Food, food, food

See Mum, I CAN feed myself cereal!

See, straight in the mouth with only a little bit on my clothes

Told you I was clever!

Amelia has been feeding herself for quite a while now, but there were certain foods that I wouldn't let her feed herself, like cereal for instance. Anything that had liquid in it I had to do. There were times that I would put a little bit of milk on some rice bubbles for her and that was ok (well there were rice bubbles everywhere afterwards!), but lately she wants to feed herself everything! I had even stopped putting her in her highchair a while ago, she would just sit at the table with us in a kiddy seat thingy, or she would sit at the coffee table on a little chair with Annabel. But lately she just wont sit still so I have resorted back to the highchair, and the good thing is that she is ok with that. So anyways now she sits in it and feeds herself everything, and she is so very proud of herself, and very cheeky! She often asks for rice bubbles, saying "bubbles, Mummy", and she has taken a liking to peas! Yay!
I have been trying so hard lately to get veggies into my kids. Annabel is pretty good, she will eat everything with a bit of coaxing and the occasional bribe. But Amelia tends to have more fun chewing them and spitting them out. She doesn't always do this, but if you look at her while she's eating she'll generally do something naughty and cheeky. So I've been puring veggies and adding it to their food. They both love macaroni and cheese, so I have been loading it with pureed veggies and they both just gobble it down unaware. But I cant just feed them mac and cheese all the time, so I've had to think up some EASY recipes to feed them and hide their veggies. I've got the cook book "deliciously deceptive" but I have to be in the mood to cook. I like simple things. Especially for kids. I'm probably just being lazy, though. I have been trying to feed them their veggies at lunch time as well. I actually find lunch time easier to give them their dinner than at dinner time. Dinner time is always so hectic and they are always at my feet. So for the last week or so I have been giving them their dinner at lunch and then something simple at dinner time. Then when they go to bed Adam and I can actually sit down and have our dinner in peace. It seems to work for us! We'll see how long it lasts!

This past weekend we took the girls up to Southbank again and let them have a big swim. It was yet another beautiful day and the water was perfect. We went along with some friends of ours, Glen and Michelle and their 2 littlies, Ella and Joshua who are the same age as our girls. The kids played in the water for hours and Amelia had fun hanging out with Daddy in the lagoon, just kicking back and using Daddy as her own personal flotation device. She was just relaxing!
By about 2pm Amelia was well and truly tired, she just stood their shivering and staring into space. Annabel was still keen to keep on swimming though! We packed up and ventured back to the car with an ice cream and a 2 tired girls. On the way home we stopped off at Nando's and ordered a big bowl of hot chips - the perfect end to a good day, no cooking! Then it was back home to try and relax some more!

Annabel playing on the rocks

Amelia playing in the water fountains

Me and Annabel. She's hard to catch when she's playing!

Amelia and Daddy relaxing in the lagoon

Amelia and Daddy taking a stroll down the lagoon

Holiday house

The girls have been so busy lately playing in their "holiday house". They have transformed Amelia's room into their own little getaway and stay in there for hours playing. They turned the change table into bunk beds and set up their little table and chairs and of course they have their babies that they have to take care of. They both have a big imagination! Mind you though, the place was a mess! They took all the blankets off Amelia's bed and raided my linen cupboard. But they had so much fun and it kept them busy and allowed me to get some stuff done.

Pretending to sleep

Wolf Spider?

