Camilla at 6 months old.

Our sweet "pumpkin" turned 6 months this past month, and she could not be any cuter!

At her six month check-up she weighed 16.2 Lbs, and was 26 inches long.

Just as Jacob is all boy, she is ALL girl. Loves to cuddle, kiss, and tilts her head to the side when you tell her "Ohh bebe!", and knows she is cute when she does it :O)

She is the happiest baby ever. She always wakes-up with a huge smile and big bright eyes. She smiles at everyone and has been practicing her waiving bye-bye. She especially loves waiving bye to daddy in the mornings. And as you can all imagine, she is daddy's princess. He just melts when he is holding her and playing with her. Of course, she would not be my daughter if she didn't love to yap :O) She has started to say bebe and mama (not specifically to me, but still cute!), and has recently taken a liking for singing! To the point that when we are in the car and Jacob has his music on, he eventually gets annoyed that she is "singing" too loud and will not let him hear the songs. She sounds really cute.

She is quite the eater too. She loves to eat anything and everything in her path! I have been making her food and she loves it. I think one of her favorite things are grapes and bread. Goodness forbid you eat bread in front of her and not let her have some, she will kick-up a storm until she gets her own bread :O) Unlike Jacob, she is more interested in the bottle than nursing, she seems to think that the boob is a toy and not food.

She has just begun trying to sit on her own, although she still tips over often. She does not crawl yet, but if you put her on the floor, she will travel EVERYWHERE by rolling around :O) She also does this thing that I call "little sky diver", on her belly with both arms back and up, and with both legs raised up. For some reason, she seems to like that position quite a bit.

She is sleeping through the night, and has done great with sharing a room with her big brother, whom she just adores!!! She can be still and cuddly in your arms one minute, but if she gets a glimpse or hears Jacob, she goes wild! They are very funny when we put them down to sleep at the same time. They can spend close to an hour "talking" and laughing together. I just love it! It blesses our hearts to see them love each other so much.

Thankfully she LOVES the water (and with our weather, she would be a very miserable baby if she didn't) and has a blast when we take them swimming. She loves splashing around and even thinks it's fun when I dunk her in, but has even more fun watching her crazy brother do silly jumps into the pool.

We have been greatly blessed with this little one, and thank the Lord for giving her to us.

Our three year old "bigger guy".

Our little man turned 3 a few weeks ago and he had the best time ever, for two weekends!

On the morning of November 1st, Jacob woke up with a HUGE smile and said "Look momma, look! I'm bigger!" while standing like a little soldier on his bed and looking at himself in the mirror :O) That has been his thing leading up to his Bday, standing straight to show us how much taller he is getting. The cute thing was that when I made a big deal about it and wished him happy Bday, he started to laugh with a bit of wanting to cry. He totally noticed the mixed emotions and said "Momma, I'm happy, but I feel like crying! Is that OK?" I think he was so excited that he was one big ball of emotions. I guess 3 IS a big deal for a little man :O)

The day before, we walked over to our favorite bakery to get his Bday breakfast: a chocolate scone! I had asked him if he wanted a cupcake or cake with ice cream, but he said no, a scone is what he wanted. Is that normal for a 3 yr old?

Anyhow, on his big day, after breakfast and opening his presents (he got cool stuff from family and friends back home. Thank you all!), we all got dressed and headed out A Spoon Full of Sugar. This is a small candy store that he had seen on one of our walks, and reminded him of the candy store on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (his favorite movie). He would ask us to take him there, but after being warned by locals that the stuff there is very expensive (most are US imports), we promised that he could get a few things on his Bday. So off we went to "the candy man store". He got a few treats and the lady at the counter loved that he was being well mannered in asking me what he could buy, that she gave him a bag of lollies (aussie for candy), he loved it!

