update

Just a quick post to show you some up to date photos of the children.

Neil is now out of his brace and his off work for one more month to get strong enough to return to work.

The weeks are flying by, Jess is now 3 months old and is doing very well. She is very smily apart from when she is crying! She is a bit of a cuddle chops but is getting better but she is a good sleeper at night.

Jessica in the bath age 2 months



Our photogenic son in the bath (spot him when he's angry!)









After delivering a picture we took Bradley to a park which was fun but unfortunately headed in tears with Bradley falling from the ladder!



Bradley and Jess(age 2 months)





Another bath shot!



We went for a lovely walk on the beach, even on a cloudy winter day it's beautiful!









Jessie age 3 months



A portrait of the dogs. Neddy is on the right and Bella, Mum and Dads dog is on the left.



Last Friday we headed to the home and garden expo, Bradley liked the kids area, not sure I was ready to be dragged in !





Neil has been busy building this beautiful outdoor chair for Bradley with some scrap timber. It is amazing!



And last but not least some father daughter shots especially for Neil's mum!

Lillydale Farmstay

All is going well here in Oz. Neil is making a steady recovery, he wears his brace at all times apart from night were he has to sleep flat on his back. He is being x rayed at the hospital each month to check how he is healing and is due again this Thursday but so far so good. Jessica is progressing well and is now 7 weeks old and still being very good. She has gained 1 and half kilograms and has started smiling!

We decided to take a little break this week as it was my 30th. We thought it would be fun to take Bradley to a farm stay, we found a really nice one at a place called Mount Barney which is about 3 hours south west from us. The children were angels for the journey but boy you need a lot of stuff to go away with 2 young children!

The farm was in the most amazing setting with Mount Barney as the backdrop as-well as many other mountains surrounding the area. We had a beautiful suite with a kitchen, bathroom, tv etc as well as a courtyard with 2 donkeys for company.

Bradley could feed the animals twice a day and you have free run around the farm. The feeding started with the chickens and collecting the eggs. Bradley was surprisingly gentle with no breakages! Next was the pig who definitely ate like a pig! He liked watermelon as a treat but after Bradley Paskin had a munch first! While the cow had her breakfast Bradley was allowed a ride! They also had wallabies which were very gentle on the fingers. The last animals were the sheep and the donkeys who made short work of there carrots.

We all went on a tractor ride around the property and I got to have a birthday horse ride were I spotted a very cute koala. Bradley really enjoyed being able to play on a big tractor and explore the farm in his wellies and hat! Defiantly a country boy!

On the way home we went inland and had a night at Toowoomba were we did a little exploring that seemed to involve lots of parks for Brads!

It was a great trip and we would love to go back to the farm again especially when everyone is more able!

Photos are in a slideshow (there is a lot!) but just click on one of them to view them all one by one with the captions if you wish!

A Day out in Brisbane

A few days before Neil's accident we headed to Brisbane for the day, to have our visas officially put in our passports. Neil fell before I had chance to share these photos with you so we thought we would backtrack! It was very nice to see the words 'can stay in Australia indefinitely' written in our passports. We had a lovely day using the train to get into Brisbane followed by going on the city cat which is the boat to get up and down the river that runs through the middle of the city. We had a lovely lunch and a paddle on the South bank followed by a ride on the Brisbane eye. Altogether a great day.

From Brisbane

From Brisbane

From Brisbane

From Brisbane

From Brisbane

From Brisbane

From Brisbane

From Brisbane

From Life Downunder

Jessica Eve Paskin arrives!

It's been high dramas since our last post. Firstly the good news was that we were made permanent residents of Australia on the 31st March. This was a great relief as our temporary visas only had a few months left.

Then, unfortunately Neil had a nasty accident at work falling over 2 metres when stepping onto a ladder which turned out not to be secured. He fell flat onto his back and was shortly in an ambulance to hospital. Not what your heavily pregnant wife needs on a Monday morning being called to emergency! He has cracked a vertebrae in his lower back and will be out of action for 3 months. But after a couple of days in hospital we found out that he could have a brace therefore he can move around and recover at home.

Luckily Jessie decided not to put in an appearance while Neil was flat on his back. She did however arrive Easter Monday(13th April) at 8.22pm. I had mild contractions all day but due to very heavy rain we decided to go to the hospital in good time. Which turned out to be a good job as shortly after getting there my contractions really kicked in and an hour later Jessica was born.

She weighed 3.29kg (7lb 4oz) and has been a very good girl so far!

Bradley is very taken with his little sister.

Lots of photos for you!

Choo choo! Bradley and the steam train!

In the week we saw an article in the local paper about a one off trip on a steam train along the local track! We knew a boy who would love that so booked tickets. The train ran between Yandina and Palmwoods and we live in the middle.









Bradley had a great time and was fascinated especially when the engine disappeared at Palmwoods to turn around to go onto the other end of the train.



But the highlight for Brads was when Daddy held him to hang out the window, see video!

Valentines day and Bradley's second birthday.

On a rainy valentines day in Queensland, neil had the great and spontaneous idea of cooking breakfast outside! It took 15 mins to gather everything together before heading to Wappa Dam, which is a park by a reservoir only 5 mins from us.









Bradley celebrated his 2nd birthday on Saturday 21st, he woke up to a balloons and presents followed by breakfast at Mooloolaba. As last year he went out for pancakes for his breakfast so we thought it might become tradtion so pancakes again this year!

I am 2!!!



My new garage Daddy built for me



Wow a lawnmower, thanks Nan and Grandad!





My pancakes!





Bradley's birthday treat was a trip to Underwater World, an aquarium in Mooloolaba that we hadn't been to before.
Bradley loved it and was a very happy boy spotting all the fish, his Mummy and Daddy struggled to keep up!

Fish spotting with daddy.



Watching the seal show.



The underwater tunnel full of sharks!





Daddy and Bradley exploring!



The highlight was watching the seals in the underwater viewing area. We caught Bradley on a movie!




Watch out behind you!



The walk back to the car, boat spotting on the way!



Bradley was ready for a long sleep after that! While Mummy and Daddy decorated his birthday cake!

We went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for a bbq and for the birthday cake!!

Wow, my cake is a train (decoration was down to Daddy!)



I can eat the wheels!



Man, this is messy!


Only 8 weeks till our new baby is due, so hopefully we will be doing lots more blog posts then!