The Gastro is History !

Yay!

All gone.. had a nice formed poo this morning, another one this afternoon.. has been eating well all day, and had her veges too.. playing happily and only occasionally has stated that she wants to go home ;-(

I miss her terribly when she is away from home, especially when she asks to come home. But its good for her to be away from home once a week, and her grandparents love it ;-) And we have an adult night too ;-)

She will be having two nights away from home this week tho.. its Tony's and my 8th anniversary on Wednesday.. my how time flies.. 8 years married.. and 13 years together.. eek ! So we're gonna go out and celebrate.. not sure where yet.. Maybe Chez Rene in Willoughby again ;-)

A co-oincidence? Or a distant relation?! You decide..

.. obviously on her father's side..

Eeeerie...

And thats all I will say on the matter..

Gastro.. Blech..

We have Gastro ;-(

Had to pick up Josie from Kindy on Friday because she had massive 'bad poos' while having her nap (meanwhile she slept !!). And then all evening Friday and all day Saturday it didnt get any better until the evening when she had slighty more formed poos.

And I thought woohoo! Its almost over!

And then this morning (Sunday) she woke up screaming and promptly threw up ;-(

She has thrown up about 4 times today.. mostly water though cause she isnt having anything but toast and water.

Blah..

I have tried giving her the hydrolyte ice blocks but she wont have a bar of them.. and I tried it too and they taste horrible!!

However, typical of my daughter, nothing gets her down.. She was finally managing to keep down some water (chewing ice cubes) when I decided to take some photos.. and we just had a ball. My daughter definitely knows what to do in front of a camera.. LOL.. but she has taken to smiling with her eyes firmly squeezed together, so we kept telling her to open her eyes and smile at the same time, and everytime she fully opened her eyes, her mouth would open and form an O. LOL.

She has now had a bit of toast without much fuss.. so fingers crossed.. ;-)

I think we might still give Kindy a miss tomorrow. She can hang at Baba's place.

Monday night is sleepover night too so Baba will be thrilled to have her for two days straight ;-)

Ok so today is going to be quite average..

Meanwhile.. Tony is sitting here playing with a thousand widgets on his 30" Mac Monitor.

He's a sad, sad little man ;-)

Month 37 Josie Update

Hi all!

Welcome to my new (and FINAL) location for my blog. I am staying here. No more moving. Promise. Thus is the evolution of the Josie Updates complete. I hope! ;-)

On the right here you will find some links.. to Josie's photos.. to our calendar.. and various other bits and pieces.

We have had some great steps forward this month.

The biggest and best is my baby is in a toddler bed now! We (Tony) converted the cot a couple of weeks ago and she has been happily sleeping in it since! Well with the occasional trip to mummy and daddy's bed when there's a nightmare or something, but thats ok, we can live with that ;-)

I took some photos of her on her first night in the bed.

Her communication skills are leaping forward as we speak.. its so good to be able to speak to her in sentences and hear her respond in sentences. She still has trouble with her l's and we think its because of the dummy. And thats our next big hurdle.. the damn dummy.. she has gotten more and more attached to it over the last 6 months or so.. I have been trying to wean her off it, with dummy free time for short bursts in the car.. but she is just adamant she doesnt want to let it go.. and to be honest, while I would love for her to drop it, I dont actually mind her having it. I would prefer for the choice to dump the dummy to be made by her, and that way its not as traumatic. I have heard all the advice to just get rid of it cold turkey.. but I just cant imagine putting her through that. My goal was to be dummyless by the time she turned 3. Thats been and gone.. so I will see what happens in the next 6 months.

So we started this month with birthday parties. We had just got back from Daydream Island, see the previous blog, and the next day was Josie's birthday. We went that day for yum cha which was lovely.

Then a few days later we had a party at Baba and Deda's with some of the russian side of the family. We got some great photos of all the kids. The link to all the photos is on the right. Josie had a great time.

Then a few days later we had another party at Grandma Trudy's place for Josie's and Philip's birthdays together and the kids had a great time here as well.

