Nicky on 3 December 2006

Just to bring this blog right up to date, here's a photo of Nicky which we took today. I should also add that today happens to be Kristian's birthday - 33 years young!

Nicky's trail of destruction

You can always tell if Nicky has been in a room. These snaps were taken of him when he was with us in the study one day, like he happens to be at this very moment in time. When he is in this room his usual activities involve pulling books off the shelves, pulling the papers out of the bin, trying to turn the computer off, pulling all our camera, USB cords etc out of the box we keep them in etc etc. After he has been in the room for about 5 minutes it looks like a warzone! This morning after he had had his breakfast he was playing around in the loungeroom. He managed to pull over our shoe rack, leaving shoes scattered everywhere, empty his toy box and leave toys all around the room...pretty soon it was looking like a bomb had hit it too! Hmmm...I have heard that in the toddler years lots of kiddies actually enjoy household tasks such as tidying up...bring it on I say!!

A visit from the Godfather

Peter, our dear friend and Nicky's Godfather, came to visit us recently after attending a conference in Japan. We had a blast hanging out with him (although his Borat impersonation leaves something to be desired!)

Nicky & his Daddy in sepia

Nicky looks rather good in sepia. What do you think?? Oh, and Kristian looks mighty fine too!

Nicky's war face

We call this expression Nicky's "war face". It's hilarious. We like it so much that we've used this photo as the wallpaper on our PC.

Nicky & Cely

Here's some cute snaps of Nicky and Cely taken a few weeks ago.

Raphael's First Birthday Party!

It's been a while since I have put anything on this blog - very remiss of me! I know all you Nicky fans out there must be hanging out for more Nicky news - so here goes! Well, on Sunday 12 November we went to Raphael's First Birthday party. Raphael is Kristian's godson, Nicky's good buddy and the son of our good friends Michael & Virginia. It was a lovely afternoon. Nicky had a ball cruising around and charming people with his winning smile (& personality of course). Suffice to say, he absolutely conked out on the car trip on the way home. It was a big day!

Digitally enhanced Nicky photo

I think that this is a rather sweet photo of Nicky. However, I must admit, it is somewhat digitally enhanced using some very nifty software - ie I have fiddled around with the lighting, skin tones etc. But hey, but do you think that the images of all those top baby models who you see in those glossy mags are completely au naturalle and unadulterated. No, of course they get the benefit of a bit of "digital work"!!

Standing tall

Nicky is becoming rather good at standing, if I do say so myself. His balance is getting better and better. He has even started being brave enough to let go of whatever he is holding on to for support. He can stand for 10 or so seconds at a time unsupported. He has also started "cruising" as they call it, i.e stepping around furniture. Our little man is growing up! These photos show Nicky in his favorite place in the world, our front garden/courtyard. He is quite keen on our bbq...dare I say it, an Aussie bloke in the making??! Perish the thought.

Bathtime antics

Nicky doesn't have baths. What I hear you say??? Could we really be such neglectful parents?? No, the fact is that he's way too mature for baths, but instead is more at home in the shower.

Well, actually, as a matter of practicality we decided to start putting Nicky in the shower and following him around with the hose. Because he is constantly on the move, the bath was becoming a tad dangerous. So instead we have laid bathmats on the shower floor, and he is pretty content to crawl around in the shower, watch the water running down the drain, play with his bath toys, play with the shower hose etc etc.

Dressing Nicky for bed after his bath is rather challenging to say the least. Again, this boy just never sits still!! Putting a sleepsuit on him involves trying to distract him sufficiently so he will stay still enough to put the sleepsuit on. Generally we end up following him around. It can be a time consuming process!! One of the photos is an action shot showing me trying to get Nicky's sleepsuit on.

Blowing Bubbles

I created this little slideshow using a very groovy programme which I discovered we had on our computer. It's called a "muvee" according to the nomenclature used in the programme. Unfortunately the quality of the video images is not too flash but I thought I would upload it in any event because I went to the trouble of making the muvee. Anyways, the muvee consists of a series of photos taken when we went to visit our friend Rachel and her son James the other weekend. I think Rachel enjoyed the bubble blowing as much as Nicky!

