We're up for a big, busy and social weekend, so this is just a quick update as I probably won't get a chance to post over the next couple of days...
Yesterday Beth and I went to playgroup - she is so funny... she wandered outside herself and found the sandpit all by herself and then had a ball playing in it and filling up a truck with sand... I brought inside and she discovered the piano and then all she wanted to was to sit there and play... she sat there for 15 minutes until I made her move on... and even then she kept returning to it... or finding piano/keyboard type toys to play with! Came home and Beth crashed in the car... and then had a reaaaallly long lunchtime nap - 3 hours! She did wake after 1.5 hours, but only took 10 minutes to resettle.
Today, I have to do some cleaning/tidying/shoppping before we have our weekend guests (Phan's parents and Jo) come stay with us for a couple of days... We have a wedding to go to (which Jo is also coming to) and Phan's parents are the babysitters.. :)
Okay... that's it... gotta get our butts moving ... I want to take Beth to the park.
Just a quick one...
Kookaburras... Frickin' Kookaburras...
woke me and Phan up at 5:15am this morning... then 5 minutes later Beth woke up... I bet the kookaburras woke her up too... pat her back to sleep (and thank goodness the kookaburras shutup after that) and then she slept until 6:40am... I had trouble going back to sleep once the kookaburras woke me up... so I'm a tired camper today... that plus Beth is a little miss grumpy grumpy pants today... she's tired from not getting enough sleep last night... she went to bed at 8:30pm instead of 8pm ... so she had a nap this morning at 10am... and that only lasted 40 minutes! (not happy jan here!)... had some lunch, trotted out to Chermside during which Beth chucked 3 tanties when I wouldn't let her touch stuff in the shops... shopping is not a great deal of fun for us at the moment, 'cos the minute I touch or hold something, she wants to hold it too... which wouldn't be a problem if she didn't have grapes/biscuit/drink/some manner of food hanging off her mouth/chin/face/hands/legs! So when I don't let her, she goes *nuts* at me... I could feel people staring at us. Anyway...after Chermside we went to the park and Beth pottered around for about 1/2 an hour... until she started trying to eat the bark chips amd dirt... (YUK!) at which point I picked her up and she chucked another tantie at me! Came home and thought about going to pool because it's warm and not raining for a change, but decided not to risk it since I think she'll have another nap this afternoon. Right now she's enjoying a homemade strawberry smoothie (yum!)... and she's a happy camper!
Some silliness in new pajamas...
I bought Beth some new pajamas last week from Target... they are sooo cute... they have an oriental cherry blossom with a nightingale print on them... Btw - don't mind the massive wet patch on the front of her top... that was a bit of spillage from the drink she was slurping through a straw... what can I say? She's a messy kid!
Did you know...
That you can leave comments on my blog entries? :)
Just click on the "Comments" link at the bottom of the blog entry wait for the popup window and follow the prompts... you don't need to have a blogger account as you can post anonymously...
So if you're a regular reader (or even a not so regular reader) - leave me some love... I'm interested in knowing who is keeping up with my (rather mundane) life... Make me feel like I'm not writing to myself... :)
Okay - on a separate note... tonight Beth was hilarious... Phan was lying on the floor after dinner and Beth decided to come up to him and straddle his stomach and then start bouncing up and down like Phan was some kind of show ride! Phan wasn't terribly impressed, because he'd just eaten dinner... but it was so funny!
Today we didn't do much... went to the park again in the morning before it started drizzling with rain and then after lunch Mel and Jack came and hung out with us... it was nice... it's bizarre, but I feel like we are more social butterflies here in Brisbane than we were back home in Adelaide... maybe because I'm forced to actually make the effort to get out the meet people... it's not a bad thing and it makes the time pass faster.
Morning At The Park
Yesterday morning we went to the Newmarket pool... We got there at 8:15am and the place was full of kids... obviously everybody had the same idea of going to the pool early while it wasn't too hot! Beth loved playing there in the water and with all the little funny mushroom fountains and showers ... it is the best kids pool... and it's under shade cloth too... We only stayed half an hour 'cos Beth got cold... then came home and had some breakfast and showers and then headed out again in a bid to keep Beth awake until 11:30am... we went and got a mattress for the spare room from Sleepy's and then we went to Scootopia so Phan could satisy his curiousity and check out a scooter (but is *not* buying one... thank goodness!), then back home again. We spent the rest of the day at home in airconditioning because it was so hot (36 degrees!) and it was not the kind of heat you feel like walking around in!
