A new member in the family

No I am not pregnant....we have added a dinosaur to the family. As you all know Jolene is getting older and we felt it was time for her to get rid of her paci (dummy or pacifier). Sunday night I told her that she was a big girl and that we would be throwing the dummy away. She told me "I'm a big girl now, I don't need a paci". "Ok" said I, "no more paci". So Sunday night we put her in bed without it. As soon as her head touched the pillow she was asking for her paci. I told she had said she didn't need it any more. She just looked at me and asked again. No, no paci. That night didn't go so well. I think she cried for an hour or so but eventually fell asleep. The next day I took her to the store and said she could get a special surprise since she gave up her paci. She picked a stuffed triceratops, fondly named her Dora (I have to say the sex of Dora changes by the hour), and now we are a family of five.
The first nap time was terrible even though Dora was there to rub her horns on Jolene's face. Jolene cried for the whole nap time. I almost went crazy. I stood firm though and no paci.

Jolene is fine now. The next night she went to bed without any crying. Brandon told her a story and that seemed to be enough. The following nap time went well too. It seems that stories are a requirement for sleep now as Jolene asks for them every night. Her favorite right now is Daniel in the lions den. That might be due to the fact that she has a stuffed lion as well.


Adele is getting her first tooth! I'm sure the second one is not far behind. She is also "waving" goodbye and making sounds that are very similar to the words. I think she will be talking even earlier than Jolene. Adele is also on the verge of crawling. She goes backwards fine it is the forward motion that stops her. She can get on her hands and knee and puts her little bottom in the air but is just not brave enough or coordinated to get the hands and feet going. Jolene as no idea what will happen in a few weeks time. All of Jolene's stuff will be at the mercy of Adele. Oh joy for me. They already fight now and Adele isn't moving all over the place yet. When I mean fighting I mean Jolene will take a toy that is laying beside Adele and Adele will yell at Jolene. Jolene will then follow suit and yell back only she will raise Adele one and add a shove to make it a combo move. Lovely, who said little children are innocent and can't do wrong? They have obviously not seen Adele when she is angry.
------------------Adele making her pirate face and getting into the chalk----------------------------

What else, oh yes. The flora and fauna of Australia. I took Jolene and Adele on a walk down by the bay today. We found two huge jellyfish (almost dinner plate size), at least I think that's what they were. They had been in the sun for awhile so the tendrils were gone. I wanted to bring the nicer looking one home with us so Jolene and I could dissect it but I didn't have a bag:-( I didn't really want to wrap it up in Adele's baby blanket either too messy. I cut the more yucky one open with a shell to have look. I was surprised at how dense they actually are or at least this type was. It was like cutting really dense agar. Maybe if I would have taken it home and soaked it a bit the composition would have changed, not really sure. I am debating on whether I should go back tonight and get it before the tide comes in. The birds will probably tear it apart before then anyway. So no picture of mine to show you, I know you are as disappointed as I am :-) Here is what I think it is from looking on the web


Blue Jellyfish - Catostylus mosaicus