Saturday in Scone

We drove up last night to visit Jas parents in the Upper Hunter. Joaquin was very good on the drive up and he slept more that half way. He watched some Wiggles on my phone that Jas had put on there. We had dinner made by Jas's parents when we arrived and that was good after the long trip.

Saturday morning was good. Joaquin slept most of the night without waking and had a good breakfast. I think Joaquin is starting to feel much better. Today he played outside with Ozzie the cat while Jas cleaned his car. He went to see the horses with his pop and played on the swings with his pop. He ate well for the first time in over 2 weeks.
He looks a bit thin in these photos but he was very happy to get out of our house and go for a drive.





We had a family dinner Saturday night and all his cousins came over and played. Joaquin loves all of them. There was a lot of playing and Jas really gets into it, playing hide and seek. He took Joaquin with him in his arms as he was hiding and seeking and told me later how much Joaquin liked it.

Things Joaquin likes to do at 12 months

Things that Joaquin likes to do
He likes to play with the computer mouse.
He loves to put the keys in the lock and started to try to do this at 8 months after seeing us open the door with keys. He loves to play with keys.
He loves playing with dad and putting little toys in dad's mouth so then Jas spits them out.
He loves playing in the shower.
He loves his bath and playing with the plastic shower head.
He plays with the animal magnets on the fridge.
He loves the book "There is a possum in the house" and turns the pages always turning the page so he can examine the front of the book.

He likes walking with the firetruck


He loves being held while watching one of us cook in the kitchen, and watches intensely as each activity is undertaken when cooking
He likes putting his hands in glasses with water
He loves the broom, and crawls really fast to the kitchen when he hears one of us sweeping
He loves pressing buttons
He loves playing with the phone
He likes to play with cars

He likes to put things through holes
He loves playing with objects that have cords on them
He tries to operate the microwave
He loves to watch music videos and sits there to watch it
He likes music a lot
He likes to watch Dougie in Disguise, Play school, Booh Bah, Wiggles and learn (from The Wiggles)
He loves trying to take my glasses off and tries to put them back on
He waves a lot
He waves when it is time to go to sleep
He laughs at silly noises

Joaquin is sick

Today we have stayed at home and Joaquin did not go to family day care nor I to the uni. Instead I stayed with him and took him to the doctors as he is sick. He has a rash on his legs, arms, and a few dots on his ears and other parts of his body. He has not been eating well and does not want to bf at all which makes me feel slightly bad. The doctor that saw him was the same one that saw him when he was born from around the corner. She did not recognise him but did say something along the lines of "Time has gone quickly".
The doctor looked at his mouth, his ears, listened to his heart, took his temperature, looked at his dots or rash and said he was just sick because of a virus. He did not have a temperature just a bit red at the back of his throat. I think he has some small sores or ulcers on his tongue as he does not want to eat or suck his bottle or bf.
Yesterday i managed to feed him some cereal for breakfast, a few bottles of milk, a piece of cheese, a yoghurt, 2 bites from a bread stick, some chicken soup with bread croutons and some more bottles of milk plus water.
He was acting happier though and wanted to play all day, he did not cry much nor get upset when i left the room. He smiled at strangers at the doctor's and smiled a lot at me. He came up to me throughout the day during his play to hug me.
He woke up a few times last night and each time I wanted to bf he got upset, Jas was able to calm him and get him back to sleep in his cot. I think he woke up 3 or 4 times throughout the night crying, poor little thing.
He had two sleeps about an hour each sleep but did not bf. I hope he gets better. I am not feeling too crash hot as well and feel I have ulcers on my tongue too. Must be all the bad food from all the parties we have had and been going too.
I do not think it helped that I gave him hot "salty" chips last Friday and some of B's chocolate brownie.

Saturday at home

I made a spinach and cheese pie with fetta cheese and brown rice. Joaquin had a slice of the pie and ate it with gusto as well as a mandarine.
He loves mandarines. He is not feeling himself and had a bit of fever. All the babies from my mother's group are a little sick.
We went shopping today, he went with his dad in the shopping trolley and cried when I went away. I bought some boots and then carried him around Westfield shopping center at Bondi Junction. I wanted to buy him some shoes and he has no shoes with soft soles to walk or practice getting around in. But in the end we had been at the shops for 2 hours and Joaquin had a bit of a fever, he had a warm forehead so we drove home. I gave a bread stick (grissini) in the car and sat with him the back seat, scared he would choke. He was ok and enjoyed nibbling on it with his front teeth. When he got to the end bit I took it from him and ate it, as I did not want him to stuff it in his mouth.
When we got home, Jas bathed him and I got the onions and tomatos ready to make a pizza.
Jas made pizza with his new pizza stone and it was quite delicious. Joaquin had a whole slice but I cut it up in small bite size pieces. We gave him baby panadol for his fever, he had 38 degrees C. He went to bed at 8.30pm and we stayed up watching futureama and big brother.

