Photo as promised

of our Lucy sitting up. She finds it so hilarious, as do her sisters. The world must look so different up right.



For Christmas Ella received a very cool Lego set.


Since Christmas she has been asking fairly regularly for us to build the Lego house, but it has always been at inopportune times, like at dinner time, or bed time, or while we are in the car to somewhere, or rushing out the door to an appointment, so my usual answer was 'Yep, sure, but not right now. We have the whole holidays to build it'
So of course, I realise on Thursday that the holidays are all but over, so when she asked me as I was walking around with a ridiculously overtired baby and two starving hungry children, contemplating what to cook for dinner at 5pm, I said yes. I strapped Lucy in to the Ergo (Have I mentioned the Ergo Lately? It's my favourite baby thing ever) I found some date scones in the freezer and declared them entree, cut up some apple and banana and started unpackaging the Lego.
It flashed me back to our childhood, constructing castles and spacecraft. I was trying to clue Ella in on the lingo '2by6thinwhite?'

It ended up being a few days effort as everyones patience wore thin after an hour or so at it, and I ended up finishing the last half of the roof all by myself (and loved it ;))







And it can be made in to two other models. I can only find one online. I look forward to demolishing the one we have done and attempting this next one. Maybe when Ella is back at school ;)


Oops, I came back in to plug the site that we bought the Lego from I had been unable to find any decent sets in the shops, but this site had the set for only $55 before Christmas.

Ella funnies

Today the girls were playing outside in the cubby house and Ella came inside to ask me if I knew when Nana was getting the air conditioning put in to the cubby.

She just came up to me and asked me how come some food comes up as vomit and some food turns in to poo. So we chatted about that for a while, all of a sudden there was a 'click' in her eyes and she said 'Ahh! So that's why you put your hands there when you do a bow! 'cos it's called your bowel. I get it.'

From Ella - Why did the toilet paper roll down the hill?










To get to the bottom!


Knock, knock
Who's there?
Waiter
Waiter who?
Waiter minute while I tie my shoes


boom boom

and she's off!

How excitement! We have a crawler! Lucy has been moving around for ages, twisting on the spot, inching forward to grab things, but this week she has mastered it. She is still 'commando crawling', but practising up on her hands and knees too, so 'proper' crawling wont be that far away.


She also has learnt to sit unaided. Just like that. Yesterday she would fall backwards or sidewards instantly. Today she can sit and if she starts to tilt, then she puts a hand out to catch herself and can then right herself. I will have to take a photo of her doing it tomorrow.
For now here is a photo of all three of them.

How much longer have we got ...

... before she is on the move?











And yes, you heard right, that was a 'mum' in there !! :)
She started saying dadadada a week or so ago and now it is mumumumum.

I love this age. Life is just sooo good for a 6 month old baby. They love their own company, are happy to concentrate for ages on trying to pick up the contrasting lines on the carpet, are happy with some milk and a few shovels of food over the course of the day, learning constantly. She learnt to get up on her hands and knees today, as Ella was laying next to her saying 'copy me, Lucy, this is how you do it'

The excitement the older two get from her achievements are adorable. They could watch her eat and chew all day long, or drink from her sipper cup, or roll over, or eat her feet.

Perfect.

Half a year ...

The big signal that my baby is growing is that I now no longer provide every skerrick of nutrition. We introduced pumpkin to her this week and I think her anticipation of the food thing was far greater than the actual experience. She has been watching our every spoonful over the last few weeks, complete with mouth opening at the correct time, followed by chewing movements.
So she was absolutely ecstatic to be put in the high chair and then to have a bib around her neck with a bowl and a spoon in reach!!
And then the pumpkin approached the wide open mouth ...

and ...





Tonight we went out for dinner, to the Gawler Arms, and they had roast pumpkin, so she got her first go at finger foods to and enjoyed that greatly. Mushing it between her fingers and such. Only time will tell whether any was ingested or not ...

And she has also started verbalising consonants


She is on the move, too. Not much and not far, but edging around a bit like a little caterpillar!

