Bugs, Babies & Life Stories

Caitie loves jumping in puddles and so after all the rain we had last night and today there were plenty on puddles to run, jump, spin and splash in.

Lauren arrived last Thursday morning to take Caitie on a surprise Picnic day.

She took her up to the park opposite the RAAF base, where they played in the playground, did a lovely painting, made bracelet's and had a nice picnic lunch.

Caitie had the best day and as when she enjoys herself has not stopped talking about it and shows everyone that visits her painting.


I love the fact that these girls like to spend time with Caitie, they ask me if they can take her out so they can have some time with her and give me some down time. We are truly blessed with great kids and fabulous friends.

Andrew and I had a funeral to got recently and so we asked Lizzie if she would mind Caitlyn for a few hours. We dropped her of at the local kids play centre " Time to Play", and she had a great time in the balls and on the slides. She also enjoyed her popper and fairy bread sandwich.

I was tidying up Caitlyn's room after she had destroyed it during her afternoon sleep yesterday and between the two stools in her room was 'dubbie'. I was so glad that I found it and not her, as she has done so well this last week without it.

This is just a few snapshots to show what happens when you don't have a dummy to put yourself to sleep... You play with everything in your room and pull everything out or down including the cardboard out of the window, that was put up to cut out the light and heat. But by then you have exausted yourself to the point that you can't get out from under it.

Well on Sunday morning the much loved and affectionately named "Dubbie" the dummy disappeared. We have been telling her for about a month now that once she turns 3 she had to throw him out, but it looks like it has happened without our help.

Caitlyn got up later than normal and was playing with Pip while I got ready for Church. I got her ready and we headed off to Church. We came came home, had lunch and it was time for Caitlyn to have her afternoon nap but where is 'dubbie'????? Andrew and I searched the entire house 3 times over with no success. It was at this point that I burst into tears and said "I am not in the frame of mind to deal with no 'dubbie' tonight", this was due to Miss Philippa not sleeping too well of late...... But it was my fantastic husband to the rescue, he sent me to bed and took the girls to the park so I could get a few winks to at least function.

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening explaining to Caitlyn that 'dubbie' was gone and that she would have to sleep with out him. After a LOT of prayer, (by many people thank you ) she headed off to bed, had 2 stories, 3 songs, a cuddle with mummy and within 5 minutes she was asleep and did not wake up till 7:45am the next morning (usually a 6am riser) She woke up so HAPPY which was wonderful!!!!

It was actually a great night, I woke up energize and recharged as Pip only woke at 2:45am and 5:45am, which was an huge improvement from 10:30pm, 1am, 3am, 5am, 6am the night before.

Well we are almost a week without 'dubbie' and she asks frequently for her 'dubbie', but we just tell her that 'remember he is gone, he got lost' to which she replies 'can I look for him' but never does.....

Switzerland - Hawaii

Switzerland - Hawaii

It is scary how quickly Pip is growing up, she is now 4 months and 12 days old. We have had a lot a firsts this week which has been very exciting

She has moved from the Capsule in the car to the car seat. She seams to like it a bit better than the capsule the only problem is now we have to wake her every time we get her out of the car rather than getting her and the capsule out as she sleeps.

We also tried her out in the round activity thing, she enjoyed it and spent about 10 minutes playing around which is good in Pip terms.

Then we thought we would try her in the jolly jumper, she LOVED this just as much as Caitie use to and we were even able to eat dinner last night while she just hung around..

I have been wondering if she needed a bit more food rather than just me, so tonight I gave her the first taste of rice cereal. She seemed to enjoy it and we will see how it effects her during the night. I am praying that it helps her sleep rather than keeps her up, not that she could be up any more than usual. In the last week or so she has been waking up to 4 times between 6pm and 5am as her room is getting so hot in this ridiculous weather and she can't sleep. We are getting a ceiling fan installed as the desk fan doesn't cut it and also effects the breathing monitor.

It feels like yesterday that it was the night before she was born, come to think of it feels like yesterday I was walking down the aisle to marry Andrew and that is 8 years ago in March this year......

We welcomed in the New Year at the Pendlebury's this year and our Black & White party commenced at 3pm and we left at 12:45am. We all thought how are we going to last that long, but it was surprisingly easy. 7pm to 10pm went really slow but after that it was 12:50pm before we knew it.

Caitlyn lasted all afternoon, all night but crashed BIG TIME and was asleep before we got to the end of the driveway. Pip slept on and off all night and was WIDE AWAKE and in Aunty Angela's arms when the clock struck 12am.