Friday mother's group

Joaquin was clingy all day, muy mimosa. I went to B's house for mother's group and he cried every time i got out of his site, or even moved around the room. He was grabbing me and wanting me to be close all the time. In the end he started playing with the other babies as long as I was close. He did not want to eat much.
We then walked to the spot with some other mothers and B lent me her pram so I could take J in the pram. My leg is better so I was able to walk with a bit of mild pain. We went to the Ambrosio shop on the corner at the spot and all ordered Portugese chicken burgers, I ordered J some hot chips. We sat outside and I gave him some hot chips. The other mums gave their children some too but i got the impression that most of the mum's do not give their bubs hot chips or junk food. fair enough. I gave him some of my brownie that B made at her house. It was really scrumpcious and warm straight out of the oven.
He was very quite and not his usual self. Then we walked down to B's house and she drove me home, she is so nice and kind.
At home I put him down and gave him a bot and he drank most of it, i tried to feed him a cheese and avacado sandwich and some stewed apple and he did not eat much. He had his bottle and slept till after 5pm. Jas came home early.

Out and about with Joaquin

We went to little Dynamos today with some of the mother's and babies from the mother's group. It is an indoor play center and cafe for kids and parents, it cost $10 for the children over 1 and parents $2. It has a safe soft play area for under 4s and a cafe close by for having a coffee or sitting around watching the older children play on the play structures.
He played on the soft under 4's section and crawled around. he liked the soft play area, played in the small pool with balls, and he loved sitting there and throwing out the balls. However he was very clingy all day and cried when I went to order lunch and left him on the high chair with B and J and their bubs.
He did have a great time apart from him crying. He even went on the slippery dip with A's friend Cynthia who works at UNSW. My leg was still sore so I did not even dare go on the slide.
I got a lift with B and he fell asleep in the car around UNSW so when we got home he was asleep but woke up when I got him out of the car. The lady who helps clean the house fortnightly was there and I told her to clean the kitchen and bathroom while I put him down. He was very tired it was already 2pm and he had woken at 9.30am.
He slept for a while for over an hour but the cleaner made some noise in the bathroom and that woke him up. I got him back down but he woke up some time later. I think he is still out of sorts due to leaving him at family day care!!!

Music class with Joaquin

My leg is still not better and J did not work from home today so after breaky and getting ready B from mother's group kindly came around and picked me up for music class at Coogee.
There were not many mums but A came with Sienna to have a look at the class. Joaquin seems interested in the music, he plays with the shakers and knows how to shake in time to the beat on the floor and in the air. He enjoys it and Loves Jules the teacher. He sits close to her and tries to strum her guitar. Jules got out a frog puppet and sang Galump went the little green frog, and the babies sat close to her and listened trying to touch the little green puppet. She also had a sheep puppet that makes musical notes when you open and close his mouth and she sang ba ba black sheep with his mouth. it was pretty cool. some of the babies are just not interested and just want to crawl around. Joaquin loves the drums and plays to the beat and crawls around playing on other babies drums. He went up to the other parents and says hello and plays with them. He is very sociable. We went to T's house for lunch and T made Joaquin a toasted cheese sandwich, and he ate most of it. She has a nice apartment in front of the beach with a nice view of coogee. I then met up with E and had coffee at the cafe Bazura at the beach on the south side. I then walked with J and the stroller to the park at south coogee and met B. We played with the babies and then she drove me home. She is so kind and helpful. I feel bad I can not walk around with my sore leg and back. Can not wait till it gets better.

yum cha with friends

Today we had a great day, we went out to the city for yum cha The Regal with my uni friends to celebrate K. R finishing her thesis. yeahh!!!. Kirsten was there with her little boy who is nearly 2 Miles and her partner. The food at the Regal was great as usual, i loved the fried whitebait, the scallop dumplings, the custard buns. I gave Joaquin some whitebait but he nearly choked. He did not eat much just some of a sandwich I had made for him with cheese. After stuffing our faces we walked around the city towards the Spanish Quarter. The Spanish quarter is on Liverpool street, with some excellent Spanish Restaurants as well as the Spanish Club and Torres Spanish deli. we went past the spanish deli , and to our surprise they sell Matambre made in Sydney I think. We bought 200grams and a jar dulce de leche made in Australia.
Then we all went to the QVB to have some cafe and I ordered banana bread and a babycinno for Joaquin and he drank it all and enjoyed it as well as the banana bread. He loved playing with Jas and Kenny and hanging out with my uni friends. He is a good little boy and allows us to go out and enjoy ourself with other adults.
After that the girls walked around the QVB to look at the shops and Jas and Joaquin and Rob went to Dymocks to check out the books. Jas and Joaquin played in the disney section of the book store and there was a Thomas the tank engine train to play on. Jas said Joaquin loved playing with the older 3 year old girls. I bought a book for the party tomorrow for the babies from mother's group.

