Wiggles!!

I'm having the best week!!

• Friday: Canoe Pool
• Saturday: Canoe pool
• Sunday: Whittles and Ben's Xmas Concert
• Monday: CMV Free
• Wed: Lambton Pool
• Dinner out last night

Hard to top all that....But the WIGGLES did today.

Oh my God. Ben and I had the best time ever!! We've had tickets to the Wiggles for months (organised by Mel from Stocko Mums group). I've really been looking forward to it and it was great to go with the Stocko Mums and bubs. But the experience far exceeded all my expectations. Ben went off!!! He had some moments of complete mesmerization but mostly he danced, giggled, jumped, clapped, sang and shouted for a solid 90mins. I'll never forget it. It was super tops amazing fun. Ben got so much more out of it then I thought he would. He even enjoyed the road safety message at the beginning!! Big thanks to Mel. It was unreal!!

Christmas Celebrations with the Mums

Last night I went out to dinner with the Mums from our antenatal class. It's nearly two years since we all met and I reckon it's pretty special that we've stayed so close and become good friends. We had a sensational dinner at Benjamas. I even had a glass of wine. We finished the night with dessert and coffee at Grind. Beth told us all about R-Nuts biscuits and Nic and I compared bumps. Nic and I are the only silly ones yet to go back for bub number 2 in our group. Nic is due 10 days before me.

All Clear

One week ago I had amniocentesis. This involved a very large needle being jabbed into my uterus, and the subsequent removal of about 20mL of amniotic fluid. You can see a band aid in the shot above where the needle went in. It was all a lot less dramatic than I had thought it would be. It actually didn't hurt that much, was over very quickly and the baby thought it was great fun. The obstetrician was ultrasounding while jabbing me and we could see the baby reaching out to the needle. Apparently this often happens.

The reason for having the test was to check and see if there was any cytomegalovirus in the amniotic fluid. If there was, it would have indicated that the baby had been infected with this potentially nasty virus. Yesterday we got the results back and we are very relived to report that there is NO CMV IN MY UTERUS!!!!! This fantastic news comes after three months of uncertainty. We first found out that I might have had a primary CMV infection when I was 9 weeks pregnant. It was all quite stressful and upsetting to begin with but we've largely been feeling positive, especially since I hit trimester 2. But the last couple of weeks have been agonising. Thanks everyone who's shoulders are still wet with my tears and thanks for all the lovely messages when we heard the good news. Now I can settle back and just enjoy baby kicking!!!

Ben's Standout Performance

The much anticipated Blinky Babies Day Care Concert was held today at Lambton Park. Ben was a standout, in that he was the only child who didn't actually shake his rattly arm band to the festive tunes.

His more animated display was reserved for when Santa dropped in with bags of lollies. As you can see he was pretty chuffed with that side of things.

A Visit From the Whittles

Jock, Helen and Fergus came for a Sunday drive to Stockton today. Fergus is the bravest little Whittle, featured in the June edition of blogabeckett. Look at him now!!! What a spunk. Only 8 months old and already taking the world by storm. The Whittles came for lunch and they were going to come to Ben's day care concert, but opted for the beach instead. We rounded out the day with dinner at the Watsons. A perfect Sunday, all round. Helen and Jock, if you're reading this tonight (and I wouldn't be surprised if you were), hope you made it back without having to use the Phill and Ted's on the Freeway.

Hermit Crabs

It was back to the Canoe Pool on Friday, and this time I got a good shot of the Hermit Crabs. Ben and his mates had a great time catching and releasing these little fellas. Ben is pictured to the left under the big hat. Nick, Paige, Will and Jet are also taking a look at the impressive haul.

We had such a great time that Ben and I went back on Saturday. This time with Jack and Rachel Moore. Jack and Ben weren't as keen on the crabs on Saturday. Instead , they both produced some rather disgusting and difficult to clean up poos. The poos were mostly contained within swimming nappies, but there was a bit of drama, mostly because Jack was pretty embarrassed. Won't go into too much detail, except to say that Jack's poo was one of the more impressive beach side productions any of us have ever seen.

Watch Out Bad Guys

There's a new hero in town. He's been fine tuning his flying skills on our front veranda. All good preparation for when he takes on the his arch enemy, the evil Dr Rubber Hands.

Round Things are Fun!!

