Random BB moments

Nothing particularly interesting to say today. Just a weird positioning of hands and feet when I decided to take a photo:

Bad Baby's hand seems to have grown a little... 

BB finally got his hands on the computer. He also performed what I like to call his 'convulsions' combined with high-pitched crying when I picked him up to take him away from it.

A hard day at the office...

and then unwinding with a small afternoon snack.

And he also likes to eat grass. He survived, so I guess that means he didn't swallow too much.

An eventful Thanksgiving

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, the dad and I decided to have our own Australian Thanksgiving. We made these delicious turkey burgers and harvest potatoes, and my family brought a salad and an apple pie.

Usually the dad does most of the cooking for us, especially when it comes to meat. I do the baking and vegetables and things like that. On a side note, the dad loves his knives. He is always sharpening them, complaining about my lack of knife skills, complaining about my mum's lack of sharp knives, etc. So the dad was chopping some parsley for the burgers, when I hear, "Umm, I think I did something bad." I was in the other room so my first thought is that he let the baby get into something he wasn't supposed to. But no, I walk in and see the dad holding a very bloody paper towel to his finger. I dared to look at what had happened and now kind of wish I hadn't. He had sliced off part of a nail and the front tip of his finger. It wasn't horrible, but bad enough that he had to go to the medical center and may never have a full nail again. We did find the sliced-off part afterwards, and took some photos. They're pretty gross looking, so I won't post them here. 

Thankfully, I managed to get all the rest of the cooking done (even the meat part) while he was getting fixed and the rest of the dinner was a hit. Everyone loved the burgers and potatoes, and the apple pie was delicious.

A lovely wedding

Yesterday was my cousin's wedding down in Mollymook. The ceremony was on the beach and then the reception was at the Surf Life Saving Club right next to the beach. It was very very hot and sunny and of course I ended up getting sunburnt. The dad took BB into the shade for most of the time so they were both fine. 

I have no idea why this looks like we're standing in front of a green screen. 

BB in his 'beach cocktail' outfit. With a beautiful stroller ribbon. 

Picey wanted to push the stroller, but the dad had to steer because he couldn't see over the top.

BB's shy pose

We ate a lot of food at the reception. My sisters and I even had a first icecream and then a healthy second icecream. The wedding was at 3:30, so by the time we got to the reception and had eaten some food and talked to all the family, it was past time for BB to go to bed. He started to go a little crazy, as you can see in this photo where he is standing up in his stroller:

Picey and Loo were entertained by all their toys underneath our table. Most people didn't even know they were there.

We were out very late (for us) and only got back to my parents' house at MIDNIGHT. I don't even know when the last time I saw midnight was. Before going to bed, I mean. I've seen it plenty of times after being woken up by a certain someone. BB slept okay that night, luckily.

9 month old Bad Baby!

It's Bad Baby's 3/4 birthday! To celebrate, he made it really hard for me to get a good photo. It took a couple of attempts. 

Finally a good one! (and yes, the corner of the paper was indeed bitten off)

And for old-time's sake, since he's been out for 9 months, I thought I would post what he looked like at 9 months in!

I'm going to try and start writing down some of the things that BB does/likes/doesn't like etc. every month. So here goes...

Things BB likes:
- frantically trying to eat shards of wood, plastic, rocks, anything
- his book 'Where is the green sheep?'
- the washing machine
- electrical cords
- the television


Things BB is scared of:
- people looking at him
- me wearing a jacket with a hood
- toys rolling too far away
- the vacuum (might be getting over this one)

Things that make BB sad:
- anything scary (see list above)
- Dad leaving in the morning, or any time
- me taking away fun things like electrical cords, books, etc.

Things BB can do:
- stand up while holding on to such things as oven doors, drawers, rolling carts, fireplaces, pretty much            anything dangerous
- clap
- growl
- walk while pushing a wagon
- bang cupboard doors open and shut
- find his paci/dummy wherever I've put it

Just a regular Bad Baby day

First, I'm going to get stuck under the table and yell for help. 

Then, I'm going to break some sunglasses. 

After that, I think I'll chew on a drawer knob while trying to pull the drawer over on me. 

Next, I'll smear my lunch all over my face. 

I'll finish with screaming every time you try to take the away
 the packing paper that was in my present box.

A story in photos

While Aunty Von got her hair done (she's so fancy), Grandma and I looked after the 3 boys. It was a very rainy day, as it has been all week, so we spent a lot of time in the library. Guess who was crawling like a mad man trying to get books to pull off shelves? Of course it was that Bad Baby of mine. Thankfully the rain stopped in time for us to have some fun at the park. 

Me: Can I take your photo?
Loo: No, loo can't.
Me: Well, that's too bad.

Bad Baby: I'm very sad and lonely in my rain-cage.

Picey (in the yellow raincoat): Ready or not, here I come!
*Note Grandma and Loo beside the tree

I think he found them...

Loo: One, two, nine, twenty, seven...

Loo: Found la!

We went home for some baths, and a delicious burrito dinner.

BB: I'm in a towel! And I love having a bath!

BB: I am sooooo sleepy. 

What an exciting day.

Riding up high

I don't think I've talked about the Bad Baby's love of riding on his dad's shoulders. He has such a big smile and laughs a lot every time he is up there. The dad usually smiles, except for when BB is attempting to pull his hair out/ears off. He really is remarkably strong.  

