Fun Fair

I wanted to show you what Oliver and his dad put together. This is what Oliver got for Christmas.

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Coffee Please

Rob (or should I say Oliver!) bought me a coffee machine for Christmas even though I drink more tea than coffee. Oliver likes to make our coffee for us. He sits on the bench and puts the milk in the machine and then pushes the lever across to fill the cup. He then takes out the milk and replaces it with the coffee and does the same thing. It is so funny to watch him do it. I should video it and let you see him in action. LOL

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Unofficially - I've done it !

Yes, I went to another of my exercise classes last night and got on the scales to see my progress and since Monday's weigh in, I've 2 1/2 pounds !! That means, I've now lost just over 2 stone in total !! YIPPPPEEEEE !!!
Unfortunately, because Easter Monday is a public holiday, there is no exercise class or weigh in so I will have to wait another week before I get my 2 stone certificate. Boo hoo.

Little Steps.......

OMG!!! Olive is eating vegetables. Yes, we have decided to take drastic actions - not really but we are taking a different approach to get Oliver to eat like a 3 year old should eat.

So far so good. Even though Rob is putting the food in his mouth, he is eating it and not saying 'no'.

We spoke to our health visitor about his eating as he is not getting enough vitamins and goodness in what he is eating. She suggested the different approach and that she would like to weigh him to see where he is on the scale of things. If he was underweight, she would refer us to a nutritionist. He is not under-weight by any means so I am not concerned there. But it would be nice to go out and order something from the menu for Oliver instead of hoping he might eat chips or garlic bread. We went our for a curry a few weeks back and Oliver loved eating poppadoms, but that is all he ate. He refused to try anything and I think we gave in too easily. We have always not given him anything else to eat if he doesn't eat his food but there was always milk for him to fill up on !! Now he is not having milk at night but he is filling up on flavoured milk during the day !! Oh, what to do !! LOL He has been to bed 3 nights without eating his dinner so he has been very hungry when he wakes up in the morning. After 3 days, the picture above is what happened. Little steps.

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Look at me Mummy !

This is Oliver's inventive way of taking his track out of his box, piece by piece. That is until he got bored of it !! LOL You can see the track he has already put together and his trains. How he loves his Thomas The Tank Engine set.

Here he is in action (sorry it is blurry). You can just make out the track between his toes - yes, it is between his toes !! LOL

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Scalextric Boys !

I tried to post this on Sunday but an error kept coming up so I thought I'd wait a couple of days and try again.

So here we are. Oliver is looking on while Rob is putting the track together. Rob bought this track (for Oliver!!) when I was pregnant and before we even knew that we were having a boy !! He used to have a set when he was young so I think he is re-living his childhood. LOL He had to test it out as soon as we bought it and then our friend's bought a set so with the two sets combined it made for a mighty track which the two boys (um, men) had a ball with.

Now that Oliver is old enough, this is the first time that the two of them have played together and Oliver got the hang of it really quickly.

Oliver wanted to pose for the camera so while Rob was finishing off putting the accessories on the track, Oliver sat in the middle - "strike a pose".
Here is Oliver in action. He loves his 'yellow' BMW Mini. There is a red Mini too but he only wants to use the yellow one.

He actually has the control upside down with the lever on top and he is using his thumb to make the car go.

He gets all excited and starts shouting 'Look at my car go'.

I think we have a winner here!! LOL

Sore Eyebrows !

Oliver woke up saying his throat was sore this morning - oh no !! Tonsillitis ??

He is already taking antibiotics (got them on Friday) so they should help him get better.

He decided to lay on the couch with his blanket and water by his side, so we put on some cartoons for him.

I also gave him some nurofen for his temperature. Poor thing !!

Chocolate Crackles

I have had the ingredients for chocolate crackles for weeks and just haven't been able to make them.

It was going to involve Oliver as a treat for him. He loves eating chocolate and Rice Bubbles for breakfast so I know he will like the two of them together.

Here he is mixing the two ingredients together. After a couple of minutes, he had had enough of mixing !!

I thin he liked licking the bowl, well actually the spoon and I am surprised he didn't lick the bowl.
I saw the chocolate all over his face and just had to take a photo. I'm sure this kid had ants in his pants as he just cannot stank or sit still. BTW - I didn't teach him or even tell him to do that with his thumb. That was his own idea !! LOL

He even has chocolate on his nose !

