The AB Tour

Here's the first look at our new house and area with tour guide Alex Butler.

Walking the laneway with some Brit pop attitude...

Lounging in some inappropriate footwear...

Posing by the stairs (with a bit of the kitchen and
Alex's play area in the background...)

Crafting in his play area...

Road testing a local playground...

More local and new house adventures coming soon...

Alex's 2nd birthday party stays afloat - just

The pirate ship cake complete Agrrr!

The weekend before we left for New Zealand we had a little birthday party for Alex. Technically speaking it was his 2nd birthday on the 31st but we were flying that morning and didn't fancy squeezing in a birthday celebration to the 30 mins we had before checking at the Airport. So we decided to subtly shift his birthday to the weekend before "he's 2, he doesn't even know what a birthday is so he'll never know" - we said to ourselves. That is until he learns to read and discovers this blog post. Hmm...

So anyway, the all important cake baking started the day before and at about 1.50pm, a whole 10 mins before the guests were due to arrive the cake was done. Due to a um... (rare?)... moment of disorganisation I forgot to book the BBQ area that I'd sent everyone to and had to hastily change plans and have the gathering in our apartment.

Grandpa was a surprise visitor and we had lots of other friends, little and large come by and Alex was very spoilt with some lovely gifts including funky PJs, beautiful books (we love books at the moment), two fantastic toy cars, bubbles, an Elmo balloon (still love Elmo) and lots more.

Alex made sure to run to the door every time the buzzer went to greet his next visitor and was remarkably happy despite all the fuss, noise and people wanting to play with his toys (now is not the age for sharing). There was a tense moment with an altercation between two little people over the little tykes car which ended in tears and a few scratches. More on that here: http://bubbymakesthree.blogspot.co.nz/2012/03/party-pooper.html

Harper, just before the incident with little Elliot

Alex loved the kitchen he got from mum and dad

But in the end the party sailed on happily with the Pirate Ship cake going down a treat with grown ups and little people alike. And most importantly Alex had fun!

Birthday song video and candle blowing didn't quite work out...

Santa and Alex - the difficult years

ho ho NO!!!!

Last year Alex was new to the world and everyone was new and strange, so a man in a red suit and big bushy beard was no big deal. Next year, perhaps he will be more comfortable, maybe even excited about this jolly fellow and his promise of presents and cake and reindeer led fun.

This year, well, things didn't go quite so well.

 It seems Alex didn't fully appreciate the swarovski crystal display, the over priced Santa and the fact that it's the first year the Queen Victoria Building in Sydney has hosted a Santa and the queue after we left was over 3 hours long!

 No... He just wanted out of there.


      

 Other Christmas themed events were more successful, like the daycare Christmas party from which I've posted a video below. He didn't exactly sing along to jingle bells but there's definitely an enthusiastic foot shuffle going on.

 

Will post photos of actual Christmas day and some of Alex's favourite presents, or at least his favourite wrapping paper soon....

little Hendrix

Wheels

Every day I'm finding out a little more about the little man - a morsel more of his personality reveals itself on the menu of his day to day activities.

I'm not sure how to describe one of the recent discoveries but I'll try. He a 'sticker' he finds what he likes and then he does that one thing - a lot - and for a long time. This applies to a few situations.

For example, there is a playground near our place, he used to be happy playing on the swing, pretending to call someone on the oversized telephone, whizzing down the slide - then one day he discovered, up the stairs, across the wobbly bridge - a wheel! This simple, red, metal steering wheel sits at the top of the highest section of the playground - just near where you would go down the slide. Presumably it's there to keep kids occupied while they wait for other kids to hurl themselves down the slide sideways, backwards all the ways that kids seems to do.

For our Alexander there is no greater pleasure in this earth than standing at the top of the playground turning the steering wheel this way and that. Literally nothing comes close! Occasionally he will press the middle of the wheel where the horn would be and say "beep beep"

Alex with his beloved wheel - one of them anyway

"Do you want to go down the slide now?" we'll ask him after 20 minutes or so of standing and turning the wheel.
"No!" he'll reply with a determined shake of the head
"What about the dinosaur bouncy thing - you used to like the dinosaur bouncy thing..."
"No."