And THEN a few days after that we had our yearly lunch at the Swiss Eiger in Petersham. As always, the food was magnificent and the atmosphere fantastic.

So yes we had quite a few get togethers for Josie's birthday!

Also this month we had a lovely lunch with some old friends, Michelle and Justin, who we had a ball catching up with. They brought their kids, Kristopher and Lily, and the kids just had a ball playing!

Josie also got a great electric toothbrush for her birthday from her cousin Becka. Its really done wonders for her enthusiasm for brushing her teeth! Previously it was always a bit of a struggle to get her to brush properly. Now of course she loves using the electric toothbrush!

And the last party for this month was a big 90th birthday party for my dad's brother's wife's father. Phew, thats a mouthful! LOL

Josie had a great time dancing around to the fiddler who was playing some great music.

So thats about it for this month..

I'm really excited about moving my blog here.. its so much easier to do here!

Till next month!

Month 36 Josie Update

Hi all,

My baby is now THREE! I can't believe it!

We have had a very big month!

Heaps of photos can be found in the Month 36 folder at http://www.flickr.com/photos/josiephotos

The biggest thing this month is Josie's swimming! After using the pool and spa where we live all through summer, and then our holiday to Daydream Island (which I will go into later), Josie is now swimming breast stroke under the water from one person to the other, and even changing directions midway and going to someone else! She is using the goggles, or opening her eyes under water, she is using the kickboard, and balancing on the ball, and the noodle and she is jumping in and swimming to the bottom (with a bit of a push) and picking up objects and swimming back up! Its amazing the leaps and bounds she has taken in the last few weeks! I am so proud of her! And of course its near impossible to get her out of the water!

Toilet training is fantastically OVER during the day! She still has a nappy on through the night, but during the day she always asks to go to the toilet, both number 1's and number 2's. We had one small accident yesterday, but I think she was just too immersed in drawing with her Great Aunt (!?) and decided to cool her lap down a bit (it WAS a hot day after all !! ;-)

So now to Daydream Island!

It was a fantastic holiday and the kids had a great time. We spent 6-7 hours every day in the water, only getting out to eat or sleep. Josie and I got a bit burnt (well I got a lot burnt!), but its nice to see some tan on her at last!

Daydream Island was just beautiful and the swimming pools were just glorious! Josie had a fantastic time swimming and playing with her cousin, and I have done more swimming in the last month than I have in the last 5 years ;-)

The plane rides were good too.. although the flight home was a bit more challenging because silly mummy forgot the case that had all the DVD's in the suitcase so we had nothing but Buffy to put on in the plane! ;-) Missy was slightly bored which is never good ;-)

All in all, the trip was a great success, and great practice for our big trip to the USA in September (I am trying very hard not to think about the plane ride!).

We need to work on our packing though.. we had about 7 bags with us.. for a week long stay.. we wont be able to do that in September!

Josie has now started Kindy 3 days a week, Mon, Wed and Fri. She was really looking forward to going back, and is loving it there now.

Swimming lessons begin again next weekend and I am really looking forward to starting that again. Unfortunately when re enrolment for that was happening she was still quite hesitant about the water so I put her into the same class as last term.. but she really needs to be put into the next class now. I am trying to see if I can move her, but I think I wont be that lucky cause all the classes are full.

Thats about it I think..

Till next month!
Mari

Month 35 Josie Update

Hi and welcome to my last update before Josie turns 3 !

I can't believe my little girl is about to turn 3!!

Well, we have had lots of speech development this month. Huge leaps and bounds in communication and development, but with that came wilfullness, tantrums and bossyness!

Josie is now talking very well, communicating in sentences and facial expressions and the pointing of the finger!

In terms of toilet training, I think I can safely say that she is well and truly day trained. We have been about a week of no or very little pull ups, and the last 4 days or so she has even done number 2's on the toilet! Fantastic! Previously she started getting into the habit of doing number 2's in hr pants which was not pleasant! The only thing is Missy likes her privacy. She tells us very pointedly (with the finger) "You stay dere!" and then goes off to the toilet to do her thing. She hasn't got the hang of wiping her bum yet, which gets kinda messy, and we need to help, but I'm just glad she isnt doing it in her pants anymore!

