The Bell Family

16 months worth of baby hair was starting to get a little scraggly, so off we went for Katie’s first visit to the hairdresser! We weren’t sure what to expect, Katie doesn’t like sitting still at the best of times (let alone whilst some strange person combs and snips away at your hair), however she was a little angel and soaked up all the attention!

Check out the piccies… too cute!!!

Can’t help but ‘smile’, I kept a few locks for her baby book of course!!!

Cheers,
Chrissy

Finally… some time off!

We all bundled into the car and headed off for a fun-filled adventure on the Gold Coast!

On the way, we journeyed through Moolooloba on the Sunshine Coast where we stopped off for a visit to Underwater World. The girls were amazed by the wide range of sea creatures – there were sea otters, seals, fish, stingrays, sharks, star-fish, turtles and even frogs. Laura loved the seal show, especially their cheeky antics, but took a while to warm to the toothy grin of the sharks as we wandered through the underwater tunnel. Katie was a little more hands on and enjoyed touching the star-fish in the touch pool and wandering around looking at all the action in the tanks.

After that, it was onto the Motorway and into the Gold Coast. We spent plenty of time hanging out at the beach, playing at the park, splashing in the pool, walking, exploring, shopping and doing the touristy thing! Some of the highlights included a very special visit to Sea World, Jupiters Casino and the Q1 Building. Springbook National Park was definitely memorable too (but for all the wrong reasons… the girls got car sick whilst Jason was trying out his rally driving on the wickedly winding roads)!!!

We were lucky enough to have some very special company (and babysitters) along for the holiday – Mum and Dad met up on the Gold Coast with us, which made things so much easier on Jason and I! We made the most of it and headed out on the town – spending a few hours around the Blackjack table and also enjoying the live music on offer at Jupiters. Jason and I were also to enjoy dinner and a show at the casino (for our anniversary), however when Jason fell ill with a tummy bug, Laura was kind enough to step in for the night, so we didn’t have to forfeit our pre-paid tickets!!! She absolutely loved Zingara – a kind of gypsy, come showgirl, come comedy, come acrobatics show! The music, singing, dancing and special effects were a real hit and she kept the nearby audience in awe with her insightful commentary and perfect behaviour!

Seaworld was a real hit with the whole family – the dolphin show was amazing, whilst the penguins were just too cute. The polar bear was a little tired, so we only saw him taking a nap! The girls saw the Sesame Street show and loved checking out Big Bird, up close and personal style! They also loved Elmo’s submarine ride as well as the trucks and helicopters down at the Sesame Street Beach area – it was perfect for them! Jason and I enjoyed a few rides too (Rollercoaster, Pirate Ship and the Bermuda Triangle). The train ride was also pretty good as it gave us a kind of ‘behind the scenes’ look at everything there at Seaworld.

The girls were fantastic and it was especially nice to have some one-on-one time with each of them. The holiday proved to be a real turning point for Katie’s communication – she’s been yabba-dabba-doing for some time, however whilst on the trip, we became much more tuned into her needs and wants and now understand her rapidly growing vocab much better. Laura and Katie played together beautifully (with the occasional tiff of course), but they’re getting much more imaginative now, staging their own puppet shows, pretend camping trips and other little games. It’s so nice to see them run off holding hands to explore some little imaginary world together!!!

A huge big thanks to ‘Ma and Pa’ for all their help… it was a great trip and I’m sure the girls will remember it for a long time to come!!!

Cheers from all of us,
Jason, Chrissy, Laura and Katelyn

Mother’s Day can be such a special treat… who needs all that fancy stuff? What counts most is the simple essence of what the day should be about – for us, that’s Mummy, Daddy and little Snugglepot and Cuddlepie, just hanging out having fun together!!! A family breakfast, some time at home, a little drive and some icecream for afternoon tea and of course lots of kisses, cuddles and giggles!

The girls had both done some handywork of their own at daycare for me – Katie a little album of her artwork and some gorgeous photo’s and Laura a lovely piccie in a handpainted paddle-pop frame with its own magnet to stick it to the fridge – both treasured little masterpieces!

Here’s a pic of us girls enjoying the day (with Daddy behind the camera of course trying desperately to get us all to look in the same direction at the same time)!