This morning, we went to the park at 9am... Beth had a ball... was more interested in walking by herself than walking with the car. Here are some snaps... same park, same baby girl as last time... but wearing different dress (Sprouts dress courtesy of Chi, Mitch and Thomas present from Beth's birthday) and we had Daddy for company...
Beth kept wanting to walk in the speckled shade, so some of these photos have weird lighting in them... nothing too spectacular in a photography technical sense... but we had fun.
This afternoon we caught up with Davinder (who is in town for a family wedding) and David and fiancee Tanya (Phan went to high school with David)... They just came around for a casual lunch and we just hung out ... it was lovely. Nice to see some familiar faces!
Little Pigtails
She isn't always walking around topless - these are photos that I took the same night as the beanbag photos...
Emily and Elizabeth - the outtakes
I just have to share these two photos I took of Em and Elizabeth on Em's birthday... these two really crack me up... You can see Elizabeth has had enough in the second photo!
Mugshot
And here's a photo I took last night... taken with my new stofen omnibounce (yes - the most expensive piece of plastic you can buy for your camera)... this is one of the rare shots I have of Beth actually looking at the camera... pity about the crappy pinlight catchlights... I'm still figuring out how to get decent catchlights with the speedlite... but I'm getting close to giving up and just resigning myself to getting them with natural light only...
Quick review...
I have just realised my last 7 blog posts have involved a photo of some sort... so here's a quick photo-less entry...
Yesterday Beth and I went to playgroup... unlike the last 3 weeks, Beth didn't fall asleep in the car on the way there... so I thought that we'd have to leave early so Beth could grab a nap... but nope... She was so involved in playgroup she didn't notice she was tired... She spent 1/2 an hour in the sandpit, which helped to distract her I think. So right after playgroup, we went home so Beth could grab her nap (she conked out in the car within minutes) and I transferred her successfully from car to bed with no problems... She woke up after an hour, but self settled and ended up having a 2 hour nap. When she woke up, I gave her a bite of lunch... (cauliflower cheese with macaroni) and then we headed over to Sharon's and Em's place to hang out for a little while... Sharon made golden syrup dumplings (yum!) and Emily decided that I was her new best friend and insisted I watch her jump on the bed... then pretend to have a magic star... then have a tea party... then go shopping... It gets exhausting having to entertain a 3 year old for such a long period of time! We headed home at 4:40pm (We had lost track of time!) and got home at 5pm... and Beth didn't fall asleep in the car... but started to get a bit cranky... so I gave her a bottle of milk and lay her in the beanbag... and she just lay there, drank her milk, watched tv and had 20 minutes of quiet time and then she perked up! So no afternoon nap from her... Phan got home pretty early at 5:30pm... and then we all had some dinner... I gave Beth an early bath, thinking she might go to sleep at 7pm... but nope... She stayed up and we talked on the webcam to Phan's parents and then Bao Anh... gave her a bottle of milk and put her in the beanbag again (this is becoming a bit of a routine... she tends to drink more milk if she is by herself in the beanbag... doesn't like me holding her anymore!) And then into bed at 8:10pm. Then we had a great night... she woke once at 10:30pm... and then slept through until 6am... grizzled for about 10 minutes and then self settled and woke at 6:50am... Lovely! I had a great sleep... which I really needed, I was so tired.
I know that I said at the beginning of this blog entry that this would be photoless, but I just thought of this photo - this is what our girl looks like when she's chilling with her bottle of milk...
Mealtime Antics...
Yep... still on a roll with the photos... here are some that I took tonight at dinner...
Our little fairy...
A couple of shots I took pre-party... if you're wondering about the bowl, she was eating grapes.. the only way I could distract her so she would forget she was wearing the wings!
Just Like Sisters
I scrapped today -
Journalling reads -
Emily loves Elizabeth and Elizabeth adores Emily. Every time we catchup, Emily acts all motherly and gives Elizabeth kisses and cuddles and pinches her cheeks. And Elizabeth will just sit there and tolerate everything Emily does to her. They get along so well and are so cute when they play together... They act as if they were ... just like sisters.
Toot toot chugga chugga big red car...
I'm on a bit of a roll with the photos... or rather, the opportunities are presenting themselves to me at the moment... We were supposed to catchup with Melanie and Jack this afternoon, but Jack is a bit sick, so we're catching up later in the week. Just as something to do, I took Beth to the park again to play with her car... she loves it so much...
