Where you can find us most sunny afternoons.

Originally uploaded by Kate Scott

So it’s been a while since my last post, 12 months to be precise. And the reason blogging on this site stopped was two big changes in our family life. I went back to work, and we became pregnant with our second child.

Working while pregnant was exhausting, even though I really enjoyed working again, far more then I had expected. I worked part time for 6 months (pregnant the entire assignment!) and the worst part was the incredible number of colds I managed to pick up over those months. With Harriet in childcare 2 days a week (another huge change to our lives but she grew to love it) I got every illness going, plus working in a hospital didn’t help things! But even with all of that I enjoyed the contrast of working and home life far more than I had anticipated, making both worlds all the better as I had to other to look forward to. It also gave us an idea of how our ‘working family’ might work, which was worth the experience too.

An then amazingly we had our second daughter, Philippa, who was born on 18th November 2010.

And amazingly she is now almost 4 months old and I remain mainly sane, although massively sleep deprived.

Two daughters is twice the fun, but also double the work. Andrew stayed home for the first 6 weeks which was fabulous. Interestingly I found the experience far more relaxing than the first time, while he found it far more intense (given that caring for Harriet basically fell to him for most of the day and there is a big difference between a newborn and a jealous toddler I think I had the better end of the deal).

When he went back to work I was alone with our two babies, and then the work really began. Sadly I didn’t realise how easy I had it the first time around; mothering your second child is so different to your first. I’m so much more relaxed and I have much less time to sit around and stress about if I’m doing it right! I also have a range of tried and true strategies that I can wheel out without thought, which is really great. I have a new baby carrier, an Ergo, which I adore, and my motto of ‘Get Out or Go Mad’ remains the one I live by. I also speak ‘baby’ far more fluently then I did which makes determining what might be going on with Philippa far easier. The downside is that my free time during the day is far more restricted, and I really miss that. And that lack of sleep is far more acute as there so little downtime during the day in which to recover from the lack of night sleep. And if there’s a run of two feeds a night then the days become more and more unbearable.

But then we have times like the one in this photo and it all seems worthwhile. So some of my favourite moments of double mothering to date are:

1) Giving birth knowing what was going to come next (even though it was quite a different experience – but still a good one. Note to all, say no to trainee midwives!).
2) Lazing around at the hospital without my toddler and with my gorgeous newborn and husband. Andrew and I read the newspaper each morning, and had dinner together!
3)When they’re both asleep around midday, and I can nap or vegout with some recorded tv, knowing that they both look so cute while napping.
4) Walking to the park with my little chicken sleeping in the Ergo up against my chest, and talking to my toddler as she rides in the stroller (I’m not alone this time around, although the conversation topics tend to be repeated and I get a lot of questions about insects and ‘What’s that sound?’ – Harriet’s favourite question in the whole universe)
5) Seeing the differences between my two babies. Philippa loves to be on her tummy, Harriet hated it. Philippa already moves around a lot, Harriet took ages to move much at all (although I was always next to her fetching and gathering so she didn’t need too!)
6) Listening to my two girls talking. Harriet telling Philippa some story, and Philippa making her little chirping sounds, which she does when she wants attention. Harriet is starting to want to ‘play’ with Philippa which is lovely.
7) Hanging out in the backyard under our washing line, eating our fruit picnics and watching the birds and clouds roll by.

It’s not all sunshine and roses, but most of the time it’s good, and sometimes it’s great.

The big highlight of February was a trip to Canberra. We went with Kate’s parents and stayed 4 nights in an apartment on the lake. We had a delayed departure from Melbourne but Harriet proved herself a trouper and held it together until we were able to finally pop her in to bed around 9pm. We caught up with our friend Cathy and took in the sights include the War Memorial, National Museum and Old Parliment House. We also got to see the Post-Impression exhibition which is on at the National Gallery, which was very good. Harriet had a lovely time with her grandparents and came home ‘ooing’ like a monkey, thanks to her Gramps instruction.

