The Very Hungry Caterpillar


And my Very Happy Baby


(scroll down for more recent posts)

We traveled to Sydney for the wedding of Josh and Bihn Turner. It was a sunrise wedding which was beautiful



Be Nygun gave us this beautiful dress at one of our baby showers. I am so glad the timing worked out for her to wear it to a wedding.




My little lady:

On the road to all fours

"But its so hard...."


"Ooohhhh - toys!"


Learning from momma and dad

Ella grows more and more aware of food...and where it goes. Often when we eat, we see this:



Getting big and long:


The journey of self discovery:

...When we have a child, we take a leap off a cliff into magical air. We never stand on solid ground again. The updrafts and downdrafts in this air are like none other. We soar, we glide, then we hit turbulence and hold on tight until the storm breaks and a cool morning breeze lifts us onward. We learn fear that we've never known, joy that we've never felt, and uncertainty that knows no bounds. In that air we know the best in life, even if we collide at times with the worst.

When you love a child, you transcend the worst that life has to offer. You stare it in the eye and say, "Loving this child is better than anything bad you can throw at me."

For a moment you borrow God's tools and do God's work....


-- from Happy Child Happy Adult (pages 100-101) (no...I never took a class in Turabian)







Amazed day by day.

I often check on Ella while she is sleeping. There isn't a time that I check on her that I don't thank God for her. Something so sweet about a sleeping baby.

Destruction by Deep Burial

On December 1st 2008, our boxed belongs began their journey to Australia. They arrived in the Port of Sydney on January 29th and have been sitting in Port since then waiting on clearance from customs and quarantine.

We took Ella out at the last minute :)




Australia is well known for its rigid quarantine screenings and limits of what can and can't be brought into the country. Knowing this, I packed very carefully and even discarded some items I knew just wouldn't make it.

On Monday I received an email from the local company who is handling the clearance and release of our shipment. I knew an email from them titled 'SEIZED ITEMS' was not a good sign. True to its title, the letter read:

Ms Whaley,

Your shipment has been inspected by the AQIS and they have seized the item listed below:
- Christmas decoration (Bark or Straw) which require Gamma Irradiation or Destruction

The letter proceeded to inform me that Destruction of this item would cost $55AUD, and Gamma Irradiation $375AUD. Alternatively I could choose to travel to Sydney and re-export this item.

If my mental inventory serves me correctly, I believe the offending item might be a snowman with a piece of raffia tied around its neck. Yes, folks. Raffia. Probably treated raffia from Hobby Lobby at that. I'm not trying to make light of the stringent standards . . . Australia is free from many pests and diseases because of such standards. But seriously.

Most of our Christmas decorations hold some sentimental value. But this week we drew the line. What is Gamma Irradiation anyway, and would I really want the snowman after such a process anyhow?. (the letter did warn us that gamma irradiation might damage our goods) We reluctantly chose to destruct Frosty, and paid for the deed online.

As if "destruction" alone isn't sad enough, the invoice detailed that it would be Destruction by Deep Burial. I could have been spared the details. Really.

The upside of this is that only ONE item was seized. Thankfully our buckwheat pillows, tatami mat and wooden getta from Japan, and a handmade wooden serving tray made it through. (just for the record, all of those listed items had entered Australia previously. We had them with us when we left Japan and spent a couple of months in Australia - so I was pretty confident they would make it).

Rest in Peace Frosty. Hope you find some friends down there. I'll bet there's LOTS of cool stuff deeply buried.

Ella loves:

Walking in the Babybjorn


Going out with Momma - even though she looks very serious (music with Mummy class is the new thing...)


Standing in her carseat:


Scooting backwards:



Life!

Ella: Growing, Sitting, Eating and videos on youtube

A little Ella Rhys update. We had her weighed in Brisbane at around five and a half months. She then weighed 15lbs 12 oz. Now she is about 7.6kg at almost 7 months. I am going to have to learn to convert. Something interesting here is that most people say their baby's birth weight in pounds and ounces but that is it. All subsequent weighings are done in kilograms. So at least people understand her birth weight! The first time I went to buy diapers, I didn't know her kilogram weight so just guessed on what kind and size she needed. There are not many parts of life that remain unaffected when you cross cultures.





Now that we are settled, we are working on establishing some better routines, especially for night time. After a bath we usually read four to five books, her Bible story and sing a few songs and pray together. She absolutely LOVES being read to and some days gets quite excited.





In fact she'll read about anything she can get her hands on . . .





The end result



Traveling around with her Papaw and Grammy photo


A hat is standard attire in Australia, especially for such pure skin



She started sitting up really well around six months. The first picture was her just trying.




And she loves to stand (assisted). Her dad lets her stand in all sorts of places that I wouldn't even think of. Always under his watchful eye of course.


Around six and a half months, we gave Ella her first rice cereal. She did pretty well. We have some videos posted on you tube at www.youtube.com/jasnic06









Ella's other latest fun thing to do is to blow bubbles and it is awfully cute. She can sit there for the longest time and entertain herself with her own bubbles. Again, check out the youtube link...I believe it is titled Ella the beatboxer or something like that.