July 'n the Nevlin-ator

Nevlin has had a busy month in July. There was lots of water, sun & a mix of the two (see the rainbow photo below). Here is the little man on the local beach in Glenelg. We took this shot for our cousin back in Tx. Funny, normally its hot down here in Oz, but not on this wintery and blustery day! 

 While there Cam & Nev posed in the cut out at the local museum. You probably aren't surprised at that sentence at all if you know my obsession for these cut outs.

Here's a shot of him in the tub. He has his hands in his mouth pretty much whenever there isn't any food or toys there already. Nevlin looks a bit like a deer in headlights (or for the Australians reading a kanagroo in headlights).

Many a morning we watch baseball on TV & I talk Nevlin through the game. He may be sporting NFL gear, but the small is all about the strike-outs he sees. Some games are very exciting & go into extra innings. 

Nevlin really has quite an active life-style including daily exercises in his Jolly Jumper. A Canadian invention, this little spring can fit many doorways or trees. We can't wait till it warms up a bit & we get to take it outside. Stayed tuned for more shots to come.

Nevlin saw his first rainbow on the 15th of July. It was a double full rainbow. In fact, we saw the end of it driving home just before this shot. Sorry, no pot of gold, although I looked really hard. Instead cars just drove right through it. Very weird.

The mobile keeps growing with more & more stars. This one was from Nev's Chinese cousins Sydney & Aiden (there is an A on the back). It is one of his favorites!

Park, Belated Birthday Dinner, & Baby Group

Nev, Cam & I went for a long walk one grey Sunday and we got to see DUCKS! Here's the best shot. Nevlin has seen ducks in his books & heard mommy quacking like them, but to see them live was something exciting.

We happened upon a swing set & I couldn't resist having a swing & taking Nev on his first ride up in the air. He was quite indifferent about the whole experience. 

Cam & I spent a dinner out at a restaurant I've always wanted to dine at, right along the waterfront downtown.

We have lovely food including these scallops. The bed of salt they sat on was quite a bit wasteful, but I suppose that's what you pay for when you are fine dining.

I've been a part of a mother's group & there are about 9 of us who regularly attend. We were at one mom's place and lined up all the kids according to their age. Nevlin is in the blue pants & is the 4th youngest, but the oldest guy. The youngest one is also a boy & the rest are all ladies. The difference in age between 4 of them (the 3rd kid in the lineup from the bottom to the 4th from the top) is only 5 days. All 4 of them were born at the same hospital too.

Check out Nev's pink sports socks! Everyone was paying it forward to the left in this shot...hands to yourselves kids.

Goodbye to Dziadziu

I have some sad news, my grandfather (Dziadziu, in Polish) passed away just over a week ago. He was 90 years old and had a couple of strokes about 2 weeks ago. He was in and out of the hospital for about a week and basically never really woke up from being sedated while they tried to figure out how much he lost from the strokes.

He was able to meet and play with one of his two great-grandchildren just a few weeks ago. That was during a visit by my brother and his wife and son. He skyped with the other one, Nevlin, the week before he entered into the hospital.

My Dziadziu was an amazing man who survived Poland during World War II, moved with his wife and my mother to the US, and worked hard his whole life. He exuded a "fix it" mentality, especially with mechanical items like lawn mowers and cars before they had computers. He taught me many things about life, love, work, and attitude.

I had a dream with him this past weekend, where I watched him slowly close his normally bright blue eyes. Dziadziu had lost the sparkle you always saw and I think that was part of my way to recognize he has gone to a better place. I wasn't able to travel for his funeral, so I will say a proper goodbye when I'm back home.

I'll miss you Dziadziu.

Blocks & Cups

There are a few things that we play with pretty much each day: cups & blocks. I think both Nev and I really love the process of stacking and knocking down. The sounds are really catastrophic and can occasionally shock the little man, but he's getting used to it. Here's a stack standing...

...and not.

Nev's grandfather, great grandfather, great grandmother, and grandmother all helped to make him a set of wooden blocks. Not only are they 100% American pine, but they also are wood burned by hand specifically for Nevlin. They contain current events, locations, the entire alphabet and numbers 1-26, as well as animals, flowers, holidays, and shapes. Here's a close up of just a few blocks.