Merry Christmas and happy birthday

A perfect day. All the girls got about 12 hours sleep and woke at the perfectly reasonable hour of 6:45. They woke up happy and thrilled and proceeded to demolish the load of presents that Santa brought.
Much fun was had by all, including Lucy who managed a bite or two of wrapping paper.
We were at Rosalie's today with a quick stop off at Grandpa Y's on the way.
The day was a glorious 26 degrees. Exactly how you want it. The kids mingeld well and the adults relaxed. It really was perfect.
Santa paid a fleeting visit and Charlotte got to have another cake.
People came and went as they do, too much food was consumed and too much wasn't ...

Christmas morning mayhem

Icecream cake

Ella

Charlotte

Lucy

Everyone!!



Adam and Eva - Can't wait to share a Christmas with you again :) Then maybe Rachel will stopp calling me the 'yucky one'. Hard to believe from when you guys saw her last, but next Christmas Charlotte will be four - ready to start kindy in the new year :-0

And a touch of video to catch an earful of Charlotte's raucous laugh. She had all the adults to herself for quite a while in the afternoon and certainly enjoyed it!


Happy 3rd birthday my Charlotte.

Charlotte's party

This year we decided to give Charlotte a proper party. It was all about her and she loved it. We had the usual suspects, plus we were lucky enough to have my good friend Jacki and her children Jarra and Arusha time their visit back to Adelaide just right. Raff's nana and uncle Jim and my close friend Rhiannon and her two girls (who both go to childcare with Charlotte and Sophie) saw us with 11 kids and 10 adults. It was a great day - really cold for a DEcember day with stacks of rain in the morning so our park plans were cancelled. The kids all did their thing and the only concession to a kiddies party was a game of pass the parcel (I don't do 'treats' inside each layer!) and the birthday cake. I won't do lolly bags either :) Charlotte had a good day that very quickly descended into night. All her presents were received that day and it really was all about her.
The Alien Cake

Birthday girl on bike

More photos!

An online friend of mine took some photos of us while we were in Sydney. I have 'known' her for quite a few years now, so it was lovely to finally meet her. Her photography business is called Cupcakes Photography, with her blog here.

The weather wasn't the greatest, so we were a bit wet and windblown, but the results are lovely.


A couple of natural shots of mum with the girls.

Lucy. Couldn't you just eat her? Yum.

Charlotte


Ella

My family!


Lucy in her favourite place

She managed to get all of us :)

So much colour!

Elfish

Oh dear.
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1353315631

Father Christmas

Only 17 more sleeps until Christmas! On Friday after school we went to have the obligatory Santa photo and it was a roaring success. We went to the Myer at Elizabeth and there was no one waiting at all. Charlotte ran straight up to him and leapt on to his lap and asked him 'Can you say ho ho ho?' which of course he did :)
He was a lovely Santa and the girls got to have a nice long chat with him. They both requested 'umm, presents?' when he asked what they would like for Christmas.

I have managed to track down the last 5 years Santa shots, so will post them in order. I couldn't find the 2002 one. Ella would have been 5ish months old and I think we went with Rachel and kids. Do you have a copy Rach?



2003


2004



2005


2006


2007

Ballet Concert

We didn't have quite the same enthsiastic build up this year. I think missing the first rehearsal and the photo shoot meant that she wasn't revved up for the concert enough in the earlier weeks. She was extremely nervous, but pulled up bravely on the day. Her on stage presence could o with a polish up ;) but she is gorgeous.




It is a great show they put on, and I hope to be able to sit and watch the whole show one day in the future. Ella wants to do tap next year, and Charlotte wants to start ballet too. Should be fun!

Some videos

Lucy chatting to Ella

Ella and Charlotte on their very first plane trip

Sisters in love

I just took these last night in the bath here at home.
Lucy 5 months and glorious1

Sydney Part II

All packed and ready to go. We cheated this time and Raff caught a taxi with all the luggage to our new accommodation. Ella and I walked, pushing Charlotte in the pram and Lucy strapped on my front in the Ergo. Oh the room! After sharing one little room for the best part of the week, to have separate bedrooms and a kitchen and a bathroom!

