Friday was another beautiful spring day in Newcastle. Ben, Lucy and I caught the ferry and walked to Nobbies, where we met up with Kel, Elliott, Paige and Kylie. Kel and Kylie are both pregnant so of course they were glowing in the morning sun. The kids had great fun in the sand and water. Lucy rolled around on the beach, milkshakes and paddlepops were consumed and a great time was had by all.
On the weekend we took a day trip to Sydney and spent the afternoon in Rushcutters Bay. It was a last minute decision to go. Our incentive was a promised catch up with Anne, who was in Sydney to babysit Fred while Jane went to her school reunion. 
The deal was sealed when we heard that Aunty Sal was going to be there too. And our excitement reached fever pitch when we heard Team Whittle were planning an appearance. 
The picture below of Helen Whittle explains why catching up with the Whittles is always thrilling. 
I'm very excited to announce that Team aBeckett has welcomed into the family the Canon EOS 1000D. That's right folks, I finally have my digital SLR. Prepare to be inundated with superior quality images (that have been compressed for the web). 
The picture above was taken this morning at Amanda Homard's place. Long time blog readers will remember that Amanda was also on maternity leave when I was with Ben. Amanda very kindly added to her family at pretty much the same time we did so is again on maternity leave. Lucy is pictured above with Nick Homard who is four days older then Lucy. We've been catching up with Amanda regularly on Wednesdays, along with Kel and Catherine (and all their kids of course). 
Then on the way home we ran into Percy and Neally (twins who live round the corner from us) and they showed Ben their preferred technique for jumping off fences. 
If I said that I was going to start blogging again you would probably say "....and pigs might fly!" Well tonight a piglet landed in our light shade. 
I know this is old news, but I went to some trouble to take these pictures, so I want them on the blog. When I fell pregnant with Lucy I wanted to document my growing bump. I figured that it was probaby my last pregnancy so really wanted to capture the event. The last shot in this series was taken less than 24 hours before Lucy was born. And the picture of Ben and I on the beach was taken two days before she was born. 
Lucy snuggled into the sling for the first half of our walk. (The other baby in the shot above is Emma Reeves and she is very good at clinging onto my spare hip) 
Then we cruised on down to Lexies for hot chocolates and milkshakes. Then Emma and Lucy jumped into their matching Phil and Teds and we headed for home. 
This shot was taken way back in January. Ben wanted Matt to have a sleep in the cot with him. I was a little worried about the cot taking Matt's weight. But any opportunity to sleep is not missed by Matt. The cot survived. 
Lucy has been smiling for a couple of weeks now. 
