Chandler's Overseas

Christmas celebrations were brought forward to 23 December this year due to us being in Knysna on Christmas Day. The house was busy with us preparing the delicious food all morning whilst also trying to get organised for our departure the following day. Harrison had a ridiculous amount of presents to open but loved the excitement of it all. He had a big smile on his face whilst opening all of the presents (must take after his Mum!). Our menu for the day included steamed scallops accompanied with french champagne, roasted whole turkey, home-baked gammon, vegetables and of course finished with a plum pudding, hard sauce & egg custard. We 'rolled' from the table to the couches after the meal and then enjoyed a restful afternoon whilst digesting the yummy food. Merry Christmas to all and thank you to everyone for your gifts & Christmas wishes xx Harrison eyeing off which presents to open first! We loved getting to help Harrison open some of his presents! Turning out the ...

Harrison is now 6 months- we can't believe how quickly he is growing up. 6 months marked a few milestones including: - commencing on solids; - 2 bottom teeth appearing and 2 top teeth following a couple of weeks afterwards; and - blowing out his first candle (it was only half a candle!) on 9 December. Harrison is getting more active every day. We need to keep a close eye on him now as quite often if we put him on the floor to play a couple of seconds later he will be meters away on the other side of the room. He has definitely mastered the skill of rolling!

This is Harrison playing with his first ball. It is hilarious seeing him so excited by it! Sportman in the making?

Phil & Nelson arrived on Sunday to holiday with us for 3 weeks. Nelson was so excited to finally meet Harrison and is determined to be the best uncle!

Nearly every day for the past fortnight, Jen & Harrison have been attending intensive swim classes with Aquatots . We have mastered the skill of 'flip & float' with Harrison now able to float by himself, unaided, for up to 6 seconds. He is also able to submerge (chasing after the toy fish!) for up to 3 seconds before 'flipping & floating' to the surface again. Obviously not a lot can be taught to babies, however the learning is progressive and it is good for us to be aware of water safety. We also sing lots of songs with the babies to ensure it is fun for all! Jen was beside herself the first time Harrison floated by himself- both with fear of him being in the water unaided and with amazement that he can actually do it. Such a proud Mum & Dad! The last lesson was 'open day' so Pete was able to come along and watch Harrison's progress, along with all of the other Dads. We will continue with the classes next term, however thankfully (!) will j...

The traditional Christmas festivities have commenced in the Chandler household. We have decorated our makeshift Christmas tree (Harrison was very intrigued with the whole process), the Christmas pudding has been boiled & is hanging in the pantry and the first batch of mince pies are freshly out of the oven. Now we are just waiting for Phil & Nelson's arrival!

Loving being in the spa bath "Mum... please won't you pick me up?!" Sound asleep... Chewing on absolutely anthing, including Gepetto- 2 teeth emerged a couple of weeks later Looking like such a big boy Harrison loves his two feet! Monitoring the action outside with his big blue eyes Big smiles after waking up from an afternoon nap

We have now been in PE for 9 months and thought it was about time that Pete explain in a little more detail about the project he is working on, and hence why we are in PE! The PE manganese export terminal when built in the 1960's was considered state of the art. With a capacity of 4 million tonnes per annum it was the biggest export facility for manganese in the world (manganese is used in the refining process of various alloys to improve it's qualities, ie. manganese is needed to make stainless steel). South Africa is a very resource rich country. Along with large reserves of platinum, gold and diamonds it also has large reserves of manganese (I've heard 80% of the world reserves but this is not verified!). Due to the demand for manganese spiralling to record highs 1 year ago (thanks to manufacturing in China and India) the terminal was in desperate need of refurbishment. Ships were literally queuing in Algoa Bay to get access to the terminal. The plant was 40 years old an...

Harrison has now moved up to the big boys bath (at 5mths) and loves that his kicking is now unrestricted. Thank goodness we have a big spa bath! Swimming lessons to start soon!

On Friday, Harrison met Santa for the first time at his Baby Builders Christmas party. The morning tea celebrations were held in the backyard where we attend the classes. With beautiful weather it was lovely enjoying morning together outside. There must have been at least 50 babies aged from newborn to 1 year so it was hectic (as the Saffa's would say!). Harrison was very intrigued with Santa's beard and tried to pull it a couple of times, otherwise he was trying to work out why Santa was dressed only in red! Harrison loved unwrapping his first present and soon discovered that lots of slobber makes unwrapping presents very easy! Abby & Harrison having fun together Harrison with some friends from his class- Abby, Gina & Georgina. Was hilarious, they continually tried to steal each others toys or otherwise loved sucking on each others limbs! So intrigued with Santa Present opening time... everything to the mouth first!

Our Joburg friends could not have picked a better weekend to visit; the weather was forecasted to be a sunny 28c with only light winds! The crew (Ga, Soph, Dabbo, Chris & Rob) arrived on Friday night in time for drinks, dinner and a catch-up. So good to see them! We woke to beautiful weather on both Saturday and Sunday so headed straight to the beach for some fun & play and to work on the summer tan. A temporary shelter was constructed for Harrison to protect his precious skin from the sun- he was easily amused lying on the sand watching the beach towel flutter above him! The rest of our time was spent relaxing around our house, enjoying braai's, watching rugby on the big screen, placing bets on when the next ship would dock in the harbour etc... Our dinner on Saturday night was notable- we bowed to South African tradition and roasted 2 chickens stuffed with a beer can. The meat was incredibly moist, tender & delicious. Harrison was spoilt for attention. Every time he a...