Three and three quarters

Boys continue to crack us up just about daily with the latest offerings out of the mouths of babes. Highlights from B1 include:

* heads up regarding his upcoming schooling - "school" now (childcare), then after he's a "kindy kid" they're off to the "big school" and I'm sure he even mentioned "high school"
* having issues with wearing clothes that aren't size 3 as "I'm not that big yet" - maybe not in age, but you definitely are in size buddy
* not quite being able to name the characters in Play School as Jemima came out as something that rhymes with part of the female anatomy that starts with v (nearly fell off my chair trying not to laugh with this one)
* the latest "when I get a girl..." is he wants one just like mummy who also has long hair (bonus gold stars awarded here)
* telling me to move my big bum over so he could jump into bed with us (subtract ten gold stars, and subtract a zillion brownie points Nik had racked up as he laughed so hard he nearly fell out of bed - would have solved the space issue if he had!)

Boys had a great debate last week about do babies wear shoes, so while we were on the baby topic we introduced the fact that babies come from hospital - and some come from a baby hospital in India. Alex is convinced you go to India to get a baby, so this will give him something to think about. Definitely not discussing babies come from mummies tummy (or a borrowed one) after the big bum comment...

Big moment at swimming on Wednesday as boys graduated to the next class, which is down the shallow end and no floaties. Will be very interesting to see how they go.

Lots more progress on the house since I provided an update - kitchen is done except for painting, backyard pulled apart and lawn being laid next week ("pulled apart" included moving two garden beds brick by brick, and selling the remaining 328), new hot water that has the temperature controller again, replaced the toilet and purchased the floor + feature wall tiles for when we have money to do the ensuite.

I had an anonymous comment left a few months back commenting about how we've managed to afford surrogacy, a new house and a new car. Amani and I have spoken about this at length and why we can afford surrogacy is most of us are older, so we've been working forever and have equity in our houses we can draw against - which we have (to the hilt, as have most people I know who have created their families in a similar manner). We also have a new house as we moved further out (so it ended up being cheaper) and the new car resulted in more $$ in our pocket (as it's salary sacrificed). So that's how we have it all! With an incredible amount of hard work. And banks and credit card companies as our best friends.

This update seems to be Alex focused, so lots of Tajy photos to balance it out.

Practising with the duck whistles

from Singapore

New rubber boots - all fab, until

they got dirty

Tajy's bruised nose I mentioned

last month. Nicely compliments the

bruise on his forehead!

Three and two thirds

Quick one this month - want to capture speech and incidents before I forget. Both boys can spell their first names and will quickly point out when they come across an A or a T on the tv, in a book or stamped on a slice of toast. They also know our first names, and the fact that we share letters (Alex's 'a' is very popular). Love how Tajy calls his brother Adix, but can say Alexander.

The incident part of this very brief update is those reports you have to sign at childcare when you pick up your children to acknowledge the latest issue. Boys go two days a week and we would receive one of these forms at least every two weeks. We already know Tajy trips over a shadow, where Alex's issue is he's a bit too confident. In the last month alone we've had a bloody and then bruised nose (T tripped walking up the gang plank on the row boat) and squished and bruised boy bits (A fell off something he was climbing and landed one leg either side - Nik reckons it could have been a LOT worse).  As Nik told both boys, this won't be the last time either noses or boy bits are injured!

Need to drop kindergarten enrolment forms off shortly (they start Feb 2014, a year before they commence school). Still can't believe they're coming up to four years old in Aug...

[Tajy  asked Nik when we were going back to Singapore last week as he wants to go on the fast trains and go swimming all day - unfortunately not for a while buddy]

Three and a half and a bit

Great month - I'm on holidays for five weeks, and we've just spent two of them traipsing around Thailand and Singapore with the boys.  So so had to laugh when our doctor commented that you don't holiday with little people (think he said it was more akin to a survival course), to which I have to slightly agree.  Packing was more involved than going to India for baby pick up (for real!!! there was a very high chance we wouldn't be able to pop into a shop and buy a replacement if we left a favourite toy / book / food item / whatever at home) and keeping everything to two bags plus three carry-ons was a challenge.  Decided to travel with a suitcase and a duffle bag in an attempt to fit all bags into a taxi boot, which worked.  And it was hit and miss if we were even going to be able to go there for a while - Tajy developed spots about a week before we left, which ended up being viral (so of course he shared mildly with his brother).