I love this photo, even though it's slightly blurry... The photo doesn't show how fast she was moving (damn she can move fast with that car!)... or how fast I had to sprint to get in front of her and position myself with the camera... So even though this photo is imperfect, I love it to bits because in my mind it captures the moment and just shows how much fun we were having... and in the end... that's what photography is all about... sacrifice perfection to capture the moment...
Itty Bitty Shoes
I've had this concept for a photo in my head for a couple of weeks and finally got around to taking the photo today... I had to take the photo before Beth trashes her shoes from walking around too much.. especially in this rain and mud!
Busy busy but very fun weekend.
My brain is turning a bit to mush from everything that's happened this weekend, so here's a few random recollections for now and I'll do a proper update later...
Saturday was Emily's Fairy Butterfly themed 3rd birthday party. It was sooo much fun... we all had a great time... lots of party games... lots of food.. and lots of noise! I'll go into more detail about the party later when I post photos (I took a tonne of photos, with a not too bad strike rate... and got arm cramp later on in the day because I have never held my camera with the 28-70mm lens and 580EX speedlite for so long before!)
Sunday - Phan had to do the sucky 14 hour shift... so he started at 8am and isn't home yet even as I write this blog entry. To occupy our day, Beth and I were going to go to the Newmarket pool, but the weather was a bit weird... spitting one minute, sunny the next and the overcast minutes later... so we ended up giving the pool a miss. I did take her to the park though with her little red car and let her walk all over an outdoor half-court basketball court... back and forth... back and forth... she loved it... no walls to stop her from walking! I tried to put her in the swing again, but she wouldn't have a bar of it... but she loooved the slippery dip! It was a biggish one and I just put her at the top and stood on the ground and held her hand and supported her a little and let her slide down and she thought it was the best fun! I gave her morning tea (a petit miam) at the park and then we came home after half and hour and Beth crashed and had her morning nap. We had yum cha scheduled in the Valley with Sharon, Col and Em at 11:30am and Beth woke up at the perfect time of 11:15am... just enough time to get her changed and jump in the car and still meet them on time. We ate at the Golden Palace... it was busy... but the food was delicious! Beth enjoyed sticky rice and bbq pork bun... and some noodles. After lunch, Sharon, Col and Em came back to our place (whilst waiting for some Chinese herbal medicine to be brewed... that's a whole other story though!) and I showed them through the bday photos and the girls played together... Em took a fancy to Phan's xbox steering wheel and was pretending to drive the bus and we were all the passengers.
That's pretty much it in a nutshell... but a couple of random things I have to mention about Beth -
She has a new game - it's called "let's climb into the laundry basket when there are clothes in it"... The laundry basket full of clothes was sitting on the floor and Beth just clambered in... and then when I put wet laundry into the basket, Beth climbed into it again! She thinks it's really fun.
Our new favourite fruit is rockmelon... very juicy... very messy... and Beth has to feed it to herself... and squeeze it so it drips and soaks through her bib and onto her top.
She found a packet of haw flakes that Sharon had given us and was playing with the packet ... next thing you know, she's managed to open the packet and has chewed off the top of one of the little packets and eaten half of one! Then when we caught her, she started cheekily running away from us and laughing... she knew she was doing something she wasn't supposed to be doing!
Beth understands what "bath time" means. In the evenings when we say "Time for a bath Elizabeth." She's look at us and then she'll scamper quickly to the foot of the stairs and wait for us to open the baby gate... and then she'll climb up the stairs and go straight into the bathroom! She's a clever cookie!
I'll end this entry with a sequence of photos I took from Em's bday party...
Dropping a nap...
Well... today's routine was quite different... we had a very disturbed night... 5 or 6 wakings... plus a 10 minute cry... I had to stay up for an 1.5 hours trying to get her back to sleep at 3am... so I was not particularly chipper this morning when Beth woke up crying *again* at 6am... but she was still really tired, but just couldn't settle.. so I gave her a bottle of milk and pulled her into bed with me and we both fell asleep and woke up at 8:30am! I'd consider that a sleep in if it wasn't for the fact I'd only had 4 hours sleep really between 11pm and 6am... Anyway... she woke up so happy and smiley and doing cheeky faces at me... so it was hard to stay annoyed at her for depriving me of sleep...
