Happy New Year

Happy New Year
May your fireworks be colourful!

Your parties be memorable!

 Your drinks be thirst quenching!!!

And your cabs quickly available...

The Helladaze

Seems I've been away for some time. 

"Time...what is time?" 

With spending time with Isobel, cleaning up house for the visitors/cleaning up Isobel, getting ready for the holidays/getting Isobel ready, trying to get some sleep/trying to get Isobel to sleep...you can imagine, I've had little time for the blog. 

Anyhoo...

Mum, Erin and Phil (Sis and bro-in-law) arrived safely after a gruelling 38 hours of door to door travel from rural US  to here. They are finally settling in (I think) after dealing with all that jet lag and a round of family activities we planned for them to attend. 

Here are two pix:

 The Grandmas sharing a cuddle.

This is my sis.

AKA-Auntie Erin.

That still sounds funny to me when I hear it!

I/we are finally catching up on my rest as well after all the stress of 

the end of the year at school, moving rooms, getting the house ready, being a new father, etc. It's difficult enough trying to adjust to parenthood and sort out how all that stuff works without the added pressures of a major household upheaval. Still, it's been  nice to have a couple other sets of arms to pass the grape to. For awhile there it was a real game of pass the baby for Mauz and myself to get anything done as she never slept during the day and screamed bloody murder if we tried to put her down: You want a shower? Pass her to me. I need to water the garden. Can you take her? Can you tie my laces, I can't reach with her in my arms. Can you scratch my...I can't reach it...You get the idea.

Thankfully, she is just starting to lie down for naps now. We were beginning to think she was taking after her mother with the all-nighters and the (boobie) binging but it seems that she is becoming a bit more sensible as she ages. Wait! She is becoming just like her mum. 

Poor mum. 

Mauzi's social life has taken quite a battering. Seems every time mum tries to go out Isobel feels it coming and chucks a major tantrum. No lunch with the girls from work. No x-mas eve get together at Katy's. New Years Eve festivities are a definite question mark. And after all Mauzi has done for her Given up the grog; Limited the caffine; No curries; No tomatoes; No snorkeling;

 No beach on a 40* day...What a good mum!!!

(obviously not 40* here)

above left: Thanx to Matt and Lydia for the beautiful xmas dress 

below centre:  Thanx to Jo for the cozy knitted hat and cardi 

Isobel is changing every day now. She loves the boob, is putting on a

 lot of weight and is

 cultivating a comfy little double chin on which she rests her growing head. She also is becoming quite strong and coordinated. She can hold that head up for longer periods of time now and will turn to look at things that interest her. She is smiling now and does this knid of laugh/coo thing which cracks everyone up. 

(Grandpa's pig "oinks" are so funny!!!)

She is interested in everything around her and loves to travel. She gets angry if she can't see and prefers to be held face out. We try and take her out as often as possible.

(A bit small yet for this slide!)

Anatomy of a poooooo...

Here we see Isobel and dad listening to some tunes on the old Mac.
Dad shared his current addiction, Band of Horses but Isobel, taking after her mother
seems to prefer her stuff a bit more sample-heavy, electronicish.
She digs Lemon Jelly.

Suddenly dad smells something a bit...off.

Pewwwww...even Isobel has gotten a whiff by now.
Just look at that expression!

Dad goes for the handoff...

(Not really. Nappy changing is our special time together.
Mom's got the boobs and dad gets the poops.)

The Many Faces of Isobel-7

The Many Faces of Isobel-6

And this one?

The Many Faces of Isobel-5

What is this face?

The Many Faces of Isobel-4

The Many Faces of Isobel-3

What is this face???

The Many Faces of Isobel-2

What's that face???

The Many Faces of Isobel-1

What is this face??

Sleep Scenes

Isobel's first excursion to the city!

So we packed up all the stuff we needed, thought we may need,

probably didn't need but who knows what we would need
(...gone are the days of travelling light...)
took a deep breath and jumped on a train to the city.
A pram in the city offers a fresh dad a whole new set of challenges:
The gap between the train and platform.
Fighting bikers for pram space.
Oh crap, the escalator!!! (First time a bit of a failure).
No more stairsn for us...just look for the ramps.

Isobel taking in a bit of Melbourne Cafe' culture.

Lucy won best brunch with poached eggs
on fried halloumi with pesto.
Yum!

Checking out some shops.

Napping on Kathy's lap.
Visiting with Chris.
We've missed you!

We cruised the market for awhile and bought
a colourful lamp for her bedroom.

I wonder what she thought of it all?

Pic of the day 1 December, 2007

I turned Isobel on to some vintage Sesame Street on YouTube.
Two of her favourites were "Everybody Sleeps"
and the "Counting Pinball Machine"
(actually recorded by the Pointer Sisters!)

Pic of the day 30 November, 2007

Look Grandma I.

She fits! And she likes it too.