Phil's Birthday

Grandma click click babysat at our house while we went out on a date.

Moroccan Restaurant in Brunswick

Was delicious food! And we just enjoyed being out on our own for a change.

Home grown

This salad was made entirely out of our own home-grown veges. YUM!

Cooking with Daddy

Elvie is giving Phil lessons on how to make a delicious risotto

Winding down after a busy day

Rainbow bright visits the seals

mischievous meerkats and lazy lions

Look how tall it is!

Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla

When this Gorilla came right up to the window, Elvie literally started hyperventilating with excitment!

The cutest animals at the zoo...

...well in Jussy's opinion, anyway.

'"Giraffes!"

Hairy Orangutan Daddy

Monkeying around

Watching the elephants

Madame & Monsieur Butterfly

Elephant riding

A day at the zoo

"I can do it all myself"

This is how Elvie gets out of her chair when she has finished her meal :



One less thing for me to worry about!

Belly photo - 16 weeks pregnant

Here's a self portrait for those of you interested in seeing the progress of my bump!
There's really not much to it yet - I have been feeling lots of movement now for at least the last week or two. It's not yet possible to feel it from the outside, though. Can't wait 'til Phil can share the excitement with me. It really is a reality now that I have felt it moving! Elvie is still completely unaware that she will soon be a big sister and I am not really sure how to prepare her or when to start. I'm guessing things will just take their natural course as I grow bigger and the time draws nearer. I've tried telling her there is a baby in my tummy but I still have no idea what that means to her....perhaps she thinks I ate a baby? At the very least, she now thinks her tummy has a baby in it too! hmmmm

Playdate with Ruby

Ruby & Elvie enjoyed their morning together in our back yard

They decorated the apricot tree with chalk

and played on the swings while Mim and I sipped coffee and ate custardy things.

Phil and his best friend

Mothers day

Jus enjoyed a morning sleep-in before being presented with a stack of Ricotta Pancakes topped with maple syrup and blueberries. Elvie helped Phil cook by dropping forks into the batter and eating half the blueberries.

Since last Mother's Day, Elvie has gone from being a baby who couldn't walk or hardly talk to a little girl who can take herself to the toilet and then tell us about it later. I thought I was obsessed with her when she was born but I can still happily spend hours playing with her and I still enjoy watching her sleep. Our love for her has deepened considerably over the last couple of years.
She's absolutely beautiful and she knows it. She often tells us "I'm clever", "I'm lucky", "I'm special", "I'm pretty", "I'm lovely", "I'm so cute" etc... I can only hope and pray she will carry this self confidence throughout her teens!
She's also very complimentary "Mummy is beautiful" and "Daddy is pandsome" (that's not a spelling error - she says pandsome not handsome).
We've adopted a few of her cute words: beebah = button/doorbell etc, tuckinin = tuck in, awaking = awake (every morning when she gets up, without fail there is a shrill little voice declaring "Elvie's awaking!")
Favourite foods haven't changed in a year - plain pasta, plain rice, chocolate, marshmallows, cake, sugar sugar sugar.... this is defintely her father's influence.