Mother's group at my place

We had mother's group at my place today. The babies had fun playing with the balloons from J's party and all his toys. I had some banana muffin I had made yesterday and handed it around. The mums and babies stayed until 1pm and then both J and I were both exhausted. I put him down for a little sleep. I think he enjoyed having his friends over. He played with the boys and also played by himself with the computer mouse

Feliz cumple con fotos

Birthday cards


Cake made by Kenny's dad from Paris Cake shop


Ready to blow out candles at Centennial park on his birthday


Empanadas made by Jason and Yamila for his birthday



At party for all bubs from mother's group

Feliz Cumple Joaquin Happy Birthday Joaquin

This is the birthday invitation I have sent out to my friends and some mothers and babies from mother's group.
It is dinosaur theme but who cares, I love it. I used pass the chex font, you can download it from here

I got the idea from Lucas first birthday from here



Here are some other ideas
Mandnickell
Minti
We make three

my little munch munch

I just put Joaquin down for a sleep, he had breast milk even though he secretly just wanted the milk bottle (we use glass now due to the dangers of using plastic that heats up). He loves a good bottle of milk, but he does like to breast feed as well at night I think. I am not sure if I have any milk left, maybe.
I have been eating Turkish delights with rose water, they are spectacular blocks of sweet pink softness and just leave a mixture of freshness and rosewater in my mouth, like eating solid pink bubbles. I am thinking what we will have for dinner tonight and how my teeth are starting to hurt from all that sugar in the turkish pink sugar bombs.
Oh well, I took Joaquin today to a family day care center near the university. The lady or carer was really nice, from the UK and has a 2 year old son with a welsh name. On Monday she cares for another little boy who is nearly 3 and soon will be off to preschool at the end of the month. There is a garden outside to play in the grass and sun, they do cooking and play games and do interactive activities such as paintings. Makes me feel like a bad mum as I do not do any of these things.
The carer call her J, said Joaquin had beautiful eyes and thought it was weird his eyes were already green, as "green is the color that forms last in eye color" well I did not know that, i did not even know you could tell he had green eyes. Jas and I say he has green or hazel eyes, based on the fact we both have green or hazel eyes.
The carer was also impressed I am still breast feeding J and said they are "pro breastfeeding" there. Which is good, I think.
I did like the atmosphere and "feeling" at J's family day care house and I am really thinking it would be good for Joaquin, but at the same time thinking do I really want someone else to care for my son while I am off at university looking at tiny insey winsey teeth and bones belonging to long dead mammals that are over 20 million years old?
I am not sure, I have to think about this.
After going to "check out" the family day care center I walked over to Uni and had lunch with K who is 20 weeks pregnant and saw the other members of the lab. Joaquin is always friendly and cute, he is shy at first but very placid and smily and loves playing trying to say everyone's names.
By the way it has been 20 min and he has not gone to sleep again, and was just crying and standing up on his cot trying to get the music box to play again. I had to calm him and put him back down in his cot, cover him with the blanket and put the music on again. I pat his tummy and he calms down, and then when I leave he cries. He has been crying the last few days when we put him down, he is starting to understand what bye bye and chau and when we leave him alone means. I am not sure if he is scared or just does not want to sleep.
He stood up by himself today for 5 secs and looked very natural. He will be walking soon I think. He also stood on the mini trampoline at the carer's house and held onto the bars and bent his knees and moved up and down .... jumped. He has never been on a trampoline before but he saw the two other boys on it before hand and wanted a go and just did what they were doing. Very perceptive I think. I love my little munch munch (his nick name the last few months)

Joaquin is 51 weeks old

Joaquin is nearly one, yes 12 months old. I wish I had done something similar to Dooce and written a letter to Joaquin for every month or milestone he has overcome, like she did for Leta her daughter who is now 4 or 52 months old.
I was sitting with him on the ground (before I was lying on the ground asleep and he was waking me up with wet mouth kisses and hair pulling) and he came up to me and bit me on the shoulder.
When he was 8 months old whenever he bit, it meant he was tired. So when we told our friend to babysit him when he was 10 months old, we gave her a list of instructions and one was if he bites he is tired, give him a bottle and he may probably sleep.
Now i am not too sure what bitting means. Is it that he is tired? Maybe. Is it that he is bored, very possibly! Is it that he is hungry? could be as well. All I know is that as I type this I am thinking I should feed him soon and put him down for a sleep and I am really feeling the baby bite on my left shoulder.