Lots of photos on Kate’s flickr page, just click on the photo opposite!

Well I’d like to say that my monthly post is so late because of some amazingly exciting thing we’re been up too, but in reality it’s got more to do with the Winter Olympics, the return of rating season, and my much loved PlayTV on the PS3 – yay for being able to record television again!

We’ve had a very relaxed start to 2010. BBQs with family and friends, as January always brings about, plus the restart of activities such as playgroup. We’re loving our undercover outdoor area (affectionally know as the ‘baby jail’) which has proved itself great for entertaining but also for family dinners outside as well. After finally having the grass cut in early January (it really was at thigh height – well the weeds were) Harriet has also taken to the backyard like a native, roaming around and even walking on the grass in bare toes! The blow-up pool Harriet got for Christmas has also gotten a good work out over the hotter January days, as have all the water toys she also recieved. We certainly have a water baby on our hands.

In sad news our oven packed it in early in January, so we are now without the ability to roast, although borrowing Kate’s brothers little bench top oven is allowing us to bake muffins and the like. Luckily its BBQ season so this really isn’t an issue as yet. We also had a house-work day with Kate’s parents and fixed the running toliet (our water bill – eck!!) and the front screen door so it swings freely and we can now shut our bedroom door, which is lucky as Harriet has developed a love of Andrew’s clock radio which involves pushing all it’s buttons the second she can get close enough to do so.

So a quiet month in some ways but our little girl has gone ahead in leaps and bounds. She now runs all over the house, and loves to walk backwards and circle around. She has her first clear word ‘Up’, which she applies in all situations as it gets such a great response. She knows what most of her body parts are called, underarms and eyebrows being her two new favourites, although they may never be better than ears and eyes. She also likes to ’sing’ along with her favourite songs, loves Play School and enjoys doing ’round and round the garden’ on her own hand. She’s also started climbing and has grown out of her first pair of shoes. She remains a delight and a joy, watching her develop is fascinating.

Hopefully I’ll be a little more timely with February’s post!

And on the 16th December Harriet took her first steps, and hasn’t sat down since. She was annoying Kate (who was trying to use the computer at the table) and was told that she should go and play with the washing basket, one of her all time fav activities, so she did, and she walked 7-8 steps to get there. Since then her favourite past time is walking up and down the corridor, random items in hand, she’s sleeping well! She likes to drop and pick up new items every room or two, so we have to search the whole house should something be missing. So far the quest for the car key and Andrew’s mobile have been the most annoying (Andrew sets his mobile to vibrate, so we couldn’t ring it to find it!). It’s really opened up her horizons and she’s loving wandering around under her own steam.

As we were heading to Perth this year for Christmas Day we hosted the Parsons’ clan the weekend before Christmas for Christmas at our place. Using the trusted and much loved Donna Hay magazine we produced a meal to be proud of, roasted pork belly with apples, potatoes and beans, plus semi-freddo with almonds and cranberries. It was a lovely day, even if Harriet did freak out when she found out that the family had assembled whilst she had been napping. Presents were exchanged, Harriet having the whole family in fits of laughter as she tried to get into the picture of a pool on the box of her new inflatable pool. Obviously the kids in the photo where having fun, why couldn’t she join in?! And the best bit? Having the space to host everyone comfortably, without having to have people sitting on each other’s laps at lunch!

And on the 23rd Dec we jetted off to Perth, looking forward to seeing everyone, but uncertain as to what Harriet would make of the flight and the time difference. And she surprised us with both, behaving sensationally on the plane (when the woman in front of Kate put her seat back and we had to ask her to raise it again as that meant Harriet could no longer fit on Kate’s lap she remarked ‘Oh I didn’t realise you had a child back there!’ – could there be higher praise?!), and adjusting after only 1 day to the 3 hour time difference.

