Catch back up

These are pics from a family holiday/long weekend down to Philip island. I took a couple of wrong turns on the way, but when traveling with me, that's just part of the fun. It was stinking hot in Melbourne, which is why we got out of there and headed down the coast.

Here I am, holding a drippy Charlie aloft in celebration.

This is part of the Island where you can see lots of penguins close up on a boardwalk and then a huge colony of seals out on the rocks through binoculars. It's faing straight south into Bass Straight, which gave the whole experience an extra edge. Beautiful rugged coast and menacing dark water made it special.
See what I mean?
She really enjoyed the tame Bay, which was just a minutes walk from where we were staying. Its the first time she had really gotten out and enjoyed the deeper water. She grabbed a few tasty handfuls of sand too and chowed down. It was overcast but from memory it was still 36 or 37 or something ridiculous. Still, it was 40+ in Melbourne. Dad with Charlie.

Dad Mum and Charlie. Mum's playing hard to get and Charlie is playing harder. Just like I taughts 'er.




Now that's some cute smiles from my two favourite girls. Dad was thoughtful enough not to ruin things by putting his head into shot.
Love her!

So you know you can dance (clap your hands say yeah)

No time for chit chat tonight, here's one hot off the press.

This tightly choreographed performance is an ensemble of all of Charlie's dancing styles into a single flamboyant piece. The decision to strip off wasn't taken lightly, but after deliberation on the artistic merits of nudity and a vigorous discussion on the performance pieces intellectual integrity, Charlie decided that anything less (more?) would have been a slap in the face of her art.

enjoy~

The things she does

I meant to put this cute little movie up a while ago. It got lost in the torrent of new photos that we take weekly.

We're not so sure about the switch to one sleep now. Sam noticed that everyday we give her one sleep, she has a wake during the night. So, back to 2 sleeps and see if ti makes a difference. There's a few things we'll try like moving her lunch time a little and making the first sleep a bit earlier than it has been. Slowly but surely she'll reach that one sleep a day goal when she's ready for it.

Like it's 1999

I was having a browse through the last few months of photos and thought that I should throw a few random ones down here. A small window into the last 3 months.

Her first Christmas, before the carnage, and before she learnt how to unwrap presents. Sam made the decorations.

Now we have teeth, we really should be looking after them. right? This is the first photo of Charlie where I saw myself in her face. Poor thing.

Charlie and me at Warrnambool. The sand there was very silty. Not like good Newcastle sand. We were washing it and vacuuming it out of things for weeks afterwards. Still, lovely time.

The combined first birthday party. it was ment to be at the park, but the weather was nasty and we had it our house. This is before everyone turned up. It was a full house.

The Gang. Yes, Eric is really pushing Lakmini around through the long grass. Charlie is just happy to tag along and admire Eric's muscles.

One of the cutest pictures, and my facebook profile picture. Love it.

13 Months

It's Autumn, finally. I'm no great fan of a Melbourne summer. I miss the beaches of home far too much. Every hot day brings phantom beach pangs. I'm an amputee. I can feel cool waves rippling over my toes, as they sink into the sand. No good. Autumn is my favorite season down here. If I can't have a beach then you can keep the heat. Give me numbing cold days anytime. I love the cold, so welcome Autumn, great to see you again.

Charlie is 13 months old now. she's been walking since 9 months but only in the last month has she really started to explore it as more than just a way to get from A to B. She now twirls and dances little jigs that end up, after a second of frenzied footwork, with her siting on her bum. She's climbing onto the lounge, down stairs and most impressively, up steps without holding onto anything. The satisfaction on her face needs to be bottled and sold.

Sam and I are having trouble pinning her down to a sleep pattern during the day. She's been a great sleeper, and all the hard work of the first 5 or so months has paid off. At the moment though, she's slipping between 2 sleeps a day and 1 sleep a day. This last week I've just been putting her down for the one sleep at around 10:30. She's a dream all day, but we've noticed that when she has 1 sleep during the day, she has a wake sometimes during the night. We've taken this as a sign she's not quite ready yet and that she's getting over tired. Back to 2 sleeps for a little while from today. it's amazing how adaptable she is, we're stuffing around her with her routines but she doesn't seem to mind. An Angel. 

The upside is that we can go back to playgroup and the girls now that she wont be sleeping right through it. Just one day left for the weekend. Sam's precious weekends. I wish I could give her longer, she misses Charlie so much during the week. Poor mum. I love you.

Been so Long

I've decided to keep updating this blog. Its been over 6 months since the last entry, and so much has changed.

Less talk and more pictures:

This is from the weekend. We took a  mini-break in Warrnambool with the Wisemans. Charlies first time at the Beach! 

And here's a cute movie of the girl out in the park. Warrnambools beautiful! Dad got to have a body surf which he's been missing for a long time now. Charlie wasn't a fan of the water or the sand for that matter, but she liked the seagulls. She called them ducks. I think.

I'm going to touch my Chin then rub my Shin.

Well whats happened this week. She's getting better at standing everyday. One day she couldn't support her weight and then the next day, BAM! she could hold the weight for a few seconds. Its progressed like that over the last week. She really enjoys it. Brings a smile to her face everytime.

She also really loves being flown around the house headfirst, and a bit of freefall is good too. Her giggle is infectious. Her and Sam have the same giggle. In the bath tonight as well I think she really discovered that she can make noises while breathing in as well as out. So now, when she's being chirpy, its non stop, wall to wall, quadrophonic noisery.