Aunty Kate's Birthday Bash

Check the time. Our party girl was up rocking late again at her cool Aunt's Birthday party. Compliments to the pastry chef. The cake is excellent. So is not having to lift a finger to feed yourself.

New Year Pics

Playing in MorMor's drawers
Babycino at home ;)
Happy Birthday Grandad!
@ BF Daniel's birthday party - M lurrvved the trampoline. The rapport between D and M is astouding for kids so young!
Helping Grandma with the cleaning ...
Playing in the park
After taking a few falls in the park, loves to go down the slippery slide alone!
Grandad repaired and repainted Mummy's play cot for M. Dolly apparently likes to be wrapped in plastic.
Yes, there is a cranky side to Matilda. She can get annoyed with the Mamarazzi. She can throw tanties. She *is* a toddler now.
Surfing at Rainbow (low tide)

More water baby action. The band around M's head is to keep her swimming ear plugs in (which keep water out of her nice open grommet -filled ears).For some reason, M just wanted to wear Daddy's Shirt up at Rainbow, no matter that she could barely walk in it!!!

Updates on Miss M

OK, I've been really slack lately, and I know people are looking for new pics of M. I should have some up by the end of the week. I've finally got a new laptop (Dell XPS M1330 for the geeks), and am busily using up the 350GB HD with photos ... :) I've uploaded all the pics from the little camera in Memory Manager (CM digi photo sorting software), and the pics from the big camera are uploading in the background.
What's been happening since Christmas:

• New Years Eve - celebrated at the Hookers, our little party animal stayed up until 9:45 pm!! She then crashed pretty solidly until the revelry outside her window at midnight. Took a while to calm down, and then slept until about 8. Big afternoon sleep when we got home (phew for exhausted parents who went to bed at 3:30 or something crazy like that).
• Jan 7 - Happy Birthday Aunty Petie!! We checked out her newly painted apartment, with its gorgeous, but not Matilda and food friendly cream couch. :)
• Jan 14 - Grommet operation. All went well, so much faster than the eye op (duh). Didn't even get a drip anaesthetic - just gas (but still totally knocked out). I didn't cry this time ... Recovered well in the hospital, had a sleep on Mummy, then went home just before lunch. No voms in the car (phew), but also, no afternoon sleep thanks to the sleep with Mum ... M is very much a one sleep only a day girl, and it's much shorter if it happens in the morning.
  
• Later that week - had to take M home from daycare due to a "rash spreading". Went to the GP, all was well, then had to take a day off as the modem was broken at home, and couldn't work.
  
• Aus Day weekend - went to Rainbow Beach to visit GG Caroline. M had a great time, but perhaps driving at night is not a good option for her, unless we're up for 1-2 hours of wakefulness and burning off some energy when we arrive. The 2 or so hours sleep in the car is enough to make M feel alive, and we don't seem to be able to get her in bed without her waking up a bit later.
  Found out that M loves the surf, all goes well as long as we put in ear plugs and a band around her head in the car park, not on the beach when she can see the waves! M doesn't know about blowing bubbles or how dep water is, but was quite happy to splash and play with Mummy and Daddy in relatively deep water. She also had great fun charming the town.
• Tues 29th - moved up to the junior Toddlers room. M loves it, and loves the level of activity the group do. It's much more of a routine than the babies room (where they let each child run on their own routine), but she's fine with it.
  
• M is practially running now, and getting very determined about what she does and doesn't want to do. I thought tantrums weren't meant to start until the "terrible twos", but I was wrong!
• Vocab - Dada, Mama (rarely), shoeshoe, Ma - for snack, more, milk ... ,up/up and down (thanks to Great Gran).

Christmas Pics

Posing , a few weeks after the operation

Getting ready for a swim at Anne & Jason's ... first time in a pool in about 10 months!
Swimming with Mummy


At the Cathedral for their children's service, Christmas Eve afternoon
Unwrapping pressies Christmas Eve with Gramps and Gran Lylia
Getting tired ... Christmas Eve
Christmas Morning ... unwrapping pressies with Mummy
and with Daddy!
Woohoo! First wheels!
Look what Daddy made me on Boxing Day - a cubby!

Walking, walking, walking

Matilda is now mostly walking everywhere. Now and then when faced with an obstruction, she'll either walk over it or resort to crawling. She can go faster if she holds one of our hands, and still enjoys doing that. Except when we're trying to steer her in a direction she doesn't want to follow ...
Yesterday, we noticed that we could tell M was getting tired, not by her eye rubbing, but by the number of times she was falling onto her bum. Thanks goodness for whatever padding a nappy provides!
We've put up the Christmas tree, and decorated it, and put up M's Nativity scene and Santa's sled. At the moment, he greatest joy comes in pulling them apart, and chucking everything on the floor (it's all Little People stuff, and suitable for a 1 year old!!!). I'm trying to instill some meaning into her, but between her attention span and the back of my head saying "baby cheeses" thanks to Kath and Kim, we'll see if any of it sticks. And singing Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer! It is rather odd in this sweltering summer heat to be singing to my child about dashing through the snow ...
Matilda isn't able to get at the tree, thanks to a play pen I bought from someone at work. She can reach some of the branches and ornaments, but we're clearing them as much as we can. So far, turning on the lights at night haven't elicited much of a response.

