King Edward Park

Jacob and I often meet up with the parents from our antenatal group. We change locations often depending on the weather or if we fancy a coffee and cake! Last week we met up at King Edward Park. As you can see it's a great spot with a view to the ocean and it's nice and shady for the bubs to get together and have a play and crawl.

Last Friday we met up with Kate & Ben and Paul, Beth and Alfie. Paul had a great time with the boys and joined in their singing, making music with maracas and was pretty good at entertaining them. I don't mean us mums weren't as good, but Paul just had the edge.

From left to right - Jacob, Ben and Alfie

More park photos

Jacob sharing the swing with his parents

Jacob's first slide and trying to crawl up it!

Jacob having a swing

An evening at the park

Dave and I thought it would be nice to go to the park close to where we live. Jacob had a go on the swing, slide and a rocking thingy. It was great fun watching him and taking loads of photos and mini videos.



See other posts for more photos.

Jacob and his mates

Jacob hangs out with his two mates on a regular basis. I have mentioned them before but have some nice photos of Jacob playing with them (and they could be potential future girlfriends!).

Here's Jacob and Elise. Elise is two months younger than Jacob but is the girl next door. When she learns to talk, she will have a lovely French accent and be able to teach Jacob French.

Jacob and Elise were having a great time splashing in the little rock pool, I hear the water was warm but kept a safe distance as Jacob made the splashes bigger and bigger and got everyone around him wet.

And then Jacob has his Aussie girlfriend Ciara. Ciara is three weeks younger than Jacob and has a great giggle. She also likes to sing and give me the odd little kiss. Ciara has been seen on the blog before with Jacob at her feet, giving them a clean with his mouth! They often are trying to play with the same objects and often Ciara wins! I think it is because Jacob is learning to be a gentleman.

Evidence

As I may have mentioned before, Jacob has his two bottom teeth. These teeth have been very hard to photograph over the last few weeks, so I was very pleased when I got this photo - he's a very cheeky little chappie! But we love him dearly.

Jacob's box

Jacob is a little boy who only has a small amount of toys to play with, so has to make do with anything that could be a good substitute. You hear about littlies playing with saucepans and wooden spoons, keys, mobile phones - Jacob has an empty beer box!
We are hoping he just wanted to play in the box and wasn't looking for a beer!

Long time since the last update

It's been a busy few weeks for the Australian Allens. We've been to Bitter and Twisted - Morpeth Beer Festival, seen a convoy of trucks for Transport Day (I was very excited, Jacob slightly interested, Dave very bored!), Dave visited South Australia, an adult night out and the usual bits in between.

First thing in the morning on Transport Day we got to see a convoy of trucks come up our street. There was a long line of different types and they were up beeping and being noisy. I made our friends walk up to ours so we could have a walk to the Foreshore and see the exciting trucks for ourselves, they were so thrilled but couldn't wait to come back to ours for a cuppa!

Mid last week, Dave went and left Jacob and I for a trip to South Australia. It was work related and Jacob and I had a great time as we had the car! The weather was also terrible, so it was pretty convenient having the car so we weren't housebound. It was a good job Jacob and I did go out to the local shopping centre and spent some money as Dave never bought us a present from his trip - terrible.

Dave and I had our first night out in Newcastle without Jacob last Saturday evening. The main problem we did have was finding a babysitter. The two couples we would have asked were going out with us, so we ended up meeting Ciara's grandparents and Jacob stayed with them. We had a great night out, a good Thai meal, drinks at the local pub and Ant's dad provided a taxi service. Jacob was awake when we went back but looked very happy with Lyn and watching the tv. We stayed over at Ant, Teaps and Ciara's and had a great walk the next day on the beach - a good way to get rid of a hangover!

Teaps and I are doing an interesting little run at the shoreline because there were blue bottle jellyfish all over the beach and they can leave a nasty sting!

This weekend has been a little quieter. I went and had several hours of relaxation with a nice massage, facial, pedicure and manicure - total bliss. Dave had several friends over, the "Dads' Group" where the talk about secret men's business and had a few beers and a barbie.

In the evening we babysat Ciara whilst Ant and Teaps went to their Christmas works do. Ciara and Jacob were great, slept really well and I too slept well on the settee! I didn't even hear them come in at 11.30am, I must have been very tired and I hadn't even had an alcoholic drink.

This morning, with Ciara, Ant & Teaps, we went for a lovely walk to the end of Nobbys breakwater and then afterwards we all grabbed our swim wear and took it in turns to to have a swim in the ocean. It was great. About 20 degrees in the water, not too rough with the waves and no stingers! A nice way to spend a Sunday morning. Dave, Jacob and I have then had a relaxing afternoon after a busy few weekends and are already starting to plan next weekend.

In between the weekends, Jacob and I are always very busy. We have continued to keep up our exercise classes, even though the original Fit Mums Fun Bubs sessions have finished. We regularly go for coffee and chats with various friends, meet with Valerie & Elise, Teaps & Ciara, Cate & Eden for lunch and walks, we go to a couple of Mothers' Groups and often meet in the local park. Always very busy.

Jacob's latest skill and the Allen family update

As another week has sped by Jacob has been perfecting the art of pulling himself up onto his feet. As he gets more confident in his abilities, he is slowly starting to cruise and climb.


Please forgive the quality of this video, the shaky camera and me saying peek-a-boo!

We've had a very busy week, with two birthday parties, a barbecue, several mothers' groups to go to, many many walks, some other exercise, a little housework, lots of playing, coffees and cake and the odd bit of time with Dave in the evenings! So not too much really.

Today we went to a beer festival in Morpeth called Bitter and Twisted. Very different to the ones in Burton. First of all it was outside, it was hot and humid, the beer was cold! and I had to drive!!! Dave enjoyed trying different lagers and beers but you only get either 100ml or 200ml and had to buy beer tokens. There was no Irish band to tap your feet to but more Country and Western and Rock and food, well - Turkish Pide, Thai, Spanish Paella, steak sandwiches (in white sliced break) and various cake, olive oil and wine stalls. Pretty good day out.

Tomorrow is really exciting as it's the Transport Appreciation Rally, which means trucks and rigs driving in Newcastle raising money for the local rescue helicopter. Watch this space for some exciting photos!

Motherhood

My very good friend Tracey has found that motherhood has had a strange effect on her or maybe it's because we're at a beer festival! Either way, her daughter Ciara looks very happy with her Mummy.