Joaquin at 11 months

Joaquin is 11 months old.
Here is a list of the things he can do:
He can eat his own toast.
He can drink water out of a sippy cup.
He can drink soda from an adult glass
He loves toast
He eats mild curries (he started that this month May)
He loves tomato based sauces with pasta and veges
He likes to watch Booh Bah
He loves watching music videos and stops what he is doing to watch them
He points at things he wants (started at 9 months)
He claps his hands when happy (started at 7 months after Argentina)
He claps his hands when others are clapping in the music class or on tv
He dances by moving up and down to music videos
He laughs
He laughs when other people are laughing (started at 9.5 months)
He waves hello and goodbye (started at 10.5 months)
He cruises along the furniture (started at 9.5 months)
He walks behind his firetruck (started at 10.5 months)
He can throw balls (started at 10 months)
He chases balls and follows them (started at 10 months)
He can pick up a spoon and put it in his mouth (started at 10 months)
He looks at objects when I point to them (started at 9 months)
He likes playing with trucks and cars (started at 8 months)
He can begin to put shapes in the shape bucket (started 10.5 months)
He can open the door to the balcony (started at 10 months)
He likes to play the drums at music class
He loves the song galump went the little green frog

very tired, up all night

Joaquin is nearly 9 months old and I am nearly 34 (in a few days time). Time is really zipping past as the cliche dictates.
I am so tired as he woke up at 12.45am crying unhysterically and I could not feed him as he was crying and sobbing. Finally i talked to him and calmed him down walking around the room and he fed. He was even smiling and jas had to hold him while I went to the toilet.
Then he woke up at 5am and I fed him and I put him back to sleep and all i heard was the jingle and rattle of blanky bear and no peep from him. At 6.30am Jas alarm went off, and I still not had gotten back to sleep and I got up with him and made some coffee and breakfast and I had a shower and at 7.15am in the middle of breaky, he starts crying again and so i got him out of his cot and breastfed him again. I put some bonjela on his two top incisors. I am not sure why he is out of sorts, I think he may be hungry as last week he was off his veges and now may be hungry, and it is all because of the two upper incisors that came out last week (Monday 25th Feb one came out, and soon shortly after I think on Wednesday or Thursday the second one came through). He vomited his food twice last week, on Monday and Wednesday. We don't know if it was because he chocked and had a reflex or due to teething.
We bought Annabel Karmel book on food for babies and toddlers so maybe that will help me get inspired and feed him different things. Last night had baby pasta with zucchini, broccoli, salmon from a can, white sauce and small amount of shredded parmasan. He loved it, then a whole can of baby custard (banana and chocolate. We had some dulce de batata con chocolate for desert that we bought from Norton St Deli in Bondi Junction, for only 3 dollars and cents. Good price, very cheap.
Ok back to bed
besos

Milestones in Febuary

Joaquin is 8 months, these are some of his milestones for this month.
Tuesday 12th feb crawling by sliding on his tummy
Wednesday 13th Feb started to say ba-ba-bub-bub word

Joaquins milestones in 2008

Today at lunch I saw that Joaquin's second tooth is coming out. This is his bottom right tooth.
Other milestones:
Started to clap with one hand open (left hand) and right hand in fist (last few days)
Was scared of the punching bag (Thursday 17h Jan)
Looks at the Aboriginal art poster to find the little eggs when you ask him "Adonde estan los huevitos?" (Last few weeks)
First tooth incisor left came out on 2nd January
Sits up very well
Can stand up by himself if he holds on to my hand or Jas's hands
Can play by himself for more than half an hour on the mat

