Bend it like Bubba!!

Hee hee! Last night Alexis learnt a whole new skill! She was sitting on the floor & paul rolled a soccer ball to her to play with.. she got excited & kicked her legs, and kicked the ball back to him! Naturally we all thought this was pretty funny, so paul rolled it back again, this time she grabbed it with her hands, then tucked her foot behind it so she could kick it again! They kept doing that over & over until she had gotten really good at getting her foot into the best place for kicking it... She thought it was such great fun! We were amazed because its the first really interactive game that she has done so far, its so cool to be able to play a proper game with our baby!! I reckon its my english genes coming through ;-)

oops! 8 months & 3 weeks....

My dad pointed out that i haven't updated this in a while.. sorry! Just for the record i tend to add pics to our photo page more regularly than i post on this :-)

Anyway, our wee girl is getting so grown up! She spends most of her time cruising around the furniture, and can toddle along behind a little trolley too.. She has finally popped a tiny tooth, and has given us a few nasty bites! We take her to the library every week now for storytime, where the kids are read stories & do some dancing.. she has started 'dancing' - bobbing up & down and clapping - whenever she hears some music, its very cute! She also loves having a swing at the park, and we have taken her swimming a couple of times too, which she really enjoyed & as a bonus she slept really well afterwards!

Oooo i've also started sewing clothes for her, which is great fun & today i started knitting a little jumper for her too ;-p

7 months

Well how things have progressed!! Almost a week ago she suddenly started crawling properly, and is now zooming around the place.. and if that wasn't enough in the last week she has finally learnt to sit by herself, she was never interested in staying still before, but now is quite happy to crawl somewhere, grab a toy & sit there playing with it :-D She has just grasped the concept of holding a toy in each hand too, so not having to lean on one hand is a real bonus..
And if THAT wasn't enough, she's started pulling herself up to standing!! She's only done it about four times now, but EEEK! Where has our little baby gone?!

She's now eating kumara, broccoli & carrot :-) She LOVES the broccoli!

oh dear...

We have started solids... A few days ago we decided to try her with some 'real' food, some kumara (a kind of sweet potato for those of you in the uk) mixed with breastmilk, just an icecube of each. At first she was a little unsure, but just sucked it off the spoon, didn't push it out with her tongue at all, so we were quite impressed. She ate quite a bit of it pretty happily, until she decided that she wanted to do it herself.. sigh... luckily she is very good at putting things in her mouth, she has been playing with a spoon for months, so she didn't spread it all over her face! She has now had that for dinner three times, and has taken to it like a pro! Next week we will be trying her with some brocolli... You can check out the pictures by clicking here!

Another development (which is oh so cute!) is that if we put our cheek near her face, and say "Kiss mama/dada" she will lean forward and give us a little open-mouthed kiss! Not quite a kiss technically, but not just a suck either.. but it is soooo cute!!

Oh and Alexis wanted to say- frt hf g uo979 v

Keep checking in!

A 1/2 year old!

How time flys! Our little baby is now six months old! No longer a sleepy blob, she has developed definite likes & dislikes, for example, her favourite songs are Incy Wincy Spider & You Are My Sunshine, with a growing appreciation for Old McDonald Had A Farm.. she likes being rocked back & forth on your knee, but NOT tossed up in the air.. and she likes being read Fox in Socks :-D

On the movement front, her crawling has developed so that she now gets onto her knees, then stands up so that she is on her hands & feet, takes a few (wobbly) steps, then lauches forward onto her belly! And repeats until she gets to where she wants. However, she still can't roll from her right side onto her belly, so still sometimes finds herself trapped against some furniture! She isn't quite sitting independantly yet, far too wriggly, but she does get herself into a leaning sitting position (like in the picture), and sometimes sits like that for a minute, having a look around, before crawling off again.

Unfortunately, she has just recently broken out with eczema :-( which has given her very itchy, dry, and sometimes red & flaky, skin. So that means we have to moisturise her lots, and be very careful about what we put on her skin, like shampoo & clothing. It has also meant we have to get her checked for allergies before she starts with 'proper' food, as dairy, egg, gluten & soy are all very common triggers for ezcema... There's a good chance that she will grow out of it, and so far it hasn't been too severe, so fingers crossed!

All in all, it has been a great six months. I am still constantly in awe of this tiny person, who is learning new things every day, and is growing up so fast! And although I sometimes miss the tiny little bundle that she once was, I am really looking forward to the next six months to come!