Kira And Santa

Kira spied Santa at the shopping centre when we were on our way to get the girls' hair cut. She just HAD to go and give him a hug! She wanted to tell him "Fan-koo for da presents"! Good manners, Kira! I had a hard time making her wait her turn at least (there were some boys having a photo with Santa, and other people lined up waiting for their turn, too). She made herself at home next to him - I had to go fetch her! But Santa didn't mind, and he gave Kira a "Madagascar" (animated movie) colouring book. Lucky girl!

Erika's First Hair Cut

Erika's hair is thinning at the back (rubbing off as she sleeps), but what she has left just keeps growing and growing...

...it's so long, I can put it up in pig-tails! I just need one clip to help keep her fringe out of her eyes.

On Nov 12, Erika had her first hair cut. She was so good, especially since she'd JUST fallen asleep, and I had to wake her! She sat on my lap, and played with a bracelet the hairdresser had. No tears, no fussing!! Here's the end result:

I think she likes it! (That blue disc is a mirror!) "I can see!"

Our First Beach Trip

We took the girls to the beach at Glenelg on Sun, Nov 1 '09. It's the first real trip to the beach we've done as a family-of-four. I've taken the girls to the beach before, but it's always been too cold for a swim, so we just play on the grass in the sunshine. Kira and I have played in the sand, too, but Erika's stayed in the pram. This was Erika's first experience of sand, and I think she loved it!

Kira loved the beach - and keeps saying she wants to go again. The water was still quite cold, but it didn't slow her down!

We built a sand castle!

Professional Photo's.

We had a professional photographer come to playgroup, in time for Father's Day. She was offering 2 photo's at a reasonable price, $5 of which would go to the playgroup as a fundraiser. It was obligation-free, and we got to see the photo's before ordering - something you can't do with school photo's, apparently! Anyway, this is the photo (framed) that Neal, Gramps, and Grandad got for Father's Day, '09:

The deal was for just 2 photo's, but the photographer had printed off 4 - she said she couldn't help herself! So I got 2 extra's for free - yay!! Not only that, but she'd taken more than 150 shots of our girls, when she'd only taken around 10-30 of the other kids! There was only one other family that had around 130 photo's taken, but there's 4 kids in that family!! The photographer kept saying how she couldn't help herself - the girls are too cute! She asked if they were booked with a modelling agency, and when I said no, she recommended one to me. I thought she was just being polite, flattering my kids like that, but I soon realised that she wasn't saying the same things to the other parents! She even asked if she could use some of their photo's on her website!

I had a fun time trying to choose just a few photo's from so many (you tend to get emotionally attached to photo's of your kids!), but I managed to cut it down to around 30, which I bought on disc. These are some of my favourites:

Little Mummy.

Kira breastfeeding Erika's giraffe...

...and expressing (probably for the giraffe she'd left back at home!!).

Kira's Artwork

On the right of the picture, in orange, Kira's drawn a face, with long hair - includes ears, eye lashes, and lips!


This is a picture of our family! Erika, Daddy, Kira, and Mummy.

Thomas the Train, and other personalities.

Kira loves her stories, so much so that she tends to adopt a new persona. She likes to be called "Tinkerbell", "Peter Pan", "Peter Rabbit", and now "Thomas (the) Train". It used to be just around the house, and in addition to being called 'Kira'. But now she prefers to be called 'Thomas', and will correct you if you call her by her birth name! It's quite a sight when I'm at the shopping centre and Kira runs off - if she doesn't respond to 'Kira', I have to shout out one of her other personalities (I don't always know which one!) - I get some funny looks when I yell out "Thomas!!" to a child who is clearly a girl, complete with a pink dress and pigtails!!

This photo reminds me of one my parents have of me when I wasn't much older...In it, I'm wearing a dark blue velour winter dress, and I'm leaning on my Gran's mint green couch - I think I was wearing pigtails, too. Seeing Kira in a velour winter dress, with pigtails, and leaning on our couch, made me think of the similarities.

(Yes, Kira is leaning forward, not a half-shrunken midget!!)

Here Comes The Bride...

Kira has an Ariel (Disney Princess) bride doll and groom, and after reading about all the Disney Princess's that get married and live happily ever after (Snow White, Cinderella, etc), and seeing Mummy and Daddy's wedding photo's, Kira wanted to be a bride too. So we dressed her up in Erika's white wraps....

Here comes the bride...with her Ariel doll in lieu of a bouquet...


The blushing bride...


We used her hair clips to hold her veil and dress in place.

Dinner Time!

