The Amazing Dr Whittle

On Friday Jane and I packed the boys up (no mean feat!) and pootled off to Sydney. Our mission: to spend some quality time with Helen Whittle before she becomes mother of Baby Whittle. The Whittles are expecting bub to arrive early next month, so Helen is pretty much doing what Kel, Beth and I were doing this time last year (avid blog readers may recognise the swim wear Helen is modelling above). We had a lovely day, the majority of which was spent at Neilson Park, on Sydney Harbour. Everyone had a swim. Nick (who's pictured in the background), had a board ride and we all enjoyed a picnic lunch. It was wonderful to see Helen so blooming and beautiful. I was even a bit envious of her fabulous tummy. Would love it if the Whittles were just round the corner, but with both of them holding down high powered Sydney type jobs, I don't think there's much chance of that happening. Although, with all the Great White Shark activity off our shores, Taronga Park Zoo might consider opening a large marine animals branch in Stockton. We just need a job for Jock. Surely someone as educated, charming and drop dead gorgeous as Jock (see picture to the right) could get a job in Newcastle??!!

Matt's Birthday

It was Matt's birthday on 8th March (yes I'm very far behind with my blogging). Matt requested a BBQ with the family for his celebration and we were happy to oblige.

Only one small glitch on the night. We ran late and the cake came out after the boys were in bed. When Nick heard us singing happy birthday he was pretty upset, so we needed to run a quick replay. Nick and Will jumped out of bed, gobbled up their cake and went back to bed. So the happy birthday had a happy ending after all.

Ben Loves Nanna

Ben's very happy with all his grandparents and would love to see them all as often as he gets to see Nanna Judy. Whenever Nanna Judy comes to visit he gos nuts. He either crawls at an alarming pace to the front door, or runs with arms outstretched. Generally he laughs and carries on for the entire time that Nanna is around. Maybe it's because Nanna gives Ben the best part of her banana smoothie, or maybe it's because she's happy to wander around with him for hours. Or maybe it's just because she looks so good with a frangipani behind her ear.

The Day Al Dropped In

One of my BFF dropped in to visit Ben and I at the beginning of the month. Al and I are such good friends that she had totally forgiven me for forgetting her birthday. What makes it worse is that I actually spoke to Al on her birthday to apologise for not making it to the pub for drinks, while completely missing the reason for the drinks. Anyway, lucky Al is very zen about these things and let me buy her a milkshake to make up for it. All the angst about the forgotten birthday was too much for Ben who promptly fell asleep. The good news is that Al seems to be unaffected and is living a very happy and comfortable life up in Darwin, where she recently landed something of a dream job with the Fred Hollows Foundation. Congrats Al!!

Nick's Kite

It was Nick's Birthday in Feb. When Jane asked him what he would like for his birthday he said that he'd like a kite. Since then, Nick's kite has been getting a work out. He's pictured here showing Ben, Will, Jane and I his impressive kite flying skills. These shots were taken on the ballast ground at Stockton on 29th Feb. It was a lovely afternoon, with just enough wind to make kite flying a breeze. On this day Nick worked out that he could stand still and the kite would still fly. That's all good, except that Nick really likes running. So he decided to run with the kite flying behind him anyway.

Jacob's Birthday

It finally happened! And when it did happen it actually came around very quickly. One of the little people from our antenatal class turned one. Jacob celebrated his birthday on 27th Feb, which makes him one month and one day older than Ben. I had volunteered to make a cake and I was pretty happy with my attempt at sculpting a wombat from chocolate cake and butter frosting. We met at Smarty Pantz and it was all going swimmingly until someone decided that the cake represented a clear and present danger to the other pint sized patrons. So we were relegated to the anti allergy room other wise known as the party room (even though the cake HAD NO NUTS IN IT - don't get me started). Not sure that Jacob was terribly keen on the cake, but Matt enjoyed gobbling up the left overs when we got home.

He's Walking!

The big news at Team àBeckett HQ is that Benjamin is walking. On Tuesday 25th Feb Kel looked after Ben for a few hours while I went into work. Ben took 5 steps while I was away!! I felt pretty bummed to have missed that. But since then Ben has been showing us that he’s certainly capable of a repeat performance. He's regularly taking 10 or more steps. Occasionally he strings together quite a grand old stroll. His primary method of getting around is still crawling. But with the way he's progressing on his feet, I can't see that hanging around for much longer. It gives me such a thrill to see him walking. But like all these amazing milestones I can't help feeling just a little sad. Now that he's up on his feet and his first birthday is just around the corner it really seems as though he isn't a baby any more. Lucky he’s such a cute toddler!

Love Stockton

There was one Sunday in Feb when the sun came out. I'd really been looking forward to spending lots of time at the beach with Ben this summer. It hasn't really worked out like I'd imagined, but on 24th Feb the skies were blue and we made the most of it.

Beth, Paul and Alfie joined us. All the grown ups managed to get a swim. The boys were both a little afraid of the water, so were happy just to pootle around on the sand. Beth and I collected lots of shells, Matt caught a few waves.

And Paul demonstrated his contemporary audition piece for next years production of So You Think You Can Dance? It's called, Sonnet to a Shell.

Love Newcastle

A couple of Fridays ago Ben and I shared a perfect afternoon with Jane, Nick and Will.

We caught the ferry to Newcastle and walked to Newcastle Beach. We met a friend, Al Fraser, at Estabar for ice cream and a chat. The chat was fun and the ice cream divine. I highly recommend the combination of vanilla bean with lemon and lime sorbet.

Then we all trundled over to the canoe pool for a dip. Newcastle hasn't churned out many sunny days this summer, which is perhaps why I appreciated this one so much. It was one of those days when you feel particularly lucky to be alive.

Gymbaroo

Just over a week ago Ben had his first "Gymbaroo" experience. We arrived late so we missed out on some of the sitting-around-in-a-circle-singing side of things. But Ben made the most of it when we started free play time. The place was set up with loads of great things to crawl over, on and through. Ben was a star at climbing the ladders, once again showing that he hasn't any sensible levels of fear. Of course, once he found a couple of balls he kinda forgot about everything else. Having said that, he seemed to be pretty interested in one of his other gym buddies. There was a little girl there who goes to his day care. At the beginning of the class he made a bee line straight for her. Not sure if he recognised her or just liked he look of her pretty clothes that day. Her Mum and I decided that they must be good mates and just wanted to say hello.