If either of us dare to remove Alex from this prime position there will be tears, flailing of arms and eventually, he will climb back up the stairs, across the wobbly bridge and up to his post - at the wheel, captain of the playground.

Bubbles bubbles bubbles updated

It seems like such a long time ago that we posted this little video of Alex - not even 3 months old - enthusing about these little soapy spheres of fun.

So here is an update, 15 months later... not much has changed

An offering to the kitchen gods

Not exactly a premium offering...

When we first moved into this flat in Sydney Alex's FAVOURITE place to 'hang' was the kitchen. More specifically he would pull himself up using the oven door handle and, quite literally hang off the oven.

Recognising that we would need to actually use the oven occasionally the next thing us responsible parents did was go out and buy a safety gate so little hands couldn't burn themselves on aforementioned oven door.

Needless to say this didn't go well, and it goes even less well if both mum and dad find themselves in the kitchen with Alex outside.

Recently he has tried a different tack. Whenever I'm in the kitchen for more than a few minutes he starts to bring me presents. I
like to think of them as offerings to the kitchen gods, in the hope that one day the magical gate will open and let him in to experience the wonder and general fabulousness that awaits within.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Sydney

Getting on

Alex is either starting to settle into a new routine or perhaps discovering a new found independence. Last week - for the first time he didn't cry when I dropped him off with the Nanny. Haydn often finds him playing with other kids and barely acknowledging him when he comes to collect him at Daycare at the end of the day and last Sunday Haydn and I actually went out for the night while baby Alex stayed at home with big Alex and mean uncle hOb. I prepared them for tears, for the throwing of food, reluctance to go to bed, general non-compliance... and what happened? Baby Alex watched us leave the house with not a tear, ate all his dinner and then went to bed happily with a giggle - an actual giggle. And apparently it was the same little man.

Art

Ever since Alex developed his fascination with the iPad we have discovered little digital presents from him in surprising places, for example, I find a message in the notepad application that simply says gfdjkl and nothing else. Occasionally he deletes the notes or actions I've taken for work which is not ideal and I guess the parent equivalent to a "dog ate my homework" excuse for not doing the actions from that particular meeting.

Most recently we have been finding random photos and videos appearing on the iPad, frequently of the floor, or a wall, but sometimes they are amusing or what could only be called art.

I've included a selection of works from Alex's first exhibition which he's calling "gfdjkl"















This series is especially amusing I think...

Fathers Day Craft

On Sunday Alex explored his inner artist and outer mess maker and produced what can only be described as a creative masterpiece with glitter and paint represented in the form of a fathers day card.

Location:Sydney

Kicking off with the hard stuff

Alex enjoying another Alex's 'milky wares'.

Some kids start with a lemonade stand, perhaps some handmade shell necklaces, maybe selling cookies door to door. Alex goes straight for the hard stuff, and, I'd say a more profitable business opportunity at these organic markets in Gladesville.

umm... it's not a "sitting castle"

OK, so he hasn't quite become the entrepreneur at 16 months old, but he did enjoy the baby-cino on offer and we couldn't miss the photo opportunity.

And it doesn't stop at baby sized milky drinks, the markets even have a JUMPING CASTLE! Unfortunately adults weren't allowed on the jumping castle so I begrudgingly stepped aside to let Alex, and our friend Dan's daughter Rachel have a bounce.

Enjoying some quality leave gathering... and some more sitting... with Rachel

 

Saying goodbye to Nanna B

Seeing Nanna off at the airport

 So we're on our own again.

Last weekend we dropped the lovely Nanna B off at the airport so she could finally return home after more than 3 months looking after Alex, and looking after mum and dad as well to be honest.