Hope yours was a special day too!

Cheers,
Chrissy

After many long years of blood, sweat and tears, it is my pleasure to make a long awaited announcement…

Jason has finally graduated from his Honours program!!!

After receiving his Honours degree at the Graduation Ceremony last week (in full academic regalia), Jason now has a Bachelor of Information Technology (Honours).

Here’s a little piccie to prove it… he even scrubbed up alright after all!!!

Congratulations JB!!!

Naturally, he’ll be celebrating with a big one sometime soon!!!

Cheers (and hallelujah!!!),
Chrissy

After dinner, Laura decided to make a ‘boat’ in the lounge room. To start with, she found a few towels, some pillows and a couple of her favourite animal friends. Then dubbing herself ‘Captain Laura’, she set-about creating her boat. Laura invited Mummy to join her on a big adventure and with Captain Laura at the helm, the boat took off to Pirate-Princess-Fairy Land!

Captain Laura provided the commentary (…over about an hour of crazy adventure). Here are a few highlights:

* ‘Come-on Mum, let’s go exploring!’

* ‘Look, there are some puppies swimming in the water, we have to rescue them. I’ll get them! Come on puppies, you’re okay now. We’ll get you dry’.

* ‘Oh man, we’ve hit a whale! Quick, we’ve got to help it. Let’s make a swimming pool on our boat to put it in, so that we can look after it and make it better’.

* ‘Over there, it’s a crocodile. Ooh, it’s two, they’re Mummy and Baby crocodiles and they’re trying to get on our boat… what should we do? (Mummy: Do they need help or do they want to eat us?) Wait, I’ll talk to them. No, they want to eat the puppies and my lambie… Quick, let’s get out of here’.

* ‘Wow, it’s raining. What are we going to do? We don’t have a roof on our boat! (Mummy: I wonder if we can make one?) No, we need umbrella’s! Look, our boat’s getting water in it, quick, we have to do something… (Mummy: What should we do?) Quick, there’s a bucket, let’s scoop it out!’

* ‘Oh, look out! The sharks are getting in out boat… let’s use this (rope) as a fishing line to catch them and throw them back in the ocean, ah, got them!’

* ‘Let’s look through the telescope. (Then finding a toilet paper roll) look over there, it’s land, that must be Pirate-Princess-Fairy Land. I wonder if the fairies will be able to help our whale?’

Here’s a little piccie of Captain Laura looking through the telescope whilst on her boat…

Tune in next month for another adventure of… Captain Laura!!!

Cheers,
Chrissy and Laura

Hi Everyone!

Just a few facts and funnies for you all…
• Laura – After an allergy to some sunscreen… “I’ve got a nose like Rudolph the red nose reindeer”!!!

• Laura on Caterpillars – “It’s hairy, it’s got lots of legs and it crawls like Katie” (hehehe)!

• Laura on Christmas Night – Laura: “Let’s see some more lights”! Dad: “Look Laura, there’s some”. Laura: “Sorry… I must have missed it, but that’s
ok, we can drive to see some more”!!!

• Girls at Brekkie – Laura sharing Cheerio cereal on the tray of Katie’s highchair, as a favourite daily past-time.

• Laura – “Oh man!” “You’re kidding!”

• Laura’s Favourites – Animals, fairies, princesses, pirates, hanging out with Nanna, cooking, food, movies and computer games (oh oh, hehehehe)!

• Katie’s Favourites – Playing outside and playing with bags, shoes, hats and Ma and Pa.

• Katie’s Playtime Antics – When Katie decides that she wants to play outside, she finds the hat bag and selects hats for everyone to wear. She then takes it to them and urges them to put it on and go outside to play!

• Katie’s Vocab – Mum, Dad, Ma, Pa, Nah-Nah, Laura, bath, backpack, hat plus lots of sounds like ‘ooo-oo-ooo’ and ‘trilling’!

• Katie’s Walking – She started at about 11 months and is now almost running (got to keep up with that sister of hers somehow)!

We hope you’ve shared a giggle with us… have a good one!

