Christmas

Stefan and I spent Christmas Eve wrapping presents, mostly for the kids, and decorating stockings, and it felt like a little rite of passage of parenthood.  I said to Stefan that I felt like a real parent after doing it!

We have been trying to teach our kids (well, just Holly this year) that Christmas is all about JESUS, so we spent a bit of time on Christmas morning reading through the story of Jesus birth (from a kids picture book) and we prayed together too.

Then they opened a few presents before we went to church.

 Later that day at Oma's, and the next day at Nanna & Grandpa's, and then again today at home they got to open many more presents.  They are very fortunate kids!

Here are a couple of videos of them opening a present from Opa & Mima (thanks Opa & Mima!).

Going for a ride

We used some Christmas money from Uncle Ian to get a bike trailer and helmets for the kids.  Tried it out for the first time this morning.  So much fun!  Here are some photos

Zac didn't love his helmet... hopefully he gets used to it!

Shopping... again

I think I wrote once before about Holly and shopping, but just had to have another post on the topic.  Holly just loves shopping.  The other day I popped into Jeanswest (supposedly briefly) with her and Zac.  Holly was in seventh heaven!  She just wandered around in awe, touching all the "pretty skirts". [Sidenote - pretty much everything counts as a pretty skirt.  One day I told her that her t-shirt was a short short pretty skirt (in order to avoid changing her clothes into an actual skirt/dress) and since then she will only refer to t-shirts as short short pretty skirts.  She'll even say to me "I love your short short pretty skirt Mummy".]

Anyway, I picked out a t-shirt (I mean short short pretty skirt) to try on, and Holly came into the change room with me.  I was ready to leave fairly soon after that, but Holly was so upset.  She just wanted to stay and keep looking at all the clothes.  Then she wanted to go into other shops to look at more!

Oh dear, what IS she going to be like at 14???

Our little people person

Our little boy just loves to be around people.  If one of us goes into another room he will crawl after us as fast as he can.  He hates to be left alone, and just wants to be around people (preferably being held!) all the time.  In the mornings when he is up before Holly (which is all the time), when she starts to make noise, he's always the first one to notice, and crawls up to her door and starts banging on it.  We've recently started to open the door a tiny bit (without Holly seeing) so Zac can push the door open and crawl in.  It's so cute seeing their reactions!  Holly is so delighted to see him, and excitedly tells me "Zaccy opened my door" when I go in.  Zac of course is thrilled to see his big sister, and grins and giggles.

Bath-time fun

I love this video!  Little glimpse into how Holly likes to tell Zac what to do (with all the authority of a mummy!).  Love that Zac seems to listen to her for a few seconds, then keep going anyway.

Hair cut

This is a bit belated (haven't posted for a while!) but Zac had a hair cut a few weeks ago, and looks so different, so thought I'd put up some photos of him.

Cheeky

The other night Holly was being slow and stroppy about finishing her dinner.  I went to stand next to her to talk to her.  As I started saying "You need to finish your dinner before you can have berries..." etc she leans her head back to rest on the back of her chair, closes her eyes and starts to make a snoring noise!!!  I had to turn my back to her so she wouldn't see my uncontrollable laughter!  So cheeky but so funny.

my darling mummy

One of Holly's favourite things to call me at the moment is "my darling mummy".  It is so cute!  She mostly says it when she thinks I have hurt myself or gotten upset.  "Okay my darling mummy?" she asks me.  She always wants to kiss me better if I've hurt something.  My heart melts every time!

Thunder

There was a storm yesterday afternoon, and the thunder was pretty loud.  I already knew Zac was pretty jumpy, so I was sitting close to him when the thunder started.  Poor little love, he jumped a mile and burst into tears at the first loud clap.  I just held him close, and he buried his little face into my chest at every loud bang.  It is so precious to be able to be that person to him.

Chatty Zac

Recently our little boy has started to become very vocal!  If anyone makes a loud noise, he joins in the fun, trying to be louder than anyone else.  He makes lots of "talking" sounds - ba ba, da da, ga ga.  When he sits playing he chats away happily to himself.  It's so lovely to listen to and always makes me smile.

