The festive photo

Here it is.  The Christmas photo.  Look at my three little lovelies.  Don't they look happy?  Let me fill you in on what it took to get this photo.

As usual no one wanted to participate or cooperate.  Henry and Milly are more experienced with my "you will do this or die" approach to getting a family photo.  Buster on the other hand could not have cared less and struggled and fought against it.

Then Henry wanted to muck about and Buster was still looking for his way out.  Milly was happy to pose.

The photo shoot was finally saved by Michael.  He stood next to me and hit himself, and hit himself, and hit himself some more.  The kids find this hilarious.  Seeing their father hurt or pretending injury is laugh-out-loud funny.  Not sure what that says about them or our parenting skills.  But it got them smiling and looking happy, and that is all that mattered to me as I snapped away. 

With Michael exhausted from entertaining the kids by torturing himself, the kids too were tired of having to sit still and smile.  We were all relieved when I called an end to the photo shoot.  I was hoping that at least one of the 74 photos I took would have them in focus and all smiling.  And there you have it for another year.

Advent update

Just a little update on how the new advent calendar is going. It's going super, thank you. Henry has really embraced checking each box for a little note and reading it out loud. The first few mornings he'd awake a bit early (ie 5.30am) and come and wake me up and tell me the message. I think he was expecting me to enthusiastically jump out of bed and complete whatever action was in the note. Thankfully, my bleary eyes, dismissive waving of hand, and failure to get out of bed have led to him lowering his early morning expectations of me. Now he when he wakes up, he reads the note, turns on the TV and quietly waits for everyone else to surface.

The very first note was "Decorate the Christmas tree". The kids had school and preschool, so had to wait until the afternoon to decorate. All three got stuck in to rummaging through the decorations box and hanging the ornaments. Buster was a bit of a hinderance. His preference was to whack the baubles off the tree and start kicking them around or trying to make them bounce.

I love this photo of the kids beside the tree. It cracks me up looking at Henry standing so straight and tall and serious. I didn't ask him too. I think it shows the influence of school on him.

We are almost half way through the advent calendar and they've only had a chocolate treat twice. I've been pleasantly surprised that they don't seem to miss it. They've written their Christmas cards. Written letters to Santa. We've read a Christmas story. They've decorated Nanoo's Christmas tree. They have also decorated a gingerbread house, which is always loads of fun when it's stick one lolly on the house and then stick one lolly in your mouth.

We've also managed to take the offical Christmas photo. But that story and photos is for a separate blog post. Stay tuned.

Still the littlest

Buster had his two year old health check up today. I thought I'd share his weight and height stats and provide a comparison with Henry and Milly at the same age.

Henry: 14.3kg, 89cm
Milly: 13.5kg, 88cm
Buster: 11.5kg, 85cm

Up until now Buster has been wearing his size 1 clothes. It was only this week I pulled out the storage box of size 2 clothes in readiness for the transition. He is now wearing some size 2 tops (mainly to accommodate what is known as "the Hobson head"). His legs are so short he'll be in his size 1 trousers and shorts for months to come, unless he has a major growth spurt.

It must be love

Thought I'd share with you a snippet of conversation held tonight at the dinner table.

Milly: I love you Mama.
Me: Oh thanks Poppet. I love you too.
Milly: Dadda, I love Mama more than you.
Michael: No, I love Mama more than you.
Milly: No. I do.
Me: Oh thanks guys. It's nice to be so loved.
Milly: Dadda, I love you more than Mama.

And there you have it.