So we got up, had some breakfast and decided to head out and do our weekly grocery shop ... we took a detour and drove past the Newmarket pool on the way, just to check it out... it looks pretty cool... so I'm looking forward to taking her to there on Sunday. Did our grocery shop (during which I had about 6 difference people talk to Beth and comment on how cute she was) and then came home and we played/read books/danced and did all manner of things to keep her entertained and happy... and she stayed up until 2:10pm! Then had a nap for just over and hour and woke up... I tried to convince to sleep a little longer, but nope... she was happy and wanted me to read her books.. so at 4pm we went downstairs. She played with her toys (she has just learnt how to stack rings on a pole, so spent ages doing that) and she left me in peace to cook dinner... I made a pseudo kind of sar hor fun... and Beth really loved it... she is eating sooo much I don't know how it all fits inside that little stomach! (Well, actually it's a bit of a pudgy tummy at the moment). Despite wake up at 3:20pm she stayed up until 8pm ... and even then she wasn't cracking it from tiredness... but I decided it was time for bed... So today was the first day that she's only had 1 sleep... and a short sleep at that... I hope she sleeps better tonight... I'm so tired from the last two interrupted nights of sleep...
We have a big day tomorrow because it's Emily's 3rd birthday party... so that will be fun...
We actually went over yesterday to help out a bit... Sharon and I managed to decorate the house a bit (not without nosy, mischievous little fingers from Beth and Emily annoying us and trying to make off with ribbon and streamers though... To stop them from getting into stuff we resorted to turning on the tv!) Em and Beth were playing together at one point whilst Sharon and I were getting lunch ready and we turned around to check on the girls and find Emily with a roll-on stick of sunscreen applying all over Beth's arms and legs... it was sooo funny... you could see all the sunscreen smears and streaks all over Beth... I can't believe how tolerant she is sometimes... And at one point when Sharon and I were hanging up streamers, we turned around to find Beth had climbed into a cardboard box full of toys and was sitting happily in the box with the toys surrounding her...
Okay... that's it from me... early night for me to try and get some sleep before I have to help look after 16 kids tomorrow at the party...
Exhausted...
Well despite the busy day we had yesterday, Beth decided to sleep terribly last night... I think she woke up 5 times between 8:30pm and 6:15am... and I had to get up 2 or 3 times (I can't remember how many times I got up - how bad is that!) in the night to pat her back to sleep... I am exhausted this morning... but gotta go get ready and get our butts to playgroup this morning...
We love swimming...
Oops - sorry for lack of post yesterday... we didn't do anything really... just popped out to the shops (Spotlight, Big W, Woolworths and then the fruit and veg shop)... pretty boring... Although Beth did this hilarious thing in the fruit shop... I had Beth in a shopping trolley and I was getting some grapes (for Beth of course) and I turn around and find her with a peach in her hand holding it out to me... She had picked it out all by herself... and looked pleased with herself... pity we didn't need peaches! When I accepted it from her and put it back in the display, she reached out and tried to get another one! She's a funny one...
Anyway, today we finally made it to swimming... been meaning to go for the last 2 weeks, but things kept preventing us... so I was determined to go today and tried to organise everything last night... Emily has a lesson at 8:30am, so I thought we'd come along and see the class and then had a paddle ourselves. It was cool seeing Em swimming... and Beth was clambering to get into the pool as soon as she saw it... so after about 20 minutes, Beth and I went and got in the lap pool... (the toddler pool was shut unfortunately)... and damn was it cold (didn't bother Beth too much, but geez, it took me a while to get used to it!) ... but we got used to it quickly and Beth absolutely *adored* it... wasn't scared of the large amount of water... splashed and tried to paddle... Em and Sharon joined us after Em's lesson and Beth loved "chasing" after Sharon and Em... and playing ring a ring of roses... She loved it when I spun her around in the water.... and she just smiled and laughed the whole time... even when she swallowed water (and she swallowed *heaps* of water!) After swimming we checked out the library (which is close by) and then came home and Beth didn't fall asleep in the car (surprisingly) but crashed when I put her in the cot... I'm pretty exhausted too... the water really takes it out of you! I think we'll start going more regularly now!
A chillin' Monday...
We've had a lovely day today...
Firstly, Beth slept in until 7am! Woo hoo! I love it when she sleeps past 6am...
I don't sleep much past 6am... but sometimes it's just nice to laze about in bed half awake and half asleep and not have to deal with a hungry/grizzly baby.