At the end of November we took Josie to her first 'real' concert to see Hi-5. At first she was a little overwhelmed, and sat quietly in her seat and watched. After a while though she really got into it, clapping and dancing to the show. It was just great watching her ;-)

Now also at the end of November we had her end of year concert at kindy which was superb! The had the kinds in the middle of the room doing their things and the audience seated around in a circle. Each group of kids came out in turn to do their parts while the rest of the class sat on their seats. Well, Miss Josie was performing all the actions and dancing and singing along from her seat even when she wasn't on! And when she was on, she was just fantastic! Such a little performer, she certainly is not shy! I was so proud of her, and got heaps of mpg's and photos which you will find on my new flikr site:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/josiephotos/ - please do leave comments if you want ;-)

December 11th was a big day. In the morning we went and saw Santa's Kingdom at Fox and it was fabulous! Josie loved the merry-go-rounds and the ice skaters and everything really, she had a ball. The only thing she didnt like, again, was sitting on Santa's knee.. we got the photo, but honestly, I dont blame her.. the guys scary! ;-)

After Santa's Kingdom we had people over for our yearly Tree Trimming Day. We had bought a gorgeous new 7.5 foot tree and some new decorations at The Christmas Cave and had an absolute ball putting everything up. We also got a bunch of Xmas lights to decorate the balcony and really got into the whole xmas thing. I have waited 6 years for a place I can really put my heart into decorating, and I just love our new home so we really went for it. There are photos on Flikr of all the decorations and the lights too. I am so proud of it all.

We have been offline for almost 3 weeks while moving from Bigpond to iiNet (Telstra stuffed up the line!!), which is why this update is late. This means that all the Xmasy type days are over now, and all the presents have been given. I was going to cover this next update, but while its fresh in my head..

Josie had about 4 days of presents! We had the Tree Trimming, then Xmas Day, then Boxing day and then on the 27th! We spent the 27th at Centennial Park, which was huge fun and Josie had a great day out playing with her cousins. However now she is coming to me and asking where Santa and more presents are!!

The last few days we have finally started using the pool and spa that is in this 'estate' which we moved into. And I am SO incredibly impressed with Josie's progress in the water! Swimming lessons finished a couple of weeks ago, and are starting up again at the end of January. But since we have been in the pool and spa the last few days, Josie has been showing a huge improvement in water confidence, which is such a huge relief! She has been going under water all by herself, and throwing herself into the water to us, she has even been going under water through my legs to Tony behind me! And it is completely not phasing her! She has a new kickboard too which she is getting the hang of and holding on really well to! I am just so pleased with how she is going in the water now!

We are hugely looking forward to our holiday in January. It will be so nice to just unwind and spend a week just swimming and relaxing!

Anyway, thats about it I think.. Gosh its been hot too!!!

Till next month! 3 Years OLD!!! Waaaaaa!!!

Mari

Month 34 Josie Update

Welcome to my first blog!

This month has flown so quickly..

Josie is now almost day trained! She still has a few accidents at kindy and occasionally at home, but more often than not, she goes through the entire weekend just coming and telling us that she needs to use the toiley.

She is also speaking really well now. She is telling us about kindy, and her friends at kindy (apparently she has a boyfriend called Mark?! or Conner?! Or BOTH!??!).

We continue to be busy almost every weekend, with friends and family coming over all the time. Josie is loving having people around all the time and is becoming very much the social butterfly ;-)

With the warmer days I am finally able to put her in shorts and skirts and singlet tops, which is great. And we can hit some parks and other outdoor activities ;-)

We have swimming lessons every Saturday, and last weekend after the lesson, my sister Vika and Josie's cousin Rebecca met us at the pool and we had a great time swimming for a few hours. I am so happy with how much she has progressed in the water. When we first started swimming this term she cried for a while but then stopped. Last weekend she didnt cry once. And not only that, she was going under water with no problems, and no tears and was swimming with a back bubble for a stroke or two from person to person. She had a ball and her water confidence just completely shot up.