And I'm not referring to my tummy! On the weekend we were visited by our friends the Moores. Its always a pleasure to hang out with the Moores. But our Moore-related-joy has recently increased. We thought we had lost them forever to WA, but luckily for us, the fly in /fly out nature of work that Scott was doing just wasn't that much fun. So they came back to NSW about two weeks ago. Jack and Ben wasted no time roping Mum into throwing the big blue ball around. There was also much tackling and running. I think Mum was having fun and I'm sure the boys were.

Another occasion that included round things (red this time) but involved a bit more sitting was when I bought some red spots for Ben's room (way back in Oct). I liked the look of them but didn't realise they had play time value as well. Ben likes to organise us all onto a spot. Problem is that there are only three. I should have bought more. I guess I'll have to go back to IKEA. You reading Jane-Maree?

4th Nov

Before November ends (in about 75mins) , I just need to mention one important day. 4th Nov. Kel turned 30, and had a party the following weekend. It was a really nice party and the weather turned out to be lovely, despite looking ominous in the morning. I didn't take my camera, but managed to find a shot from the party on Beth and Paul's blog. I think Kel looks pretty hot in her self made dress!!

And the other thing that happened on the 4th Nov is that Ben did a poo in the potty. There have been no repeat performances, but he's been spotted catching up on the latest Gruffalo news while relaxing on the loo. Nothing like a bit of practice. Before you know it, he'll be sitting up with Daddy, dropping bombs and reading the Financial Times.

Nearly Lost My Mojo

You've heard of the goose that laid the golden egg. But I'd like to tell you about the mutt that (didn't quite) move the magical mango seed. Sure it cost $2200 to retrieve it from his small intestine, but once we plant that seed and the tree starts bearing fruit, we're gonna make a MOTSA!!! Have already designed Mojo's Mango Chutney label. Stay tuned. Will let you know when we go into mass production.

Here's the seed. Very smelly, but pre-fertilised, so should germinate and grow really well. Mojo lost 18% of his body weight in trying to pass this big fella. So he has the rare honour (within the Labrador world) of meeting criteria for severe malnutrition. I was a bit worried about refeeding syndrome, but Dr Nigel assures me he's not high risk. Still we've got him on five small meals per day and he's on total bed rest. We're all pleased to have him home and alive after two nights in hospital.

Summer's Coming!

At this time of the year I feel especially lucky to live in Newcastle. Jane, the boys and I have been making the most of the spring sunshine by getting to the beach as much as we can. Unfortunately Ben has developed a fear of the water, which puts a hole in any attempts I have to swim. I don't know if he doesn't like the temperature or the waves. Anyway he's happy to dig in the sand, but not so keen on swimming. I did manage to get him a bit interested in the water a couple of weeks ago when we went to the Canoe Pool and there were lots of hermit crabs in the water. I didn't get any good shots of the little fellas, but they kept the boys amused for ages. Other favourite beach past times include;

collecting treasures, running super fast,

and considering the juxtaposition of industrialisation against the natural beauty of the novocastrian landscape.

Spring on the Farm

With such a long time between blogs I've kinda forgotten how to work this thing. Plus I don't really know where to start, there's a lot of news from the last four months. So I just went through my photos, starting from the most recently downloaded. Columbine is always worth talking about and we made a trip out there a couple of weekends ago. We got a first hand look at spring on the farm when we went for a walk and stumbled upon a cow giving birth. I'll spare you the more graphic pictures and have just included the one above, which shows little Arthur with his umbilical cord still attached. Arthur, the newest thing on Columbine, got his name from one of the oldest things. While we were there Matt's Dad produced a bible that belonged to his great grandmother. The bible was 170years old! It was a tiny little thing that had suffered a brush with fire at some stage but managed to survive. In the back of the bible she had written the names, dates of birth, and sadly, the deaths of her children. She had recorded the names of ten children. Rob tells me she had 17, but perhaps after five of them had died she decided to stop writing. Anyway, she'd used the name Arthur for two of her sons, and possibly more. So we figured we would stick with the recycling tradition and name the little calf after those wild colonial boys.

Ben was pretty taken with the cattle and couldn't stop mooing all weekend. He was also pretty keen on Bop and Unnie's swing and just hanging out with the family.

Something's Happening!

