It rained all day yesterday, so an afternoon bath outside seemed to keep Connor amused for a while!

Another Christmas over already! It was a great success, Connor absolutely loved his present of a train set and hasn't stopped playing with it. Bruce and I gave him the track, and coordinated with the rest of the family to give trains and accessories etc. It was actually for Connor and Byron (to avoid arguements later!) but Byron was more excited with his new chewable soft toy for now...






































A very lucky little boy opening more trains to go on the track





















Byron with Granddad















Connor with Uncy Paul and yet more trains















The family photo (minus Debs, who was behind the camera and Byron, who was asleep). We had Christmas day at our place, and a combined effort with the dinner with everyone bringing one part of the meal.

We visited Santa yesterday, and while Byron was quite happy to sit with him, Connor seems to be gradually getting further away every year. The first year he was a baby so didn't have much choice when plonked in his lap, but last year I had to sit on Santa's knee with him. Standing on the step in front with me was about as close as he was prepared to get this year!

Bruce's work had their children's christmas party yesterday...

















Helping Dad with a few enquiries (not a bad view Bruce has from his desk!!)
















The first time Connor's had his face painted, and he took the whole thing very seriously - he hardly moved a muscle, which is not like him at all!!















The end result was a fine looking tiger

A few recent photos...





















I thought I'd take some snaps at Connor's last swimming class for the term. He absolutely loves the water, especially jumping in off the side!





















Byron with Bruce's Canadian cousin Emma, who is studying in NZ at the moment. We had a family dinner to see her off back to Canada for Christmas. Hope you had a good flight Emma!





















Another pool shot




















Byron and Poppa

Things on the sleep front have improved immensely in the last few weeks and Connor is back to his old happy self again. It's amazing what a difference a good night's sleep makes, his personality was completely different when we were going through the rough patch. Don't want to speak too soon but he's been sleeping with only the occasional short wake up for a good couple of weeks now, and things had gradually been getting better before that. Let's hope it stays that way!
















Connor having a snooze after playgroup this morning, but Byron was up and rearing to go






















Byron seemed to really enjoy his first experience on the jolly jumper






















As always Connor was keen to help

We borrowed this 'exersaucer' from the toy library and Byron seems to be enjoying a different perspective.

We go to Mainly Music at our local church hall every Tuesday, where the lovely ladies do singing and dancing with the littlies. Today was the last one for the year, so everyone had to dress in Christmas attire and we sang songs in the library across the road. I felt quite pleased with my shepherd attempt, as twenty minutes before we left I had no idea what he was going to be!

Can't believe it's less than three weeks until Christmas! It usually sneaks up on me, but even more so this year, the days seem to fly by at the moment. The boys are really good, Connor's sleeping still a bit up and down, but we have been having some very good nights and the bad ones are nothing like they were, so that's good! Last night didn't hear a peep from him after he went down until nearly 7am so hoping to have a few more of those.

We've been seeing quite a bit of Dad and Paul recently as they have been a bit quieter on the work front. Dad has been a great Mr fixit on some of the annoying little jobs around the house, so thank you very much Dad we really appreciate it! He had two little helpers last week...
















We had Andrea and Nick (who's four) visiting one afternoon while Dad was around. Dad tried to
fix the dishwasher without the boys noticing, but I think they sensed the toolbox was
coming out!
















Making Christmas cards




















Poor Byron - I popped him on the bouncinette and didn't bother strapping him in as I was only going to be a couple of minutes, but came back to find him on the floor!