Joy to the World ... is our kids at Christmas

Joining us this Christmas were Nanoo, Corin (aka Uncle Monsieur) and Yin. I love the way we celebrate Christmas. It all starts with the stockings first thing in the morning. Henry was very pleased his stocking contained his most coveted present - a chocolate Santa. We followed stockings with a champagne breakfast, which this year coincided with a visit from Santa himself. At first, Milly wasn't too sure of Santa but cheered up when she realised she could play and tug at his beard.

Next we all sit around the Christmas tree ready to receive our gifts with Corin acting as the present hander-outerer. This year Henry was his eager little helper. One at a time we all take turns in opening a present so we can all "ooh" and "aah" at everyone's booty. It was nice to see Henry enjoying being a gift giver and having fun watching others getting presents, instead of just wanting all the presents to himself. He is our little angel. Milly wasn't too sure what was going on but she was in heaven with all the paper to play with, rip up and slobber on.

By late morning, Henry had exhausted himself with opening presents that he refused to open anymore and left a few unopened under the tree. He just wanted to play with what he had and play he did. The poor lad was nackered and got a bit upset when it was time for his midday nap.

With the kids in bed it was time for us adults to relax and have lunch and get stuck into the wine.

Post-lunch we are stuffed. Henry gets up from his nap and opens the last of his presents. It's time to play again.

With the day coming to an end I survey our lounge room - it looks trashed. We have been hit by a Christmas torneado. Wrapping paper, boxes, presents everywhere. Looking at the amount of gifts the kids get I start to wonder where the hell we are going to put it all in our small flat.

And now with Christmas over, Henry has started pretending he is Santa. He puts on his Santa hat and says "Hello Mum. Present?". He then gets one of his toys and gives it to me as a present from Santa. Yes, he is our little angel.

Ho Ho Come?

Christmas is great for kids. I remember loving the anticipation of Christmas morning. I would go to bed early on Christmas Eve (it had to always be before midnight, otherwise Santa wouldn't come - this is something I still do) excited about getting my stocking and eating all the chocolates and lollies in it. I would wake my brother Corin, or he would wake me, and we would compare stockings. Then we would race out to the lounge room and look under the tree at all the different sized presents. We would never open them straight away, instead we would wait for Mum and Dad to get up. When we could wait no longer we would wake them ourselves to get the day rolling.

Now with children of my own, this year I am loving watching Henry enjoy Christmas. This is the first year he really understands what's going on. His and Milly's stockings are hanging up in their bedroom, the tree is up and Henry likes to turn the tree lights on, the two Playgroups he attends have both had Christmas parties, he met Santa at Luna Park when Michael's work held its annual kids Christmas do, we've been to a Carols night in Manly, and now whenever a present is put under the tree Henry asks "Ho Ho Come?".

So when Ho Ho does eventually come, I'm not sure who will be more excited - Henry or me.

Milly at Playgroup.

Henry stroking a baby chicken at Playgroup.

Resembling a little old lady on the bus, here is Milly clutching onto her Santa bag courtesy of the kids Christmas party at Luna Park - an annual party held by Michael's work.

The Snip

Michael has cut Henry's hair. Goodbye Goldilocks. Hello young Master Henry. No more sweaty head, or brushing hair out of his eyes. No more being mistaken for a girl at the playground. No more tears when it comes combing out tangles. No more cutie pie. Henry now looks like a little boy rather than a toddler. Suddenly he seems more grown up. It's only been two days since "the snip" and still I look at him and wonder who the stranger is in our home. I don't recognise him.

Oh yeah, I got a my hair cut to (and no, Michael didn't do it).

Holiday Heaven

The recipe for a fantastic holiday: sunny weather everyday (tick); over indulging in great food and wine (tick); grandparents minding the kids (tick); Milly sleeping through the night (tick). Yep, our holiday in Coffs Harbour was just what we needed to recharge our batteries.

Henry had a great time jumping into the pool, over and over and over and over and over and over again. Milly enjoyed herself as much as a 7 month old can. She was happiest when given a piece of paper to rip apart. Her sleeping at night improved and she and Henry now officially share a bedroom after successfully doing so on holiday.

Other big news for those of you interested in children’s milestones – Henry did his first poo in the toilet and he celebrated by eating an ice cream.

Getting away

We are going on holiday next week. We’ll be travelling north to visit our parents but also to spend some quality time away with Henry and Milly. Before having kids I used to plan holidays in locations where we could have some adventure or do a lot of sightseeing. Now all I want is to holiday in a tropical resort, laying by a pool or on the beach with someone else responsible for the kids. This holiday won’t quite be like that, but I’m just happy to be getting out of Sydney.

