MEMORIES ARE MADE OF THIS...

Another week with my lovely princess, out and about and enjoying ourselves. Before I get started, I have to share these gorgeous pics of Kaitlyn and her Dad in the shower - no nakedness warning necessary!

With the 12 month mark looming thick and fast, I have already starting thinking about what I will miss once I complete my maternity leave period. I know I will certainly miss our mornings, which start off about 7am with a feed (the child is extremely grumpy until she get’s something in her tummy) and then a play on the rug. Mornings are so lovely as she is a happy little crumpet and often has loads to say.

The next part of our is breakfast (after a decent size nap during which I run around like mad trying to organise myself for the day). I love watching Kaitlyn enjoy her breakfast – it’s just so funny to watch her learning how to feed herself, and spending most of the time working vegemite, toast, and cereal, through her (limited) hair, over her face, down her clothes but never in her mouth. Who would have guessed clean freak me, could handle letting food go everywhere??

I also love our little activities through out the week – catching up with girlfriends and their babies – this week we had Judy and Lucas over for lunch (Lucas is growing into such a little man now – and a really lovely one at that). Lucas started off the morning a little unsure of the squealing creature in front of him, but was soon cuddling and kissing Kaitlyn like a little teddy bear. She loved him too – she couldn’t take her eyes off him, especially when he started screaming with delight when his Mum was blowing bubbles..

Lucas was quite the little comedian this week, having taken to calling his Mum by her name – much to her displeasure. There he was sitting at the table having lunch with us and asking “More chicken Judy?” Needless to say, Judy and Charlie have taken to calling each other Mummy and Daddy at home in an attempt to curb this behaviour. I think he is at that age where you just never know what is going to come out next!

I will definitely miss our afternoon trips to the park – it’s been great walking down of an afternoon, meeting other Mum’s and watching Kaitlyn stare at the little kids running around. She simply loves being outside, and in particular get’s a kick out of the swings, the slippery slide the rocking horses… Wait are we talking about Kaitlyn or Mum here?

What else will I miss?? Our weekly Mother’s Group catch up, our Gymbaroo session, Tuesday afternoons at Grandmas, playing dress ups with the many, many outfits on offer, Friday afternoon’s looking forward to having Dad home for the weekend, popping down to the shops to buy just one more toy / outfit for our girl, and simply watching her grow before my very eyes.

This past week I have watched and laughed as she has found every nook and cranny to get herself stuck into.

For the beautiful Carol, I will try and upload more videos over the next few weeks, however I am very excited to report that I have FINALLY caught the foot in mouth spectacular on camera! It has been a long wait, but I managed to get the photo during tonight’s bath. Not nearly as funny in a photo as it is to watch in real life – it’s times like this I think she is the cleverest baby in the whole world.

Getting there….

Almost got it…

In it goes…

And some more bath time action...

NOW THINGS ARE GETTING SCARY... 8 MONTHS!!!

Finally… A blog post without a single photo of Kaitlyn…

Instead I thought I might share a couple of videos which indicate just how quickly she is growing up.

As we round the bend to the eighth month mark, Kaitlyn is more animated and wonderful than ever.

Is she crawling yet? No, however she is looking mighty close, at the moment she seems to enjoy bending over to reach things from sitting, and sometimes when she is rolling around on her tummy, she picks up her knees under hips (this usually results in a face plant). Nonetheless, I believe what every Mum tells me, to enjoy this great time when she is able to sit there happily and play and isn’t chasing me around the house!

This first video is of Kaitlyn’s babbling. It’s all complete nonsense, but it does make you laugh as it appears as though she is trying to communicate with us. In particular she goes nuts with the baby talk after my singing – she’s either trying to outsing me, or desperately trying to tell me to cut it out.

She LOVES jumping, her favourite position is standing in my lap and then to start bouncing so I will lift her up and down. At the beginning it was very cute, now it is bloody tiring as she is getting heavier by the day… At least the nanna arms are getting a workout.

As she did from the beginning, she continues to love music and being sung to. Her new favourite is the Grand Old Duke of York, however Twinkle Twinkle does continue to bring out a smile, and she is partial to Five Current Buns. We do a lot of singing in the car, and have a fabulous CD to sing along to – I no longer get songs from the radio in my head, but instead There Was an Old Lady.

Grandma has spent many many hours in teaching Kaitlyn to clap – and although I doubted it was possible, she is revelling in her success – Kaitlyn’s new favourite trick is clapping her hands together, something she has been doing for a couple of weeks now. On the weekend we went to a party, and there sat Kaitlyn in the middle of a group of people clapping away and entertaining the lot. Here’s a video to show just how clever Grandma is..

She is really developing a love for food, and is yet to knock back anything I have cooked for her. Meal times are now a lot messier as each meal she has something to feed herself with (in an effort to keep her occupied) – bananas are mashed into the floor, sticks of carrot with hummus go flying and toast with vegemite is wiped all over the high chair – and all over her. I have now invested in a plastic coverall bib, saving myself the hours of soaking the regular bibs were needing to endure.

Ok, so the entry is no doubt start to drag on a bit – hope you enjoy the videos – next week I will be making up for this one, with a record number of photos!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

Celebrating our Mum’s should definitely occur more than once a year – now I’m one myself, I think we seriously underestimate how wonderful they are!

This year we had a busy day indeed, kicking off with another swimming lesson – this one Dad sat out (wise choice as it was a bloody freezing day!)

The weather didn’t seem to bother our little swimming machine, she didn’t even cry this time as she adjusted to the water.

Our hairy swimming instructor (sorry, it has to be said, she has a beard) gave Kaitlyn a special one-on-one session as it turned out all the rest of the babies were too busy preparing breakfast in bed for their Mums.

Then it was off to lunch with Nan, Pop, Kym, Tim and Dylan. Kaitlyn got in early to help Nan open her presents..

Nan seemed to have her hands full on the day – no doubt ensuring she enjoyed the fact the two little ones could sit in her lap - as it won’t be long until neither are prepared to sit still for that long.

Meanwhile Aunty Kym took a break from showing us how to ski on the WiiFit to pose with Kaitlyn sporting her gorgeous new hair and fab glasses.

While Dylan tried to figure out his dodgy gift from Uncle Ash.

In the evening, we met up with Grandma, Grandad, Jai and Mim for dinner.

And while I received some lovely gifts, the corny thing is, I know my best present is the little one in my arms.

She is so damn near perfect, it’s scary.

In the last fortnight, Kaitlyn has begun attending Gymbaroo – in short a weekly class which babies of the same age partake in activities to promote their development.

We since, we dance and generally have a good old time; the babies seem to enjoy themselves too!

Kaitlyn discovers a new piece of equipment each week; however I’m not so sure the drool she leaves behind is appreciated by the other Mums!

This week we came across a new park near home, and, needless to say, my girl enjoyed every second of her exploration – here are some of the happy snaps shot that afternoon.

Such big adventures always require a rest on the way home…

We continue to meet with our Mother’s group each week, and somehow find ourselves gravitating towards anywhere with a ball pit.

Most likely because it’s the only play area the babies really appreciate at the moment.

Mind you, this time around we had the chance to try out a merry-go-round.

And of course it doesn’t hurt that the Mums can sit down and enjoy a coffee and piece of banana bread!

I'm off to get some much needed rest after a tiring week…