Holiday consisted of five flights and five "holiday houses" (hotels).  Took us about two days to realise we had no idea where we were for our beach stay (I'd researched a different hotel in the chain), especially as we ended up being about 200km from where I thought we were (Khao Lak on the Thai mainland vs south Phuket).  Um, whoops.  Hotel ended up being better than we could ever have expected (easy when I hadn't read up on this one very much - ha ha) and was more like a holiday / caravan park than a hotel.  This was great as it meant there were no cars except for a handful of golf buggies driving between the villas, so it was super safe for kids.  Hotel was very aimed at families and had two superb pool areas (incl kids pools that were bigger than the adult pools, and were a constant 60cm in depth) as well as the mandatory kids club.  Best of all we were right on the beach, so we ate dinner every night sitting underneath a hut with our feet in the sand.  Bliss!!

We were 15mins out of Khao Lak, so we headed into town one day and quickly decided to leave our shopping until we were in Phuket later in the week.  After five nights (should have booked for longer, especially as I picked up this hotel for AU$50 a night, incl full buffet breakfast) we travelled down to Kamala Beach (just north of Patong) on Phuket.  Hotel was probably fine, but after being spoilt rotten at Khao Lak it felt like a nothing.  Still impressed that the guest relations guy lent us his personal toaster vs spending 25 baht (nearly AU$1) for a piece of dry, cold toast at Kamala.  Purchasing a toaster was high on our list when we headed into Patong the next day, which we did for AU$7.  Even bought it home with us in anticipation of our next holiday!  After three nights of musical beds at Kamala (I shared with the boys in Khao Lak and we all shared with each other in Kamala, incl middle of the night bed changes) we headed back to Singapore for three more nights.  And what did we do in Singapore?  Hung out at the pool, as we did for the entire time away.  Nik, Alex and I got a nice tan without even trying while Tajy remained glow in the dark white.  Got in a tad of shoe shopping (bought t-shirts in Patong) and played tourist twice - caught the cable car over to Sentosa Island to visit Underwater World (home of the pink dolphins) and did the Duck Boat land / water tour.  I very quickly dropped Tajy's age as child prices for everything was SG$16, where under 3 was free or a nominal charge.  Bonus having different size twins at times!

Flight home was direct and only 6.5 hours, but it knocked us all for a six as it was overnight - but none of us got anywhere near enough sleep, except maybe Tajy as he managed to get three seats so was fully horizontal.  Alex decided he needed to lay on me, even though there was an empty seat next to his.  At least I didn't need a blanket.   Boys discovered the Disney Channel in Singapore, so were happy to watch Jake and the Neverland Pirates (have I got this name right??) before they semi crashed.  Why, why do airlines offer a full meal service at 10pm at night??  Seriously, if people can't have eaten by this time they can go hungry.  Turning the lights low a good hour early would be appreciated by more than just people travelling with kids I'm sure!  So we napped for half the day when we got home, and were still tired enough to fall asleep at bedtime that night.

Time since we've been home has been running around doing kitchen related stuff as I realised 23 hours before we flew out that if we ordered the kitchen asap (as in NOW), it might be able to be installed before I go back to work.  Response was yes and the old kitchen is being ripped out as I type this, with the tiled floor throughout starting to be removed tomorrow.  New kitchen is being installed next week as we needed to leave time to make repairs due to the previous water leak if need be.  Sounds like we have a wet wall, so heater time coming up.  Funny thing with ordering so last minute is we really had to make decisions fast, but I think we've got it right.  Alex may not agree as he's announced that "a pink kitchen will make me happy", to which I reply that it's a shame we moved as we had a pink splash back in the kitchen at the old house.  This child continues to be pink obsessed, with his big toe nails still sporting pink polish.  So far I've been able to convince him that boys don't paint any other nails, so let's see how long I get away with this for.  Alex loves, loves his new pink sunglasses and pink princess watch.  Put a pink t-shirt on the child and you've made his day!  Alex truly believes that anything and everything he comes across that is pink is his, as in "that's my xxx, it's pink".  Tajy has announced that blue is his favourite colour, but he's happy with anything (except pink - he's not that silly, lol).

Classic 'out of the mouth of babes' recent statements:

* Tajy informing me we had an "emergency iron" when he found it in a cupboard at our Singapore hotel as he was used to finding torches hung up that we'd explained were for emergencies and were not to be played with.  And yep buddy, I agree - every iron is for emergencies only.  LOL!!

