Friday, August 31, 2007

All home safely

Around the garden

Firstly, I'm happy to say that Anna, Caitlin and James all made it back home to Sydney safely. I'm sure that it will take a few days before they're all back into the swing of the things and over their jet-lag, but it's nice to have them back. Having not seen everyone for a few weeks, I was particularly taken with how much James had changed since I last saw him - not something you notice when you see him everyday.

In preparation for their return, aside from cleaning, I did a little baby-sitting for our friends Juliet & Mike on Tuesday evening. However, it didn't really refresh my memory too well as their daughter, Jasmine, was asleep the whole time I was there!

Chris

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Friday, August 24, 2007

Steps to steps

Chubby Caitlin

James managed to steal the headlines this week, with a couple of firsts. Early in the week, he managed to pull himself up into a standing position - by all accounts, he was pretty unstable once he had got up, but it's yet another small step towards steps.

Later in the week, I received a note from the postman that we had some registered mail - a visit to the post office the following day, and James became the first member of the family to have two current passports. I don't remember noticing it on his Australian passport, but his British one contains an RFID chip which, in theory, makes it more difficult to copy. Of course, there's always a way and people have successfully cloned them, but I guess the amount of effort required makes it that bit harder...

Chris

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Friday, August 17, 2007

Sickness & Health

New & Notable

The week started with James developing a bit of a temperature, and Anna having to organise a visit to the doctor to get some anti-biotics. Fortunately, the treatment organised through NHS Direct seems to have hit-the-spot, and he has now fully recovered.

Meanwhile, I was participating in the annual City 2 Surf run from the city centre out to Bondi. I would have liked to have done it more quickly, but I did (just) manage to make it in under 100 minutes; which means that I qualify for a reasonable start position next year.

Despite her exposure to the cats at Barkers Green, Caitlin still doesn't seem to be too comfortable around animals. Anna, her Mum and the kids visited a local “petting farm” during the week and Caitlin was, by all accounts, beside herself with fright at the idea of having a rabbit placed on her lap to stroke. I'm sure she'll grow out of this, but we can't help but wonder what it is that has made her so fearful of these encounters.

Chris

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Friday, August 10, 2007

Beach Fun

Video Podcast

Caitlin, by all accounts, thoroughly enjoyed the visit to Lyme Regis this week - especially when she won first prize for making an octopus out of a piece of silver-foil. Fortunately, the weather was good enough so that they could all head out on to the beach almost every day; which is a big change from when I was there recently!

James' teeth have also settled down a little, which has meant that he has started to show a lot more interest in the solid food on offer. When I came back to Australia, I brought may of his 9month+ outfits back with me, but it sounds like he'll be needing these soon. In addition, he has now done his first “proper” crawling.

Finally, a couple of people have mentioned that they can't see the top-level navigation on the site (when using Internet Explorer) so, to make life easier for everyone who is interested in the videos, I've now incorporated all of these into a video podcast that you can subscribe to within iTunes by clicking on the image below:

Video Podcast

Chris

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Friday, August 03, 2007

Visits here and visits there

Photo Shoot

While I was enjoying some unseasonably warm sunshine in Sydney, Anna & the kids were on a visiting marathon of some relatives in the Chesterfield area - followed by a couple of days staying with James' godparents; Helen and Ash. They'll all be heading down to Lyme Regis next week, for a family beach holiday, so hopefully the weather will play nicely.

Meanwhile, I was joining up with some of our hashing friends for the “Christmas-in-July” trip to Katoomba. I decided to head up on Saturday morning, rather than Friday night, to be sure that I didn't fall asleep while driving - which also meant that I was feeling a bit more lively than those people who had availed themselves of the facilities the previous night.

Finally, a few more home videos are now available for your viewing pleasure:

Chris

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