer. The vet said that he has quite a significant heart murmer, his eye sight is going, his teeth are not as good as they used to be etc. etc. Poor little Bo. And to make it worse these days he gets much less attention than he used to as we now have Mark. He is such a nice little dog - I really will be sad when he goes.

Bo

Sigrun this one's for you!

Here is Mark lounging around in his PJ's from Malaysia. He has had good wear out of them!

Lounging Around

Lovely Weekend

We had a really nice and relaxing weekend. For once we did not have anything on - we have been so busy lately! Stephen got to do some more paving - the front yard is really starting to look nice. I got to potter in the garden and plant some bulbs ready for spring. We also went to church and the markets, and got to go out to a coffee shop together and just sit and chat over coffee and a cake while the little one slept on the couch next to me. It made us both think that we should make sure we do that sort of thing more often, and nurture our relationship a bit more as a couple.
We have also decided to start a daily devotion together. Hopefully we can keep it up. We both feel we have been a bit spiritually lacking lately.

More Paving