38 Weeks, and finally a tooth!

Well, it finally has happened!  Carmen has been grumpy for days, yelling and fussing and refusing to be appeased, and we were getting a little worried that our lovely daughter had turned into a naughty shouting baby.  But yesterday, in a brief moment of laughter, she opened her mouth wide enough for me to see a tooth pushing through!  I thought it might never happen.  It completely explains her grumpiness and her extremely rosy cheeks.  She seems fine right now as she is crawling (properly!) over the floor playing with her toys, but either way, she is going to Grandma and Grandaddy's this morning to stay until tomorrow afternoon, so I won't know if she's fussing or not :)  But I will miss her.  She has learned a new trick just this morning - she can now wave.  I've just taken a video of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Viz-UH1oejo&list=UU21-zydO1IYNApoXHx_P8LQ&index=1&feature=plcp 

On Saturday we took her to Dolphin Point, which is a nearby beach and inlet.  It is so beautiful there!!  I hope all of our friends and family who haven't seen it get extremely jealous and start planning trips here - we miss you!

37 Weeks

Little Carmen is now 8.5 months, and I can't quite believe it!  She is so much fun now, always super jolly and in a good mood.  She does get around quickly (sometimes even crawling properly!), but she does like to get under my feet when I'm in the kitchen.  When I'm at the stove she'll shuffle up to me and press her head between my ankles.  I'm not the most graceful of women, so I'm doing my best not to step on her.  This morning I left her in the living room with her toys, and a minute later she was gone.  I went looking for her only to find her on the other side of the house in my studio - not a baby-safe place to be!  So, I have to start watching her like a hawk.  She has a couple of tricks up her sleeve - she can high-five, and she can give kisses (by keeping her head very still - she seems to like the open mouth variety).  I am also teaching her to find my nose, and to wave, but both of those seem a long way off.  However, I will persist!  She is still sleeping wonderfully and eating outrageously.  She went to the doctor's last week and got weighed and measured - she is now in the 50th percentile for weight at 8.4kg, and in the 95th percentile for height at 73.5cm!  She can't possibly be my baby!

Playing her very own guitar:

 With her new shoes on:

Getting a kiss from Dad:

With her beloved monkey at the Golf Club:

Grandaddy:

36 Weeks

Well, the big event of this week is that Carmen crawled properly!  Only once, and I did get it on camera.  But I think her man-shot-in-back crawl is faster, so she has gone back to the old pull with the arms and drag the legs along style.  Other than that, this week was fairly ordinary.  Carmen spent Saturday night at Grandma and Grandaddy's, and Jeff and I missed her but really welcomed the break!  When they dropped her off on Sunday morning, it felt like she had been gone for a week.  I am looking forward to when they take her on a regular basis (should be only another week away), and I can get some art work done.  Anyway, it pretty much rained all week except for yesterday, so we took her down to Mollymook Beach.  She loves being outdoors, looking at the water and all the people, and then we always end with a session on the swings at the park.  We are supposed to have a good week of weather, so yay to more beach and swings!

A video of Carmen playing with her dad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aozGTAqjD1M&list=UU21-zydO1IYNApoXHx_P8LQ&index=2&feature=plcp

A video of Carmen eating berries (a bloodbath!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBoKdskKKdw&list=UU21-zydO1IYNApoXHx_P8LQ&index=3&feature=plcp

A video of Carmen crawling:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0jTnJlIUg4&list=UU21-zydO1IYNApoXHx_P8LQ&index=1&feature=plcp

8 Months & 35 Weeks!

I don't have great photos this week, as it has been raining raining raining!!  I have never seen so much rain, and it is miserable with a baby who goes stir crazy in this small house if I don't get her out.  We miss the beach and the park!!  But Carmen has spent lots of time practising her crawling - she crawls like she has been shot, dragging her back legs behind her.  She must be getting some very buff little arms!  She has also taken to feeding herself, but tends to cram as many little pieces of food into her mouth as she possibly can before trying to swallow, and needless to say, she has had the upside down whack on the back treatment :)  Carmen has also taken to this little monkey comforter that I now take everywhere we go, as it seems to bring her a lot of peace, and me some quiet.  She spends lots of time sucking on the corners, and with it in her mouth, she is quiet.  And I am happy.  Jeffrey and I have taken her to the Golf Club for a couple of drizzly days, and she seems quite happy there looking back and forth from the beautiful beach view to the keno screens to all the elderly drinkers around us.  I think it will become our regular week-end hang out.

