So Grown Up

I'm still yet to go through all the Adelaide photos, but this one caught my eye, so I thought I'd share... This is the big girl wearing Ba Co's (great grandma's) hat whilst in the garden doing what she referred to as "farming"... she loved "farming" on Ong and Ba's "farm"... basically this involved collecting lots of pebbles and rocks from the garden into buckets! I can't believe how grown up she looks in this shot...

PAD - January 5 - Breakfast Anyone?

When you awake at 5am 'cos the baby doesn't want to sleep anymore, jellybeans look like an appealing breakfast option...

PAD - January 4 - Imaginative Play

(*all narrative that follows is courtesy of the 4 year old girl)

"Let me tell you a story Mum... We're having a Christmas Eve party and everybody is invited. We are going to travel to the party in the Christmas carriage (*cue Cinderella carriage to the right*)... and we need a tent (*cue wardrobe in the background*)... and everybody needs to sit around the campfire (*cue the wooden coffee table with the lamp*)... and now we are all cozy and warm and we need to sing happy birthday because it's Jesus' birthday... "

Gotta love 4 year old imaginations... it looks like a toy explosion but I love that she's combined all the little toy figurines she got for Christmas (wooden dolls, littlest pet shop, my little pony, polly pocket, cinderella, and sleeping beauty) and made them all part of the story...

PAD - January 3 - Rufflebum

The latest fashionable thing for little baby girls at the moment appears to be ruffled nappy covers. I have been itching to get one for Catherine because they are so adorable... but also because they are also practical... I discovered with Elizabeth that once little baby girls start crawling and trying to move, little dresses become rather impractical because they keep getting caught under them and hinder their movement. With a ruffled nappy cover, they can still move freely without being caught up in the girly ruffles. I have seen lots of different ones around the place and have been trying to score one from a boutique seller on madeit.com.au who sells the most gorgeous ruffled nappy covers with the most beautiful fabrics... However, after months of stalking this particular seller and being unable to secure one (her stuff sells out in minutes she is so popular!) I decided to take matters into my own hands (literally!) and have a go at sewing my own... (I believe Phan thought I was crazy when I told him I was making my own 'cos I couldn't purchase one!) I used the ruffled nappy cover pattern from Bettsy Kingston which I first saw on Leesa's blog a little while ago... so a big shout out and thanks to Leesa! :)

I'm mostly pleased with the result... It only took me a couple of hours (which I spread over two nights). A little fine tuning needed but nothing a bit of practise won't fix... and I think I might need to go the next size up 'cos Catherine is probably going to outgrow this size soon. I decided to make this with some cheapie fabric from Spotlight in case I stuffed it up, but now that I've had a trial run I'm ready to go off and purchase some nicer fancy material!

I also plan on making her a matching peasant top to go with her ruffly bum... but I've run out of red thread, so that will have to wait for the moment!

PAD - January 2 - Too Darn Cute

Well I know I'm totally biased because I'm her mum... but really... how can you resist this little face?

I actually got a number of cute photos of Catherine today and had so much trouble deciding which one to use as my photo for the day... so I thought I'd also share this cute little series as well -





It's so much nicer being able to get shots of Catherine now that she is sitting by herself... she's been able to sit by herself for very short periods of time (like one minute!) since she was about 6 months (but was very prone to face planting into the floor), but in the last couple of days she's been much more stable... and whilst we still have to be nearby to catch her when she decides she's tired of sitting, she's able to sit now for quite long periods of time by herself (at a guess about 15 minutes at a time)...

PAD - January 1 - What's A Girl To Wear To Bunnings?

Not a particularly spectacular photo to kick off photo-a-day, but there is a funny little story behind this...

We needed to go to Bunnings today to pick up some things to do some maintenance around the house and also to pick up some more flowers for Elizabeth to plant in her big pots seeing as her pansies died while we were away in Adelaide for Christmas.

This is the outfit she chose to wear to Bunnings - It's been hanging in her wardrobe for a year, but today she saw it and decided that it was the perfect outfit. For those unfamiliar with this, it's an "ao dai" which is a traditional Vietnamese dress, similar to the Chinese cheong sam, but a little different... Generally they are reserved for special occassions like weddings and Vietnamese New Year... but apparently going to Bunnings rates as a special occasion with our four year old... :)

(We did get some very amused glances, smiles and comments regarding her outfit while we were at Bunnings too... She looked quite a little lady pushing around a kid-sized trolley with her Barbie doll in it... LOL...)

As a side note... Elizabeth was also very insistent on wanting to buy a pot plant to (in her words) "brighten up her room" while we were at Bunnings... She took quite a liking to a pink and white orchid, but it was rather expensive and I wasn't sure how long we could keep it alive, so she ended up going for a (cheaper!) pink anthurium and it's now proudly sitting on her bookshelf in her bedroom... She tells me she is going to remember to water it everyday.... This is definitely Ba Noi's influence coming through... Elizabeth must have liked all the gardening she did with her grandma while we were in Adelaide!

Photo A Day January 2011

Regular followers of my blog will know that I have attempted the photo-a-day challenge for a month twice now, so I thought I would kick off the new year again doing this again... The main motiviation is to get my dear friend Mitch out and shooting with his 10-22mm which he got for his birthday in November, but to date has been untouched... (So you better be clicking away there Mitch!) But I've also roped in a few family and friends to keep me company again too... Anyone else who wants to join in, feel free, link me up to your blog/facebook whatever so I can see what you're up to... I will also be posting my daily photos into this flickr pool which has been organised by a group of girls in the EB photography forum - 2011 Photo A Day Challenge.

Stay tuned for a blog entry with today's pic... :)