Where has time gone-My Baby is 6 months old!

I can't believe how fast time flies!  My baby is hardly that anymore.  She is a constant smiler, goos and chats often and already has a personality all of her own.  She is growing up right before my eyes and there is not a darn thing I can do about it...pout!!

Today we celebrated this, because we were in Hamilton with a trip to the lake to feed the ducks.  Cousins Claudia and Alex tagged along, as did Nana Trish.

Maddie had her first outdoor swing, pushed by her big sister.  Bella loved feeding the ducks...one of her favourite past-times.

Happy Half Birthday my baby girl.  You have brought such joy to our lives in the short time you have been here with us, and we love you so much xxx

A busy weekend

This weekend we had Maddie's Baptism. My parents offered to have the reception at our place so we had to wait till the new kitchen was installed....hence the delays!

I drove down to Hamilton on the day before, and my sister Susan and I decorated the choc mud cake that I had baked.  She showed me how to make the flowers, and it was a fairly simple one to do.

Here is Maddie's beautiful Baptismal Candle.

Maddie on her special day.

Being Baptised

All smiles afterwards-and wearing her Baptismal stole.

Godparents

And my three most favourite people in the whole world <3 

The year is winding up

Today was the last day of Bella's dancing class for the year.  She had a shortened class(and friends Sarah and Jake tagged along) followed by prize giving.

There were general class certificates for everyone, followed by a few class awards-most improved etc.  Think there were three for the class of around 28.  Bella got the Class Award, for best in class which I was very proud of.  We always thought she was quite good, but it was nice to know that we had some idea!  Really sad she can't go back to this class this year as she has made some good friends with two girls-Casey and Charlie, but with me going back to work it is impossible.  So she will start Ballet when she turns 3 in April at a different school.  We have loved her teachers Hayley and Sally and her new teacher will have a hard act to follow.

  And special award also for Bella's biggest fan...her lil sister who has tagged along to every class and loves the music!

Bathtime

Bathtime has always been Daddy time since Bella came home from Hospital as a wee dot.  He has loved doing it, the kicks, the giggles and I think he even enjoys the splashes.  They have evolved from the Winnie the pooh baby bath, to the big bath.
Bella's favourite is a "fairy" bath-food colouring in the water-her choice, with or without bubbles.  Maddie is not too fussed either way...she is a water babe!

Our little Dancer

I danced as a child...started with Ballet, progressed to Jazz.  Finally threw in the towel at 17.  Highlights for me was a trip to the US when I was 16 to represent NZ with 19 other girls at a Dance conference.  First trip for me overseas.  First Conference.  First trip to Disneyland and we performed there.


So am pretty happy my little girl loves to dance.  She needed no encouraging. A Dorothy the Dinosaur DVD, and later some Fairies ones, and my lil Bella is a dancer.  She has attended a great dance school this year which teaches Ballet, Jazz, Tap and hip hop and the classes are fun.  No stress, no pressure. Just the way it should be. After all. She is two!  So November has been a big month for her.  She has her first Dance concert at the Bruce Mason centre.  She only had three lessons to learn her dance, but hey...you don't expect miracles from two year olds!  They would be cute regardless.  Anyway...she did us proud.  Nana and Poppa came to watch, and Mummy and Daddy(with Maddie) had front row seats.

Bella had a fantastic time.  She came home buzzing!

sleeping babies

Although I have been blessed with healthy babies, they have had their moments with sleep.  The are complete opposites really.  Bella was a terrible day sleeper from the beginning.  Day trips to the Plunket Family centre told me I was doing everything right.  That it was ok to rock her to sleep.  So I did.  Thankfully she slept through the night from 8 weeks so at least I got a good night.  She became a terrible night sleeper when I was pregnant with M.  It would take hours to get her to go to sleep, then she would wake once, twice, sometimes three times.  She only occassionally wakes now...usually when she is sick.  And she is not the child you want to share the bed with...as she likes the whole thing!

Maddie is a different kettle of fish altogether.  She is a great day sleeper and a pretty good self settler.  Maybe she got this from being in SCBU when she was born?  She sleeps for at least an hour at a time, sometimes two, sometimes THREE!!!  Unheard of in this house!!!  Buuuuuuuuuttttt....she hasn't got this sleep thing during the night yet.  The idea that Mummy might get 6 or 7 or possibly one day 8 hours sleep, uninterrupted is a long way off.  She is hungry.  Still I live in hope!

