Family photo

Blair Family
December 25, 2005
Merry Christmas from us to you!

Christmas

Phew! I've finally found some time to post and upload some photos from The Big Day.
The boys had a wonderful Christmas! Ethan was just SO excited about everything this year, it really made it special for us. Tyler of course is too little to understand, but he still enjoyed himself and both of them got totally spoiled.

Ethan woke up on Christmas Eve (around 10pm) with nasty croup, but after a 10-min spell in the bathroom with the shower on hot, and some Pamol, he quickly went back to sleep again.
In the morning, Tyler woke at 6.30am (as usual) and Ethan slept until almost 8am. My parents and sister had stayed the night, so Ethan was really excited to see them when he got up. He was also really excited to see that Santa had eaten the shortbread and finished the glass of milk, and that the reindeer had munched on the carrots. Amazingly, Ethan was able to wait patiently for another 45 min before opening his presents! It was a crazy time when he woke up, I was trying to glaze the ham (and cut my finger quite badly in the process) and make french toast for breakfast at the same time, Rob was feeding Tyler his breakfast (because he wasn't about to wait) and everybody else was fighting for the bathroom!

Finally, we started the present opening. Just the kids, because the adults all did the pull-a-name-from-a-hat-and-buy-one-present thing, and we opened ours later. First they opened presents from Santa in their stocking. Along with other goodies, Ethan got the 2 things he had asked for - a Toy Story torch and Madagascar on DVD. The look on his face was just priceless when he saw his request had been granted! Of course there were many other presents, far too many to mention them all. But a few notable gifts were the Spiderman Pop-Up Tent from Nana & Grandad, the Spiderman Calendar from Auntie Leah and the Spiderman Underpants from Mummy & Daddy! Yep, Spiderman is still flavour of the month!

Of course Tyler got spoiled too, but he really was more interested in the paper and boxes, or trying to get his paws on Ethan's new things :) One of Tyler's best presents was a huge box of play food to go with his toy kitchen (his absolute favourite toy) - thanks Mum & Dad!

The rest of the day was lovely. We had breakfast (yes, I did manage to avoid burning the french toast, but only just), then went to church. There was a cute little "incident" during the service when Ethan got up and started to walk away from our seat. I asked him what he was doing and he said "I'm going to show Carole my new Spiderman underpants" at which point I almost died! Carole is the worship leader and had Ethan succeeded in carrying out his mission, the entire congregation would have been privvy to it!!

After church we came home and Tyler had a good nap while I ran around like a headless chook getting the lunch ready, with lots of help from mum. Finally we ate around 1pm, with dessert sometime after 3pm! Some friends popped round for a visit in the afternoon with their 2 little girls, Emily (almost 3) and Charlotte (4 months). Ethan watched 2 of his new DVDs before finally crashing at 8pm. I asked him if he had a nice Christmas Day and he said "Yes, Mummy. I'm a lucky boy."

Here are some photos from our day. I hope you enjoy!

The Santa photo you've all been waiting for...

Yes, I have a photo.
But things didnt turn out quite the way I hoped they would.

Ethan was more than happy to take a lollipop from Santa when we got there, but wasn't too sure about sitting on his knee. I didn't want to pressure him so I suggested we leave. But NO! He wasn't having that! He said he wanted to try again, so it was second time lucky. He was still very shy and didn't say much. He wouldn't climb onto Santa's knee by himself (and of course Santa wasn't going to pick him up, just in case he had a meltdown) so I had to place him there. He whispered his present request with no emotion on his face whatsoever. I took a photo, but he wasn't about to smile.


Now Tyler. My social butterfly who is hardly ever clingy.
I thought he would be fine. He was perfectly happy to stand next to Santa, shaking his jingle bells, but screamed when we sat him on Santa's knee! Needless to say, we didn't bother with a photo. Maybe next year ...

Stupid Nerd

I just took this stupid test because Jes did, and I wanted to see how stupid I was compared to her! Turns out we are both as stupid as each other, LOL :) Which is not very stupid at all. Lower scores are better in this case!



This means that 97% of people are more stupid than me and 2% are less stupid.

Oh, and it turns out I am slightly nerdy, too.
Specifically, I am nerdier than 65% of all people!



So how stupid and nerdy are YOU? I dare you to find out!

*ETA* Rob took the stupid test and got 78. He thought higher scores were better and was about to brag shamelessly about how much better he did than me, when I pointed out that his score actually means that 78% of people are smarter than him. That shut him up pretty quick!! Hehe.