After the pool my cousin Anna and her son Jayden came over for lunch and the kids had a great time running around, screaming and playing.

We also tried the beach last weekend with Josie's good friend Stacey and her parents. It was unfortunately a big bust ;-) We made the mistake of putting sun cream all over her, which she then rubbed into her eyes and then spent the next few hours rubbing and rubbing cause her eyes started stinging from it. And then we went down to the sand, and of course she got sand on her hands, and then rubbed her eyes and then it was all over.. lol.. after a lot of tears we finally admitted defeat and packed up and went home ;-)

At home we all had a shower, which was great cause she HATES the shower, but I made Tony get in there with us and he held her, and eventually she started to relax and have fun. The Tony and Josie jumped in the bath and she had a lovely time in there.

I am now being punished for all the years I made Josie dance in the car. Whenever we had music on she would flap her arms around and bop her head and I would encourage that by telling her "Josie are you dancing?" and "Josie dancing!". Well! The last few times in the car she has been telling ME to dance! And Tony keeps saying this is punishment, and keeps laughing and saying "Dance Monkey Dance!". So the other day Josie comes out with "Dance Monkey!". Well we all just burst out laughing! And I'm sitting in the front waving my arms around!!

On a not so nice note, we have had a few weekends with Josie ending up in our bed sometime through the night. More often than not its because of a nightmare, last night cause her nappy leaked and I couldnt be bothered changing the sheets at 3am ;-) She has even been able to tell me what her nightmares were about (scary boys!!).

We have had some trouble again getting Josie to go to bed at night. First of all she will only go with Tony. If I try to get her into bed she throws a massive tantrum. And then Tony is having to stay there with her while she falls asleep. Usually he will leave before she actually falls asleep, and then she goes off herself. It could be worse, I know, but ahh the good old days when we would just leave her in her bed and leave.. ;-)

We have two big milestones to go.. the dummy, and the toddler bed.

Josie is still in her cot and we dont think she is ready yet for the bed yet but I am hoping once she turns 3 in January, it might be a goer. And maybe we might throw in the dummy weaning too ;-) Ack, I dont even wanna think about it ;-)

And some exciting (and slightly scary) news..

We have booked a couple of holidays!

First in January, we are going away for a week with Vika and Rebecca. I can't say where cause Becka doesn't know and she will most likely read this blog!! ;-) This will be heaps of fun and Josie will have a great time with her cousin ;-)

And then next September (10 months, I know, but we had to book frequent flyer seats) we are going for a week to Hawaii and then a week to LA to visit my girlfriend Harri who I went to school with, and miss greatly. Now thats the scary part, cause 9 hours on the plane with a 3.5 yr old is gonna be shocking ;-) Then 8 hr internal flight to LA, and then 14 hrs LA to Sydney. ACK! But its gonna be such a great experience ;-)

We are having our annual Tree Trimming Day on Dec 11th where we get together with friends and put up the Xmas tree and decorations and give out some of the presents. Im really excited this year cause I ordered a heap of toys from Josie's kindy's fund raising toy catalogue and hopefully it will all be here by then. Lots of stocking fillers this year, and Josie is at an age where she finally understands the concept of presents and opening them so it will be so much fun ;-)

And I think thats all I can think of! This has been a looong update!

Till next month!
Mari

ps. New photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/josiephotos/ ! Ive moved my photos from yahoophotos to flikr. Its bloody brilliant! Tony put me onto it! Please leave a comment if you want!

pss. For those of you using Firefox, when you go to this page you will see a little orange icon. If you click on that it will ask you to Subscribe to RSS 2.0 Feed or something like that. This will add my blog as a bookmark and also if you go to the bookmark it will tell you when there is a new update thats been posted.