Even though it was a late night and we were already very tired it was a great way to welcome in the new year with great friends.

After not much sleep we headed out on Monday to Nathan & Annette's for a New Years lunch with the Hicking's, Mackenzie's, Mackay's and us. We ate LOTS of YUMMY ribs and had a great time with our friends while the kids played.

On Thursday we headed into the city to take the girls around the city for the day.

After driving in and parking at Pymont, we walked down to the Ferry wharf and go the 12:15pm service to Luna Park.

After photos at the entrance and at the silly mirrors we went into Coney Island. Andrew, Gary, Abbey & Emma went on all the things while Caitlyn cried and wanted to go somewhere else and Pip sat up and chated.

We then headed outside to have lunch, play the clowns, ride the Ferris wheel and the carousel. Then back on the ferry and over to Darling Harbour for dinner and home.

We had a nice visit with Dad's youngest sister and her family from Sale from 26th to 30th. Aunty Joy, Uncle Garry, Abbey & Emma arrived late Tuesday night and on Wednesday afternoon they headed out on Dad's boat, meet us at the Oasis for a swim and then back to our place for a jump on the Tramp and a few photos.

After finished jumping, we headed up to Dad's for his birthday lunch with Dad, Barb, Jen, Phil, Ryan, BJ, Kerryn & Annika.

We had a nice lunch and a yummy cake with candles that Caitie got to help blow out and then Annika had a turn it.

It was a nice day of the boys relaxing while watching the cricket with their eyes closed, the girls playing, the babies sleeping and us ladies just chating. We left about 4:30pm, Caitie went to sleep in the car and we put her straight to bed where she stayed until 5:30am the next morning.

The rain had cleared on Boxing day so while the girls both slept in till 9am Andrew and I put up the trampoline. Which was alot simpler than we thought it would be, we almost had it all finished, just had the last of the net polls to attached and the net when Caitie woke up so she got to have a jump before Daddy was finished with the net.

She absolutely loves it the pity has been that with the rain we have had since it going up she has not had much chance to use it and with it around the front (the only place it can go) is needs sweeping everything before you can use it as it is full of leaves and stuff from the gum trees.

We were soon joined by Dad & Barb, Les & Norma and Uncle Greg & Aunty Lorraine, for a nice night of eating, catching up on a years news and more presents.....

At 9pm it was time to head home and all collapse which the girls did in the car. Over all it was a very long day, which we had hoped it wouldn't be because of the girls, but it was still nice to spend it with family and friends.

Our only big dissapointment was that the girls big present was a trampoline, that didn't go up due to it raining all day 24th & 25th, atleast they are not the age to realise they have missed out.

At 1pm jumped in the car and headed down to Michelle and Glen's house in Riverstone for lunch, where Pip crashed big time, until a noise yappy mop dog barked once to many times and woke her up. We had Turkey,Pork, Beef and Ham, Roast Vegies, Bean and Salad, a real mix you could say. After that we had fruit planners, pavlova and summer pudding. We sat around for a while, till Caitie just got ti tired to string 2 words together so we headed back home for another rest, for everyone except me as i now had to get the cold meat cut for dinner and finish off the fried rice. At 5pm we jumped back in the car and headed down to BJ & Kerryn's for dinner at Kellyville.

Well, we started our day at 5:45am with a feed for Pip and then Andrew and I got stuck into getting breakfast ready for 7am while the girls both slept. At about 6:30am Caitie got up and had a shower with Daddy while I continued to cook. At 7ish "Bamma Werlie" (Grandma Verlie) arrived bearing MORE gifts, she had already dropped in twice with presents for the tree, then she was closely followed by Papa and Aunty Barb. Then at 7:20 Aunty Michelle turned up just in time for Pip to wake up and want a chat. We ate our Bacon, Eggs, Sausages, Hash Browns, Crossaints and toast. The dogs love Christmas as they always get the leftovers, which was minimal this year. We then moved to the lounge room floor to open our presents.

Of course the biggest pile was Miss Caitlyn. We then went around the circle opening a present each as Caitie helped.... Once finished, Andrew & I a little disappointed as we knew most of our presents, except for my Audrey Hepburn Collection and his new bike helmet visor and with Caitlyn TOTALLY overwhelmed with it all. Then off to Church, for a lovely service and a chance to wish all our friends a Merry Christmas. Then back home for a rest for Andrew, Caitie and Pip while I made fried rice for dinner.