2015 - that's a wrap!

blink and we're at the end of 2015. while this little space didn't get as much attention as i would like to give it, i decided to do a recap of the year.

the past year hasn't been too eventful but we did hit a few milestones together as a family. in march, we took a road trip to Canberra to get Charlotte her passport. it was our first road trip and "holiday" as a family of four. she cried most of the way there and most of the way back. so we decided there will be no road trip for this family for awhile.

Charlotte started daycare in May. i felt bad for sending her just as she turned 9 months but it was a right decision to start her young. the carers and the older kids in her room love her. she was doted upon by everyone so she settled in within weeks. mum also came to visit us in May. she spent 10 days with us and surprisingly, we got along fine and didn't get into a single argument the whole time she was here.

i celebrated my 33th birthday in June. Jim took a day off work the day after my birthday
(because Charlotte didn't go to daycare on the day of my birthday) so we enjoyed a child free day in the city. lunch at pendolino was pretty good. while the prosecco costed us an arm and a leg the food was pretty good. we were able to enjoy each other's company and every mouthful of our food which is quite the luxury these days.

Charlotte turned one in August and she has grown in leaps and bounds in the past year. last Christmas, she could barely sit up by herself.  this Christmas, she's toddling around and getting into all sorts of trouble. babbling and getting very good at telling us what she wants and don't want and most importantly, bossing us around and having us all wrapped around her little fingers.

one of the biggest milestones for us would probably be the sale of our little townhouse. when the tenants moved out in July, the house was still vacant after a few open houses so we thought it would be a great opportunity to sell it. i'm still on the fence on whether we made the right decision but the property fetched a pretty good price just before the market cooled down and as a result of the sale, we managed to realised a dream of buying a new car. so, maybe we did make the right decision?

as for Gabriel, he turned four few weeks ago and we had a big party for him. we hired a community hall, got iron man to come, all his friends came dressed in their favourite superheroes and super princesses and i made him a pretty cool cake. it's probably my best creation to date. he couldn't decide on whether he wanted a hulk or an angry bird cake so i made a mash up of both for him. i would like to take the credits for the cake but Jim helped with the figurines. i can't believe Gabriel will be turning five next year and he'll be starting school too.

we didn't do a lot of travelling this year. not that we don't want to but we've learnt our lesson since that little road trip we did in March. Charlotte is still not great in the car and we basically try stay within 5km radius from our house. some people say we should ignore her crying in the car and eventually she'll get it. well, we have ventured outside of the 5km radius boundary and it always end up with her screaming on top of her lungs until she's all worked up, red face with snots and all. so, i don't know when she'll get better at being in the car or being restrained.

it didn't feel like we got up to much in 2015 but life with two kids is so busy. i think we actually got up to quite a bit without knowing it ourselves. i wonder what 2016 has in store for us. well, i know for a start it'll be quite hectic. after working 3 days a week and being a stay at home mum for 2 days since September, my maternity leave will formally come to an end in a couple of days. i return to full time work on the first working day of January 2016 and there will be no more maternity leave for me in the future.

2016 has a lot to live up to but i believe things can only get better. i'm looking forward to our first overseas holiday as a family of four. after much umming and ahring, we finally booked our tickets to Malaysia so Charlotte can meet her aunties and cousins. the flight would probably be the longest as i walk up and down the aisle with Charlotte since she hates being restrained. it probably won't be much of a holiday for Jim and I but the kids will get to play with their cousins and we'll try our best to enjoy it as much as we can.

farewell 2015, it's been a great year!

Spring!

spring is my favourite season and it is looking pretty fine so far.

after neglecting my own fitness for 3 years, my flexibility went from bad to worse. i can't imagine whether if i'll be able to touch my knees when I'm 50. Also my non existent abs has been replaced by a pouch that is getting bigger and bigger thanks to my sweet tooth.  something had to be done before the warmer months where i can no longer hide under chunky knits and loose fitting clothes. so i finally decided to take action and started doing some stretching and also pilates at the beginning of the month.  i wish i could join a pilates class at the gym or at a community college but YouTube will have to do for now.  it's absolutely free and i can do it at the time that suits me (after the kids have gone to bed). i don't know if my work out is working but i feel good.  i feel good to finally look after myself again.  

another reason spring is going well so far is after weeks of prepping our little townhouse for sale at the end of winter,  the house went under the hammer for auction last Saturday and it was sold at a price we are very happy with. we sold the first house which used to be our home, our little paradise for 3 years. selling a house a auction is such a nerve wrecking experience and after weeks of not knowing whether it would be sold at a satisfactory price,  we're glad it's over. we can now move on with our lives and plan our next move.  

