My baptism

As I suggested in a recent post, my baptism must have been coming up, and today's the day!


Mum and dad have been busy getting sweet things ready in the kitchen..

This has something to do with "fairies" but I don't get it. I'd much prefer a good old bottle of milk myself.





I'm not sure what these things are - mum calls them 'baby mudcakes'.

All I know is that they're going into a little cardboard box with a few other surprises - for each of my cousins.

OK, time to go to the church for my big event.

Here, we've just sat up the front... where everyone can see me. Mum took all my clothes off and wrapped me in a towel.

Dad explained that this is a good thing - but I wasn't so sure.









Next, they poured oil on me, which felt quite nice.

And then Monsignor kept telling jokes about Justin.









I'm not sure if Justin minded, but I did notice that most people laughed a lot.

Justin and Megan also got to light a candle with my name on it.

Finally, I got to sit on the altar, and everybody clapped. 

I think that meant I could have my milk soon.

 Yes, we finally got to go home for the party.

Here I am with my grannie Florinda from Perth, and Grandma Marlene from Melbourne.

They took turns to feed me, so my spoiling factor was at least 200%!

Here are some more photos from my baptism party, including my cousins Ashley and Lachlan from Melbourne.

They had fun in my coloured ball pit.

Well if baptisms are like my one, I'll have one each year please!

Thankyou everyone for travelling so far for my big day.

Visitors from Perth & beyond

Yes - grannie Florinda and grandpa Albert are in town, and so is my uncle Lyndon, all the way from London!

Mum had driven me to see them most days this week, and today they came to visit us!




Here's grannie looking very stylish, as she travels on the train from Sydney to Newcastle.








And here she is with uncle Lyndon and myself, as mum judges the 1st annual silly hat competition.

I'm not sure what "opthamologists" do, but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with silly hats.

I've got even MORE relatives arriving in the next few days - it's pretty exciting!

First Indian restaurant experience

It's not long till my baptism now, and the relatives have started to arrive! Granny, Grandpapa, Margi, Tom,  Meville, Lisa, Benedict, Xavier and Imogen are all staying at a house in Caves Beach with a special guest: Uncle Lyndon from London! He lives far away, but was able to be here because he has a work conference in New Zealand.

This morning, we took Granny & Grandpapa to Raj's Corner in Hamilton for Masala Dosas. This is mama's favourite Indian food, and very hard to get in Newcastle!

Here you can see grandpapa showing how to eat dosas. They are thin potato pancakes that come with a tray of sauces.

I'm not old enough (at 11 months) to eat dosas, but I had some plain naan bread which was very yummy! 

After mama, daddy and the grandparents had their meal, they bought some Indian sweets which made mama very happy. Daddy says you should "click on the photo below - and start drooling", whatever that means.

Hmm, there's been a lot of cooking and organising in our house.  My baptism must be soon!

Two Month Catch Up

Sorry for the break in blogging about Oliver and his adventures - it has been a little frantic here for the past two months. We thought we would post a few pictures to catch you up and then try to keep up with Oliver's social calendar!

In the last two months aside from O becoming more and more fun, Annamarie has returned to work which is absolutely fantastic, Oliver has settles into Mondays and Tuesday with Yola - which is just brilliant and we bought our house!

On a sad note we had hoped to post good news today and let you know in late October Oliver would become a big brother.  Unfortunately over the past five weeks the pregnancy has not progressed well and after many scans and tests the pregnancy ended.

We are ever so grateful to Megan who has been a completely wonderful friend no wonder she is Oliver's Godmother and also to Trish. Between the two of them they have made this completely horrible time a little more manageable. Our hearts go out to any of our friends and family who have experienced the same situation.

On a happier note we hope to see many of you in a few weeks time for Oliver's baptism and a celebration of the wonderful joy he brings to our lives on a daily basis....in the mean time enjoy the pictures!

Just when you thought it was safe to sit back on the floor...

Oliver is still sliding (rather than crawling) along the floor.

So what ever you do, don't sit on the floor...
MWAH HA HA HA!!!

Eight Months Old

Oliver is eight months old and now we know why everybody says little ones are fun!

The house is filled with giggling and laughing each day as Oliver is finding his way into mischief!

