Where's A Camera When You Need One?

Anna and I are on the move a lot - I sort of go nuts being at home for more than 2 days in a row, and a camera is not always accessible, so I've got a heap of 'kodak' moments captured on my mobile phone that I've just uploaded. Thought I'd share some with you all. These are my favourites.

Every second she gives us a new expression - we've got 7 gig of photos of her already and she's only 4 months old!

With love,

Mum and Dad.x

Smart Little Lady

Anna is now over 4 months old, and she seems to be impressing everyone with her new developments - even the midwife :)

Everyday, Anna has a new sound she likes to play with. For a while, she sounded a bit like a dying cat. Other times she'd squeal - Adam and I would look at each other and ask 'what was that?' not realising it was our daughter. Yesterday, the sound of the day was 'Nnnnnnn'. So she'd talk to me, and to her teddy's going 'Nnnnnnnn N N N Nnnnnn'. Today, she's worked out how to make a farting noise, and boy is it funny!

We also have a new game - we swing back and forth towards a mirror - Anna thinks its hilarious. And I can't stop laughing cos she's laughing uncontrollably - it's the sweetest thing.

We've worked out that Anna is a very homely girl - she certainly knows when she's not at home in her nice comfy room. She doesn't like Chapel Street too much, and she thinks every time we go to Pa and Tiff's house I leave her (because most of the time I do cos Pa and Tiff are such good baby sitters - so it's understandable for Anna to think that). But at home, she lays on her mat with her toys and sings. I think she just likes the sound of her own voice.

She's so good with her toys. She loves her caterpilla (courtessy of Peter and Irene) and as she's teething, she loves teething rings and, well, basically anything she can put in her mouth and chew on. You can feel tiny little buds along her gums. It doesn't seem to bother her though, not keeping her awake or getting her cranky, she just wants to bite everything, and by everything, I mean everything. I'm considering switching to bottle feeding...

She loves to grab things. She's mastered grabbing things out of our hands, and she can roll over and pick things up from the floor. And she's just starting to grab things when she's sitting up.

Anna isn't really getting the hang of 'crawling' - in fact she's far from it. When she's on her tummy, her legs go up instead of under and her arms go out to the side, like she's flying. But that's ok, cos I actually think she'll walk before she crawls. She's so demanding to stand up and she absolutely loves her play station. She stands up on her own. It's kind of freaky.

She loves this little table - it makes sounds and there's buttons and squeaky things on it. One button in particular makes the balls in the middle spin round. After a few times of watching me touch the red button, Anna's worked out that by pressing that button makes the balls move, so she's happy to press the button on her own now.

And just for the record, she's sleeping soundly all night, from about 9pm till 8am - in her cot.

Oh and she really likes listening to music on Adam's headphones. It's so adorable, she just sits there listening. And laughs when I take them off her.

Well, we're off to Adelaide next week - we're all so excited. It'll be Anna's first plane trip.

She's got an incredible set of lungs that makes most people think there's something seriously wrong when she just wants to be picked up, but she does smile and laugh a lot. We're so proud of our little girl - she makes us smile every day. Her smile could melt the coldest of hearts.

Love you, my little angel.

With love,

Mum and Dad.x

Young Business Mum

My new life of being a mum has made me realise so many things. It has given me the ability to leave my corporate life, a path I was heading down that was determined to make me miserable. And the "time off" of being a mum has given me the ability to put my dreams into action.

I'm launching my own cosmetics range. I've called it 'Empire Cosmetics'. It's a cosmetics range specifically designed for mature aged women, a market I believe has been neglected. I've discovered some incredible products that form the basis of my range. And they're producing some excellent results. I've just received my first lot of products - and it's scary, but very exciting.

So I'm keeping a blog about my pursuits of being an 'entrepreneur' and a full time mum. For those who would like to follow my journey, here's the blog address:

http://www.youngbusinessmum.blogspot.com/

I hope you all enjoy my stories. And I hope it becomes something that Anna can read when she's older, and realise that she's given me the inspiration to go for my dreams; if I can raise a child, I can do anything. But first and foremost, Anna will always be my number one. I want this dream to become reality, I believe if it does, I can give Anna everything - I can be there for every milestone, every ballet lesson, every homework session, every time you need me, and give you everything you need to have the best in life. I'm working hard to give you that, my love.

Thanks for listening all.

Ash.x

Our Little Ewok

For some time, Adam has called Anna his little Ewok. We have many nicknames for Anna, but 'Chubbs' is probably a nickname we don't want to stick. But Anna and I were out stocking up on nappies and came across this awesome hat!

Now she really is a little Ewok!

With love,

Mum and Dad.x

Welcome Isla Anne!

Welcome to the world little Isla Anne - and congratulations to Tom and Kortnye on the arrival of their beautiful new daughter. We are so excited to meet this little angel, and Anna is so excited to have a little girl cousin :)

We're heading over to Adelaide in a few short weeks to meet Isla - we can't wait!

Great work Kortnye, giving birth is the most awesome accomplishment anyone could make, and great work to Tom, helping the woman you love through labour and birth has got to be one of the scariest things anyone could go through.

And last but not least, congratulations to the little (but not so little any more) man himself, Ramsey - Great work for being a big brother!

To Isla, we're so glad you're here, welcome to the world precious girl. You're coming into a family who will give you so much love.

With love,

Aunty Ash, Uncle Adam and Cousin Anna.x