Cheers,
Jason, Chrissy and the Girls

We can’t believe it… Katie has just turned 1! Our baby is growing up sooo quickly! On the big day, we had a nice little celebration at home with family, Katie opened lots of presents (with Laura’s help of course) and we all ate lots of cake!

Here are some piccies of the Bell 4 and the birthday girl!

Cheers,
Chrissy and Jason

Well, we’re slowly adding the finishing touches. We’ve done a little more painting since our last blog, but still need to enamel the doors and do a few little patch-ups here and there. The main action now is happening outside in the backyard…

Just before Christmas, we decided to borrow a little digger affectionately known as ‘Thomas’ – a skidsteer mini loader (thanks Wendy and Gary)!!!

Thomas has been helping us to level out the backyard, create a little terraced area and of course rip up the compacted track from the front street to the back door where all the trucks came back and forward with building materials! Whilst we had the digger on loan, Laura woke up every day and asked ‘is Daddy going to work in the backyard with Thomas today’ and she was convinced that she needed a purple Thomas to help Daddy’s orange Thomas out!

Once we’d finished levelling the backyard and had removed around about 12 tonnes of dirt and rocks to the tip, we spread some new soil and lay some grass seed. Turns out we did it just in time, we’ve only just had our first dry day in about a month, so the grass is going gang-busters!!!

We’ve also started on a sandpit for the girls, but things are going pretty slowly with all the wet weather.

Early days yet, with lots more work to go but here are a few piccies to let you in on our latest round of devastation!

… Jason working with the digger

… terraced section awaiting new retaining wall

Cheers,
Jason and Chrissy

Well, it started like any normal day. Big people off to work and little people off to daycare.

Later that day though, Jason received a call from daycare. There had been an ‘incident’ with the scissors whilst Laura was doing art and craft… it’s ok, breathe a sigh of relief, nothing serious.

That afternoon when we picked Laura up from daycare, we saw what all the commotion had been about. Turns out Laura’s hair had been getting in her face, so she’d decided to chop a bit off. We figured it might have been a little bit of fringe or perhaps a bit off the back, but she’d actually chopped off a whole big handful (see piccies below)!!! Could have been worse though, she could have decided to cut someone else’s hair… I guess most girls have a bad hair day at some stage, I certainly remember taking the scissors to my mousey brown locks at some stage (I was a little older than 3 though)!!!

Laura told us defiantly that ‘it was getting in my way… but I don’t cut hair anymore, I only cut paper and only hairdressers cut hair’.

The next morning, we were off to hairdressers. The long hair was not salvageable, so Laura’s sporting a sassy new short style (see piccie)! Turns out it really suits her – she’s got a really cute but cheeky look going on and I must admit, it’s much easier to look after

Hopefully no more bad hair days for a while now…

Until next time,
Chrissy

Greetings One and All!

We started 2007 by welcoming our new addition, Katelyn Lee, on 18 January 2007. She’s a gorgeous little girl, happy, adventurous and cheeky! Katie’s crawling now, can stand by herself and is walking around the walls and furniture. She’s also starting to get quite talkative, waves goodbye, let’s you know when she wants something and when she doesn’t and even has a good throwing arm! Katie and Laura are getting on wonderfully and just adore one another (most of the time)!!!

Laura’s growing up so fast… she’s quite the little chatterbox now and can have a very long and detailed conversation with you when the mood takes her! She’s incredibly active, loves getting out to the park, the shops and with her little sister. She’s learning to ride her bike at the moment which is proving to be a bit of a challenge but we’re sure she’ll master it eventually, like everything else!

Jason’s still at the Uni and still enjoying it, however the Uni is going through a major restructure at the moment, so there are changes to occur in the near future. Again, he’s had the opportunity to present to a number of international conferences, some done remotely via the ‘Access Grid’ and a few in person (Chicago and Perth, which he really enjoyed, just a pity the whole family couldn’t go)!

Chrissy’s back at work again now after enjoying 9 months maternity leave. Both Laura and Katelyn attend the community daycare centre and love seeing their friends, doing art and craft, reading books, playing outside in the garden and on the swings, singing, dancing and playing dress-ups!

