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Home & Family, Ottobre

.Harvey Charles: 9 months.

 

 

9 MONTHS! I’m in denial. Where has my sleepy baby gone?

 It is getting increasingly difficult to take monthly shots of Harvey (aka “The Boof”). The minute I sit him down, he is leaning over and ready to take off so I quickly snap a few shots then get him back into position! Why did I choose a bed as the location for these photos?!

 He is moving around faster every day now and getting a lot more adventurous. Just this week he decided that he could crawl down the steps (just 2 of them!) from our deck onto the grass and makes his way around the backyard all the time now! Then when he has had enough he somehow manages to crawl back up the steps and into the house. No one has seen him get up or down the steps yet so I’m not sure if it’s a smooth hike or not, but he doesn’t cry so it can’t be that bad! He is a toughie though, and doesn’t usually cry unless the hurt is really sore!!

This month Harvey has learned to clap hands, wave and give high-fives. As sad as I am that he is growing up, it makes me so happy seeing how the older three kids are with him now that he is so interactive and wants to be a part of everything that is going on around him. They spend so much more time with him now that he can do fun tricks! I often find them giving him a ride on the swing or pushing him around on the little ride-on car.

We have a little family chant that goes, “Harvey, Harvey, Harvey…” while we clap along to the beat and as soon as Harvey hears it he grins and does a little bopping dance for us. So, so cute! As he gets older we are starting to notice some of his personality traits emerging. He seems to have a strong determination and finds a way to get to where ever or what ever he wants. He loves to perform for an audience and continues to be obsessed with food! Happy 9 months buddy!

 

March 18, 2014
Home & Family

.Scenes from the block.

Did I tell you that we are about to start building a new house? I don’t think I have mentioned it on the blog before.

It’s been a loooooooong wait, but finally we are getting ready to break ground and make a start.

Selling our house took 1 year. We are so fortunate to be able to rent it back for as long as we need to, so luckily didn’t have to deal with the added burden of moving into a rental property. Then we fussed around with banks and councils and lawyers for another 5 months and now, finally we are ready to start!

Our land is about 5 minutes away from where we live now – a little more “country” but still only a quick walk to the beach. We popped in before going swimming at the beach to do some measuring a couple of weeks ago. I find it really hard to look at a plan and understand how something is going to look at the end, it is so helpful to stand in the spaces and see where everything was going to sit and how much land was left over for the backyard. Lucky for me, Jaron is an architect so I don’t have to stress too much about the nitty gritty details, he does it all and I give the approval – or disapproval! Although it isn’t very often that don’t agree with something he has designed.

We are moving to about 1 acre of land – just enough for a little orchard, veggie patch, some chooks and lots of play space. The rural sub-division we are moving to has only got one other house built there, we will be the second and there is so much open space – it’s going to feel like we can have free run of it all for awhile, so great for the kids!


And this a render of front and back of the house! (Take from Starbox Architecture’s Facebook page.)

 I made Harvey’s tshirt from some Hilco striped fabric. The pattern is from Ottobre 3/2011, Happy Animals T-shirt. My favourite baby tshirt pattern.

 

I can’t remember which pattern I used for his shorts…I think it was modified Koala Velour Pants from Ottobre 3/2012. I cut them off, didn’t add the pockets and included some fake fly topstitching. I used a light-weight denim for these.

 
 
 

 These photos make me happy and excited for the time we are going to spend in a big, huge backyard. If things go to plan (my fingers are crossed!) we will be in our new house at the end of the year…in time for Christmas and the Summer holidays. In the meantime, I’ve got to settle on a decorating scheme. So many options, I find it hard to settle on just one! The majority of the house will be timber, concrete and white. I don’t think we will do anything permanent with colour this time around so that I can have more control over colour changes as my tastes change. 

 
 
 

 

 
 

 

Hoping that things get moving VERY soon and I’ll be sure to keep you updated on the progress!

March 7, 2014
Home & Family, Ottobre

.Harvey: 8 months.

Look at the 8 month old boof! This month has been corner-turning…you know that time you are always waiting for when most of the bad habits are eradicated and you feel like you can breathe again!

When we got home from New Zealand there was finally a break-through in Harvey’s bad sleeping habits. I think the first few days after being home he was totally exhausted about being away and having rotten sleeps for 2 weeks and sunk into his cot and slept, and slept, and slept. I think that a few days of awesome sleeping seemed to kick his body clock into gear and he worked out how to put more than one sleep cycle together…or maybe it was just going to happen anyway? Either way, it is pure and utter bliss to put him down for a nap and know that he is going to sleep for more than 20-40 minutes. There is finally a routine to his day which makes things so much easier to work around. He has two naps a day now which are usually each 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours long, goes to bed around 7pm and sleeps all night until about 6am. FINALLY!

