6 Months Old

Half a year gone by already?!?! Ahhh - she will be driving before we know it! What a fun 6 months it's been. M has been a bit crankier this past month. Normally she is the quiet one at our mother's group gatherings, but she has let everyone know she has a voice! It's a bit stressful at times because I don't want to bother other people when we are out and she's talking VERY loudly. Hopefully this is a stage and she will go back to her quiet little self. I've moved her night feed back to 9:30pm and she still sleeps straight through to 7am. Loving it! She will be crawling soon. She pushes up so hard on her forearms and acts like she wants to crawl. Still no teeth yet - hallelujah. I'm hoping that doesn't happen until we get back in January. She gets the hiccups every time she laughs - I love it. She went about a week this past month where she put her hands behind her head, like she was relaxing in a recliner. It was too funny! She doesn't do it anymore. She has a little curl on the top of her head that I love twirling around my index finger. She still sits up like a big girl. Last week we put her in a high chair for the first time. She has been such a cuddle bug the past few days! She puts her head right into your neck when you hold her - so sweet.

I did two sessions for her this past month - a 5 1/2 month session for Halloween and a 6 month shoot. She cooperated well for both, which makes a happy mommy! The cute little pumpkin outfit was given to her from my Gran, and the pink tutu from Josh's mom. :)

Our First Weekend Away

Before I get to Josh & my first weekend away, here are a few photos from what's been happening lately...

Josh, Mckinley, and I went to the Merinda pub to watch the Melbourne Cup. Melbourne Cup is knows as "the race that stops the nation." It's the Aussie version of the Kentucky Derby, but a much bigger deal is made out of it. At Merinda, they had the restaurant area done up so nice. The tables were set like it was a wedding! We got all fancied up and met some of our friends there for lunch.

Mckinley was underneath the table on a pallet we made up for her. :)

Josh started night soccer a few weeks back. The last two seasons I haven't missed a game, but this season has been a bit different. M and I have only been to 2 of the 5 games, and we are going to miss the rest of the season. Here's Josh before the last game:

Daddy's biggest fans!!!

One of Josh's assistants left, and they've hired a new girl which happens to be one of my friends! I'm SOOOO happy that she was hired and know she'll do great. Josh took his assistants out for lunch last week and M&I joined. We put her in a high chair for the first time. It was nice for Josh because he got to eat his meal without a squirmy little one in his lap. :)

Now for our weekend away...

When we got the wedding invitation to our friend's wedding, I was so excited but also nervous. I was excited because it was on Daydream Island, but was nervous because it meant if we wanted to go, I had to find a sitter for m. The first person I thought of was Sharon (Xavier's nan) and her family. They have been around m the most and I knew they'd take extra special care of her. When Sharon agreed, I booked our hotel room on the island.

When the wedding weekend rolled around I was a bit nervous/sad/excited, but didn't cry when we left m. We dropped her off on a Saturday morning. I had all the bottles and solids measured out and labeled (of course) and a big suitcase full of toys, wraps, diapers, clothes, and everything else you can think of. There are always several people at Sharon's house coming and going, so I'm sure m had fun with all the attention! Alex was sooooo great and sent me pictures of m and Xavier playing throughout the day Saturday. It was so helpful to have updates and pictures to see!

We arrived at Daydream Island around lunchtime Saturday. I made my way to the bride's room and started taking photos of her getting her hair and makeup done. (The photographer she hired was for 3 hours and she didn't have anyone to photograph her & Carl getting ready. As their wedding gift from us, I offered my services!) Josh hung out with one of his friends while I was "working." I took photos for a couple of hours, ate a very quick lunch, then ran back to the room to get ready. I dressed and did my hair and makeup in less than 20 minutes. I was very proud of myself. :) Josh was ready to go and looking handsome as ever. We made our way down to Lovers Cove, a beautiful wooden deck on a coral beach, for the wedding at 2:45pm. The wedding started at 3pm and what a gorgeous setting it was! After the wedding Josh and I went with some friends back into the aircon for some drinks. It was a couple of hours before the reception started. At sunset (still before the reception) I went back to Lovers Cove with the wedding party and took some pics of them at sunset. I'm so happy with how they turned out! The reception started at 6:30pm and went until well after 11:30pm (that's when we turned in). The food was great. The music and dancing was fun. It was a great night!