Oliver is mobile...not quite crawling on hands and knees but super fast on the whole tummy crawling!

This has necessitated a quick child proofing of the house. Hmmm mum and dad can't open the chocolate cupboard quite so easily!

Also a quick rearranging of Oliver's bedroom which has turned out quite well.

Oliver is completely obsessed with the telephone - obviously arranging his social life which is very busy!

The other delightful development is his ability to quickly work out cause and effect. This toy snail took all of 2 minutes to work out - so an extra long ribbon was attached to prevent collisions with noses at high speed!

Enjoy!

Oliver's New Adventure

Just a quick blog to say thank you for all the good wishes for Oliver's settling in days with Yola....as expected Oliver is treating this as another opportunity to flirt!

Yola is besotted with him, she is completely wonderful and we fear he may never want to come home!

When Oliver arrived yesterday for his first morning it was as though a rockstar had arrived the three little girls (twins 4 years old and one 3 year old)chanted his name and then sat around him on the floor stroking and patting him....hmmmm tick adoration in abundance!

When we arrived four hours later to pick him up - well there was not a lot of excitement at Mum and Dad appearing shall we say. Today he shot-putted himself into Yola's arms and was very content when we returned a few hours later. He has settled in well and is very happy watching the other children. He seems quite comfortable with Yola and she absolutely adores him....there were no tears on either side.

Next week Mum goes back to work and Oliver will do his two regular days - although only six hours so not too bad. Will provide some photos of family day care next week when things are a little more relaxed.

Oliver is very lucky the same four children go on Monday and Tuesday and one of the little girls also goes to his playgroup on Thursday! They are a lovely group of children very gentle and loving! The little girls in particular are excited to have a baby and well Oliver is excited to be adored as usual! Yola also has too teenage daughters who think Oliver is wonderful....so really it is status quo without pesky mum and dad to dampen down the adoration!

Thanks so much for all the thoughts and prayers and socks as our little family starts this new adventure!

Lots of Love Oliver, Gabe and Anna Marie

A Day in the Life of Oliver....

Mornings in Mum and Dad's bed!

Breakfast - I promise some went in Mum!

Eating my maracca in music!

Chilling between appearances!

Oliver loves putting things on his head!

Practicing his crawling pose. Not long now!

Getting ready for afternoon reading time!

A pose for Uncle Brendan!

Vegemite toast for afternoon tea!

Our Angelic Genius!

When Oliver was Latte - we joked about ticking the boxes to acquire an angelic genius!

It appears our prayers were answered and we were gifted with an angelic genius*.
*conditions apply ( as Dad's advertisements would say!)

Oliver is indeed an angelic little boy...when we are outside the house! He smiles and giggles and flirts and is generally entertaining and delightful to be with. These skills are less enjoyable at 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am and 5am in the morning Oliver!

Oliver is indeed a genius and is very quick to learn certain new skills....he seems limited in his superior ability to learn when it is best to demonstrate those skills and when to lie quietly and go to sleep, lie quietly and not roll off the change table, sit quietly and eat, not lean over the side and pretend to be seasick off the boat!

Ah yes advanced for his age his imagination is already starting to emerge!

We should have been more specific in requesting an angelic genius - a little boy who does exactly what his parents wish for between midnight and well midnight!

When Oliver was in NICU we would say to each other when he gets home we will never complain about being awake all night and any other less desirable behaviour he might display we will be just so happy he is home. We thought about that the other day after a particularly special night! We lied!

Latte for Latte

Oliver has had his first babyccino!

Oliver and his Godmother (who better to instruct Oliver in the art of latte drinking!) and Mum and Dad enjoyed the sunshine and the coffee before swimming lessons.

Oliver seemed to enjoy the experience although to be honest he was more excited by sharing his drink with the puppy at the next table.

The Babyccino powered Oliver through his swimming lesson where an excited Dad reports he kicked - or at least moved one leg once!

The babyccino did nothing to improve Oliver's behaviour - Rory his instructor was treated to the hairy eye ball and ignore treatment to signify Oliver's disapproval of the floating skill he was being taught.

Hmmm positive reinforcement (bribery?) of behaviour we would like (expect?) is about to start!