Harvey continues on his happy eating rampage, he is such a good eater and will greedily gobble up anything that is placed in front of him! He isn’t fussed about texture or lumps in his foods and munches away until it is all gone, despite having no teeth yet! And when the food is gone he always lets out an ear piercing scream for more!

 
 

He is crawling like a gun now too, nothing stops him. If he wants to be somewhere he will push and cram his way through until he makes his destination! He loves pulling himself up onto furniture and having a good look around and has started being more confident walking around holding onto things too.

 
 
 

We do love him so, even though his chubby cheeks and big lips are getting smaller every month!

 

February 21, 2014
Home & Family

.New Zealand: Januray 2014.

We’re back! We have spent the last couple of weeks in New Zealand on a big family holiday. It was action-packed and so much fun. My in-laws live in New Zealand (close to Auckland) and we managed to comfortably fit 11 adults and 8 children into one house! The main purpose of our visit was to spend some time with my sister-in-law, Ashleigh before she left to serve a mission for our church in Singapore. It was so lovely to have almost all of the family together and we wish that Gemmah and Ryan and the kids could have been with us too.
So, in the first week of our holiday we did lots of family stuff – heaps of driving around to visit and say hello/goodbye to extended family. This is our second family holiday to New Zealand, and the second time that the kids and I have met with a lot of the extended family. Even though our visits are brief and busy it is so good to feel connected to these special people.
Harvey was named after Jaron’s Great-Uncle Harvey. He is the kindest man, a retired school teacher who never had children of his own. He was so happy to meet baby Harvey.
 
 
Last time we were in New Zealand we didn’t get to see Jaron’s Nana because she was sick so it was really lovely to spend a bit of time at their house with her and Grandie. They are so sweet.
 
And we visited with Grandma Dorman too – she suffers with Alzheimer’s disease and has a really hard time remembering who is who, but she continues smiling and laughing at herself throughout it all!
 
 
We were able to visit the New Zealand temple once again, the kids are always so excited about going to the temple and Tommy still talks about “touching Nana’s temple in New Zealand!” Jaron’s brother, Spenser returned from his mission to Korea early last year and this is the first time we have seen him since returning. The kids adore him, and were constantly jumping all over him and following him around. He gives them so much genuine love and attention, we are so blessed to have family who cares.
 
The day before Ash left for her mission, she was set apart (given a special blessing that officially calls her as a missionary.) It was a really special evening, ending in a bit of fun posing for photos!
And then she was off! We were (are) so proud of Ashleigh for making the decision to go on a mission. She is super fun and loving and friendly and I know that the people she meets over in Singapore will just love her! We all shed a few sad and happy tears at the airport and can’t wait to hear all about her 18 months away.
 
 
 
The second week of our holiday, we did a bit of touring around and spent a bit more time hanging out with family. Our very favourite place to go was the Coromandel Peninsula, especially Hot Water Beach. We didn’t realise how awesome it was going to be until we got there and didn’t get to spend a great deal of time there. The Coromandel Peninsula is full of beautiful things to do and see, it is top of our list of places to stay next time we go to New Zealand. Hot Water Beach was amazing, the beach is famous for natural hot water spas. As you dig in the sand, hot water seeps up from geothermal springs and you make spas to sit in. The water is unbelievably warm and super hot in some parts that it burns you! We had a great spot close to the edge of the ocean, so we dug a channel into the ocean for the cold water to run into and cool us off a bit. Such a perfect place, if you go to New Zealand you don’t want to miss it!
 Another day we went for a short bushwalk in the Waitakere Ranges. The bushland was beautiful and there was an awesome gigantic frame in the middle of a paddock to take photos with – it was very cool!
And the kids favourite part of the holiday – playing with their Queensland cousins. These guys get along so well and we have been so lucky to catch up with them more frequently than usual in the last 18 months. Hopefully it won’t be too long until we can see them again.

Well, that’s a brief photo wrap-up of our time away. New Zealand is such a lovely place to visit, I’m hoping that we get back there again before the kids passports expire! It’s always good to be home, but we could have managed another week away…now we have just over a week to get ourselves organised before the kiddos are back at school!

January 27, 2014