Category: week in review

Another busy week with Huff and Puff. Friday night saw Mum and the grandragon head out for dinner with some ladies from church. Huff came along for dinner, and behaved herself very well by all reports.

On Saturday, Dad and Puff took the train into the city to get to Eveleigh markets and back. Dad read The Eleventh Hour on the train in both directions.

We met up with Mum, Huff and the grandragon, and walked around sampling food and doing some grocery shopping.

Another highlight for Puff this week was having a babycino with Mum (just the two of them) – there haven’t been many opportunities for this kind of one-on-one time since Huff came along, and it seems pretty clear that he had a good time (the giant cookie was only ever half-eaten).

Sunday was Macaron day, so Mum, Dad, Huff and Puff went along to Balmain to the Zumbo store. After an hour and a half of queuing (and several different short errands to keep Puff distracted from the long wait), we made it into the store, and Puff had his strawberry-bubblegum flavoured macaron.

He was very excited, though a little bit sad that Adriano Zumbo wasn’t there so he could “say thank you for making sixty flavours of macaroons for us and for other people”.

Later in the day we went to lunch at a church friend’s house, and Huff had her first swim (she didn’t like it at all). Puff had a much better time of it.

Saturday afternoon was a trip down to Wollongong. Puff was in a great mood, and played a number of games of Trouble – he’s a fearsome opponent on the popomatic field. Here he is after one of several victories.

We chose the healthy dessert for him at the Chinese restaurant – ice cream with mango. It was a little larger than we originally expected!

So all in all, a very foodie week. The challenges of having Puff stay in bed continue, Huff has been a bit unwell this week, and even Dad hasn’t been well this last day. Puff and Huff also made it to their first choral recital, to hear Aunty Sarah sing some Christmas carols with her uni choir. Puff especially liked the “uni snacks”.

 

Huff has had a good week: she’s started some very cute air-kisses.

Though she’s still shown no interest in moving around, but she can at least reach her toes.

This week has been about problems with getting Puff to settle down and go to sleep. Here he is, sleeping after a session of this stubbornness.

Saturday was a very busy day: we made our annual trip to sculpture by the sea – Huff’s first trip there!

It’s been a good tradition: here are a couple of kids who have been coming to sculpture by the sea their whole lives!

From Bondi we went to a wedding. After having a great time watching a puppet show, he found a corner to sit quietly in the stroller and read the guidebook.

After the wedding, we headed down to Darling Park for a long play in the water park, and then Puff and Huff fell asleep in the stroller on the way back to the car. It was a big day, but met again with the challenge of having Puff stay asleep.

Here he is in a brief happy moment.

It doesn’t take long as parents for us to go from coping well with the challenges of looking after the kids to dreading the next time Puff will head out of his room, or the next burst of crying from Huff’s room.

Our next door neighbour has a pet cat who is trying to make the transition from being an indoor to an outdoor cat. Driving home we saw the neighbour’s cat and another, visiting cat in our driveway. Mum and Dad started saying “meow”, and Puff found it so hilarious that he was almost struggling to breathe with laughter.

And then suddenly we’re all making cat noises together as a family and giggling away.

Here’s to a new week with more cat noises and fewer tears around bedtime.

With Mum still a bit deaf in one ear, we were nonetheless much healthier overall this week. In fact, Dad took the day off on Thursday to celebrate Mum and Dad’s 10th wedding anniversary. With no babysitting on offer, a family day out was in order, so we went to kinder music, and then surprised Puff with a trip to the zoo. Though we didn’t notice it at the time, it was a very giraffe themed day.

We watched the giraffes, then saw the chimpanzees being fed, and then Puff found a sign that would make him look like a giraffe. He amazed us with his good behaviour – taking off his hat for the photo, and then putting it back on without being asked immediately afterwards!

Huff is still too young to enjoy the zoo in the same way as her big brother, and spent a fair amount of time in the stroller, though she had a great time splashing around in the water near the “backyard to bush” part of the zoo.