Erika loves her dinner time. We started her on solids (rice cereal with breastmilk) at 5 months, 1 week, and she just couldn't get enough. We started introducing other foods - pumpkin was a favourite, and broccoli, but carrot went straight through her, giving her tummy aches and a red bottom. Fruit (apple and pear) makes her gag! We had to go back to basics, though (rice cereal, breastmilk, formula), as Erika started getting an irritated bowel. At almost 7 months, it seems to have settled - hopefully we can start on other foods again soon.

"Hang on Mum, Dad's trying to take a picture!"


"Ahh...I've got you now, Spoon!"


"Arghhhhh!!"

More Bathtime Photo's

Erika LOVES bathtime!


One of her favourite pastimes is to see how much of her foot she can shove into her mouth. She can get most of it in there quite easily!


If it's not her foot, it's her hand!


Kira helping bathe her li'l sister.


Our Princesses...

Showing off her bandaides after her vaccines.

Playtime

Some random playtime photo's of the girls:

Kira riding the "Bob The Builder" truck at Marion. This is only the second time she's let me put money in a ride to make it go, AND stayed on to enjoy the ride! Usually she just wants to sit in the vehicle (any sort); if I make it go, she screams and wants to get off ASAP!


Erika sitting, enjoying a "cup of tea" from her big sister! (She's sitting on her own, the pillows are just there for if/when she falls backwards, as she does from time to time.)


Erika loves the activity centre.


Kira's hiding in her toy box in her wardrobe!

Kira playing with Mummy's feather boa (my friends and I all wore one at the Pink concert in August - Pink rocks!!).

Kira and Erika playing in Gramps' chair - they (yes, Erika too!) were rocking it back and forth, something they both thought was hilarious fun!

Playing together under Erika's floor gym...

...and just playing together on the floor!

Erika loves her Jolly Jumper - look at her go! Kira likes to jump beside her, or "help" her jump by pulling on the blue bar.

Finally, Erika's Room!!

I've FINALLY finished Erika's mural! It's only taken me a couple of months!! I finished it on Saturday (6.6.09), and Erika is 16wks today (Monday, 8.6.09). The final result is different to my original plans, though the concept is the same. Little details, like the beach and the open archway to the castle, are spur-of-the-moment additions. Hope you like it!

A close-up of the castle:

And the courtyard.... I was originally going to paint a wooden draw-bridge door, but thought that would look too dark. I was also going to paint the windows darker (windows are usually dark in the daylight!), but against a grey castle that too would've looked to gloomy. The arched rose bushes were an after-thought, too. They were originally going to be a creeping ivy, but I wasn't sure if I could pull it off, without it looking like a green mess on the castle. Most of the colours used are hand-mixed, so colour-matching to paint over any errors is nearly impossible, so I stuck with the safer rose-bush option. Besides, there's already a LOT of green!! I don't think you can see it on here, but the path leads to a stairway and double-doors. Also, the princess has gold trim on her dress, a gold tiara, and is carrying a basket of flowers. A lot of time-consuming details!!

It's not too clear, but there's lavender bushes beside the bridge, and a field of yellow flowers that go from the bridge to the hill's horizon. I think I probably should paint more of these...

I was originally going to leave this as blue water right up to the base of the hill, but then decided that looked boring and "wrong", so I added the beach with the weeping willows and a little boat. It might've worked out better if it was part of the original plan, but I think it turned out ok.

I found this super-soft Disney Princess ("Sleeping Beauty") blanket, for a bargain price! I think Kira's upset that she doesn't have one... (She's right into her Disney Princesses at the moment!)
Erika's room at a glance...

Look Familiar?

Kira Eve, 3 months:

Erika Skye, 3 months:Scary!!!

"Nigh-Nigh's, Girls"

Night time in our household can be a bit chaotic, though it helps that both Neal and I are home to manage it. After dinner, it's bath-time for the girls. Here's Kira helping Daddy give Erika a bath. Erika is so long now, that her head and feet touch the ends of the bath! She's even wearing clothes to fit a 6mth old, just for the length!


Kira used to prefer a shower, but now favours baths - probably because Erika gets one. Here's "Princess Kira" at bath-time - Mummy put bubbles on Kira's head, and pulled her hair up onto them to create the "up" 'do, then put more bubbles in the front for the tiara, and some on her ears for earrings. Kira thought it was hilarious!!
After the bath, it's story time. Here's Kira reading "Dumbo" to Daddy and Erika!

And then it's "nigh-nigh's time".... Here's Erika after her first daytime nap in her cot, at 4mths.