Aunty Von came over to take care of BB while I did some more packing and organizing (although I was ordered not to alphabetize anything). She took him shopping in the front pack. He liked it. What a good aunty. I got a lot done, and didn't do any alphabetizing.

Not reading

Remember how I was hoping the Bad Baby would develop a love of reading? Well apparently it's not reading he loves, it's pulling books off shelves and trying to fold, rip, or eat them. What a Bad Baby.

Old Friends

The family went up to Cronulla today to visit some old friends. When I say 'old', I don't actually mean they are old, I mean they are friends from a long time ago. First there was a friend from my college days in North Carolina. The Bad Baby let her hold him for a while, and she had really fun earrings to play with. Thankfully he didn't rip them out of her ear. It was great to catch up and talk about what upstanding young citizens we were during college. 

I have no idea what he is doing in this photo. Trying not to listen to me, maybe?

Then we walked down to a park to meet some of my high school friends from before we moved to America waaaaay back in 1999. BB enjoyed himself - not sleeping, screaming a lot, generally being very Bad. His dad looked after him a lot so that I could spend some time with my friends. Which is why he is holding a beer bottle and covered in dirt. I ate a lot of chocolate and chips. It was fun.

Fish and chips

Today I went down to the harbour twice. The first time was just with a mole-y* Bad Baby to play in the park next to the water. There's a pirate ship and all sorts of wonderful things to play on, but BB mostly just likes 1) standing and 2) trying to eat rocks.

I think this hat is much better. See, I'm actually keeping it on my head!

 The second time was with the dad as well as Aunty Ash. We met here for some fish and chips. I don't really like fish, so I got a burger. Some people seem to think that Australian burgers aren't any good. But I like them. I like American burgers too. The dad thought that this was the best fish and chips he's had since we arrived. Sadly I didn't get a photo of his dinner. Nor did I get a photo of the 6 little containers of ketchup that he bought**. Only 3 of them got eaten, so he put the rest in the bottom of the stroller and then later found them squished. I love walking along with BB in the stroller and getting a lovely whiff of ketchup every couple of minutes.

Mmm delicious Aussie burger complete with pineapple :D and a bottle of Lift. What a dinner.

*mole-y refers to the fact that he seems to take after his mother in the squinting department. I can't leave the house without my sunglasses or I spend the whole time looking like a poor mole in the sunshine.

**Australia doesn't have some of the free stuff that America has. This usually includes ketchup and drink refills.

Helpful Baby

BB really wants to help his dad out in his new career as a real estate agent. So he's looking through/eating the real estate magazine to see what he can find. 

I sure do love a good magazine.

The new job is going alright I think. The dad works only 5 minutes drive from our apartment, so he comes home for lunch a lot and is home in the evening much earlier than he used to be. He has to wear a fancy suit though. He prefers to look like a homeless person in ripped t-shirts and old shorts. He'll get used to it I guess.

A Real Bed

For the first time ever, the Bad Baby has a real baby bed, instead of a pack-and-play/travel cot/whatever you would like to call it.

I'm very very tired. But I'm not too sure about this jail-bed.

This also means that instead of rocking him to sleep in my arms every time, I'm starting to attempt to get him to sleep in his bed. So far it's gone okay. Some sad crying and looking up at me, but not too much.

I guess it's okay. 

Our shipment has arrived!

Woohoo!! More boxes!!!

As you can see, the Bad Baby is super excited that all our stuff has arrived. Now he as a giant box to sit in:

The dad doesn't care too much because his beloved Cowboys are on TV:

I, on the other hand, have to deal with this:

I think it might take a while. But it is a little like Christmas when we open packages and have no idea what's in them! And also like Christmas when we open a package and think, "what the hell is this and why did I pay money to bring it halfway around the world?"

Umm guys? You aren't going to leave me here are you?

Kiama

It's starting to seem like I post the same thing over and over again. Maybe that's because I do the same thing over and over again. Only this time, we caught the train!

Seriously? You're making me wear this hat again?

Our trip was nicely timed so that BB could have a sleep on the train. I assumed the gentle rocking would lull him to sleep. It did, in the last 5 minutes of a 50 minute trip.

Oh, you thought I was going to sleep?

So I got off the train with a sleeping boy and met the cousins, aunty, and Grandma. I had to keep Picey and Loo away because they are very very loud. And they love to look at BB and climb on his stroller. We had lunch, then went down to the park next to the beach. Grandma looked after BB while I took Picey down to test the water. It was a really hot day and the water looked very inviting, but alas, it didn't feel as inviting as it looked. I would describe it as bitterly cold. I sure hope it warms up a bit before the summer, or BB will probably look the same as I did many years ago on one of my first trips to the beach:
















After the beach we went back to the cousins' house, where BB had what appears to be a showdown with their cat. The cat retaliated by chasing a bird in the window. It flew around for a minute or two before the brave aunty managed to get it in a towel and take it outside. It sure is unfortunate I don't have any photos of that incident. I was doing my best to protect my poor fragile son from the bird. Either that or I was scared of it and using him as an excuse. 

An eventful day.

Cool-dude shoes

I bought BB some new shoes for whenever he decides to start walking around/to keep the sun off his little feet. They look like Converse but were much much cheaper and more crappily made. I'm definitely not going to spend a bunch of money on something that will probably be thrown out of the stroller in the near future. They sure do look cute.

I love the swing!