The Bub in the Belly

On our last day in Sydney, we went to The Rocks Markets, which is one of our favourite places to go to see beautiful handcrafted wares and interesting souvenirs. We bought this gorgeous handmade stuffed toy octopus for Ryan, which now provides him with eight tentacles of teether fun.

After that, it was time to say goodbye.


The flight back was longer than the flight there (?) but Ryan was so well behaved that I managed to watch two inflight movies! We were on the A380 again so I experimented and I didn't latch him on during landing and he adjusted to the pressure change without any problems.
What a great trip!

Ryan can drink from a cup now!

Today the weather was bright and sunny so we decided to take a ferry around the bay and see the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. So we drove to Paddy's Market and caught the tram to Pyrmont Bay where we hopped onto the ferry to Darling Harbour.
The tram was a big hit with Ryan.



The ferry was just as enjoyable. We came off it a little windswept but thoroughly satisfied.




Thumbs up!

I suppose Ryan might not remember this holiday when he's older but if he remembers one thing about it, I hope it's not the beach, not the Opera House, not the Harbour Bridge, not the cold spring weather, not the red dust storm that hit the first morning we were there, but the precious time which he spent with his grandma.

This is him and my mum feeding the wild birds in her backyard.

One promise we made to Ryan was that we would take him to the beach while we were in Sydney. This would be Ryan's first look at the sea, his first listen to the sound of the waves, his first feel of sand between his toes and his first sniff of the ocean breeze.

We initially wanted to go to Bondi Beach so that Ryan could see the unique blue/green of the sea there but in the end we went to Balmoral Beach which was nice too.


Today is also Richard's birthday and it was wonderful to be able to celebrate it on a beach while on holiday.

Food adventures continue as usual. Broccoli at Myer's basement food court.

We decided on Sydney as our holiday destination for a few reasons:
1. We hadn't been there for a while
2. Ryan could see his grandma
3. It would be cold enough for Ryan to wear his red wool jacket which his Aunty Margaret bought for him
4. Ryan could also wear this warm blue sleep suit which Terri bought for him

A highlight of the trip is seeing my Mum and Dale, who live in Sydney. Also, this is the first time that they are meeting Ryan! Ryan was given a warm welcome with lots of hugs and presents. Mum showed him off to her mates and they ah-ed and ooh-ed and showered him with gifts and good feelings.

Ryan turns eight months old today and we are all off to Sydney for a few days. Richard and I have taken the week off from work and we are looking forward to some downtime.

We didn't know how Ryan would take to flying so it was a pleasant surprise to see him enjoying the experience. We got the seats with the baby bassinet on the wall in front which meant more leg room for us. I latched Ryan on during take off and landing to help him to adjust to the pressure change but the A380 was so smooth and stable that we hardly felt anything. Ryan wouldn't sleep in the bassinet though, he only used it as a play area, so he spent almost the whole flight in our arms. Still, he was very good throughout the 7-hour flight and it was a breeze.






These are photos of Ryan in the bassinet and of me breastfeeding on the flight.

I'd mentioned in an earlier post that Ryan has been spending more time on his hands and knees. Looks like he can do it in his sleep too.

Fruits for lunch - rockmelon, guava, honeydew.


More fruits for dinner. He absolutely loved the watermelon, he held the chunks in his hands and sucked the juices out of them. By the time he got to the banana, he was not interested anymore so I guess we'll try banana again another day.

Ryan's two top front teeth are emerging!

No, not Ryan's hair, MY hair. That's just a photo of Ryan waiting for me at the kids' corner at Great World City while I (finally) got my hair cut short today. After years of having long hair, it is a refreshing change for me. Although I have, on and off over the years, tried to persuade my stylist to give me a short bob, she has always been of the firm view that I must have long hair and she has refused to cut it any shorter than two inches past my shoulders.

As it turned out, she (and I) had really no option this time - I've been dropping hair at an alarming rate since Ryan was about 4 months old. I'm surprised I have any hair left, really. My hair brush looks like it itself is growing hair.

The good news is that there is re-growth (phew!). In fact, I seem to be growing a fringe. So I thought this would be a good time to chop the rest of it off.

In other news, Ryan is spending more and more time on his hands and knees nowadays, although he is not creeping around yet. Most of the time he slithers about and spins around on his tummy.

He slobbers and drools
He babbles unintelligibly
He sings offkey
He laughs and cries interchangeably
He gets distracted easily
He stands up only with support
He doesn't walk in a straight line
He falls asleep anywhere anytime
He throws up from time to time

... I think he might be drunk.