After nap we went to a children's festival that was put for one of the communities here. We had an awesome time! He got to pet animals, ride a pony, got his face painted, took part in a tiny lantern parade, and even got to use the fire hose from the fire truck! He was one tired but very happy little man by the time we got home :o) To top the weekend off, our sweet neighbors and friends Wendy, Shane and baby Sara, came over on Sunday with a COOL surprise for Jacob. They had made a pirate ship for him! It was the coolest thing ever! And of course, they even named the ship the Pirate Bootie, teehee! In honor of Jacob's famous bootie dance :O)

The following weekend was his Bday party at Entropy, the place where he takes his weekly art class. We invited a few of his friends, made cupcakes and candy bags and had a fun time at his pirate themed party (The lady who does story time at the library heard Jacob talk about his upcoming Bday party. She was very sweet and gave me an eye patch craft to make for the party. We have been very blessed to meet really kind people here). Ms. Beck took the kids to the craft room and they made treasure boxes, ate a LOT of sweets and had fun playing with the stuff there. Jacob had a blast as did his little friends, and the parents who got to drink yummy cappuccinos and lattes! They have a cool machine at the parent lounge :OP

So now our little man is three, happy and healthy thanks to God's grace. We are very blessed to have this whirl wind of a kid in our lives and could not imagine him being anything other than our silly, loving, smart and crazy "bigger guy" Jacob (that's what he calls himself).

Jacob and Paige....Bozovich???!!!

So I had already emailed Laurel about this a while back, but I thought about it today and thought I should share this. It is too cute (and a bit scary having this conversation with my almost three year old).

There are days when Jacob will wake up earlier than wanted from his nap, so I usually go and lay down with him and either cuddle or have random conversations. Well, a few weeks back, as we are laying there, enjoying our sweet time for the two of us, he looks at me and asks about my "sparkly" ring (engagement ring). I explain to him that the ring was a gift from daddy so that one day we could get married, and that one day when he is bigger, he will buy one for his special girl. Let me just add that for some strange reason, he has been obsessed with wedding and marriage questions. So after my little explanation, he looks at me and says "momma, when I am a grown-up and a civil engineer like daddy, I will buy a sparkly ring like yours for Paige and we will get married too. I will need one like daddy's too. Mine can be red."

I could not believe he had just said that! I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Mind you that we LOVE our Paigee Poo, but hearing him say this made me acknowledge that one day he will too leave his mom and dad to make his own family. My heart just melted.

So after emailing Laurel about the official announcement, she wrote back saying that Paige was in agreement and loved the idea of a red ring for Jacob...but that she wanted hers to be pink!

Too Cute!!!!!!

So who knows, maybe one day in the "FAR" future, you could be receiving an invite to a wedding for the Fast-Bozovich wedding! ;o)

PS- I added just recent pictures of the two kiddos, because I think Laurel and I would need a separate blog just to write about these two :O) Paigee Poo, we miss you!!

Being a kid

Yesterday I was reminded by Jacob that I once was a kid too. How quickly we forget to enjoy the good, the bad, and the ugly (in my case, the stinky) with our kids who are growing up too fast :O(

Jacob has been potty trained for a few weeks now, and since his 3rd bday is coming up, he wants to be the "big" guy at home. So, when he goes poops, he wants to take care of the cleaning himself. We always go in after he is done and make sure "all" is clean, hands and toosh.

Yesterday, he went in as usual, but was taking too long to come out for back-up and was WAYYY to quite in there. I slowly make my way to the bathroom and hear him giggle to himself. When he sees me, he goes "tadah!!" as if announcing something exciting. I look and he had taken more than half the toilet paper roll and stuffed it in the toilet! Great, just great!! Of course MY initial reaction was to give him a small smack on the bottom and tell him that was a big no-no. As I'm trying to figure out how not to clog the toilet, he looks at me, with his pants still down and with the cutest innocent smile and says "Momma, didn't you ever do this when you where a kid?" That just melted my heart. I said "You know what, you are right. I probably did this once or twice when I was little." He smiled like an accomplice does, pulled up his pants and went to wash his hands without saying anything else :O)

This made me stop and think. I need to relax more, laugh more and let go more. One day he will be all grown up and these days will be all but a sweet and sometimes stinky memory :O)

Surprise Visitor

This is something that would most definitely not happen in Boise.

I had just put Camilla in her swing and noticed a "stain" behind the couch next to her swing.

It looked like coffee, or something like that. But, as I got closer, I realized that it was the webbed foot (or hand) of a small creature.