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - mma mma

most babies learn to say da da before ma ma including Gabriel. i remember he started calling Jim da dee way before he called me ma mee. i was so excited when Charlotte started calling me mma mma a few weeks ago. and every time she says mma mma, my heart melt a little. 

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - the best brother

he calls her his little sweetheart, he wants to be the first person to tend to her when she's up from her naps, he has to give her a kiss and a cuddle before she goes to bed and he is very observant and he remembers the toys she likes to play with. like this morning, Gabriel was playing with his cars but when he saw me getting some toys out of the toy hamper for Charlotte, he came over and grab the box of wooden blocks and he says to me: "let me get the blocks out of the box coz mui mui likes to knock them over". 

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - daycare sucks

ever since Charlotte started daycare,  her week goes a little something like this.  attends daycare on Thursday and Friday, come home with runny nose and maybe cough too. Saturday to following Wednesday are recovery days where she gets better. by Wednesday she's generally better and then the week repeats again. it's a vicious cycle and doesn't help that it's winter either. i guess it can be much worse and a bit of runny nose is good to help build up her immune system. this photo was taken last Wednesday after 5 days of recovery at home with no runny nose. 

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - the sweetest brother

i was greeted by this when i got to daycare to pick up the kids this afternoon. the educator says Gabriel was playing with his friends in the big kids yard and he came to sit with Charlotte when he noticed her in the baby yard. Charlotte's second week at daycare didn't go so well but her face lit up when she saw her big brother and she was quite contented with his company. i stood there and watched for 5 minutes before Gabriel noticed me.

 

i remember about two years ago, a little girl was a bit upset in the baby room and her brother (who must have been about 4 at the time) stood next to her consoling her and giving her lots of cuddles. i thought to myself at the time that i hope if we were lucky enough to give Gabriel a sibling, he would love and care for his sibling like this boy. at the time, i didn't think it was possible given how clingy and possessive Gabriel was of me.fast forward two years later, my wish came true. Gabriel continues to surprise us and show us everyday, how much he loves Charlotte. a couple of days ago, i asked him if he liked it more when it was just him, daddy and mummy or him, daddy, mummy and Charlotte. he says he liked it more when we have Charlotte too. i hope he would continue to be a protective and caring big brother like he is now to her.

Charlotte's first hair cut

as we arrived at the shops for lunch last Sunday, we drove past our hairdresser and noticed he's not as busy as he normally is. so Jim and i had a quick 10 seconds discussion and decided to take Charlotte to the hairdresser for a light trim to tidy the sides as they are longer than the rest.

unlike Gabriel's first hair cut which we planned, timed and booked weeks in advance, we arrived at the salon without our DLSR and had to use the camera on the phone (as you can see in the dodgy photos below). i suppose a child's first hair cut is not a novelty anymore when she's your second child? 

Charlotte was not very cooperative during the hair cut. turning her head every time the hairdresser tried to cut it and clingy onto me for dear life wondering what this stranger is doing grabbing her hair.

the end result? well, we are not 100% pleased with it. a hairdresser never gives you a light trim when you ask for one. the sides are slightly shorter than what i have hoped for and her fridge is a tad too short to pin. poor Charlotte now looks more like a boy than a girl and is looking very much like her brother at 9 months. we should have left her hair alone. here's hoping they'll grow fast and she'll look pretty again when she turns one in a few months time.

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - day 2 of daycare

Charlotte's second day at daycare went ok i think. she had a longer stay today, she had lunch, two naps and i picked her up at 3pm. whilst she did cry a lot more today and the educator did warn me the second day is generally harder than the first, i can tell she's settling in because when we got home, she was not as clingy to me as compared to yesterday. and she was quite happy too as you can tell from these photos. i hope she remembers attending daycare is fun when she goes back next Thursday.