I had been dreading this week a bit. How were we going to manage? Could we really give Alex breakfast, drop him at the Nannyshare/Daycare, get to our respective works, actually do our jobs, pick him up, feed him and get him tucked up in bed before midnight? Well, so far so good, it might be the honeymoon period but we've managed to survive the week, after lots of planning, preparation of at least two dinners on the weekend, some car swapping, a doctors visit, a little working from home and a take away dinner tonight (well, no one's perfect).

We all miss Nanna but Alex seems to be doing well with the Nanny, Beena which is a real relief he's also enjoying daycare more and more every day.

Determination

Do these groceries seem heavier than usual?

shopping in style

I know what you're thinking, no blog update for over two weeks and this is the best you can do? A photo of baby Alex, sitting in my shopping cart in our lounge room. Well - I'll tell you this.

No.

That's not the best I can do.

The best I can do is give you a video of Alex in my shopping cart, being dragged around the lounge room by his dad.

So there!

Sewing the seeds...

We're already seeing dangerous signs of the future from young Alex. We predict an addictive personality with a potentially unreasonable obsession with all things... Apple.

And unfortunately I don't mean the fruit, or the record label for that matter.

It all started with our iPhone's. Possibly due to him seeing mum and dad using theirs most of the day and night, Alex loves to play with them. He puts it against his ear and says what sounds suspiciously like 'hello,' he already knows how to unlock the screen by pressing the button and sliding the bar across, he has a wide selection of aps installed on Mum's phone and even has his own iPhone (my old 3g from the UK permanently set to aeroplane mode).

We make sure any phone he's playing with is not connected to the network when he's playing with it, to protect his little brain from any wireless nasties and to protect our bank balance from an accidental call to Romania. 

A baby on a mission, so many shiny gadgets so little time

It looks like the obsession doesn't end with the smaller gadget in the range, on Friday lucky mum got an iPad2 for her birthday - it seems that it's really like a birthday present for bubba. He LOVES the big shiny new iPad and is genuinely shocked and mortified when one of the adults in the house wants to use his wonderful new toy.

Mum and dad are only encouraging the obsession by bringing said addict to the source a few weeks ago - by which I mean the apple store in Sydney - where he crawled around the store, blew raspberries on the nice clean glass windows and practised his walking between the gadgets.

We can only hope that by the time Alex is big enough to write his Christmas list to Santa, Apple have gone out of business and colouring pencils are all the rage.

Winter sun

When we decided to make the move from the UK to Australia we often pointed to 'better weather' as one of the big temptations of the southern hemisphere. In my head I guess I'd always been thinking about summer. The English summer is anything but reliable and every time I'd come back home on holiday over the last 11 years, its usually been in February - universally agreed as the most rubbish month to be in the UK, and always guaranteed hot weather in Sydney. 

Over the past couple of weeks I've realised it's not summer that makes the real difference between Sydney and London it is actually winter. The last two weekends we've enjoyed crisp clear blue skies, warming sun and generally lovely outdoor, picnic, walk and ferry catching weather.  And it's the middle of winter!

In summer months we now have to worry about Alex's whiter than white delicate skin, while in winter the sun isn't so harsh and we can spend time outdoors without needing to wrap him up like the Michelin baby to protect him from the wet and windy European winter.

It's a win win for winter!

My future's so bright - I've got to wear Nanna's shades

Hair harassed

what have you done to me?

Alex had a first visit to the hairdresser this afternoon. And to put it bluntly, it didn't go well. There were tears, there was yelling, there was a look of genuine dismay from the little man towards his encouraging but ultimately useless mother. There was super fast scissor work from the slightly frazzled hairdresser and there were blond curls everywhere!

And we got there - in about 6 1/2 minutes.

And once it was over we were all smiles again.

Alex is now transformed, sans long flowing locks and bouncy curls, into an entirely different baby. I barely recognise the little man whose emerged with the neat (ish) hairstyle and the less girly good looks.

He definitely looks older. Either that or he looks younger. Or it might be shorter and chubbier. One or the other or both.

And you... you're not helping!