Freddy the frog

The boys have their very first pet!
Yesterday Rob found a frog on the building site where he was working, so he took it home and left it in our covered paddling pool (which had just a little bit of water in the bottom). When he showed me I suggested that we ring the pet shop. They said frogs are very easy to keep, so we decided to keep him. We took the boys up to Pet Planet to buy a glass tank, some pebbles and a carton of live flies.
We set the tank up when we got home. They only need a little bit of water in the bottom, because once they are frogs they don't go back in the water [I never knew that!]. They just need a small amount to keep their skin moist.
The guy at the pet shop said he has 3 frogs, all smaller than ours, who eat about 100 flies per week! And they won't eat dead insects, so we'll have to either buy them regularly from the pet shop (about $5 for a carton of 50 flies) or get really good at trapping live insects!
Rob will take the boys down to Little Manly beach today to find some driftwood and big flat stones so we can make a "shelter" for the little guy, who Ethan has named Freddy. He's very cute. I'll take a photo this weekend.
Initially we set up Freddy's new home in Ethan's room. But after seeing Freddy jump around the tank, Ethan got a bit freaked out and didn't want to go back into his room! So we decided to move Freddy into the playroom.
I hope he doesn't start croaking loudly at night! Didn't hear him last night. I wonder if they only croak when other frogs are nearby? I guess I'll soon become a frog expert!

The beauty of simplicity

Everything is SO black & white when you are 3.5 years old.
I was sick at the weekend with a tummy bug (actually I'm pretty sure it was that sushi) and Ethan came up to see me. Here is a transcript of our conversation:

E: What's the matter, Mummy?
Me: I have a very sore tummy. There is a bug in my tummy making me feel sick.
E: I can squash bugs with this thing. I will squash the bug and then you won't be sick anymore.
Me: But it is inside my tummy, Ethan. You can't see it.
E: Well, we just need to get a man's saw, and find that hole thing [tummy button?], and cut open your tummy lid, and then get the bug out, okay Mummy?
Me: You can't saw open my tummy! That would hurt.
E: Well, you just need to lie really really still, and not groan about it, okay?

If only things were that easy!
The beauty of simplicity :)

I love my sister!!

My darling little sister camped outside Real Groovy Records on Queen Street for 17 HOURS to get us tickets for the second U2 concert (Vertigo) in March!!! And all that time I was lying sick in bed with a horrible tummy bug (or more likely food poisoning from some dodgy sushi). Our friend Katie queued with her, even though she already had tickets for the first concert! What a great friend.
As I lay in bed, I was constantly texting Leah to see how she was doing. We had torrential rain and wind about 1am and I could NOT sleep for thinking about her and if she was getting totally drenched out on the street. Amazingly, she said it didn't rain at all!
She even got on TV. Channel 3 interviewed the "couch boys" who were next in line to Leah & Katie, and the camera managed to get a nice shot of Leah in her pink woolly beanie at the same time :) Then another shot of her walking through the door to Real Groovy, only minutes away from gaining possession of some very sought-after concert tickets!!
Both concerts sold out within 90 minutes so Rob and I are eternally grateful that Leah had the guts and determination to do what she did. What an amazing little sister I have. Love ya Leah!
U2 here we come!! WOOHOO!

What Christmas Ornament Are You?

You are the Christmas Angel.

What Christmas Ornament are you?
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Tyler is growing up

I've had a revelation: My little boy is really growing up.

• He has been saying "mama" and "dada" for ages but not in context. But now he says "bubba" when he sees a baby and he has his own special word for "kiwi", it sounds something like "gawa".
• He brings books to us and then tries to climb into our laps to have them read to him. He can correctly point to lots of things now - ball, dog, teddy, baby.
• He holds hands with us at the dinner table while Ethan says grace! He's been watching the 3 of us do it and now he is joining in. He usually reaches his hand out first, so he knows the routine well! I'm waiting for the day he closes his eyes too:)
• He is cutting his first eye tooth! Once he has all 4 of them he can have a rest until the 2-year molars come in.
• Every morning when he wakes up he wants his singing teddy bear. He loves to press his tummy and hear teddy sing "Jesus loves me" while the light changes colour.
• Last night we let him use a fork to feed himself for the first time. He did a great job!! He couldn't get enough of his dinner - garlic prawns, spicy tomato pasta and steamed cabbage. I love that this boy eats anything we put on his plate. Ethan ate it all too, but not without a bit of cajoling on my part :)
• Melissa at daycare said he was being really cuddly all day yesterday. He doesn't usually stay still for more than 20 seconds! I'm glad he loves his teachers so much and that he feels comfortable with them. He has settled into daycare amazingly well.
• He has a chest infection at the moment but despite that, he is still sooo happy and smiley most of the time (unless he is having a tantrum because he isn't getting his way!)

These milestones are so bittersweet. I love that he is growing up, because I feel like he has so much more personality now. But I know I will miss my baby!