Sunday morning Josh and I slept in. The aircon was out in our room all night, so I didn't sleep well. (of course the ONE night I don't have m) We went and enjoyed the resort's yummy buffet brekkie and then hung out poolside the rest of the day. Sunday was such a relaxing day. It was good for Josh and I to have some time together.

We got wonderful reports back about m. I reckon Wrigley was happier to see us than m!

Leaving m with Alex & Sharon

At the wedding



What a view!

With the happy couple

Daydream Island

Thanksgivoween

Since Mckinley and I will be in the States for Thanksgiving this year, I wasn't going to be able to have our annual Aussie Thanksgiving dinner. I decided to have it a year early and combine it with a Halloween party! It turned out great. I started preparing for the party months ago. The party was on a Friday night and I started cooking for it the Monday before. Krista and Daddy brought us cute Thanksgiving plates, and Laura sent a BIG box of candy and decorations. We had around 20 or so of our friends over to the house and had SO much leftover food! (7 people cancelled the day of) I had such a nice night. All 3 of the babies behaved themselves, which helped. :)

Here are several pics from the night!

Our friend Lauren works on the farm in Bowen that grows the Halloween pumpkins! These were all going to be thrown out, and we got take as many as we wanted for the party. We carved some, I painted some, and the rest were used for decoration around our house.

BIG box of goodies from Laura!

Give Thanks banner

Guess how many candy corn

Our costumes - rock, paper, scissors, fire!

Some of the group

Games!

more games

Carving pumpkins

Dessert - red velvet cake balls. I made a few into turkeys with milk chocolate, malted milk balls, and candy corn. The rest are dipped in white chocolate.

Pecan pie and punch

Goodie bags!

Some of the pumpkins

5 Months Old

Luckily Mckinley doesn't stick her tongue out as much anymore. :) Guess she's almost over that phase. I thought she might be about to cut a tooth, but no sign of one yet. I have been busy trying to get ready for our upcoming trip to the States! I spent last Saturday morning (6 hours!) researching brands of baby wipes, food packs, shampoo, laundry detergent, etc for Mckinley for our trip. I made a massive order from diapers.com because I thought it would be easier to not have to lug that kind of stuff halfway across the world. I found a good brand of baby food pouches for M for our travel days, but will still be making her food for the days we are in Arlington and Albuquerque. (I love when I read a food label and there's only one or two ingredients listed and you can pronounce each one!) Daddy has volunteered himself and Krista to make Mckinley food so we don't have to do that when we get to their house. We will be stopping in Washington first, then on to Texas! I'm kind of nervous about using disposable diapers for 2 months. I know people use them all the time, but M hasn't had any problems with the cloth diapers we are using. I hope she doesn't start getting diaper rashes with the disposables.

Little Miss M is 5 months and getting bigger each day! She is around 6.5kg (14.3lbs), 25.5in in length, and 16.75in for her head circumference. She can roll both ways now - tummy to back and back to tummy! She started solids around 4.5 months old and loves trying new foods. She eats rice cereal, potatoes, sweet potatoes, zucchini, pumpkin, apples, pears, carrots, and turnips. Pears are her favorite. She had her first dip in the ocean at the beginning of the month and wasn't too excited about it. When you live 3 blocks from the beach, you're bound to have a little fishy! We will keep taking her to get used to the water. She loves the spa at Alex's parent's house. It's a nice warm temperature. M got hear ears pierced at the end of September and was so brave. She sat up for the first time for our 5 month photo shoot! (see below)

The 5 month photo shoot of my little bunny has been my favorite so far. I had about 5 minutes to prepare for it (pick out an outfit for her and Josh and get my camera gear loaded up) and a window of about 20 minutes (because the sun was setting) to snap some pics of M. She cooperated the best for this shoot out of all the other shoots. I had so many favorites from this session, but didn't want to overload our blog with even MORE pics of M. :) Enjoy!