K.

DIY Oliver

Here is DIY Oliver !! LOL

The handle on our toilet kept slipping so Rob went out today and bought a new one. As we live in a 3 storey townhouse, our bedrooms and bathroom are on the top floor so for some reason when I go upstairs, Oliver has to follow me. This is what he did with Rob so he helped Rob change the handle as well.

He was so proud of himself.

K.

Oliver and his Bike !

This clip is 13 minutes long so go grab a cuppa or just stop when you have had enough !! LOL P.S. - There is a crash towards the end.

I thought it might be good to post a clip of Oliver learning to ride his new bike. This was taken at my in-laws house as their driveway is level where as our street isn't. I must warn you that he wasn't very happy and needed a sleep plus, he likes to do things himself !!

I am sorry about the quality of the video - Rob is trying to fix it. Probably doesn't help that it is not the original. It is just funny listening to Oliver speak and when he get's excited, his voice goes up a notch and pitch !! Plus he doesn't stop talking.

K.

I Can Do It !!

This is Oliver's present for eating or at least trying his dinner Saturday night - A BIKE !!!

He absolutely loves it. He needs help going up our road - it has a small incline so it is a little hard for him to pedal by himself. He picked his helmet out (Thomas the Tank Engine - of course!!).

Here is an action shot. We took him around the block a couple of times. It didn't take him long to pick it up or pick up speed !! "Look at me, I going fast" he would say while either Rob or myself were holding onto his jacket holding him back. We did have to run a couple of times to keep up with him. LOL

K.

A Good Night

Rob cooked his famous Roast Dinner tonight and guess who ate some - OLIVER !!!!

Yes, he actually ate some vegetables and pork. I told him it was turkey because I know he ate turkey sandwich at nursery yesterday. There was no problem getting him to eat yorkshire puddings though. We did have to bribe him. It looks like a trip to Toys R Us tomorrow !! LOL That's good because I want to go to IKEA to buy another storage unit for Oliver's room.......and if I can, my craft table. If you click on the link, have a closer look at it. The table has a glass top which site a few inches above the wooden table top. I can store my paper trimmer and other bits and pieces which I would use everyday for easy access instead of cluttering up my table.

K.

Papertrey Ink Apprentice

As most of you know, I started another blog purely for all my crafting called Krafty Kylie. I'm not very imaginative when it comes to picking names !! LOL

Anyway, there is a company called Papertrey Ink (I have bought a number of their stamps) and on the 15th of each month they release brand new stamp sets. The three ladies behind PTI are Nichole, Julie & Jane. Nichole Heady has her own blog and they had a contest (you need to scroll down to "Papertrey Apprentice Contest!"). If you don't want to here is what Nichole wrote:

The winner will get to assist me in designing a stamp set which will be released during our April 15th, 2008 debut. We will have a concept meeting via phone or email, to discuss what types of things you would like included in the set, the theme of the images, or even any fonts you would like to see used.

---> I will then design the set according to your specifications. You will be the FIRST to see the rough drafts & final copies! You will be involved in every step of the process!

--->Your name will be included in the promotion & packaging of the stamp set!

--->You will receive the first copy of the set, hot off the presses, before anyone else!

Guess what ???...........I WON !!! See Nichole's Post HERE !! I am so excited and nervous at the same time. Another thing, when the stamp set is released it will be just days before my birthday so what a brilliant birthday present.

I cannot thank Nichole, Julie & Jane enough for this opportunity. I'm not entirely sure what in is store for me but I look forward to it as it can only make me a better crafter.

K.

My Eyebrow Hurts, Mummy !!

Poor Oliver woke up just after 2am this morning saying his 'eyebrows hurt' - meaning he has a headache. He sat with us in our bed and we gave him some calpol and he wanted me to rub his eyebrow. He wouldn't settle and when we turned our bedside light on, his right eye was stuck together. OMG !!! I grabbed some wet cotton balls and wiped his eye so he could open it. He was quite happy that he could see again and ended up sleeping with us all night. Not something I like him doing - only because I wake up with a sore neck and a headache all day long !!