Yesterday, the grossest thing! And this wasn't' anything to do with the my kids either. Adam, while home for lunch, was walking in the backdoor when all of sudden a big spider landed on him. He didn't think anything of it at first until he got a look at it. It was the biggest creepiest spider I had ever seen, and I have seen my fair share of spiders. It was as big as Adam's hand. Before he saw it he thought it was just a harmless huntsman, which do get quite big and are hairy, but harmless. But this didn't look anything like a huntsman to me. It had stripes on its legs and a weird pattern on its body. From my experience huntsman's were just one shade of brown all over. It also moved very quickly and stood in this strange position. Adam had managed to flick it off and it jumped into the curtains. Adam, who hates to kill anything, got the fly and insect spray and sprayed in and around the curtain trying to kill it. I in the mean time held Amelia because she wanted to go up and see the "bider". I hate spiders. I cant even hardly look at them without feeling sick and creeped out. So while the spider was very slowly dying we managed to get a photo of it and then went online and looked up what it could be. By looking at the photos online it looked to us to be a wolf spider, which are quite poisonous here, and require and anti venom if your bitten.
So I was just feeling so thrilled about having a venomous spider in my house! After a while Adam managed to catch the half dead spider in a bucket then put it in a clear container. It eventually died. Once Adam got back to work he emailed a work colleagues husband, who does pest control, the photo of the spider to see what kind it was. Everyone at Adam's work was convinced it was a wolf spider, some telling lovely stories of how the adult ones actually prey on birds! So anyway, eventually the pest guy got back to us and told us that it actually was a harmless huntsman, just a different kind, and not an awful bird eating monster! What an event! This poor spider, was actually harmless, and we killed it! But at the same time I still don't like spiders and don't like them in my house! So anyways, I was relieved that I didn't have a wolf spider pandemic at my house, but I still had the creeps for the rest of the day!
Hope this doesn't deter all you future visitors of ours!!!!

Just gives me the creeps!

Cardboard castle

I just thought this was so cute I had to add it. Last week our washing machine died (that is not the cute part!) and so reluctantly we had to go and buy another one. Although secretly I must say I was kind of relieved. I really hated my front loader and was quite happy to get a brand new top loader. And despite the expense, I am rapped with my new washing machine! Yes, things like that excite me!

So anyways getting back to it, we had this new washing machine and a great big box, which was by far more exciting for the girls ( I don't know why, cant they see the joy that I get from it! Obviously not, they couldn't care less if their clothes were clean or dirty, well at least Amelia wouldn't anyway). Anyhoo, so they had this great big cardboard box which they had to do everything in. First it was a big cave that they needed a torch to see in (no, not a flaming stick, that's just what we call a flashlight :)), and then it was their bedroom, and then it was a castle. They both got dressed up in their princess dresses and played in their castle for hours. It is amazing how something so simple as a cardboard box is far more entertaining than any expensive toy. They took their crayons out and decorated it, rode their bikes in it and ate their lunch in it. And the best thing is is that they could do pretty much whatever they wanted to it, because all we have to do is throw it away! This definitely re-defines the saying that "its the simple things in life that are the best"!

Swinging Solo

Today was a very exciting day for Annabel - she has learned to swing all by herself! She has been trying and trying for what seems like years to her and today she accomplished that dream! And Adam and I couldn't be more happier, because now we can actually SIT outside and watch the girls play instead of standing there pushing them both. Now while Amelia cant swing herself, Annabel is more than glad to push her little sister. So its great! Annabel's over the moon and so are we!

It is so cute to watch her and see how proud she felt. You forget how something so small like swinging on a swing can be so huge for someone so little. I remember when I was little sitting there for hours trying to click my fingers and when I did it it was like I had a climbed Mount Everest!

So she couldn't get enough of this new accomplishment of hers. She swung her little self back and forth for over an hour before she quickly ran inside, gobbled down her dinner, and ran straight back out there swinging again until it started getting dark and her bath was ready. I am sure tomorrow, after preschool, will be the same, and for the next few days or so until she finds something else to master. She has been trying to whistle, but I think that will take a little while yet!

delinquent?

I seem to be finding it hard to keep Amelia out of trouble. She is into EVERYTHING! The little monkey pulls all the gates down and gets into every cupboard she can find. The other morning I caught her in the kitchen with a dish washing tablet in her mouth! Thankfully she didn't swallow any. She thought it was a milky way, but I think a soon as she put it in her mouth she realized it wasn't chocolate and threw it on the ground. I in the mean time was ready to call the poisons info line, but after assessing the tablet I realized she had only managed to wet it a bit. Talk about a panic attack!

She is still in the habit of taking her nappy off as well. To my horror once again, she took it off after having done a poo. I wont go into to much detail, but lets just say I am glad we have floor boards and not carpet in our lounge room. It was quite disgusting! Anyone who didn't have children would have been horrified and sworn off kids for life!