* the boys intently studied the emergency safety card on all flights and just about doing their own safety demonstration.

* Nik and I being renamed "mummy pig" and "daddy pig" by Tajy (who is big big big boy pig) after one too many Peppa Pig marathons.  Alex has renamed himself Peppa Pig.

* Alex starting off announcements with "when I get a girl...".  Still not sure where this has come from, but holding hands with a very cute 4 year old in the pool at our Singapore hotel may have something to do with this.  The conversations have so far progressed to "when I get a girl... [I'll put petrol in her car]" and "when I get a girl... [I'll wear a pink princess dress and we'll spin around dancing]".  And yep, I've confirmed that he's the one that will be wearing the pink dress.

* Tajy renaming the silver fox (new car) to silver taxi today.  Think he now gets the someone driving you around concept, but maybe not the bit that some people have to do it for free.

* Tajy confirming his fear of escalators, to the point he'll only get on if someone is holding him - not safe!  Lucky Singapore is very well designed and has elevators down to all of the various MRT (underground train) platforms as the escalators are long and very fast.  We also managed to fluke ground floor accommodation where lifts weren't available.

* Alex telling me I smelt nice after I'd just got out of the shower.

Time for a zillion photos.  Definitely makes up for not posting any last month like I said I would!

Kids and technology - great when travelling 



Burning energy between flights at Singapore airport... 



... and the efficient way to get around

 Khao Lak - loved this pool

Kids club disco 



 Dinner Khao Lak style

Departing Khao Lak, complete with inflated pool toys

(transfer to Patong was via mini bus)

 Out and about around Patong

 Tajy's holiday diet staples - bananas and toast

Stephanie - success!

 Out and about in Singapore with Alex's 

new pink dolphin

A very strange ice desert that they made a huge mess of

One very trashed Alex, who of course fell

asleep 10mins before we landed

Three and a half

Super quick post this month - time is at a premium as I lost a week with laryngitis (but gained a new wardrobe as I had time to sew while I was banished to my parents) and we're off to Singapore and Thailand next week for Nik's long overdue holiday. Not sure how restful it's going to be seeing we'll have B1 and B2 in tow, but it will be fun. Booking hotels when you're travelling with two little people was a huge challenge and took at least 100 hours to arrange. Even finding Kids Club's was tricky as you can't leave children under 4 unsupervised in a lot of them. Not an issue once I realised the great activities they offer, such as tshirt painting and treasure hunts - I'll happily attend!!

Big news in our house this month is the new car that arrived on Monday. Turns out we have more cash in our pockets each week if I salary sacrifice for a car lease, so I have. Got another SUV, and it's been named the Silver Fox by the boys for very obvious reasons. Was rather interesting having four of us in my tiny Suzuki for the last two weeks as we sold our old SUV a tad too quickly...

Need to think about the milestones and classics the boys have come out with lately, so will update this post when I'm using a computer and not tapping away on my phone.

And happy 75th birthday dad/grandpa! See you this afternoon with a yummy b'day cake.

Three and a half next month

A huge achievement month for us - Alex completely got the toilet thing down pat in a matter of weeks (except for night time, we're not pushing our luck there yet).  Tajy is super happy to use either the big toilet or the potty ("baby smell bum toilet"), but he's still oblivious to when he has to go until two seconds before.  Or two seconds after.  So lots of laundry on account of B2.

Lots of super funny things have come out of the mouths of these babes recently, with my favourite still being "mummy you've been shopping" (complete with how dare you go without me tones) when Alex saw the xmas pressies under the tree.  I responded with the "no, they're from Father Christmas as he knows you've been really good..." spiel before admitting to myself to just give up.  Next classic out of the mouth of this babe was to state "ANOTHER one" when I unwrapped my present, which was a new bag that they'd already seen.  As usual when gift paper is around Tajy was action first, ask questions later.  We had to physically pin him down and quickly sort the gifts into piles ("see, this says Tajy") so Alex had a chance of unwrapping anything - lol.  The silly season present we didn't enjoy was Alex having gastro in the lead up, and Tajy falling sick on xmas day itself.  Very good planning that we had nothing to do in the evening other than cuddle little people! 

