Seven years on

My life has changed so much in these past seven years but we still remember like it was yesterday.

Bringing Baby Home

We brought Cailin home when Erin was in "school" but prepared her for her new sister and also had some presents waiting for her........life as she knew it was changed for forever. Aunt Karen sent Erin a "baby" of her own and she loves it.

Erin has enjoyed playing with the doll but nothing beats the "real" thing.

Cailin finally had enough of the poking and prodding - even when Cailin is crying Erin won't give her up. This has become a point of contention between the both of us.

Who's Who ???

Will the real Erin and Cailin please stand up ?

Here's pictures of Erin and Cailin at the same age (within a day apart at most) can you tell who is who ? No peaking at the post below to see a picture of Cailin.

Welcome Cailin Mary

We have a new addition to our family - a daughter, Cailin Mary born on August 28th at 10:53pm weighing in at 8lbs 2oz and 21 inches long.

Erin has really taken to Cailin and loves to touch her and "carry" her- still early days. I'm sure it will not be long before she asks us to send her back.

Below is a Video of Erin meeting Cailin for the first time.

Here are some pics of Cailin.

In the car seat on the way home from the hospital (little Buddha)

Daddy, Happy Birthday !!!!!

Play Ball !

Erin loves dogs and maybe it's hereditary or just something every young child loves-don't know but for now she's loving man's best friend.

This weekend we went to a local rugby game and there are many dogs there to keep Erin entertained. This also gives Paul an opportunity to take in some rugby, especially when I'm only two weeks away to giving birth ! WHOA.

Today the weather was very warm but yesterday Erin had to get "rugged" up before heading to the game.

Here's a video of her playing with one of her favourite dogs at the game.

Food and Play

Food and Play, pretty much sums up the life of a 21 month old. Oh and sleep but Erin is not much of a sleeper, although she very much needs it - I need her to sleep too ! She likes her food - on her time and not he "good" stuff. Good stuff meaning veggies. Also, there is no feeding her anymore- everything needs to be done by miss manners herself. Here are some recent foodie pics.

On Sunday afternoon we went to Coogee beach playground - one of the best around. Erin is all smiles when she is first put on the spinning top- that is until Paul spun her way too fast. She held on tight and looked scared to death. All is better with the climbing ropes.

Ahh, comfort in the "Sving" It's her favourite among all playground apparatus.

Erin feels the best rush is to go head first on the slide (slippery dip). This went on for about 15mins until she started to create enough friction for static electricity to form. When I would pick her up at the bottom we gave each other a shock. She would cry and say "Shock, shock" but climbed back up at the top of the slide and did it again- finally after about 4 shocks she had enough and wanted to go home. Have to make sure we both don't wear a fleece next time.

Thirty One Weeks

Had quite a few requests to post some pics of me pregnant. This is really not something that I want to do but the requests do not stop so here is ONE shot of me taken today. I'm 31 weeks pregnant and heading off to lunch- always hungry. Things are going well, feeling good just tired and the baby is moving and kicking often - always reassuring. He/She is very active at night and sometimes keeps me up until 1am or 3am. I've heard from a number of people that this will be the time that the baby will be awake when born. I'm hoping it's just an old wives tale.

Went to a wedding this weekend and the consensus is that we are having a boy- not sure that we can beat the Gately odds but it's fun to hear all the reasons why we're having a boy, "you are carrying low", I crave carbohydrates", "My bump looks like a basket ball" ???. Anyway- not long to go now. So without further ado.....

Aloha ! Hawaii Part I

We just got back from Kauai for 10 days and it was fantastic. Wasn't really looking forward to putting a bathing suit on but after about 30mins it became my staple the entire trip. Something about being obviously pregnant that allows you to not be bothered with how you look. In fact you embrace it and enjoy all the smiles and endure the "When are you due?" question every hour or so.

The flight wasn't too bad, 9 1/2 hrs to Honolulu and we had 4 seats to ourselves so Erin was able to lay down and get some sleep. Sydney is 20 hrs ahead of Hawaii so the jet leg is minimal with only 4 hrs difference in time, just a different day. We had a 30min flight from Honolulu to Kauai which went extremely fast coming off the Sydney leg. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt which was just fabulous and we were catered for our every need. The weather was about 85F every day.