Long time between blogs!! My longest stint ever. What can I say? I've been distracted by something weird going on with my tummy. Have been trying to figure it out myself. Then I asked Ben. But he just wanted to hold hands. Anyone got any ideas?

Sick

Ben has been a bit under the weather lately. Everything seemed to attack him at once. He had an ear infection, conjunctivitis and another unknown virus that caused him to be covered in a rash and have high temps. He wasn't himself for about ten days. So Matt and I both had some time off work and Ben spent a lot of time lying around snuggled up with us. We also had our first experience of giving Ben antibiotics. He had oral antibiotics three times a day and an antibiotic ointment in his eyes four times a day. The oral stuff wasn't too bad, but the ointment was no walk in the park, and four times a day rolls around very frequently. Matt was much more efficient at application then I was and I was lucky that Tracey was around to help me. I don't know how single parents cope, sometimes it took three of us to get the stuff in his eyes. Despite his objections, he seemed to forgive us. Now that he's fully recovered the antibiotic wars seem to be completely forgotten.

Cyclone Lane Hits East Maitland

Overlapping with Tracey's recent visit, we had a whirlwind visit from Team Lane. Emma, Justin and all the boys took on an interstate adventure when they recently drove from SA to us. It was a last minute decision to come, so they couldn't get affordable airfares. Apparently the boys held up very well during the two day long haul drive. Emma and Justin also held up better than they expected and are currently sending thank you cards to the inventor of the portable DVD player. During all the chaos we managed to find a drop or two of something quite refined. Emma and Justin invited Matt and I out to dinner, and Mum selflessly offered to look after all the boys. It wasn't just any dinner. We went to the Old George and Dragon. I'd heard of this place but the descriptions hadn't completely sunk in. The food was divine. And the wine..... well Matt and I didn't choose it. Justin and Emma treated us to vintage Pol Roger and a 1978 Bordeaux Appellation Red. Pretty sure the four parents had a better time than the poor old Granny. She's pictured to the right cowering behind her front door. You can't blame her from being afraid, she'd just spent a long night alone with some pretty wild boys. Thanks for letting us have the night out Mum!!!

Tracey Comes to Visit

It's been a busy few weeks lately! And one of the highlights was a visit from my friend Tracey. Due to a rostering anomaly Tracey had five days off in a row and decided to share them with Team aBeckett. We felt very lucky to get the call from Tracey and despite the fact that Ben was under the weather for most of her visit we managed to fit in a fair bit of fun. Tracey is one of my closest friends (avid blog readers will remember Tracey from my Sept visit to SA) but we don't get to see each other much as Tracey is very busy and important in her high powered job in Brisbane. And I'm very busy and important looking after Ben. There was a time when we weren't so important and had room in our lives for bike rides to Mount Canobolas and backpacking around Europe. Despite the fact that many things have changed over the years, Tracey is still the same easy going girl. Ben was keen to show Tracey around some of his fav spots, so he took her to the park where he held Tracey captive on the see-saw. He also took her to Lexies, where he showed Tracey how grown up he is when he had his first babychino.

And of course showed Tracey the best spots on Stockton Beach to find treasures.

Tracey and I even had an opportunity for some quality girl time on Tracey's last night when Matt took charge of Ben. We ventured out to see Sex and the City (I hated it. Tracey thought it was OK). But much better than that was having dinner and wine at Goldbergs plus the added bonus of snuggling up on the ferry ride home. It was so cold!!

Six Boys

On 13th June my son and five nephews all sat on our front steps and the moment is captured above. It wasn't easy to get them all within one view finder. Fergus Lane is the little fella in the front. His big brother Oscar Lane is holding him. Then from left to right on the top step are Ben, Will Watson, Nick Watson and Noah Lane. The other shots are some of the many I took while trying to get all the boys in one place.

Super Park

Ben and I have recently discovered the Speers Point Super Park. This park is amazing! It has entertainment devices for all ages and has been designed to be wheel chair friendly, which means that it's also stroller friendly. Ben's particularly fond of the musical section. He's pictured above clanging the B flat bell. There are also bells you can clang with your feet and big harmonica inspired tyre type instruments.

Another of Ben's favourites is the pirate ship, he's pictured with Jacob, Elliott, Paige and another random child negotiating the rickety bridge which leads to the pirate ship.

My favourite is the double slide. Perfect for Mums who want to join in the fun!