The extension is now finished and it’s fabulous! We’ve now got 2 new bedrooms for the girls, a store-room and a big games room downstairs. We also did a few extra’s including tiling throughout the main part of the house and rendering the outside, so it looks great. The girls love their new rooms (and really appreciate them after spending a few months living in the lounge-room). The games room is great too, complete with pool table and new TV, so it’s really come together.

We’re looking forward to a quiet Christmas at home with family this year, ensuring there’s plenty of time to have fun with our little girls!

Compared to 2007, next year should be much quieter (we hope)!!! We’ve got a few more things to finish off around the house, so that should keep us fairly well occupied. But we’re planning a few family holidays and a bit of camping perhaps, so that should be fun! Other than that, it’ll be all about helping our little ladies grow and develop!

Be sure to have a wonderful Christmas and a safe and happy New Year!!!

Thinking of you all,
Jason, Chrissy, Laura and Katelyn

Hi All

During Movember (the month formerly known as November) I’m growin’ a Mo!!!

That’s right, I’m bringing the Mo back because I’m passionate about changing men’s health and the fight against male depression and prostate cancer. Why…

* Depression affects 1 in 6 men…Most don’t seek help. Untreated depression is a leading risk factor for suicide.
* Last year in Australia 18,700 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer and more than 2,900 died of prostate cancer – equivalent to the number of women who die from breast cancer annually.
* Men are far less healthy than women. The average life expectancy of males is 5 years less than females.

It’s a really great opportunity to raise awareness and get involved in a really fun and valuable initiative. Feel free to check out my ‘Mo-Growin’ progress below…

Anyway, just have a laugh or feel free to sponsor my Mo by going to http://www.movember.com/au/donate, enter the registration number which is 141092 and your credit card details. All donations over $2 are tax deductible.

The money raised by Movember is donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue – the national depression initiative, which will use the funds to create awareness, fund research and increase support networks for those men who suffer from prostate cancer and male depression.

For those that have supported Movember in previous years you can be very proud of the impact it has had and can check out the details at: Movember Fundraising Outcomes.

Thanks for your support,
Jason

PS:
* More info is available at www.movember.com.
* Movember is proudly grown by Commonwealth Bank, Holden, Schick and VB.
* Movember is proud partners with the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue – the national depression initiative.

Well, it’s nearly there… the external render and paint is all done and we hardly recognise the place! Check out the piccies…

Also, Jason was lucky enough to score a pool table for his birthday, so we’ve already put in some late nights over a few drinks! Thanks for all the accessories everyone!

Lots of fiddly things to finish around the house, but it’s very livable now and it’s looking great…

Cheers,
Jason and Chrissy

Hi Everyone!

Well, October is a big birthday month in the Bell household, so Happy Birthday Jason, Dan and Susie!

Jason turned ’30′, so in celebration (or was it in commiseration?), we threw a bit of a shin-dig for him at home… a good opportunity to get lots of friends and family together to enjoy a heap of food and drink and christen our new, bigger, better home!

It turned out to be a good night and we all had a great time! Thanks to everyone who made it along to share it with us and also to those who couldn’t make it, but were thinking of us on the night!!!

Cheers,
Jason and Chrissy

For the past few weeks, there have been some strange going’s on in the Bell Household after the lights go out…

Chief Inspector Mum was woken by giggling at around 3am. Further inspection revealed that:
• The loungeroom and kitchen lights were on;
• Both potential suspects were awake (however one was still restricted to her cot, the other was at large);
• Picnic table (aka blanket box/coffee table) was found neatly draped with a table cloth (blanket);
• Food items had been mustered from the kitchen cupboards;
• Plates and cutlery had come from the playset; and
• Guests (also known as teddies and dollies) had assembled at the late night invitation-only function.

Examine evidence at Exhibit A and B.

…Exhibit A

…Exhibit B

Upon full investigation of the crime scene, the repeat offender was handed an on-the spot fine (cleanup duty) and was sentenced to go back to bed.

Appeals were heard by Judge Dad the following morning and are still ongoing.

Cheeky but too cute, hehehehehehe,
Chief Inspector Mum

Well, as they say, a picture says a thousand words!!! We’ve finally finished the three bedrooms, hallway and stairwell! The tilers finished up last week and the carpet was laid today. We’ll now be able to move the girls back into their rooms after four months in the lounge room – yippee!

