A weekend in Sydney

Weekend Away

Dave, Jacob and I had a lovely weekend away in Sydney. Unfortunately Dave had a cold but we didn't let that spoil the fun. On Saturday we had a walk around the Botanical Gardens and found some Flying Foxes and some Sulphur Crested Cockatoos and on the Sunday we sampled some coffees at the Aroma Festival -very nice. We also met up with some friends from Newcastle, Karen, Davo and Kirrily and we also saw Bernadette, Agnus and Milly, who we originally met in Tasmania.

Something to make you smile

This was taken a little while ago but was recently found, it makes Dave and I laugh.

Another exciting week

Another exciting week was to be had in the Allen household. Not only did Jacob and I go out every day for some sort of exercise, mostly walking, but we socialised once again with our new friends.

This time we even met up with some from the antenatal group. I had seen Nicole since I had Jacob, unfortunately she was in the hospital at the same time trying to delay her labour, when I was in there. Nicole had Darcy five days after we had Jacob and he's a lovely little boy. We also met with Kel and Elliott, Kate and Ben and Beth and Alfie. It was great to see all the little boys together and Jacob and I are looking forward to our next catch up.

Saturday, Dave, Jacob and I had a lovely breakfast out and a good walk in the sunshine. We worked out that we walked over 9 kilometers along the coast, I was always watching the ocean for whales or dolphins (only saw a distant spout of water but no whale). It was really pleasant and we agreed how lucky we were being posted in Newcastle.

The end to this week was supposed to be brilliant, for me anyway. I had booked us all on a whale watching trip. We set the alarm early, walked quickly to the wharf from where the boat was to leave and sat on there eagerly waiting to get out to sea to start watching the ocean for whales. We left the nice calm waters of the harbour to find 2 meter swells. The captain said that it would be like going over speed bumps, let me tell you, it certainly wasn't like that. People being sick everywhere, Dave asked me several times for a plain biscuit and even I felt icky after I fed Jacob. Jacob did really well, he fell asleep in Dave's arms, smiled at everyone, moaned a bit when he was hungry and took it all in his stride - must take after me! Back to the whale spotting. One was spotted, Dave saw it before it dived and then that was it, no more to be seen.

We spent the rest of our Sunday relaxing on dry land, me having a little snooze before updating the blog and Dave now asleep on the sofa - it's such a hard life. Jacob is lying on his mat refusing to sleep and making lots of noise.

Jacob continues to amaze Dave and I with his personality, how he is always smiling and cheerful and how well he progresses. We are now noticing that he his trying to get the toys that are out of arms reach, it's great fun to watch him try to do this. He has already started to move backwards but I am getting increasingly concerned that this is progress towards moving forwards! Jacob easily holds his toys now and can move them from one hand to the other. I also got him a mirror to look in that also has silly sounds that you can make by pressing buttons, he certainly likes his own reflection!

5 weeks on Thursday until our flight to the UK.

Passport

Yesterday was very exciting for me, small things I know, but Jacob's passport finally arrived. With only six weeks left until we fly to the UK, Dave and I were getting rather worried. Not only were we waiting for the passport for nearly two months but we still have to complete Jacob's visa application, so he can return to Australia with no problems. Hopefully this stage will not take as long as waiting for his passport!

A night out

Last night I ventured out without the men in my life. I left Jacob and Dave to spend some quality time together whilst I had some quality time out with the girls! I think Dave had 20 minutes of Jacob crying after I left and then had the evening to himself watching Pretty Women (it was on the tv) and half a bottle of red wine. It as a great evening with some new friends and it seemed very strange after so many months of evenings in, to suddenly have a night out with adults!

We had a lovely Thai meal out and then followed it up by a visit to the local Irish Pub. I resisted a pint of the black stuff and had a Tooheys Old instead. I didn't get home until 1am and was very tired but really enjoyed the night out. I'm already looking forward to the next one.

Now I've managed to go out without worrying too much about Jacob, I need to organise a baby sitter, so Dave and I can have a few hours out on our own. If this does happen before our trip back to the UK, I'll be surprised.

Jacob, Dave and I had another busy week. Dave was busy at work and Jacob and I were busy socialising, spending money and exercising.

Jacob and I did the normal exercising with Fit Mums Fun Bubs, meeting up for walk dates with Valerie, Tracey and Karen and their daughters. And we also got to enjoy the sun coming out in the early part of the week - it was up to 22 degrees on Tuesday. On Friday whilst we walking in King Edward Park we saw a Humpback Whale in the sea. We are hoping to go on a whale watching trip soon from Newcastle but the wind gets up at the weekend and not sure if we fancy Jacob getting sea sick just yet.

Dave, Jacob and I had a nice weekend. We had friends round for dinner on Saturday night and Dave showed off his cooking skills by making some brilliant tapas and then on Sunday we met up with the neighbours and had a barbie. It was a typical English barbie as the weather was crap and we ended up inside!

Jacob continues to grow and develop. A trip to find out his new measurements and weight saw that he hadn't grown in length but had put on just over 500 grams, so he's now approximately 6.5 kilos.