Jacob was quietly sitting down watching some cartoons, so I decided not to tell him about it until I saw what it was. It was a gecko! I ran to the kitchen and got a small tupper ware container to catch it in (I thought Jacob would just love it!). So there I am, on all fours chasing that little sucker under the couch (they sure do move fast). Of course by then Jacob is cheering me on from the couch, squealing like crazy "catch it momma, catch it!" Camilla is in her swing giggling at the madness going on.

We got the little friend and went online to make sure it was a gecko and not some scary, poisonous thing. But just to super make sure, we went downstairs to one of our friends apartment and asked her about it. She was excited for Jacob because here they say that if you find one in your home it is "good luck". I'm not to sure about that, especially if you happen to find it in your sheets. Yikes!!!! She said that it was a baby one because they get pretty big and this one was small. She asked that if we planned on keeping it as a pet for Jacob, to keep in mind that they are very noisy at night (and trust me, they are. We hear them every night).

Anyways, Jacob looked at it for a little while and decided that it was too scary and that it might be missing his family, so we let it go out on the grass.

He could not wait to tell daddy when he came home from work. I on the other hand was concerned of what other "things" could creep into our little apartment. You see, our main door has quite the nice size opening at the bottom, where I think this friend came in through.

Justin of course thought it was cool and told me that it was cute compared to what one of his co-workers found in his home: a boa!!!!!

So for now, I make sure to put a nice, BIG towel under the door at night, "just in case".

Jacob's First Day at "School"

So this is not really a school, but he LOVES calling it that. He feels like a big boy.

It is an awesome toy store (Entropy) that also holds weekly classes where the kids (in a small group) are led by a teacher in a welcome activity, art/craft, mid-morning tea (snack) and free play. He has made some play dough and a mug for daddy (yes, Justin got to celebrate Father's Day twice!!).

I love it because aside from being an activity for him, they have a lounge for the moms where we can chat, relax and have all the coffee (mostly cappuccinos) and tea to our hearts content.

Another plus is that it is within walking distance from home, so on our way back, we call Justin and meet him outside his office to walk home with us for lunch!

I have met some really nice moms there, including this girl from Colorado with whom we have gone to a play date with.

Right now the class is on "spring break" and will resume in a week. We are both excited for "his school" to begin again.

Our new hometown

Here we are, almost a month since arriving in Townsville.

We took a flight from Fiji to Brisbane, and then to Townsville. The kids again did awesome, including our long stay at the Brisbane airport. But once we got to the Townsville airport, both kids lost it, especially Jacob who had a massive meltdown while we waited for a large cab that could fit our things. I was trying to keep my cool until this horrible man ran and took the next large cab that we got in line for. That is when I wanted to join the kids in crying. It was late and we had been on airports and planes all day long.

The following day we headed over to the apartment to get our key and check out our new home. It is a nice fully furnished apartment on the second floor of a relatively new building. The one bummer is that we do not have a bath tub (oh how we quickly take for granted the things we have in the US), so I let Jacob play in the duck that I had purchased for Camilla. He loves it! Cute thing is that I have pictures of when he was a baby in a similar duck.

Anyways, we are within walking distance of pretty much everything: grocery store, library, town mall and most important, Justin's work, only a block and a half away. We have him home for lunch everyday. We are also within a small drive to the beach "The Strand", that has parks for kids, the water park (similar to the kiddie section at Roaring Springs, but free), and holds the first Friday of the month evening market.

There is not much to the town, but the one thing that has surprised us quite a bit is the cost of things. 5 bananas come close to $5 dollars!!!! So pretty much, I have been trying to keep to the budget that his company is giving us for groceries. We had to purchase a car since they do not lease cars like in the US and gas is super expensive, good thing that I walk everywhere with the kids in the stroller and use the car about 2 times a week at the most.

People are nice and helpful. At our first visit to the park I met this nice lady that gave me her number so I could go to a playdate with her at a local church. Slowly but surely we are settling in, including relaxing with the way things are done here. The one thing that drove me insane the first two weeks was the pace that people do things here. If it is not an emergency, then be prepared to wait. Our internet connection took 2 weeks after several calls and few tears (I needed to keep in touch with all of you!), and after a week, I am still waiting for the "Final Approval" from the property management office to order my cable. Might as well relax and enjoy the ride.

