Friday, September 27, 2013

Favourite Photo Friday - 27/9/13

I'm cheating a bit this week and posting 2 photos I took recently. I couldn't decide which one I liked better...... there are actually a whole heap of others I took at the same time that I also love, which I'll do a separate blog post on shortly.

I just love the expressions on Astrid's face in these photos! Sweet and innocent........


 D7000 with Nikon 50mm f1.8 
ISO 500, focal length 50mm 
Exposure: 1/125 @ f/2.2


....and Miss Contemplative!


D7000 with Nikon 50mm f1.8 
ISO 500, focal length 50mm 
Exposure: 1/160 @ f/2.2

Thursday, September 26, 2013

'Tis the season to birthday party!

Lots of our friends have kids born at this time of year, or so it would seem! Spring babies are a plenty :)  As a result we have been to quite a few birthday parties in the last couple of weeks.  Astrid is very fond of birthday parties.  According to a 2 year old, parties must consist of fairy bread, pass the parcel and cake (with candles).  All other food and games will be accepted but she has her standards apparently!

Luckily the weather has been pretty nice for birthday parties and we have had some fun days.  I think I probably haven't needed to eat quite the amount of cake that I have recently consumed, but it's hard to resist birthday cake!

The first party was Miss H's 2nd birthday.  She had an Iggle Piggle cake and plenty of food along with fun on the backyard slide and swings!  The party was meant to be at the park but the weather forecast was appalling. It turned out to be wrong and a beautiful day. None of the kids minded and they all had fun anyway........


The next party was Liam's 1st birthday.  It happened to be the same day as Miss H's and Astrid held up well, powered by sugar of course (no sleep was had, that was for sure). Liam had a Teddy Bear cake, the same as his older brothers had for their first birthdays.


The next day was Sophie's 1st birthday. Sophie had a beautiful pink and while polka dot party and we made sure we re-fueled after coming off the sugar high from the previous day. Astrid loved the jumping castle but soon got stuck into the food and drink.  A couple of times she wandered off and had found an adult to procure her treats like lollies and pink lemonade. Apparently if you ask politely an adult will give these things to you at a birthday party!  I'm going to have to watch her if this is what she gets up to when she is 2!!!


The next weekend it was Emma's 5th birthday. Emma had a pirates and princess party. It was a costume party and Astrid was hanging out to wear her owl costume for weeks.  She had even been trying it on in the lead up to make sure it was just right.  Lucky I managed to get some photos of her in it before we left home as that was the only time it gone worn.  The poor child does tend to suffer from motion sickness at times and managed to mega-puke all over herself on the way to Emma's party.  She wasn't even wearing the costume, but it still went everywhere. Luckily we were only 5 minutes from our destination and hit Natalie and Keef up for a shower and use of their washing machine. Apparently Astrid felt better after her ritual stomach cleansing and she managed to re-fill it with lots of pirate and princess food! She also got in some pass the parcel, pinata and pin the crown on the princess.
Emma made a fine Princess Ariel and her cake was lovely and very yummy!


After another afternoon of fun and sugar Astrid is a little weary. We have a couple more parties to go still and the baby has been instructed that it might want to not arrive quite yet as Astrid hasn't finished partying yet!

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Not quite fitting any more!

On the weekend I started pulling out some of the baby stuff and washing it up ready for use.  This included the baby hammock and the ergo insert. Astrid has been quite keen on trying out things for the baby. It appears though that she doesn't fit into some of them as well as she used to!

We used the ergo a lot with her, from the time she was born. She still fits in it well today, and we still use it when walking some of the time. It's been a long time since she fitted into the newborn insert though! Here she is, attempting to get in........ it doesn't look very comfy!


We also put together the hammock for the baby.  Astrid is fond of any construction job and loves screwdrivers and wrenches so was happy to help out.


Once the hammock was up she was keen to give it a go.  Here she is sleeping peacefully in the hammock at 6 weeks old!


She ended up sleeping in the hammock in our room until she was 5.5 months, at which time she moved to her own room and cot.  Even when we moved her we though she was big compared to when she was a tiny newborn. Now here she is trying to squish herself in the hammock at 2 years 3 months!


She has also been keen on trying out bouncers and even the car capsule.........  She definitely didn't fit in the car capsule despite her best efforts :)