The Canoe Pool

It's been a really busy week!! So of course there's lots to blog about. I'll get started with Ben's adventures last Friday.

It was a stunning afternoon so Ben and I met up with Maz, Jacob, Paul and Alfie (Paul was on home duties again this week while Beth did some supply teaching). We cruised on over to the Canoe Pool at Newcastle Beach and went for a paddle. Not only was it Ben's first time in the Canoe Pool, it was also mine. Can't believe that it's taken me 32 years to dip my toes in the water there. It was lovely. Perfect for little boys, and deep enough at the edges for a cooling swim.

Jacob showed everyone how good he is at making really big splash circles.

Alfie figured he was impressive enough without making splash circles .. and Ben just got nude.

Blast from the Past

Almost 2 years ago, Mum showed me a picture in the newspaper of a very happy looking new Mum. She showed me the picture because the new Mum was an old school friend of mine, Kristin Gilbert (now Kristin Ison). Despite the fact that Kristin and I had been friends at High School (very good friends, until a man with a glow-in-the-dark tulip came between us), I hadn't kept in touch and I hadn't seen or spoken to Kristin in about 10 years. So it was really nice to see her in the paper looking so happy and well. I looked up her address and sent a card to congratulate her on the safe arrival of her first baby (Benjamin!). Kristin wrote me a lovely letter back, but we didn't talk again until about 6 months ago when my Mum said that a school friend of mine had come into her work - but Mum was unsure who it was.

This lead to a series of events which resulted in me being invited to something of a school reunion last weekend. Kristin and most of the group of girls I "hung out" with at school have stayed in close contact (a pretty big achievement - most of them have been friends since primary school!!). They get together at Christmas for a nice lunch and Kristin invited me along. A complicating element (which I didn't learn about until the day before) was that I was the "surprise guest". I gotta say, I was pretty nervous, and the surprise factor kinda added to my anxiety. I was so nervous that I spent far too much time thinking about what I would wear (and of course I didn't want to look like I'd been trying hard to look my best). I don't think I've ever put so much thought into looking like I haven't put too much thought into it. Anyway, my anxieties were ill founded, and I had a lovely time. The girls all looked great and seemed really happy. Everyone has kids! Thirteen of them (between us), and Karen has another on the way. When I came home I had a look through my box of old photos but I had trouble finding many pictures of us at school. I guess we didn't take as many back in the age of film.

Photo above taken during Year 10 excursion to Canberra (1991)

The few photographs I did find led me to conclude that the girls have said good bye to:

• high waisted jeans,
• perms,
• large-group bus trips,
• Oakleys,
• Hypercolour T-Shirts,
• some very silly boys,
• babies' breath,
• debutante balls, and
• daisy chains.
  

Some things remain; the girls are still friends..... and I'm still wearing big earrings

Kristin and I snuggle up with Paul (I think??) and Rebbecca at Jo's deb ball

The girls find a way to pass the time during the trip to Canberra

Kristin and I get in touch with our inner Hippy Chicks

Tania and Tracey make their debut into the finest circles of Cessnock Society

Kristin and Karen practice their "I really am 18" pose before hitting Vincent St

Renee's Birthday

Last night Catherine, Kel and I joined Renee to celebrate her birthday at the recently renovated Junction Tavern. Renee looked smashing in her beautiful silk dress and the rest of us looked pretty good too. We finished up the night with dinner at Goldbergs (I'm feeling like a bit of a regular) and then Kel drove the other sensible girls home. You can see from the photo below that I was obviously far too silly to be behind a wheel myself.

I had four glasses of wine over the course of the evening, but lack of match fitness meant that I felt a bit tipsy. So after Kel dropped me off at my car, I sat in it for ages playing "marble cannon" and deleting all my old text messages. I felt totally sober when I eventually drove home, but resolved to be more responsible next time. Obviously I was meant to learn a lesson last night because Ben was really unsettled from about 3:30am ... and so I got minimal sleep. I felt quite hung over today. Will be a better person next time.

Another Rare Sighting

Today I found a christmas elf in our front yard. He's thinking hard about a couple of questions:

a) Have the people who live in this house been naughty or nice?

b) Can I make them something from this blade of grass?

