Smiles

Alexander seems to be a quiet one. He doesn't chat very much, he just observes what's going on around him. He does smile lots which is lovely and he seems to be close to giggling.

But he also tends to only last around 30mins after a feed before he needs to go to sleep again. Most of the time, this is spent a short time on the floor and a long time in the bouncer or in arms.

Yesterday, Alexander did some really good tummy time

and then he was content just lying on the floor for like 45mins, just playing under his mobile. No tears, no grumpiness. Just playing with the mobile and wiggling. This was helpful because I was able to make and eat lunch with the kids.

After lunch I went over to chat with Alexander and he was so happy and expressive. He came so close to giggling too. It was just too cute to watch. Here is a short glimpse of him.

Then tonight while the other kids were in bed Alexander and I were hanging out on the couch and he was having a nice chat with me. 

 

Oh he makes my heart melt. Love him!!

Sibling Love

It is such a joy to watch Daniel and Eliza interact with Alexander. They are just so gentle with him, so patient, so loving. They try to have him play with toys and play with them.

Daniel is enjoying having Christopher join Alexander to do different things, like playing in the bouncer

And lying on the floor.

But as you can see Alexander doesn't seem to mind. He's all smiles.

Daniel and Eliza enjoy pretending to be a doctor. They like to look after their patients, Alexander included.

Temperature checked by Dr Daniel, Needles from Dr Eliza

Dr Eliza checking Alexander's heartbeat

Both Eliza and Daniel enjoy reading to Alexander at different times. Eliza will get a book and sit on the floor near him and read to Alexander.

At some bedtimes, Alexander has been awake and so has joined Daniel or Eliza for storytime. 

From the library, the kids borrow 10 books to read during the week. Last week Daniel decided to get a book for Alexander - 'This Little Piggy'. He has enjoyed reading it to Alexander at different times. I get in trouble if I try to read it to him because Daniel tells me 'I can read it.'

After nap times the kids sometimes enjoy reading a book. Yesterday I needed to wake Eliza up after having a long nap. She wasn't very keen to be woken or to get out of bed. Daniel and Alexander joined her to help wake her up. Daniel decided to read Eliza a couple of books to help cheer her up.

It helped!

Daniel knows that Alexander doesn't enjoy tummy time very much. He tries to help him enjoy it a little bit by entertaining him. Yesterday it actually seemed to help Alexander stay there for a few minutes without getting upset and to help him raise his head a lot.

Eliza then decided that she wanted to help Alexander play with the mobile.

Daniel just loves chatting with Alexander after (and actually during) a feed. He gets very excited when Alexander smiles at him. It is very precious to watch.

Last week at church Daniel asked if he could hold Alexander during the service. Alexander was very happy to be held for the songs. Daniel kept rubbing his face on Alexander's head. So much love.

Professional Photos

Yesterday I went and picked up our professional photos from YOU photography. The photo shoot was about a month ago and it was so much fun. We had a great time getting the photos taken and were very happy with the results. We struggled to decide on which ones we would like framed but decided on 3 photos to be blown up and framed. We were then offered the rest of the photos on a disc for a bit more money which James and I happily accepted.

We were very happy with the results that we got.

Here is a copy of the ones in the frames.

They are much better than the ones we seem to get on our own. Ha.

 Here are some more photos that I liked from the shoot.
 Each of our gorgeous kiddies. (Alexander was a bit over it by the individual shots)

Such an awesome shot!

I just love Alexander's raised eyebrow

Another shot of our whole family.

 James and the kiddies

Me and the kiddies

James and I

When Alexander needed a feed, James had a bit of fun with Daniel and Eliza. The shots are just so natural. I love it.

The boys (Alexander was definitely over it by this point)

The girls

Beautiful shots!

I am the music man...

Daniel has shown an interest in playing the big piano lately. I love watching him play and sing different songs. Here is ABC.

 

Splish Splash

I am enjoying doing bath times with Alexander at the moment. He seems to be more relaxed in the water now (until water goes over his head) and is enjoying it too. I do however, find it difficult to fit in when to do bath time with the other kids.

The other day I did with and put on a Play School. This was so much easier! No 'helpers'. The door didn't keep opening letting out the warm air. I could just focus on Alexander. It was great! However, I don't want to do it that way all the time.

Yesterday I decided to let the 'helpers' actually help. It was pretty cute to watch, even though it was still quite stressful. I had Daniel get a singlet (because I forgot to bring in a new one). Eliza was in charge of getting and looking after 2 cotton balls for cleaning Alexander's eyes. First I cleaned his eyes with water and then when he was in the bath, Daniel got to use the face washer and washed Alexander's feet, legs and tummy. He was very gentle and did well. 

