Well DH is back at work after 6 weeks holidays so it's about time I got back to blogging.
It's been very crowded with 3 of us at home and impossible to concentrate on anything (like blogging) so here's my chance. I thought I'd be able to get this done today while Alex slept but things have changed in the last 6 weeks and he doesn't sleep as much. Instead today I had to give him all the attention he has become used to getting from 2 parents at home. It's been a tiring day. All good though, we had a lot of fun.
Alex has been talking more, or maybe I'm just understanding more. Today I noticed he says ma (more) when he sees some food he wants and na (no) if I offer him the wrong food. It's so nice to see him wanting food enough to tell me about it. I'll have to make him some more icecream tomorrow. Yes he likes icecream and like most prem parents we are so happy to find something he likes so he gets to eat 'junk' food like icecream. If I make it myself I know it's all natural, no preservatives, flavouring or colouring.

I have a lot of photo news to blog so I'll start with the most recent pics. Alex went to stay with his Grandparents for Australia day which meant his Dad and I could get out and take some photos. This holiday really missed the freedom of being able to come and go at any hour on any impulse. Can't do that with Alex, it takes an hour to get him fed and packed for a trip out and then we have to take so much stuff with us, and he is usually asleep when we get our late night impulses.
So Thursday night Alex stayed with Nana and we went went for a midnight walk with the cameras practicing night photography.


We had planned on staying up all night so we could get to the Australia Day hot air balloon rise at dawn but we gave up at 3:45am and went to bed for an hour. We made it to the park while it was still dark at 5:30am. I didn't realise the park would be dark, we couldn't see where we were treading and had to go by sound to find the balloons behind the trees. We got there as the first balloon was filling so we got to see them all fill before they set off. It was very overcast, rained the night before, so there wasn't much of a sunrise to see but we got some nice photos. The earlier shots with the sky still dark are the most impressive.
There were a lot of people and a surprising number of photographers. We had to be careful not to trip over the tripods :) I think we were all taking the same shots. Every time I moved to get a new angle I noticed a few other photographers following. I used my Sigma 18-125mm lens but found I really needed a wider lens. I had to keep moving further and further away as the balloons filled. Graham was using the 100-300mm lens and really couldn't fit much in. Makes me wonder what the photographers with the big L class zooms were shooting.









After the balloons we had a nice relaxed breakfast in town, about 7:30am and then we went to Brighton to catch up with the Sydney Cruising guys but we didn't go on the cruise itself. I was getting a little bit too much sun by then and we needed coffee so we headed home. We were home by midday to relax (do the washing). I think it was the most I've ever done on Australia Day.