Wednesday Update

Hi all,

Yes I know... I missed doing the blog on Monday. Sorry! So here is the next installment.

We had another busy weekend. I think Nath is just about ready to drop as between work and home he hasn't had a break in weeks. We bought another bookcase on Saturday. (Any of you that had seen our study would understand why we needed to do this) So after staining the big back room's skirting boards (tell us why we built such a big room) we built said bookcase and started to move some of the books off the old bookcase so that Nath can find what books he is looking for and they are not stacked 3 deep. Nath finished off the back room staining on Sunday and then we rearranged the study. It is amazing how swapping bits of furniture around a room you can get more floor space.

My cold has developed over the past couple of days so that we should have bought shares in Kleenex with the amount of tissues I have gone through. I am looking forward to the day that I have a cold and can actually take something besides panadol for it. What with last year being pregnant and this year feeding. Sabrina is also suffering with a cold. Maddie is getting over hers and Nath hasn't got it and hopefully doesn't.

Here are a couple of pics to keep you all happy. I know I promised in the last blog to take pics of the girls carpet however, it doesn't photo well so you will just have to visit to see it.

Sabi is now paging me so I better go.

Love

Annette

Love

Annette

PS We went to the clinic on Thursday last week and she was 6.2Kg and 60 cm long definitely getting bigger!

Well its Monday again

Hi all,

Well its Monday again! They are coming around way to quick. I finally have my voice back. It didn't really make an appearance till Friday last week so this made for interesting times with Maddie who can't read hand written notes yet so there was alot of charading going on. As we were all sick over the last week we didn't really do anything of interest during the week and saved it all for the weekend.

On Saturday Nath and I went to one of his work mates wedding. It was a gorgeous day bit windy but that was OK. They had the service on Shark Island and the reception at Pier One. Very Flash!!! So we had to be at the wharf at 1.45pm to get on our boat to go out to the island. Kim looked stunning. Just after the vows and while they were signing the register a pod of dolphins decided to come and frolic in the waters around the island. This made it very special as not everyone could say that they had dolphins at their wedding. Kim said afterwards that the dolphins had actually joined her when she got in the water taxi to go out to the island and had followed them out. Maddie and Sabrina had a Nanna day. Big thankyou to Mum!!! Even though I called a couple of times to check on them it meant that we could enjoy our day out as well.

On Sunday Maddie had a birthday party for one of the boys in her preschool. It was held up at a play centre in Penrith. She had an absolute hoot as you can see from the pics below.

Sabrina has started gripping onto and "playing" with her toys. Note the outfit is actually the one that we took photos in whilst we were still in hospital (see blog on 14th May) we have grown just a little.

Here is another pic of someone playing with her Dad.

Today we are getting the new carpet laid in the girls rooms. I will show you pics next week.

Have a great week.

Love

Annette

It had to happen

Hi all,

Thought I had better update the blog as it has been a while.

The Mackay's are unwell! Maddie got a cold last week and had to miss a day of school (one very UNHAPPY CAMPER!) She kindly shared it with Sabrina and me, with Nath coming down with it by the end of the weekend. Today has been an interesting day as the cold has caused me to lose my voice. Maddie and I are getting better at charades whilst Sabrina can't understand why I won't talk to her. She has been exceptionally cute trying the get a reaction. She is starting to roll from her front to back ie. if you put her down on her front she can flip herself over. This one is not as scary as the other way. So I am please she is learning this one first so that when it comes time for the other she can get herself out of trouble.

Over the last couple of weeks we have been busy catching up for meals with some of the relos. On Friday 27th July we hosted a dinner party for the parents and parents-in-laws to help us celebrate our 10th Wedding Anniversary. (Can't believe it has been that long... doesn't feel it some days). We have also managed to finally catch up with David, Janette, Kathryn and Danielle. Was great to see them. It had been a bit of a saga finding a date that 1. we could do and 2. all were well enough to do. And yesterday we caught up with Andrew and Karissa for lunch. There was also a chance that Nath was having to go back to NZ for work this week but fortunately he didn't need to.

We have been busy once again around the house. Seems like this is what we do around this time of year. On the weekend we went and choose our carpet for the back rooms and the girls rooms. Hopefully the girls one goes down this week. As for the back room we need to finish staining the woodwork. (Much to Nathan's horror that we are not painting it but my argument is that the rest of the house is stained and so the new section should be too). He has filled in all the holes in the back room and so now only has to do our room and the robe. We also need for the weather to be just a little bit warmer so that the stain will go off. Then we will be able to tell the guys to come and lay the carpet.

Besides this we have just been surviving. Will write soon.

Love

Annette

Look who is getting bigger...

Hi there,

I took these picture of both girls on Tuesday last week (3rd July) as they were going to Thomas' Birthday Party. It is a bit hard to figure out who is more besotted with who.

