Our resident beaver

Naive first time parents that we are, we didn't realize that Ella wasn't just drooling on the ottoman. She was in fact sinking her only two teeth deep into the leather ottoman/coffee table. She also did something similar along the bookcase.

(I know its bad to take a picture of the crime in action, but for the record...)

These days you hear a lot of "No ma'am..." and "We don't bite the ottoman..." and slapping on her little hand. She's smart. She gets it. Most times as she pulls herself up on these furniture items, she'll look at me and start shaking her head.

Sadly we're not always with her in this room. I noticed a few new marks the other day. The ottoman isn't as bad as the picture shows. I mean, yes, those marks are there. But the flash shows them up well. To just look at the ottoman, you can't see these bite marks.

Since Ella is now cutting one top incisor, if we are not vigilant, we could end up with some very interesting marks.

Cute little beaver.

A few pictures

This is what a giraffe "does"

11 months
The squat

11 Months old

Ella is 11 months old today. I can hardly believe that in just one month we will be celebrating her first birthday.

I've been terrible about maintaining her baby book. Hopefully this blog will be helpful in remembering special milestones and developments. Here are a few things shes up to these days:

- speed crawling
- exploring other rooms in the house. She finally figured out that she can go ANYWHERE. Its funny to watch her cruise down the hall and then gingerly peek into each room
- clapping
- waving goodbye
- blowing kisses (on just one occassion)
- making fish noises by opening and closing her mouth when we ask her "what does a fish say?"
- hanging her long tongue out of one side of her mouth when we ask her "what does a giraffe do, Ella?"
- pulling up on things (but can't get down . . . resulting in a very sad cry for help)
- still calling everything "BA!"
- LOVING, absolutely LOVING walks in the BabyBjorn carrier
- still nursing, but also eating (and enjoying) broccoli, cauliflour, peas, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potato, mashed potatoes, whole wheat pasta, lentils, yogurt, oatmeal, porridge, banana
- finally learned the art of the sippy cup
- high pitched sounds while blowing raspberries. Very cute . . . very "girlish"
- playing peek-a-boo (sometimes she initiates and is the "boo-er")
- graduated from the baby capsule to a forward facing car seat (see post below)
- MAJOR sleep improvements. Longer day time naps (probably thanks to increased mobility and sleeping from about 6:30pm - 6am sometimes 7am)
- signing for "all-done" and very close to signing for "more"
- cutting her third tooth. A top "fang"/incisor. Hopefully she'll even up the vampire look with the other fang at the same time. :)

She's a treasure and she's changed our life. Thank you God for our beautiful daughter.

Momma and daughter at the Organic Food Swap in Wollongong

Ella and Lily in Canberra

We spent this past weekend in Canberra, the nation's Capital City. Its just a three and a half hour drive from Wollongong but is the longest road trip we've taken since arriving in Australia. Ella Rhys spent much of the first six months of her on the road. We were a little concerned about this trip since we were taking Ella out of her baby capsule and into a forward facing car seat. You'll see from the pictures below what she thought of that! But she ended up doing just great and even took long naps while on the road.

Loving the old . . .


Not so thrilled with the new yet . . .


On the way we stopped at a rest area and Ella was able to see the "BA" (birds). I wish you could see the beautiful parrots that were eating off the ground

Ella checking out the birds . . .


We went to Canberra to see Mark, Kate and Lily Jennings. Jason knew Kate from his time as a HIM worker back in 1998-2000. Kate and I had connected through facebook since having our girls just five days apart. Lily is the older of the two. Kate and I plan on getting together as regularly as we can so the girls can know each other growing up. And we sure enjoyed each others company, too.

Our weekend was relaxing, full of fun fellowship and good food. On Saturday Kate and I hit a baby and kids consignment market and I got some great deals. Was able to find a Leap Frog Activity Center for Ella for just $8AUD. I also picked up a couple of clothing items for her and few larger sized baby boy clothes. Yep...we're having a BOY!

We took the girls to Quest a con in the afternoon where they have "miniQ" - a babies play area. Ella and Lily had a great time in the aquatics area playing with the balls and water. Ella looks serious but she was having a ball.





Isn't it amazing how a little hair makes a baby look so grown up? I PROMISE you that Ella has some hair. Granted not much on top - mostly a baby mullet. But its getting thick at the back.

Saturday night we also visited with Sarah, Kent and Bailey (almost 2) Vidler. Bailey was delighted to hang out with two cute girls and we didn't hear many complaints from them either. It was fun to watch them interact in their own little ways. We enjoyed worshipping with the Canberra church of Christ on Sunday. Jason was able to share briefly at the end of worship our vision for the work in Wollongong.

This is the best we could do for a picture with the three kids . . .





We headed back to Wollongong on Monday via the Robertson Pie Shop. I'd had to say that I'm not one to get all that excited about a meat pie but these are good. They have a large variety of pies and claim the chicken and veggie pie as my favorite. Its really just like a chicken pot pie which is great because thats not something I make at home. And to top it off, the lady gave us a free pie because she thought they looked small.

It was a good weekend!

Me . . . a Winter Baby?

This is how a girl from Queensland keeps her "born-in-a-Texan-summer" baby warm in a New South Wales winter. I might have endured snow and minus 30 temperatures in Canada; a non insulated apartment and icy cold bike rides to school in Japan . . . but I still call it cold here.

As is typical of homes in this part of Australia, we do not have the luxury of central heat or ducted heating. While the temperatures remain above freezing (lows from 38F and up) and daytimes can even be "pleasant" (highs in the high 50s), we still have to work hard at keeping warm. Our house does well at holding in the cold air -- a good thing for summer days.

Many mornings we put a coat over Ella's pjs and slippers over her feet. There is nothing we can do to keep her hands warm as she crawls all over our wooden floors. And nothing I can do to keep those chilly hands away from me while she nurses! She doesn't seem too bothered by the cold, the attire, or that fact that she'll have many of her birthdays in the dead of winter as long as we live in Australia.



I'd have to say though, that there isn't much cuter than a bundled up baby . . .

"BA"

We enjoyed time outside together on a beautiful fall day. To date, Ella has not been a big fan of the grass. The blanket helped, and she did pat it with her hand this time around, so we are making progress. While she doesn't like to touch the grass, she is not at all afraid to eat leaves. It brings Jason great joy to be outside with his daughter and he loves any interest she shows in the great outdoors.

Most days, Jason will carry Ella in the BabyBjorn on a walk. Ella understands "Bjorn" and "outside" and looses all patience once she sees Jason pick up the Bjorn to get ready for a walk. Once outside out comes her pointer finger(s) to direct Jason on which way to go and to alert him of their surroundings. Birds, dogs, cars, people...she can hardly stand it. All of these things are currently known as "BA". Actually most everything other than "mama" is "ba" right now. She is so much fun!