175-177 & 71-73 Weeks

This is three blog posts in one, as not only have we been very busy with the move, but good old Telstra has completely stuffed up our phone and internet connection (again), and we have had no internet.  They have given us a mobile hotspot to use now, until our internet gets fixed on Friday.  They are absolutely bloody hopeless.

In the meantime, we have been unpacking in our new house, and getting used to the new surroundings.  Carmie says she misses her old house, but I think she is happy here.  It is amazing how adaptable kids are.  They have a great big playroom in this house, with a little 'art studio' attached, and an enormous back yard, and four sheep in the neighbouring paddock.  Although we have more room now, we still find that we need to get the kids out at least once a day, or they go stir crazy.  We have had beach trips, park trips, pub trips and farm trips.  The weather is getting really lovely, and downright hot some days.  On our last trip to the beach we realised we will most likely have to forgo the beach this summer and stick with the inlet instead, as it is too stressful.  Arley likes to run headfirst into the water, with no fear of the waves at all.  Carmen went through the same thing at the same age.  He is just too slippery when he is wet from head to toe, and it is really stressful to play goalie to him running into the waves.  He is going through a really difficult stage at the moment.  He is doing lots of crying and throwing himself on the floor having tantrums.  He is also doing this dreadful high-pitched ear-piercing screaming still.  It is fairly constant, when he is annoyed or wants attention.  He eats like a horse - there is only 5 lbs difference between him and Carmie.  He is saying a few random words here and there.  Today he said, "Cheese" while I was taking his photo, and he nows says "Ooosh" when he wants to put his shoes on.  Sadly he also says "Pad!!!" for iPad, and tonight I even got, "More pad!"  

Carmie has made huge progress as far as her monkey is concerned.  About a week ago, I convinced her to dip his feet in white vinegar so that she wouldn't suck on them.  Well, she did, and that progressed to vinegar and mustard, then we added horse radish cream, and now Tobasco.  She has gone  6 nights without sleeping with him in her mouth.  We have had lots of tears, and the first night I had to stay with her and rub her back for almost 2 hours, but every night gets a bit easier, and she is very proud of herself.  I don't know if her teeth are beyond the point of no return, but we are hoping they improve.

I am sure I have skipped lots of stuff that happened over the past few weeks, but hopefully I can get this blog, and our sanity, back on track.  Who knew that life would be so tough without the internet?!

Packing

At Mollymook Beach park

At Burrill Lake

New hair cut.  At the pub.

Teaching Arley to jump

I hate Movember

The view from our front patio

At Mollymook Beach

Siblings with their beloved 'Pad!'

At King's Point park

Love this picture - it's all about Carmie, but look at Arley

The kids' new playroom

When Arley is not allowed to play with dish soap

At Mummy's computer, in his sister's hat

Fairy

174 +70 Weeks

This week we had Halloween.  Because we bought candy from the supermarket earlier,  Carmie thought we were having a Halloween party, and she told everyone at school that we were.  And so we did.  It was just a small family party, but she thought it was great, and had lots of fun dressing up as a fairy.  Arley was too grumpy to dress up as anything at all, and just wore his nappy.  Uncle Sting made a seriously scary lady, Aunty Georgia a tennis player, and Jeffrey a Rastafarian.  We didn't get many trick-or-treaters, as Halloween is kind of lame here, but it was still a fun evening.

We have had a busy week, with packing for our move when ever we could, and a trip to the duck park as well as the beach park, and also to the pirate ship park , with a walk across the harbour for chips and milkshakes.  Arley is proving to be a such a boy.  He likes to play with cars, he is always a mess, he is loud and loveable.  He learned to say "snack" this week, and can now point to his nose. Carmie loves to sit and 'work' - she sits at the old red desk that used to be mine, and does intricate scribbles.  That is, until Arley comes along and grabs the container full of markers, to scatter them far and wide. In our new house, the kids have a large playroom, with a sunroom off to one side, and we are very excited to make this their 'art studio'.  Hopefully this will contain the mess a little.

We move house in 8 days, so things are a little stressful.  But it is all for good.  And today was Jeff's and my 6th anniversary (which we celebrated with a 5pm dinner of leftovers with the kids - very romantic).  Our Temple & Webster sale for Canvas River has begun too.  There is a lot on my plate at the moment! 

Aunty Sting ;)

RastaDad

Venus Bamber

Fairy Carmie turning Sting into a frog

Arley eating pizza

173 + 69 Weeks

Well, packing is proving to be rather difficult with Carmen and Arley underfoot.  We really can't get much done at all when they are up, and it is SO difficult to muster up any energy at 8pm when we have had a full day of both of them.  But, we are slowly getting through it.  Our house move has been pushed back a week, so we are getting the keys to the new place on Friday 14th, to move that week-end.  So, the next few weeks aren't exactly going to be fun!

We have had a good week, however.  The weather was beautiful, we spent lots of time outside, and even got Lolo down to the Inlet with us.   There was no-one there, only one other couple.  One afternoon,  I took the kids on a seemingly happy walk which turned into me trying to carry both of them home because Carmie got a bindy in her foot - not fun considering they both weigh about 30lbs!  And Arley is communicating more - he is pointing a lot, and he can say 'hat', and tonight he showed me where his nose is.  He also knows what a lion, horse, cow, snake and cat say.  But that is it.  He is a little behind where Carmie was at when she was his age, but I see him catching up little by little.  He has had a bit of a rough time lately, as he is teething.  Two more teeth are coming up on the bottom, which will make 8 in all.  He is very drooly.

And we had some bad news this week too - Carmie and Arley had their first dental appointments, and we were given the news that they are both orally defective!  Carmie has ruined her bite with her Monkey that she constantly has in her mouth.  When her mouth is closed, her upper teeth do not cover her bottom teeth.  There is a large monkey-sized gap that she can stick her tongue through.  The dentist said to try to get her monkey away from her if we can, but that she would rather Carmie be happy than devastated, so if she won't give him up, leave it be.  And poor little Arley has upper lip tie (which we knew about), but it is so bad that it is joined through his top teeth and underneath to his pallet.  She said we will have to get it snipped, but not until he is older.  I am actually taking the kids to get a second opinion on it all after we move.  But now every time Carmie smiles, all I can see is this gaping hole that shouldn't be there :(

Poor Jeffrey had to get a wisdom tooth pulled this week too, so I am flossing away like mad, I don't want to be next!

Here are a couple of cute videos of Carmie dancing along with a show on tv:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJ7PuQFYvY8&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZoShkNTMc0&feature=youtu.be

Going on our not-so-fun walk

 Watching their beloved iPad together

 Giving Daddy his medicine after he got his tooth pulled

Carmie's Monkey-shaped smile :(

 Packing, such a big help

 At the beautiful Narrawallee Inlet