My First Family Holiday

We took Oliver on his first holiday to meet his Melbourne family, celebrate three birthdays and meet the newest little cousin! If you look closely you can see his boarding pass says Latte McGrath - his name before he became Oliver.

The was some grieving at the airport as we realised we would never again travel light - how much stuff can one little fellow need.....all of the bags except the small one were Oliver's!!!

The first birthday was cousin Victoria turning one....it was a lovely party and Oliver met his aunty Cath with bump (who became Benjamin) and his three great aunts Shirley, Val and Audrey.

This is a photo of the gorgeous birthday girl with her family.



On Monday we took Oliver to our favourite cafe in the State Library in the city and also a wander around ACMI...




Oliver enjoyed the coffee as much as his mum and dad and charmed the wait staff as usual!



The rest of the week had a few more cafe visits and impromptu feeding sessions in the sunshine between visits with family and friends.


We even squeezed in a visit to our favourite park - Fitzroy Gardens!




The best part of the holiday was catching up with family and friends and seeing Oliver getting to know his family and especially his Grandma.


Oliver got to celebrate his Grandma's birthday, meet cousin Benjamin (in the photo below) when he was born and spend time with Benjamin's big brothers Ashley and Lachlan.


The third celebration was Lachlan's second birthday. It was great timing to get so many wonderful occasions in one week.


We are now safely home and Oliver is tucked up in his own little cot and sleeping peacefully (we hope!)

The Prince and his Minions

Oliver's head and neck control has come along so well in the last week or so, which means we can now sit him up....

with the aid of several pillows which keeps him entertained and is great for the morning rush hour!

Oliver thinks this is great as he is Lord and Master of everything he can see (okay just over Wormy!) and his minions are at his beck and call....

Perhaps he should have a chat to Aggie as she thinks she is the Queen of the house and is used to her minions granting her every wish....quite a couple!

Oliver loves sitting up to play with his gym and demonstrates fantastic concentration...

until those pesky toes show up in his line of vision....

then he has to investigate what those toes are doing...

which often results in a tumble - oopsie daisie lucky the pillows are soft!

Never too young to become an activist

We hope that Oliver grows up with a strong social conscience and lives an active and ethical life.....and obviously his aunt thinks so too!



Margi has sent Oliver this fantastic little suit which is organic and educational....he wore it for our beach walk in the hope that any whales passing the Newcastle coast would surface for a chat...alas no luck this week!

New PJ's

"There is nothing quite like getting new pyjamas to lift one's spirits.. soft and comfy and hey look I can't wiggle through!!"

We have invested in some lovely new pyjamas after Oliver's tricks last week. He seems to be very happy and has not escaped so far......

Oliver loves playing in his cot when he wakes up and on some days will happily chat to himself and Miffy for quite some time...allowing Mum and Dad to make the much needed coffee!!!

We are trying to encourage tummy time and first thing in the morning seems to be a great hit.....

Today was Oliver's immunisation - a little early so that he can go to Melbourne.... he was a brave little fellow cried a little and then went to sleep... Mum and Dad cried a little and wanted to go to sleep!

Sleeping through the night...or maybe not......

Oliver has been sleeping through the night for the last two weeks - he is doing really well except for one little glitch....

Last Monday night he let out a blood curdling scream at about 5am....racing in thinking the worst Oliver was found in just his nappy at the opposite end of the cot to where he was lovingly tucked in....

Mummy not operating on full strength (remember it is 5am) yells out to Daddy who is still asleep - "What on earth are you thinking, not dressing Oliver and just leaving him in the cot without wrapping!!"

Hmmm.... on closer inspection it appeared that Oliver was giggling!

Further inspection of the child by both parents at this stage reveals that Oliver has wriggled out of his clothes, his tight wrap, his outside wrap and his blanket..... which are exactly where they should be... at the other end of the cot!

Some loving words were exchanged between the parents (okay there was an awful lot of laughing) and some cuddles for Oliver and thanks to God that at least his nappy was still on!

