9/366

9/1/12

Showing off your new toothy pegs!



7/366

7/1/12

You and your old friend Skyler and new friend Arthur... at Skyler's 1st birthday party.





Your SECOND first Christmas

Mama is finally getting to Christmas with Nanny, Poppy, Aunty Emma and Uncle Scott and wee baby Josie!

I didn't capture nearly as many photos as I would have liked for your first Christmas, but I can guarantee that we have a lovely day - the sun came out for us, the food was glorious, your were spoiled with lots of Nanny and Poppy cuddles and you even got to have a nap at the beach!

You actually allowed the Santa hat to stay on your head!

Opening your presents on Daddy's knee

Helping Daddy open his present from you! A seat to go on his bike so you can go riding with him!

And, of course, the wrapping paper is the best thing ever.

Santa bum!

Stalking your prey... notice you aren't crawling properly here? It's because you hated the feel of grass on your knees :)

Daddy is helping you play with your new remote control car (from Nanny's friend Sue!)

A sweaty, sweet and cozy baby, napping after a hard morning of opening presents.

Happy to spend time with your Nanny and Poppy

Up, up and away!

Where are all of the photos of you and Josie? I forgot to get my camera out! It's a fine line between living in a moment and capturing it on camera... this time, the moment won!

Christmas is over for another year, but Santa will be back next year.

6/366

Higher! Higher!

7/1/12

5/366

Toast hat! (Dodgy quality - taken with my iPad)

4/366

Y'know, just sitting here blowing raspberries, drooling.

7 and 8 Month update

Yup. As I said in an earlier post - I'm way behind in your updates! And I still haven't told you about your christmas with Nanny and Poppy down in Jervis Bay OR Your very first NYE... It will come, I promise!

Today - your 7 and 8 month update.

Let's start with this little GEM:

Wow. I've said it every week.. but this is the FUNNEST age. I can only imagine it is going to get even more fun, but lately you have been a bright, shining star in our lives. Late at night, after you've gone to bed, your daddy and I lay next to each other and recount the funny and cute things you'd done earlier in the day. We lay there laughing and rolling our eyes  - you are such a character little boy.

I have no weight or height measurements at the moment - we'll be getting those on Tuesday, but here's what the last 8 weeks have looked like for you:

• You have officially got 4 teeth - bottom two (at 6 months) and top two (at 7 1/2 months). Now, when you smile, you don't really look like a little baby anymore :(
• Crawling, cruising, jumping up and down in your bed (tsk, tsk), falling backwards onto soft surfaces (your favourite - I will try to video that too!). You are a mobile little creature, and I'm still trying to find a baby gate that will withstand your determination.

• Pointing - you can point your index finger like it's your job. At Christmas Eve mass, I have you on my shoulder so you could look out behind me. I look over at Aunty Emma and she is cracking up at you - you were pointing directly into the faces of the people behind us. You point at people, at things you like the look of, at your food (it's common for you to point, poke and then grab whatever it is we are offering), at Chelsea-dog, at a Bird in the tree, at the radio... you just love to point.
• And that index finger comes in very handy when it comes to reading your favourite books - the one with textures in them. You have come to love each new page, knowing exactly where to touch to feel the different surfaces - fluffy, scratchy, rough...
• You have learned to play the kazoo...oh yes. It's all very monotone at the moment, but you play it like a boss.
• You more or less sleep through the night now. Most nights you wake up once for a quick feed, then back to bed. But then, you're up at 6 most mornings. Daddy and I take it in turns to get up with you and feed you breakfast.
• No official first words yet! I was sure you were to become the strong and silent type, but in the last few weeks you've become more vocal and your favourite things to say are "Wa-wa-wa" and "Bra-bra-bra". You also like yeeeellllll. You stand up against things and holler and hoot. It's hilarious, like you are saying "I am Hamish - hear me ROAR!"

Little boy, you are awake from your nap now and sitting on my lap trying to 'help' me type, so I'll sign off now...

I love you

I love you

I LOVE you

3/366

3/366

This here, my dear boy, is your first little tizzy caught on camera...

You just wanted to swing, swing, swing!

Rest assured, the 'giving in' part was only for camera... we don't let you get away with tanty throwing ordinarily!

Christmas take one!

Your first, first christmas was on Sunday 18th December at Grandma and Granda's house. Aunty Sarah, Uncle Simon, Aunty Kate and Uncle Chris were all there too!

You were spoiled with loads of presents (and so was Mummy and Daddy), but most of all you were spoiled with kisses and hugs, which are way better (in my book).

Some pictures:

You were so lucky to get this amazing abacus from Granda and Grandma

Aunty Kate and Uncle Chris

Aunty Sarah helps you open your gift.



