Off to see the wide world!!!

Well friends, Rhys and I are off to the States tomorrow afternoon to see our family and friends! Eldon is joining us in a few weeks and then together, we will travel to NZ to see more family and friends! We are so looking forward to catching up with everyone and introducing you to our fabulous son! I'm not sure that I will be posting anything for a while so please don't give up on me. We will be back here in January and I'll have lots of news and pictures to show. Hope everyone has a great few months and great holidays!

Weekend away at Home Valley Station

We are back from a fabulous weekend away! We went to Home Valley Station which is a working cattle station not far from Kununurra. We had to drive down a dirt road for most of the 1.5 hr journey, so we borrowed a friend's ute. The road was in pretty good shape until after we crossed over the Pentecost River and then it was rough. Luckily, it is only a short distance after the river crossing. The first two pics show the river crossing head on and also from the side as we drove through. It is pretty low right now but during the wet season it floods right up to where I took the first picture, and there are lots of crocs in it!

The station is a working station still, but they have turned it into a "resort" as well. It is located on the Gibb River Road which is a well traveled road in the dry season by many tourists. This was their first year and I'm sure they'll have many good years to come! The place is beautiful. It appeals to the bush-loving people as well as those who don't necessarily want to rough it. We stayed in a Grass Castle which is basically a cabin facing the Bindaloo Creek. (Two of the pictures are looking out our front sliding glass door) The cabins are really lovely inside with a king-size bed and really awesome shower. They supply bathrobes and even put a cot in the room for us! There is a really nice swimming pool and restaurant (I wish I could have taken a better picture of it..it is decked out with saddles and cattle skulls and all sorts of things) and best of all, it was pretty much dead quiet since it is the end of the tourist season. We were able to get a "local" discount on the cabin.

It was Rhys's first time in a pool and he loved it! Someone gave him a little hat which is a little too big, but worked really well anyway. I thought he looked so cute with it on! We had a really nice weekend away and also made some decisions as to what we are doing and where we are going from here...more on that later.

Rhys cooling his heels on our king-size bed

full-on laughing at Daddy

Ann Geddes moment?

He loved the pool!

Wow, it sure is bright out here!

totally exhausted after our swim

Peeping over the wall behind the bed

Another video for you to enjoy...

Thanks for all the replies I got to my Pork Plea...I shall be trying them out soon! Rhys is giggling and laughing so much more now and we are loving it!!!

Pork Plea

Ok, fellow bloggers and blog watchers...I need your help. I am desperately hopeless with pork! I like to cook boneless pork, like pork steaks or loin cuts, but I only have one recipe that I really like. I do cook pork chops for Eldon every so often, but I would prefer to have a few more pork recipes that use boneless pork, casseroles etc... So...if you have a really tasty recipe to recommend..(pretty pretty please) can you send it to me? My email address is spattjr@hotmail.com which will be easier to use I think.

And no, this isn't a clever way of checking who reads my blog...;)

My little jolly jumper

12 week photos

Well, what can I say...he is so darn cute! :) He was 12 weeks on Saturday...only 4 days until he is officially 3 months. I bought a Jolly Jumper for him today...he loves it! Will be posting photos soon.

No news is good news?

Well, I'm not sure! Let me ask you this...is it ok to be stressed out about moving when we don't know when OR where we are moving to? :) We've started packing...just odds and ends at the moment. Our little house is crowded enough without boxes laying about. Eldon's interview was more than a week ago and we still haven't heard anything yet...it's so frustrating. Anyway, 99% chance we'll be out of here first week of November no matter what.

Can you believe that Rhys is 12 weeks old today? I can't. The time has simply flown and yet, it feels like we've had him forever! It's hard to remember life without him now. Although I must admit sometimes I do miss my job. I'm not one of those women who can work and have an infant, but someday, maybe in a year or so, I'll want to do some work again.

He is giggling more and more but I haven't managed to catch it again on video. It takes both Eldon and I to do that. So far he likes bouncing on my knee and playing stand up, sit down and somehow Eldon almost always manages to get a giggle out of him on the change table.