Praying

Recently Holly has started to want to be the one to give thanks before dinner.  This is how her prayer usually goes:
Dear God
Thank you for dinner
Thank you for lunch
Thank you for dinner
Amen

Yesterday I was teaching her that we can thank God for other things too, like family and friends.  I modelled a few to her (thank you for Zac, thank you for my daddy, thank you for my friends) and then she says "thank you for my Eva" (her friend from church).  So sweet. :)

Shopping

Our sweet little girl has only just turned 2, but already she loves to shop!  As she wanders through a clothes shop, she touches the dresses and skirts, exclaiming "look mummy/daddy/nanna/etc, pretty skirt" at every second one, and then asking "borrow this one?".  (Beautiful innocence!)  She doesn't even need to physically be in the store to notice all the dresses, she is quite excellent at pointing them out in the windows as we walk past.

She loves shoe shopping too.  If we ever go into a shoe store, she wants to try everything on.  We made the mistake of taking her into a shoe store the other day, letting her try on a few pairs, and then (uh oh) leaving without buying any.  Major tantrum.  Huge tears.  Big bottom lip.  Not a happy little girl.  But she was so delighted that afternoon when I brought home a pair of pink sandals I had bought for her from a factory outlet (while she was asleep!).

I wonder what she will be like as a teenager...

An afternoon at the park

 The four of us went to the park the other day... it was such a lovely afternoon. Here are some photos.

Our *particular* daughter

Neat?  Orderly?  Meticulous?  I've been searching for the right word for Holly, and can't quite find the one I want, but these ones give you a bit of an idea of what I mean.  She is super particular when it comes to mess and things the way they should be (or the way she thinks they should be).  If I leave a kitchen cupboard door or the microwave open, she'll insist on it being closed before she will eat her dinner (or do whatever it is I want her to do).  When she comes into the loungeroom after waking up in the morning, there's often lots of Stefan's schoolwork spread around from the night before.  She'll quickly announce "all messy here" and order "Daddy clean it up".  [We were out on a walk the other day and she spotted a messy driveway area, and said the same thing!!]

When helping me peg out the nappies she insists on putting a pink peg on a pink nappy, yellow peg on a yellow nappy, and so on.  She is quite put out when she wants to hang up something white or brown or black and I have to tell her we don't have those coloured pegs.

If Stefan or I rest our foot on the coffee table or the edge of her chair, she strongly requests (okay, let's be honest, demands) that we put it down.

She sure has strong ideas about the way her world should be!

Going away

We went away for the last few days with my (Lara's) parents and nephew Sean to my uncle's house in Bateman's Bay.  I was a bit apprehensive about it, just cause it's the first time we've been away since Zac has been sleeping well, and I didn't want to do anything to mess that up.  Also because Holly seems to get quite car sick, and it's a reasonably long drive.

Turns out, I needn't have worried!  The kids slept really well, Zac especially, and Holly didn't get sick at all.  We had a really lovely time.  We went to the markets, Holly played in the park with Stefan and Sean, we visited a cute little town 15 mins away, we walked along the boardwalk and we went shopping!  Not to mention all the lovely time we got to spend together at the house, playing games, talking, having fun with the kids, watching movies...  It was a real blessing to be able to go away with family, and for the kids to be able to spend time with their grandparents and cousin. :)

Lovely sister

Zac was crying in his high chair this evening while I was getting his dinner ready.  Without me saying anything, Holly came close to him to sing him "Twinkle Twinkle" to cheer him up.  She then went to get some of his toys to hand to him, and also got a music one that he particularly likes and pressed the buttons while holding it up for him.  I said to her "Holly, how did you become so lovely, who did you learn it from?".  She paused a moment, before answering "ah, God".  Wow, I was blown away.  I'm not sure what her understanding is, but what an answer!!

Playing with Daddy

This video is pretty long, but cute!  Holly exploring a hand-me-down train set we were given bya  family at church... and Zac trying to grab everything vaguely within reach.

one more

One I meant to add to the below list... Holly passing me one of her toys, saying "here you go my darling".

Bottle-able moments

There are some moments that are just so sweet I want to bottle them away in my heart forever.  Like when Stefan came home from work yesterday evening, and Holly says "I love Daddy".  And Zac practically leaping out of anyone else's arms back into my arms.  Holly on the phone to my Mum the other day "Happy Birthday Nanna.  I love Nanna".  Zac laughing hysterically at Holly trying to entertain him.  Holly ever-so-gently kissing my knee better when I said it was sore.  Zac reaching out his little arm to touch my face while I am breastfeeding him.  These are the things I want to remember always.

