Michelle's Visit

We have had the great blessing of a visit from our dear friend Michelle these past 10 days. It was so fun to have her here, we had lots of laughs and it was a delight to introduce her to Emma Grace. We went to a zoo (very touristy) to show her the Aussie animals and on a road trip which sadly made for quite miserable viewing as we hit flooding keeping us in doors!!!

Michelle took this photo in the car...I'd love to know what Emma Grace was thinking...

Emma with her new favourite person!

I promise, even when Emma was overtired and super

hungry Michelle could STILL make her smile!!
At the beach on the way home from NSW
At Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary

Michelle feeding the kangaroos!

This sign made me laugh because it was near the Wombats,

which I always thought were merely 'cute and furry' creatures!

the 'vicious' biting wombat?

perhaps they're simply masters of disguise

unfortunately this is blurry, but it's not often

that you see Koalas actually moving!

They usually do this...

We think this cockatoo was an escape artist as he was moving

the corrugated iron and making a huge racket doing it!

A Rainbow Lorikeet (pity about the bars!)

This is Surfer's Paradise with erosion from the rains...

and....flooding

One reason we didn't get to see Byron Bay Lighthouse

A Saturday Outing

We live opposite a primary school (elementary school for my American readers of which I'm sure there are at least 3) and on Saturday they had their annual school fete. It was a rather noisy affair so we decided to pop along and have a nosey around.

Getting ready to check it out!

I waited in line for some fairy floss but it was on a stick which I decided was too undignified...

Here's some random trivia:

Australia: fairy floss

USA: cotton candy

SA: candy floss

I'd like to know where in the world it's called 'Fairy Candy'

They had a massive jumping castle

These girls were super cute. I love that the little poppet second
from the left (stage right) is stopping to scratch her elbow... AND we saw some familiar faces there
(as it happens the bloke in the background is
our next door neighbour with his little girl) Poor Eli is covered by Maiah's excitement...
if you look closely you can kind of see his shirt :) And of course by the end of it all (and we're talking 30 minutes haha) Emma Grace was done!

A New Friend

Emma Grace discovered a new friendy....herself! Lyle decided to see what she'd do and sure enough...she thinks she's pretty great (oh dear!). She was chatting and laughing away. So I don't have to join a playgroup after all!

We love May!

I've always enjoyed May. In Brisbane it finally feels somewhat cold! For Lyle and I it's a fun month because we have our birthdays.
Mine was last Sunday (Lyle's is coming up on Tuesday) and we went to my parents house for cake and all sorts of fattening food! It was a lovely day and very special to celebrate my first birthday as a mum! I'm glad I have Emma around, turning 31 wouldn't have been the same without her!

I must admit I thought this would turn out better...

I don't think Emma Grace enjoyed it very much
My cake!

10 Weeks with the cutest kid in the world!

Yesterday we had yet another little photo shoot with Lyle's new camera lense!
She is without a doubt the best looking girl ever created, hands down!

The Nursery....finally!

I finally finished Emma Grace's room (with one exception that I'll begin with)!

I took photos this evening while waiting for her to wake for her 7pm feed - so the lighting's all messed up...'cos Lyle's at work tonight

The letters are crooked...the one exception to completion!

The hooks were there already so I just need to figure out how

to/where to put holes in the backs of the letters...or something

I painted these this evening
(that's intended to be a flower in the corner)This is the first thing you see as you enter her room...
The doors go onto Lyle's office, but there's a black out curtain on the other side

Then moving around to the right...

Mum made the wall hangings - they're fabric prints from the

Dick and Jane reader book series from the 40's and 50's

Those three prints are one of the works of Puccini

You can see Emma Grace's head in her cot there...hehe

this mobile's really great, she LOVES having a good stare at it
Finally awake and not impressed that I'm taking photos instead of feeding her!

Then she was much happier and ready to look at the mobile again

I love her look of concentration!

Smiley Time

Emma Grace loves it when mummy sings! So first thing in the morning we have singing time, and she joins in.

I love Pride and Prejudice...

Family Time

We had lunch at my parents house on Good Friday last week and Great Grandma (my mother's mother) was with us. I think Emma is Grandma's 15th great grandchild. But as I'm her favourite grandchild Emma is super special to her :)

4 Generations

I think Emma is a poser...she's meant to be talking to G'ma

but daddy and the camera are far too interesting!

We finally got her chatting to G'ma and

she gave some lovely smiles and coo's
Emma looking at her cot mobile

but ...the camera's wins against Beethoven and Bach

Emma Grace....(what else would I post?)

Our darling girl is starting to pay much more attention to her surroundings now and it's such a pleasure to watch her development each day. She brings us so much joy. smiling and 'talking' to daddy

(she has some days where it's 'no smile day' at mum! I find it rather disconcerting to be honest, especially when I hand her to Lyle and she is almost laughing up a storm at him!)
a tiny baby in a very loving father's arms...I love my family!

A Sneeze

Ahhhhh-

-CHOO!

Phew
that's better!