Nicky at 5 months

OK, I'm backtracking now. I just downloaded all the footage which was on our video camera and came across some cute footage of Nicky taken when he was about 5 months old. At this age he just loved being on his tummy, kicking around and playing with his toys. He couldn't move backwards or forwards in any purposeful way, but did somehow manage to move around, but generally not in the direction that he wanted to go. This would really bug him! But in this footage he's in a very jolly mood.

Cute Nicky snaps

I think these Nicky snaps are very cute. No text required!

Hanging out with GnG

Well, GnG are on a plane back to sunny Sydney as I type this. It was sad to see them go but we will be back in Australia in about 10 weeks time, so not too long at all.

Nicky and I had a great time hanging out with GnG. We mooched around at home, went up the street for lunch, did a couple of walks at the East Coast Park, and generally chilled. Nicky did really well, even though he has a bit of a cold at the moment. But that did not deter him from racing around, exploring and generally having a blast. It's fun to be a baby!!

Nicky's balance is improving. We did have a few scary moments when he first started pulling up on furniture when he bumped his head. But now, thankfully, he has realised that if you let go, the likely consequence is pain - so he's learnt that he's gotta hold on and that if he wants to get back down on the ground, he's gotta do so in a painless way. So he has learnt to go "plop" on his bottom. It really does look quite funny (I should try to capture it on video). He spreads his legs a little, braces and then goes "plop" on his behind onto the ground. It's a pretty neat little manoeuvre!

Grandma and Grandpa visit again!

Wow, I can't believe it, this blog is pretty much up to date now. Phew! Well, I'm only a few days behind.

On Sunday, about five days ago, GnG arrived for their second visit to Singapore since Nicky was born. They were amazed at how much he had grown and developed. They had last seen him in early July, so when he was about 5 months old. Now he has just hit the 8 month mark.

On Sunday evening we went on a little adventure to Malaysia (Truly Asia) with Nicky. We drove to a little seaside town called Geylang Petai, just near Johor Bahru. We met up with Alex, a friend of ours who works with Kristian. Alex is Malaysian and lives in JB and he certainly knows his food. It was Nicky's first visit to Malaysia, so the third country he had been to. He slept on the way there (about an hour and a half's trip) and so when we arrived he was fairly perky. He was really good at the restaurant. By the time we left it was about 10pm, way past Nicky's bedtime, and he was still fighting fit. That being said, he completely conked out on the car ride home.

Oh and by the way, the food at the restaurant was awesome. And very cheap lah! Only 250 ringgit (or for you Aussies A$80) for five people, including beer. We had masses of crab, fish, a wonderful pork curry (apparently a Teochew dish), tofu etc, all washed down with some refreshing lager.

I have included a photo of Mum and Nicky at the restaurant and one of Alex in some very important discussions with a waitress at the restaurant (i.e about ordering food).

Kamakaze Nicky!

Nicky has no fear. He has always wanted to do a lot more than his physical limitations allow. For example, trying to climb the stairs one day not so long ago. That being said, now after practising this skill a few times, he's actually pretty good at it.

The other thing he started recently, so when he was about 7.5 months old, was pulling himself to stand by grabbing onto furniture. Not one to do things the easy way, he has decided that he quite likes standing on his tippy toes, rather than flat on his feet. Gotta make things challenging! Apparently he'll grow out of this soon.

The first day or so he started doing this pulling up trick, it caught Kristian and I by surprise and a couple of times Nicky took a tumble and bumped his head. It was scary, as we have marble floors, pretty much one of the hardest surfaces you can get. So now we make sure that we are close by him at all times when he's crawling around, just so we can catch him if he starts to topple over after he's tried to stand up.

That being said, his balance is getting a lot better and he has learnt that if he is reckless this can result in a bit of a knock to the head. So he is learning to sit down again after pulling himself up. This has meant that he has now gone thud on his backside quite a few times!

Water fun!!

Cely, our Filipino helper, kindly bought Nicky a baby wading pool not long after he was born. Now that we live in a house and have a small garden, I decided to try it out a few weeks ago (yes, this blog is nearly up-to-date!!). Nicky loves it!!

I want to break free!!

One of Nicky's favorite places is our garden. If we leave the sliding door open in the loungeroom and he is inside, invariably he will mosey on outside. He has become quite adept at negotiating his way down the small step between the sliding door and the garden.

These photos were taken one day when he was out and about in the garden. The first shows him looking longingly outside and the second shows him having fun in the sun with the poodles.