…new hallway to stairs, store room and girls rooms

…Laura’s new room

…Katie’s new room

…Spare room

…Stairwell (to games room)

…New tiles in dining room

Still a fair bit to be done though – bathroom is yet to be finished, the renderers are only about half way around the house and there is lots of putting and varnishing still to be done. Once we’ve finished inside, then it will be time to start cleaning up around the yard! All the extra vehicle traffic, storage of bricks and timber and washing out of mortar, concrete and paint has really taken its toll on the gardens and lawn (mmm… what grass down the back?)! So we’ll be at it for a few more weeks yet!

Jason and I are pretty buggered at the moment… it’s been hard work spending a day at work, coming home to look after the kids, tucking them into bed and then heading out to put the finishing touches on the extension often until the wee hours of the morning! But we’re really happy with how it’s all turned out and it’s certainly been a worthwhile experience! Can’t wait until it’s all finished and we can sit back and enjoy our house (plus maybe a well earned break)!!!

Hope you’re all doing well and thanks for tuning in!

Cheers,
Chrissy and Jason

The Girls have been soooo much fun lately! They’re both such happy little people and just love playing.

Some of Laura’s latest funnies are…
* when Jason told her she was a real ‘character’, Laura responded “I’m not a character, I’m a person!”
* ‘o-oh, spaghetti-o!’
* ‘oopsy daisy’
* whilst in the car, Laura saw a cattle train and commented “Where are those cows going? What happens if they have to go to the toilet?” hmmm, I haven’t taken the creative responses to ‘nearly 3-year-old’s’ course yet….
* whilst playing late one evening, Laura needed to go to the toilet, so she jumped up and bolted into the bathroom, as she got to the closed door, we hear ding, ‘owwww’ as she bumps straight into the door in the dark and then fumbles with the doorknob
* when watching planes go over, Laura often asks “is that Annie or Daddy’s plane”? I think some people travel too much!
* when told that Ma and Pa are going away, Laura asked “Are they going on another big boat?!?! Can we go too?” – lucky cruise-ship fanatics!
* when trying to avoid sleep-time, “can we read another book” and “can we read it again”
* when talking to Annie on the phone late one night, Laura says “is that Annie, can I talk to her – hi Annie, how you going, yeah, good”… and as if once wasn’t enough “I want to talk to Annie again… hi Annie, how’s it going?’
* whilst looking at her new room, Laura asked “am I going to have lights… and what about a fan…. and do I get carpet too?”

Katelyn is really mobile now and just loves crawling after her big sister. She’s into absolutely everything now, but especially loves tipping over the box of blocks and hearing them all spill onto the floor! She has 6 teeth now and there’s a few more on the way.

Laura and Katelyn appear to play together really well at this stage, occasionally there’s a little tiff when Laura decides she wants whatever Katelyn has just picked up, but generally they have fun occupying themselves. They love dressing up and when preparing dinner, I often hear giggles coming from the loungeroom… when I walk in, they’re generally both up to mischief with toys all over the place and a couple of hats and scarves on!

Here are some pictures of our gorgeous little darlings…

… sisters

… cuddle time

… dress-ups, hehehehe, no Mummy, we’re not up to mischief!

… swing-time

…Laura at the park

… Daddy’s Little Princess

… brrm, brrm, look ‘no hands’!

Have a great day,
Chrissy and Jason

It’s been 3 months since the first earth was turned on our little extension project… and we’re beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel (well through all the dust and boxes that is)!

Jason and I have spent the last two weeks madly painting the new rooms… each night after dinner, we put the kids to bed, cleanup and then hook in until the wee hours of the morning!!! Jason’s just had a few days off work too, which has really helped the progress with things but it’s been damn hard work!!!

I must admit though, it’s looking great!

Here are a few piccies…

The builder has left us to our own devices whilst we’ve been painting, but he’s back now and has started fitting the door jams, architraves and skirting boards, as well as fitting out the cupboards. The stairs, bathroom, electrical, tiling and carpets are still yet to be done too, so still some time before practical completion.