So happy I was able to capture her sitting up for the first time!

A Very Very VERY Long Post

This is what I get for not blogging for over a month - writing this SUPER long post. I reckon only the moms (and maybe grandmas) will make it through this post.

Let's rewind back to Josh's FIRST Father's Day, September 4th. Aussies celebrate Father's Day in September, and this year it fell 3 days before Josh's 26th birthday. Last year for Father's Day I gave Josh two onesies for my little bun in the oven. One said "My heart belongs to a Chiropractor" and the other "Made in Australia". Here's Josh a year later with our little "bun" wearing one of the onesies!


We had a great day celebrating Josh. Mckinley gave Josh some American candy and a mug (for his tea drinking at the office) with pictures of herself on it. It turned out so cute, but there was a little hiccup. I ordered the mug a week or so before Father's Day and when I received it in the mail, it wasn't Josh's mug! It said "Happy Father's Day, love Baylee" with pictures of a 10 or so year old. Kinda creepy to think someone else might have a mug with our little one's pics all over it. I rang Snapfish and they were able to send Josh's mug. I wrapped up the mug for Baylee's dad and gave it to Josh since I didn't have his. When he opened it I asked him if he had some news to tell me - another child I didn't know about?!? :) Mckinley's mug ended up arriving on his birthday a few days later.

For Josh's birthday this year, we celebrated with our Bible Study/Home Group. I made one of his favorite Aussie desserts, Mars Bar Slice. It's basically melted Three Muskateers bars with Rice Crispies. YUM.

Josh got his birthday present (a new Xbox) a few months early this year, so he didn't have anything to open on his birthday. I had to give him something to open, so I gave him a card from Mckinley with a voucher for a massage! We also went to lunch with our friend Lisa, who was helping Josh out at the office. She is normally a CA at the Airlie practice, but helped out a few times at the office in Bowen.

On Mckinley's 4 month birthday, we decided it would be a good time to put her in her Jolly Jumper! Boy did she LOVE it!

We didn't stop there though....we had to let Wrigs have a go. Josh and I were both laughing so hard watching Wrigley. Tears were running down my face I was laughing so hard.

On September 10 we went to the local rugby playoff game. Little missy behaved herself and we had a nice afternoon. Here's a pic of her with Scott & Alex.

Bowen's rugby team beat the Collinsville team. Collinsville is about an hour away.

Josh has been reading a book to M most nights before bed. This is normally when I'm in the kitchen preparing dinner, but some nights I sneak in the hallway to spy on them. Precious moments like this make my heart smile.

M and I have gone to lots of outings with other mums and bubs the past couple of months. Normally we meet 3-4 other mums/bubs once a week for a coffee and chat. It's always a nice time catching up and exchanging stories about our bubs. Here's M with her 2 boyfriends. Judd is on the left and Xavier is on the right.

September 17 was our third time to attend the annual Bowen Fishing Classic. Last year at the Fishing Classic we volunteered to help at one of the food stalls. I was pregnant and nauseous the whole morning. This year was much more enjoyable. Saturday afternoon we listened to some of the live music...

...and watched some of the weigh-ins for the fishies.

Sunday afternoon we went to watch the fashion show.

M and Xavier were teaching each other how to share. :)

September 20 M started solids! I was so excited to watch my little bunny try something new. She loved her rice cereal. We were able to have some of the grandparents on Skype to watch. I love both Josh's and M's expression in the pic below. :)

The book that I am using to guide me with her solids feeding has her try a new food every fourth day. The pic below is her first taste of apples. She wasn't too sure about them!