I had two weeks off work and managed to unpack most of the remaining boxes from our move back in September (still laughing that I found the box of xmas ornaments etc two days after xmas).  We also got to spend a lot of time with the continual train, bus, fire truck hunt.  We caught the train into town one day, which has resulted in Alex asking if it's "catch train day?" just about daily.  He's fascinated with what's on the schedule and asks me just about daily what's coming up - as in "what am I doing tomorrow mummy", followed by "OOHHHH, it's _________ day tomorrow" accompanied by lots of bouncing when I tell him.  We're also working on days of the week ("we go to grandma and grandpa's on Sunday") and dates on the calendar, which is just numbers as far as they're concerned.  I've managed to make this an important part of their day by picking up a few advent calendars and we have "chockie numbers" (the chocolate under the door with the number on it) when we discuss what the date is.  Tajy is a little cheat and has worked out he can open the fridge door and happily helps himself, regardless of matching the date with the number.  I also love Alex's excitement when we go up and down hills, which we do on the way to the parents.  Alex positions himself so he can see out the front window in the car and provides commentary on the size of each hill as we approach it ("up up up to touch the sky").  He's definitely worked out his favourite as it's "up up up to touch they sky AND A PLANE".  Classic statement he shared with Nik was telling him to go away as he wanted more sleep the other morning.  Aren't they meant to be aged in double figures before they start telling you that?!  Regardless, still laughing.

Working out the sexes is also a new thing (good boy / girl; she / he), and I knew this was super new for them even before Tajy crashed out on every question relating to sex at his speech assessment last week.  He's definitely behind in a few things but advanced in others, so we've got a tad of home work and the rest is put down to being a twin.  The other thing we've been working on this month is 'q' words that no toddler seems to be very good at - quick and quiet.  The command they're both very good at is "cuddle" - which is code for pick me up as I need to see something and I can't from down here.  The cuddle command has been pretty frequent when we do the daily hunt for a train decal that Nik keeps moving around the house.

Finally - blogger is allowing me to upload photos.  Love the SUPER happy boys with their fire truck and helicopter.  Other xmas pressies this year were photo books (of them from birth to now), a new train + track (one that goes around the track) and a fantastic new wading pool - complete with inflatable slide and octopus 'fountain' in the middle.

Three and a third

Grandpa “breaking his boob” last month was Alex’s verdict of why Grandpa was in hospital, which was actually for a suspected heart attack. A initially told me that Grandpa had broken his heart - until he lifted up his top to show me where, and he encountered a nipple. Hence the broken boob. Good news is Grandpa didn’t break either his heart or boob and, even though the blood results were elevated, they ruled out a heart attack after spending the best part of a week flat on his back. Which is GREAT news as he had a triple heart bypass a while ago.

Our next medical emergency (using that term very loosely) was Alex getting a splinter in his finger from the stakes holding up the tomato plants. Normally this wouldn't be worthy of a mention, but it ended up being the first indication that he had school sores (impetigo) – not that we knew it at the time. Mister Huge wouldn’t let us get it out for a day, so the blister was a fair size by the time he actually let Nik near him with tweezers. Loved the confidence of the child that “it’s REALLY good now” when you asked him how it was, even after the blister popped and half of the skin on his finger peeled over the next few days leaving a very unhealthy looking mess. We ended up at the doctors with him about two weeks later as he had a sore boob, which was luckily a result of the sores near his arm pit and not anything to do with his heart (ha ha).  Full course of antibiotics later and he’s right as rain again, ignoring the two cases of gastro he’s bought home from childcare in the last month and happily shared. Lucky for us Tajy isn't so sharing and kept his latest childcare ailment (conjunctivitis) to himself. The boys are now on first names with our GP.

Swimming lessons are continuing to be a huge hit, and I think we’re more excited than the boys are as we don’t have to get into the pool with them now. They literally throw them in the deep end, and there’s a maximum of four toddlers per class. They use floaties most of the time, but do some stuff without (jumping in, floating on their backs). Main skills they’re learning at this stage is how to propel themselves, as well as safety stuff such as kicking back up to the surface when they’re under water. After Alex hating any type of water on him other than a shower for the past 18+ months, we now have a true water baby who spends the majority of the lesson with his face in the water. Tajy is, as usual, in his own world and I have to laugh with the amount of times the instructor calls his name each lesson in an attempt to get his attention.