Anyway, I got him into see a doctor and he had conjuctivitis. He now has cream which I have to put in his eye (he doesn't like this at all!!). He is not allowed to go to nursery tomorrow so I said we can make some chocolate crackles (Rice Bubbles or Rice Krispies covered in chocolate). That will cheer him up.

K.

Oliver at work and play !

You know how some people have a feature wall (we do) well we also had a feature ceiling !! LOL. Our bathroom had a very slow leak (which we didn't know about) until one day I looked up and the ceiling in our lounge room to discover a crack. We didn't think much of it but the crack got bigger and bigger. Anyway, our neighbour is a plasterer so he came and fixed it for us. We also thought we fixed the leak - NOT !!!! The new plaster was getting wet so we didn't bother painting the ceiling until we knew for sure the problem was fixed. To cut the story short, the IDIOT!!! who put the shower unit in and tiled (can you tell I am mad?) didn't adhere the tiles to plaster but to wood (the space had previously been where the boiler sat). Therefore the grouting was coming loose and the water was leaking through the gaps. I did mention the grouting problem to Rob and his Dad but was knocked down in flames - what would I know !!! Well guess what ???? IT WAS THE GROUTING that was causing the leak. After Dennis (rob's dad) re-tiled the bottom half of the shower and re-grouted - the leak was NO MORE. Yay. So today Rob decided to finally paint the ceiling white again. Oliver wanted to have a go so here he is on Rob's shoulder's - he only just reached.


The boys got the Thomas The Tank Engine set out this morning to play with. Rob put it together for Oliver. The two bigger pieces Oliver got for Christmas.

The one that Oliver is holding onto is called the Mining Co. and Christmas day, this is all he played with. He loves it. It makes noises when you push the trains around in certain spots.

K.

Day Out

I took Oliver into Central London today as I wanted to renew my NSW driver's license before our move back to NSW, Australia.

To cut a long story short, I forgot my passport so it was a wasted trip except that Oliver had fun on the train and chatted the WHOLE journey to and from !!! Seriously, he didn't stop. LOL.

Here he is in Trafalgar Square wanting to touch the water in the fountain.

There was this bloke wandering around letting this bird fly about, nothing unusual there as there are lots of pigeons - I saw the glove on his hand and thought, you only need those gloves for certain birds don't you ??? OMG - look what it is !!!

Oliver spent a good 10 minutes chasing the pigeons. It started off as walking up and down the stairs then he saw the pigeons and couldn't help himself. LOL.

He wanted to pose for this photo while on the train at Charing Cross Station waiting for our train to depart.
Yes, Oliver is pulling a face here. Now you see what I have to put up with day in and day out. LOL

K.

An Artist In The Making.....?

I bought this easel yesterday while out craft shopping with my friend Sally. While wondering around Hobby Craft, I came across this easel and canvas (sold together). I wanted the easel to display my cards when I take photos of them and thought, well Oliver can paint the canvas - he will love that.

And he did love it !!! After painting the canvas, he painted on copy paper until he got bored and wanting to play with his toys.

So, what do you think.....an artist in the making ???? LOL Ah, bless him.

Well, he finally did it tonight. He had a really good sleep this afternoon (so did I), so he stayed up a little longer tonight but only by 30 minutes. Rob took him up stairs to read him a story then they play hide and seek which is quite funny because Oliver usually stands in his room with his hands over his eyes. Anyway, back to tonight's story.....he was in his bed happily talking to himself then shouted out to me which I couldn't quite hear but it was something to do with his foot. I went up stairs and he had taken his nappy of again but had an little accident of the poop variety. Nothing major but he didn't like it being on his foot (I think he stood in it). He was spoken to about taking his nappy off (only the second time he has done this), cleaned up, bed clothes changed and put back to bed. You have to laugh at these things.

K.

AUSTRALIA DAY !!!

Happy Australia Day to all Australian's wherever you may be.

Nothing planned at our house this year - just wait until next year when we will be living in Sydney. I can then celebrate with my fellow Australian's and family.

K.

Oh no, No NAPPY !!