4:44

I'm living in Groundhog Day. This past week I've been waking or been woken at the same time. When I look at the clock it reads 4:44. It has even happened in the afternoon. My days have become fairly routine. They centre on Milly's sleeps and activities for Henry. Not much me time, which I'm starting to miss.

Some good news - I'm back on the chocolate. I've been gorging myself. No small pieces of chocolate for me. No, give me a family-size block and I'm away. Only problem is both Michael and Henry can sniff out chocolate from miles away and I've had to share.

Henry has started taking an interest in Milly. He insists on helping us feed her and he is now game enough to give her a hug or an eskimo kiss. Milly adores Henry. She watches everything he does and always has a smile for him or a laugh.

A big boy gets his big bed

Yes, Operation 'Henry in a big bed' is now a success. After many weekends spent shopping for a perfect bed for our perfect boy, we finally got it all together and now Henry is happily sleeping in his big bed. Amazingly, he's only fallen out twice. His cot remains in his room as we hope to move Milly in with him as soon as she starts sleeping through the night (please let it be soon).

We've had a couple of goes at introducing Milly to food. Some attempts have seen her grab at the spoon and have a good lick, most attempts have seen her not interested, so we will start again when she turns six months in two weeks. She's certainly not like Henry who grasped the total concept of food from the word go and hasn't looked back. Milly prefers mother's milk to anything else on offer.

Weekend away

We’ve just had a wonderful and relaxing weekend visiting Nanoo. It was Milly’s first trip away and she travelled ok for the two hour car journey. She didn’t sleep that well in the car, unlike Henry who pretty much falls asleep on car trips longer than 30 minutes. Other than that she was happy enough with the change of scenery and routine.

Henry was every excited to be visiting Nanoo and he spent the whole weekend following her and wanting to help whatever she was doing. They had a great time together gardening, making a wooden boat to float on the lake, drilling holes for some DIY home renovations, flying a kite, and visiting the local library.

Thank you Nanoo for having us visit. It was a relaxing time for me and Michael and an exhausting one for you (but you loved every minute of it).

August

This August has been an interesting and busy month. I'm now officially a homemaker, having been made redundant from my job when the company I work for decided to exit Australia. We've had family visits from the Bartley's with Nanoo making her monthly pilgrimage, and Grandad and Nanna Trace in Sydney for a weekend.

Operation 'Socialise Henry' has started with him attending Gymbaroo and a playgroup - so far so good. He is starting to be a little less anxious around other kids and is slowly building his confidence. Operation 'Toilet Train Henry' has been postponed. After a less than successful few attempts at introducing Henry to no nappies and sitting on the toilet, we've decided to put this project to the side for the moment. Operation 'Henry in a Big Bed' is slowly coming along. Interestingly this one was initiated by Henry who one night decided he wanted to sleep in a big bed instead of his cot. Problem is when we talk about getting him a big bed he has made it pretty clear he wants a pink, green and black one.

Little Miss Milly (actually she isn't so little - check out the size of her thighs below) is revealing herself to be a bit cheeky. She has a naughty smile and giggle. She has discovered her arms and hands and managed to grab a fist full of Henry's hair last week - he was not happy Jan.

Look-a-likes

Thank goodness Milly looks like me. I’m not saying Michael is tarnished with the ugly stick and looking like him is a bad thing, I think he’s hot stuff, it’s just when I look at pictures of me with Henry we don’t look like we are related. Sometimes when out and about with Henry I wonder if other people are looking at us and think I’m the nanny. It’s also got me wondering if Henry and Milly will grow up looking like brother and sister.

This blogs pictures show Henry having fun at Luna Park, Milly in Aunty Kathy's outfit, Nanoo with the grandkids (although Henry doesn't look that happy, we are sure it is more to do with his proximity to Milly than to Nanoo), Milly and me, and Milly actually smiling during tummy time.

Lessons

It’s amazing what you learn as a parent. I’m not talking about the art of how to look after babies and toddlers, I’m talking about the stuff you learn or relearn as you teach your child about the things they see in their life. For example, I would never have been able to name the different types of trucks on the road if Henry wasn’t so interested in modern day machinery. Now he is beginning to show an interest in dinosaurs which is forcing me to learn about velociraptors, the brontosaurus, whether they were plant or meat eaters, how big they were, how long ago they lived and much more. It will be interesting to see what things Miss Milly will want to know about, at the moment she is all too keen to box and whack her toys as they hang on mobiles in front or above her. Anthony “The Man” Mundine had better watch out.