The book walked me through an easy way to prepare M's food. I take the veggie or fruit, wash it, peal it, chop it, steam it, puree it, put the "mush" into ice cube trays, freeze it, then pop the cubes into labeled & dated ziplock baggies for the freezer! Each morning I defrost her food for the day. Easy. Cheap. Healthy.

September 22 M got her ears pierced!!! I was a little nervous about this, but Alex (ear piercing is one of Alex's many talents, and yes she's certified to pierce baby's ears) assured me this was a great time to get them pierced. She's done this to a lot of little ones and reckons if they are any older it takes a lot longer to heal because the kiddos touch their ears, causing infection. Alex put some numbing cream on M's ear lobes, so she couldn't feel it. M was more upset with Alex trying to put the mark on her ear than the actual piercing! My little bunny was so brave, and I think she looks so cute with her little earrings. :)

September 24 we went to Townsville for a day of shopping. Josh got to use his massage voucher (from his birthday). He also got some new glasses and work clothes. He looks soooo handsome and smart with his new glasses!

Sunday, the 25th we had a lovely dinner at the Cove celebrating Dan's birthday. It was so nice to have M asleep in her stroller next to us and chat the night away with friends.

October 1 was our third time to attend the Bowen Cup - the horse races. We didn't have a babysitter for M, so we brought her along. I had to make her a cute fascinator for the day! I love how it turned out.

M did SO well at the races! She skipped her afternoon nap and was still in good spirits. It was kind of a last minute decision to go to the races, so I didn't have an outfit. Viginnia let me borrow one of her super cute, super comfy dresses. I had so much fun dressing up! I had a fascinator Josh's mom bought for me. I borrowed jewelry from Viginnia and shoes from Bianca. So blessed to have girlfriends here!

Josh with his two girls -

My attempt at an up do (thank you Pinterest) -

Hangin out with M in the car for a bit in the a/c -

With Lauren & Alex -

Josh, Brett, & Scott -

With Melita & Lian -

With Vigin -

We had such a great day! We went out to eat that night with friends, and Alex's dad "watched" Mckinley for us. So nice! I say watched instead of babysat because she goes to sleep at 7pm without a fuss and will sleep until I wake her at 10pm for a feed. I love my baby.

Sunday the 2nd we had our first semi-successful trip to the beach. This was our third time to Horseshoe Bay with Mckinley, but the first two times she cried the whole time. This trip we got her in the ocean and she only fussed for a little bit!

Xavier wasn't happy about getting his "togs" on. Mckinley saying "it's ok Xavier." :)

My poor neglected fur child, Wrigley. I might not blog about her much, but she is still a very important member of our family! She is so much fun. She knows when M goes down for a nap that it's Wrigley time. She'll bring me a toy and want to play. :) This is her new favorite spot to relax.

My bunny playing games with her daddy:

October 8th we went to the Bowen Rodeo. We had a good time watching the bull riding, bucking broncos, wrangling, and barrel racing. It was pretty similar to the rodeos I've been to the States, just a small town version.

One of my goals after M was born was to run a 5k, and I did just that on October 9th. I was so proud of myself. Josh and I competed in the Bowen Triathlon. Josh was on a guys team and I on a girls. Josh did the bike leg and I did the run. It was a HOT day, but we both made it! Getting packed up ready to go...

Josh and his running teammate, Jamie -

I left my camera with our cheering section (Alex, Scott, Mckinley, and Xavier) and they took some great pics!

Josh has Thursday afternoons off, so we decided to take M for another dip in the ocean yesterday. She did so much better!

I LOVE this photo of Josh & M -

On the way home from the beach we drove through a new neighborhood to look at the houses and came across....

...can you see them? Some wallabies! (or maybe kangaroos, I can never tell)

Josh thought yesterday would be a good time to shave his long hair. Before -

After -

That's what has been going on at the Farmer's house lately!