Although Nevlin can't really build as of yet (the blocks don't quite fit in his hands), he is mesmerized by the towers that mom & dad construct. I think perhaps he will get into demolition sometime soon in the future. Until then, we give him a little help. The following sequence clearly illustrates how awesome the blocks are as toys.

One is down, and now eyeing up the second one.

That's funny, there is still some left!

Mid June - Workin' N Playin'

In the world of Nev, there sure is a lot happening and whew does it wear him out. Dad has been working at Adelaide High School where they are constructing a new building on top of the original Adelaide Observatory. A really important site that helped establish time and location beginning in the 1840s. Here's a shot after a rough day. Nev's shirt says: Instant Archaeologist...Just add coffee! It was from an archaeologist friend of ours, Jo.

Many of the photos I take have an empty look on Nev's face because he is engaging in something other than the camera or me. This one, however, caught his attention. He's quite alert, and will turn 3 months on Wed. 

Compare that image above with him at one week old: Crazy to think that those eyes remain the same size. How huge they and his nose & mouth look in this photo?

Of course, he's doing so well because he sleeps so well. Nevlin comes from a long line of sleepers. Here are two shots that I took coming in from the car. 

Drooling is a newer pass time, hence the frequency of more bibs in photos. The light was just so soft on his little fuzzy head.

When Nev wakes up from a nap, he often looks like a deer in headlights. Then he smiles so big because he forgot you existed, let alone that you would come back. What a wonderful surprise every time!

Also upon waking from a nap Nev is hungry...he frequently tries to get milk out of his hands and rub his feet together vigorously in anticipation of the flow of white stuff. Even if you make the noise of shaking a bottle, his eyes light up. This kid is not wanting for food.

Finally I have a shot with a few presents from the states: the platypus on Nev's shirt was put there by his OH cuz, Jess (I LOVE IT!) and it matches his Cleveland Browns pants while he "hits" at his red football from another cuz from TX, Liam. We had the football in the bath, but it sinks and passes out of Nev's view much too quickly.

Nevlin's 45 min morning nap has lasted well over 3 hrs now, so I think he's going to have an active afternoon. We will see! Its always a bit different each day, but the consistency of eating well & sleeping pretty good keeps everyone happy.

Sleeping & Photo Shoot



The little Nev has sort of adopted a somewhat regular sleeping pattern, but not exactly every day. He has been quite good at sleeping 8 hours in one go. The challenge is to get him to fall asleep later in the evening. He also takes one to three naps throughout the day ranging from 20 minutes to 45 to 3-4 hours. It all depends on things I can't quite narrow down. Here's a shot of him during one of the naps the other day.

 

He sleeps under his new hand-made mobile. THANKS to everyone who has mailed us back their stars. You can see the stellar one in the middle from Cam's Gpa & Gma. It is beautiful. Others have words, some have stickers or paint. It really does keep him happy & he stares at it for hours as it gently moves with the air.



The other day I took Nev out back for a photo shoot. He was wearing an automotive shirt & looked quite dashing. Nevlin went through many different emotions. Here's the shot with the closest he got to a smile.

Many of the shots were not so happy including this pouty one.

There was also surprise!

And confusion!?!? Or is it nausea? It was towards the end of the session, so Mom didn't have time to figure it out. Hope everyone enjoyed these as much as we had taking them.

Frock Around the Clock - Unley Museum

The Unley Museum hosted "Frock Around the Clock" a 1950s fashion parade. The articles of clothing were from Violet's collection and included this fantastic dress that had such a small waist, she couldn't find someone to fit into it today!

There were singers that encouraged us to sing along while the models changed into their next outfits. Here they are at the opening singing "rock around the clock."

There were over 100 items that were displayed, all from the 1950s. This one seemed like a woman just floating across the catwalk in white.

They ended the first half with everyone in underwear. It was quite a show stopper! There were two male models and four female ones. Quite the show.

This was one of my favorite outfits, loved the color & the cut. Paired quite nicely with gloves and matching shoes & hat.

The finale were wedding outfits including mother and father of the brides. Overall, an amazing show and a nice way of spending the evening out of the house.