Then, we had lots of walking and playing today and book reading... She walked with her little red car for the first time! But much prefers to walk with the car while she walks along on her knees... but at least she has now discovered the car's purpose and she doesn't freak out anymore. I actually got a bit sad at one point... I was sitting back and watching her walk the entire length of the room from the lounge to the sliding door and back... over and over and over again... and she was dressed in her little t-shirt and 3/4 length shorts... and I was thinking - "She's not a baby anymore... I can't believe how fast she's growing up..." It brought a tear to my eye... I am going to miss my little helpless baby... but at the same time I do love all the new things she's doing... Today she figured out how to kind of feed herself... managed to put the spoon in her mouth for the first time! I gave her this tinned vegetable medley thing for lunch (opened from the yesterday, when I had nothing to give her for lunch) and I gave her buttered toast soldiers and dip it in the vegetable mix... she loooves it... ate a whole piece of toast (almost every bit... only had a little bit of crust left!) and towards the end she was dipping the toast into the mix by herself.. she is getting so clever! I also leave her drink around somewhere she can reach and during the course of the day when she's thirsty she finds it and has a drink... so independent now...
This afternoon, Melanie and Jack came around for afternoon tea (we met them at playgroup last week... and they live pretty close by to us) Jack is 13-14 months and is such a little cutie... Beth gets along with him pretty well... Lovely chatting with Melanie 'cos she's in a similar boat to me - moved here from Sydney last year because hubby got work... all family back in Sydney... so it's nice to have someone in a similar boat ...
Phan has bought a mountain bike...
to ride to work... :) He rode today and enjoyed himself... and the ride back (uphill!) didn't kill him like he thought it would. It's a Giant Yukon... very sleek, mean looking machine... and he got leather gloves and a helmet thrown in... :)
I won't reveal the price, but suffice to say, it's my Valentine's Day present to him...
I'm just waiting for him to get those bike pants now... :P...
We didn't do much this weekend, since Phan was working both mornings of the weekend... Saturday afternoon we caught up with Colin and Sharon and Em... Col and Phan went bike browsing (when he bought the said bike) and Sharon, Em, Beth and I went and browsed Spotlight... I bought a shopping trolley cover thingy, so that Beth doesn't suck on the bars... :) Em was being so motherly... pushing Beth around in the stroller... feeding her food... picking up things she kept throwing down... it cracks me up seeing them together. Sunday afternoon, I took Phan to Chermside to check it out... Only bought some toys for Emily's birthday (next weekend!)... and that was it...
Beth is now just a walking and eating machine... she just walks around all the time now... it's cute... but tiring watching her! She is just getting steadier all the time... Em can't wait for Beth to be able to run around so they can play chasey... :)
Cuteness....
I got sucked in and bought Beth another hat the other day...
If you're wondering why she looks so intense, I think she watching Sesame Street on TV and she's concentrating hard... it's on the only way I can get her to sit still these days!
Chinatown and some New Year Festivities...
Today Beth and I had a low key day... pottered around the house in the morning and did some grocery shopping at lunch and then back home again.
In the afternoon, Sharon, Emily, Beth and I drove into Chinatown early (4:30pm - to avoid the mad, crazy peak hour Brisbane traffic). We actually avoided all the bad traffic and spent a nice hour looking around the streets a bit before taking a break at Gloria Jeans so I could feed Beth a bit of dinner (Emily wanted to help, so she was feeding Beth by herself at some points... so cute seeing a toddler feed a baby!) I ordered a babycino for Beth, which she ate the froth off and wasn't interested in the rest... and after about 10 minutes, Beth got sick of sitting in the stroller, so I let her out and she walked around along the ottoman seat things and then her and Em were having a blast bouncing up and down on the lounge seat... hilarious stuff... The boys walked from work to Chinatown (about a 15 minute walk for them) and met up with them and we watched some of the Chinatown festivites - some school children singing Chinese songs, the lion dance and some kung fu demonstration. Beth enjoyed the lion dance - wasn't scared by the lions or the loud drumming... Then we went into restaurant (right next to the where the entertainment was happening) and had some dinner... Collin had taken on the ordering responsibility and ordered HEAPS of food... for 8 people he ordered 16 dishes! Wowsers! It was good... had some nice spicy noodles and I love their roti and curry. We left at about 7:30pm because we thought Beth was tired... but she wasn't so much tired as *bored* at being at the restaurant... she laughed and talked all the way home in the car. We had to give her a bath and give her some milk before bed... so she didn't get put into her cot until 8:30pm and she pretty much crashed, since she'd been awake since 4:15pm (when I had to wake her... poor thing).
