Chew & Becky Duncoo

I've been teaching Jack our names in case he gets lost. So if anyone is ever looking for Chew or Becky, could you let us know.

Jack's first cubby

Jack's imagination is growing and he built his first cubby today by himself. He started off with the foam mattress and made it into a tunnel to crawl through. He told Stu, 'cubby house' so with a little help from a more experienced cubby engineer, this is where he spent most of the evening.

He took all the essentials with him of course, pillow, snacks, night light and the Woody doll.

Monday

Today was the last day of our family break. We had a great day going to DFO to pick up some winter woolies as the temperature dropped in Canberra over the weekend and we are expecting some 1 and 2 degree mornings this week. Jack had a ball in Monkey Mania while Stu and I enjoyed a coffee but that place is chaotic!

When we got home there was plenty of washing to be done (and hung on the inside rails) but I was surprised to find these....


Here are the herbs. There is also a little sweet pea in the forth pot from the left - any ideas on what I do with that?

Back to work tomorrow.

The Sooty Show

Bitey Boy

Jack enjoyed a baby chino with scrambled eggs in Kingston.We are making the most of our last 2 days on holiday so we went out for breakfast with friends and then found ourselves at the bus depot markets. We started off sitting outside but the wind was freezing and then the drizzle turned to sleet.

We haven't been to the markets since before Jack was born and although they did have lots of beautiful crafts, the crowds were difficult to navigate with a pram (and a husband). We bought Jack a tree for his room and he had a muffin and some juice for morning tea. Stu bought some more herbs to add to his rapidly expanding herb garden.

Getting Jack's face painted bought us some browsing time and before we were out of Kingston. The bitey boy (his super hero name) was sound asleep.

Anzac Day

Tara and Kasey left their horses for the day to come and visit us on this Anzac Day. It wasn't as warm as they thought it was going to be and it drizzled rain all day in Royalla but that didn't stop them from having a great time.

While Molly toddled around in her pink poncho the girls chased Jack in his red rain boots, coat and beanie. They rode the quad bike and fed the chooks.


Tara helped me bake some scones for lunch and the sun came out for half an hour, just in time for us to sit outside to eat. While Jack was taking a long afternoon nap the girls helped to decorate the cupcakes with sugar flowers and pink icing.


After the sheep were fed we had a delicious roast dinner and of course Jack was spoilt with presents for easter. Which might explain why he is looking very cheesy.

Also he had a croud of almost 20 people cheering for him everytime he announced that he did a wee on the toilet ;)

Wontons

Jack is becoming quite a talented chef. He loved making wontons for dinner.

Madeline

I didn't know Madeline or her family personally but I love to read their blog. Madeline died unexpectedly last week so I have turned the blog purple for Madeline and her family. Heather's tribute to Madeline was the most beautiful thing I have ever read. I wish for strength for their family.

Durras in April

We took our friends, the Morgans and the Majors to our favourite fishing spot at Durras.

Everyone loved the beach, the kangaroos, the camp fires and the food.

But Stu was the only dedicated fisherman and here he is with the catch of the day.

I figured that Jack would love the train considering that he plays with toy trains all day but he wasn't to sure about the real deal.

Jack and I with our 'snap of the day.' Jules takes good photos.

We enjoyed the luxury of having a cabin and Jack loved sleeping in the bunks.

Potty Power!

Over the past 2 weeks Jack has been wearing underwear through the day, even to daycare last week. He had a couple of accidents to start with but he has been dry for over a week.

I thought I would share what worked for us since I had been reading about toilet training and asking other mums about it a lot before we got to where we are.

Using the toilet has to be something that is lead by the child.
Sugar is a good reward.
Something my mum taught me - never make a toddler feel bad about having an accident.

Pull Ups haven't worked at all. A couple of times we have used them to go out in and Jack always wets them but if he wears undies he manages to tell us that he needs to ' do wee wee.'

And... Potty Power


It's a very corny, American dvd but it really appealed to Jack and he has been asking to watch it at least once a day (it goes for 20mins). Jack has been singing along to the songs and telling everyone he has 'potty power!'

We are so proud of our boy, Jack Duncan. Not sure where he gets the french accent from?

Happy Easter

Easter Cake

Here is the finished product. The boys thought it was delicious.

Cake School Graduation

Here is the cake. The teacher wasn't happy with it but I still passed. I should have put a second coat of icing on, I need a bigger cake board and I still have piping to do around the edge. I'm over it!

Cake Decorating

It has only taken 7 weeks to get to this stage but next week I am actually going to decorate a cake! Here are the flowers - totally edible!

Please folks - don't try this at home. It WILL cause stress.