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - Charlotte starts daycare

Charlotte started daycare today and it went better than expected. going by how she went at the creche on Tuesday,  i was expecting to hear her screaming on the other end of the phone when i rang to check on her 45 minutes after i left. to my surprise,  there was no crying of any sort on the other end of the phone and the educator assured me that she stopped crying after 30 minutes and was taking a nap when i rang. the educator said she fell asleep fairly quickly.

 

as it is her first day, i decided to pick her up after lunch. she was pretty upset when she saw me and when we got home, she wouldn't let me put her down or be out of her sight. she was so tired, she did another two 1.5 hour naps when we got home. 

 

first day of daycare is hard for both her and me. i feel so bad that she has to start daycare before she turns one but i also know the younger she starts, the easier it is for her to settle in. Gabriel started attending daycare when he was 13 months and it took him awhile to settle in. comparing how they went on their first day at daycare, i think i've made the right decision to start Charlotte young. 

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - uh oh

Gabriel had kinder gym this morning so i decided to take Charlotte to the crèche as part of her "training" for starting daycare this Thursday. the first time she was there, she stayed the whole hour. when I went and got her, she was asleep in one of the carer's arms. this time, she only managed 15 minutes before the carer brought her back to me. oh dear, i can't imagine how she'll go when she starts daycare this Thursday. i might just be the first parent in Appleseed history to be called to pick up my child earlier than the usual pick up time.

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - Monday park day

Mondays are pretty hectic when you have two kids. most of my Mondays start off quite well and i always feel quite proud of myself and accomplished when it's 4pm and both kids have behaved relatively well. in between naps and meal time, we managed to go to the shops in the morning and the park in the afternoon.  lately, I've been taking the kids to parks that are suitable for both kids. Gabriel had such a great time in the giant swing. he loves it when i push him really hard when it's just him in the swing and he likes it just as much with just gentle pushes when Charlotte is in the swing too.

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - formula? no thanks!

every night, Charlotte gets some expressed breast milk in a bottle before i nurse her. i've been doing this since she was a newborn to make sure she knows how to and will drink from the bottle in preparation for the inevitable time when i have to stop breastfeeding her. knowing how she hasn't been very keen on the bottle when i'm giving her expressed breast milk, i expected her to refuse the bottle even more when i put formula in it. and as expected, she hated it. i tried my usual tricks of singing her favourite songs to her to coax her to drink more and it didn't work. there was lots of tears and screaming at bedtime last night. maybe introducing formula to her when she's tired and all she wants to do is to be nursed and go to bed is not the best idea. i guess i'll try again tomorrow. maybe during the day when she's just got up from a nap or when she's in a better mood.

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - totally unprepared

Charlotte had her daycare orientation today. as Hannah and i discussed her routine,  her needs and how to help her settle in,  it made me realise how unprepared i am this time around. i haven't thought about labelling her belongings, organising her bottles and formula, her daycare clothes etc. and most importantly, she hasn't had any formula since she was a week old so i'm not sure how she'll take it. with a checklist in hand, the first thing i did when i got home was to order some labels and i also went through her wardrobe to make sure she has enough daycare clothes for the two days she'll be attending. now, onto the harder part and the part dread most about getting her ready for daycare - introducing formula to her.

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - an almost perfect Monday

today started off quite well with Charlotte waking up at 7:30 rather than 5 like she's been doing the past few days. thanks to the beautiful weather we had, we managed to go to the park in the morning and then to the library in the afternoon.  Gabriel had so much fun at the park and Charlotte is starting to enjoy it a little bit more now that she's older. Gabriel made me read 'the deep dark woods' to him five times at the library and he's already talking about going back again next week so we can read the spider man book.

 

we would have had a perfect day if it wasn't for the sales man who came ringing our door bell as i was putting Charlotte down for her afternoon nap. she wasn't happy when i put her in her cot abruptly to go answer the door so there was no napping after that. which means she was too tired for her dinner too.  luckily Gabriel was very well behaved today and for once in a very long time,  he finished his dinner without a fuss.

 

Monday is my least favourite day because i have both kids by myself. but i don't mind it now. maybe because they are both a little bit older. Charlotte's routine is more predictable and Gabriel is quite an understanding little boy which make my life so much easier. oh, the iPad and tv are big help too.

Charlotte at 8 months

this is Charlotte at 8 months:

_ she loves food especially our food. she's having three meals a day and she loves spaghetti bolognaise (puréed of course). 