At the end of the day, Puff had a chat to the people who hand out the giraffe masks, and charmed his way into receiving one, and a map of the zoo which he’s been avidly flicking through ever since.

After the trip to the zoo, Mum and Dad finished off their anniversary with an early dinner at the new IKEA before heading home to see the Grandragon and Bandit who are staying with us for the next little while.

Friday night was dinner with Aunty C and Uncle J, and then a drive back home, making for a late bedtime for both Huff and Puff.

Saturday morning Puff and Dad went to Eveleigh Markets as is our custom, and Puff had a great time running around the indoor space at the adjacent Carriageworks building, running from one set of writing on the wall to another – whatever Dad could think up! It wasn’t all barking orders for Dad, though, as at the end, it was Dad’s turn to follow Puff’s instructions around the space.

Puff also had his first encounter with a sprinkler in an attempt to cool down on a hot Sunday afternoon.

As you can tell, he had a great time.

When we’d had enough of playing with the sprinkler (it probably wasn’t quite hot enough to make the most of it), we showed him the hose, and he splashed around with the water for a while before having a bath to warm back up again.

Mum had a great time taking photos, turning the tap on and off, and generally sharing Puff’s enthusiasm. Huff remained unconvinced (or perhaps she just didn’t like the camera).

Sadly, the playing with the sprinkler had its downsides: Puff was up four or five times between 2 and 3:30am that night, and still doesn’t seem to want to settle down for his night sleep. Part of this is the continued adventures in pull-ups, which gives him a new excuse to get out of bed when it should be time to sleep.

This week we’ve seen some problems with illness – everyone is getting better, but still not 100%. Nonetheless, Mum still worked hard to get things ready for Grandma’s birthday party.

But first, a little diversion: For a few weeks now, Huff has been making the cutest gurgling noises, but refusing to have them recorded, until now.

For Grandma’s birthday party, she wore her summer party dress.

Despite a few problems with tiredness and not wanting to sleep, she seemed to have a great time.

It was good to see a lot of old family friends (some had never seen Puff or Huff), and it seemed that Grandma had a good day.

Puff’s adventures with pull-ups continue. We had at least one good day this week, and as a reward, he was given a new book (sadly this didn’t last as we were having some trouble with his behaviour).

Puff was really helpful in the preparations for Grandma’s party. Here he is adding some blueberries to some mini friands.

He had a mini sleep at the party, and managed to pull some cute faces.

And he enjoyed the cake that his aunty made. Here’s a hint of what it looks like.

At the end of the party, when a very tired Puff was overdue to go home, he said to Mum “It’s six five five. It’s late, and it’s time to go home”. Aunty Chan asked if he wanted to go home with Huff, and he said “No, but I can’t drive.”

The pull-up adventures in particular have been challenging for mum and dad: this is the first time that Puff has had access to a legitimate excuse to get up in the middle of the night: he’s making the most of it, and the resulting tiredness is making for some irritated parents.

Huff is getting up in the middle of the night for a feed pretty routinely, and so there’s not much unbroken sleep to be had for Mum. We’re hoping that things settle down, and that everyone is healthy and happy next week.

The main noteworthy event this week was Mum being sick; Dad even took a day off work to look after Huff and Puff (after spending most of Sunday looking after them too).

Huff is very cute in her 38th week of life: here she is on her way back from a trip to the local library with her brother. She managed to stay quiet (eerily so at times) during the trip, but cry a little bit while she was in the library.

There was also a chance to try and teach Huff how to give high fives: she doesn’t quite have the hang of it yet.

We looked back on the Puff blog to see what Puff was up to at this age, and he was a lot more mobile, so we’re trying to give her more time on her tummy with toys just out of reach. Sitting up by herself playing is her new favourite thing (as long as she doesn’t get the sense that she’s been left by herself).