Cuddles with Uncle Chris



Grandma cooked a HUGE turkey and we ate all day long. The weather was pretty chilly, so we couldn't have a swim in the pool like we wanted to, but it was still a gorgeous day. Mummy didn't take nearly enough pictures!

2/366

Butter wouldn't melt....

1/366

1/366

366* days in a year, 366 captured moments of your precious life.

*Did you know it was a leap year?

Picking up right where we left off...

It has been a whirlwind couple of weeks baby boy, but you've kept on trucking, as is your style.

How about we just start with some cute pictures?

I'd much rather feed myself... even if it means mum has four times as much clean up to do...



"The thighs", how fabulous are they??

 I have so much more to write for you...

• Your 7 and 8 month updates (yes, I forgot to do your 7 month one, so I'll do a combined one)
• Christmas with Daddy's family
• Christmas with Mummy's family
• New years eve/day

But alas, it's almost 10pm and you had a pretty unsettled night last night, so this mama is off to bed. Tomorrow is a new day - and I promise to try harder to keep up to date :)

Cuddles

You've entered my favourite stage ever! Cuddles!!

It's especially nice after you've woken from sleep. You cry to be picked up, and as soon as I do you "koala" on to me.

It's my policy not to pull out of cuddle before you do, and sometimes they can last as long as 10 minutes!

Not usually though :) Usually it's only for a few precious moments, then you find something more interesting to look at or reach for. My busy boy.

This morning, after your nap, you cuddled me for the longest time. Then after you were done cuddling, you pressed your forehead to  mine and we smiled at each other for ages, until the smiles turned into laughter and you began to smoosh your little wide-open mouth into my cheek.

Kissing: Hamish-style.

Retrospective months...

I wrote these up each month before I even started this little blog... I thought I may as well copy them here! They are long-winded and probably only interesting to me..  but here you go..

3 months

• Weight: 7kgs
• Length: 62cm
• I love the way you flail your arms in the air when you are fist put down on a flat surface - it’s as if you think the world is spinning too fast and you are trying to find something to hold on to.
• You also love to smoosh your face against me or your dad after you’ve had a big feed, wiping away any mess.
• You pee in the bath each and every time without fail.
• You intensely try and copy us blowing raspberries.
• You have well and truly found your hands hands (at about 9 weeks) and they reside permanently in your mouth. Your little face is constantly covered in saliva, which makes cheek kisseys very interesting.
• I got a nice laugh out of you at 12 weeks 4 days. It was amazing and I cried happy tears. Now it is my aim in life to get you to laugh again.
• You're a smiley little bugger. We just have to look at you and say “hi!” and you grin from ear to ear.
• Sometimes, the only thing that will calm you down if you is having a meltdown is for me to hold him in my arms and sing. Favourites: Twinkle twinkle, Baa Baa black sheep, Two Little Boys, Close to you, Yesterday.. quite a mixed bag!
• Your eyes are strikingly blue at this stage. Daddy has brown eyes and I have blue eyes so it’s anyone’s guess what colour they’ll turn out eventually. I’m gunning for blue, because you're a spitting image of your dad so I’d love you to have something attributed to me!
• Sleep is a challenge (see previous post).
• You LOVE bathtime. LOVE. You and daddy have a bath together every night and the only time you get cranky is when we’re trying to re-dress you.
• Related: you love to be naked. You're going to be a GREAT summer babe. Not so good in these cooler months!
• You light up my life.. god that is so cliche! But you do!

4 months

Baby Boy - today marks 4 whole months of your life outside! Can you believe it? I certainly can’t.

Let me tell you a bit about your 4 month self:

• You just found your toes! As in yesterday! You grab at them now and try and pull off your socks.
• My favourite time of the day is the mornings. You are your most vocal then - almost like stretching out your vocal chords. It starts out like a scratchy owl sound, building up to a teenage-boy-who’s-voice-is-about-to-break. Once you are put on your playmat, it turns to squeals and hoots of delight as you try and grab the different toys that I hang up for you each day.
• You roll around the floor with terrifying regularity. You started pretty early in your life - about 11.5 weeks - but it was kind of a one-trick wonder. Lately, it has been your favourite thing in the world. You sometimes prefer to be on your tummy to play!
• We sit you up and sometimes you stay sitting up without our help. Only for a few moments, but you can see your brain trying to work out the proper muscles to use. It’s magic.
• You love your Bumbo. Yellow, like your personality.
• You hate the Jolly Jumper. It may have something to do with the fact that our doorways are too narrow and you got a nice bump on the head the other day.
• You dribble like a champ. I change your bibs as often as your nappy.
• If your hands aren’t busy - they are in your mouth. You are not a thumb-sucker - you are a forefinger-sucker. It’s incredibly cute.
• Sleep. Well, sleep is overrated, right? But we’re working on it.
• You weigh around 7.5kgs and you’re wearing 00 and 0 clothes.
• When I lean down to kiss your face - you grab mine and try and suck on my nose.
• You are a real boy - a roughnut, a boof-head. I love it.

