Treasure or Trash?

Matt is without a doubt an absolute gem of a man. He is my treasure. However, I am concerned that he's looking a little trashy in this get up. The tight fitting exercise gear and head dress were inspired by a recent acquisition of the above pictured rowing machine. In true àBeckett style no money changed hands for this slick piece of equipment. It was found on the side of the road. Now I am actually quite proud of the fact that many of our furnishings have come from the side of the road. I think it’s a great system. But I was not happy about the installation of this particular piece in our living room. We’d just gotten rid of a whole lot of crap and Matt replaced it with this. He guarantees me that he'll use it and subsequently transform himself into some kind of buff athletic specimen able to row across Newcastle Harbour in record breaking time. We’ve now had the rowing machine for 18 days and Matt has used it once. What do you reckon? Is it trash or treasure?

Remember the Sun???

I'm feeling a bit ripped off about summer. OK I know we need the rain and Matt keeps describing it as "money falling from the sky"…. can’t take the country out of the boy. But I just wanna go to the beach! I had to dig deep into the digital archives to find any evidence that we've made it out doors in the recent past.

I found this shot of Matt and lots of little people enjoying the intermittent sunshine on Australia Day. They were having a great time playing cricket in Jane and Trent’s backyard.

I also managed to find this shot of Matt, Ben and the Iveys which was taken the day after OZ day (another fun time; swimming and beach combing).

And finally here’s Ben pulling his "scrunchy face", sometime in Jan. His little companion is Taya, who’s Mum I met through Stocko Mums Group. This was one of the very few mornings we got to enjoy the beach. Bec (Taya’s Mum) and I took turns swimming. It was really nice to be able to actually dive into the water and then come back to a couple of happy little people. I’m pretty sure the kids had fun, particularly Taya who seemed to develop a taste for huge quantities of sand.

Daddy Learns about Dental Hygiene

Ben now has six teeth! And he knows how to look after them. He brushes his teeth whenever I do and he also brushes when he has a bath.

He's pictured above showing Matt how it's done. I guess he's gotta keep the pearly whites in good condition.

Never know when he might have to gnaw off someone's limb!

Carving It Up

Jane and Trent have bought a ski boat!! After many years of yearning, Trent's wish has finally come true. They formed a syndicate with two other couples and took possesion of the (as yet unnamed) Lewis power boat two weeks ago.

Matt, Ben and I joined the crew on Sunday and we had a great time carving up the water on the Williams River. There were plenty of tricks, which I didn't capture on film (cos I wasn't in the boat), including some impressive bare footing from Trent. Matt and I stuck to the skis (actually I came out of mine quite a lot). It was great fun. I'm still a bit sore and I could hardly move on Monday. But I can't wait to go again. It's addictive!

First Day Back at Work

Yesterday was my first day back at (paid) work. Its been nearly eleven months since I started on maternity leave and I can hardly believe how quickly time has flown. It was nice to see my work mates again and great to work with my new colleague Emily. I'm going to be at Nexus two days a week and Emily (who's been covering my position while I've been on leave) will be doing the other three. Not only is Emily a fantastic dietitian, she also has a surname that begins with a vowel. OK, so there isn't a grave in her name but there is an apostrophe, so overall I think the O'Connor/àBeckett combination will work well.

There have been a lot of changes at Nexus and it felt really quiet. I guess the quiet was good cos I needed some slow time to get my head back into work mode. There were some bright sparks, Liz and Katy amongst them. Always fun to hang out with them!!

Overall the toughest part of the day was leaving Ben at day care. He was upset and it really pulls on the old heart strings when he's crying. I'm sure he'll get used to it and the carers are lovely. They also assure me that he's happy 90% of the time. I'm just glad it's only two days a week. I'm feeling good about the split days (Mons and Thurs) because it gives Ben a break. Although I didn't realise when I said that I wanted those days that they are weigh days! For those blog readers who are in the business you know how weigh days can be.