I have just come home from helping Helena out at two of her exercise classes tonight to find Oliver in bed (it is past his bed time) and he was asleep. However, I did also find a nappy on the floor !!! I called out to Rob to ask why it was there and he said he didn't know. I lifted the blanket to find NO NAPPY on Oliver. OMG !!! I think he had only just fallen asleep so he opened his eyes and I got a new nappy on him quick. He had obviously taken his pj trousers off to and put them in the drawer.

K.

Another Sheep........

........bites the dust !!

Yes, Oliver ate his gingerbread sheep. If ever a biscuit goes missing, all you would have to do is look at Oliver's face to find where it went !! LOL

He does enjoy eating gingerbread cookies but he only has one if he has eaten his dinner. He isn't the best eater so we have to bribe him sometimes. He always has to eat his fruit sachet first before the cookie.

K.

Mr Cool

Oliver found my old sun glasses and wanted to wear them around the house.

He actually puts them on upside down and wonders why they keep falling off !! LOL

He even asked me to take this photo of him !!

K.

Egg Head Update

Here is how Oliver's bruise is progressing. It is fading now !!

He went to nursery last Friday and they were calling him 'Mr Bump'.

He has been pretty good with it and hasn't really complained about it being sore (only the day he hit his head - naturally).

K.

Cheeky...update

Follow the trail and you will find Oliver !!! Oh look, there he is. LOL I bought Oliver a Bob The Builder magazine while grocery shopping and there were stickers inside - this is what he did with them. Before he stuck them on the floor, he stuck them on his face and legs.

It is 10:30pm and due to Oliver sleeping late this afternoon, he didn't want to go to sleep straight away when we put him to bed. He was calling out to me and also talking to himself. However, I have just checked on him as the movie on tv is finished and I was going to log off and go to bed. I just had to tell you what Oliver had done !!!

In my earlier post, Oliver had changed his pj top. Well, during this afternoon's nap, he pulled out his pj shorts from the drawer and put them on although when Rob picked him up, it looked like he had reached over to his underpants drawer and put them on over his nappy. It was only after I took a closer look that I realised they were his shorts. He had them on inside out and back to front !!! LOL

Tonight, he has taken his pj top off and put it in the drawer (the right one mind you !!). We have a stereo set up in his room and we put on a CD with classical music for him to go to sleep. There are two parts to make the stereo work and Oliver turned off the bottom part which connects to the speakers so the CD was on but with no sound !!!

I wonder what other antics this kid is going to come up with while in his room ???

K.

Cheeky...

Rob put Oliver to bed last night while I was finishing my dinner. Everything was fine, then later on he started coughing so I went to check on him. I noticed he had on a short sleeve shirt. I realised that he had a different top on. Plus, his quilt was on the floor and a cellular blanket was on him. I thought Rob must have done this as the temperature was mild outside and even with the heating on minimum, he felt it was too warm.

I came downstairs and asked Rob is he had done this and he said 'no'. I thought he was joking but he wasn't. Oliver had taken his top off and changed it to his 'Thomas the tank engine' one. He also pulled the blanket out of another drawer and threw his quilt on the floor.

Rob and I were just laughing at what he had done and the fact he did it all by himself.

Oliver is having a well needed sleep so Rob and I are catching up on some DVD's we haven't watched in a long time - Indiana Jones trilogy. We watched the Raiders Of The Lost Arc yesterday during nap time so today it is the Temple Of Doom. I can hear you all singing the theme tune now !!

K.

Egg Head !

Oliver and I were watching 'Chicken Little' on DVD this afternoon and at the end they sing so we were dancing around the lounge room. Oliver was going around in a circle and slipped - straight into the frame of our couch !! Ouch !! I heard the thud and turned around to see Oliver up close and personal with the couch. It looked like he hit his shoulder and then the tears and crying started.

It took me 2 seconds to get to him and when I looked at him, I could already see this EGG !! I then realised he hit his head and not his shoulder. Poor thing !! I grabbed some ice and he didn't mind me holding it up to his bump. I gave him some nurofen in case his heads starts to hurt.

Rob is home from work now and the two of them are playing so his EGG doesn't seem to bother him. Phew !!

K.

Happy as Larry

What a face !! If Oliver eats his dinner we sometimes buy him a ginger bread cookie as a treat. This cookie had a pink pig with black nose and eyes - this is what happend to it !! LOL

I took this photo the other night.


