Lilah singing "Baa Baa Black Sheep" in the bath

We made it through a year!

Lilah turned one a couple of weeks ago! We thought a celebration was in order, since the year has been one filled with joy, fun and some new challenges.

We can't believe our little baby is now a toddler - although she's really only toddling while holding onto things at this stage. I'm sure it won't be too long 'til she's all independent, but for now we're enjoying her cuddles as she leans on us for support.

I had to work on Lilah's birthday, but Eric stayed home with her and they had a fun day together. Then, when I got home we opened some of her presents - we gave her a trike, which converts and changes with her as she gets older and bigger. She also got lots of lovely presents from family here and in the USA.

She was so excited about the trike we gave her - every time she sees it (or another bike) she goes 'Brrrmm Brrmm bike!', and she never seems to get tired of riding in it. However, she's started figuring out how to steer it, which becomes a bit of a problem at times...

The next day we both had the day off, and so we took Lilah to a nature reserve in Ipswich. It's a park with a free 'zoo-style' area, filled with Australian animals, and also a little barn with farmyard animals for the kids to look at.

We pushed Lilah around on her new trike, and she was absolutely speechless - which is pretty unusual. She loved it! Especially the emus - they were pretty amazing, making their growling and thumping drum-like sounds, and coming right up to the fence where we were standing. She liked the kangaroos too - but we had to keep moving in the swan enclosure, because there was nothing between us and some very protective swan parents.

We also had a birthday party for Lilah on the Saturday after her birthday. Thankfully, the weather was great - so we were able to celebrate at Kangaroo Point, in the park next to the river. It's a beautiful location and we love spending time there. We had a BBQ lunch for the family, and then afternoon tea with friends.

All the kids played with toys and on bikes, and everyone had a good time. I even made a penguin cake (chocolate mud cake - yum!) for Lilah (Eric's choice), which turned out pretty well - although it melted a bit in the heat (only in Brisbane would heat be a issue on a winter day!)

Eric decorated the party area, as I had to stay with Lilah while she finished her daily nap. Unfortunately, she still had a cold, but she always perks up when we go out anywhere - she loves to be the centre of attention and is little miss social. When everyone was singing 'happy birthday' to her however, she shyly hid her head against my shoulder - very cute.

The party zone ... you can see beautiful Brisbane city in the background - across the river...

Lilah and her Uncle Marty - hanging out...

Eric and Mark BBQ-ing and no doubt discussing deep and thought provoking topics...

The birthday girl herself!

Lilah with Grandma and cousin Angela...

Present time - with Grandpa, cousin Angela and us...

Some of Lilah's friends (and ours too ;))...

She's growing up! 10 months old...

Lilah's new car...




















What a pretty girl!




















Toothy grin...

Lilah talking... then it ends in tears ;)

March

March has been a busy month for us. Bron had to go to Sydney for work for a few days, but didn't want to go without Lilah, so Eric and Lilah both came along for the trip.

Lilah did really well, but it was quite a challenging expedition - babies don't really understand the concept in a plane that 'this is our seat, that seat is for a perfect stranger who doesn't necessarily want you to touch their lunch or headphones and isn't probably thrilled about being kicked or climbed on'...

Anyway, we coped ok and just tried to keep her occupied as much as possible.

One very cute moment - there was a baby on the other side of the plane, a little older than Lilah. They kept smiling at each other throughout the trip. Then, all of a sudden, Lilah waved at her, and she waved back. The whole aisle went 'ooohhh ahhhh'. It was very cute!

When we got to Sydney we had to catch the train to the hotel, because we didn't want to take Lilah in a taxi without a seatbelt. So, by that time she was beside herself with tiredness, and finally fell asleep for a short while.

When we got to the hotel, we all went for a swim and it was really lovely. The pool was several stories up, so we had a great view of the city, and there was no one else swimming - we had it all to ourselves. Lilah is a little water baby, she loves to swim, kick, splash and go under the water. If you stop moving, she tries to kick off on her own.

During the day Eric and Lilah explored the city while Bron was in meetings, and they had a pretty good time. On the 3rd day though, they had to check out at 11am, and I didn't finish until 5pm, so they were very tired after walking around Sydney all day long together with Eric as the jungle gym. When we got back home we were all exhausted for several days, and Lilah hasn't gotten back into her good sleeping routine from before the trip still because she then decided to stand up in her cot instead of sleeping every nap time, but we're getting there.




















I took a few more photos at crawling club this week. The light and colours there are really good, so it's a good opportunity. Lilah had a great time - she is definitely one of the smallest babies there though - our little 'delicate joy'.























She loved these little green balls. She crawled around everywhere with them, and if she saw another baby with one she would crawl over and take it off them!

More movies...

Lilah's new cubby house... so funny!

Crawling Club

Today Lilah and I went to crawling club for the first time. She had a lot of fun. Here are some pics!