Thinking of you all and can’t wait until it’s done,
Chrissy and Jason

The external rendering and painting of the new extension has just been completed… Once the scaffolding comes down, it will look amazing. We can’t wait until the rest of the house is completed, we won’t know the place!

Here are a few piccies…

Cheers,
Chrissy and Jason

Wow… things have really taken shape since our last update!!!

Over the last fortnight:
* the windows were removed from the girls old rooms;
* external windows and doors were put into the extension;
* the extension was joined up to the back of the house;
* the wiring was completed;
* the brickwork was done;
* the eaves were put up; and
* the gyprock was nailed up inside (although it still has to be plastered).

We can now walk through Laura’s old room (which will become our walk through study/hallway) into a new hallway, storage room, the girls new rooms and down the stairs into the games room and new bathroom! The place is huge!!!

Here are some piccies…

…view from back corner

…stairwell (well – hole with a ladder anyway!)

…games room

…games room

It’s looking really good and we’re so happy with how things are turning out. We couldn’t match the old brick though and the closest match wasn’t close at all, so we’ve decided to give the whole house an update and it’s currently being rendered and painted. More photo’s on that one soon.

The next few weeks should be a busy time with the internal and external painting, bathroom fitout, stairs, architraves, doors, cupboards, external pathway, electrical fittings, tiling, carpets and furnishings to be done! But for now anyway, there’s nothing more important than spending some time with our girls!!!

Until next time, cheers,
Chrissy, Jason and the Girls

Well, it’s time for another blog about our precious little girls.

Katelyn has just turned 6 months. Her latest stats are:

Length: 67.5cm (longer than your average bear)

Weight: 6.95kg (lighter than your average bear)

Latest milestones: 2 bottom teeth (which she got at just 4 months of age) and about 6 more teeth which are on the way! Sits up supported. Rolls around to get what she wants. Trying solid food.

…Katelyn (Katie Koala) at 6 Months

Katelyn has just started baby rice cereal and her first vegetables. She doesn’t seem to mind it too much, kicking her legs and beaming with excitement when the little bowl comes her way and then opening her mouth wide for the spoon. She’s beginning to sleep a little better at night too (well sometimes), so that’s a bonus too!

Laura hasn’t taken long to get in on the action… Whilst Jason was away on a work trip last week, I was busy preparing dinner when my ‘little helper’ sprung into action. Katelyn was hungry and having a little whinge, so I put her into the high chair and prepared her little bowl of cereal. I then went back into the kitchen to finish preparing Laura and my meals. Everything had suddenly gone quiet though, so I turned around to check on the girls… Laura had picked up the cereal bowl and spoon and had started feeding Katelyn!!! There was a snowy white smear of food all over Katelyn’s face and both girls were starting to get the giggles… Laura doted on her sister, encouraging her with mimicked phrases like “there you go Katelyn, is that good?”… “mmm, good girl”. I guess Laura has been listening… pity she doesn’t like listening when she’s being spoken to though!!!

We’ve nicknamed Laura ‘Laura the Explorer’ because she loves to get around ‘looking for animals’ whilst on pretend safari at home, going on ‘bear hunts’ and exploring in the garden. She also loves to visit the zoo so she can ‘run with the ducks’ and see the turtles… “not just their heads Mum, I want to see their eyes and their bodies too”, asking “can we make them come out of the water”!!!

…Laura the Explorer

We’ve nicknamed Katelyn ‘Katie Koala’ because with this unusually cold winter, she can often be found hanging on and cuddling in to me just like a little koala! We’ve been encouraging Katelyn to get mobile by placing toys around her at about 1 metre distance. She lines up and rolls until she gets them. Laura found this difficult to begin with, constantly wanting to help Katelyn and saying “but Katelyn wants it”. One evening I went into the lounge room to find Laura rolling Katelyn along the floor to reach her toys which she had positioned about 5 metres away, “look Mum I’m helping Katelyn roll”!!!

I’m going back to work in a few weeks time (just part-time to begin with), which means Katelyn will be starting daycare soon… I’ve got mixed emotions on that one of course… I love my job, but I also love being at home with my girls!!! I know they’ll both cope really well though and just a few days a week should mean the best of both worlds for us all I hope.

Until next time,
Chrissy, Jason, Laura and Katelyn