Our wonderful playdate friends Olivia and Debbie Hill are moving to Singapore! Our Pure Mamas and Babies Group started when Debbie, Grace, Carmen, Maxine and I met at Pure Pre-Natal Fitness classes when the babies were still bumps. We have helped and supported each other through the pregnancy and our babies' first years, swapping tips, great products, surefire methods, recipes, and sharing lots of laughs, sympathy and growth! It was bad enough losing Carmen to a full time job when she resumed her career. Now sadly, one of our own is actually leaving us. At least it is only to Singapore - we're already planning a trip down all together "some time" - it will be a massive playdate on tour!
Last Thursday 25th September, we had our farewell playdate for Olivia. The babies ran riot as usual. This time, they hit the playground together, with Big Brother Jonah leading the way.
And Katy close behind...
The twins were pretty excited about it too!
Katy LOVES Jonah and is always giving him hugs and kisses. They like to hold hands walking along too! Well, Katy likes it, Jonah is sometimes not so sure he wants to be dragged around.
Lola the adventurous twin jumped on the swing.
Jonah and Katy hit the twin slides.
Back at home, Auntie Remy entranced the babies again with a bubble show!
And Katy did her (pretty accurate) impersonation of a Mummy by pushing Jonah around in a stroller with one hand while talking on the phone with the other.
As always, we finished off the playdate with an attempt to get a group photo of Mummies and Babies. As usual, this was a pretty futile attempt...
Previous experience has shown that singing and food bribes can help keep the babies in place long enough for a photo...
...which explains the stunned looks and food stains that usually characterise our baby group photos.
The secret to the sanity of us Mummies in the Pure Baby Group is...
...Dom Perignon...
...and lots of help from our wonderful Helpers Emily, Julie, Juliet, Remy and Mila!
We are very blessed Mummies!
We had had an earlier session so Katy could decide if she wanted to be a tiger (for Daddy) or a fairy. She wasn't keen on either. She allowed us to put on the fairy dress...
... but would not touch the wings...well, good old Jo Jo came to the rescue. He very good naturedly allowed us to try the wings on him...
...and voila! Katy in wings...
and Jonah in the Tiger outfit!
And Pia was the cutest little Minnie Mouse!
Daddy enjoyed carving Katy's first ever Jack O'Lantern on Thursday afternoon. Katy was not too sure what the big deal was all about. She put on gloves but was still not too keen to stick her hand in to scoop out the gooey stuff. Smart kid. She doesn't really like getting her hands messy. Hmm, a bit like Mummy, the scrapbooker who wears gloves!
For some reason, Katy loves to play with the rubber gloves. She has a really short attention span normally, but putting on the rubber gloves and wandering around with them can amuse her for a relatively long time!
Katy was a little concerned about Uncle Bert playing with the rubber gloves. She knows that is not the way they are usually used...
But boy what great pictures I got. What an adorable threesome!
This was around 8am when Ines and Celia's Mother, Beatrice, was taking them to school. Beatrice is an accomplished cyclist - she takes them to and from school on a bicycle - Ines on the back and Celia on the front. And there is a long hill coming home too...I will need to practice to get that good! We bought Katy a seat for the bike I got for my birthday this year, but so far, Katy has not been willing to try it out. Maybe now she has seen Celia and Ines on the bike, she will be willing to give it a try. That's often how it works...
Of course as soon as Mummy brings out the camera, Katy puts on her camera face.
And Katy loved bouncing in her castle with Auntie Mo on a recent lunch visit after our last typhoon.
Katy is usually quite shy initially, but warms up quickly once she gets to know you. Here she is with Uncle Michael and Uncle Anthony, who came to visit for a day enroute from Dublin/London to Sydney. Mummy went to University with Uncle Anthony and Uncle Bert and Uncle Anthony were next door neighbours at St John's College.
Katy also LOVES to get into the pantry. Sometimes it's to try to get into the cookie (or cracker) jar. But often, she just wants to try to crawl in or just wants to inspect everything. It's totally hilarious to turn around and find a baby's cute little bottom and legs sticking out of your pantry with the whole torso disappeared inside.
Katy also loves helping Daddy use the mortar and pestle. She insists on doing it herself.
We love our little Mini Foodie.
And Katy close behind...
The twins were pretty excited about it too!
Katy LOVES Jonah and is always giving him hugs and kisses. They like to hold hands walking along too! Well, Katy likes it, Jonah is sometimes not so sure he wants to be dragged around.
Lola the adventurous twin jumped on the swing.
Jonah and Katy hit the twin slides.
As always, we finished off the playdate with an attempt to get a group photo of Mummies and Babies. As usual, this was a pretty futile attempt...
Previous experience has shown that singing and food bribes can help keep the babies in place long enough for a photo...
...which explains the stunned looks and food stains that usually characterise our baby group photos.