Nicky starts crawling!!

After months of frustration and trying to move around, Nicky finally started crawling in late August 2006, when he was nearly 7 months old.

The crawling process was something which took him about a month to get the hang of. In early August he started getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth. After a week or so of this, he started creeping, initially backwards. Then he worked out how to go forwards. And finally, he started to crawl. He was stoked! After months of trying to move forwards he had finally done it. Suddenly, he could crawl over to the other side of the room if he wanted, grab that toy which he wanted, follow you into the kitchen etc. The world was his for the taking.

Mmmmm....yoghurt!

These photos were taken when Nicky was having yoghurt one day, one of his top three favorite foods. As you can see, he has a while to go in the table manners department!

Just a cute photo

This photo was taken in early August 2006. I just thought that I would include it because it's super cute.

I love pumpkin!!

Eating solid food was one of the big events for Nicky in August. This can be a tricky business. Finding the things your baby will eat, making sure the food is not too hot, not too cold, the right texture, not too lumpy, not lumpy enough etc etc...all compounded by the fact that your baby obviously can't talk and tell you what he/she really wants. It would be smashing if your baby could just say, for example, "Mummy, I want some sweet potato & pumpkin puree tonight followed by some yoghurt with a side of apple & pear puree". Wouldn't that be grand!!??

Thankfully, Nicky has proved to be a pretty good solids eater. His favorites are pumpkin pasta, weetbix and yoghurt. These photos were taken on one of his first forays into the world of solid food. I'm sure that if he could talk he would be saying "I love pumpkin!!"

Out and about with Nicky

This photo was taken when we were out and about with Nicky at the East Coast Park in early August 2006. Nicky was about 6 months old.

Sorry - I completed bypassed July! What adventures did Nicky get up to in July you might ask? Hmmm....well he continued to use his best endeavours (oops - I'm sounding like a lawyer..bad habit) to try and move around. As soon as you put him on his back he would roll onto his tummy and then proceed to kick, wriggle, squirm...anything to get moving. This of course caused him a great deal of frustration. The poor darling put in so much effort, but often for not much reward. He would grab onto a toy, only to knock it out of his reach, try to move forward to get it, but end up moving backwards. It really p#$$@d him off! He just couldn't wait to really get moving!!

Nicky is mesmerised by Frank!

I can't believe it - I worked out how to upload video footage to Nicky's blogspot. Considering that I am a bit of a Ludite at times, I think that this is a major achievement! This footage of Nicky's baptism shows just how mesmerised he was by Frank.

Post-baptism bash

We had a post-baptism bash which was lovely. The champers was free-flowing and everyone was in high spirits.

Nicky was passed around from person to person and took everything in his stride. No baby freaks-outs whatsoever! In fact, I barely held him for most of the party. His adoring fans wouldn't let me! He certainly was the star of the show.

Nicky's baptism & a possible Mary MacKillop miracle

In June Kristian, Nicky and I travelled back to Sydney for Nicky's baptism. It was even more special because the priest officiating at the baptism was none other than Father Frank Murphy, our friend who had married us in Ireland.

The baptism took place at the Mary MacKillop Chapel in North Sydney, a lovely place. Nicky was decked out in the Shanahan family christening gown, which had been in the Shanahan family for 100 years or so. I reckon that he looked like a little angel (gush, gush I know). Very Victorian England. Amazingly, Nicky who is normally constantly wriggling around, managed to sit still through the entire baptism. He was completely mesmerised by Frank. Another Mary MacKillop miracle perhaps??

Pin-up Boy Nicky

Kristian took this photo in May when Jan Shaw was visiting. It was the best photo that we had taken to him of date. He looks absolutely gorgeous, not that I'm biased :)

Nicky's First Visit to The Raffles

A friend's mother, a lovely lady called Jan Shaw, came and stayed with us in early May. Being English and appreciating a good cuppa, we set off, with Nicky in tow, to that famous Singapore institution, The Raffles, for High Tea. Nicky behaved like a proper little gentleman-baby. He loves a good cup of Earl Grey and a scone or two.

A Visit from Uncle Steve and Auntie Jo

In late April Steve and Jo came to stay for about a week. Much of it was of course spent eating (Steve is completely obsessed!) and hanging out with the Nickster.