5 months

Hey Hamish! Can you believe how much I love you? It seems to balloon every single day. Sometimes the enormity of my love for you catches in my throat and I find myself choking back silly tears.

A few things about you and your little life that I never want to forget:

• You are still breastfeeding like a champion - and now you’re even beginning to bury your face into my shirt when you’re hungry - no whinging, just burying :)
• Sleep is still a work in progress…
• But you slept in your big cot all on your own for the first time last night!! I had very little sleep - my eyes on the monitor all night, but you seemed to sleep like a, well, baby! In the morning I came in to find you smiling and talking to yourself. Heart = warmed.
• I have started giving you rice cereal mixed with breast milk and some mashed sweet potato or pumpkin. Tonight we try carrots! I’m introducing each food separately and slip a new one in every few days. Perhaps peas next?
• You are in crawler nappies!
• You are trying to crawl on a daily basis and it frustrates you so much that you aren’t getting anywhere!
• You LOVE LOVE LOVE Gymbaroo.
• You stand up with a bit of assistance and beam your gorgeous big smile in such a proud way.
• And you can sit up all on your own… for a minute or so :)
• You easily roll onto your tummy from your back, but back to front seems to be a challenge for you.. you get it about once a day. Every other time you cry out for someone to flip you over… before you flip right back on to your belly. Sigh, little boy, sigh.
• Bath time is still your favourite part of the day.. no, it’s your favourite part of life.
• We took you to the beach for the first time two weeks ago -  you rocked those baby sunglasses and hat like a true beach bum. You spent the whole time in the nude, scraping sand towards you and grinding it into your, erm, private area. I’m assuming it felt good. It was still too cold for a swim, but daddy put your feet in the water and you kicked and kicked and squealed with joy.
• Laughing is more common now and once you get going you don’t stop! Words like “sushi” and “spit” make you cackle.
• Dribble should be your middle name.
• I think you might have some mouthy pegs moving around in that little mouth of yours - everything and anything is jammed into your gob at any opportunity. Sophie’s ears, horns and nose are your favourite.
• You still fall asleep so fast in your carseat, which is not very convenient when we are just headed 5 minutes down the road.
• You seem to be rather musical - and I may be seeing things, but I’m sure I saw you bopping along to Regina Spektor a few days ago - those little shoulders bumping up and down. Singing to you, any song, breaks your little mood swings immediately.
• You love toys - but you love things that are not toys more!
• You never stop moving. Even when you are chilled out and relaxed, a little foot is tapping or your little fingers are opening and closing.

You are going to keep mummy very busy, little boy. Very busy indeed.

I love you more than the air I breathe.

Love Mummy.

6 months!!

I’m writing this very late, you actually turned 6 months two weeks again, but because we were sunning ourselves on the beautiful beaches of Fiji on your actual day, I’ll update now.
Where the hell has the time gone? You are half a whole year! Sheesh! Stop growing little one!
Some cool things that you do now:

• You sleep in your own cot! Woot! We are still working on the sleep (and it’s going so so so well), but you don’t sleep in our room anymore. I find that exciting and sad. I miss you some nights, but all I have to do is hold the monitor up to my ear to hear your man-like snores.
• You sit up all on your own now. It means I can surround you with toys and I whizz around the house doing house work until you decide you’re bored and want to play with mummy. You are much happier upright, and reward us all with massive smiles.
• Also - you CRAWL! Yikes! You don’t move too fast though, so I’m not too worried yet - but next on our list of things to buy you is a baby gate or two and some child-proofing materials. A play pen  has been erected in the lounge room so I can pop you in there and know that you won’t be getting into mischief while I’m out of the room.
• Two toothy-pegs!
• You reach out to daddy and I when we are not holding you and you want us to be.
• You are a clingy little boy now and we can rarely leave you in a room with other people without you freaking out and crying. People are starting to get complexes. It’s getting better, but a weeks of undivided mummy and daddy attention while we were on holidays spoiled you a bit.
• You are eating three meals a day, plus snacks plus breast milk. You really don’t like food, which really surprises me. We’ve tried fresh fruit and veg, cooked, raw, mashed, pre-made baby food (all organic and 100%), but you still prefer mama’s milk. We have cut you down to 4 feeds a day, so you are sort of forced to eat other things. Because of all of the crazy dietary changes, you were terribly constipated for a few days (tears, straining, and sweating - very cute in a sad way), but that seems to have “worked it’s way out.”
• You still love Gymbaroo (and have graduated to the mobile babies class) and still like music class.

You are getting so freaking fun and challenging and you change every day. It’s a cliche, but it’s so true - you are growing before our very eyes!

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You're a 7 monther now! I'm working on a 7 month update for you and will post it as soon as we take your 7 month pictures :)