11 MONTHS TODAY...

11 months down and we are just weeks away from the big first birthday. Fittingly, we helped a lovely friend celebrate her birthday today – Livinia Holt turned three years old this weekend, and Kaitlyn, never one to shy away from a party, was there to join in the festivities.

She is pictured here with Livinia and her sister Elyssia – this was the shot taken prior to Kaitlyn deciding to have a chew on the pebbles lining the courtyard, and consequently crying her little heart out.

Livinia’s Mum, Margaret did an amazing job on the event, and may have given me a few ideas for the very near future – thanks for a great day Margaret!

This weekend also gave us cause for a celebration of a different kind, the Eels final home game for the season – secured with a very convincing win over the Panthers. Kaitlyn and Dad were having a grand old time…

So much so, that one of our key players, Fui Fui Moi Moi, joining us for a glimpse of the action.

By the end of the night Kaitlyn has hi-fiving the crowd around us – they all just love her and as we sit on the aisle, every second person stops to say hello.

With the amazing weather we have been enjoying lately, Kaitlyn and I took the opportunity to get out and about and see more of Sydney. On Thursday our usual Mother’s Group was reduced to just two of us, so we took the ferry across to Watson’s Bay for some lunch. Kaitlyn and Charlie loved the trip across the harbour…

And it’s an image like this that reminds you how lucky we are to live in this glorious city…

As usual, Kaitlyn was more interested in the swarms of people around us, than any of the sites there were to see.

Still, nothing beats a ferry ride –

Even if you have your Mum tagging along with you!

And try as I might, I think it’s about time to give up catching up with girlfriends at café’s – there is a very short time limit during which Kaitlyn can be entertained. So, one of my last such catch ups, was with Elysia and the beautiful Olivia who are in trip preparation mode, about to head off to the US for a month! All in time for Olivia to crawl around and explore the place –

Olivia at least seemed keen to enjoy a coffee and a chat –

Scouring the menu for something resembling puree –

The shot taken after Kaitlyn pulled the water bottle out of Olivia’s hands (thank goodness she has a good temperament!)

And finally, this week we tried out another homemade game – water and plastic containers (it doesn’t get more creative than that). This one was definitely reserved for OUTSIDE…

Just look at that face, you know there is going to be trouble.

When all else fails, drinking the water seems like the only right thing to do…

Is someone feeling a little wet?

Or just thirsty?

Perhaps Nanna will have better this luck this week with her homemade play doh?

THE DANGERS OF "COASTING"

Oh sure, crawling is a great and exciting time, and having your little one pull herself up onto anything she can find is amazing – until that is, the inevitable falls occur and with them, the bruises.

Exhibit one – a result of a nasty fall from the change table. Kaitlyn was attempting to mount the table and slipped right through my hands. Kaitlyn cried for about 30 seconds. I had recovered myself about eight hours later.

Exhibit two – a result of attempting to bang one’s head on the table talking to grandma on the phone. She was in my arms at this point, but has a recent interest in head banging (yes, I know, weird), and it is taking a little longer than I would like for her to realise the sport is fraught with danger.

Now that is off my chest, I can sleep a little easier.

VIDEO FOR CAROL xxx

OUT-TAKES

In an effort to create a simply fabulous first birthday invitation, Ash and I tried in vain to capture a lovely photo of the little one this Sunday - enjoying a cupcake in the park no less! It all ended in, well tears to be honest, and we remain invitation photo challenged - still these out-takes are quite funny...

It looked like it was going to be easy...


But someone had other ideas...


The cupcake seemed to hit the right note...


However our little Miss was just stringing us along...


Dad soon get's fed up, and then, we finally get a smile! Too bad Dad's in the shot!


Such tiring work this model stuff...

AND SO SHE CRAWLS...

She is indeed crawling – although not with any great speed she has FINALLY mastered the skill, and is taking it to the next level with pulling herself up onto furniture (or whatever she can find) too.


The need to complete the baby proofing has been made all the more immediate with Kaitlyn also feeling the need to take a trip or two upstairs.

Hope to have a video of the crawling in action up on the blog very shortly – so in the meantime, Hooray for Kaitlyn! We celebrated by building a cubby – which she consequently destroyed to play peek-a-boo!

Another month passes us by, and we find ourselves in August, with now only weeks left until I am back at work and the best year of my life draws to a close.

