Nice Photos

1. Annabelle with her new head band - they think they are very clever that they can put these on and off by themselves.

2. The four following photos are me trying to capture some nice images. We had been out on the boat and the kids had been swimming in the ocean and just looked so natural and gorgeous. I took the ones of Matilda first - the bottom two (in the white t-shirt), and I think she looks stunning in the bottom one and very cheeky (very Matilda like) in the next one up. They I tried to capture Annabelle - asking her to put on her 'happy' face. For some reason she thought this involved sticking her tongue out or looking a bit stunned, so I didnt quite get the image I was after. Still, I thought the second photo down was pretty good and the third photo down pretty funny (stunned).

Christmas Day 2009

From the top

1. Annabelle in the pink swimmers, Matilda in purple - presents from Santa. Both kids very taken with Damians remote control helicopter.

2. Olivia enjoying the celebrations... fast asleep! I love the outfit she is in, Damians cousin made it for her and it is such lovely material and something a little different

3. Annabelle opening her stocking - she really got into it pulling all the things out quickly

4. Matilda opening her stocking, not so quickly - she wanted to explore every item that came out which was gorgeous to watch.

Just before Christmas 2009

Just some photos taken a little before Christmas day. Olivia is growing up so quickly and is now rolling over. Mostly she does it at night time and I am woken to her frustrated cries of not being able to roll back onto her back. She adores Matilda and Annabelle, giggling when they do something funny to entertain her.

Unfortunately all three kids have had runny noses and colds over Christmas, so in amongst all the excitement we have had very tired kids and several bouts of tears. Added to this Annabelle and Matilda keep telling me 'they dont like sleep time' and very defiantly stay awake throughout the day despite being put in their room each day for at least an hour in the hope that they will go to sleep. On the up side, it means they fall asleep very quickly at night time!

Pictures from the top:

1. Olivia fast asleep in the swing. Despite this one of the older kids thought she needed some toys .........

2. First pictures of the Santa stockings. And Santa's treats - this year the girls decided he needed a banana, some gingerbread cookies and a glass of water....... very responsible kids already!!

3. Our new lounge - we have been waiting months for this, so thought I would put a photo up as I have spoken to lots of people about it.

4. Some very cute bunny ears that the kids were given by a good friend. I opened the parcel in the shopping centre and put the ears on the kids and had people stopping to tell me how gorgeous they were! Matilda in red.

Giggles

I took this today (12th December), so Olivia is just over 3 months old. It is a bit of a cross between the first giggles and hiccups. Either way I think it is very cute. She is being a bit of a dream baby, having slept in til about 6am this morning!! I think there are some teeth on the way as she is chewing at everything and gets grumpy when she cant put something in her mouth. The most gorgeous thing is when she hears Annabelle and/or Matilda laughing, or spots them giggling across the room she joins in with her own smiles and laughs. Beautiful!!

Getting Ready for Santa

Spent some time today hanging our Christmas Stockings. The girls are very aware of who Santa is and keep asking me where he is and then reminding themselves that he is still 'at the 'orth pole'! Christmas morning is bound to be a fun morning this year!

Smiles and Christmas

1. Big smiles from Olivia. She is growing so very quickly. Today I realised that she has started to reach for objects and swipes at things when lying under a mobile - just dont get the time to sit and watch the development, I nearly missed it! She has also started to kick her heels into the ground and push her bottom up - moving towards rolling over. She can hold her head up for pretty long periods and is so close to laughing and is a very delightful little girl.

2. A more serious photo, but I thought I would capture the hair. Yes, it still sits upright most of the time. Sometimes is lies to the right (her right shoulder). And then we all think she looks kind of funny as we are so used to it being upright!
3. Annabelle and Matilda being silly and giggling. Matilda in the foreground.

4. Very proudly holding up their first Christmas decorations (some bells I cut from cardboard decorated with a few odds and ends). It is also their first Christmas tree, so all very exciting. Also, they are in undies - have just started the toilet training (for the second time, the first time wasnt so successful) which has been busy, busy, busy but so far they are doing ok. Looking forward to not having to buy so many nappies!!!! (Annabelle on the left)

Family Pic's

From the top:

1. The girls making some Christmas decorations for our new tree - which are shown in the above photos. We had lots of fun making them, its great now that they are up to the age of doing art & craft. Matilda on the right.