On the weekend we bought ourselves a new high chair. The one that Maddie had used was a hand me down that had definitely seen better days. And we know now how long they actually use it for, so we indulged ourselves and bought a "fancy" one. As it reclines we decided to see if Sabrina liked it. (I can't believe she is already able to sit up in her high chair - she is getting to big, to fast!!! We are 12 weeks old today, time is definitely flying) See for yourselves her response.

On Sunday we finally got together with Phil, Jen and Ryan for lunch. It has been a saga trying to coordinate diaries... we have been trying for a couple of months now. We went to the Ettamogah Pub at Rouse Hill. Was a really good spot. On Sunday's at lunch time they have kid activities. So Mad's and Ryan got to play in the jumping castle and generally run around like mad kids. Good idea to let them burn off some energy.

I finally got my sheer curtains for the back room, which means I can now open the heavy curtains and the neighbours can't see in. We are also hoping that it will keep the temperature up a little. Besides this we have just been surviving. Hope you all are doing well.

Love

Annette

Sorry it has been a while

Hi all,

Yes we are still alive. Sorry that I haven't posted for a little while. We have been pretty busy in the past couple of weeks. I needed to get the diary out to see what we had done.

Okay... here goes.

Nathan update

Since my last blog Nath has become quite the jet setter. On Sunday 17th June he went to New Zealand for a day of meetings on the Monday and then came home that night. Makes for a pretty big week. Then on Sunday 24th he went to Melbourne for a week. Got back on Saturday. His girls are very happy to have him home. We have now decided that 1 week is way to long and hopefully he won't need to do another one. While he was in Melbourne us girls packed ourselves off for a holiday of our own. When the going gets tough... the tough go home to Mum and Dad's. We had a great time. I don't know about Mum and Dad though. There were times when Sabi was letting it rip that I am sure they would have preferred if we had stayed home. But I appreciated having some "grown ups" around to help with my sanity.

Maddie update

Maddie had a great week over at Nanna and Pop's she loves all the attention that she gets over there. The only problem for her is that she doesn't get away with anything. Because there is normally either Mum or I there to catch her out. She has got a cold at the moment so this is playing havoc with her, she is getting really tired at the moment and is going to bed really early for her.

More preschool dress up from last week. Every week at preschool this year the kids have been learning about a letter of the alphabet. Last weeks letter was "S" so the teachers decided to have a week of dress ups. (oh what fun!!! especially when you need to get completely organised because you are not staying at home.) Here is a picture of Maddie going on Thursday as a Star princess.



And here is Maddie on Friday going as a Singer... the ultimate in 'Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair'



Tomorrow one of Maddie's friends Thomas is having his 5th Birthday Party. (I can't believe that they are turning 5 this year). Thomas is having a McDonalds party. Maddie is really looking forward to it. Birthdays are really exciting when you are this age.

Sabrina update


We had our follow up visit to the paediatrician on the 21st June. He was really happy with her progress. She had put on 2Kg since discharge and had grown 7 cm. She behaved really well in his surgery. We were expecting her to scream the place down as he needed to strip her down to her singlet and normally she does NOT like this but fortunately she was fine and didn't even whimper. As the pead. is in the same building that Louise works at Sabrina did her required show and tell to all the nursing staff up in day surgery. Which at least lets them put a face to the stories that Lou goes and tells them. As she had been so good at the pead. we decided that we should take her for her 2 month immunisations as they were due on the 23rd. Any good behaviour that we had previously displayed went out the window. To be expected she was rather unhappy about the prospect of someone jabbing two needles into her legs and voiced her opposition. Need I say more. We then paid for the next 48-72 hours with a irritable little girl. But she has got over that now.

She has started to hold her head up by herself for extended periods of time and is beginning to recognise people that she knows. (You need to be seeing her daily for this) She waves her arms around and giggles and gives you big smiles. Completely makes your day when she does this. She has also started playing with her toys. She likes to bat them with her hands and watch them swing but gets frustrated with herself when she misses or can't coordinate to actually hit it.

Here are some up to date pics of the girls chilling out. Hope you enjoy.



I hope you are all keeping well and safe. Catch up soon.
Love
Annette

Our first "Proper" smile

Hi all,

Good news!!! Sabrina has learnt to smile. Yippee!

As you can tell I am rather excited about this. It has only taken 7 and a half weeks to achieve. She gave me a pretty good scare last night and decided to sleep for 9 hours straight. I only dozed for the last 3 or so, thinking that she was going to wake up. We will see how we go tonight as to whether it was just a one off or the beginning of a new routine. (Here is hoping- would be very nice to have an uninterrupted sleep for something a bit different!)

Maddie had to go to preschool the other day dressed as a princess. Thought you might like to see.

Hope you are all well. Love Annette

Clinic sister update

Hi all,

As promised in this morning's blog...

We have put on 1.4kg since discharge weight. This is a true measure as it was a bare weight. And our head has grown 1.1cm in 2 weeks. We need to go to the clinic to get the length measured, will try and get there soon.

Love
Annette