We have been trying to keep busy doing something fun every other day: library story and craft time, an art class, playdates, and walking to the grocery store to do our weeks shopping, church on Sundays and exploring the town on Saturdays.

One thing we sure have learned is to never take for granted what we have back home. You learn a lot being away from the comfort of home.

Fiji

Before I move on to our arrival, I had to write a bit a bout Fiji.

The airport was "interesting" and very humid at 5 am. We found a cab that packed all our things (our bags got all messed up during the first two flights) and drove us to the hotel (Radisson- we totally loved it!) without any seat belts on! It was an interesting and bit scary experience since they also drive on the other side of the road and a few times we thought that we would hit a car coming on the "wrong side" of the road (at least to us). But of course Jacob thought it was fun.

That's were he learned how to say hello in Fijian "Bula!". He thought it was the coolest thing ever, so as soon as he would see someone he would greet them that way.

Once at the hotel, we could not get a room that early, so we went exploring the hotel grounds and to the restaurant to have some breakfast. It was really fun to see Jacob using his camera and taking pictures of everything and everyone in site.

It was interesting to see how friendly and kind the natives are. The waitresses would come up to us and take the baby to show off to other staff and people at the restaurant. This happened every day! Jacob loved the attention but was scarred that he would loose sister. He had a blast at the pool, playing in the sand, making new Aussie and Kiwi (New Zealanders) friends. We also took the little "Bula Bus" to the port and got to see fire dancers. He snapped away with his camera and loved it sooooo much that he asked if we could buy him a Sulu (male dress wrap). Justin though it would be cute, so we got him one. He even wore it to dinner with a dress shirt and looked very cute. Camilla got the cuttest little dress that momma accesorized with a flower behind the ear :O)

We totally recommend Fiji. Even though we didn't leave the resort but to the port, we loved it. We hope to fly through there and stay a few days on our way back to the states.

G'Day Mates!

Sorry it has taken me sooooo long to post something, but it took us 2 weeks to get internet! You would think we are living in a third world country with the pace that they do things here.
We had amazing flights all the way. We were blessed with being able to stop and see my family at LAX for an hour before our flight to Fiji. It was hard for me to say goodbye since I know that there is not a real possibility for any of them to visit while we are here. The kids (especially Jacob) got a ton of stuff from my family to play with on the plane, including his favorite movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (we have seen it one too many times already. It might be going into hidding pretty soon).
The flight there was good. I got the kids in their jammies before we boarded and placed Camilla in the bassinet. After dinner Jacob settled down for the night and did not wake up til the next morning close to landing.

Our stay in Fiji was awesome. We got to relax and spend time as a family. Jacob got pretty comfy with the people there and greeted everyone by saying "Bula!" (hello in Fijian). He even got us to buy him a Sulu (male wrap) and wore it to dinner one night. Camilla had her share of fun, as all the girls at the restaurant at the hotel would grab her as soon as they saw us coming and would pass her around. Aside from the beach and pool, I think Jacob also loved the Bula Bus, a small bus that would drive you to the port and shops. We would LOVE to go back there when we head back to the states.

After three fun days, we headed off to our new town. We flew from Fiji to Brisbane and from there to Townsville. We got in late and this is the one time that poor Jacob had a massive meltdown, other than that, the kids did awesome.

Well, I will be posting the next part of our arrival to Oz. We sure miss you all!
Please keep us in your prayers.

Ready, get set, GO!

OK, so I have finally joined the blogging family. I think this will be an awesome way to share our adventures with all of you. So here we go...

As you all know,we are leaving Boise on Monday, August 18 to live in Townsville, Australia for a year. So far we have already purchased our tickets: Boise to L.A., where we will have a couple of hours to see my family and have dinner with them at the airport. L.A. to Fiji (yes, aren't we blessed!) where we will spend three days enjoying the beach and relax a bit before settling down in Townsville. Then Fiji to Brisbane, Brisbane to Townsville!!!
We also have a fully furnished apartment waiting for us there, so all we need to bring (literally) are our clothes and our toiletries :O)

We will really miss all of you and even though we haven't left yet, we are really looking forward to coming back and settling down definitely (I hope!) in Boise.