It's just a toy...

Kids and toys.  When I grew up, I was not really attached to one toy as a littlie. I had a doll and a few soft toys that were favourites, but not one I needed all the time.
I was thinking about this today as I washed Teddy.  Meet Teddy...

Bella was given Teddy by a very good friend Angela, who brought him back from the US.  He is a very soft and floppy kinda bear.  Bella was a few weeks old in this picture and is now much bigger than Ted now.  Today she decided to play pimp my ted and the results are this...

Thankfully they were washable markers-so easily fixed, but I had to make sure he was dry by bedtime or else!!

Maddie's favourite toy is her Mouse.  I brought this 7 days before she was born.  I was desperate to get her a soft toy that was small and could be in her crib after she was born. It took me ages to find the right  perfect toy and then I spotted it.  Of course Maddie's birth and hospital stay did not quite go as planned so her Mouse kept her company right throughout her stay in SCBU, watching her when I was unable to.

and they are still firm friends to this day...

Will be interesting to see which toy she choses to be her favourite, or if she does chose one :)

Crafty Swaps

I have been involved with a lot of craft swaps over the last month or so with a forum I am on.  There are two varieties of swaps.  One where you are given the name of someone and you make something you think that they would like for them/ or them and their children.  Another type is when a whole box of goodies arrives on your doorstep and you decide if anything takes your fancy and replace it/them with something you have made of similar value.  I really enjoy these.  And it is a great chance for me to make things as I am one of life's biggest procrastinators!  So I have been crafting mad-tack for three swaps this month.  A surprise me swap-where I make a surprise and receive one, a jar swap and a baby box was heading my way.

Firstly the surprise me swap...which I organised this time...

I made the following for a forum member and her two tween daughters...
A book bag for the youngest daughter with a My Friends scrapbook type book and a clippie kit so she can make her own ribbon covered clippies

 For the elder daughter a denim lined handbag with pink spots, a scrapbook and a yoyo kit (Both girls are into crafting like their mother)

 And for their mother Cupcake themed-appliqued Tea towels and cupcake magnets for their new bach, and silcone cupcake cases.

and we received this...Stunning fabric from Germany, an embroidered clippie holder for the girls(so Jealous...would love an embroidery machine!) that has a castle and two strands-each has a M and a B on it for the girls initials, clippies covered with fabenmix ribbon(german) and more german ribbon, and a cell phone holder too for me.  Very, very spoilt!!

Then there was a jar swap where you sent jars to someone, and someone else sent you jars.  I had someone with six kiddies and didn't want to have to chose which child got something, so did for all of them.  They all got a kit for something that they could make.  Plus there was a feelie bag for the whole family and a WIP(work in progress bag for Mum too)...I forgot to photograph those.

For their Mama, I did a rainbow themed jar as she is into rainbows.

For my second swappee...I did two, I sent a WIP bag in Beige with Duck egg blue, and a jar full of trims-ribbons and buttons in her favourite colours, plus a mini sewing kit made from a small jar.

Didn't get a photo of these done in jars, but they were...

For her two sons: DS1 is car mad so a Travel bag with:couple of diecast cars, three travel themed finger puppets and the bag is chalkcloth so he can draw on the outside. 

and for DS2 who is younger than a year-a double minky fabric bib and matching car taggie blanket.

                                          and we were very lucky with what we received!!

From Tammy Bella and I got a jar..

Bella got a gorgeous dress with knitted bodice(cotton) and fabric skirt, with matching hair ties

and I got a cool strawberry tote bag, that opens out to a full sized shopping bag, some sweeties, and some strawberry stitchmarkers

From our second swappee(Zita) the girls each got a jar:

Bella got a clippie holder with the letter B, a crocheted cupcake, oreo cookie and coffee cup(she adores tea parties) and a gorgeous crocheted dress for her baby Kate.

Maddie got-a clippie holder also with a set of korkers for her hair, a dummy/pacifier holder and a sweet little elephant toy.

Such amazing talent out there!  Just love swaps!