In Reverse Order

So, like I said, the photos are in reverse order. View them as you please. A few oldies but cuties, and some of our recent holiday back the States to visit the grandparents! Needless to say it was hard to leave the brilliant weather and return to cold and rainy Ballarat.

He moved his hat that way!

Soul sisters: Jenelle, Rachel and baby Grace.

One of the highlights of my trip was spending time with one of my best friends, Jenelle, and her 3 redheaded kids! She kept me company during a layover I had in L.A..


While on holiday, Kai developed a fear of water which made bathing quite difficult. Here I tried to change the scenery, but being outdoors didn't seem to help too much!

With an old friend, Jenn, and her daughter who is just a few days younger than Kai.


Enjoying cuddles from grandpa!

In grandma's arms.

What REAL pumpkins look like (for you Brits and Aussies).

One of Kai's favourite holiday activities... getting a wagon ride from grandpa!

We attempted a little hike with my old friend, Jarrod. The pram didn't make it very far.

Out on a stroll in the mountains.

Kai loves cats. This lady's name is Cookie.



Kai decided to display this cheesy grin quite often while on holiday. I think he got it from his mommy.

With Aunite Leigh who drove down from San Diego to visit us while we were back in AZ.

Mmmmmmm...

Kai LOVES mommy's homemade fruit and goat's milk yogurt popsicles!

Having a bath with birth buddy Kiani. Check out photos from when Kai was born. She was born the day before! They were in the hospital together.

While out on a walk around Lake Daylesford, we stopped to feed the ducks and geese.

Kai's bedroom in temporary house #1. (Move to temporary house #2 happening in about 5 weeks. Please pray that we'll have a great place to move to as our previous plan just fell through.)

Just an afternoon snooze.



Is there food coming, mommy?

Daddy LOVES swinging and throwing Kai in the air.

Kai's favourite place to be!

Yuck! What is that kangaroo doing?!

Sitting with his buddy Mackensie.

Hmmm... what animal do we have here??

And now he's giving it a little pet. The roos can actually be quite a nuisance.

Here Kai is just checking out the kangaroo.
I have a season pass to the wildlife park...

A bit more organized now.

We managed to get a smile out of him for you here. He does smile and laugh every day, but overall I think he's more of a serious, thoughtful baby. Thanks for the birthday jewelry, Leigh!


Ok, so here was the first time we propped him up and realised he could stand while holding on to something! Notice his look of shock...


Kai LOVES feeding himself like a big boy. It makes a huge mess but I don't mind. I'm sure it's good for developing coordination! We give him avocado a lot. He enjoys it and I like all the healthy fats it has-- he needs the fat! You can just see one of his teeth sticking out. In this photo he was still at the vampire fangs stage.




A better look at those fangs! Thanks, Mark.




And then I dyed my hair and we celebrated our 4th anniversary and my 28th birthday! We went out for dinner at a nice restaurant with live jazz music.

And Mark bought me some gorgeous roses =)


Below is what I did on my birthday... I went to Melbourne with my friend, Bronwyn, plus her two kids and Kai! Three car seats in the back! Hamish, Kai's friend, is in the middle. They're all playing musical instruments. Fun!



We try to play the keyboard with Kai every day. He also likes watching daddy play the guitar!



Here's his first taste of bread... wheat-free millet bread.






Lookin' serious.


Standing so well!



Notice the whole row of teeth across the front now! He has 7 teeth in total now.


We'll pretend he's waving bye-bye. Hope you enjoyed the photos!

Unedited Cuteness!

Kai often blows bubbles on the ground... fun noises! He makes LOTS of fun noises these days. He's SO chatty.


Don't be alarmed... he's still breathing! We usually flip him over, but we thought this was pretty cute, and we made sure his mouth wasn't covered.

the blanket

Auntie Claire's blanket finally arrived today after three months (thanks Canada post!) and I just wanted to put up a few pictures so that she could see him enjoying it.

Also, thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes via facebook, it's nice to hear from friends old and new.

In case we haven't spoken to you in the last little while, we bought a block of land here and are currently looking at builders. Our government is giving away a very generous grant to first time home owners that build a new place so that is what we are going to do! It's all very exciting and at the same time overwhelming. It would be much easier if they had a bunch of options that went together. They could suggest different combinations of tiles and carpet and fascias etc that go together. It's kind of hard to see what all the things will look like when they are all done without actually seeing it. At the same time, I enjoy that sort of thing and have been buried deep in different house plans and colour samples. We'll update you more as things start to happen.
Mark

For you, Mom.

Just a few new photos before I go to bed...

Kai's first hair cut!


Playing with daddy's hair.


In Melbourne with Mommy.


On a recent camping trip.


With millet grain all over his face! He's eating solids now...

Auntie Gracie comes for a visit...

Miss Gracie Chisholm recently came for a whirlwind of a visit over her spring break from law school. We had a fantastic, albeit short, time together. I feel SO special that she would spend her airmiles to come visit ME (and Mark and Kai, of course).

Mel, Grace, Rachel, Kai
Mel is a chica that I totally dig and WISH I could hang out with more and get to know better. *sigh* She lives about an hour away from me though (in Hoppers Crossing, near Melbourne). Still, we try to hang out when our paths cross. Maybe one day our friendship will be fortuned to blossom and mature. I was glad Grace got to meet her.

Here's lookin' at you...

OK, so here I tried to comb Kai's hair into a mohawk. I'm not willing to put any product in it at this point, but I thought I'd give it a go after his bath while his hair was still wet.

"Yo, what up? Peace to my grammies and grampies out there. And a special shout out to Auntie Laura for giving me these super-cute jammies. Thanks!"

p.s. Mark said he did not notice Kai giving a peace sign in this photo. When I pointed it out to him he informed me that that is not a peace sign. It actually means... something not-so-nice in England. Oops!

Exhibit A: How to occupy a child while you are making dinner: give him some of the ingredients to play with! This lovely outfit is from Auntie Claire. She has excellent taste in baby boy clothes. (I still love the brown with stripes outfit... I just wish it would fit him longer!)

Yes, this is Kai. As we were driving Auntie Gracie to the airport, he was pulling all sorts of silly faces and I happened to catch this one on the camera! What luck. I was chucking (inside joke!) all the way to Melbourne...

I figured you hadn't seen Mark in a while, or Kai pulling a sad face.

Enjoy!

Just a few cute ones...

Sorry for not blogging lately! Is motherhood a good excuse?! I'm trying to get Mark to share a few thoughts of his at some point. Until then...


Mom, I took the above shot on Valentine's Day for you. Kai was most interested in eating the flowers!



On our first camping trip. Here's Kai decked out in a hat and gloves (from Iris?) and the cute outfit from Claire. Thanks guys!

And in the tent... Kai slept just fine! It was Mark and I that slept a bit awkwardly in the tent. We put Kai in between us and did our best not to squish him in our double sleeping bag.

So that's that. We're doing well. We're hoping to buy some land and build a house soon with the $29,000 grant (that's right!) the gov't is giving to first time home owners (that are building). Please pray that all would come together with that! We miss you all as always...