Easter

Mathew, Brendon and I went away with the Moke Club to the Black Cockatoo Bush Camp at Naracoorte. It's a campsite set up in a paddock and is the third time we have been there. For Brendon's first camping trip, he handled it really well. It took us a few nights to figure out how to make him warm enough at night. He seemed to enjoy it, especially discovering grass and dirt, but wasn't happy that I wouldn't let him eat any of it!
We borrowed a camper trailer that we were considering buying as we are selling our caravan. However, we found that this particular camper trailer was a bit small, with room enough for a portacot, but no room for a growing boy.
There were plenty of volunteers to give Brendon cuddles or mind him, especially Barb, who was willing to grab him at any available opportunity.
Brendon is really trying to crawl. He has figured out he can move forward and around, and is trying hard to perfect the technique. The only bit he needs to work out is that it works better with his stomach off the ground.

Sleeping through the night

On Thursday, Brendon reached his 6 month birthday. He celebrated by having his 6 month immunisations. One of the side effects is that it makes them sleepy. He was asleep sometime between 7:30pm and 8pm that night, and slept until 6am the next morning! This is the first time he has slept all night. Unfortunately I woke at 3am with a sore back and couldn't get back to sleep! Since then he has gone back to waking once during the night for a feed.
On Friday he had his 6 month check up and got ticks in all the boxes. He spends all day rolling over onto his stomach, and has started rolling over in the cot. He now weighs 8.86kg and is 72.5cm tall.
At 8.86kg, my chiropractor says it's no wonder that I am getting a sore back!
We have our caravan for sale and have had a few people come and look at it and even a few offers. It is in today's paper as well,so will wait and see what happens. We want to get a camper trailer which will be easier to tow and more family friendly.

24/3/10

Started rolling over from back to front this afternoon.

Swimming lessons and a trip to the Zoo.

Brendon went to his second swimming lesson yesterday. He really doesn't like having his head put under water as he cried and cried afterwards! Last week I was really nervous about making him swim underwater, but wasn't so nervous about it this time. Nonetheless, I felt really guilty as a mother when he surfaced and looked at me and started crying! He swims with his eyes open, so I think maybe the chlorine is stinging his eyes. Mathew suggested getting him some swimming goggles. I might need to talk to Helen to get her professional opinion on that.
He is 6 months old tomorrow! Going through labour now seems like a lifetime ago.
This Friday we start having a volunteer from Children and Family Health Service come and mind Brendon while I get some gardening, housework, food shopping, etc done. The program goes for 6 Fridays. We qualify for a volunteer because we don't have any family in SA. We met the volunteer yesterday and Brendon really seemed to like her, he even gave her a hug. She seems really nice. It should give me the opportunity to tidy up the garden before Winter sets in.
We went to the Zoo on Sunday. It was a mini club event, but we were the only members to turn up. So it ended up being a nice family outing for us. The weather was perfect and we got to see lots of animals, including the pandas. The highlights of the day were the giraffes, sea lions and hippos. Brendon seemed to enjoy the day but spent most of his time looking at all the other people and kids instead of the animals. At the entrance to the Zoo we saw Chinese people in a Dragon costume dancing to drums as there were some Chinese officials visiting the Zoo that day. It was quite a treat.
Brendon and I went to the Pregnancy, Babies and Children's Expo on Friday. Thank goodness we went there early, there were heaps of people and prams. There were a lot of stalls and products to look at. I bought a hand made Helicopter mobile for Brendon's room. I'm sure the last thing Mathew wants to look at when he gets home is helicopters, but it was so cute I couldn't resist!

Ken and Cinzia visit

Earlier this month we had our friends Ken and Cinzia come and stay for a few days. We really enjoyed their company and it was good to catch up with them. We hadn't seen them since Warren and Priscilla's wedding in Perth in 2008. They are moving back to Italy to see if they can get work there. Ken and Mathew used to work together in Kununurra. Here is a photo of Ken and Brendon.
Brendon and I are off to the Pregnancy, Babies and Children's expo today.

Swimming lessons

Brendon started swimming lessons today. He was due for a sleep at the time, so was very tired. I was very nervous when asked to get him to hold his breath by blowing on his face and then dunking him under water! The second time he cried! But he did very well. This photo was taken of him before we left for the lesson.
Brendon also rolled over last night, from back to front and onto his back again.

Hugs and kisses

My favourite thing at the moment is getting a "hug and kiss" from Brendon. He puts his arms around your neck and squeezes tight, then opens his mouth and plants it on my jaw line. He might not have the skill of kissing down pat yet, but it is as good as the real thing to me!
A couple of weeks ago he moved into size 0 clothes. We have been given so many gifts and hand me downs in this size that I haven't had to buy anything apart from socks! He has such big feet.
He is now having solids three times per day, so as well as breastfeeding, I am feeling like a short order cook!
His day time sleeps are now much better (in general, we still have some not so good days)since we have changed him to two sleeps per day. I make sure he is really, really tired when I put him to bed, then he stays asleep between one and a half to two hours.