11 months 1 week 2 days

My little boy has started taking real steps today!

It was totally coerced and with a lot of over-excitement from Mummy & Daddy - But who cares he took 7 steps alone!!! He actually did it quite a few times, enough for me to even get video! Clever little pumpkin!

So how did I finally get my little darling to stay upright and move forward? Using one of Grace's "No Xavier, that's Grace's" toys, Of course! We put her ride-on bike right in front of him, dangling it like a carrot and then slowly edging it away from him. Worked a treat, and now he is doing it even without the lure of the bike! Seems he just needed to get his confidence.

It also seems my children don't want to outdo each other in the 'taking steps' department. After sitting down and working it all out, Grace was 11 months 1 week 4 days when she took her first decent steps. Xavier is 11 months 1 week 2 days. So only 2 days apart! Grace only took a week or so to go from "few steps" to full-on walking.

Wonder what the little Mr has in store??

I'm back!

Sorry for just dumping you like that little blog! I know it is no excuse BUT I have been so busy and just haven't had time to write it all down. Add to that I am having a little bit of a Blog Block, I just wasn't that motivated to sit down and spend some time with you.

I'm ok now though....ready to fill you with way too much mindless dribble!

I do have a heap of back entries that I will finish over the next week too.

Ok going back now to make a start on them.

Xavier is 11 months

My sweet little boy is in his last month of babyhood.

Only 1 month is left of his precious first year. Then he will be entering the toddler years. Ahhhhh......that means I will have two of the delightful toddlers to deal with.

Anyway, just an update on what my little boy is doing now.

Xav is turning into a real little character. Lots of lovely (and not so lovely!) traits are emerging, giving me glimpses into the person that he is becoming. He is such an endearing little boy that has all of us wrapped firmly around his finger.

He loves playing peek-a-boo, breaking out into his favourite game at any random time. Also using random objects to hide behind - they can be the curtain, his t-shirt, the side of the couch, a teddy, basically anything that he can peek his cute little face out from behind. It's a guaranteed way of making him smile and getting one of his gorgeous cheeky little laughs out.

Xav is learning lots more words. His vocab now includes Mum, Dad, got-it, waissit, gog (I think Dog?), Days (I actually haven't heard this but Mum insists that he is saying Daisy!!) & lots of other little sounds and gurgles.

He is standing so well by himself, but yet to take more than 1 step. He confidently walks behind things, just hasn't go the courage to go alone yet! I really don't think that he will be that far off though, not that I really want to encourage it. Imagine chasing 2 of the little blighters around!!

Xavier is still a great day sleeper. He would happily have 2 sleeps a day, but Mummy is forcing him into only having the 1. It means that both kidlets sleep at the same time which is too great a thing to pass up. I really enjoy that quiet time when both are asleep. Would it be bad to actually say it is a "highlight" of the day? That sounds terrible, but geez the silence is nice! Ok so maybe not the highlight, but it sure is up there!

Night sleeps are ok. Xavi goes to bed easily at about 6pm, sometime stirs at about 10 - usually just for a dummy or blanket though. He then wakes about 2am, when either Duane or I go and bring him into bed with us. That is something I was never going to do, but stuff it. I love having my little hot water bottle to snuggle up to. Stuff this getting out of bed in the cold. I'll use the nipple vasospasm as my excuse and also that he potentially may be my last baby so I am not going to waste precious cuddle time. He just has a feed, rolls over and slips off to sleep. He has started crawling over to Daddy and cuddling him....so cute! He has been sleeping into about 7am, which is fantastic (Pity the other one didn't get the memo and still wakes at 6am!!)

Feeding is going well. Xavier is having a morning, midday and night feed. He loves his feed before bed of a night. He is just like Grace was. Duane says to him "milk" and he does this cute little half cry/laugh thing. It's absolutely adorable and I love that he still enjoys our special time. It was about this time that Grace cut herself down to only 2 feeds a day, wonder if X will do the same?

Xav loves being outside. We are enjoying some beautiful winter days at the moment so we spend lots of time in the back yard. He loves playing in the cubby house and digging with Grace in the sandpit. He is also obsessed with the sliding doors and could spend ages constantly opening and closing it. Well that is before he jams his fingers, which he always manages to do.

