Just some photos

So I know our last few posts have been very wordy, so here are a few photos to break it up.

Day Two with no Pacifier

Today actually went by pretty easy. She is doing remarkable well, much better than I had anticipated. We only had one melt down but it was nothing major.

Anyway, just a little story. Tonight as I was putting her to bed, singing her a song, she kept saying, "A song mummy? A song? A song?" (while I was singing.) So I stopped and said, "Yes Amelia, I'm singing you a song." She got a big smile on her face, started clapping her hands and saying, "Good job, mummy! Good job!!"

Where does she get these things??

Oh, and she has slept in her own bed ALL NIGHT LONG for the past three nights!!! We may have hit a miracle moment!

"Bee-bell" and "Jo-Jo"

"Bee-Bell" (Isobel Smith) and "Jo-Jo" (Joseph Smith) are our next door neighbors and Amelia's best friends in all the world. I was babysitting the three of them this afternoon so Sharon could run to the dentist. And something happened that I just have to share!

Joseph climbed up onto the coffee table, so I asked him to get down, and when he turned around to look at me he had two fingers up his nose - one up each nostril. So I said, "Get your fingers out of your nose, Joseph." Isobel didn't miss a beat in standing up for her brother when she said, "But he's berry berry hungry!"

Oh, how I love kids!!

"Mommy, I wan binxth"

This is always a common phrase around our house (binxth=binks[+slurring]=binky=pacifier). That is, until today. I had always told myself that I would let her have it until she went to nursery and then we'd take it away. Well, she's been in nursery for a few months now and while I was in there yesterday I realized what a health hazard it can be. So I decided that today would be the day. And so far so good!!

We went to the shops first thing this morning and I let her pick out a "dry-dry" (which is what she calls towells. I know it's weird, but it's the only other thing besides the "binx" that brings her comfort.) There was a bit of crying as she went down for a nap, but nothing overly dramatic, and it was so cute to see her snuggling up to her "dry-dry".

Then as I was putting her down for bed, I realized just how much the "binx" was a blessing for me...she wouldn't shut up!! I think it's time for me to get her some new books because she has all these memorized and was practically reading them to me!! There is a book about sheep and she kept saying, "Mommy, sheep. Mommy, sheep." Over and over and over. So I said, "Yes Amelia, sheep, sheep, sheep, sheep, sheep!!!" Every page after that it was, "sheep sheep sheep sheep." She's a quick learner!

And then after books I always sing her a song, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me," yes, I sing that song to her every night and again, she was singing it to me!! Totally off key but with all the gusto an almost two year old girl could get out. On the high notes she would belt it out!! I always try not to laugh and make her too excited at bedtime, but I couldn't help it, I was cracking up. Oh, we just love this little girl!!

Me and my baby...

Amelia got this new jacket/top yesterday and it's got this big hood and she discovered it's just perfect for giving her baby a piggy-back ride. So all night long Amelia took her baby on a tour of our house. Too cute.

Guess what Amelia did?

So just the other day I was tidying up the kitchen and Amelia came running into the room with her shoe in hand yelling, "pider, (spider) pider, pider!!" She then proceeded to the wall and smacked it for all she was worth. Over and over and over again. She then would say, "bug" and smack the floor over and over and over. I guess I have set some kind of example for her. She sees me do this quite often. I have no tolerance for little creatures that enter my home.

Also Amelia has started saying, "The end" at the end of every book that we read to her.

She says, "Dough-gie" instead of "doggie."

Her new favourite word is "Sowy" (Sorry). She says it all the time. Usually to Brad because he pretends to cry if she hits him, so she'll rub his cheek and say over and over, "sowy daddy!" It's very cute. And if I catch her hitting a friend I tell her to go and say sorry and she always does it without hesitation. I sure hope that one sticks!!

And whenever someone sneezes she looks at them with concern in her eyes and says, "you alright?"

The other night she woke-up and came into our bed (surprise, surprise!) just as I was brushing my teeth and washing my face, she sat up in bed and said, "what you doing mommy?" She then had to come into the bathroom with me and brush her teeth...at 11:00 at night!!!

She is talking so much these days. Such a little copy cat. Anything that you say to her or ask her, she'll just repeat back to you. So if you ask how she's feeling, she'll ask you how you're feelling. It's very cute, but sometimes very annoying especially if you're trying to get her to tell you what she wants for lunch.