The parking costs here are insane... we were there from 4:45pm - 7:20pm and it cost us $14! So if I ever go to the Chinatown, I'm catching the train in... it would be so much cheaper!
Walking progress and a heart attack moment...
Just a little update on how Beth is going on the walking front... well since she started walking last week, she has just progressed in leaps and bounds... she doesn't need coaxing to stand... she will just stand and walk if she feels like... sometimes I'll ask her to come to me thinking she will just crawl to me and she'll surprise me and stand up and start toddling over... tonight she was just standing and walking all over the place. I just love seeing how she's developing.
This morning she gave me the biggest heart attack... I was grabbing a bite of breakfast and Beth was sitting reading a book... next thing you know (and I'm talking the span of minutes here) I hear Beth yelling out ... and it sounded like it was coming from upstairs... so I raced up the stairs and find her at the top of the stairs, unable to go any further because of the baby gate and unable to get back down the stairs she had just climbed up so nimbly! At least she had the sense to yell out for help because she was stuck and not try and negotiate the stairs down! Gotta make doubly sure that gate at the bottom of the stairs is shut tight now all the time... she makes a speedy getaway up the stairs. She loves climbing the stairs... I let her climb them (crawling not walking) when I'm with her and we need to go upstairs... often 'cos it's so much easier than carrying her up the stairs myself... and she has so much fun doing it and I figure it's burning some energy off!
Busy day...
Well, I think I have worn out Beth today... she decided for some beknowst reason to wake up at 5:15am... I tried to pat her back to sleep, but she was all twitchy, so I gave her a bottle of milk at 5:45am and after that it was all over... she wanted to wake up and play and was bringing a book over for me to read to her! I thought this was going to throw our playgroup plans ((9:30am) into some havoc... but I was determined to go... so packed Beth up into the car just after 9am and drove to playgroup, to find she had fallen asleep in the car half way there... drove around for a bit and then parked in spot of shade and read my delicious magazine (which I had thrown in the car at the last moment)... she had about a 30 minute nap... so once she woke up it was about 9:50am and I brought her into play... She is such an observer... she sat there for the first 10 minutes watching and absorbing everything... and then Emily got excited when she saw Beth and came over to give her cuddles and kisses and play with her a bit and then Beth started crawling around and exploring... she was tottering around a bit on her feet... The babes had morning tea, and then more play time... Beth discovered the piano and just wanted to sit there and bang on the keys until I made her go and play with something else...
I met another mum who just moved to Brisbane from Sydney in the middle of last year and who is in a very similar boat to me - moving because husband got a job here... only planning to stay a couple of years... little boy who is 13 months... and she lives close to where we are, so hopefully we'll see more of them.
After playgroup, went back to Sharon and Emily's place for some airconditioning and some lunch (yummy, yummy pumpkin soup... which Beth enjoyed eating off the end of toast fingers... I think she ate a whole piece of toast!) The girls were playing together and watching Postman Pat... and at about 2:20pm, Beth had had enough and we headed home for a nap... She only napped for an hour and half... so I'm hoping that means she will sleep heaps tonight!
Chuc Mung Nam Moi!
Happy Vietnamese New Year!
It's a bit sad being away from family at this time of year... it was so much fun last year when we had New Year lunch and Beth go lots of LIXI (lucky money) and this year she would have so much fun open her red packets of lucky money and finding money (especially since she's always raiding my purse and pulling the money out and playing with it). We're going to give Beth her LIXI tonight as we kind of ran out of time this morning.
We're off to playgroup this morning, so I better start getting ready!
Techno Babe...
With a mum who used to work in IT and a dad who dabbles in building computers and home theatre systems, it is somewhat inevitable that Beth will grow up on the cutting edge of technology...
Today, amongst the myriad of toys she owns, all Beth has wanted to do is play with a mouse... a corded mouse at that (although she would play with the wireless or laser one if I would let her, except she always wants to shine the laser into her eye!)
Yep - that would be Elizabeth "TechnoBabe" Nguyen walking around with the mouse...
And this would be Beth developing "PKS" (Photographer Kid Syndrome)... her expression just screams "Are you taking photos of me again? Get that thing out of my face..."
Hold your loved ones a little tighter and tell them you love them...