Visit to Cessnock

Ben, Ellie, Debbie, Lydia and Lydia's Gran (Marie)

On Tuesday Ben and I braved some foul weather and made a trip back to Cessnock. Our mission was to deliver Lance's 50th birthday present (see 27th Nov post for a description of who Lance is). As an added bonus, my good friend Lydia was in Cessnock organising her wedding. Lydia works in Indonesia and it was just a lucky co-incidence that we were both in town at the same time. Lydia's Grannie and her sister Melissa, also came along to meet Ben. We spent the afternoon at the Beckett's house, which is a textbook example of decorating to increase your positive feng shui. It was really nice, except that the feng shui didn't help Ben to bond with Lance. He actually seemed a bit afraid of Lance and I can only conclude that it's the beard. Now I'm a bit worried about the inevitable meeting with Santa. Anyway, I came away resolved to visit the Becketts more often. They are good friends and were such an important part of my life for many years. I really want Ben to know them. Even if I have to convince Lance to shave his beard.

Melissa prepares to escort Marie to the car.

Mafia Men

Organised crime has arrived in Stockton. Nicholas "Scarface" Watson, William "Big Billy" Watson, and Benjamin "Bugsy the Snowman" aBeckett were found watching playschool in my living room today. They were learning how to make a helicopter out of egg cartons. Who knows what they'll get up to once they learn how to fly it.

No More Dummy

After an extended period of indecision we finally got rid of Ben's dummy yesterday. He's now been 24 hours dummy free and things are going really well. When we started yesterday we had 40mins of controlled crying at his first day time sleep, 8mins at his second day time sleep and about 40mins before his night sleep. Through the night I heard him grizzle a few times but he quickly settled himself back to sleep and I didn't go in to him until 5am!! This is a HUGE improvement on how things have been, with Matt or I up to him several times in the night popping his dummy back in. Today for his first sleep it only took 5 mins!!! I'm so proud of him. What an adaptable little fella.

My How You've Grown....... Again!

Ben had a visit to the clinic yesterday. He weighed in at a whopping 8.7 kg (50th percentile) and was 69cm long (50th percentile). His head circumference was 46cm (75th percentile). The pictures above are to scale (or as close as I could get). They were taken when Ben was 18 days old, 3 1/2 months and 8 months respectively.

Matt's Mogress

Movember has drawn to a close and the Hairy Lip Worm has gone. We thought it was time to say goodbye before a plague hit Newcastle. You can see below that one took up residence on Ben's top lip. Luckily it was a very junior specimen and was easily eradicated via ingestion.

Girls Weekend Away

On the weekend Kel, Beth, Jane and I had a weekend away. We stayed at Samurai Beach Resort while our boys looked after our little boys. Despite some dodgy weather at times we had a great weekend. The resort was really nice. Not too flashy and not at all shabby. The grounds are not overly manicured and the plants used in the landscaping are all natives. The resort grounds are home to 28 koalas and we managed to spot 2 of them. In keeping with the "naturalist" theme, Samurai Beach is a nudist beach!! I didn't know this when I booked, and it was only after making the rather long trek from the resort to the beach that we were confronted with the naked truth. Anyway, we decided not to get our kit off and instead went for a swim the next day at Zenith Beach at Shoal Bay.

The weekend was packed full of highlights, including:

• Spotting the koalas.
• Sleeping in until 9:00am.
• Diving under the waves at Zenith Beach.
• Eating out for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• Making a dinner reservation for 9:00pm and not having to worry about getting home to the bubs.
• Judging a worst shirt/best shirt competition.
• Mooching around in the pool and spa.
• Having uninterrupted conversations.
• Just hanging out with the girls - such great company.
• Coming home to Matt and Ben. They both seemed genuinely excited to see me.

Manda's Birthday

Today was my good friend Manda's birthday. Manda and her boyfriend Adam live in Sydney but came to Newcastle on the weekend and stayed on an extra day so that we could have a birthday lunch with them at Goldberg's. We were pretty lucky to see Manda. She's got one of those jobs that take her all over the world. She's just returned from Papua New Guinea where she's been helping to set up an AIDS prevention and treatment clinic. Next she's off to Thailand to do something similar, then to Dublin, then to New York and then to Washington. The last three cities are all for important international meetings. It was great to see Manda and Adam and to hear all of their exciting news (even if it was a bit difficult to focus on the conversation while my son was head butting the table).

A Little Magic

Today Ben discovered a little magic in the living room. It was floating around in the light and he tried to catch it. I think a few particles must have settled on him because everyone he met today fell completely under his spell.

My Tour de France is Over

Today is the 28th of November and Ben is 8 months old. Today is also significant, because I'm planning to express for the last time.

When I first started expressing (when Ben was four weeks old), it was with the intention of stopping breast feeding. But then I figured it wasn't too bad and maybe I'd keep expressing to maintain my supply and perhaps I could try Ben at the breast again. I did try breastfeeding again - but without success. So I figured I could express for a while and keep feeding him my expressed milk from a bottle. This went well, so I decided I wanted to keep going until Ben was 6 months old. Then of course 6 months rolled around and I wasn't able to let go (letting down was no problem!).