We were on the 14th floor with a gorgeous view across Sydney. We settled in and awaited mum and dads arrival. They were a bit delayed as there was a pretty fierce electrical storm, so they were not allowed to alight from the plane.

The next morning we climbed the Harbour Bridge. I was extremely nervous, but to be honest it was nowhere near as scary as I thought it might be and we really enjoyed it. I was more nervous leaving Lucy with mum and dad for the longest time of her life so far! She was fine. I was fine. That evening Raff and I went to meet some of my online friends - “the people from inside my computer” as Ella says. It was a blast, a quick hour zoomed in to 5, and we rocked up home at 11pm.

Bright and early the next morning, mum and dad went and climbed the bridge and Raff went off to a full day conference. The girls and I just hung out until mum and dad finished and we wandered down to Sydney city to check out all the Christmas displays. We visited the Magic Cave and had a look at the Nutcracker window display @ David Jones.

Saturday I had organised for a photographer friend Cupcakes Photography to take photos of my family in Hyde Park. Unfortunately the day dawned wet and cold, so we only managed a few in the park. The rest were taken in our (thankfully well-lit) apartment. After that was done with we went to have a coffee and work out what to do with the afternoon. Mum and dad ended up taking the girls to Glebe and Jubilee Park (apparently where Pearlie the Park Fairy lives) Raff and I and Lucy wandered around trying to work out what we were hungry for. After eating out for every lunch and dinner for the last 9 or so days we were a bit over food really. Finally I decided that a nice platter of antipasto stuff to be picked at would hit the spot. We were just about to give up looking at around 2pm when we found a Greek restaurant. Mmm, haloumi, fetta, anchovies, olives, calamari - the 5 food groups!

For the gazillionth time we were told how content and beautiful Lucy was. Baby wearing is very very cool. In theory Lucy should be our cleverest, most sociable, most securely attached, most physically agile child, as she has spent a huge percentage of her little life in the sling and now the Ergo (big plug to Babes in arms, who had my new Ergo on my doorstep all the way from Tasmania 20 hours after I ordered it online, and a huge thanks to my friend Rhiannon for lending us hers for the trip!)

That evening we sat in and watched the election results. We have a new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. All very exciting after 11 years of John Howard. I look forward to sitting back and observing how it all pans out. I am lucky enough to have some great communication with some very intelligent and politically savvy women that can decipher all the info that is out there in this regard.

Sunday we visited Taronga Zoo. What a lovely place! I dread to think how many km’s we walked that day, but it was really worth it (Credit to Ella here – the owner of the draggiest feet in Gawler, really pulled her socks up in Sydney and walked everywhere – begging for the pram, the Ergo, anything intermittently, but overall putting in a sterling effort) We caught a train, then a ferry, then the skyrail in to the zoo. What a magnificent entry! There was plenty to see.

Our accommodation had a rooftop pool, so the wonderful men took the girls up for a final swim and spa. We packed up and were ready to go. The final of Australian Idol was on that night. Never watched the show in my life, but it was pretty exciting to hear fireworks in stereo! We dashed up to the roof top to see if we could see the. Waiting, waiting for the lift, me in my bright orange Crocs, pink PJ bottoms with bumble bees on and a white tshirt declaring me a Breastfeeding Goddess. Imagine the shades of red my face turned when that lift door opened, filled to the brim with people (men!). And bugger it all, we got up on the roof to hear the very last firework and saw none.

Oooh, I must make mention of the bats in Sydney. Every night on sunset thousands and thousands of bats fly across the city. It was a very very freaky sight, and one that I am very glad that I was behind glass to witness. Bats sit up next to huntsmen spiders and mice on my fear-o-meter.

A lovely plane trip and then we were home, planning our next trip or two. It looks like Melbourne in March-ish and Brisbane later in the year. Can’t wait!!


Our Lucy

View from the 14th floor

Skyrail

Elephant girls @ Taronga