Happy B'day

Grace turned one today. Its amazing how quick that went. It feels like yesterday and yet we have had so much fun watching her grow.

Tomorrow is the big party. We have been baking cupcakes, 60 in total.

Cant wait. Its her time to shine :)

I love her more and more each day. She is so funny and we have been having some great times together lately making each other laugh.

Happy Birthday Darling. Dad.

Roast Chicken

Janette made roast chicken tonight so we decided that we would give some to Grace. Becasue it was her first roast chicken dinner I decided to make it special.

So here it is...Oven roasted chicken with all the goodies to make Grace big and strong.

I've been slack

Its been ages since I wrote in here. There is no excuse, but we have been having a ball with Grace. We have been camping twice, which she just loves, as do I and Janette.

We went away last weekend with Rose and Rowdy who are friends of ours and we just relaxed all weekend. We had lobster and prawns and cooked the freshest salmon on the bbq and Grace loved it. She really got into the fish. I reckon she will be a real foodie. She's just not allowed to be a chef. :)

Grace is growing so fast....she's almost wlaking now too. She's turning into a real little girl. Our baby is slowly dissapearing.

Here is Grace and I when we went camping.

Head Banger

Grace still isn't well. Here ear infection is no worse but its also no better. The doc has put her on some other meds and she's slowly getting better, but because she's sick she isnt sleeping well.

She is very tired during the day but doesn't want to sleep. This has had adverse effects on her crawling and she keeps bumping her head.

At childcare the other day she went to grab a shallow bucket of toys and instead flipped it up and over and whacked herself in the head causing a coupl of nice bruises on her cheek and forehead.

She's a silly duffer as she now keeps knocking her bruises and hurting herself. We have to keep an eye on her to try and make sure she doesn't keep doing it.

Ear..ear

Grace has an ear infection again....it's tough watching her in pain. Sh'e on the antibiotics but it takes time. She doesn't want to sleep and she's very clingy. It has a good side...she likes to put her head against ours and its so nice.

She's on the move.

Grace started crawling today. If she see's my mobile phone or a remote control its full speed ahead. :)

It's raining, It's pouring..

Grace was nearly snoring...

Enjoying a home made Vichy Shower Grace almost fell asleep.

She was flat out on her stomach getting a water massage. :)

A teacher in the making?

We painted blackboard paint onto on of Grace's wardrobe doors last weekend and today she had her first play with some chalk.

Didn't take long before chalk become one of her food groups. :)

Finding Nemo?

Grace became a swordy-tot today!!???

What's that?? Well she had her first swimming lesson.

She did really well and even got 2 stickers to put on her swimming achievments poster.

She loved the water and I really enjoyed doing the activities with her.

Fathers Day

I had a fantastic Fathers Day today. My 1st ever and even though its a day for dad's it's a great excuse to spend time with Grace.

We went to the Eureka Tower and went out on the edge. Its a great experience.

Grace decided the view of herself was better than the outside view :)

Her first word

Grace starting saying her first word today.

She can say "Da"...wont be long before its "Dad".

Relaxing

Not much today as we've been flat out spring cleaning the house and its looking very nice.

Monday is Janette's b'day and I bought her a sub bean bag and I just saw them relaxing so took a quick pic.

The camping chair

Its been a great weekend and I've enjoyed spending time with Grace and J.

Saturday morning we took Grace to the opening of Anaconda in Geelong and Grace had a ball. The place was packed and little miss socialite was in her element. I swear she thought they were all there to see her. She laughed and smiled the whole time and watched people come and go.

We found a great little camping chair that we should have bought while we were there. I'm sure we'll head back soon when the crowds die down a bit and get one and have a better look at what they have to offer.

A long week

Its been a long, busy and stressful week at work and all day today I just thought I cant wait to head home and get Grace.

She's always smiling, Always. Makes the crap all but disapear.

Well here we are relaxing while she tried her best to get my drink.

Froggy

We have nicknamed Grace. I call her Turtle but J calls her froggy.

Why???

She's been sitting up for a few weeks now but the last couple of days she's been leaning over and lying on her stomach. She then lifts her hands of the ground and kicks her feet like a turtle or frog, but probably more like a frog though :)

She really wants to move so I think in the next week or two it will happen that she starts to move around. Its a stage I have been waiting for. Everyone says I'll hate it but I think it will be a fun time.

Time will tell.... :)

On another note, I made chicken, sweetcorn and vegetable puree for grace tonight. Told you she was eating better than us :)

Sick again

Grace seems to be getting her cold back. Just when we thought it might be finally ending, her rough coughing is returning along with blocked and runny noses.

Its hard not being able to do a lot. We have her back on infant demazin and we are keeping the house warm but its just time I guess.

Its a worry though knowing how bad it got me this year. I was bedridden for nearly a week and hearing of the child deaths from the flu doesnt help either. She's tougher than her daddy though. J says I had the "man flu". I think us men just get hit harder when it comes to sickness :)

Purees

Its been a quiet Sunday. We have been putting up wooden ventian bilnds and J is making roman blinds. Grace has been playing, sleeping and eating which is where this post will go into more detail.

We want to try and make as much of Grace's food as possible. The main reason is so we can know the quality of the ingredients and I also want to teach her to cook eventually. To have her be involved in her food. Not that she's aware of it now but we make the food with her watching from the high chair.

Yesterday we made Salmon and carrot puree, 3 veg puree with tomato and cheese and porridge with pear and apricot. They taste great and I got the ideas from a book I have bought called "Top 100 Baby Purees" by Annabel Karmel.

I have ordered the book but it is yet to arrive so I used a couple of recipes from her website http://www.annabelkarmel.com

Its worth a look. Grace has tried all 3 and has loved them. The textures and flavours are different and all new to her but you can see her exploring it. Its fun to watch and also to know she's getting great food to help her grow. We freeze them in ice cube trays and they are ready to go at any time.

The 1st post

Well this is my first post. I should have started this 7 months ago when Grace was born.

I had always thought about doing it but never did.

So why am I starting out now?

There's probably many reasons. I want to keep all my thoughts in one place. I'd like to have something Grace can read, about how its been to have her around.

I have posted many thoughts and pics on different forums but this will keep it together.

I think one major reason is that as Grace grows I am starting to become part of her life. She knows I exsist now. The excited wave of her arms, turn of her head and beaming smile when she notices me walk into a room is magic.

So for that reason I will share my thoughts here from now on.