190 + 86 Weeks

Jeffrey has still been working a lot, so it has been mostly just me and the kids, except for a lovely morning spent at the pirate ship park, after which we walked across the harbour and had hot chips and smoothies.  Carmie has really been missing her dad, and every time she throws a tantrum over anything, it ends with her saying, "Daddy doesn't play with me enough any more".  Carmen has been having some rough days sleep-wise, and I think that I need to go back to letting her nap a couple of days a week.  They said at school that by the afternoon she sits around with her eyes glazed over - poor thing!  When she does nap though, she is up until all hours, so it is really hard finding the balance.  I think that she would sleep a lot longer in the morning if Arley let her.  Instead, he wakes up and starts practising his new words.  He has finally reached the stage where he will repeat words that I ask him to say.  He sounds very garbled, but at least he tries.  He is learning his colours, and his favourite thing to do is to practise his alphabet.  He loves to read books, and can be quite solitary sitting over in their reading corner, looking at his books.  He is definitely maturing, as in, he doesn't run around and trash the playroom any more, he actually pulls toys out and plays with them.  He is very much a boy though, and is into his trains and cars, and when he doesn't get his way, he tends to get pushy and a little physical - so opposite to Carmen who will just tear up.  Carmie is still quite happy to go off to school, and I also try to take Arley there for a bit of a run around, so he can get used to the place before he starts in four months.  He seems to love it there, wish he could start now!

Computer time on Mum's lap.

 Carmie insisted on wearing her "German dress" - thanks Oma and Opa!

189 + 85 Weeks

This week has been a rough week.  Jeffrey has been working a lot, including some double shifts, which means that I have had lots of alone time with the kids.  Ordinarily this would be fine, except that I think the fact that Carmen has given up on her naps has caught up with her.  She is fine for most of the day, and then she is the complete opposite of fine.  For the last three days she has been going off to school and apparently having a great time, and then coming home, and she will have the slightest upset, and then she cries with wracking sobs, tantrums, screams, wails and then back to heart wrenching sobs, and this can last for a good 45 minutes.  It is truly awful.  And then coupled with Arley being a stubborn little guy who throws his (almost 14kg) weight around when he doesn't get his way, I am exhausted.  He wants "up" all of the time, and it is backbreaking!

On a good note, we have had some nice times too - we did some baking this week, and I got Arley out to the pirate ship park and for the first time he didn't make a run straight for the road.  Carmie spent a day at the farm with her grandparents which she has been asking to do for ages.  And I got a couple of paintings finished, which is a good thing as I am having a small exhibition at the end of April.

This next week I am going to try to get Carmen to bed early every day, so hopefully my next post will be a little more positive :)

New hat for the dress-up box

The view from our front porch

188 + 84 Weeks

For this week's post I am inundating you with photos, as there were too many cute ones.  We had a good week, with a trip to the park at Burrill, a trip to Dolphin Point, hair cuts for me and Arley by our new hair dresser Jeffery, and a trip to Narrawallee Inlet for me and Arley.  Carmie is loving school still, and even asked if she could go there on Saturday.  She is apparently friends with all of the kids and is very social, which goes to show how comfortable she is there.  Now that she is going three days a week, we have a special day with just Arley every Wednesday.  It is nice to have the one on one time with him, as Carmie can be very demanding sometimes!  This week was really hot, so I took him down to the Inlet.  He had a lovely little paddle, and then took off on a very long walk to the end of the point, and couldn't have cared less if I was following him or not.  Luckily I was, as we sat on a bench and had a really lovely morning tea.  Apparently Arley likes a 180 degree ocean view for his morning snacks.  He has had a good week, with his new favourite word being "up".  He will come up to me while I'm in the kitchen and physically turn me around (that kid is strong!) and demand "Up, up up!"  He also knows all of his ABC's, although he can't say 'w', and knows his 1 to 10's.  He still won't talk if you ask him to, for instance, he will point to his giraffe toy and say, "araffe" but then you point to his bear and ask him to say bear, which is a much easier word, and he refuses.  Stubborn.

Carmie is well.  She has grown 1.5cm in the last month, and is looking rather tall these days.  She is generally very sweet, unless she is really tired.  She is mad about Jake and the Netherland Pirates, and Mr Men books (which, by the way, are not nearly as cool as I thought they were!!).  She says the funniest things.  When she's hungry, she tells me that her heart is hungry.  Last night after lights out, she told me that she had a tummy ache.  When I questioned her further, she told me that it was because she didn't eat enough food, and that her "heart was sloshing around in all the water, and it can't swim".  She insists on having water by her bedside (like mother, like daughter), and I think she had drunk too much.  I have to start recording the things she says.  Such a goofball.

At Burrill Lake

 Playing in the backyard

 At Dolphin Point

 Family photo :)

 Mummy & Arley day at the Inlet

 See yous latah (towny talk!)