Official Statement

A very official sounding statement from T regarding current job/moving news:

"I just wanted to let you know that I have declined the job on the B&V Chile project. After due and careful consideration of many factors, Maggie and I found that the needs of the project and client are not the best fit with the needs of our little family.
Not sure what will be next after Bundamba, but I will begin sniffing around Australia for a new job."
Travis

On the trail again

We celebrated the Queen's birthday (and thus a long weekend for us Queenslanders) by beating a path to the great outdoors. Instead of making tracks for the coast we headed inland, to the 'bush.' Our destination was Carnarvon Gorge National Park, about a day drive from Brisbane.

The wildlife was unbelievable. The kangaroos and wallabies were everywhere, we actually started paying attention to the kangaroo crossing signs. Once we arrived at our 'camp' there were kangaroos grazing between all the cabins, too.
Starting out in the hike up the gorge. There were a total of 10 stream crossings before our destination, the Aboriginal Art Gallery, about 5.5km upstream.
Taking a snack break. FFM enjoyed the hike, he isn't bothered at all by being WAY up high on Travis' back. This is a nice thing for me, while I end up carrying all the stuff (and it's way more than when it was just the two of us hiking, we have to pack nappies and entire spare outfits now!) my pack, while much larger and heavier than before, is still lighter than carrying FFM. Having a little nap.
We made it! It was definitely worth it, this is just a small bit of the gallery. On the way back down we did a side hike to the Moss Garden, complete with waterfall and tree ferns which are unchanged since dinosaur times. See, I went on the hike, too.

Hiking takes a little longer now, having a little person along affects distance/time in the great outdoors just like everywhere else. We were pleased to get in a good 12k hike in before meltdown began. We take more breaks and T's hips were a tad sore from carrying heaps of extra weight.

Our lodging/camp. It's a canvas tent with wood floor. The posts you see are holding up a tin roof that keeps rain from rotting the canvas roof. There's also a little wood veranda so you can sit outside and watch for wildlife.I've stayed in a similar style place before, but this was a first for the boys who had a blast exploring.
It was really a great time, we've missed getting out into the woods and hiking, even if the woods are interspersed with palms and ferns. We saw more wildlife than we've seen the entire time we've lived here, it was just like going to to the zoo except the animals really were wild. Kangaroos, wallabies, an echidna (they're really shy and we spotted 2!), kookaburra birds, at least three kinds of parrots- even some that look like giant parakeets. Not to mention the yellow crested and very noisy cockatoos, bush turkeys, and one bright yellow snake that I tried very hard to ignore.

The link for the echidna actually takes you to a page about Monotremes, which is a fancy biology word for mammals that lay eggs. Everyone knows about the platypus and echidnas are actually the same type of mammal. So when trivial pursuit asks you for the mammal that lays eggs you can answer platypus OR echidna and be right.

I feel a little rushed getting these photos up, but we're headed out again this weekend and I didn't want to get too far behind. Off to Fraser Island tomorrow which is the largest sand island in the world. What are we doing there? Renting a 4x4 and driving all over it of course!

I prefer 2-ply, thank you

I just walked into the bathroom and found FFM eating a roll of toilet paper. Usually he just pulls all the paper off the roll and strews it all over the floor. This morning he was eating a nearly new roll just like it was a bread roll. Yummy. (normally the door is closed but he has super 11 month old bathroom door radar and if I leave it open for 1.2 nanoseconds he's in there playing with the tp).

Change is in the air

Some big changes have been happening around here. My head is spinning. Just in the past week, give or take, FFM has started:

• 'cruising' along furniture
• purposefully pushing cars around at play time
• dropping a ball through a ball drop toy
• downward facing dog yoga position (he tries to stand up in the middle of the room without anything to pull up on by basically bending in half)
• walking while holding on to our fingers or pushing his little push wagon
• self feed an entire meal (it can get SUPER messy)
• to help himself get up when we count to three so it's easier on our back
• to come when we call his name - this is an older skill but it's so cool!
• crawling up onto things, like steps. No going down yet
• peeks under doors when they are closed to see what's going on behind them. Especially if you've just gone through the door and he knows you're in there doing something fun without him (like going to the bathroom).
• Loads more babbling
• He swims on his own with floaties. It's a scary scary thing. But good, too. I had a conversation with his swim instructor about what to do about his utter non-fear of water. She suggested to let him rip but stick the floaties on him for my peace of mind and so he can rip on his own a little more. Success.

It's crazy how fast all this happened. Sort of like the crawling bit. Commando crawling came slowly, in bits and pieces, but pulling into a sitting position and true crawling literally appeared overnight (on separate days, very close together). One day he's happy crawling around, the next I look up and he's standing at the coffee table. A few days later and he's moving around the coffee table. I'll tell you he's been in a spectacular mood lately, I think his new found perspective agrees with him. Riding horses during swim schoolSplashing. This is our class, minus two kids. The water is nice and warm, but this day it was really cold and wet so I think one kid stayed home. Another wasn't feeling well but came anyway to watch and his mum is the one that kindly took photos. Thanks Yasmine!Kicking with a kickboard and blowing bubbles. FFM dunks his face in with his mouth closed and LOVES to watch all of us blow bubbles but isn't doing bubbles himself yet.We love swim school.

FFM: "Look, Cooper, see this is how you work the microwave!" (knobs turn, buttons push, the microwave turns on). This is the night we went to see Indiana Jones thanks to Sara who came to babysit. The poor microwave gets more things covered up every week. Whoever put a shiny silver box covered with knobs and buttons at knee height obviously never had a toddler.

Work is winding down for Travis, he came home grumpy a few nights ago. The team he is responsible for is working very slowly, perhaps they have 'senioritis.' This is the point of the project where the last bits left are the ones that no one really wanted to take care of before. Sort of like when you move and you have those last little bits at the very end that you just don't want to deal with packing. The end of the week has gotten better, everyone seems to have pulled it together a bit.

Me, I'm trying, rather unsuccessfully, to hang loose while we wait on our 'contract' negotiations for the next job. The big difference this go round is that there are a couple of points that are sticky enough that if we can't get exactly what we've asked for we won't take the job. Previously we've been happy to go even if we got close, but this time the agreement is different enough and our needs have changed enough that we aren't willing to compromise on these few things. News will be posted as soon as there's anything to report.

More video, with so much movement going on around here it's hard not to share it. Yes, FFM is ticklish. I love being a mom.

Haircut

Ok all you moms out there, I need to know -
How old before you did the first haircut / trim on your kid?

Please leave me a comment using the comment link below, it will take a little while to show up but I'll see them.

Thanks!