All better 5 minutes later

Baby steps

For once the heading for today's blog entry isn't some kind of witty double entendre, clever analogy or play on worlds. I'm literally talking about my baby's steps. And he's taking more of them every day. In fact the video here is not that impressive but I've managed to not have my camera around every time he actually takes his multiple baby steps across the lounge.

I didn't think I was all that keen to see Alex walking. I know that once he walks it's just a matter of time before he's running and that's a whole new world of trouble. He took soooo long to finally start crawling that I decided not to stress about this particular milestone. And I haven't to be honest, I still enjoy watching his little toosh wiggle from side to side as he wonders off to explore the uncharted depths of bathroom or chase animals in a park and I figure he'll walk when he's good and ready.

Judging by the last couple of days he's getting close to ready and I''m very excited. He's just so proud of himself when he makes it from the chair to the coffee table or from his mum to his dad, he even gives himself a little clap to recognise the effort.

Sunday's effort -  we've been making progress by moving the coffee table further away...

and aren't we proud of ourselves!

Working mama pros and cons

Investigating the printer - maybe he can
come to work with me?

 I've gone back to work, full time.


There... I've said it.


It actually happened three weeks ago but it's only now that I've been able to type about it and get a handle on my guilt, nerves, worries, tears, fears and all the other feelings that have been whirring around inside since April 18th. That's not to say that any of the aforementioned feelings have dissipated, far from it. So instead of going into detail I'm going to write sensible, emotion-free pros and con of returning to work list.

Here goes...





Pros

• I appreciate much more the precious time Alex and I have together and it really is quality time now. I think I was taking it for granted a bit before
• The look on Alex's face when I walk in the door after a day at work is amazing... I must get the camera out next time
• Nanna B is doing a wonderful job as temporary nanny and Alex loves her even more than ever
• I'm earning money for the first time in 13 months
• Having a beautiful bubba at home gives you some excellent perspective - nothing at work is that bad or that important.

Cons

• It breaks my heart to leave him in the morning
• I have gone from spending all day long with Alex to about 2.5 hours
• I hate commuting - especially the inevitable traffic which cuts into the precious time mentioned above
• It's hard to be excited, inspired or enthusiastic about any job when really what you want to do is be at home playing with your little man
• Childcare is a NIGHTMARE in this city, 12 month waiting lists with no guarantee of a place, crazy waiting list charges, expensive fees... I could go on...
• I can't help thinking that in 20 years time I'll be regretting not having spend more time with my son, I won't be regretting not having worked in that ad agency in Sydney

People tell me it gets easier.

Finally getting a handle on things and then...

yes, one of the neglected areas is the hair cut dept.

So we're finally getting settled into Sydney and getting into a routine with little Alex. We've been on a rocky sleeping routine for months with all the moving countries, changing time zones, sharing a bedroom with his parents and general upheaval. At night Alex would often struggle to fall asleep on his own and would wake up once or twice in the night - and of course wake us up in the bed next to him. During the day we would find ourselves rocking, singing "row row row your boat" and generally patting and jiggling the little man to sleep twice or three times a day - the result of which was usually at best 30 minutes of blissful sleep followed by wailing and general mayhem. Frequently it took longer than 30 minutes to get him off to sleep in the first place.

but not any more

oh no...

These days he goes quietly off to sleep each night and sleeps through until at least 6am with barely a mummer or a gurgle (and other parents will know that 6am is the equivalent of a sleep in till 10 in baby terms). During the day he will frequently sleep for an hour and a half twice a day. And when he wakes up, he just sits up, finds some toys in his cot and quietly chats to them until one of us goes and gets him.

Now, this didn't happen over night. It was a bit of a battle, there were tears, some of them from bubba. I had some fantastic tips from my friend Nicole, all of which worked perfectly (thanks Nic). But we got there in the end and suddenly, we had free time! We could actually watch a whole film in the evening. I could actually get stuff done during the day!

So what did I do?

Decided to go back to work.

Really... what was I thinking.

Well, I would tell you more but I'm tired and have to get up to go to work tomorrow morning. grumble grumble...