And did we have a great time in Perth? Yes we did. A lovely Christmas day with the family, as always, and then, as we were there for 11 nights, we gradually saw everyone, rather than ramming it all into 7 days as we have done in the past. Harriet and her cousin Tyler formed a strong bond, with Harriet acting as Tyler’s shadow every time he came to visit. We made use of Andrew’s parents’ pool, with Harriet showing off in her Zogg (thanks Uncle Dan!), Kate read two books, Andrew baked biscuits and made Nuts and Bolts and a very relaxed and peaceful time was had by all. We even managed to have friends over for dinner, whilst staying at a friend’s place while the were in Melbourne with their family. Want to try something odd? Host dinner guests at someone else’s house!

Hope your festive season was spent with friends and loved ones, wishing you all a very happy start to 2010.

Well after the craziness of the recent months we decided that we need a bit of a holiday, and the Melbourne Cup weekend seemed like a great idea. We toyed with the idea of heading down to Queenscliff but that was deemed too difficult, holidaying when you have a one year old takes on a whole new level of planning, so instead we had a holiday-at-home. We ate takeaway, slept in (in turns!), discovered our new local area by doing a couple of nice walks and generally chilled out. All house improvement activities were banned so there was a lot of newspaper reading and general relaxing. Harriet also decided that this was a great time to go down to one sleep, which lead to a lot of slow sleep settling so thank goodness we didn’t go away after all!

Apart from our holiday it’s been a pretty quiet month. We’re continuing to settle into our new home, which we’re still loving. Haven’t really tackled any home improvement projects although we have managed to put some shelving up in the laundry and some pictures on the walls. We also managed to have an airconditioner installed in the lounge room/kitchen area so we’re prepared for summer. The house just suits us so well it’s great. Kate and Harriet are also slowly exploring all the local parks, and have discovered one favourite one so far, on the banks of the river. Harriet is becoming a dab hand at slides and swings, although she still isn’t walking under her own steam it’ll only be a matter of time as she’s mastered the one-finger stroll along.

Anyhow a short post this month. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a fantastic start to 2010.

Kate, Andrew and Harriet xx

The highlight of October was Andrew’s parents visit. Lindsay and Nancy came for a long weekend, arriving Thursday night and departing Tuesday morning and we packed a lot in. Lunch with my parents and Lizette, a great trip to the zoo and lots of hanging out together, with Harriet doing her best to look as gorgeous as possible. Needless to say her grandparents were completely won over, hopefully when we stay with them at Christmas the love lasts, as she is now into everything that isn’t nailed down….

Yes our gorgeous little girl is now a crawling machine, the new house and all the new space meaning she has completely mastered the art of crawling, and is making rapid progress towards walking. She now explores on her own, and is automatically drawn to the most dangerous object in the room. She curious as only a 13 month old can be, and loves to explore everything. She also loves to point at everything and anything, requiring an immediate answer as to what it is she’s indicating. Still not a lot of words being spoken, but her comphrension is amazing, even if she doesn’t actually respond the way you’d like! (i.e. Harriet, please leave the power cord alone = Harriet please grab the power cord and try to chew it!) We’ve moved down to only one sleep a day, which was not without its issues, but she’s starting to settle into her new routine, although she’s exhausted at midday and 7pm, her two new sleep times.

Other October happenings included a night out on the town with two sets of fellow parents (and the resulting coordinated babysitting) to see ‘High Society’ at Monash Uni which was an excellent production. Andrew also attended his birthday present from Kate, a chocolate and pastry course at a school in Brunswick, which resulted in two amazing cakes and a bag of sensational truffles. Kate’s thinking of signing him up for his Christmas present too, although it might be a bit obvious that the gift is really for her, as she does get to sample the results! Harriet also had her first swimming lesson with her uncle Dan, and Kate had a lovely day off, visiting Emily in Ballarat. Kate and Harriet have also joined a new playgroup which is proofing very successful.