She is so very cute though, but she sure is challenging at times! I am finding that while some things get easier new things pop up and others get harder. Like right now I feel like we're almost past all the "baby" things. She eats everything we do, doesn't have a bottle, she can play outside with Annabel and she can say quite a few things now. But now she can do lots of things, she still cant understand why she's not allowed to. Like playing with the toilet brush for instance. And eating leaves and ripping my plants out of their pots.

I just need to be patient and enjoy them and keep telling myself that one day they will be teenagers and from what I hear, they are a heck of alot harder! (not to be pessimistic or anything!).

Summer already?

The girls paddling in their little pool

This is South Bank in the city where we take the girls swimming

It is beautiful!

I just cant get over how hot the weather has been lately! I mean, I know we are in Brisbane and it is warm up here, but it has been HOT! Yesterday it was 33 degrees Celsius ( I think that is about 90 F) and it is still technically winter! I'm not complaining though, I love this weather! But I have to say that I am a little concerned about how hot the summer is going to be this year. Thankfully we have airconditioning and we got our roof insulated so that should keep us cool.

On Sunday we went up into the city to South Bank and took the girls swimming in the lagoon. It is a man made beach/lagoon thingy right in the heart of the city over looking the river. It is just beautiful there. We all had a swim and the girls had a blast. It was actually quite relaxing this time. Both girls are pretty cautious so we just sat in the water and they splashed away. It was great!

Yesterday I put the girls little pool up and let them have a splash around. And I think I will be doing the same thing today. Both of them are so tan it makes me jealous! But I am glad that they have their Fathers skin and not mine, otherwise we would probably have 2 little red girls!

This past weekend we went away for the long weekend with our friends Jody and Mark and their two little girls, Mia and Bella. It was such a relaxing weekend! I was quite surprised at how well all the girls behaved! We went up to Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast (about an hour and a half's drive north of us) and it was absolutely beautiful! We stayed in an apartment right across from the beach and a big park. The kids had an absolute ball! And us adults actually got to relax and enjoy ourselves. The weather was perfect, it was warm and sunny, and the kids got to have a swim at the beach and play in the sand. We were close to everything so we didn't have to drive anywhere which was great. It was our 2nd time staying up there, we went up with Adam's parents last time they were over and are going back again in February with them. It is definitely one of our favourite holiday get aways!

Today we went for another bike ride with the girls and we had such a nice time. The weather was beautiful and the girls were really well behaved. We rode to the park again and this time we packed a lunch and let the girls run around while we sat back in the sun and relaxed. I am really enjoying being able to do more now that the girls are getting bigger. I dont feel like I am tied to the house as much or that I need to pack a billion things before we go anywhere. We rode along some knew bike trails and I actually feel like I am getting better (corners and hills dont scare me as much anymore!). I am, however, still pretty unfit, but hopefully that will improve with time aswell. The girls took in all the scenery and Annabel kept yelling out to Adam to go faster, especially when he was trying to pull them up a big hill. But he still does so much better than me and all I have to do is pull myself along!

On the way back home both the girls fell asleep. They cuddled into each other and looked so cute. It was lovely though because when we got home they stayed asleep, and because the bike trailer also converts into a stroller all we had to do was wheel them inside and leave them to sleep. So while they were asleep we got to relax in some peace and quiet. All in all it was a great day.

To toilet train or not?

I am not sure what to do at the moment. Amelia still keeps taking her nappy off and running around the house half nude. Not only that, nearly everytime I put her down for a nap I always end up finding her asleep with no pants or nappy on. To my horror the other day I found more than just her nappy in her cot, and on the floor! I needn't say anymore, I am sure you have got the "messy" picture.
Yes so I am thinking that maybe little miss may need to be toilet trained early. I am not sure it will work, (Im not getting my hopes up!), or if I can really be bothered with the hassle just yet. But then again I am not liking cleaning up all her little messes I have found through the house, so I should probably just give it a whirl. I hate toilet training though! Annabel picked it up straight away and was great for 3 months, then all of sudden she went backwards and was back in nappies (after many "accidents") for another 5 months or so. But maybe because Amelia has Annabel as a role model now she might pick it up quickly and keep it up? At least I am hoping!
So maybe I should go ahead and "try". I just wish it could be done in 1 day!