Xavi is a little stunt man too. He climbs on everything, which also means he falls from everything. Including the bed. He crawled straight off our bed at last week, but he did manage an impressive commando roll mid fall. No damage down, except my heart stopped when I heard the tell-tale thud. I think once you have heard that noise you never forget it. X was ok though, just had some boob and was fine again.

He has a few obsessions at the moment. The toilet being one of them. As soon as he knows the door is open, he is straight there. He has worked out that Grace is his best chance of getting in there, so he always follows her when she is heading in. Maybe I should cash in on his interest and start plonking him on there?

He really is such a sweetheart. I adore him. He is just such a delightful little boy who has totally stolen my heart.

Xaviers Naming Day

In keeping with tradition we had a beautiful Naming Day for Mr Xavier. In hindsight, we really should have done it at a younger age. Being 10 months he wasn't really in the mood to just stay in Mummy's arm during the ceremony, he really just wanted to go!

We had it at Duane's work, The Grand Golf Club. It's a beautiful venue, such a gorgeous setting and so fitting to be at Duane's favourite course. Our good friend Emily Okeefe did the ceremony, which was so lovely as she had also been the celebrant at Grace's. She is such a great public speaker and has such a knack of making everyone feel comfortable.

Xavier woke a cute white collared shirt and blue cords for before and after the ceremony. He wore the Christening gown for the actual ceremony, which Duane wasn't really sure about, but hey it's tradition! He did put a stop to the matching bonnet and booties though (not that they would have fit my big little boy anyway!)

The ceremony was lovely, Emily spoke about Xavier's name and how we had chosen it. She then talked about the tradition of the christening gown and that many of my family had worn it before, including Grace and myself. We had chosen the same Godparents that Grace had. Tim, Chris (my brother), Nicole and Trudy. We didn't really want to use the term "Godparent", but couldn't really come up with a better alternative. We really just wanted to name some important people in the kids life, who would always be there for them. Duane & I feel good about the people we have chosen, and are positive they will always play a special part in our kids lives. My brother Chris wasn't able to make the trip up this time, we made mention of him in the ceremony though.

Xavier was starting to get a little antsy at this stage. He just wanted to go for a crawl, so after wrestling with him for a while I gave in and let him go. Well it seems the gown is a little too hard to crawl in. He tried but couldn't get anywhere...so of course that frustrated him more! Lucky Yu-Yu has some biscuits so he got to munch on them for the rest of the ceremony and photos......kept him nice and quiet!

Grace was an absolute angel through it all. She looked absolutely gorgeous in a beautiful white dress. Absolute little stunner that she is!

After the ceremony we had a lovely afternoon tea in the club house & all just sat around and chatted.

I had also asked everybody to bring along something that could be placed in a time capsule for Xavier. There were plenty of lovely things added to it.

Coins, newspaper, Smash Hits magazine, Rolling Stones magazine, Ralph magazine, casino chip, shot glass & AFL scores. That will be interesting for him to open on his 18th!

It was a lovely afternoon and a great way to welcome little Xavier into our circle of friends and family.

Grace is 2 1/2 years old

My beautiful, sweet first born is 2 1/2 today.

But instead of celebrating, she is asleep beside me on the couch. Raising her head every 20 mins or so to start crying, then shaking then puking. It seems my little Grace has Mummy's bug from the other night.

It started about 6pm when she started crying and saying her tummy hurt. She then layed down on the couch and said she wanted to sleep, then the vomiting started. So it looks like a long night ahead for us. I'm going to spend the night in the lounge with Grace, I would hate to leave her alone and have her be sick in her sleep.

Ok, so I wanted to write a few things about Grace at 2 1/2.

Grace is growing into such a beautiful girl. She is just gorgeous and amazes me everyday with the new things that she has learnt.

She is developing such a great sense of humour and cracks us all up with the things she says.

"He's MY Daddy first Xavier"

"I don't just think so Mummy"

"Just Kidding Mummy"

"Just the girls shopping, Stinky boys at home"

"Mummy, Mummy, Mummy, Mummy.......KIRSTEN"

"Daddy. Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.........DUANE"

She loves kisses and cuddles, and has just started randomly saying "I love you Mummy" So, So sweet! She is always there to offer a kiss if Xavier has hurt himself, saying "You all right little buddy?"