In case you get the impression that she’s always in a good mood, this photo (snapped by her brother) captures one facial expression that we see fairly regularly. Despite starting to get used to sitting on the floor, she often demands to be carried around.

At lunch at a friend’s house, she showed how steady her neck is now:

She also met her second puppy.

It’s also worth noting that despite having a lot of mum’s milk both day and night, Huff is eating solids: she loves baby mum-mum biscuits (and knows what the packet looks like) blueberries, steamed vegetables, and quinoa cheerios.

With Mum being out of action, Puff has had more than the usual amount of iPhone gaming this week. He’s a little obsessed with a game called Continuity 2, and managed also to recount the exact details of a session on the Wii Fit, 36 hours later.

Some father-son time on Saturday morning comprised a trip to the markets, a walk around Newtown, and some time at Sydney Park where Puff managed to conquer his fear of swings-without-seat-belts.

Sunday morning was a trip back to the local pizza-breakfast shop, with a stop on the way back for a babycino. We haven’t been here for a long while, but it was a nice, manageable trip.

Puff’s table manners weren’t necessarily up to scratch for the duration.

Looking after the kids for a couple of days has been pretty tiring for Dad (the constant worry that something bad will happen to one or both of them) – it’s led him to a fresh appreciation of the hard work that Mum does.

Oh, and happy birthday, if it’s your birthday and you’re reading this.

A bit of a food theme this week (and some database problems with the site… sorry that this post is up a bit late). Huff is a happier girl this week, and is sleeping better. We’ve put her cot together now, so both Huff and Puff have their own beds to sleep in.

 

Puff is taking charge more in the kitchen: he has a new favourite snack – honey on a rice cracker. He can make them himself, though it’s a little messy.

He’s been treated to some significant desserts. Here he is at Mum’s cousins’ house, making dessert.

When you ask for a cheese sandwich at a cafe, sometimes the chef feels like it needs to be a giant one. This was from Saturday morning, where Puff had some time with Dad before he disappeared into the world of essay writing.

The most significant dessert yet was “ice cream with sprinkles” at Max Brenner. Puff reportedly scooped half the sprinkles on the ice cream, and ate the other half off the spoon.

Puff and Huff are slowly learning to play together. Here they are comparing their relative foot sizes.

 

With some hot weather, and a long day with no nap, Puff had a lot of trouble sleeping on Monday night, at one point even waking Huff. In a groggy 2am haze I remember thinking “someone else should really be dealing with this”, and then realising that I was the parent, and that this was my job to figure out, regardless of how much I might have wanted to sleep.

Hoping for a more settled period this week.

Perhaps it’s the ever-nearing deadline for Dad’s essay, but we managed to have a lot of family time this week. Friday night we went to the Night Noodle markets in the city, where we met with K, B, and A. We stayed out a lot later than we should have, but everyone had a good time.

The next day was Saturday and our trip to the markets was a bit unusual. Mum went into the markets and Dad drove around the block while the kids slept. From there, we went to the zoo.

It was a fun couple of hours, and we even managed to get Mum onto the cablecar still smiling.

From there we went to a major supermarket chain to pick up a membership card. Puff needed sleep more than he needed icecream.

Sunday Dad was preaching and service leading, and then we went out to get Dad’s bike fixed, to give Puff a run on a set of play equipment in a Westfield, and then to grab some dinner on the way home. Huff didn’t make it through the whole trip awake.

She soon picked up her enthusiasm again once seated at dinner. The bowl was made of plastic, but didn’t survive its multiple contacts with the floor of the dinner place.

After dinner we walked around the corner to have dessert, in a surprisingly child-friendly venue.

For Mum’s birthday, we went to Darling Park. Puff had a great time – he really didn’t want to stop playing, but Mum managed to bundle him up again and get back out of the parking space.

Mum was given a great present from Aunty C and Uncle J: Puff especially liked the wrapping.

Everyone went out for a dumpling-based lunch (except Dad, who was at work).

Dad made it home in time to read a bedtime story to Puff.

