Warm Spring Weather

This weekend we have had temperatures of about 27-28 degrees again, which has been lovely. The spring flowers are all starting to come out in our garden - I think I will even have some roses soon!

We had a busy weekend again. On Saturday we had lunch with my parents at Petra's place. The in the arvo we went to my cousin Hilko's engagement party - he is over from South Africa at the moment to introduce his fiance to the Aussie side of the family. Sadly I don't think Stephen and I will be able to make the wedding in SA next year.

On Sunday family came over to our place for morning tea/lunch. It was quite relaxing.

Mark got a big bag of goodies from his cousins of some of their toys and clothes they no longer need. It was like it was his birthday. He was so excited by the new toys he went completely hyper, and we didn't even give them all to him at once. Thank-you very much to the Eldridges - you made his day!

I think Mark was having people overload on the weekend. So many new faces at the party we went to. Lots of people came up to him and picked him up - because he is so cute. Well he soon made them regret it by bursting into tears! He does not like strangers! I don't think it helped that he had just had 2 days at daycare. It does make him much more fragile.

Mark with his new toys.

Yellow Lily. This is the first year I have planted lilies in my garden. I am very excited. I think they are just stunning!!

Red Lily

Back at Work!

Well yesterday was my first day back at work. It went well. I think I will enjoy working a few days a week. All is very different though. All of the people are different and the feel of the team is not as it was. I think it all has become a bit more medical model and clinical, but I aim to put a bit of a bomb under that!! Won't the team be happy to have me back! Lots of people ate on holidays this week and no appointments this week as it is school holidays, so I won't really get into the swing of real work for a few weeks yet. I think part time will be good though as I have two days off again now before I go back. It was so nice to come home last night and see how excited Mark was to see me. I think Stephen had a nice first day at home with Mark.

Mark is really growing up at the moment. He is learning lots of things eg. he is now putting rings back onto his ring stacker toys, putting things in containers..... He is also starting to say things Stephen and I think are the beginnings of words, but have not figured them all out yet. He definitely says 'dada' to Stephen. He says 'baba' and waves his hand ?bye bye. Also think he has something that means mum, but not sure yet.

I think work will be harder Thurs and Fri as Mark will be at Daycare and he has not been enjoying it much lately.

I have finally finished the cross stitch I have been working on for the last 4 years! Yay, I can start a new one now.

Broken Hearts

This morning I dropped MArk at Daycare. His usual teacher is on holidays this week and he is getting over a bit of a cold. He was not happy to be there and just burst into tears. When I got into my car to leave I just burst into tears. This whole leaving a distressed child thing just goes against all my motherly instincts.

He then wonders why he has trouble getting back out again!

Mark has decided lately that he loves to sit inside things - like this box of books!

Still not sure...

Mark is still not so sure about this whole daycare thing. Yesterday I left him from 8.30-3pm. They say they had some tears and he did not sleep so well.... Poor little guy. He was SO happy when I picked him up and took him home. He didn't stop 'talking' and racing around the house looking in all the rooms. Hopefully he will start to enjoy the experience. Today he is there again until 3.

Mark has been falling over so much the last few days, he has bruises all over his face! He fell down our front stairs at the start of this week, then hit his head on the edge of our claw foot bath, then this morning fell over and hit his cheek against the edge of our bed!

We have a busy weekend planned. Tomorrow I will be heading to Tamborine Mt for a girls day with all the women from my family. Should be fun. Mark will be staying with Stephen for the day in Brisbane with his grandparents. Then on Sunday we are going to a BBQ in Ipswich to see Iain and Sian who are over from London at the moment. Busy, busy, busy..

Annoying poor Johnnie

Spring Flowers

Here are some flowers from our garden. Mark loves to pick them and then pull them to pieces!

Spring is here!

I feel like I am on holidays at the moment. The air just has that feel about it. Spring has arrived and the days are warmer, the flowers are all coming out in the garden, and we have had some rain. Life is good.

Mark survived his second day at daycare. He stayed from 8.30am-12pm. He apparently slept from 10-11am, and ate a bowl of veges and drank 200ml after his nap. So all seems good. They say he was not anxious today, but a bit more wary and not too keen to give any smiles. Still working out this new arrangement.

It has been really nice to have him home again in the afternoons, and we have had nice play times together. The next 5 days I get to have him all to myself - I think I appreciate my little bundle of joy more and more after being separated from him. I am also getting to do things around the house that he does not let me do eg. unpack and clean out the kitchen cupboards!

Shoes - I had not thought I wanted Mark to wear shoes yet. Daycare brought it up immediately (funny what some people find important!). I dutifully went out an bought him 2 different pairs of shoes yesterday. He refuses to wear either of them. He can't walk in them, and just sits there trying to pull them off. I think most podiatrists would be cheering these efforts of his. I think he will just have to be shoe free for a while yet.

Brave New World

Well.... Mark started child care today! I only let him stay for 2 hours then this mother just needed to bring him back home again!

I arrived at 8.30 this morning thinking I better stay with him for the morning, but I carried him into the room, put him down, and he took off and completely ignored me! So much for feeling needed. So I headed off feeling a bit low to go shopping for an hour. I came back at about 10am, he had just had some morning tea and still having a great time. Was his nap time though and he was way to excited in the place to go to sleep, so I brought him home. He fell asleep as soon as he got in the car and is still sleeping as we speak.


So..... I think he likes it, but I must say as a mother I still have reservations. The room is so busy with all these kids, and Mark doesn't usually cry when he is ready to go to sleep, he just slows down. So I can see him just not really getting any naps when at daycare. But we will wait to see what happens. They also do feeds differently to me - usually give a bottle before bed not after etc.. This may mess him up a fair bit between what happens at home and then there. Oh well his routine all around will probably just change completely.

Tomorrow I will drop him off and leave him till lunch time, then bring him home - see how that goes.

Will keep you posted!