As I mentioned yesterday, today is Ava's anniversary... I can not express how much this story has touched and changed my heart every since I read it 6 or so months ago ...
To many - today will just be another ordinary day... to other's it will be a time to remember the day their lives changed tragically forever...
All I can say is life is too short... there are a surprises at every turn... sometimes good, sometimes bad... all we can do is live and love each moment...
Take the time today to tell those you love how much they mean to you... hold them just a little closer 'cos you never know when the unthinkable could happen...
A little bit of Ava...
Tomorrow is little Ava "Superprincess" Rosemeyer's anniversary. I have mentioned before that I read her mum's blog (http://sheyerosemeyer.blogspot.com) regularly ... it's so unusual for me to be touched so deeply by a stranger... but everytime I think of her, I gain a little more patience and my perspective changes... and I hold Beth a little tighter and tell her how much I love her.
Anyway today I found the Carousel Cupcakes coffee place where there is a cupcake made in her memory... (check our their website - http://www.carouselscupcakes.com.au It is a gorgeous little place!)... I plan on going back and having a coffee there soon ... I saw it the other day by accident and got really excited when I saw it... it's just around the corner from Westfield Chermside... so ever since I saw it, I have been wanting to go in there and pick up a cupcake or two...
So today, I picked up a cupcake in memory of Ava...
Here's my little bit of Ava...
And another cupcake I picked up for Phan - I think it was called "Cherry Heart" or something..
Don't these cupcakes look drool worthy? (Btw - I took these photos with the speedlite and I think I nailed the exposure on them for the first time... I'm really happy with how they turned out!)
Yummy yummy spring rolls...
When Beth gets older she's going to wonder whether she did anything other than eat when she was a baby!
Here are some snaps from last night's dinner -
My first attempt spring rolls - don't they look like they came out of a restaurant? :)
Mmmm - yum!
Contemplating... how much she loves spring rolls...
Now she's possibly in food heaven with bun (rice noodles) and spring rolls!
Amazing Paper Art
Totally random post here... Ann sent me a forwarded email which was amazing... it's art work constructed from a single sheet of paper... really worth checking out, it's fascinating -
http://www.petercallesen.com/index/index2.html
Somebody likes cherries...
This morning, Beth decided she didn't want weetbix for breakfast... she didn't want toast... she didn't want anything except cherries... Thank god I have a cherry pitter... but what a mess!
Today we went to church at Inala (the "vietnamese ghetto" as Phan calls it). Mass was at 9:30am and we thought Beth would nap in the car on the way there... but nope... she was chipper and chattering away most of the way there... She actually lasted through mass without any dramas... playing with the newsletter and eating (sorry, scoffing!) a container of grapes and reading her books... and then having a little walk holding Phan's hands or my hands around the side of the church. It was a really lovely mass... a wide mix of nationalities (Australia, Vietnamese, Samoan... some African... and probably a heap of others too) and the music was great... they had a choir that sang normal hymns and a couple of more contemporary ones that I knew as well... I really loved the music. There is also a *huge* garden next to the church that has these statues of the Stations of the Cross in it... it's beautiful... couldn't get a close look because it was pouring with rain, but next time we go I'd love to spend some time in it...
After mass, we found a set of vietnamese/asian groceries so we could pick up some asian food staples that I've been missing... it's hilarious, because there were like there 3 asian groceries and 2 asian butchers in the same shopping complex as a woolworths! It's the equivalent of having a part of Hanson Road in Centro Arndale back home in Adelaide! Weird... but very convenient. Stocked up on things we needed and then we headed home and Beth crashed and fell asleep straight away. It's about a 1/2 hour drive from Inala from our place, so Beth got a decent nap and then woke up and had lunch and played around.
Tonight, I made cha gio (spring rolls) for dinner .. I've never had to make them before because Phan is not a huge fan of spring rolls and we always just have them at Phan's parents place when we need a fix, but Beth is fan of springs rolls and since we have no grandma around in Brisbane to make them, I have to make them! It's the first time I've had to make them since Phan and I have been married and they turned out pretty well... Beth enjoyed them ... ate 2 of them and a heap of bun (rice noodles) and cucumber. Then for dessert she had mangoes... then sultana grapes and watermelon ... she is an fruit eating machine I tell you. I made some small packages of spring rolls up and have frozen them so that we have them on hand for a snack for Beth if she wants them.