I picked Oliver up from nursery and he was absolutely fine !! The girls said he stopped crying within minutes of me leaving. Oliver came running up to me saying 'mummy, it's my mummy'. Bless him !! He was telling me all about his day saying something about someone spilling water.....I didn't quite get all the story because he was speaking so fast. Hailey, one of the carers made a comment that Oliver was very intelligent. I would have to agree and I'm not jus saying that because he is my boy but from things I have observed Oliver doing/saying.

K.

1/2 Day @ Nursery

I took this photo of a cheesy Oliver last night. I tried to take a photo without him knowing but he caught me and he now had to say 'cheese' with a big grin when he spots the camera !!!

This is Oliver's first 1/2 day at nursery today. He was supposed to start last week, but with me being too ill to drive and my in-laws looking after him, he didn't go.

He still goes all day on a Friday but I added another 1/2 day to see how he goes. It didn't start out too well this morning - he didn't want to go at all. I think he thought he was going to see grandma and grandad. He cried when I parked the car, then he was ok once we were inside the building. He got to his old room (the one he had just left) and didn't want to go any further and he most certainly did not want to go through the double doors to his new room !! He started crying again. I stayed with him for about 5 minutes then one of the girls came over and took Oliver from me (which he did not like one bit !) and was giving him a cuddle. I had to quickly leave the room so he could settle down. I don't know why he was acting like this except to say he knows he see's his grand parents first then he goes to nursery - not the other way around. If the girls can distract him, he will settle quite quickly and they were going to read a story when I left.

I will go and pick him up at 1pm.

K.

Class

I have officially lost 1 1/2 stone !!!!! Yipeeeee. I actually lost it back in December but with the Christmas festivities I put on 1 1/2lb. Now that I am feeling better, it is the start of a new year and I will endeavour to lose another 1/2 stone before our move to Australia. Can I do it - YES I CAN !!!

I have just worked out that if I lose 1lb a week, I will have lost a total of 9lbs (I roughly estimate our move to be in 9 weeks time - if things go to plan !!), which will make me extremely happy because I can see the number 9 within reach. What am I talking about ??? The 9+ stone mark. I would just love my records to read 9st ??lb. I am about 4kg off my pre-pregnancy weight.

Anyway, the reason for this post (I got carried away, didn't I ??) was to tell you that my instructor, Helena asked myself and another lady, Danielle to help her out at the class. She is expecting an influx of new members (new year means new resolutions and diet is always one of them) so to make registration quicker, Danielle and I will greet new members, welcome returning members and help with the weigh in if needed. Val, the lady who helps Helena at the moment, is going into hospital for another hip replacement in 3 weeks time and will be out of action for some time. I am really pleased that Helena asked me to do this.

K.

Out Of Action

So much for me clearing out my cupboards, I have been in bed for the past 3 days with pharyngitis. If you don't know what that is, it is all the symptoms of tonsillitis without the tonsil's. I had my tonsil's taken out about 8 years ago and since then, I have only had pharyngitis 2 or 3 times. In the past week and a half I have had it twice and this one is the worst of all. Swallowing is painful. My In-laws have taken Oliver for me and Rob worked from home today so I didn't have to look after him. Thank goodness as I've been able to rest and sleep during the day which helps. I am feeling better today and by Friday I am hoping to be back to my old self.

If anyone is interested in seeing Rolf's paintings, have a look HERE. It is in German but if you click on 'Galerie', you can view his work. Let me know what you think and if you are interested in purchasing one, email me and put 'Rolf's Paintings' in the subject line.

K.

'till December...

We put away all the Christmas decorations today. I do love all the decorations and the tree (only if it is small - we will get a big one this year), but it does tend to make our small lounge room even smaller. With the decorations gone, it feels like a new lounge room - like it has had a fresh coat of paint. Give it a week and I will get bored with the 'new' look and wish the decorations were back up !! LOL

This week I will be going through some more cupboards and drawers so I can see what we need to keep to take to Australia with us and what we don't need to take - all the 'i might need that one day' items. I'm reasonably good and have a chuck every now and then but Rob likes to hold onto things. I have been asking him to go through his shirt drawer for I don't know how long and still hasn't (typical) so it looks like it will be me doing it and if I haven't seen the shirt on his back in a while, it will go to the charity shop !!! Rob is very much the 'leave everything 'till the last minute' type person where as I'm not. Not a good combination !!

