Painting!

One of the things I love about blogging is being able to share Emma's firsts... And the above pictures are the evidence of her first real attempt at painting this afternoon. I've been trying to encourage painting every now and then with not much success - but today I brought some cool sponges from the $2 shop and they were a hit. Emma seemed to love it and kept saying "Wow!" (Her word for the week). She did enjoy using a paint brush as well as the sponges. Watch this space for more paintings in the future from our little budding artist!

Sickie Girl

Our wee baby girl is currently on her first ever course of antibiotics... Emma has a nasty ear infection & a sore throat. She was miserable on Thursday with a temperature and much the same again on Friday.. we went to the Dr's and by this stage her temp was 40 degrees. I always feel a little split with the child sickness thing and when to take her to the Doctors. There's half of me that says I'm a paediatric nurse - we don't need a Doctor (arrogant I know!) And then there's the part of me that panics and cries when she has so much as a sniffle! Rob's at a conference all day today - so I'm very thankful that Aunty Janelle & Grandma came over for lunch & a catch up.

Furry Festival

Yesterday we had an interesting Sunday morning - we went to the Furry Festival at Jansens' Pet Shop. We took Dudley with us and he had a grand time. Emma loved the mobile farm and being able to say hello to lots of rabbits. There was also a bouncy castle, face painting, sausage sizzle but the most exciting for us a competition called Pet Idol. I registered Rob & Dudley in the pet/owner look-a-like category! So funny seeing them up on stage on the 'cat walk!' We didn't win - but we did win a spot prize (Rob reckons he was 2nd) which was a family pass to Kelly Tartlons (an aquarium and somewhere Emma hasn't been.) Emma also had a great time saying hello to other dogs/pets there - she really has no fear with animals happily wandering up to a huge Newfoundland to say "hi!" But she is gentle and lovely with animals.

Stormy Day!

Cold, wet and very stormy day in Auckland today... Picture this - happily making muffins with Emma in the kitchen, heater on in the lounge, drier on, lots of lights on when suddenly there's a power cut at 5pm... Felt a tad stressed with having to leave for work in just an hour and a half - and a whole lot to do beforehand which involved power... Emma was very fascinated by the candles and after singing 'happy birthday' to everyone we know - I decided to give Emma her first bath by candlelight. Perfect thing to do with limited lighting and Emma acted like it was a treat! I even started singing Christmas Carols deciding it was a Mid-Winter Carols by Candlelight Bath Special! So blessed to have these special moments with Em! All power is restored now - home from work and managed to avoid all fallen trees!

PS Photo not really related... but it was Emma in 2005 after her first real Carols by Candlelight service in Taupo.

This is just to show off the gorgeous poncho and hat my Mum made for Emma recently. It's adorable and really soft and warm. I love the colour and it makes her eyes look really green. I sometimes call her 'Apple' when she wears it! Everywhere she wears it we receive comments on it and we have people asking for the pattern! So cheers Mum thanks for all the gorgeous things you make for Emma - they are truly appreciated and loved! I'm currently trying to knit myself with a lot of help from Mum!