Huff is getting back into the swing of sleeping through the night. Some nights she sleeps through, other nights she wakes up once (and sometimes twice). Puff, with one exception, is still getting up twice or more in the night. This hasn’t been great for Dad’s sleep patterns, and he seems to be sick again.

Huff is loving her different choices of food. (She’s pretty handy with a mango seed). Her favourite seems to be broccolini, but she makes a tremendous mess with whatever she’s handled, while remaining resolutely cheerful about it.

Huff is better able to sit up for longer periods: here she is playing near Puff while he plays with his Duplo.

On Friday, Mum, Huff and Puff came into the office to have lunch with Dad. Here’s a photo of a quite fidgety Puff with Dad.

Mum had Puff help out making a salad – bocconcini, basil and tomato. He was pretty dextrous with a toothpick, but not quite ready for TV cooking shows.

Saturday was a trip to Bowral Markets; Puff enjoyed walking around and being very polite to the stallholders, and soaking up the free samples. Here he is checking his height with the conveniently located giraffe.

It was a good little Saturday outing – we had some family time, then visited our friends in a nearby town for lunch.

The last milestone for this week was the arrival of Puff’s new bed (a full-size single bed from ‘bunkers’). He helped out with the assembly, kind of.

Here he is, looking very small on his new (full-size single) bed.

We’re all starting to get healthy again, at different paces. Huff now has six teeth, which is well ahead of schedule, and making for an unpredictable sleeping routine. To compensate, Puff has also been getting up, sometimes as often as five or six times per night, asking to be taken back to bed. This is wearing pretty thin, but we’re hoping for a breakthrough soon.

Huff runs an emotional spectrum between inconsolable and ridiculously cheerful and smiley. We try and photograph the good moods, and wait through the bad ones.

Wednesday was a trip to a nearby play centre, where Huff had her first play in a ball pit. Now that she can sit up more reliably, she seemed to enjoy it a lot.

Puff, an old veteran at such things, still managed to be a good big brother in the way he was playing.

Thursday night was a trip to Huff’s first tweetup: Sydribs. We ate ribs and other things, and Huff just looked around and was generally cute.

On the weekend we visited Grandma and Doc: Puff’s reading is improving: at the moment he’s a little obsessed with a Wiggles activity book he was given. Here he is reading it to Doc.

On (public holiday) Monday morning, Dad took Huff and Puff out in the car to a cafe while Mum had a sleep-in. It was an adrenaline rush to look after both of them, but it went pretty smoothly.

Monday was also a visit to a friend’s house, where Puff actually seemed to be playing *with* our friends’ kids, not just near them.

Today involved a visit to Aunty C and Uncle J’s. A very tired Puff had a long sleep in a big bed.

Another week where everyone was sick. It’s been hard for us to get better with Huff not sleeping very well. On the positive side, after a few weeks of saying “da da da” and “bu bu bu”, she’s had a go at saying “ma ma”. Mum is very pleased.

As you can see, Huff has a lot of teeth coming through – it seems that every time Dad picks her up she has a new tooth!

A trip up to the mountains with Mum led to Huff’s first go on a swing. She lasted very briefly in a cheerful upright position, and then tried to throw herself backwards! She might need to wait a bit longer before this is a regular piece of play equipment. Aunty C also took Huff on a slide, but we don’t have a photo of it.

Saturday saw the four of us take a trip to Eveleigh markets: we hada lot of fun breakfasting together and watching cooking demonstrations!

Saturday was a long day, and Puff didn’t start his afternoon nap until after 4:30pm. Oddly, he slept through from that nap until the next morning, completely missing out on seeing our dinner guests. When he awoke the next morning, he found the pipe cleaners that he’d been given – he was very excited.

On Sunday afternoon, Puff met a friend’s dog – Sophie – he was very excited to make her acquaintance.

After that, we called in to see Grandma and Doc, but again, no photos. Hoping that everyone gets better this week!