2. Annabelle with Olivia - we still have to give daily cuddles.

3. Matilda with Olivia

4. The four girls on my 30th birthday! Matilda on the left, Annabelle on the right and Olivia asleep.

More fun with hair

They look so grown up!!! Matilda was determined to have four hair bands in her hair - she looked like a little teapot with all the spouts!

Olivia

1. Annabelle being fashionable, and, just for a giggle -

2. Olivia being fashionable!!! I get stopped all the time by people asking if I have done something to get Olivias hair to stand up (seriously!?!?!). It has grown quite a bit since birth, but at this stage shows no signs of sitting flat at all.

3, 4 & 5 - all of Olivia smiling. She has the most gorgeous smile, and sometimes I think she is having a private joke with the world as she grins away to herself for ages.

Olivia is still a very contented little girl, and being the best sleeper ever. After having sleepless nights until the big girls were abotu 18 months, I am still in shock when Olivia sleeps from 7.30pm - 4am. Now I just have to learn to go to bed earlier!! She has put on heaps of weight and is healthy and happy.

Some fun photos

These photos just make me laugh - from the top

1. Annabelle with 'piggies' for the first time. I did both girls hair this way and they looked so cute. They were pretty chuffed with themselves.

2. Annabelle and Olivia

3. Matilda and all her friends finally asleep

4. Matilda being very fashionable.

The 2nd Birthday

The girls had a great second birthday and had certainly worked out what presents were by the end of the day. We took them to an indoor play centre - the ones with jumping castles, climbing equipment and those balls that you can play in. They had a great time. Some photos from the day, from the top:

1. The end of the day, the girls waving like little princesses

2. Dam and I gave them an art easel - this was the first time playing with it

3. Matilda opening presents first thing in the morning, I just loved this photo of her

4. The cakes!! Dam decorated the one on left, me the one on the right - there may have been a little bit of a competition........

Smiles

Some more photos trying to catch smiles.

Boating!!

We took our boat out again today, despite it being very windy it was a great day out. Annabelle and Matilda thought the day was fantastic. We were lucky enough to see a stingray too.

Photos:

The girls sitting in the drivers chair - and very excited about it. Matilda is in the yellow shirt.

The girls looking over the edge to see if they could find anything in the water.

Olivia, fast asleep. Which is all she did for the whole trip. She tried to wake up once or twice but couldnt compete with the rocking of the boat and just kept going back to sleep.

September / October 2009

From the top

1. Again, Matilda being the little mum - really role playing here too. I had told her what the mobile/play gym was to be used for and the next time I turned around she had her 'baby' and 'dolly' as you can see in the photo. So amazing what goes on in their little minds and how they can put things together.

2. The start of a smile!! Olivia is smiling already, but it is very tricky to catch on camera. She has the most adorable smile though.

3. The girls 'exploring' and gathering flowers and odd bits around Grandma's garden.

4. Olivia sleeping peacefully. She still has all her hair, it has lightened a little but so far hasnt started to fall out.

September 2009

Its been a huge month, with Olivia arriving and all the girls and I heading to Canberra for a week at the end of September. But we are all going really well, Olivia has settled in really well and the girls are fantastic with her. She is a very easy little baby, and I think, being the second time around I am much more relaxed which helps. Last time I weighed Olivia she had put on about 1/2 a kilo, but I think she has put on more again as her cheeks are getting chubbier!

Photos, from the top

1. Annabelle showing what she thought of some passionfruit she was eating

2. Both girls eating the passionfruit, again, Annabelle not so sure but Matilda enjoying it.

3. Olivia fast asleep on Granpa's shoulder

4. Matilda fast asleep in bed with 'her baby'. She is very much the little mum - always checking up on Annabelle, getting worried when Olivia cries and carrying around her baby who must be 'wrapped up mummy' (except in the above photo) all the time.