And we celebrated the Melbourne Cup weekend with a ‘holiday at home’, five days of lazying and enjoying our new local area. We went for a walk along the river, sampled a couple of local cafes for breakfast, and generally did not a lot. Very, very pleasant and well deserved!

Looking forward to November, can you believe it’s only 7 weeks to Christmas! :)

 

So last September we became parents, and that was pretty amazing. This September we celebrated that first birthday, moved house, and Andrew toured the globe. I’m hopefully that next September may be a little quieter!!

Globe trotting first. Andrew headed off mid-September (Timed to miss all the box packing? He says not!) first to Amsterdam, for a couple of conferences, and then on to Seattle. From Seattle he headed up to Victoria, Canada, to see Bob and his family. And then back to Melbourne. Away for only 10 days it was an action packed trip, highlights being seeing Bob, and the Seattle Music Experience Museum. Apparently having a child also makes jet lag easier to bare because you’re use to falling asleep when ever you can, or is it that you’re exhausted most of the time and therefore it’s easier to nap whenever? Which ever way it was, Andrew found the jet lag much easier to cope with than previous trips.

While he was off globetrotting Kate and Harriet had the mammoth task of packing up Kensington in preparation for the move to Ascot Vale. While the house was small it contained a lot of stuff, obviously we’d lived there too long as stuff had bred in the cupboards and particularly in the shed….. The dinning room was converted into the box room and Harriet had even less space than usual to play. Box after box was packed, and the house also had to be presentable for prospective tenants, although thankfully it rented after only one open-for-inspection which was wonderfully quick.

10 nights is also a long time for your Dad to be away, and Harriet missed Andrew a lot, particularlyat bathtime, as Mummy gives her a very boring bath with no lobster chasing, and no pulling of the plug to watch the water leave the bath allowed. She formed a special bond with her toy Tiger, and didn’t say Dadda after the first couple of days. The morning that Andrew got home she almost bounced out of Kate’s arms, yelling ‘Dadda Dadda’ at the top of her lungs. She was so excited to see him that she wouldn’t sleep all day (yeah, that was a lovely gift to give!!). Tiger is now back on the pile of stuffed toys and is no longer a daddy substitute.

And all this time Kate was also wrangling the builders, trying to get the new house in a fit state for us to move in. With a 100% over-run in the timeline it was all getting a bit much, but finally the painting was completed, and the new floor coverings laid. We might not have moved in before Harriet’s birthday, as was our plan, but we did manage to have her birthday afternoon tea at new place as planned. And it was amazing to have a party in a place big enough to allow our small number of guests to actually be in the same room as each other!!! Very exciting indeed.

And so it was that on the 26th Sept our little girl turned one. Pretty amazing to think that we, and she, had survived the first year and that that little tiny baby that we’d bought home from hospital has survived our total ignorance of all things baby, and grow into such a beautiful, happy little person. Parenthood really is the most massive change you can make to your life, and one that tests you in ways you can’t foresee, but it’s rewards are so much greater than you expect. Showered with gifts, and allowed to eat an enormous amount of icing by her Gramps, we had a lovely celebration of Harriet turning one, and what a momentous year it had been.

And then 5 days later the removalists showed up and we shifted all those packed boxes the entire 4 minutes down the road to our new place. It may have been the slowest move ever recorded (9 hours) and our most expensive ($$$$!!!!) but we’re in and we’re loving it. The house is just massive in comparison to what we’re use to. As Andrew says we use to have to manage our stuff in minimal space, now we have so much space that we have to manage it! We have curtaining in most of the rooms (Kate got the bargain of the decade at Spotlight $10 a curtain, yes $10!!), the ducted heating works, and Harriet has a play area the size of our old lounge room, plus her crawling skills have stepped up a notch now she has the run of the corridor. The house really is amazing, we’ll put some photos up in the next couple of days and Andrew will re-do his video walk-through of the house. Check his flickr site.