Lazy Sunday asado

Today is Sunday. It is nearly 8pm and the sun is still out, it is still incredibly light out and it had rained before. It does not get dark until 11pm.
We had an asado with my family and Sebas postdoc director who is visiting El Sur from Cordoba.
We had a little lamb on the asado and chorizos with a salad made of freshly picked lettuce from my mum's garden. I also made chimichurri with fresh tomatoes, garlic, parsley, orgegano, oil and viniger. We had lunch and played some trivial pursuit. Joaquin had a little nap before lunch and only slept for 30 min and I went in to get the trivia from the cabania and he was crying in his little cot. Poor munchkin. I got him up fed him and Jas made his lunch (a small plate with lamb cut up in small pieces, fresh peas from the garden semi-mashed, small baby cubes of carrot and pumpkin mash. He ate it all. He also had some grapes (just the fleshy bit inside) and laughs so much when Seba throws the grapes into the air and tries to catch it with his mouth. He had a laughing fit yesterday in the afternoon when we were having lunch. After lunch today we tried to put him to sleep in the cot as he was so tired but he cried quite a bit and it really is draining to see this to go through this for both Jas and I. Finally I got him out of the cot breastfed him and he fell asleep and we put him in the cot to sleep. This was at 6.30pm and he is still alseep now. I think he is quite upset as his second tooth came out yesterday.
I would like to go to the park camping as we have less than a week left in Esquel. I will miss my parents my brother so much. It is terrible. I hope we will be back in September!

Pierda Parada

Today we drove to Piedra Parada and to the small town of Gualjaina a small town of 648 people east of Esquel.
Here is another link.
Joaquin was really well behaved in the car and he was the typical patagonian baby. We drove to Gualjaina and had lunch milanesa sandwiches at the Viejo Nandu (Tully's father and brother run this little shop/restaurante). anio
At piedra parada we found bones near the base of the rock and they may have been left by pumas. There was also a funny musky smell like a cat smell by the base and there were small caves around the base. Seb and A walked around the rock and it took 15 min.

The night the lights went out

Today is a beautiful gorgeous day in Patagonia. It rained all day yesterday and snowed on the mountains and was cold outside.
We managed to go for a walk in the rain up the hill and by the river and there was a high cloud on the mountain Sierro 21 and was raining. Even though we were all rouged up it was cold, we were wet and the rain really felt like snow as it touched the skin on my hands.
As we turned away to walk home with the dogs we looked up at the Sierro and it was covered with fresh snow, it looked like a big cake with icing sugar or as Andrea said Panatone con azucar inplpable.
Joaquin stayed at home and mum was getting him to sleep for a little afternoon nap, mind you afternoon here is 9pm. That is the time we went for walk. It was still light when we got home at 10.10pm. Andrea and I left Seb and Jas who went back to look for the dog leash that Seb had left behind on the walk. We left them and went to the local corner shop to buy some cheese as my dad had ordered us to get some for his polenta with chorizo colorado he was making. On our way back from the shops we saw Seb and Jas with the two dogs and the two leashes walking down the street on the way home and we met up and all walked back together. People were already coming out from their home as it was no longer raining but there was a chill in the air.
When we got home wet and cold Dad was nearly finished the polenta and we had also bought some pategrass cheese to have as a snack with some galletitas. Joaquin was sitting on the mat playing, my mum was on the sewing machine sewing a bag she is making for me. I saw that Joaquin was still tired and very hyperactive. My mum told me he had slept nearly the whole time we were away and was now playing by himself. He sits up very well straight and tall.
Jas sat down with him on the mat and Joaquin was trying to climb all over him like a koala. This is the first time we have seen this happen as if Joaquin is trying to get up and stand up, but he can't crawl yet so we are waiting for that milestone. At 10.30pm Jas went to the cabin to get the bath ready and I was cleaning up getting ready to take Joaquin up to the house (rugged up as it was really cold outside for mid summer) and suddenly the lights went out. Damm that. I was a bit stressed and we were all looking for the torch. My mum and dad were calm and it was still light outside. I finally found the torch and then took Joaquin to the cabin were Jas had prepared his bath. My mum gave us some candles and Jas lit them and we bathed him. Joaquin must have sensed I was stressed as in the bathroom he peed on the floor while in my mum's arms. He had a little bath by candle light and I was playing with torch with him, he was trying to get it when I left the torch on the soap-stand. He loves anything new and knows when something in different. He also loves having a bath and playing with the plastic frogs in the bath.
After the bath we changed him and dressed him in his warm polar pjs and I got ready to feed him by candle light and as soon as i got started I thought to myself if the lights come back on we will all be blinded I better tell Jas to turn the light-switches off just in case and then lo and behold the lights came on!
Then i fed him and he fed well and we wrapped him and Jas gave him a bottle top up and put him in his cot and we kissed him goodnight. He cried for a while protesting and sobbing and I left him with Jas and went to the house to get ready for dinner. Jas waited until he was alseep and then came down and we finally ended up having dinner (polenta con chorizo colorado) at about 11.30. Poor little munchkin was really tired!