_ she has two teeth on her lower gum with another coming and two front teeth coming too. breast feeding is going to be interesting once her two front teeth are fully erupted. 

_ she can now move forward in a wriggly manner. it's not quite a proper crawl but she's getting there. now that she's more mobile, she's showing signs that she's ready to 'explore' her surroundings.

_ even though she can crawl yet, she loves to be held in a standing position.

_ she's still not sleeping through the night but her night waking is getting better. she's waking once a night for a feed.

_ her favourite person is still me. i'm the only person she wants when she's tired. if i'm not available, she would settle for Jim. 

_ she loves her brother, her face always lit up when she sees him. she starts chuckling when her brother says "hello my mister mister" to her. 

_ she's very cheeky these days, she loves annoying her brother when he's on the iPad. maybe she knows her brother would give in to her eventually. 

_ she can now move wave bye bye, maybe not a proper wave but she moves her right hand up and down when we say bye bye to her.

_ unlike her brother, she favours her right hand over her left. she'll always pick up her toys with her right hand or when i give her food, she would use her right hand. 

_ she doesn't like sitting in the stroller for too long, which make shopping with her a bit tricky. for now, i could put her in the carrier but not for much longer as she gets heavier.

at 8 months, she finally dropped one of her naps going from 3 naps to 2 naps. she's still transitioning but i vaguely remember when Gabriel went on only doing 2 naps, our days became more manageable and predictable. and most importantly, we don't have to have early lunch outing on the weekends to rush home for a midday nap!

it feels like we are finally settling into a better and more predictable routine. our days are more predictable and easier to plan now. she wakes around the same time, takes her nap around the same time and feeds around the same time. well..it has only taken 8 months! i hope things will continue to get easier as she grows older. i look forward to the day when she can play with her big brother.

the next few months are going to be interesting as she becomes more mobile. gone were the days where i'll find her where i left her.

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - mummy's little helper

most nights i would shower Gabriel first and then bath Charlotte. but tonight,  i had to bath Charlotte first because Ben and Holly was on. as soon as Ben and Holly is finished, he rushed in,  took off his clothes and wanted to jump into the bath to join Charlotte. he was a bit sad when I told him he couldn't because the rack wouldn't hold his weight but he cheered up as soon as I told him he could help me bath Charlotte. he happily used the wash cloth to wipe her arms and he also tried to 'brush' her teeth. Charlotte on the other hand was quite happy to have two of her favourite people giving her a bath tonight.  

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - bye bye nap #3

for today's mother's group catch up, we found ourselves at the same park we went to on the day i went into labour. that was 8 months and 1 day ago. little did i know at the time that i would be holding this little darling in my arms the very next day. 

on a different note, it looks like Charlotte is ready to officially drop 1 of her naps. i say officially because she's been doing 2 solid 1+ hours naps the past few days. somehow the 3rd nap is just not happening no matter how hard i try. the timing is always odd. like she'll be due for her third nap at 5pm odd. i guess it's time i accept the fact that she is 8 months old now and 2 naps a day is enough for her. now i just need to work on timing her second nap so she'll be up at 4pm rather than 3pm.  

my super hero

it's been a tough few days. the girl is teething,  she's been waking up earlier than i like (before the crack of dawn) and not napping as much as she should be during the day. as for the boy,  every meal is a battle. he's been sent to his room,  left at the dining table by himself to finish his meal and lots of tears just to finish his meal.  suffice to say,  i was very close to losing my mind. so much so that i went to the shops to get some hot cross buns yesterday only to realise i don't have my wallet with me when i came to pay for it at Baker's Delight.  i felt like such a failure for being so forgetful. but one text to Jim and i was getting cash out of the atm without any bank card. my mood was lifted as soon as i collected the money from the atm. as i walked towards Baker's Delight, i have this overwhelming feeling like i have just been rescued by a super hero. without him, we wouldn't have had hot cross buns for breakfast today. 

and today,  just as i was close to losing it with both kids and wanted some alone time,  he happily looked after both kids while i had a mini break to catch up on a new episode of Revenge. i'm truly grateful for this amazing man. he has more patience than me and he is one of the most hands on dad. i am truly blessed.  

twenty four hours in Canberra

we had to go to Canberra to get Charlotte's Malaysian passport sorted and we've been putting it off for awhile knowing how much Charlotte hates travelling in the car. now that she's old enough to travel forward facing in the carseat,  we decided it was time we get it over and done with in case we do need to travel overseas in the near future. there was still a lot of crying on the way there and back but i've decided leave the crying out and only remember the happy times we had.