So yes, it’s been a massive month, oh for the quiet life please!!! :)

 

 

August we’re declaring the monthof ‘the new house’. Settlement went through smoothly and then it all kicked off. From stressing about light fittings (gee, that was a fun Saturday, Kate and Andrew having a heated discussion about which light fitting was less ugly, Harriet broke the tension by throwing up on the lighting store’s carpet, but we think we got away with it :), to choosing all the paint colours (surprisingly easy once we got into the swing of it), to selecting the carpet and lino styles, it’s been a big, house-focused, month.

And wow, it’s all starting to come together. As you can see in the photo opposite the plaster has made the most massive difference to the back two living areas, and given that we had the scrimp in other areas of the budget to have it done, we’re so glad that we made the sacrifice, as it’s made an amazing difference to the house. No longer a dark, dank area, the back two rooms look completely different, really welcoming and, well, light. We can’t wait to see it painted. And having all the tiles ripped up has also made a huge difference to the rest of the house, as has having the mirrored tiles taken off the bedroom walls (really trying hard not to think about why those were put in…). As they say, we love it when a plan comes together, and this one certainly is starting too. We’re getting very excited about moving in, until we come home and look at all the empty boxes that need to be filled with all our stuff, but still, it’ll be worth it.

With the many visits we’ve made to the new house (still hard to think of it as ours, let alone that we’ll be living there by the next post, the removalists are booked for the 24th Sept) we’re started to research the cafes and local shops. Right at the top of the street is a pretty reasonable, trying so hard to be super hip, cafe that does good coffee. We’ve also had a good breakfast, fantastic bacon, a couple of doors down but sadly the coffee left a little to be desired. And we’ve sussed out the great fruit and veg place, the library and the Video Ezy store. Plus a new Coles has just opened a km or so down the road which will be handy too. And as an aside our Safeway (the next closest supermarket) has really upped the anti the last few weeks with the competition moving so close, with lots of food tastings, Andrew was very happy the day they had the Lindt tasting stand, Kate less impressed with the apple and banana stands they had out the last time she went. So it’s all looking good for our new stomping ground.

Aside from the house we’ve been up to the usual stuff. Did manage to fit in seeing the new Harry Potter, while Kate’s brother Ben undertook his first babysitting duties, Harriet was an angel so he may come back :), and it was pretty good. Kate’s birthday was celebrated with a yum lunch with the family. Harriet discovered a love of BBQ pork buns, and loved watching all the people and waiters bussle about. We’ve also taken on a couple of repairs to our current house, fixing the shed door so it shuts, painting the front fence pickets white, you know, all the things you never get around to while you’re actually living in a place, but at the first whiff of moving out you suddenly find the energy and interest to tackle. We also did our first toy library duty, and will never borrow any of the big construction sets as they are such a bugger to count up all the pieces to make sure everything’s going back! And we completed our first 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle. It was actually easier than some of the others we’ve done, as the picture had no big blocks of similar colours, but it still took a while to complete. We’re still admiring it, but it’ll have to come apart this weekend as we need to pull the dinning room table apart so we can start filling the dinning room with boxes (one of the problems of a small house, were do you stack the boxes?).

Harriet’s changed a lot this month. She’s become very mobile, no long liking to sit and play. Still no crawling as yet but she’s very, very close, let’s just say that we’re moving at the right time and hopefully will only have to baby-proof one kitchen! She loves to pull herself to standing, and has also finally mastered sitting from lying down, which is a relief! She’s discovered a whole new world of vocal tricks, and currently loves to do her Daffy Duck impression (back of the throat grunting). Mummum and Dadda are in common use, and she’s making a couple of noises that she often uses when she wants things or when she wants actions repeated. Bird watching remains one of her favourite pastimes, and she also has re-discovered light fittings and ceiling fans, and loves to point at them. Waving and smiling are her two favourite things in the whole world, as they always garner a response from strangers (the cult of Harriet has a lot of members) and her current party-trick is nose finding on command, Daddy’s nose goes ‘beep, beep!’ which she thinks is very, very funny. And did you know that bath tubs have plugs? Harriet does and she loves to pull it out, and then put it back in again. She also has a second tooth that’s just cut through (much less pain and stress than the first) and lots of hair, cowlicks and all. Amazing to think that her birthday’s just a few weeks away, brace yourself for a soppy post next month…. :)

