Another Week Gone...

Well, another week has passed us by in a rush! Now 33 weeks pregnant, i'm starting to get a little bit bigger and more tired, but other than that everything is fine. If only the indigestion would go away!! Xander and Marshall are always guessing whether it will be a girl or a boy and offering helpful suggestions in the name game. Xander's latest was Rupunzel, although he understood when i said, "Nice, but i don't think so!" His other favourites are for another Xander, or maybe a Mitchell because that's his best friends name! A friend of Richard's suggested, with no tact may i add, that this time we go for something "More traditional". How can you get more traditional than Alexander and Amelia????

Xander had a speech test on Monday and passed with flying colours. He's been involved in a study for the Royal Children's Hospital since he was born (all we had to do was fill in a survey every 6-12 months) and seeing as how he's now four they asked for a video/audio interview. He was a little shy but was amazing! Most of it was listening skills, e.g. they would show 4 very similiar pictures and say "Point to the picture of the girl in the blue jumper on the bottom of the ladder holding a ball...now" He performed beautifully! He even had a laugh at Mum who had to do two tests too - one repeating nonsense words and another reading words from a list that got pregressively harder. Luckily i was also in great form!

Marshall has graduated from his swimming with daddy class to a group where he has to swim by himself! He was tested at the end of his lesson on Saturday and will start with his new teacher next week. Daddy's both happy and sad - he's going to miss swimming with him but it'll be much easier with only one session in the pool each week.

We all headed off to town this morning, hoping to have a walk around the gardens and along the Yarra, but it was way too cold! We saw a couple of black swans and then jumped back into the car and headed off to Ikea. A couple of hours later we left, after having Sweedish meatballs for lunch and buying a stack of plates and bowls for the kids. The bank balance wasn't hit too hard!

Everyone's in bed except for me...I'm too busy trying to organise our chinese laundry (spare room!) so there's room in it for when Sam, Sara and the kids arrive. I've procrastinated long enough! Back to sorting and storing clothes that are too big/small!

Lazy Weekend

Our weekend started in the normal way - a small sleep-in for mum followed by swimming lessons. After lunch and an afternoon nap it was off to Fountain Gate to check out the last day of the Toy Sale and to pick up our copy of the latest, and last, Harry Potter book. We also paid a flying visit to Milne and Amanda who have moved into a lovely new property in Upper Beacie. The kids saw a couple of kangaroos and heard a couple of domestics as Mum failed to direct Dad correctly and the family ended up a bit lost!

After a "take-away" dinner of Vegemite sandwiches that Amanda was kind enough to make, we got home and the kids went to bed exhausted. Richard went off to the pub to watch the football - Australia v whoever (it doesn't matter - we were rubbish and lost on penalties) and I settled down to read Harry. A short 8 hours later, with nothing more than a quick call to Mum and coffee and toilet breaks, the book was finished and i was off to bed - it was only 4am!! A few hours sleep and i was up again with the kids because Sunday is Richard's sleep-in day. He was wonderful and let me go back to bed once he was up ad about so i got a few more hours sleep.

We then decided to go for a walk to the milk bar to collect a few necessities and off to the lake to feed the ducks. After the ducks were fed we sat down to some hot chips in the park, followed by a quick round of football - even Amelia had a go. The walk home was quite a bit cooler than the one there so we walked a little faster! Now we're home, Richard's cooking tea and the kids are doing various things, including watching the Lion King for the millionth time.

A lovely weekend comprising of a crap football result, the end of an era (Harry Potter era that is), and some worn out but happy children!

Party time

Marshall was invited to his first party (non relative) by Bailey, a chum from school. It was held at a local play centre. This post is a show off really as we were so proud of the boys. As usual at the centres there was chaos with kids everywhere and they somehow managed to get everyone together to sit down to eat. The other kids lasted about 2 minutes but Xander and Marshall sat and ate nicely until they finished and asked to leave the table. We were very proud and Bailey's mum made a nice comment too.

The centre was a ripper and Amelia made use of her new found legs.

A couple of funny conversations

X- You have to be perfect to be a policeman.
Daddy - Do you?
X- Yes, you have to be very hamsome.
Daddy - Then you'll both be ok then, wont you?
X - Uha!

Xander walked out at 1am and said, in a doppy, dreamlike whisper:
"Mummy, I have to tell you something. It was just a dream. Marshall bit me on the toe"
As I carried him to the toilet I said, "That's a funny dream isn't it? Marshall wouldn't do that"
He replied, "No, I'm his brother and he loves me. It was just a dream."

Quiet weekend

After our busy last weekend we thought we would have a quiet one. The usual swimming lessons , Xander was extra good after his swimming in surfers, and then nothing. We had planned for a day trip to the snow but alas none at Donna Buang. Marshall did a fantastic job of drawing on his balloon (all by himself!) as you can see. We watched a couple of movies and had some visitors. The Morecroft Massive came over on Sunday arvo and gave Xander his birthday gift, Duplo yeah. The rest of the day the Amigos played duplo and we watched the Spongebob Squarepants movie. This is the hit of the moment after the boys saw it on Foxtel on holiday.

At the moment Marshall is busy playing by himself with the Duplo. Amelia is climbing in and out of the potty and Xander is Spongebob. They have all played nicely with each other and by themselves today which is nice.

Daddy back to work tomorrow, boo! Mummy on holidays. Yay.