 

the traffic was pretty good on the way there and we managed to get there just after one in the afternoon. first stop, we had a late lunch at brodburger at the Canberra Glassworks in Kingston and whilst waiting for our meal, we wander around the market just outside the Glassworks. the market is my kind of market with stalls selling vintage clothing, bric-a-brac and gourmet treats. i spotted a cream Japanese vintage dress which i was very tempted to buy but didn't. Jim ordered the broddeluxe burger which comes with two half pound beef patties and i had the brodlamb burger. his burger was so big he could barely finished it.

 

after lunch, we decided to take a stroll by the waterfront and Jim tried to take some photos of the kids but they didn't turn out too well because of the overcast weather we had. Gabriel was happy do some swan spotting while Charlotte was busy picking up dried leaves and sticks from the ground and putting them in her mouth.

by the time we were done, it was almost four. we decided to check into our hotel so Gabriel can have a swim and Charlotte can have a nap.

another highlight of our trip was dinner at Jamie's Italian which is just a short stroll from the hotel. Jim was craving prosciutto so he ordered a meat plank to start and for mains, i had the mussels linguini and Jim  ordered the truffle risotto. they were both so good. i wish we could enjoy each mouthful but we had to scoff them down as one of us had to hold Charlotte who got sick of the high chair after fifteen minutes while the other eat. also, Gabriel was asking to go to the toilet way too many times. dinner was such a hurry i didn't even get to see the dessert menu before we had to head back to the hotel to put the kids to sleep.
 

the next morning, we went to the Malaysian High Comm to complete Charlotte's birth registration and also to apply for a passport for her. it all went pretty well and we were done in less than an hour. we headed off to the National Arboretum as we've heard they have a pretty cool playground. the Arboretum is about fifteen minutes outside of the city centre and i was expecting it to be half empty seeing it was a weekday but i was wrong. turns out lots of local mums like to have their mother's group catch up there. i don't blame them. if i live in Canberra, i'd wanna have my mother's group catch up there. Gabriel loved climbing up the acorn cubbies and going down the tube slides and Charlotte enjoyed the swing. i think this park is probably the highlight of our time in Canberra for Gabriel.

we made our way home after the Arboretum with two rest stops within an hour. once to have lunch and to feed Charlotte and another time because Charlotte wouldn't stop crying even though she's just been fed. luckily we still managed to arrive in Sydney before peak hour traffic.

all in all i think the trip went better than expected. whilst Charlotte is the worst traveller, Gabriel on the other hand is a great traveller. he's probably the only person who could fall asleep with Charlotte screaming on top of her lungs next to him. he didn't complain about her crying and he was happy to accommodate her schedule and needs the entire time. when she needs a feed, he's happy to play at the playground at the rest stop and when she's up and ready to play, he's happy to let his sister steal all his attention. i hope he'll continue to be the big brother he is now and continue to love his little sister the way he does now when he grows up.
 

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - my velcro baby

i currently have a velcro baby that is attached to me all day, everyday. she doesn't want anyone but me and sitting next to me is not good enough. she needs to be in my arms or on my laps.  who needs to go to the gym when you have a velcro baby? i've got pretty good biceps without doing any weights. separation anxiety is meant to peak around 9 months and this girl is only 7 months. i know this phase shall pass too and i sure hope it will pass soon. while my biceps are looking great,  my back and my knees are not feeling great.

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - Easter egg hunt with our daycare friends

one of the mums at daycare organised a picnic at the park today. as it is so close to Easter, we decided to organised an Easter egg hunt for the kids too. everyone brought some Easter eggs and their own basket. it was Gabriel's first Easter egg hunt and he had so much fun. now i remember when Gabriel's obsession for kinder surprise chocolate egg started. it was easter last year.

 

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - first of many chest infections

just like her brother, Charlotte has her first chest infection just as she turned seven months. it all started with a runny nose last Friday and then a cough and it turned into a chest infection. i wasn't going to take her to the doctor knowing full well she'll be given antibiotics but i also didn't wanna take my chances. the last time i did, Gabriel's chest infection turned into bronchiolitis and we had to hire a nebuliser for him. here's hoping the antibiotics will help clear her crackly chest and Gabriel doesn't catch it and get sick too. 

