18 month old photo shoot

A friend of a friend has taken 18-month-old photo shoots of all her children. It's easy for us to see why, as 18 months is such a cute stage of life.

So this afternoon we went out hoping Emma would be in compliance. At one stage we need to coax with 2 bikkies (cookies), but overall she was a champ!

Photographer: Daddy

Location: Botanic Gardens

Outfit: Granny

Scenery and general cuteness: God

Daddy now wears glasses sometimes. Emma thinks they're quite funny. Hopefully she'll overcome her giggles soon, I think wearing new glasses needs reassurance, not laughter!

Finn turns 3

Emma's cousin turned three this week! We went to a delightful party on Sunday afternoon to celebrate with him. His mum made a brilliant boat cake (I might have to hire her for Emma's 2nd next year!)

Emma and Finn having a hug - by the look on their faces I think it might have been a hug under duress!

Here's Finn on his big boy bike giving a BIG smile!

And this photo pretty much explains Emma's mood for the day. She was rather excited.

Emma having a laugh with Grandpa.

GO BOKKE

Emma watching the All Blacks against the Springboks - daddy's working hard to train her well.

"Hello"

Here's Emma saying 'hello'. it was one of those very spontaneous things that children do. If I'd known she was going to be super cute I would have turned the camera the right way around. So perhaps just turn your computer screen on its side for a moment. Or your head I suppose.

The Lost World

This week we were blessed to enjoy God's creation away from the city! I think it has been years since I bothered to look up at night and the stars were astounding.

We feel very refreshed. And are quite convinced that we shall own a little farm one day...

As if heaven isn't enough

As I was bathing Emma a few nights ago, my mind turned to the repetition of our evenings.

We have dinner, bathe, get ready for bed. It's nice that we have a routine that she's familiar with, but sometimes I find bath time a 'hassle'. I realised that it's only by the Lord's grace and strength that I am able to continue serving Emma as I am called.

I reflected on Romans 11:36 "for from Him and

through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever, amen".

It is only because of and FOR His glory that we have Emma in our lives and the immense joy that she brings us. God's ways are above our ways and although I do not understand why I am so blessed in this life, I am so. very. thankful for it.

The next blessing

Here is our next bundle of joy! Due December 3rd (but I'm hoping for a November baby!) I had the 19 week scan on Friday and everything is looking great with both myself and baby. We never had a 4D scan with Emma, so seeing this scan was such a treat! Initially baby kept putting its hands in front of its face - we realised it was trying to get thumb to mouth. It was very cute.

We do know the gender, but we are keeping it to ourselves :) This isn't to infuriate anyone I promise! I loved having Emma as a surprise, but with this baby I'm glad to know now as strangely it's actually helping me to be more excited. I suppose we did all the 'firsts' with Emma and now it's 'let's get it over and done with'. This pregnancy hasn't been as easy as Emma's so I'm glad to have seen these 4D pictures and know the gender. It's been a nice treat.

I am so thankful to the Lord for His abundant blessings. Lyle and I have a number of friends who either have no children as yet, or are trying for more with no results and I am humbled to think that so far we have such an easy road regarding pregnancy. It's so hard to understand God's ways when things are tough, but I have to confess I struggle to understand His ways in this area of our lives when things are so easy. It seems that my life just keeps getting better and better with no end in sight. Sometimes it makes me sit on the edge of my seat waiting for tragedy to hit. Of course if it does I know that it will be at the hand of the Lord and a blessing - as the only course of action will be to come before the Lord and grow closer to Him. For now, I thank God for our next little child and look forward to meeting it at the end of the year!

Emma's Crush

At 16 months Emma has a crush on a boy (a married man at that!!) This is Danny. He and his wife Jo work with us in the youth group at our church and they're an awesome couple, we have great fellowship with them. Emma LOVES Danny. He came over to our house the other day to meet up with Lyle and my parents were here. Emma also loves my parents. So it provided quite the laugh when she was willing to leave granny and grandpa's attention, go into her room, and come out with a book to hand to Danny. She does this so often to him that he even recognised that it was a new book... She has good taste. Danny's a great bloke. Although married and almost 30 years her senior. Hopefully in the future she'll learn discernment!

Swagger Wagon commercial

Shout out to all my "soccer mom car" owner friends :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUG3Z8Hxa5I&feature=player_embedded

Run, laugh, play, repeat.

We try to get out on a saturday morning and have some family time. Yesterday we went to a massive park near our house. It was so great to get out and have some fun. Emma ran and ran and ran! There is such delight in seeing a child enjoy themselves. She chased an ibis at one point until she was close enough to realise that she was smaller than the bird . . .She also had a good look at some ducks - her sound for a duck has always been "duck duck" not "quack quack". It's very cute.