Anyway, today, finally, is a beautiful day, and when Carmen wakes up, we are going to make the most of it!

Here are some videos taken when I didn't have internet:

Carmen saying hi:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orj8SZLJ78w&list=UU21-zydO1IYNApoXHx_P8LQ&index=2&feature=plcp

Carmen on the swings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1pn0_AlkVI&list=UU21-zydO1IYNApoXHx_P8LQ&index=1&feature=plcp

Here are some videos from this past week:

Carmen fake laughing, 1 & 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOO0iL7SnYQ&list=UU21-zydO1IYNApoXHx_P8LQ&index=5&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehbrl0xUQzQ&list=UU21-zydO1IYNApoXHx_P8LQ&index=4&feature=plcp

Carmen gets the camera:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFyzUbzf2jE&list=UU21-zydO1IYNApoXHx_P8LQ&index=3&feature=plcp

At the golfy:

8 months old, with her monkey:

33 Weeks and 34 Weeks

We have no internet!!  AAAAAAGGGHHHH!!!!  I am going through serious withdrawal symptoms.  I am at my sister's house right now, so I am starting to become more sane, but I know it is only temporary, as it will be another week before we are online.  This is why I am doing two weeks in one post today.  We  have had a busy couple of weeks, swimming and going to the park.  Carmen is really excelling in her swimming lessons (if being the youngest in her class and the only baby smiling and splashing is excelling), and she has a new found love for the swings at the park.  I take her there just about every day that it is not raining, because it is an excellent time killer!  Also, the park is right at the beach, so we get a lovely walk in too.  The weather has been great lately, so we are making the most of it.  Yesterday Jeffrey and I took Carmen to Mollymook beach for her lunch, and then to Narawallee beach for her afternoon playtime.  She ate about a bucket-load of sand before promptly throwing up, and learned that sand wasn't so tasty after all.  I took her into the ocean with me and she clung to me for dear life.  So, it seems she only likes the water in the swimming pool.  Carmen is still sleeping through the night, and we couldn't be more happy about it :)  She also had a visit with her pediatrician - she is well and growing furiously - back in the 90th percentile at 71cm tall, and in the 50th percentile at 7.95kg.  I have been taking her to mother's group, and she is the same size as the 13 and 14 month old babies there.  At 7.5 months, I don't know how she is so big - it certainly is not from me!

33 Week Photos

34 Week Photos

32 Weeks

Well, not much to report this week, except that we had a great week.  Carmen has been happy as a clam and sleeping like a champ.  I put her down at 7pm, and she sleeps through to 7am - some mornings I even have to go in and wake her at 7:30 (to keep her on her nap schedule which works so well!).  Carmen is starting to assert herself a little more, by screaming "Aaaarrrgghhhh!" at the top her of lungs when she is cranky.  But it doesn't happen too often.  She had a great swimming lesson on Thursday - she is the youngest in her class (by several months), but is keeping up with the older veteran babies :)  She is also commando crawling everywhere which means I have to watch her like a hawk until I get my act together and completely baby-proof our house. But if that's all I have to complain about, then I'm a lucky mummy.

Two videos of Carmen taken last week:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUpEmkK_InE&list=UU21-zydO1IYNApoXHx_P8LQ&index=2&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jspyf3V5VIU&list=UU21-zydO1IYNApoXHx_P8LQ&index=1&feature=plcp

31 Weeks

So, Carmen started her swimming lessons this week.  Her previous swimming with us has really paid off, as she was very calm in the water and she seemed to really enjoy herself.  Her teacher couldn't believe it was her first lesson (but I bet they say that to all the mummies!).  She was a little bit sick with a sore throat this week - Jeffrey thought she sounded like Kathleen Turner - so she was a little fussy.  But she is still sleeping like a champ and is generally a very happy bub.  She spent lots of time with Grandma and Grandaddy, and discovered that her mum is the funniest person in the world (well, in her opinion anyway).  She cracks up at the slightest provocation, and apparently the way I dance is a laugh riot.  She also enjoys my singing at the moment.  Maybe I should be on Broadway?