Three months with Toby

Dear Matthew and Toby

It’s now been almost three months since ‘Squish’/‘Tobster’/‘Toby Woby’ joined the family. It’s been a wonderful time and I can honestly say I love having two kids. I found it really difficult the first time around on maternity leave, probably because I was coming to terms with a huge identity shift, whereas this time I am loving being at home with my two beautiful boys.

Toby, you are SO. EASY. You sleep for ridiculous amounts of time in one go, you don’t cry in the car and you are pretty happy being walked from room to room in the pram while I do chores. You absolutely adore Matt and Matt adores you. I couldn’t have asked for a better transition to second time motherhood.

You rolled over for the first time at 11 weeks, and (luckily? Unluckily?) your dad was home from work sick so we both got to watch you roll over together. You have incredible head control, are doing mini sit ups to try and see what’s going on and you like tummy time because you can keep an eye on what’s going on in the room.

You also laughed for the first time at 11 weeks, at your big brother and it was music to my ears! Baby giggles are one of the best things this world has to offer and it is so lovely watching Matt made you chuckle.

We left you for the first time on the weekend while we attended a wedding and you happily guzzled down the pumped breast milk I’d left for you from a bottle. Ma Ma and Gumps enjoyed baby cuddles and you took it all in your stride, ala typical Toby style.

Thank you for being such a happy go lucky baby Mr Tobmeister.

Love you both,

Mum xxxRestarted at 10:03

 

Dear Matthew

Preparing for Toby's first Christmas

Dear Matthew and Toby

Well, it’s that time of year again! Christmas is slowly approaching and Matt this is the first Christmas where we can have a conversation about Santa coming, what presents you want, the magical reindeers etc and it’s just awesome. I am a HUGE fan of Christmas and having children has really brought back the specialness of this time of year.

In preparation for the big day, we wrote a letter to Santa. You asked for a Rescue Bots transformer, water balloons and a crane. This has since changed to a Power Rangers Megazord, dinosaur chomper thingymajig, and a Power Rangers costume. Needless to say, Santa may wait till the last minute to confirm what you want 😊

We posted our letter to Santa in the Australia Post letter box and are now just eagerly waiting his reply.

We’ve also put up some new Christmas lights outside on our carport for the first time and the look on your face Matt when we turned them on was priceless. You now ask to turn them on at night and make us stand back to admire them all together, I love it!

Looking forward to having a wonderful Christmas with both my boys. Toby this will of course be your first Christmas and I’m so looking forward to sharing it with you.

Love you boys,

Mum xxx

Halloween 2017

 Dear Matthew and Toby

To celebrate Halloween this year we headed into my work to do some trick or treating. Matt, you dressed up as a pirate and Toby you pretty much slept the whole time 😊 

I’m lucky that Notre Dame has an agreement with American universities where each semester some of its students come and study with us, so there are always American students on campus. These students run the trick or treating, and my gosh, it’s next level! The decorations, costumes and activities were just amazing. Matt, you got to decorate a pumpkin, have a bat painted on your face and then go trick or treating upstairs to the American students’ rooms where you were given a massive amount of ‘candy’. See the photos below for the awesome set up they had going on.

You really loved the experience Matt and every time we have been to my work since (just to drop in for a few different other events, while I’m on maternity leave) you have asked if we can go trick or treating and I have to (attempt) to explain to you that it only happens once a year! But I hope it means that you have fun at my work (my boss Rommie usually ensures this happens every time you visit anyway) and you don’t mind me going.

Looking forward to trick or treating with you both next year – when Toby will be able to walk around collecting candy by himself!

Love you both,

Mum xxx

Matthew's 4th birthday

Dear Matthew and Toby

At the end of last month we celebrated Matt's 4th birthday . I can't believe you're already 4, Matt! You are growing into the most gorgeous little boy, and have really come out of your shell lately. You talk to anyone (including strangers, and usually about your 'yellow dog called Soda') and love catching up with kids at our various play dates so you can play with them. Your friends have become 'my baby Rose' and 'my Charlie' and it's so wonderful to see these little relationships developing. You love going to your kindy with your dad on Wednesdays, catching the train into the city with him and doing fun activities with the kids all day. You're looking forward to attending big school next year with Chloe from mother's group and you especially love playing Nintendo with your dad (and you're really good at it!).  I am so proud of you, my sweet, joyful son.

On your birthday we woke to you finding your presents waiting for you in the living room, including a big boy bike! You also got an ankylosaurus (your favourite dinosaur), a helmet, a pirate costume, a pirate book and a dinosaur book.

Later that morning we hosted your friends for a 'messy' party where we turned the backyard into a various mixture of activities. We had play dough, rock decorating, shaving cream in a tub, coloured rice, painting, digging in the sand pit, the paddling pool, slippery slide and water balloons. You and your friends had heaps of fun getting messy together.

We sang happy birthday to you and you loved the monster truck cake your dad and I had made for you (apologies - it wasn't made from scratch but I figured given Toby was only 7 weeks old we were off the hook for an elaborate cake!).

For the rest of the day you enjoyed playing with your cousins and opening your presents.

You have already started planning next year's party :)

Love you boys,

Mum xxx