Laura bonding with her unborn baby sister!

The finished belly print!

We had a lovely morning with Laura doing a bit of artwork and colouring her little sisters world! It actually looks like she has painted the map of the world on mummy's belly. Very clever!

Catherine is 39 weeks pregnant in these photos. Not long now to we get to meet our newest family member!

Christmas 2010

We all had a lovely Christmas with lots of great food and spending time with family. Christmas day was a hot one spent with David's family - with everyone there including both of his brothers and their families. The kids had a great time playing together which they very rarely get to do.

Boxing day was a scorcher at 38 degrees again, spending time with Cath's dad, Linda and that side of the family. Again, a fun time had by all, especially the children - playing in the paddling pool and under the sprinklers!

Our 3rd Christmas was spent the next day, with Cath's mum, her grandmother and two brothers and Laura's cousin Olivia. Lots of trifle, seafood, ham and turkey!

So it was a busy 3 days but great to see all the kids together and sharing laughs with family.

Countdown to the birth ....

37 weeks

Cath's birthing pool arrived today! This combined with Hypnobirthing and various other forms of natural analgesia (massage, Aromatherapy, breathing and relaxation techniques - yes she's turned all hippy!!) will hopefully give her a better birth than what she had with Laura. Laura's birth was very traumatic for her, Cath and poor David who was traumatised for life! So we are hoping this time it will all be very different, peaceful and "normal". One can only hope ... however things often dont go to plan with labour and birth, but we will do our best!

More Christmas fun.

Today Laura made her first Ginger Bread house! She loved building and decorating it but then wanted to pull it to pieces straight away and eat it!! Mummy had to convince her to admire it for a few days before we destroyed all her hard work!

Jasper, a friend for Darcy and Laura's new kitten!

Jasper (again, named by Laura) came to join our family and while he is not as outgoing and boisterous as Darcy, he is very loving and playful. He and Darcy love each other and there is no shortage of Laura cuddles!

Builders dispute resolved ... finally!

Well we had reason to celebrate today, we recieved a letter from the builder and the whole matter has now been resolved. It has been a long 12 months dealing with the builders who were surposed to build our dream home on our Parkerville block, but due to contract breaches and many, many other problems, we wanted out of the contract. We hired a lawyer to assist us with terminating the contract - only for the lawyer to mess us around for the past 5 months and "hand our case over" due to her own personal problems. We thought it would never end!! But it has and we now have our block back (the builders put a caveat on the block), we are free of the contract and we can start our next life plan and welcome 2011 with a fresh start!

Happy Christmas to us!

The pitter patter of little furry paws!

Father Christmas came a bit early for Laura this year. After having no cats for some time now, Laura had been asking for, specifically - a black and white kitten. So we decided it was time for a new addition and as kitten season falls around Christmas time, we thought it a great present for her. Laura has called him Darcy - this was her best friends name in her last day care centre!

So little Darcy has joined our family and is a great little guy with an outgoing, calm personality. She was very excited to find him in her santa sack under the tree when she came home from little school! He will be joined by another furry friend in 4 days time when a silver tabby will also come to live with us. We thought it better that he have a feline mate. Both babies are around 7 weeks old.

Judith's Party contd.

Judith's Christmas Party!

Cath's mum held a great Christmas party for family and friends at the beginning of December, complete with karaoke jukebox and some ear piercing singing! We caught up with some special friends, Laura danced the night away with her bestie Freya and a great time was had by all! Laura also contributed to the food by making some lovely Christmas themed cakes.

The countdown to Christmas 2010

Well we have every weekend booked up in December with social Christmas parties, concerts for Laura and general family activities! It is an exciting and fun time, not only with Christmas, Caths birthday and New Years coming, but also the arrival of our new baby girl (who we hope stays put till after all the new year festivities are over with and life calms down a bit!).

Catherine is now on maternity leave and trying to slow down, which is a bit tricky this time of year!

Since Cath's heart has behaved itself throughout most of the pregnancy, King Eddies hospital has agreed to transfer her, to birth at Armadale Hospital instead. This greatly pleases Cath since King Eddies is a 45 minute drive away and Armadale is only 3 minutes around the corner. She will birth with her Midwife friends and collegues looking after her, David and the baby!

David is still working hard on his PhD and has enlisted the help of a paid Biologist to help him with all the Invertebrate counting and sorting, which will make life a lot easier for him. David has Christmas and New Years off work and will also be taking 2 weeks annual leave from the 4th January to be home with his family and new born daughter.

Laura has been accepted into Jump Carey 3year old Kindy and starts on the 10th January. She will enjoy the new activities and learning, even if it yet another transition for her - she had to leave her daycare centre she attended 3 days per week, in September and started at a new centre. So this will be three changes in 4 months for her, as well as the arrival of a new sister. Hopefully she will adapt well to all the changes.

Our camping trip at Cervantes

We decided to have a short 4 day camping break up north to the beach before Cath gets too uncomfortable to sleep on the floor and before the baby comes! It wasnt the best weather because it rained for the first day and a half, then it was incredibly windy. But we made the best of it and spent some time at the beach and relaxing. The Whippet girls came too, so it was a family affair!

David's Birthday

David celebrated his 43rd (though Cath swears he is 44!!) birthday with lots of kisses and cuddles and special surprises this year. Laura made him a yummy birthday cake.