The Good Old Days

Today we went for a trip down memory lane and visited the area where I grew up. I lived in the same house from when I was born until we moved to Dallas when I was almost 17. It was in a suburb of Sydney called Oatley. It was a great place to grow up, with lots of parks and other places to play and explore. 

We got there earlier than the rest of my family, so we spent some time hanging out in the park I used to go to alllll the time. That was where my dad would lie on one of the benches and pretend to be Frankenstein. It was very scary. Up one end of the park there is play equipment, and at the other end is a War Memorial, complete with a real live (but thankfully not working) cannon. I have no idea why, but we loved to play on it when we were little. 

Chilling in the park, in between bites of grass

'At least this one's not an animal!'

What does this thing do, Dad?

We ate lunch after that at a cafe (also on the map above). While we were there it started raining. A lot. But thankfully it was pretty much done by the time we were done, so we still ventured out. When we were little, there was a pipe (maybe a water pipe? I don't know) that ran next to a path from Oatley to Como, the suburb across the river. We used to love walking along it, and had planned to do that again today, but sadly the rain made it a little too slippery. We still got up there for a photo opportunity, of course. 

We walked across the bridge to the park in Como, where I displayed my outstanding rope-climbing skills. It was a lot harder than it looks. Or something.

We got delicious ice-creams after the walk (of course), and took a wonderful ice-cream photo. I have no idea what those faces are on the aunty and uncle. As usual, the photo grinch is standing in the background without a smile on his face.

And I have no idea why it took me so long, but I suddenly realised when we were almost back to the car that the dad and the uncle were twins!

Good Baby?

Apparently the Baby has been good this year, because when we got home with our shopping today, this is what the dad found in our shopping bag:

It was an unmarked envelope, and inside was a card with $100 in it! No writing, nothing. I guess we'll just have to keep it.

Bad Elf

 About a month ago, I found the most excellent elf ears for the Bad Baby to wear for our Christmas card this year. I went and bought a little suit for him to wear to complete the outfit. In the store he didn't seem to mind wearing the ears. However, it all went downhill from there...

Testing... still not too bad.

Yep, he hates them. 

Let's try a change of scenery. So far so good...

Would this be considered abuse? 

He hates them so much that he would start crying and backing away from me if I came near him to put them on again. I even tried a different kind of ears that I found days later. No luck though.

Needless to say, our Christmas card had a screaming elf on it. The elf ears got put away for a while. I sent the cards, everyone got them and loved how hilarious we are. 

Today, as I was getting out the Christmas decorations to put up (much to the horror of the Christmas grinch, aka dad), I found the ears again. So I thought I would see what happened this time. And surprise, surprise, the Bad Baby decided he was fine with the ears now!

I love the ears! Except when you want a nice photo for a Christmas card!

Teenage Bad Baby

Apparently the Bad Baby has become a teenager a little early, what with his saggy baggy pants and incessant loud drumming. Now if only he would waste the morning away in bed asleep...

I think this one speaks for itself

I reeeeeally wish I'd been quick enough to film the struggle that took place about 5 seconds before this photo.

Doggies

A smile from Loo! It's a miracle! 

Doggies in their dog beds

Jack the dog

Fred the dog

In answer to the questions that are sure to be asked: 

- Yes, they chose their own names

- Yes, their aunty (not me, the other one) drew dog faces on with permanent marker

- No, this was not a forced activity, as it appears to be from the solemn looks on their faces.

Sleep is overrated - Updated

Bad Baby's recent badness:

Yesterday - woke up at 5:15am. Had one nap of 40 minutes and one nap of 35 minutes. Went to sleep at normal time of about 6:45pm. Had sixth sense of mother getting into bed at 10pm, so woke up crying. Awake until 11pm.

Today - woke up at 4:45am. Drank some milk, and decided whining was a lot more fun than going back to sleep. Pretended to be asleep until put back into bed, then cried some more. Only fell asleep while being held by mother. Woke up for real at 6:45am. Mother stumbled back into bed, thinking about what a sweet little angel she has.

We'll see how the rest of the day goes.

Update:

The rest of the day wasn't too bad. No long sleeps, but BB was okay and not too whiny. The night, however, was another story:

Once again, just as we were getting into bed, BB wakes up and whines for the next 15 minutes as the dad is trying to put him back to sleep. 12:30am, he wakes up again and I feed him and put him back to sleep. 2:45am he wakes up AGAIN and it takes about an hour for him to go back to sleep. And then up for good at 6:20am.

It would be really nice if he would sleep tonight.