We had a play date with Laura and William at a play centre near home.

William was full of hugs and kisses for Kaitlyn, but had me in hysterics as his fascination with vacuums had him chasing around one of the workers who was busily trying cleaning up after a party.

As I work my way through the “one last times”, I have found another way to keep my idle (!) hands busy; we are now in birthday planning mode. I almost feel as though the party should be for Ash and I – congratulations, you made it through your first year of parenting and Kaitlyn has all her fingers and toes in tact!

Despite the fact I revel in party coordination, my fun is being limited to a budget (thanks to Ash), so not only do I need to plan a great old time, but I have to do so “cheaply” – where’s the fun in that? We have agreed that the party will be a small one – just a few babies and Mums, which I guess is fine, as Kaitlyn will have absolutely no idea what’s going on, and isn’t the best of sharers when it comes to toys, or attention!

With all the talk of birthdays, it’s important we recognise a couple of celebrations we have enjoyed lately. Happy Birthday to Tim, who turned 30 last weekend. Our little family had a fabulous time (well Ash had more fun than anybody judging by his snoring that night).

And Kaitlyn always enjoys time with Dylan – despite the fact he runs in the opposite directon.

I chose a beautiful blue dress for Kaitlyn to wear for the occasion which she quickly turned black showing off her crawling skills. So, note to self, white tights and pretty dresses are a thing of the past.

Our good friend Judy also celebrated her birthday last week, and being a working Mum enjoyed a quiet little celebration with her family. We caught up with the wonderful girl for a play date this week, which meant hooray, we also spent some time with the lovely Lucas.

And finally we have started new swimming lessons at the local pool (with a much less hairy and scary instructor).

Kaitlyn may be the smallest one there, but she is certainly one of the most confident, happy to get her had wet and have a kick with Dad.

And last pic for the evening - teaching Kaitlyn to feed herself - a VERY messy experience.

THE GIRL AROUND TOWN...

So what has our little socialite been up to lately??

Happy Birthday to Enrique!

With time literally flying by, it is hardly surprising to find us already celebrating little Enrique’s first birthday. Just a quick reminder of how the little man first appeared in the world...

Daniela and Jav put on a great day of delicious food and great kiddy fun including a piñata! I might be biased, but I have to say that Enrique is one of the most wonderful children you are likely to meet. He is the definition of happy-go-lucky, content to entertain himself, yet loves being around people – very much like his Mum I’d say.

He had such a big day and was the centre of attention the whole time, and not once did we hear him have a whinge, he didn’t slow down one bit.

Kaitlyn had herself a terrific time, playing with some of Enrique’s superb birthday gifts, having a hit at the piñata with Nan (then enjoying the spoils) and of course enjoying her first taste of birthday cake – hence the blue mouth (and yes, I had one too – just love that marzipan)!

Cuddles with the birthday boy’s Mum…

The happy family.

This week we also caught up with Margaret, Livinia and Elyssia – the family who inspired this blog. Now Margaret and I did have a little wager about who would blog first - and she only JUST won (if we didn't have to travel to Cronulla to watch the Eels today, I might have just made it).

Margaret is honest to goodness one of those Mums you see on tv who is practically perfect in every way. She thinks of the most creative things to do and see with her girls and still fits in time for her favourite past time, sewing up a storm.

Livinia and Elyssia are such gorgeous little girls, but let me tell you, they taught me a thing or two about toddlers – talk about energy! If the girls weren’t bouncing up and down the slippery dip, they were running off to explore the park, and at every moment, they had Kaitlyn enraptured.

The girls had a lovely gift for Kaitlyn as it was the first time the three of them had met – and the gift is one we will treasure, a homemade bumble bee (with matching carry bag) by Margaret – she is so talented, I wonder what I do with all my time!

And we enjoyed a sunny afternoon of giggles, sliding and banana muffins.

We were also back at gymbaroo this week, with Kaitlyn now head of the class – most of the new babies aren’t even mobile yet – ha ha!

And finally, in an attempt to make home play a little more interesting, I set Kaitlyn up with some flour in the kitchen to “experiment.” Yes there was a lot of mess, and yes I did freak out slightly, but she had a ball and I guess at the end of the day, that’s all that counts.

“Are you really ok with this Mum?”

“I’m coming to get you…”