Lyle said this photo looks like his cousins on his mothers side - at least we're beginning to figure out where Emma's looks come from!

having a look at the ducks - I love her pouty lips! (her forehead is not 'mis-shapen' [is that the right word?] she hit her head HARD on Friday night, leaving a stunning egg)

The running begins! We took loads of photos of her running, but I realised that as cute as it is to us, they pretty much all look the same, so I'm limiting my selection to one :)

Everyones favourite past time

After a few practice runs I managed to convince Lyle to let her go down the slippery dip without his assistance

(he looks nervous)

and she didn't even face-plant! :)

in case you're wondering what she's doing - she's waving at me

NB: This photo provides a brilliant view of her bump and bruise (socks so don't go with wooden floors!)

Emma LOVES older children. Here she's doing the 'I'm-laughing-so-hard-it-hurts' laugh

Finally we ended with some morning tea before going home for nap time!

Just because I haven't posted pictures in a while!

My stylish angel

She makes us so proud . . .I always laughed at parents whose children did this because I thought they'd be embarrassed at their children looking stupid . . .

(I'm hearing "pride comes before a fall")

This amazes me - that her hair is long enough to fit into a pony tail already!

With lots of clips of course :)

So Emma has been amazing me lately. I’m quite sure that she’s average with her development, but it is astounding to watch her grow. She has said so many words and ‘phrases’ - consisting of two words - that I’ve lost count. Sometimes it’s been one off like the other day she said “good job” after I said it, but hasn’t said it since. She also says "love you" but it always sounds like "wah wmble". We have no idea why there's a clear "B" sound in there, but "love you" always sounds the same. I’m also amazed at her comprehension, she certainly knows when she’s doing something wrong! But the up side to that she also understands when I tell her to stop, say sorry and have a happy heart! I’m glad to see her learning self control so early in life. It’ll help when number two comes along as well.

She often will give us the sweetest hugs - accompanied with an "ahhh" and kisses - unfortunately this week she has had a runny nose and still insists on kissing us on the lips! I’m getting good at dodging it, but then she strikes again until she gives you the kiss she wants to give you. Actually I'm pretty sure it's only me she does that to, i don't think she does that to anyone else - even Lyle!

Last night a friend babysat (actually a girl who I use to babysit when she was a baby!) and when Emma was ready for bed after having some books read to her, she said "no" pushed the book away and walked into her room and stood by her cot.

I love my little girl. Children truly are a blessing from the Lord!!

She makes us so proud . . .

Emma decided it was fun to push her face up against the glass doors on our back landing . . .she is such a clown!

At the park a couple of weekends ago - this photo melts our hearts :)

My Grandma's cooler than yours

This is my Grandmother. She's lovely. She's also very old, so I'm very impressed that she hopped on the swings at the park on Sunday afternoon! :)

Easter Sunday

I really enjoyed Easter this year. A few conversations I had around this weekend (here in Australia we have a four day weekend so it's basically a time for party/holiday for most) reminded me of the deepest loss those who don't know Christ have. It humbled me and reminded me that of the billions of people in all creation I am one of those chosen by God to know Him for His glory. That gave me joy this Easter weekend, and gives me joy every day. Praise the Lord for His glorious GRACE!

Speaking of grace, here's our Emma Grace - we could NOT get those fingers out long enough for a picture!

smiles

When I say to Emma "smile" (for the camera) she does! it's super cute.

Emma at 12 months

She's starting giving us lovely cuddles - with sound, she says "ahhhh". It's very cute!

I LOVE how she sits like this

Her hair is getting long and if I forget to put a clip in it she's forever pushing it out of the way!

With Jill when she was visiting from the States - Emma LOVES Jill. I do to! It was such a blessing to have her stay with us for a week.

At the park for afternoon tea.

Playing nicely. It was great she was very content to look around and play. She's getting so big!

Birthday Party

Emma's party was on Saturday afternoon. It was the most exhausting day of my life!

Playing with cousin Finn

With mummy, wearing a dress that grandma made!

Blowing out the candles! Aunty Belinda said that however many candles were left - that's how many boyfriends you'll have...so we helped to blow it out very quickly :)

Opening presents!! She has an apron on that was given to her, along with some Aussie animal cookie cutters, and she's looking at a Mem Fox book - Mem Fox is a famous Aussie author, every Aussie kid grew up reading her books.

This piece of cake belonged to daddy. But as the fork went up to daddy, Emma's mouth went wide open! She certainly doesn't open it this wide at dinner time . . .

And, here we are at the end of a very big day! An hour past bedtime too!