Catherine's Birthday

It was my friend Catherine's birthday on Tuesday, and on Wed night a group of us went out for dinner to celebrate. Catherine of course was there, as was Amanda, and they're both pictured in the shot above. Ronnie and Renee were there too but I really liked the shot above, so they didn't make the blog. This shot was a bit of an accident because I had the camera on colour accent mode and the girls didn't know I was taking it. Anyway, I really liked it and i think it sums up the vibe of the night. We had a great time dining at Lans (I highly recommend the Red Cooked Beef), followed be dessert and coffee at Goldbergs. It was fun to catch up with the girls and help Catherine usher in what I'm sure will be another fantastic year. I think it's also worth mentioning that there were five of us there and none of us accessorised with our husbands. However, we did have nine handbags between us.

Our Back Yard

Apparently the Great Aussie Dream is to own your home. Well that dream is a long way from realisation for us. But the nice people at the Commonwealth Bank have got this amazing deal where they charge only $2000/month and after 30 years all your Aussie Dreams come true. Of course we signed up and now have only 28 years to go! When we first got on board our dream included a beautifully landscaped backyard with shade and lots of grass for dogs and the inevitable offspring to play on. But it seems that a blank canvas doesn't autonomously sprout lovely shade trees, pretty flowers and manicured hedges. So over the last few weeks we've been putting in some work in the back yard (actually it's been mostly Matt and a couple of paid fencing contractors). We now have a new fence on the western side and the dog yard has been moved to a more discreet corner at the back.

The old fence comes down. The boys found four baby brown snakes during this process!!

Matt starts to dismantle the old dog yard and move the garden shed up the back. Not sure why his orange undies needed to be hanging from the tap.

We also have a very impressive garden bed on the eastern side. Today Ben and I planted some Murrayas in the garden bed with the hope that we will have a big leafy border within a couple of years. Two more garden beds are close to completion- thanks mostly to Matt's handy work with some old metal that was left in our backyard by the previous neighbour. Ben has really enjoyed helping Matt with the garden.

Mojo, Bella and Ben check out the new garden bed and Ben finds some kind of tasty treasure.

Bella displays her impressive volumes of patience and tolerance.

The dogs have had fun too - helping us dig was their favourite bit. I gotta say that the dogs behaved like a pair of prise winners around Ben. Ben has been climbing all over them, putting his hands in their mouths and pulling their fur. They don't even blink an eye. This from two pooches that are VERY boisterous most of the time. Maybe they're growing up, or maybe they just have some kind of sixth sense about babies!

Matt surveys his handy work while three workers wait at the door for their dinner.

Clap Hands!

This is Ben's latest trick!! Makes us all laugh. Another trick that he's learnt to do with his hands is to give a very dramatic flourish after having a drink from his cup or taking a mouthful of food. He kept us entertained for ages during dinner last night!! He's developing a real personality. For those of you that can play videos I've uploaded some moving footage below. My first success (after many attempts) at uploading a video to the blog.

What's Happening in 2008

Lots happening already in 2008!!! I find myself never having enough time to document! Here's a snap shot of some of our adventures since the New Year arrived. Ben and I have become 'Beach Combers'. I'm officially one of those eccentrics who gets a thrill out of finding 'Sea Glass'. Ben is pictured above with some of our treasures.

I've also had a couple of reunions with old friends. Just after the New Year, my friend Michelle Vaughan and her tribe came to visit. Michelle and i worked together in Orange and I haven't seen her in nearly four years. She came with her husband and her all singing all dancing package of three children. The Vaughans are pictured above. And yes there are three boys in that Stroller. Max (2)is asleep and lying down. Hugh (4) is in the toddler seat at the front. Oscar (6) is standing at the back on the "hitchhiker" attachment. The big boy pushing the stroller is Richard.

My other reunion was last weekend at King Edward Park, with my uni mates. Dietitians came from far and wide with their families and food. It was particularly nice to have two other core group members at the reunion. With Manda coming from Sydney and Susan all the way from Melbourne. We were very lucky to have Manda stay at our place (where I tried to convince her to ride my bike through torrential rain) and we've also been lucky to have Susan in town for the rest of the week.

Giving Ben lots of opportunities to catch up with her little fella Will.

We also had a lovely lunch with Nanna Judy at a really nice cafe at Lorn.

Ben had ice cream, which he eventually liked. But I think he was a bit unsure about the temperature. Obviously no damage done to teeth or taste buds. He's still able to have a munch on his cot.

