Ethan and baby Noah

Our friends Phil & Jo had their first baby in February.
His name is Noah, and he is so cute!
I took this photo of Ethan holding Noah on Sunday night when they were round for dinner.
Aren't they both adorable?

Road trip adventures (and photos)

Yes, Rob and Ethan went on their Road Trip.
Yes, they had a fantastic time.
And yes, I worried about them. Just a little.

They didn't have the nicest weather, but at least it wasn't raining (as it was for the rest of the weekend once they got home). Despite the cloud and cooler temperature, they managed to go for 3 swims. Ethan was so excited when he got home, I could tell he had such a great time. He loved sleeping in the "boot" of the station wagon with Rob, and cooking sausages for breakfast and lunch on the gas cooker.
I had requested that Rob take "lots of photos" so I could relive their adventures. He took 10. And 5 of them were of the same thing. So I haven't got a whole lot to work with, but here are some pics:

(the lake doesn't even look that nice in the photos, but believe me, it is just beautiful on a lovely sunny day)

Some new Ethanisms

I just had to share these new Ethanisms with you! And document them so I never forget:

Me: "I love you"
E: "I love you too, my big girl!"

While eating dinner last night: "I just tasted something yucky, I think it was a bird's beak."
Seriously, I doubt Rob had the notion to put bird beaks in the spag bol!

This morning: "Could you please put some lemon juice in my water bottle?"
Well excuuuuse me, Mister! I guess plain water is just not good enough for him anymore!

About 20 times a day: "Do you want me to be Spiderman or Batman? You choose."
I think you know how this one goes. We choose, but our choice is always the wrong one.

Ethan's first "boys only" road trip!

This coming weekend, Rob and Ethan are going on a road trip!
Ever since Ethan was born, Rob has been looking forward to doing things like this with him, just the two of them. And when Tyler is older, just the three of them. Just the boys. No girls allowed!
In his 3 and ¾ years, Ethan has been on quite a few “adventures” with us. Snow holidays, aeroplane holidays, beach holidays, camping holidays and numerous long weekends in Whangarei. He’s also gone on holiday with mummy, leaving daddy at home. But he’s never gone away with daddy on his own.
Although the idea has been brewing in Rob’s mind for a few years, it was actually Ethan who suggested it. A couple of weeks ago, out of blue, he said to Rob, “Daddy, we should go on a secret trip, just you and me. And we should go to a lake! But I don’t know where there is a lake.” His little face went from excitement to disappointment, until Rob said “I know a really great lake we can go to.” Rob’s been dying to go to Kai-Iwi lakes this summer but it just hasn’t happened. Although summer is officially over, my boys are still swimming in the sea like the water is 38 degrees, so they are not going to mind if it is a little cooler now.
So the trip is being planned for Friday night. They will start the 3-hour drive after dinner, so that Ethan will sleep in the car. They’ll get to the lakes and find a spot to park the car, and they’ll sleep in the wagon. No tenting on road trips, apparently!! Then they will spend all day Saturday swimming in the lakes and doing “boy stuff” together.
From what I have heard about Rob’s previous road trips (with his mates), there is absolutely no preparation necessary. No food needs to be purchased before departure. That would require organisational skills. And if have those, you are not allowed to come. You spoil all the fun if you are organised. I guess Rob *might* have the foresight to pack Ethan’s pull-ups, blankie, water wings and toothbrush, but otherwise it will be a matter of grabbing a couple of sleeping bags, chucking a few items of clothing onto the back seat, carefully selecting some CDs to play on the journey, and jumping in the car.
I’m sure my boys will have a fantastic time. I’m going to try not to worry about them at all. We’ll see if that actually happens … though I’m not very optimistic!

Cutest pictures ever!

Well, in my humble opinion, anyway.
Here are Tyler's 18-month PixiFoto portraits taken a couple of weeks ago. All the pictures they took were awesome, but at $35 for each 5x7, I had to be restrained! I love these ones though.
The quality is not perfect, as these are digital photos that I took of the originals. Naughty, I know. But I can't afford to buy originals for the family, not at those prices :-)

ABC game

I stole this from Angella's blog :-)

