No pictures, no autographs and please don't notice the drool on my chin	Aiden in his new pyjamas	Drink anyone?	Marshmallow man	OK I know there are a lot of photos of Aiden this week, but he's the only well one around here!
Aiden tries to BBQ Itchy	Kate and Aiden see if their cousin Ryan does anything when you push his buttons They should enjoy it while they can because I think he will grow into a giant like his Dad and he won't be pushed around by the dynamic duo!	Aiden let's Ryan look at his beloved belly button, you can see Ryan is suitably impressed	Poor sick little girl :-(	She feels better! We won't mention that it is 1am and the rest of Australia is asleep

Tuesday December 10th 2002

Almost 17 months

Dare I say it?? They've been sick again and in the case of Kate - very sick. She had 3-4 visits from the locum, a visit to our local Dr and a trip to hospital. She had gastro and then a nasty flu. She also developed an ear infection and her eardrum ruptured. She was going to be admitted to hospital for dehydration but luckily we got to bring her home. Needless to say that with an ear infection she was Ms Personality - NOT! Poor thing was in so much pain and she spent most of Sunday screaming. Aaron and I took it in turns to carry her around trying anything we could to distract her including allowing her to chew on 6 pieces of bread at one time, all clenched into a soggy mess in her hands, allowing her to suck on the top of a medicine bottle of her choice, carry around the knife sharpener, chew on my $200 sunglasses, empty the contents of a sultana packet onto our bedroom floor, like I said whatever stopped the crying. Unfortunately each thing only lasted a few minutes in it's distraction value. At one stage I walked up and down the street with no shoes on at sunset whilst ants bit my feet. She only likes to sit on one side of my body so I wouldn't be surprised if I end up permanently looking like I am standing on a ramp.

 The crying really wore us down and at one stage Aaron and I put one of her favourite videos on. It was 10pm and we both sat there comatose, mouths gaping open, Kate sitting on our laps chewing on her favourite medicine bottle with a fork in the other hand (yeah yeah I know my chances of Mother of the Year are looking slim). The decidedly annoying soundtrack bopped along as a toy frog was shown from every angle. A particularly animated female voice could be heard, "Big frog, little frog, silly frog....". We sit and stare, wondering what has become of our lives. Still....at least she isn't crying....now if we could just get her to sleep.....

She is improving and life is looking better. Aiden did get the illness but in a much less severe form. The problem he had was mainly dehydration. Aaron and I had been congratulating ourselves because we had eliminated bottles from our house but we celebrated too soon. The Dr said we had to get Aiden to drink or he would end up in hospital. Out came the bottles, much to Aiden's delight. He hasn't stopped drinking since. I fear it will be awhile before we get rid of bottles.

Aiden's main goal in life of late has been to capture and maim the cats. He chases them with a relentless spirit all over the house, over and under furniture. He is particularly fond of showing Itchy affection in the form of slapping, pulling and tugging his tail, all with an evil grin, Itchy is so starved for attention he puts up with it. We try to stop Aiden, "Gentle Aiden...." we start, "Gentle Aiden be nice to Itchy...." we continue, "No Aiden..."finally, "RUN ITCHY RUN GET AWAY!!" At this point we have to physically shoo Itchy away. Not to be deterred Aiden then grabs his push along lawn mower and mows Itchy down.

This weekend we are off on a trip away WITHOUT kids! Jackie is minding them as a Christmas present. We are off to a seaside town to stay in a resort. The weather is looking gorgeous. The only nose I intend to wipe is my own (and Aaron's if he is really good), I intend to sleep in and eat my meals at a leisurely pace with no sticky little fingers in sight. I intend to wear my sunglasses whenever I want without fear of them being ripped off my head. I hope to put my cup down wherever I wish and know that I won't have to clean its contents off the floor and then stop the fight that follows about who will play with the cup. I am looking forward to walking without two little people attached to my legs, both insisting it is their turn to be picked up. I am going to read my book without a little person yanking it from my hands, chewing on it, dragging it across the floor and leaving it as far out of my reach as possible. I will be able to leave the TV remote wherever I wish, confident that when I return the TV screen will look precisely as I left it with the same colour, contrast and brightness. There won't be an unexplained and unremoveable (unless you have a degree in electronics) graphic on the screen and the volume won't be loud enough to wake the dead.

I promise to only ring home 15 times each day....

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Friday December 27th 2002

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

We're siiiiicccckk	Look Daddy bottles are on sale!!	Unwrapping frenzy	Aiden got a truck!	Heeelllppp meee!
Uncle Simon reads a story (and Mummy realizes it is about time we got that wall fixed)	Aiden and Ryan hang out	Eating lunch	Aiden the streaker	Katie
Aiden wears his new glasses	They only stay on for a minute at a time	Eating pudding with Jackie	Singing at our family Carols By Candlelight	Nanny and Kate doing what they love best

We started off the Silly Season with Aiden vomiting and then Kate got her double ear infection back so we spent the day before Christmas at the Dr's getting antibiotics for Kate. She had spent the night before basically screaming every hour on the hour. Despite all this they did remarkably well at all of the Christmas celebrations.

We had Simon stay for the week with us which was great. We went to our family Carols By Candlelight on Christmas Eve and Kate actually sang along, completely off tune and just making up words, a lot like her father really. They stayed up until 10pm. Kate slept until 9:30am, Aiden got up at the usual time.

Christmas day was spent with Aaron's family and it was just lovely. It was so enjoyable and relaxing despite Kate and Aiden being particularly needy and testy. The poor things were not well. We got through the day fine, Kate even had a nap (after Daddy took her for a drive to put her to sleep).

On Boxing day we had my family over for lunch. We took the turkey out of the fridge where it had been defrosting for four days, only to find it still frozen. What does one do with a huge frozen turkey??? We gave up trying to defrost it and bought some chickens to roast instead. It was another great day and Kate and Aiden were feeling much better. Now we have to think up a hundred different uses for turkey.....

They got lots of great presents and it is somewhat obscene when you see how many toys they actually own. Something about having two children the same age results in an abundance of toys. We are now the people that others will always talk about.

Aiden went to the eye specialist the week before Christmas and was assessed. She said he urgently needed glasses to correct the squint (lazy eye). He received them the day before Christmas and has worn them for a total of 10 minutes since. We persevere....

Oh and how was our weekend away? I was sick with  fluid in the ear and spent the whole time dizzy. Still, at least I got to lay down a lot. Kate and Aiden did brilliantly with Jackie.