A Touch of Bollywood

Kel and I had dinner with the charismatic and charming Penny Maxwell last night. Since having the boys we've been meaning to catch up with Penny, but haven't managed to connect until last night. We had dinner at the Surtag, where the food was sensational (as always). So sensational was the food, that we were inspired to break into song and dance. The paparazzi went wild. These snaps were just a few of the choice moments captured.

Sleeping In

For about a month now Ben has been doing the most warm and fuzzy thing. He goes to sleep at aboout 8:00pm and generally wakes up at about 5:00am. We've been bringing him into our bed at that time and giving him a bottle. Nine times out of ten he falls straight to sleep after that early morning bottle and stays snuggled up with us until about 7:00am. It's lovely.

Benjamin's First Day at School

On Monday Ben had his first day at Blinky Babies. It felt weird leaving him with complete strangers (as lovely as they were). He was the youngest person there and when we arrived he took about 2 mins to take in his surroundings and size up the bigger kids. But he soon seemed really happy and there were no tears from either of us. As I was leaving he just gave me a bit of a look and then went back to playing with the soft blocks (I took the photo below as I was walking out the door). Ben even managed to have a sleep while he was there. I thought this was a big achievement, given that he was in a totally new environment with lots going on and no mummy around. I left him there for 3 1/2 hours and when I came back he was being removed from on top of another baby. Obviously the fact that he was the youngest didn't stop him from pinning his peers down. Before I went in I watched him for a little while. It was strange to see someone I didn't know removing him from on top of another child and generally doing the Mummy things. When I did go in Ben was really excited to see me and he still had bits of lunch on him, so I cleaned him up and we went home. He has his second day tomorrow. I hope he handles it as well as he did on Monday.

A Few Milestones

Ben has given up the 'Commando Crawl'. We never see it any more. He is now a completely orthodox crawler.

And the crawl is getting faster. I thought he was going to disappear into the ocean on the weekend.

Ben's also pulling himself up onto anything he can get a grip on.

He even managed to climb onto a mattress (which has now been moved). He's pictured above combining the 'climb-on-something' skill with his other favourite love; the 'open-and-shut-door' manoeuvre. Nothing's safe. He's constantly standing up. Especially when he's supposed to be safely sitting in his high chair.

He's also learnt that there are interesting things inside cupboards. He hasn't learnt how to reverse out of cupboards though, so I've had to retrieve him several times.

Ben's also been quite keen to hold his bottle and feed himself. This generally only happens in the mornings. He seems to lose his independant streak as the day wears on.

And the big fella now has four teeth. He got his two front teeth for Christmas and has

been putting them to good use.

He now much prefers finger foods but hasn't quite worked out how to feed himself. So Matt and I contiune to pop the food in for him. It's like feeding a baby bird! Having four teeth is fine, but I really think that he was biting off more than he could chew when he took on this watermelon.

Ben was also the happy recipient of his first set of wheels when Nanna Jude gave him the Dino Explorer for Christmas. Ben is pictured here taking his new best friend Fritz for a spin in the back yard.

And of course, you can't be 9 months old without having a snotty nose. Yes he's had a cold before, but nothing quite so mucus producing as his most recent one. It didn't stop him from smiling. We still get lots of those.

Happy New Year!!

OK so we didn't actually stay up to see in the New Year but we did join a party or two before midnight. Beth and Paul had a bit of a shin-dig in the afternoon. But they somehow neglected to mention that it was an 80s themed party. So we're pictured above in non themed attire. It was all very confusing for Ben who seemed to think that it was a James Bond themed party. To help decrease Ben's confusion and increase the 80s vibe, Kel and I agreed to a make over by Beth. The results are below.

This was all good fun, but given that we were trying to celebrate the arrival of 2008, not 1988, Matt, Ben and I headed back to Stockton to check out the 9:00pm fireworks with Jane, Trent and the boys. The fireworks were great and Ben was mesmerised. Totally worth the 1800m drive from the foreshore to our house (which took 25 mins!!). The traffic was nuts in Stockton, we really must walk next year!! My New Year's Resolutions:

1) Ride my bike to work 1/week
2) Have dinner ready by 6:30pm 3 nights/week.
3) Floss my teeth more often.
4) Walk to the foreshore to see the New Year's Eve fireworks.
5) Be pregnant by August.










Matt's still working on his New Year's Resolutions, but has agreed to support me with mine.