love, A, K and H

 July started with the sad cancellation of Kate’s brother Ben’s birthday dinner, due to multiple illnesses in the family. Kate had a gorgeous case of infected sinuses, which was completely delightful, but it did give Andrew’s Dad Lindsay an opportunity to babysit while he was in Melbourne on holidays, while Kate went to the doctor for drugs.

But the month did pick up; Harriet loved having her Granddad around and there were lots of smiles and giggles, even more than usual! Lindsay was with us for 7 days and we had a great time, and he assures us that he did too. Lots of dinners (in), lunch with Andrew in town and we also went along to a West Coast Eagles game at the MCG. Having gone to the Grand Final a few years ago, when Lindsay got tickets through his membership but wasn’t able to come to Melbourne to use the tickets, we were well prepared for the game, even knowing the club song and team colours, although very little else. Harriet was an angel, she loved being in the Baby Bjorn for 5 hours, just one long Daddy cuddle, although Andrew was pretty relieved when we got home. She loved the football, all the noise and excitement, and luckily Kate’s jacket had a toggle which kept her amused from some hours (I kid you not). We even managed a post match drink on the banks of the Yarra, West Coast having lost and therefore a mulled wine seemed appropriate. Some very cute photos are available on flickr.

We also had our first friends-over-for-a-proper-dinner-since-Harriet-arrived night, when Sarah and Ross came over for a meal. Harriet behaved herself and after a few smiles at our guests went to sleep with barely a murmur, and we sat down to a great dinner of home made pizza and wine (the wine was not home made!). It was lovely to entertain in he evening without having to resort to takeaway to get food on the table. If we’re feeling brave we might even try it again sometime soon…. Kate and Harriet also had the pleasure of lunching with Gemma (3 weeks) and Lilah (4 weeks) and their mums, which reminded us of how far we’ve come and how big our little girl is getting.

Andrew’s birthday was the 13th and we had our favourite babysitters (aka Kate’s parents) come around so we could dress up and head out for a night on the town. We headed off to Becco’s, which was very nice, but the best bit was being out and eating such gorgeous food. We’ve been addicted to MasterChef (Kate was very sad when it finished and mutter something about how ‘Harriet has grown up with that show!’ as we watched it with the subtitles on as Harriet had her last feed of the day) and it was really great to go out to somewhere fabulous and admire the meals that were put in front of us in a whole new light. And being MasterChef fans made us appreciate the work in each dish so the bill seemed far more justified as well!

To make up for the lost lamb dinner that was to be Ben’s birthday we headed down to Mentone for a Sunday lamb roast lunch and to admire how Kate’s parents are settling into their new home. Plants are out, most of the boxes unpacked, and the place is looking great, and starting to feel like home (so they tell us). Apart from a very overactive heating system it’s all going very well. We’re getting there with our new place. After some unsuccessful attempts to get tradies to quote at times that suited both Harriet and the agent, we got a group through who basically handle the whole thing for you, project management included. They seem great so fingers crossed that we can drop enough off our ‘wish list’ to be able to afford them! We’ve also spent some time at various lighting and carpeting shops trying to pick appropriate fixtures, tricky when you’ve only been in the house a couple of times.