A is for Age ~ 27, turning 28 on 31 March
B is for Beverage ~ water or Coke Zero (my new favourite thing)
C is for Career ~ Medical Writer/Editor
D is for Dad's Name ~ Charles Wilbur Jacobsen
E is for Extracurricular Activity ~ scrapbooking
F is for Favourite Song(s) of the Moment ~ “Changed” by Phil Joel
G is for a Good Time ~ sunny days at the beach
H is for Hometown ~ Hibiscus Coast
I is for Instrument you Play ~ piano
J is for Juice You Like ~ I’m not a big juice fan, but if pressed I would choose apple over any other kind
K is for Kids ~ Ethan Jakob 27.05.02 and Tyler Robson 24.09.04
L is for Living Arrangement ~ with 3 males in a 2-storey renovated 1960’s home close to the beach
M is for Mom's Name ~ Janet Jacobsen (nee Best)
N is for Name of Best Friend ~ I can’t name just one
O is for Overnight Hospital Stays ~ Births of my boys
P is for Pets ~ none at the moment
Q is for Quote You Like ~ “Boy = a noise with dirt on it”
R is for Relationship that Lasted the Longest ~ Rob & I have been together for 9 years
S is for Siblings ~ Leah
T is for Trip you were last on ~ summer holiday at Hahei in January
U is for U2 song you love ~ I can’t decide between “Tryin’ To Throw Your Arms Around The World” and “Stuck in a Moment You Can’t Get Out Of”
V is for Vegetable you Love ~ sweetcorn
W is for Wine you like ~ I used to prefer red wine, but now I like white (dry, not sweet)
X is for X-Rays you've had ~ teeth, foot
Y is for Yummy Food you make ~ cookies
Z is for Zodiac Sign ~ Aries, but I don’t believe in star signs

Tyler's first haircut!

A few months ago I ran a little poll on my blog asking whether or not we should cut Tyler's hair. Most of you voted to keep his long, red curls and not to cut.
But that was a few months ago, and Tyler's hair really was getting unruly. So today, at the ripe old age of 18 months, he had his hair cut. Just trimmed, mind you. Neither Rob nor I wanted to cut off Tyler's curls. And the girl who cut his hair couldn't stop talking about how beautiful it was!
He was very well behaved, considering it was his first time. I think he looks a lot older now, do you agree?

Here are few pictures - before, during and after:

This too shall pass ...

Oh, where do I start?
Ethan never really had temper tantrums. Honest to goodness. We sailed through the "terrible twos" without a hint of terribleness. Just before his 3rd birthday, he started to get a bit difficult, but it has generally been plain sailing for us. Yes, he still gets upset about things and doesn't want to do what he is told, but he's never done what his younger brother is starting to do now ....

.... Tyler is almost 18 months old. A few weeks ago, he started having full-on temper tantrums. Anything can set him off. He screams, cries, throws things, lays on the ground, kicking, yelling. It goes on and on for ages.

I've tried ignoring them, but he just gets himself so worked up.
I've tried the "firm cuddle" but he doesn't want a bar of it. He doesn't want any physical contact.
I've tried redirection and distraction. This technique works the best of the 3, but it doesn't always work! Usually food is the only thing that can distract him sufficiently so he will actually stop screaming long enough to calm down.

All I can assume is that we are hitting the "terrible twos" a lot earlier than most kids. It doesn't help that Tyler can't speak that well, so he probably throws tantrums out of sheer frustration because he can't say what he wants to say. His speech is getting heaps better, and I've noticed that he no longer screams when he wants more drink/food because he can say "more" now. But there are a multitude of random things that can just set off a tantrum.
I feel as though I am treading on eggshells, trying to avoid upsetting him but making sure I don't give in to everything he wants just because I don't want him to make a scene.

Since Ethan didn't really go through this stage, I feel like I'm lost!! I don't know what I can do about Tyler's behaviour. When he is good, he is an angel!! But when he is angry, he is awful. I don't know, it must be the red hair.

The whole situation is so challenging. And not just for me & Rob!
Yesterday when Rob picked the boys up from preschool Christy said "we've seen a couple of his tantrums today" which is probably her polite way of saying "your child has been a right terror today." Apparently Rob answered "yeah, they're good, aren't they?"
When I phoned mum today (she watches the boys on Wednesdays) she said "I've just experienced one of Tyler's temper tantrums for the first time." She said he was so mad that he actually crawled under the breakfast bar, right into the back corner, and sat there crying!

All I can say is "_Gam zeh ya'avor_"
This too shall pass.

Friday Foot Fiasco!

On Friday I fell down the stairs while carring Tyler, and badly sprained my foot.
I was on crutches for the first couple of days and I'm not allowed to drive or go to work for 4-5 days! Thankfully Tyler wasn't hurt at all, I guess that is why I hurt myself so badly, because I was trying to protect him. Ethan was a very good helper, getting the phone for me so I could call Rob to come home, because I couldn't move at all.
I had x-rays taken and the doctor said I was very lucky not to break any bones. Well, we all know it wasn't luck, it was the angels!