General Update

Time for a general update on Juliet and her brother/sister.

Juliet's a lot of fun these days, despite the occasional tantrum. She is a stubborn little thing, and a true Taurean! She's often a little shy with other toddlers she doesn't know, but she loves watching other kids play. Having said that, she's already entered the possessive stage where noone is allowed to even think about playing with something that she may want for herself!

With her family, she's extremely affectionate. Lots of cuddles and kisses, and she loves to list all the members of her immediate family, "Mum, Dee [Daddy], Dooee, Dog" aloud. She can count to two, and constantly amazes us with just how much she understands. Last week James mentioned that he might read "We're going on a bear hunt" to her in the evening, and she immediately got up, walked to her bookshelf, looked through about 20 books and brought the right one to him!

To her daddy's delight she is a real outdoors girl, and every morning she stands at the back door insisting to go "sigh, sigh, sigh" (outside). Our lives revolve around sandpits far more than is normal, I'm sure!

I can't hazard a guess as to how many words she has now. Many of them sound unclear still, but her vocabulary seems to be increasing very quickly. She loves books. I bought one called "There's a house inside my mummy" to get her used to the idea of pregnancy and babies, and she loves it; possibly because she thinks it's literally about us. Very cute.

I'm now 27 weeks pregnant and still feeling very unprepared. We're going to start setting up the new nursery in the next couple of weeks, and hopefully will select names soon too. It's hard to believe it's only 13 or so weeks away! I must say I'm starting to feel much more excited about meeting this baby - it's FINALLY seeming real.

Unfortunately I seem to have developed pelvic pain (SPD) which is making things pretty awful physically. I'm off to see the physio on Monday so hopefully there are some simple ways of making it less painful to sleep, walk, roll over, stand up, lift things, and basically exist! According to my obstetrician's assistant, it almost always gets worse rather than better as the baby grows, but hopefully I'll be in the minority there. We shall see...

Two hats are better than one!

Clearly this is the new fashion...

We've been keeping busy recently, with lots of visits to friends and family. We've found a local cafe 10 mins walk away that has a big sandpit and lawn out the back, so we spend many hours there every week while Juliet plays and her Mummy has a decent coffee and relaxes. Juliet's also discovered a passion for gardening, and loves nothing better than to play in the mud and dirt! (Whether or not the vegie plants survive being pulled up and replanted several times a day is another matter). The days are starting to get warmer which opens up a whole new world of outdoor activities for us. Bring on summer!

Parklife

These were taken this morning before Juliet's first accident at the playground, when she slipped over head first on the slide and cut her lip quite dramatically (and messily). No doubt the first of many such incidents to come.

Holiday in Queensland

Enjoying a babycino, perhaps just a little TOO much...

Games with Daddy on the balcony

"Hey, Mummy's here too!"

Trying on Daddy's hat for size - many, many times!