And then it was the 26th of August and we headed up to Mt Buller for our long awaited skiing holiday. We went with the usual gang, see photo above, and while it was very different with a baby in tow (and a lot of packing!!) we did have a good time. We skied for half days each, with the other in charge of Harriet care. The snow was good at the start of the week, and then got pretty wet, but was nicely groomed each morning. Visibility was awful (is it ever sunny at Buller in winter???) but we had a lot of fun anyhow. Andrew managed to complete the exam for his current subject while we were up there (yes our luggage did include a laptop and printer!) with only about 50 interrupts. Luckily he had a fierce overseer which kept the spectators mainly at bay. Harriet didn’t really know what to make of the white stuff but she did have a fabulous time with a whole lodge full of people to win over, including two sisters aged 5 and 3 who loved to come up and give her headlock hugs. She thought that was ace (really!). There are some very cute photos of her in the snow (and of us too).

Other Harriet news includes the fact that she now has an entire tooth! It was pretty painful to get and we can’t believe that we have to go through that for a whole mouthful of teeth (forget about her pain, what about ours! :). For an entire week she ate only her two favourite foods vegimite toast and tinned baby custard. We’ve just discovered frozen banana so at least next time there will be some fresh fruit in her diet. She’s also started pulling herself up on things, her favourite climbing posts being Mum and Dad, although she still hasn’t mastered crawling, preferring sitting or just lying on her tum; she can spin like a top so perhaps that’ll do her for now.

Hope you’ve all had a great month, bring on August.

K, A & H xxx

Us outside our new place!!!

Originally uploaded by Kate Scott

We thought we were going to have a pretty quiet June, we were wrong….

The big news is that we bought a new home. It was a bit of a shock. We’d spent the last few months meeting with architects and thinking about how we’d like to extend our current house, and then we realised that our current budget was not going to be able to stretch far enough to build what we wanted: a house that would last us for the next ten years or so. After grieving for a few days that we weren’t going to be able to afford to build our beautiful dream home (OK and being a little be glad that we weren’t going to have to live through a renovation) Kate did a quick web search to see what was around in the areas we like, in our budget, and found what turned out to be our new home. It looked interesting, if ugly, had a great floor plan, and great location, so she went to see it. She thought it had potential, Andrew went to see it, then Kate’s parents and then all of a sudden, only two weeks and a dutch auction later, we are the proud owners of a new abode.

It needs some work before we move in, which will consume Kate’s spare time in the coming months, but it’ll be great. Twice as big as our current house with lots of storage, off-street parking and a big lounge room. Great for our growing girl! All very exciting stuff. Stay tuned for the tales of tradies and removalists – hopefully we’ll move-in in early October, just in time for a late birthday party for Harriet.

Apart from buying a new house we’ve had a lovely month. We hosted Kate’s Mum’s birthday party, checked out Kate’s parents’ new home (new homes are in the Parsons’ blood at the moment), had Andrew’s Dad come and visit, and Kate resigned from her job to stay at home with Harriet for the next little while. Kate also finished knitting her first garment, a jumper for Harriet, which was a very proud moment. Thank goodness for YouTube’s knitting videos (which Kate highly recommends) and Kate’s Mum and Nana who identified a few early errors, including a mis-count of the stitches which had resulted in the back of the jumper being twice as long as required (the jumper was knitted in once piece and it looked very, very odd!). Next project is a ’sampler’ scarf for Andrew to test out new types of stitches, and which he may or may not wear…. :)

Our little girl is growing apace, it really is amazing to see how quickly she’s changing and developing. This month she’s mastered waving goodbye, and a regal wave it is too, and is getting closer and closer to being mobile, finding it more and more frustrating that she’s yet to master moving forward. She’s settled into two sleeps a day, which is fantastic, and has starting sleeping through at night, which is just amazingly wonderful!!!!! She’s 9 months old now, which is pretty shocking to her newbie parents. We think it’s fair to say that she really enjoyed Lindsay’s visit and the day when we had Kate’s parents and him over for lunch was a highlight for her, three grandparents! She didn’t know what to do with herself, just sat back and basked in all the attention.