Hopefully the next posting will be WHAT WE ARE DOING AND WHERE WE ARE GOING....but don't hold your breath, it might be a few days! :)

Cutest Giggles in the WHOLE World!

1 more night to go...

One more night until Eldon gets home! Whew! It has been lonely without him or anyone else. I have been so spoiled since Rhys was born, having my parents here and then Eldon's parents...and then nobody! Anyway, Rhys and I have just been hanging out at home doing nuttin'. Well...that's if you call eating every 3 hours, changing nappies, trying to get to sleep, sleeping, some more eating...nothing. :) I have managed to read 2 Harry Potter books though which has helped pass the hours.
Eldon went to Melbourne for an interview...sounds like it went all right. So we should be hearing in about a week as to whether he got a job and where we will be going. So stay tuned...
Rhys has started sucking his thumb...much to the delight of his mother who doesn't want to continue with the dummy any more than she has to! He is still using a dummy to get to sleep right now...the thumb isn't in complete control yet. He will suck on it while he is trying to go to sleep but gets frustrated because he can't create a good suction on it like a dummy yet. Everyday he is getting better though. I have been trying to catch a good picture of him doing it...so stay tuned for that as well!
Here are some lovely pictures of Nana and Granddad Patterson on the last Sunday we were together.

Rhys update - 2 months!

Well...so much has happened in the last 2 months! Rhys is growing so fast...just the other day I printed a bunch of pictures from the time he was born up until now and it was fun to compare them! Here is a list of updates:


He has almost outgrown his infant bouncer


He has definitely outgrown his infant insert in the car seat

He is rolling over from tummy to back but is too chubby to do back to tummy!

He is chewing nonstop on his little hands and trying to suck his thumb...and he has learned how to reach out and bat his toys and grab ahold of the middle one that makes noise!

He is, of course, smiling up a storm at everyone and cooing and gaaing also! So cute!

He is wearing 3 month clothes already and his sleepers with feet are too small due to his big feet! I have already put away a whole bag of clothes which he doesn't fit anymore!

He is 2 months old, weighs 6.3 kgs on last weigh (Monday) and is 60 cm long. That means he's grown more than 2 kgs and 10 cm since birth. Whoa! He is getting quite heavy to carry around.

We have "graduated" from our Mum and Bub class (which went up to 8 weeks) and next week we will attend the Parent and Baby class which lasts until they can crawl.

Mummy and Daddy are doing well...getting lots of sleep at the moment as Rhys is sleeping from approx. 1030pm to 6am! Woohoo! I'm crossing my fingers he keeps it up for a while.

We are enjoying have Mum and Dad Patterson here and they are really enjoying Rhys! He is such a lovely little boy and we feel very privileged! Here are some recent pictures.

Nana and Granddad Patterson meet Rhys!

Daddy's little boy

Today we took Rhys down to Eldon's work and showed him off to everyone...he was a hit of course! :) Then we had to have a tour of Alligator's new plane, the Piper Chieftain. Here are some photos of Rhys's first "plane trip".

I have noticed recently that my blogs are becoming a little unvaried...hmmm...wonder why? ;) Rhys and I don't get out much so we have no photos of actually doing anything. Guess that will come with time. Right now we are just liking staying at home and getting plenty of sleep during the day! So stay tuned...they will get more interesting.

Gurgles

Rolling over...

6 week update

Rhys is 6 weeks today! Doesn't time fly? He is growing really well and smiling up a storm! We had our 6 week check up and all is well. Here are some more recent pics:

Nicknames....

Rhys has two nicknames already:

Sebastian (from the lobster in Little Mermaid): The effect is so much better when he has his mittens on!

and Turtle...this is his favorite way to look at you!

4 weeks in the life of Rhys

A few hours old:

1 week:

2 weeks:

3 weeks;

4 weeks and 3 days today - weigh in yesterday was 5.020 kgs and 55 cm long