Learning to do 'stuff'

The changes are happening before our eyes. Everyday Maeghan is getting bigger and stronger and learning how to do more and more. I think her cheeks are getting chubbier by the day and the rolls in her legs multiplying at an equally rapid rate. We're getting the occasional chuckle and her chatter noises are becoming more varied. Her eyes are still blue-ish grey colour and although the hair is still dark, the eyebrows seem to getting a bit lighter.

Here is a clip of Maeghan playing with her book, trying to get it up to her mouth and just learning how to use her hands. You can just see the concentration on her face. This is hard work.

As usual, the cricket is on in the background. She has no choice, she is being conditioned early in life to becoming a future cricket fan.

The Jolly Jumper gets the occasional work-out. She hasn't yet worked out that if she kicks her legs she can bounce, but she seems to enjoy just hanging there.

Mt Tomah Botanical Gardens

Way back on the 9th of January, the last day before the Grandparents returned to Ireland, Dad & myself took Peter & Annette up to the Blue Mountains for the day. After a fairly hectic holiday and the anticipation of a long flight home, we didn't want too big a day, just a nice relaxing drive to enjoy the scenery.

We started with a cruisy drive up through Windsor and Richmond, past the Defence Forces airport and up through Kurrajong where you can hear the Bell birds sing as you start the climb up into the mountains. We did make a quick stop along the way at a bakery in North Richmond to pick up morning tea. There were soooo many good looking cakes, that I had to remind Annette that there were only 4 of us and we really couldn't eat everything. Around about 10am, we found a little roadside park where we could stop for a cup of tea and a few cakes. There was a shop on either side of the road. From where we sat, they just looked like little roadside shops. From the time it took Annette to explore them, you would swear they were major shopping centres. Turns out they sold locally made pottery. Need I say more?

We made it to Mt Tomah Botanical Gardens. There were plenty of protea's and grevillias & the usual suspects you would expect to find around a botanical garden's. We enjoyed a lovely stroll through the garden's... oh yeah, except for the highly dangerous skink lizards that were basking precariously in the sun along the footpaths. We enjoyed a fantastic lunch up in the restaurant. After ordering our slightly modified steak sandwiches, each customised to our own personal preferences, we sat back to relax after a hard morning's walk. I hate to be high maintenance, but we couldn't help but to send our sandwiches back to the kitchen when they arrived minus the steaks. They got everything else right. Overall, we did have a great day out.

Cute photos

There's no real purpose to this entry apart from putting up a few nice photos of Maeghan and the family.

Maeghan and her Granny

Grandad making a somewhat unsuccessful attempt at waking Maeghan up for her 10pm feed. We put her 'I've got Irish roots' t-shirt on specifically for our web hook-up to Ireland. Not much point really, the resolution probably wasn't good enough to get the whole effect, but we had fun and we don't need much excuse to turn anything into a photo opportunity.
Podger looks on with great intent as Elissa eats her chocolate star on Christmas day. He's a great opportunist. Any crumb that hits the ground usually disappears within microseconds of landing.


I think this is a look of disapproval. I believe it had something to do with Isaac doing something she wasn't too happy about. Podger is still waiting for his opportunity.

Pool time

Well, you've seen the unhappy face from our first swimming experience. We've had a fair bit more success since then. The first swim was around mid-November & I reckon the water temperature was in the low 20's back then. Now, after a few weeks of fairly warm weather, today the thermometer in the pool was reading 30o. So it's not such a shock on the system when you get in now. The trick is to gradually splash the water down her back, so when I finally dunk her, she's already mostly wet. Today we had her floating on her back like she's having a bath. She actually starts to kick her legs and relaxes right back into the water. We'll have her doing laps in no time.


We took these photos not long after Christmas when Mum, Michelle, Susanne and her gang came over for a swim one day. It was sort of an impromptu pool party. For once Elissa had plenty of people to play with. The game on this particular day was to try and steal all the noodles from Michelle. As usual, bribery was required to get her out of the pool when the rest of us had had enough for the day.

Elissa sneaks a kiss from Gemma under the table. I could write a whole separate entry on cute kids and puppy moments.

Our Day Today..

There are a few events that have already occurred that I will eventually write about, I just thought I'd add a quick blog on our day. Now that things are on their way back to normal, we decided to head out to Ikea to see if we could find some sort of storage system for all of the toys and baby stuff we have accumulated over Christmas. I would like blame Santa for that, except that I think that both sets of Grandparents should take some responsibility. Anyway, we did not get what we were looking for.


