"...these talented local songwriters..."

Last night we went to the semi-finals of the Song Writers' Award- part of our the local Darebin Council Music Festival.



Victor had entered a song about the Karen people, and made it into the semi-finals!





It was a great night. Victor sang, with Rachel on back-up vocals, Nell on piano, and David sitting front row supporting. (He loved it!) David and Gretta came too.




Victor didn't get through to the grand final, but it was a great experience being part of such a high quality event.

Thanks Aunt Megan

I was very pleased to receive a letter in the mail.






It was from my Aunt Megan.

I had a go at reading it myself...
...and then Mummy read it out to me.


It was very lovely. I will keep it on my wall.

Thanks Aunt Megan. I love you.

7 months (and 6)

Here is David on Saturday at 7 months old.






As you can see, Mum and Dad have lent us their piano. We are VERY thankful for it - all 3 of us.







David loves to play it, and to listen to it being played.















And here is a flash back to the day David was 6 months old. I always intended to show you our Half Birthday Celebration. Here David is delighting in his Half-Birthday cake and the "1/2" fish that Dad cooked. Aunt Seren was there to celebrate too.

The Farm

(David has just started on a new form of his medication for reflux - the old one didn't seem to be helping. Last night he only woke 3 times and the night before only twice. Yay! And his daytimes have been happier, and his feeds better. Hopefully we've turned the corner.
Meanwhile, I'm feeling human again having had some sleep, so here I am again...)

Two weeks ago we had a lovely couple of nights at the Farm.
Here we are by the lake in Bendigo, with Niamh.
Getting ready to go for a walk...

...around the back: the lovely soft green on the ground is moss!! Can you believe it? There has been some good rain (though not drought-breaking yet.)

Enjoying the new wood fire heater. It warms the whole house in minutes!
David enjoying his bumbo! (and his great new pig from Rosy and Niamh.)

6 months

update

I'm sitting in our loungeroom with David asleep in my arms. Someone is working in our bedroom closing the gap between the floor and the wall that was left when the carpets were taken up. We could see through to outside, and feel the 3 degree air through as well when we're up for night feeds. (I've had a quote for roof insulation today, too. We have none!)

I haven't made it to my blog for weeks. Life has become a blur again with David feeding every 3 hours through the night. Sometimes we get a 3-4 hr stretch of sleep there somewhere, but mostly not. The problem is his reflux, which is as bad as ever (worse?) and makes feeding very difficult at times. This has affected his weight gain (only 60g in a month) so the night feeds are a necessary evil for now. They make life pretty difficult though.

We seem to have solved the blood in the poo problem. It seems David was reacting to dairy protein from my diet. So I'm off all dairy now. That's not much fun either.

Having said all that, David is delightful. He is such a happy boy and loves life (when he's not in pain from the reflux). He is so alert and interested in everything. And he is SITTING UP!! I have some lovely pictures that I'll share when I get the chance. He is so pleased with himself! He loves to sit and play with his toys.

He loves books. (Maisy is his current favourite.) He leans forward to look at the pictures and strokes the page. Sometimes he even gives it a sloppy kiss. He loves meeting new people and flashing winning smiles. He loves our chooks. He loves action song - especially "Twinkle, Twinkle." He loves his bath and squeals with delight when he hears the water running. He still loves his elephant mobile. He loves being outside, going on the bus, or just to the letterbox. He loves church and the communal singing and speaking. He loves Tigger, who is staying with us while Grandma and Grandpa are away. He loves seeing people speaking on the TV (especially Kevin Rudd.) He loves his toys - the blue car with the red wheels, the dog in Grandma's car, the stacking rings, the new Lego airplane, the caterpillar, cow-who-jumps-over-the-moon, crab, monkey, lion, etc, etc!

He loves his Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Seren, and can't wait for them all to come back from their holidays.
And he loves all his other aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents and looks forward to meeting them all!


Sorry for so much text without pictures. But I'm so glad to have finally posted something.

Autumn

We are enjoying one of the joys of living in Melbourne...
sunny Autumn days.

David loves being outside and trees especially.
Yesterday he spent some time looking at the beautiful Autumn leaves in our garden.