Cuteness personified

pigtails! how cute is the expression on her face?!?!

Kisses from cousin Finn - he's taken quite a liking to Emma Grace. He makes a 'gentle' sound (like a whisper) and touches her gently - it's very sweet.

The Cage

We're borrowing a playpen, dubbed by my brother as the cage. So far she likes it which I'm thankful for. As long as she can see one of us walk by occasionally she's a happy camper.

See? a little smile...it's probably also because Moose is right there next to her.

Some recent pics

Just some more cute pics of Emma . . .sigh, she's so cute!

Having some mummy time With my mum - note, Emma is NOT crying. This is a good thing....
she has been crying at mum a lot lately (I think we need to spend more time over there!)
She did keep looking at me the whole time to check that everything was ok though :)

I love her long hair!

A rare family photo!

The girls got skills!

OK so admittedly it's embarrassing for adults when we see ourselves on video, so excuse the high pitch voices and silly comments to Emma Gracie, but this is pretty cute. We tried it for the first time today and she apparently thinks jumping is rather fun!

Welcome to Winter

Winter has made itself known in Brisbane - which, to be honest, really doesn't compare with winter as most places experience it! However, it is still very cold causing us to value our fireplace and pull out all the stops to keep baby warm! Our house is raised and only has a second story - called a "Queenslander" - to keep it cool in the ridiculous summers. Underneath is all air...cold air. So we have been using the fire in the evenings but keeping Emma warm with a heater for most the night - I appreciate my slippers very much at 3am, especially on the wooden floors!

Ready for a walk to Grandpa and Granny's house!

Grandpa bought her this vest!

This is a gorgeous outfit that the Archer's gave us...

But it's currently a little big...

And not very condusive to thumb sucking...

but we're very thankful and look forward to dressing her in it soon!

Hair

Emma's hair is getting so long that it sometimes is in her eyes. In an attempt to curtail this discomfort I decided to try tying it up to see what happens...you must simply agree, it's very cute!

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!