Eliza then had a turn. She used the face washer to wash his arms, tummy and toes. She then enjoyed putting her hands into the water and out again, drying them and then repeating. 

Maybe I need to embrace the help a bit more with future baths. While I'm sad that James doesn't get to bath Alexander much (unlike the other 2 where only he bathed them) I am enjoying this special time with him and can see why bath time was always James' favourite time of the day.

On Monday we head into preschool to give Alexander a bath in front of Daniel's class. I hope he is happy for it and that it goes well.

Stop Growing!

Alexander is now 3 months old. Where on earth has that time gone?? While I am loving him growing, developing and interacting more I am also sad that he is not a little newborn Bub anymore.

He has almost outgrown the bassinet which I'm not feeling ready for. It feels like yesterday that he was first put in there. 

He is almost into 00. I have only just boxed up the 0000 clothes. I'm not ready to do the same with the 000 clothes.

It's not that I want to have another baby, I just don't feel ready to have my baby not be a baby anymore. Alexander is my last bubba. Each of these times are my 'last time' and it is making me a bit sad.

But on the flip side, I can't wait for night feeds to be finished (so I can sleep through), to not be feeding so much in the day so I can play easily with the kids and go on adventures easily.

The brain is a funny thing.

Combined 4th birthday party

On Sunday morning the kids and I hopped into the car and headed to a park in Hornsby Heights to celebrate our mothers' group kiddies birthdays. It is crazy that they are all 4 years old now and that each family has at least one other kid, 4 of us having 2 others.

The kids had a great time playing on the equipment, on the swings, riding bikes and eating food. The parents had a lovely time chatting and catching up (as well as eating yummy food). 

We sang happy birthday to all the kiddies and they enjoyed their tasty cupcakes. Most had the icing and that was all. Cheeky kiddies. 

After a bit more playing James arrived, after visiting Grannie with Malcolm, and we got the traditional photo of the 4 year olds with the mummies. 

This is such an awesome group of mummies. I am really lucky to have such a lovely group and that we are able to regularly catch up together too. They are a great support and sounding board. They listen, cry, laugh, chat. We have had many tasty treats and cups of tea over the years. I look forward to many more. And the kids enjoy each other's company too :)

Alexander also got to have his first go at having a ride on Daddy's shoulders.

 

Sydney Tower

Last Saturday we had a lovely little family outing being tourists in our own city. The plan was to go up Sydney Tower and then to head to Banangaroo for lunch. On the way to the city Eliza was pretty excited. 'Naniel, we are going city'.

When we arrived we popped Alexander in the ergo, Eliza in the pram and Daniel walked with us. We headed to get our tickets - thanks entertainment book! We also got vouchers that let us go up Sydney Tower for free in the next year. Awesome!

After walking through some information section, looking at the heights of different towers around the world and reading about the construction of the tower we headed into the 4D movie experience. I was expecting the kids to freak out about it but they did pretty well. Eliza was content holding my hand while watching but wouldn't put on her glasses. Daniel wanted to head out after a short while but settled when James crouched down and put his arms around him. The bubbles were fun but neither kid showed the excitement that I expected from bubbles falling down.

Once the movie had finished we walked through security to the lifts. It was cool watching the red dots for the lifts going up and down the tower on a monitor. Then it was our turn. The kids were good at swallowing and yawning to pop their ears.

Once out we headed over to the window and gave Daniel his camera. He had a blast taking photos of everything and anything. The view of our beautiful city was just gorgeous and we had a perfect day for it. We pointed out the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House (or arrows as Daniel calls it). We noticed that the cars looked the size of the kids toy cars. We spotted large ships and little boats. We found the SCG which Daniel was very excited about. We watched an aeroplane land at the airport. We saw Hyde Park and the fountain that we read about in Alexander's Outing. 

checking out the view

2 cheeky tourists

So far up

All 3 kiddies

Our little photographer

Alexander joined us at the end

Daniel wanted to take photos of Alexander too

Once we had finished the loop it was almost 1pm. Wow! Time flies. I could have stayed up there just sitting at one of the Windows watching the view all day but we couldn't. Eliza was in a bit of a mood today, not wanting to do anything but not wanting to just sit in the pram. Lose lose situation really. Alexander of course woke just as we were about to leave so I gave him a feed while the kids did some colouring in and had a snack.

We then headed back down, got some delicious salads from the food court and then went and sat in Hyde Park. Daniel was sad there wasn't any equipment to play on but we did have a ball which he enjoyed running around with after lunch. 

After a short play we hopped back into the car and headed home with 3 sleepy kiddies in the back.

It was a nice day adventure. We will have to head back soon to go the Bananagroo as we had planned. Ha.