Oh Christmas Tree

Okay, I know, I know. We're the latest ever. But today we put our Christmas tree up!

In our defense, busy doesn't even begin to cover the state of things for our family lately. This time of year is always the busiest and most difficult time at the shelter, and on top of that we're going away for nearly a week to my grandparents' house over Christmas - the longest we've ever been away from home with Audrey Bea. It's hectic, but it's also wonderful. That sentence right there could be the story of my life!

But oh, tonight was so beautiful. There was one point when the tree was up and twinkling with multi-coloured lights, and Bing Crosby was crooning Little Drummer Boy from my laptop, and Audrey was sat in my lap. We turned the lights off, and watched her little face as she stared at the tree with her mouth open and her eyes so wide. There are moments when being a parent is tough, really tough, but I love it anyway. This wasn't one of those moments. It was so perfect, and I was so aware of how quickly this first Christmas will flash by and how important are the memories we're making right now, today, that it brought me to tears.

Sappy, I know. But real, I promise you.

She still loves to sit and watch the birds through the window with the cat. Because it's just super fun, okay.

In other news she's been pulling herself up to standing as often as she can possibly manage lately. It's her new all time favourite thing ever, and she's getting really good at it - she's mastered the one-handed stand, and last night she stood for a good few seconds totally unsupported, no hands at all, until Ian and I both noticed and exclaimed "oh wow, clever girl!" and surprised her into toppling over!

She's so much fun. It's pure joy spending time with her, and I feel so lucky every day lately. I'm so very, very happy.

Having Ian off work has also been wonderful. He's got three weeks off work this Christmas, and we're making the most of every moment we have together as a family.

Now I've got to be off. There are baubles to hang, and scented candles to light. And that Christmas knitting won't finish itself.

Wings

Oh my goodness Audrey is so much fun right now. She can crawl like a pro, and she pulls herself up to standing on absolutely anything she can grab on to. She can balance with one hand, and has even tried a couple of times to balance with no hands! She's whizzing forward and a part of me wants to beg her to slow down, to stay little just for a moment longer, while another part of me is so proud and so excited of how she's moving ahead fiercely and brightly into the next stages of her development.

Right now I'm loving her big cuddles, her funny faces, her pointing at noses and mouths and her wonky waving. I'm loving how she reaches out for me and pulls herself into my arms, how she's delighted by mirrors and how her love of books is really taking off. I'm loving how she bounces along to music and bangs rattles on biscuit tins to make fun noises, how she lights up when I sing Christmas carols to her.

She's really enjoying social activities lately, so my new year's resolution will be to take her along to more play groups of various kinds. We currently enjoy visiting the library where we play with fun toys and books and watch the "big children" (toddlers) with very wide eyes, and going to our breastfeeding group and to Patchwork.

Sleep has been all over the place lately, but who cares about sleep when there's crawling and playing to be done?

She's pure sunshine just now, and it's wonderful. I love the way she throws herself into everything, and digs the joy out of it. I think I can learn a lot from her.

Today she tried chicken for the first time, and was SIGNIFICANTLY impressed! She wolfed it down so fast she gave herself hiccups. She's already had beef in shepherd's pie and wasn't all that impressed, I think the simpler flavour of the chicken was easier for her to process. We don't cook a lot of meat here, being somewhat vegetarian (I am occasionally eating meat while still breastfeeding in an attempt to keep my iron levels up naturally, after getting anaemic and finding that iron supplements soooo don't agree with me), so a lot of the protein in our diets comes from beans and pulses and tofu/quorn etc. So cooking meat for Audrey is a bit of a departure from the norm for us, but it's been quite successful so far! (Next stop, fish!)

On the subject of food, she tried pineapple for the first time yesterday and how I wish I'd had my camera to hand! She did not expect it to be so strong tasting, I can safely say. She pulled such a funny face! She quite liked it though, and sucked on a juicy chunk of it for nearly half an hour, gnawing away on the tough rind which I think felt good against her gums. Still no teeth, but they're coming!

Oh, and remember Audrey's friend Oliver? Look how they've grown!

They grow so very fast. It's breathtaking.

Today is my favourite day

We've had a wonderful day today at the shelter's Christmas Fayre. Audrey is amazed by all of the animals, it's so much fun to bring her along to these events.

Audrey has been such an absolute delight to hang out with lately. She points at noses and mouths and sticks her tongue out at you if you stick yours out first!

She says "ah" and "eh" if you say them to her, and gives big hugs and cuddles.

She seems so musical, she loves Holst and Dvorak and bounces like crazy with a big grin on her face if you put New World Symphony on. Similarly she loves clapping best when it's syncopated, and likes to hit wooden clothes pegs on things to hear the different sounds. She's got a lot of rhythm!

She's so good at crawling now, and almost too wriggly to change her nappy! We distract her with the sudocrem tub, because for some reason that's her favourite thing ever.

She's just the bestest thing there ever was! Even if she's still mostly baffled by guinea pigs.

Come on, let's crawl!

So, on Saturday it finally happened - little lady started crawling!

She's been so happy this weekend, full of big cheeky grins and clearly feeling so pleased with herself.

After a stressful week, we've celebrated with lots of family time this weekend - wrapping up warm for cold walks in the snow (yes, snow! Audrey's first, although we didn't manage to get out while it was still falling - we'll be quicker next time!) and cuddling up on the sofa to watch One Piece.

And how's the solid foods going? Glad you asked!

After a bit of a setback when we were all ill and Audrey wanted nothing but milk, we're back on track! She much prefers vegetables to fruit (no idea where she gets that from, I was always obsessed with fruit as a baby and Ian won't touch vegetables with a stick) and rice or oat cakes are the favourite snack. She can munch through endless carrot sticks as long as they're softly boiled/steamed, and green beans and broccoli are her absolute favourites. Sweet potato is another staple! This week we're trying baby corn, as I think it'll be easy for her to hold.

It's fun going out with her to cafes, now that there are things she can eat too!

Please excuse my messy hair - we'd just walked quite a way through some pretty stormy weather!

Shambles is still Audrey's BFF. He's good as gold with her, even when she decides that his tail is perhaps tastier than apple.

Oh dear, Audrey!

You guys, I love being a mum. It seems to get better every day. It's one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. (Messy hair or no!)

Family time

We went out last weekend to Nana B and Grandad Pop's house to celebrate the birthday of Audrey's cousin Rory, who was four years old. Practically a grown up!

It felt great to spend some time with the Thomson clan, and for Audrey to get some love from her Aunties, Uncles, and Grandparents.

It was so lovely to see Audrey playing with the other children - Angus, Rowan and Rory.

Dada and Uncle David hatched a plan to prop Audrey up so it looked like she was playing table football, with quite funny results.

It was generally just a brilliant day. We love spending time with family, it's cosy and warm and wonderful. We love you guys!