Hernia good jokes lately?

How about the one about the woman who thought she'd fix her mildly uncomfortable hernia by having a very uncomfortable operation? Hilarious, that one.
Actually, it's not all so bad. I got a night of 'luxury' in hospital, a day of laying around home being waited on hand and foot (yes really) and then mum and dad had Sophie for a second night so I got an unbroken night's sleep (although I was still awake at 5am).
The recovery from this operation is pretty easy though, compared to the recovery from my caesarean. I feel better today than I did when I came home from hospital five days after that operation, and the extra bonus is that I don't have a newborn to deal with at the same time!
Sophie has been very cute about it all. I showed her the wound, which looks pretty impressive as they've only covered it with that clear film so you can see everything. She keeps calling it 'ssoorrss' which I'm not sure is meant to be 'sore' or perhaps 'sauce' from the blood. :) Any rate, she keeps well away from my tummy area and I had to reassure her several times that she could still breastfeed. Too cute.

Photos: Me looking suitably impressed at an extremely tall Lego tower the kids built.

Ryan, Bethany and Beth's friend Caitlin impersonating a human spider over Hannah.

Sophie loved the geese at Nanny's.














The other cousins. We visited with Paul's sister's kids this week. They were down from Darwin for a week visiting their dad's family and Jeannie had them for one day and night. They are lovely girls, bubbly, happy and polite. The kids all get along very well, although Bethany felt a bit lost, not quite old enough to keep up with Ryan, Ayla (11) and Holly (9). Ayla is an extremely talented artist, she was drawing freehand an ocean scene from the front of the pencil packet and it was just amazing.



With both parents such avid readers, is it surprising that this is a common scene in our house?

Calendar anyone?

This year, for unique and thoughtful gifts from our children, various teachers and carers hit upon the novel idea of laminating a photo of a child and attaching a bunch of dates (not that sort!). Hey presto, a calendar! Only problem is, they're pretty useless. And for this year, we have three of them (plus some cute scribbles from the baby).

Sophie sharing Bethany's hot dog on a visit to the Elizabeth Aquadome last week.

Some sunburned girls after a day out to the beach with Papa today. Note Bethany's red butt as her bathers are too small so she has an almost permanent wedgie. But why was her bottom in the sun so much??? At least they had a fun day.