Everyone went back to bed....until Tuesday morning 5am.....yep cue giggling from Oliver......he thought this was a great trick!

Caught in the act!

No Sleep & first mobile blog post

Normally, I'd have a sleep between 9-11am, but so far today, I haven't slept at all! SURPRISE!!!

That's me in the photo, under a blanket in my baby capsule. The cafe is pretty noisy, but I'm able to sleep through noise - as I got used to it in ICU in my first two weeks.


Today... Dad's writing my blog on location while mum talks to our friend Megan. Dad's using his EEEPC 700, which has just come back from the 77th repair. I don't know what "that blasted thing" means, but it has something to do with his baby computer. Anyway, since dad is doing my blog from the cafe, the wireless internet must be working... and I haven't heard him say that funny phrase this time.

Anyway, must doze now.
Don't forget to leave me a comment! O.

Sunshine, coffee and toes....

The weather is fantastic in Newcastle and Oliver is enjoying his sleep at the beach....this is a corner of the Newcastle Baths - it is very iconic and features in many local wedding photos.....hopefully a long time before Oliver is standing here in wedding photos!


We had the obligatory coffee...good for the soul and increases the ability of mummy to function on limited sleep....



Oliver has discovered his toes this week...

he especially loves the car seat as the angle is just right to observe those things that wiggle....


amazing they seem to wiggle when I move my feet...hey wait a minute are they attached to me?






Please note the lovely fish trousers the only thing to wear for a walk on the beach...

Week Fourteen - Already

Oliver is thirteen weeks old and is definitely a baby not a newborn now. Oliver loves to chat - especially when eating - very social.

He loves to be where the action is and he is very independant...often happy to play by himself and just watch the world go by!



Of course he also loves to be adored!



Oliver had a few social engagements last week - he went to the park with some new friends....Joshua who is 5 months old and Jordon who is three weeks old.

Oliver was happy to lie under the tree and watch the clouds.

Oliver also had his first day trip - we went to Sydney to meet his cousin Victoria - all the way from Melbourne.




Mum and Dad also survived the highly planned outing.... unfortunately we forgot to take pictures! Hence the photograph of Oliver with his cousin Victoria and Uncle and Aunt when they visited Newcastle. A big shock to Mum and Dad was the amount of stuff we had to take just for one day! Hmmmm may not be able to do the walk on luggage for the trip to Melbourne!!

Grown Up Trousers

To celebrate turning thirteen weeks and officially making it out of the newborn stage -

Oliver has trousers with no feet - how grown up!



What a day - trousers with no feet and the accountant!

That's right Oliver experienced one of the annual events that will feature in his life God willing for a long long long time - TAX!

Of course made all the more bearable by Ami - our accountant - becoming completely besotted with Oliver and cooing to him throughout the whole consult....

Oliver in turn smiled and giggled - he is a flirt!

NSW experienced a huge dust storm yesterday -


it looked like God had turned on the sepia lighting - this is the magnificent glow in Oliver's room at 7am!

Sleepytime during Storytime

Oliver went to his first storytime at the library today....

When we found out that Oliver was on his way - we booked Oliver into Storytime with Dad at the Newcastle Library. It is an early literacy programme to encourage parents to read to their children each day.

Each of the libraries around Newcastle have a Storytime for Babies session each month ...it is very cool - we read a couple of stories and sing a few songs.....really just an excuse for the latent playschool presenter in the librarians to emerge for an hour each month.....


Oliver of course slept through the session - as he slept through all five of the Parent as Teachers sessions we went to.....He is loving his reading time each day though...He especially loves Where is the Green Sheep (thankyou Gay and Rose) and also I Went Walking....after reading the same book each day we are starting to improvise the things we saw when Oliver went Walking

Oliver is asleep on the lovely floor mat that granny made before she went home....it has his name spelt out in big letters in - very helpful if he wakes disorientated from his snooze during storytime and thinks he is the "green sheep who is fast asleep!"