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!

Goodbye Moores

I'm feeling sad today because our friends Scott, Rachel, Jack and Elouise Moore are moving to WA. Matt, Ben and I went out to farewell drinks on Wed night but we had to leave early in order to prevent total toddler meltdown. So I don't feel as though we got to say good bye properly. Scott and Rachel, if you read this, we miss you already, NSW is not as nice a place without you. We hope things are wonderful in WA and we hope to visit you soon.

Ice Cream in a Cone

From L-R: Jacob, Xanthie, Camille, Corhay, Joseph, Yuki and Ben.

We recently spent an afternoon with Matt's cousin, Wendy and her family (Frank, Xanthie and Camille). It was a bit of an occasion, as Wendy's brother, Ted was visiting from the US with his expansive family. Ted and his wife, Ecco have four children and another on the way. It was a lovely afternoon, Wendy produced an amazing feast and the kids had fun in the back yard kicking balls around (always a hit with ben), playing with the pet rabbit and eating ice cream. Ben has had ice cream before but not in a cone. It was very messy and, despite the serious look on his face, very fun.

Meanwhile Matt and I enjoyed the good food and the great company. We're pictured above with Wendy (next to me in the foreground) and Jen. Jen is another member of the extended aBeckett family.

Leaving His Mark

Matt recently built a little cement wall between the back yard and the side of our house. We thought it would be a great idea to leave Ben's footprints there. It all went very smoothly and we managed to leave his mark, but I forgot to scratch the date in!! So for posterity's sake; these prints were left on 21st May 2008, by Benjamin Snow aBeckett, aged 1 year and 2 months.

Team Colours

Ben and I have matching jumpers. The good thing about this is that if I lose him in a crowd I just have to ask people to look for the little fella with the same jumper on as me. An added bonus is that they are also in the Knights colours. Not that Ben and I have ever been to a game. But you never know!

Introducing Fergus: the Bravest Little Whittle!

On 31st May we finally got to meet Fergus Whittle. Blog aBeckett readers may remember a post I put on the blog in Feb; "The Amazing Dr Whittle", about our friend Helen who was pregnant with Fergus at the time. Well Fergus arrived on 8th April and we've been super keen to meet him and of course show him off on the blog. As you can see from the picture above Fergus is a real cutie. I figured his cuteness must come from his Mum (pictured to the right with Ben). But have recently seen some rather alarming photos which suggest that Fergus is an apple fallen close to the expansive branches of his father's tree. We had a lovely time meeting Fergus and catching up with his highly capable parents (Jock is pictured above with Ben). Already Jock and Helen have had more trials and tribulations than any new parent would want. Poor little Fergus suffered a brain haemorrhage when he was only a day old and subsequently needed surgery and an extended stay in ICU. But not only is Fergus cute, he's also strong and brave. He pulled through and is now feeding well, smiling at his lucky parents and generally being a most lovely little baby.

Fergus is so obliging that he quietly went to sleep while we were visiting. He tucked himself up next to his new Granimal (Simon the Lion) and didn't wake when Ben mushed him on the face with his hands, cardboard boxes and anything else he could find. Lucky this kid's made of tough stuff.

Walking the Dogs

Mojo and Bella don't have the same life they did before Ben came along. But on the weekend Matt rigged up a new dog walking system that just might see them getting out a bit more often. Like a well-trained pack of Huskies Matt hooked them up to the Mountain Buggy and away we went. It's such a good system that the dogs can pretty much walk themselves. With a bit more fine tuning I'm hoping that I can put Ben in the pram, hook the dogs up, say goodbye and go have a sleep.

Mowing

On the weekend Ben conducted some lawn mowing lessons in our back yard. As yet Matt is only allowed to use the boring black and green mower. Nanna Jude showed more natural skill so she went straight to the brightly coloured compact push mower. But wasn't allowed anywhere near the ride on mower. Ben demonstrated the very complicated skills involved in manning the ride on and push mower at the same time.

With all this teaching, he got a bit cocky and was about to mow right on over the top of his Dad. I had to intervene at this point so no further photos were taken. No-one mowed over the top of anyone and all people and machinery remain intact.