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - first taste of daycare

Charlotte had her first little (45 minutes) taste of daycare today. i took Gabriel to the local YMCA for his first kindergym and there was a creche there where i can leave Charlotte during the duration of the class. surprisingly she did quite well. the minder told me she only started to get upset about five minutes before i picked her up. they said she was happily playing on the floor with the toys and they even managed to squeeze a few smiles out of her. i wonder if she'll be happy to spend an hour there again next Tuesday? 

Charlotte and Joby

Charlotte has been showing great interest in Joby lately. whenever she sees Joby walk pass her play mat, she would try to reach for him to touch him. Joby on the other hand is not too keen on her. mainly because he's quite old and just want to be left alone. the other day, i got sick of taking photos of just Charlotte and needed to practice taking photos of interactions between two subjects so i placed Joby next to Charlotte. needless to say, she was very fascinated by Joby. Joby just wanna stay away from her but she got closer and closer to him, grabbing and pulling his hair. i have to say, Joby was quite patient with her. he hung around for a good five minutes before he had enough and walked away. 

father and daughter time

it's not often these two get to spend time together.  especially when big brother Gabriel is around. so last Saturday afternoon while Gabriel had his nap, Charlotte and daddy got to spend some father and daughter time together. as for me, i stepped aside and let them enjoy their precious time together and practice my newly acquired photography skill from last Friday's workshop. 

365 days of Gabriel and Charlotte - you're not mummy

i went to a photography masterclass at Paddington today. which means Charlotte had to stay at home with Jim. Charlotte and i have never been away from each other for more than an ever since she was born for obvious reasons. this is the first time we've been apart for such a long period of time. i left at nine in the morning and came home at four. according to Jim, Charlotte didn't have much milk when i was away. i had prepared two 150ml expressed breastmilk for him and i even thawed some frozen breastmilk for him just in case she wanted more. but in the seven hours when i was away, she drank a total of 80ml, cried for an hour and Jim said she finally accepted him as his primary carer for the day at 11:30 when she woke up from her nap. whilst she didn't eat (or drink might be more accurate) much milk and did a bit more crying than usual in the morning after i left, she actually did better than expected. i was expecting her to be unsettled and cry for the entire time when i was away and i also expected her to be in Jim's arms the entire time. but surprisingly, Jim managed to put her down for two decent naps. not only did she do better than expected, Jim did a fantastic job as well. i told him since he did such a great job today, we should do it more often and maybe i can finally go to the hairdresser to get my long overdue hair straightening done. it will only take five hours but he wasn't too keen. 

new year's day at the beach - a newish family tradition

note: this post was originally drafted on 1 Jan. i've been waiting on Jim to sort through the photos. we're in the middle of February and i couldn't wait any longer so i took matters into my own hands and finally got this post done. 

Gabriel has been asking to go to the beach lately so we finally went to the beach on new year's day. we kind of started the tradition of going to the beach on new year's day in 2013 when we took Gabriel to the beach for the first time. we went to Clovelly beach and he loved it. we couldn't go to the beach on new year's day 2014 because i was having the worst morning sickness. it was nice to be able to continue this tradition this year and i foresee us spending the next new year's day (and the next and the next) at the beach again. 

the last time we went to the Balmoral beach was last winter when i was pregnant with Charlotte. i wanted to check out the boat house and when we got there, we realised it's quite a nice beach with gentle waves for kids. plus, it's only 30 minutes from home. 

it was Charlotte's first beach outing. she was too young to build any sand castle or chase any waves but i think she had a great time. as for Gabriel, he had a ball. as Jim was setting up the beach tent, he got right into building sand castles and filling his trucks with sand. he must have been really looking forward to going to the beach. what's not to love for a three year old? a giant sand pit and a massive pool. 

after he's done with building his sand castle, Jim took him to chase some waves and check out the rock pools. when he came back to the tent, he told me he wants to take Charlotte to check out the rock pools. he also told me when Charlotte is older, she can go into the water with him. i hope he'll continue to adore and look after his little sister like he is now.

i remember when we first took him to the beach, he was not scared of the water or getting sand all over himself at all and i'm glad he hasn't changed. he is certainly getting more and more independent as he happily walk to the edge of the water as i follow behind him.