Grace's manners are just beautiful. She still sometimes needs a prompt, but I get so excited when she says Please & Thank-you without a reminder. She also apologises with a sweet little "Oops sorry, No mean to" If she accidently bumps into someone, it sounds so cute.

Grace's favourite things to do at the moment are helping me to clean, drawing, cutting paper, gluing, making collages, painting, playing in the sandpit, playing shops (with Xavier as the reluctant shop keeper), building lego houses for her animals, bouncing on the trampoline, making cubby houses, fussing over dolly & cooking. She loves playing the role of big sister, bossing Xavier around and making sure he only gets into what he is allowed to.

She's fantastic with the toilet. No accidents at all during the day, she just takes herself off to the toilet whenever she needs to. She goes on the toilet now without the insert, just balances herself. She discovered that she can sit on the toilet and flush it at the same time, I hear her laughing her head off as the water splashes back up to her. She also has developed a funny little habit with the toilet paper. She folds it up ever so neatly before she uses it, I'm a scruncher so not sure where she got that from.

I am so in love with this little girl. Her personality is just gorgoues, I am so blessed that I get to share every day with her. I adore her and can't believe how much she has grown from the tiny, precious newborn that I first met. I love that we can have conversations now & most of the time I understand what she is on about. I love that she is expressing her emotions and learning more about herself.

My beautiful Grace, I love you all the way to the moon, and back.

Yuck, Yuck, Yuck!

I had such a horrible Saturday night.

It started off nice. Xavier went to bed at 6pm, then Grace, Duane & I sat down for chicken Tacos. Yum, Yum!!

They were so yummy and we all had very full tummies at the end. I was feeling ok then, just my mouth was a little salty but I put this down to the taco's.

Grace went to bed, then Duane & I went for a relaxing spa outside. I started getting really hot, and my mouth was getting even saltier and saltier. I thought that I was getting a bit dehydrated so I got out of the spa and filled up on water.

I still wasn't feeling great, so headed to bed for an early night. I had just gotten to sleep when that horrible lurching feeling in the bottom of my stomach started. I raced to the bathroom and up it all came. I really detest vomiting, once I start I just can't stop. Lucky I don't vomit too often, I think that last few time have both been when I was pregnant.

So then night when on and on like that. I slept in the lounge and had no sleep, mainly because I felt like crap but also because I was too scared to go to sleep in case I vomited again. Xavier woke at about 2am for his normal feed, Duane tried to get him just to go back to sleep with him, but he wanted booby. So I waited until I had been sick again, (that seemed to give me about 1/2 hour of feeling ok) then went and fed him. He went back to sleep ok then.

I spent all Sunday crashed on the couch trying to catch up on rest & regain some energy. I was exhausted and drained. Duane was so sweet though, bringing me Gatorade and doing ALL the housework, washing, meals and everything to do with the kids.

I started to feel a little better last night, so Duane made me some mashed potato as I hadn't eaten since the night before. Last night I slept well, and feel so much better today, still don't feel like eating though.

So I'm not sure if it was the Tacos, even though no one else was sick or if I had Gastro. Gastro seems to be going around. Chelsea had it on Friday, she was feeling very crappy and asked me to look after Malia for a few hours for her. I did see Chelsea for a few minutes, but I don't really thing I would have caught anything then.

So who knows? I just hope that none of the kids get it.

2 funny things today

1)

We were all sitting at the dining table enjoying lunch when Grace & I had this conversation:

Grace: "That's my 'puter Mummy"

Me: "No Grace, that's Mummy's computer"

Grace: "I don't just think so Mummy, that's Grace's 'puter"

Me: "That's Mummy's computer Grace, not for Grace to play with"

Grace: "That makes Gracie very sad now Mummy" (said with a very forlorn face)

I couldn't help it, I just laughed. It seems my little girl is getting the hang of emotions & is learning how to express them. Or is she just starting to manipulate me????

2)

I was changing Xavier nappy this morning when I noticed something in it. On closer inspection I realised that it was a sticker from a mandarin. Then I remembered yesterday fishing out mandarin peel from his mouth. So it seems my little boy has swallowed the sticker whole and it has come out the other end whole too. Yuck, yuck!