We hired a skip last year and had a clear out of our garage. It was only a small skip but we did almost fill it and if it were up to me, a lot of other stuff would have gone in it.

BBQ

New Years Day we had a bbq at Rolf and Diane's. Yes, I said BBQ in January and yes, Rob does have shorts on !!! I am not sure what the temperature was but it was rather cold. These two BBQ in rain, hail and shine.

Rolf is an artist and his paintings are fantastic. Anyway, Oliver and Luke were playing in the back room where Luke has his toys and I don't know who went for a wander but they ended up in Rolf's office and if there is a paint brush about, Oliver will find it !! He did and this is him painting. Luke came out to grass on Oliver and tell us he was painting. I was horrified but luckily it was a blank canvas and not one Rolf was already working on. Phew !!!

Here we all are eating our lovely food.

Oliver is eating ice-cream while I am eating chocolate with champagne in the middle !!

K.

Never Trust The Weatherman

Well, we woke up this morning to NO SNOW what so ever !!! That means no lovely white photo's for you to see. I think Rob was hoping it would snow then he could have worked from home.

Here are some photos from our trip to Germany.


Here are the boys playing on the Sudnay morning. The two BIG boys were in bed recovering after their night out.

"Cheese" !!! How is this for posing. LOL
Here we are sitting down to our New Years Dinner. This is traditional in Germany to have a Rachlette (I will check the spelling). It is basically and indoor bbq. Just get your meat prepared and cheese sliced and whatever else you want and go for it.

You can see it a little better here and underneath the 'grill' is for the cheese. You place the cheese and add whatever is on offer (pineapple, onions, peppers ???) then place another slice of cheese on top and watch it melt. You can see Jill placing her cheese on her plate.

At 11pm, we went to Jill's parents house (Jill's dad Rolf is 2nd from left). Here is Oliver mingling with their guests. He calls Jill's mum, Diane - Diamond. I don't know why but when we were teaching him to say Diane, it sounded like he was saying Diamond and it has stuck. Diane loves it !!

K.

Back Home

Yes, we are back in the UK and to temperatures of 3 degrees.

I should have some photos tomorrow to show you as it should snow overnight and during tomorrow.

K.

Welcome 2008

Hello to the new year !!

We had a lovely dinner last night with the Watson's while the two little boys were playing and running around. They had a ball and they stayed up until 1:30am (Europe time).

As Jill's parents only live a couple of doors away, we went over there around 11pm to see in the German New Year with them and their guests. Then we went outside to see the fireworks going off around us. Oliver loved them but the ones that were close by (next door neighbours) were tooooo loud for him so he wanted to go inside.

Jill and Martin had some fireworks that they lit out the front which Oliver was happy to watch.

After that we all went back inside and it wasn't long before Great Britain would be celebrating the new year so we put the television on to BBC1 for the count down. The firework display was great. As part of their display, small boats were going up and down the Thames with Fireworks on board and the blokes driving the boats had special suits on that lit up too. Oliver was impressed with that. He kept saying "there's the boat again".

Once we got home, we set about putting the two little one's to bed. They were asleep within minutes as you would expect after running around all day long. Unfortunately, we didn't have a good night with Oliver. He has picked up another chesty cold and was awake for some time coughing and sitting on my lap trying to fall asleep again. He was coughing so bad that I thought he was going to be sick a number of times - I wish he had been as he would have gotten rid of the yucky flem on his chest. He eventually went to sleep in between Rob and I (after I gave him some Nurofen) where he slept soundly for a good few hours. In the end he woke up at 11:30am. It sounds like he has slept the day away doesn't it ??? After such a bad night, I didn't care too much if he slept all day as he would have needed it.

He is down at the moment having an afternoon nap but I can hear him coughing every now and then, so I wonder how much sleep his is getting ?? Rob is laying down with him as he also needs to be rested for our journey back to the UK tomorrow which will take if all goes well about 5 hours.

I hope you all had a lovely New Years and your head doesn't hurt too much today.

K.