But in the last month I've found expressing to be more and more of a chore. Ben is so much more awake and active. Gone are the days when I could sit him in one spot and talk to him while I was expressing. So I've been trying to express while he's asleep. This means I haven't been able to do other things - like have a shower. And so I made a decision to stop. This has been a really tough decision to make. I'm full of mixed emotions about it. I want to stop - so that I can get on and do other things. But I feel quite upset at the same time. I think because we had such a tough time with breast feeding and because it was so important to me, in addition to the fact that breast feeding is so driven by hormones, I'm actually quite teary about it. Also I think that I'm lucky to have been able to maintain a supply for 7 months and perhaps I should make the most of it and keep going. One good thing about this is that I've gained an increased understanding of the emotions involved in nurturing a child. Geez mothering is an emotional mine field!

Anyway, I'm stopping. And so I've been gradually reducing the volume that I express, and today I'm pretty sure will be the last time. So after 7 months, 3 hand pumps, 1 horrible electric pump, a bit of help from Matt, many hand expressions, and approximately 750 expression sessions in all; I'm saying good bye to the pump.

During this time I've expressed approximately 105 Litres of milk (almost twice my body weight). The total energy content of this milk is about 70350 calories. So, without taking into account the emotional energy involved, this is roughly equivalent to:

• walking briskly for 46 days, or
• chopping wood for 30 days, or
• throwing a frisbee for 60 days, or
• doing high impact aerobics for 18 days, or
• scooting around for 26 days on a pair of roller blades, or
• riding for 14 days in the Tour de France.

Lance's Surprise 50th

On Saturday night Matt, Ben and I went to a surprise party for our friend Lance Beckett.

Lance and I

Michelle, Brother, Me, Ben, Matt and Mum

Mum was also there, as were Brother and Michelle, who had driven from Coffs Harbour especially.Lance and Debbie Beckett are friends from our Cessnock days. They lived across the road from us and have two wonderful kids, Ellie and Cain, who are entirely grown up now. I have many, many fond memories of the Becketts and they've been like family to me. So it's very fitting that I ended up as an aBeckett.

Ellie, Benj and I

Cain and Ben







Lance is a great person. Amongst other things, he taught me how to drive (when Mum and Dad had decided I was unteachable), in his F100 ute!!

The party was at Pokolbin Community Hall, which is where Matt and I got married. You can see from Ben's face that he got a kick out of seeing the place where his Mum and Dad got hitched.

The Band (and Brother)

Lance is well loved by many people so the party was HUGE!! Ellie, Cain and Debbie did well to keep it a secret and had gone to a lot of trouble. They bought Lance a Triumph Motorcyle and the party had a Blues Brothers Theme. Hence the hats, sunglasses and chicken wire around the band.

Pat, Debbie, a very unhappy Ben, and Mum

We don't get to catch up with the Becketts as much as I'd like and we were keen to party on, but Ben started to unravell at about 9:30pm (fair enough). So Brother, Mum and Michelle stayed on until the wee hours and Team aBeckett went home.

Outdoors Swimming Lesson

Yesterday Ben was supposed to go for a swimming lesson at the gym (which has an indoor pool). But it was such a stunning day I figured it would be nicer to have a splash at Newcastle Ocean Baths. Kel, Elliott, Beth and Alfie joined in the fun. Paul was there too, although he didn't take me up on my offer to loan him a bikini so that he could swim with the boys.

It was a lot of fun taking the boys for a swim in the ocean. The cooler water didn't seem to bother any of them (once they got used to it). And I reckon they enjoyed this outdoor swimming lesson more than the indoor ones.

The boys looked very cute in their swimming gear, but even cuter in their birthday suits.

It really was quite magical. And completely free!!

What Ben's Been Up To

Some recent developments:

Ben now has TWO teeth (got the second one about a month ago).

Ben can sit very well on his own!! For minutes rather than seconds.

Ben is waving bye bye (occasionally) when Daddy leaves for work. And sometimes he waves hello.

After weeks of pushing himself backwards and round and round in circles Ben is now commando crawling/ dragging himself forwards. He's always trying to get into boxes and cupboards, and often he disappears under beds.

He continues to create a lot of washing, but recently he's taken to filling the basket in his own unique way.

And I'm not 100% sure about this one, but I think he's saying "Da-Da" and today I reckon he said "Mu-Ma". I think he says "Da-Da" when he's happy and "Mu-Ma" is reserved for when he's upset!

Nick the Photographer

I looked after Nick and Will again today. At first Nick thought that he would like to be a "round rocket" but then he got a hold of the camera and decided that photography was more his go.