56 Weeks

Well, it has been a busy week.  Uncle Sting came down for a visit, so Carmen and I spent a day at the farm. Then the very next day Carmen's Auntie Georgia was kicked by her horse and had her left hand smashed to pieces.  She had to have surgery on it and now has a plate in her hand!  So, we are keeping Carmen well away from the rear end of Whinny the horse.  The weather has been amazing (I can't believe what a great winter we are having!), so on Saturday we went out to lunch and then took Carmen for a run around on the Green at Milton.  Today we went to Mollymook Beach markets, and then later on to feed the horses at Milton park.  Carmen's favourite thing to do is run away from us, and she just loves to play chase in the park.  She has learnt a new word which she repeats over and over again.  It is "gagoong".  Does anyone know what this means, because we certainly don't?!

55 Weeks

We bought a new car this week.  Yay!  It is a Toyota Rav 4, and so much more suitable than our little Barina!  We are so happy with it and can't wait until Carmen is a little older and we can go on longer treks with her.  As for this week-end, we took Carmen down to Dolphin Point where she had fun chasing the seagulls.  Then we found a new park at Kings Point and Carmen had a play on the swings and her first ride on a seesaw.  She does not want to be carried much any more now that she has mastered walking.  It also means we have to take her out a lot more because she goes a little stir crazy at home.  So glad there are so many lovely places to go!  We usually end up at the Mollymook Golf Club for a drink, and Carmen runs around to different tables and charms the pants off every one.  She even tried to take food off of someone's plate on Saturday!

At Dolphin Point

At Kings Point Reserve

At Mollymook Golfy

54 Weeks

I can't believe this is winter!  It is so hard to stay indoors with weather like this.  We hit up Narrawallee Inlet this week-end, which was so beautiful.  We also went to the park at Milton with the neighbouring horses, and ran in to Carmen's little friend Hannah there.  As for Carmen, she is as clingy as ever, and trying hard to talk but can not make any coherent sounds.  What she can do though, is throw her toys into the toilet and the garbage bin.  Several toys have gone missing, but I discovered too late that they have been taken out with the trash.  And I thought it was so cute last week when she started picking up her food scraps from the floor and throwing them in the bin.  Not so cute now!  She has five teeth, lots of bruises, and knows what noises a cow, fish, sheep and rabbit make.   She can understand a lot too (but apparently not when I tell her things don't come back when they get put in the bin).

I

53 Weeks (For Lack of a Better Title)

Well, Carmen has been rather grumpy this week, and extremely clingy.  I couldn't put her down for a second, and she needed my complete and constant attention.  I discovered today that she has a new tooth, and I am hoping this is why!  It must be painful, right?  She has been a doll for the last two days, so fingers crossed this will be a good week ahead.  We had a lovely week-end.  We went for a trek at Dolphin Point on Saturday and Carmen saw her first pelican.  Then on Sunday we had a picnic with Grandma and Grandaddy at Lake Conjola, where Carmen got up close and personal to some kangaroos.  This was before a lady told us that a kid got mauled by these kangaroos just two weeks ago.  So, I think Carmen won't be hanging out with the roos again any time soon!  The weather has been amazing - I can't believe this is winter.  Let's hope it stays this way!

Carmen Turns 1 Today!

Well, Carmen turned one today!  I can't believe my baby is not a baby any more!!  She is walking and saying Mama and Dada (and today Jeffrey said he was going to google something and she said googoo - now google is her first official word!).  She also learnt to clap her hands today (sadly I have been trying to teach her this for months).  For her birthday we had Grandma and Grandaddy over for lunch, then presents and then cake, which Carmen wolfed down.  There is a very shaky (and long) video below of Carmen's first cake.  There are some cute moments in it, but I definitely have to teach Grandma how to shoot a video (sorry Grandma!).  Carmen loves her presents - she got a baby doll and pram, among other things, from her grandparents, and from us she got a bunch of musical instruments and some wooden puzzles.  The weather has been lovely (cold but sunny), so we made the most of it and spent some time outside today too.  It was a  near perfect day - the only thing that would have made it better would have been having our away family and friends here too.

A video of Carmen on the slide:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y61Es3q83os&list=UU21-zydO1IYNApoXHx_P8LQ&index=2&feature=plcp

The shaky, long cake video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTw8wQCmn54&list=UU21-zydO1IYNApoXHx_P8LQ&index=1&feature=plcp

At Mollymook Beach the day before her birthday

At 9:11am, a year to the minute!  Happy birthday Carmie!

Carmen wearing her headpiece from Nema and pushing her new baby doll.