Erin was in the water 95% of her waking hours. Paul was a very proud father. We bought her a swim vest before we went and it was the best thing we could have purchased. She didn't want you to hold her so the vest allowed her to swim and float on her own. I was very nervous at first with the way she was very cavalier with the water but Paul - told me to leave her alone. He's the expert so I just had to trust his judgement and away she went. By the second day she was jumping in the pool without assistance and giving every other parent on the pool deck a heart attack. Once they heard Paul's accent, just the mere fact that he was Australian seemed to make it OK - How does that work ?????

Long Day at the pool.

Erin discovered Fig Newtons, she ate two boxes in 10 days.

Erin says Happy Birthday Uncle Patrick !!

It's a girl thing - and then some

It's been almost two months since my last post (been going to bed not long after Erin - geesh pregnancy has made me feel like 90 !) and Erin has really turned on the vocabulary - it's very funny - she sounds like me (phrases and sayings)- oh boy !! Speaking of boy - everyone seems to be getting such joy out of the fact that Erin is a girly girl.

Yes, she loves her shoes, to talk on the phone, has a baby that she hugs, feeds and takes for walks and loves, loves loves to wear necklaces and bracelets. (she says she looks "pretty"). In the same respect she loves to play in the dirt, the only hats she'll wear are baseball hats (peaked caps) will not wear a hair clip and is a bit of a dare devil. She climbs on everything and is prepared to jump off whether you're there to catch her or not.

Here's a video of her answering her phone- she doesn't understand why no one answers back (wearing her Waratah's jersey -Paul is so proud)



b1) Next it will be no hands ! 2) Very handy with tools - she stuck a piece of roll at the end of the wrench. 3) Waratah's game with Paul

Finally a tattoo from one of her "stunts". Check out the bruise on her check.

The Easter Egg Hunt

Erin participated in her first Easter Egg hunt. I had flooding visions of the many Easter egg hunts that I went to when I was a child. All the kids in the court (and surrounding homes as I was one of them) would gather outside the Jamison's side gate- age order. Eagerly anticipating being the "one", the one that found the coconut. Finding the coconut yielded you the grand prize, a large chocolate bunny. Not that we needed the chocolate but the neighborhood notoriety that came with finding the coconut was priceless. It always helps to boost your court standing. The winner got the first drink of the coconut and for a year you were the "one" to beat next year. Some day I'll revise it with an Aussie twist- perhaps finding an avocado !

Here's a video of Erin zeroing in on a blue chocolate egg- nothing was going to get in her way - not even the little girl blocking access to the prize.

I was very surprised how quickly she "picked-up" (pun intended) on the concept of putting the eggs in her basket and going onto the next one. I thought she would run out and grab the first egg she saw and just sit down and proceed to eat it. Also, we're into wearing necklaces now - she wears one from the moment she gets up.

Right after all the eggs were found Erin was already eyeing another girl's stash and looking to make a move. I think if she could she would have taken all her chocolate. And finally getting to enjoy the fruits of her labour - the chocolate egg.

Easter Eggs

I'm trying to do some arts and crafts at home. What a second, did I say "arts and crafts" ? I just realised how ridiculous that sounds, I don't do arts and crafts, I received a 70 in art !!! I think I better stick with teaching her how to throw a ball. Anyway, I thought we would color some eggs for Easter. From the get go we had problems; it's tough to locate white eggs. Coloring brown eggs works if you like earthy tones and stick with your primary colors, so that's what we did. I had plans of us coloring eggs together - yes first time Mom thinking she can have a 17month old help in the kitchen. So I colored the eggs first and "tried" to have her put stickers on them. I also gave her the task of preparing her Easter basket.

Erin thought the eggs were balls but in the same respect she also tried to eat them - notice the blue "lipstick".

The egg dying didn't go as planned and I had to take them away as she was getting food coloring everywhere. We decided to take a different route with the food coloring and add it to a bucket of water. She had a ball- she played in orange and purple water.