That's pretty much all that happened today... The weather forecast is for rain, rain and more rain this week (but it is hot and humid... so weird!), so I'm not too sure what we're going to get up to...
A visit to the Brisbane Motor Show...
Well... I think I have been overstimulating Beth and she has been pretty tired at the end of each day. This morning she slept into 7am... not as much of a sleep in as yesterday... but still impressive... plus there was the bonus of it being Saturday and Phan not having to work... so Phan and I both got a sleep in as well... *lovely*... Then when she woke up, we pulled her into bed with us and we talked and played with her... It's the moments like these that I treasure and live for... hearing her innocent little giggles ... seeing how her eyes smile ... the inquisitive look on her face as she pokes Phan in the eye ... how I love these moments, enjoying each other's compnay just the three of us... our little family.
Today we went and checked out the Brisbane Motor Show with Colin, Sharon and Emily.
They came around for a bite of lunch first (bun bo xao) and then we headed off.
It wasn't my cup of tea, but it wasn't as boring as I thought it would be... the highlight for me would have to be the free gelati they were giving out at the Volkswagon stand... :)... It was also the highlight for Beth. :p It was interesting seeing all the different cars and we spent a lot of our time at the Subaru stand, Phan oogling the Liberty... me checking out the Forester... We spent a bit more than an hour then, and then came home thinking Beth would nap... but nope... she had napped for 2 hours at 10:30am... and then didn't got down for her afternoon nap until 4:45pm... which I think is going to throw our plans of going to church out the window... we'll see...
Social Butterfly...
Well, Beth is turning into somewhat of a social butterfly... She ended up waking up at 8am this morning ... what a sleepy head...
Sharon was catching up with some friends (with their little kids) at 10am and invited us to come along, which normally, we probably wouldn't have gone to because Beth has her morning nap at that time... but since she had slept in so much, I decided it would be fun for us to go out again...
So we met at Sharon's place... When we pulled up in the car, as I got out of the car Emily was at the front gate and I could hear her calling out "Elizabeth's here... Elizabeth's here"... what a cutiepie!
Anyway, we took walked to the park (which is about a 10 minute walk... damn... it was good exercise in this heat! Emily "rode" her tricycle to the park... and I put "rode" in inverted commas, because it really meant, Sharon attached a strap to the handlebars and Em steers, and Sharon pulls her along... and then on the downhill parts, Em walks and poor Sharon carries the trike over her shoulder, because Em doesn't have enough control to steer it! Sharon is a superwoman I tell you! I just pushed Beth along in the stroller, which she was good about...
Got to the park and we met up with Gina and her two little boys Sebastian (3) and Gabrielle (9 weeks) and also Tracey and her two little boys Daniel (3) and Julian (13 months)... as had some morning tea of fruit and then the kids played on the playground ... even when it started pouring for about 5 minutes... Beth was pretty good... not overly adventurous... and I tried to put her in the swing which she hated... even though Emily wanted to push Beth in the swing... that was so funny. Got Beth to slide down the baby slide twice... which she neither loved or hated... probably bordered more on hating it though... but she did discover some abacus balls and the dirt... We had a great time... spent about 1.5 hours there and then got home at 12pm... Beth crashed in the car, so I transfered her to her cot and she's still asleep now.
I took some photos this morning at home at and the park... didn't take heaps at th park, because I was actually chatting with Sharon, Tracy and Gina and playing with the kids... but I took what opportunities I could...
This morning, Beth thought it would be interesting to put her drink bottle in her bowl of cornflakes... hmmm... interesting...
Then she begged some instant noodles off me
(which I was having for breakfast)...
And decided to stand and eat noodles at the same time...
A day at the park...
I love the angle used in the photo...
Discovering the taste of dirt...
Not a glamourous photo, but the photos I have with her and me in them are far and few between...
Tired girl...
It is currently 7:15am as I write this and Beth is still asleep! That is a massive sleep in for her... she must be tired from playgroup and figuring out how to walk... she only woke once at 12:30am last night because she had chucked her dummies out of the cot...
As a side note... Beth is fully weaned from the breast now... has been since a week before turning 14 months, I've just forgotten to mention it... My supply had just dropped a lot (the stress of moving probably was a contributing factor)... but it hasn't bothered Beth at all and she loves her bottle of milk (to the extent of chucking mini-tanties if she see it and doesn't get it straight away). While I sometimes miss that closeness of breastfeeding, mostly I'm happy that we've been able give it away without drama. She really isn't a baby any more...