Time out

We've been giving Holly a bit more freedom with her textas lately.  Too much freedom it seems.  While I was finishing the washing up the other day, she took her yellow (thankfully!) texta, and decided to do a bit of artwork on the walls.

We've started "time-out" with her lately, so to the time out chair she went.

Not sure if she really sees time out as a deterrent yet though.  She sometimes offers to give herself a time out if she thinks she's done something wrong, and once she even said that Zac should have a time out (for kicking in the bath)!

Trampoline

Tap dancing

Videos

I have just learnt how to post videos on here, so will try to put up the best ones from the last couple of months over the next few days.  They may only be interesting to family overseas (who have specially requested it)... but feel free to watch anyway if you want! :)

Reading "together"

A video of Holly reading with her cousin... she is not so keen on sharing books, but does love reading to whoever will sit and listen.

Keeping busy

It's quite a challenge to occupy both kids with something that is interesting and developmentally appropriate for each of them, but this morning (for a brief time!) we had a win.  Zac loved the buttons and music on this walker toy.

And Holly loved gluing patty pans onto paper.

My little helper

Holly has become really interested in helping us lately.  She's actually getting pretty good at some things too, like taking the washing out of the machine, and hanging up things like socks and bibs on the line.  Very sweet.

Sleep!

We have been working on a new routine with Zac for about 10 days, and I'm so thrilled to say that he's now sleeping through the night.  He occasionally makes noise during the night, but he's learnt to settle himself without needing me!  Wakes at about 6 and makes (mostly) happy noise til around 6:30.  We're still working on day sleep, but I'm not too worried about that given he's sleeping well at night. :)  I feel like a new person!

Our little Dutch girl

So there is this gross Dutch lolly called "double zout" - double salt licorice.  It is completely disgusting.  Basically as soon as anyone gets it in their mouth, they want to spit it out straight away.  (I realise a few members of Stefan's family may disagree with me on that... but I think it is, objectively, a fair description of this revolting lolly.)

Anyway, the other day Stefan decided to feed it to Holly.  I objected, but he insisted, and I figured she'd probably spit it out straight away anyway, so I relented, but had some water close by for her to wash her mouth out with.  He cut a tiny piece off her her (cause even he figured she wouldn't like it)...

and in her mouth it went...

I was close by with the water, ready to cuddle and console her after this ordeal.

BUT... much to my horror... she liked it!

And ate several pieces. Seems we have a real little Dutch girl.

Sibling love

One of my favourite times of the day is just after both kids have woken up from their middle of the day sleep. I take one of them into the other's room (usually Zac into Holly's) and they have some time together in the cot.

They are so sweet together.  They're always delighted to see each other (much more excited than to see me!).  They lie or sit together, Holly trying to hold Zac's hand, Zac trying to get it free to pull on her hair or touch her face...

It makes me smile every day, and thank God for our two beautiful children.

Little Houdini

We recently bought Holly a sleeping bag in the next size up, which is supposed to be kid proof in terms of them getting out of it.  The zip is up the size with some tight press studs just under her left arm, and then there are press studs on the shoulders too.  So I was a little surprised when I came into her room after her sleep one day to fine her just in her shirt and nappy, gleefully jumping on the sleeping bag!

Fathers Day

I think Stefan got the best present on Fathers Day - a snuggle with both kids in bed. Holly has basically never come in to our bed before (far too active) so it was all the more special when, totally unprompted, she asked Stefan if she could come in.

Dinner time

We've just started making Holly finish everything on her plate before she gets dessert.  Last night she was trying pretty hard to get out of it.  First, of all, I said "Holly please eat your beans."  She said "no thanks"!!  Hmm..
Then a few minutes later we look over to see her stuffing all her beans into her hand, pressed against her chest.  She looks down at her empty plate.  "All finished" she announces.  I was cracking up in the kitchen, while Stefan calmly explained to her that she actually has to eat it all, not just take it off her plate!
Her last ditch attempt was to reach over to Zac's high chair and put all her beans on his table.  Good try, but she didn't get away with that one either!

The next Australian Idol?

Has she got what it takes?

Counting

I haven't set out to teach Holly to count, but have been counting to her every now and again, like when it's ten more pushes on the swing, for example.  So I was pretty surprised the other day when she counted from one to ten on her own!  Here is a video of her doing it.