Aussie gov't telly ads get the point across

We really love how Australia bluntly deals with certain subjects like the risks of skin cancer (Australia being the melanoma capitol of the world) on their government sponsored television ads, like this one:



...And this one that deals with the "growing" obesity problem (no pun intended :):



We also particularly love this one on the risks of tobacco addiction (its great how they don't beat around the bush, eh?!):

banana boat...dun dun, dun dun dun

Here are a couple pix from our LDS ward Elder's quorum activity on Saturday in Brisbane Water...unfortunately, the only ones of me were taken while riding the banana boat (with James Nicholson, see below).

Tim Coulson (owner/driver of the boat), actually left me with a PFD and the wakeboard strapped to my feet for about ten minutes floating out in the middle of Brissy Water while he cruised back to the pier to swap for another group of riders. It was about 8am, dead silent, the water was glass, and it was the most serene experience just floating there...then I thought about the bull sharks and how they feed early in the morning and I kept real still :)

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Mr. Huntsman (spider) comes out to play

Huntsman spiders are everywhere in Sydney. There was one time we were riding in the car, and a huge one ran across the windscreen and freaked out the driver. We found this lil' guy in the garage on Saturday, and when we got back from our LDS stake conference regional broadcast, we found him squatting in our apartment hoping to take over our lease.

Amelia trying to stay cool downin' an ice cream bar (as fast as she could before the record heat took its toll)

Our newfound buddy in the garage next to Amelia's favourite movie (DVD case shown for scale...and because Amelia wants the spider's name to be Charlotte)

After we got back from Church, Brad knocked it from its perch with a broom stick and chased it around and finally caught it with the bug viewer (thanks Paul & Sharon for the best Christmas pressie for Milz and I ever!)

close up...if you look closely, it ripped off one of its own legs and started chewing on it. Maybe thats to show he/she means business?

her legs need a good shave, thats for sure

Amelia wanted desperately to play "Itsy Bitsy Spider" with Charlotte, but we had to enforce the "stay in the bug viewer" rule, esp after we got a good glimpse of her chompers from underneath

My girls

After the heat subsided (when the sun finally went down) after Church, we went out for a stroll and Kim 'n Amelia picked these frangipani's (my favourite flower)

too bad Amelia was heaps tired and didn't want to smile

Swashbuckler & Western

Saw some production stills (behind the scenes shots) of some of my friends working on these on their Facebook accounts. A couple years from now, these'll be classics! For those not seeing these on TV (well, us in Australia for one)...enjoy!

passport...quick-like

I often overhear a lot of people having a winge about the USA's efficiency. Well, my passport renewal proved otherwise. Here's why:

Posted it regularly in the post box (no expedite fee, etc) on Thursday, 22 Jan for next day delivery (Friday, 23rd). Monday was a public holiday (Australia Day). Got an email from the US Consulate in Sydney on Tuesday, 27th, about not having a self-addressed return envelope (I had used the Australia Post's new Two Way Express Post envelope...they obviously didn't realize it). I sent an email reply explaining how to use the 2-way envelope the same day.

They mailed the renewed passport (the fancy new [to me at least] kind with the RFID chip) on Friday, 30th (AusPost doesn't operate on Saturdays, unlike the USA), and we received the old and new passport in the post today (Monday, 2nd Feb). The date of issue stamped inside reads 27 Jan, so they processed it that day I suppose. How cool is that?!

I only know of one person who's had their passport renewed quicker....ok, a LOT quicker. 10 minutes in fact. We still to this day don't know exactly what he, a guy in our old Latter-day Saint ward in McLean, VA, USA, does for work (we're guessing CIA, but we never saw him drive through the front gate when we lived across the street from good ol' Langley - long ago absorbed into McLean - where we lived).

Anyway, he was telling us that one morning he found out he had to take a trip down to Guantanamo Bay, then realized his passport would expire while there, so went to some special area of the State Department in downtown DC, showed his passport and directive to the officer, they took it, and essentially however long it takes to print the thing and upload the data to the RFID chip is all it took and he was out the door ready to board the plane.

Connections in the right places are great to have (or you can just renew your passport overseas, close to a US embassy or consulate like I did :)