Chasing trains and hunting fire trucks is an event that occurs every weekend now, with Alex being train mad and Tajy loving the fire trucks. Good news is we’ve found an area not far from the new house where both are located so we drive past the fire house to chase a train or two (street runs parallel to the track and it’s in an industrial area so is super quiet on the weekend, so we drive alongside the train before we run out of road) before heading back past the fire house on the way home. Tunnels are the other huge favourite, so we’ve taken note of all of the underground car parks to please Master A. Funny thing is he’s even impressed with going through the McDonald's drive through... Boys are loving the warmer weather and are very happy recipients of an ice cream cone (30 cents on the Good Value menu, thank you very much!) even though Tajy requests hot chips whenever he sees the McDonald’s big ‘M’ sign. Even at 10am. This child would live on hot chips, potato crisps and chocolate if you let him. Oh, and seedless grapes.

Random thoughts I'll capture before I forget: Alex is 105cm and weighs around 19kg, Tajy is 100cm and 16kg.  As I keep saying to people, Tajy isn't little - it's just Alex is off the chart (literally).  Tajy can be lazy with his speech and we have to do a concentrated effort every few weeks with him to speak words and not whinge.  Alex's fascinated with new and old, and everything is new if he hasn't seen it before.  Or can't remember seeing it before, as was the case this morning when he asked for a particular pair of shoes and then announced they were new.  Um...  Laugh every time he asks someone if a particular item of clothing is comfy, and announces that his xxx is super comfy when you ask him. "It's SO cute" is the announcement whenever we come across something in miniature, such as the mini mangoes I bought home today. Other fascination is his belly button which he is constantly trying to squish in.  Lovely thing we've noticed now is how they actively look for each other to play, and how Alex explains things to Tajy.  And the cat after she accidentally scratched my leg ("caty, you can't hurt mummy - ok?").  We've installed new screen doors on the house this month, put on a new motorised roller door (Nik's in heaven) and a mega solar system on the roof.  Picking tomatoes daily is one of the joys of having a large garden.

We moved Alex into a big bed last month, and will upgrade Tajy while I’m on leave over xmas (he’s still in his toddler bed). Think caty is already eyeing up which cot size mattress she’s planning to claim as her own.  Continuing toilet training will be our other main holiday activity. As will be running after these two.

Merry xmas and happy holidays everyone.

Getting into the xmas spirit. 

Alex was SO excited to meet Santa.

Arts and crafts from school

(the antlers are tracings of their hands).

Not sure if Tajy is playing or sleeping here.
Either way, child care is hard work.

Water babies.

We went on a paddle steamer cruise, but the

rusty trains in the adjacent park were a bigger hit.

The most exiting event of Tajy's life - waking up to

find a FIRE TRUCK outside, and then spending half an

hour in it (crew were incredibly bored after being out
most of the night guarding a fallen power line).

Bernadette - my xmas gift to you

Bernadette - you are without a doubt the most amazing, inspirational person I've come across in my life.  I've had my own challenges and so have family and friends, but you win hands down.  I am in awe of your positive attitude and the strength you display daily.  I know we'd all sacrifice anything to protect our children, but the fact that you've done so so selfishly and without comment is something I've noticed about you.  I've also noticed (thanks to my new smart phone and now reading lots of extra blogs on the train every day) that you do share the personal and financial impost you are encountering when you comment on other peoples blogs - and you leave comments a lot (how on earth do you have time to do this?!).  I find all of your blog posts moving (and am frequently in tears on the aforementioned trains), but this is your comment that really hit home to me.  You made a throw away comment on your own blog a while ago that you resigned from your job, and you've never provided an update on the argument you were having with the insurance company when you first arrived in India to meet MC and Princess - so I'm going to guess that argument didn't go well.  Or it's an argument you've shelved for a rainy day.  Regardless, my gift to you this silly season is to kick off your fund raising appeal again.  I want you and Duane to do nothing more than concentrate on your oh so beautiful family over the next few weeks, and for money to be the least of your concerns.

Everyone - please dig deep (maybe again) and let's make this OUR gift to Bernadette by playing secret santa by following these instructions.  Remember to mark the payment as a gift!  I for one need nothing for xmas (my boys can gift wrap some of the un-opened boxes we have lying around after moving three months ago and I guarantee that I'll be as surprised re the contents as I would be if they went shopping) and the best present I could wish for is some peace for this special family.

Kate from Infertile in a Fertile Land - please, please let us know if we can assist you also.  I know your story is slightly different, but the online surrogacy community, if you haven't already gathered yet, is huge and (hopefully!) very generous.  I wish for peace for you too.