We were given this baby seat from my Aunty Margaret and she is now just ready to start using it. She loves it! For a few weeks now she has been quite the little sticky beak and now she can actually sit up to see what is going on. Her stamina is still a little low, but now that the hands are getting a little bit more useful (as useful as wearing boxing gloves), at least she can see more and a few things put into the lap are actually making it up into the mouth.

The following photo is of Derrick & Maeghan chilling out, watching telly together. I don't think it was Antiques Roadshow this time, but it usually is. We also had a play on the jolly jumper, which is kinda a spring type of suspension toy that she hangs in. I'll add a video clip of this another day.

Umina getaway

After a hectic Christmas we took off up the coast to Umina, which is only about 1 1/2 hours north of Sydney, but feels like it's a world away. We've been holidaying up there since we were kids, originally camping at the local caravan park and then when Mum & Dad built the house, we upgraded. For those that haven't been to the house, it's basically a house built on poles. For most people it would seem like a big tree house and until we discovered on this trip that the big tree growing next to the house had mysteriously died, it pretty much felt like it was built in a tree as well. The house vibrates with every movement and there's no way anyone could sneak up on you, you can feel it in the house the minute someone walks onto the walkway.


We tend to forget how high the house is and it's only when we take new people up there, that we realise that it can be a little bit freaky to start with. Annette was a little anxious to start with, but I think like most people, after a while, you stop noticing the distance to the ground and just enjoy the view. This is a photo of a King Parrot that decided to visit us on the balcony. The native birds are abundant up here and we will often get visits on the balcony during the morning or evening. We even have bush turkeys running around along the driveway.

We took everyone for a walk to Mt Ettalong look-out. This is one of my favourite places up there. You can see 180o views of the coast. The view in the photo is of Pearl Beach, Lion Island and Pittwater. The other side of Pittwater is 'Summer Bay'.

There are a lot of places to just 'chill' at. We had to have the legendary Fish & Chips at Patonga, the mandatory shopping trip to Erina Fair during the post Christmas sales and dinner down at the Umina Bowlo. This photo of Maeghan was taken while we hung out at the beach while Derrick & his parents walked around the rocks to Pearl Beach and back.

A sunny Christmas!!!

Do we have enough shade? Is the pool clean? I hope it's not TOO hot! These were our concerns leading up to Christmas day. Our first Christmas in the new house & our first Christmas with baby Maeghan. We obviously wanted everything to be just right. For some reason, our Irish visitors were having a hard time believing that it was Christmas time. Was it the lack of sleet or icy roads? Was it the long hot days? Or maybe just the sun, which I think only comes out in Ireland 5 days every 2 years. Regardless, the Christmas lights were on and Santa was booked in to drop a load of pressies into our little house, with 98% of them marked with Maeghan's name.

Everyone must have been good this year because Santa certainly left a big load of pressies. He must have gotten confused, because he also left some for Elissa, Isaac and the rest of the gang. In fact, even the dogs got a gift. Santa must have his beer goggles on because the dogs definitely have their naughty moments.

After a marathon effort opening all the presents, we all sat down for our traditional Christmas lunch. Ham, roast pork, chicken and roast vegies. Appalled that we don't normally have turkey, Derrick bought a turkey and made it his mission to cook the turkey. Under the guidance of his mum, the turkey was cooked and was a hit. I'm not sure who ate it, when asked for a head count, most people were confused and weren't sure if they had the chicken or the turkey. Regardless, it seemed provide us with a good few days of turkey and mustard sandwiches. To add a touch of the Irish Christmas, they even managed to sneak some brussel sprouts onto the table. I'm pretty sure that there were only 3 people at the table that touched the sprouts.

I don't think it matters where in the world you have Christmas, the day ended with the typical Christmas tradition of crashing out on the couch feeling full, bloated and a little bit under the weather. Of course we ended the day with turkey sandwiches, or in my case, a roast pork sandwich.

Of course, as our day was ending, the Irish Christmas day was just getting started. Technology can be a good thing. It certainly shortens the distance between people. After several attempts, we did manage a video hook up with the family in Ireland, though it was a day late & everyone was a little bit tired and emotional after the late night celebrations.