Photos (all pre-op)

If I tried, I'm sure I could look cuter!
Trucks and books, what more could a girl want?
Wattle plant ... in New Orleans!!
Helping Mummy unpack

End of November ...

It's been two weeks since Matilda's surgery, and she's doing very well. We see the surgeon for a follow-up appointment tomorrow, and we're hoping that will mean ... no more eye drops. It's taken almost two weeks, but Matilda's just realised in the last day or so that if she thrashes around while we're trying to hold her down, the eye drops end up on her face or Daddy's fingers, rather than in her eyes. Little Monkey.
We also discovered just what a party animal she's going to become last Sat night at a wine and cheese (and election results) party with friends. M stayed up until about 9:30pm ... 2 1/2 hours past her usual bedtime!!! As the night wore on, she walked more and more ... oh, and there's some other news, since last Wednesday, M has been walking more and more. She started with a metre or so, and now she can pretty much cross rooms with something in her hand, no worries at all. At about 9:30 she finally hit the wall, and went to bed fairly well without too much objection, and didn't stir much when we left L & R's house. She woke when we were almost home, and it took a lot of cuddles to get her back to sleep. M and I ended up sleeping on the couch for 30 mins or so until she was really asleep. It's certainly much harder to sleep on the couch with a toddler lying on me than it used to be with a newborn all wrapped up in my arms!!
The good news was that M slept in until 8:30am on Sunday ... bliss!

Surgery update

Matilda had her three muscle bilateral squint surgery this morning at the Queensland Eye Hospital. It went quite well, we managed with the no foods after 3am (woke her up and gave her a bottle at 2:30am, lucky Mummy!), and the no water/juice after 7am. M was getting grizzly at home, probably due to the breakfast routine being interrupted, but picked up when we arrived at the hospital (it does day surgery procedures only) when she had new places to investigate. She also behaved in her usual completely shy manner (not) and sat on a complete stranger's lap to watch her portable DVD player with her son!
Waiting for the surgery was not fun, but a bit after 9am I went through with her to the theatre (only one of us could go in) and stayed til she was asleep from the gas. That took a minute of not much happiness, and then John and I spent the next 1 1/2 -2 hours waiting outside ...
At about 11, we were called into recovery and spent the next while with her, giving her oxygen, cuddles, dummy, and a bit of food. M fell asleep on me in the kids recovery room, and we stayed there til almost 1pm I guess. Then we came home, had some lunch, and M had a BIG afternoon sleep. She's playing now, and we'll be getting into the usual dinner routine soon.
Matilda's eyes are red, as we were told, but they've been getting redder as the time passes. She's got two sets of eye drops to be taken 4 times a day for the next two weeks, and her pain/discomfort should be able to be managed by panadol and nurofen. If all goes well tonight, we won't see the opthamologist again for two weeks ... so we'll see what he says about her response to the surgery then!

I'm 1 now

Matilda is now one ... and I've almost started her first album! :P
We had a little party, with just some family and godparents. Not all of the people who love and care for Matilda, but we thought we'd keep this year relatively quiet, given M doesn't yet understand what a birthday means. She had a great time, and a big sleep right in the middle, which rather mucked up our plans for the cake - it was meant to be morning tea, not post-lunch ... oh well!
M is doing well, crawling really well, although this week it's with her left knee and right foot on the ground, if you can imagine that. M and her Dad had the weekend alone this past weekend, and all went swimmingly well, so it seems they'll cope when I'm in the US for work for 16 days. But I know we'll all miss one another.

Photos .. finally!

Eating cake, on the actual birthday

Birthday cake

Eating Birthday cake ..

Mum let me feed myself Avocado again ..

Happy Father's DAy - and I choose Daddy over chocolate!

See, I can crawl up on my knees now!

Trying icing ... M acted as though we were trying to feed her poison

Opening pressies, how spoilt

Eyes update

We saw the opthamologist yesterday. Matilda's surgery will be on Weds Nov 14. Three of the four horizontal muscles around her eyes will be cut and either loosened or tightened. This will hopefully get her closer to using both eyes together, rather than independently. It's day surgery, and if there are no complications, she should be back at daycare, etc, the following Monday.
We also discovered that M will never be able to be a commercial or fighter pilot (commerical and military aviation industries are out), or an opthamologist, as even with the surgeries, she will not develop stereopsis (true depth perception). We're not too concerned about that at this stage, but apparently she won't ever have proper depth perception.
Until the surgery, we need to keep up the patching to keep her eyes even, but now alternating between the two eyes, and for just one hour a day. The girls at daycare are awesome with her patches now ... I just need to work on being so good about them during home days ...

New photos

Playing with the Mardi Gras beads

Yum, avocado face mask

But if I can reach it, I can touch it, right??

Favourite toys and Fathers Day

Some of Matilda's favourite toys at the moment boggle our minds ... the bottom part of a plastic chinese takeaway container can keep M entertained longer than a Lamaze toy ... an empty tissue box (well, she'd love a full tissue box even more, but that's just TOO messy) ... the recycling crate with old paper and plastic bottles in it ...
John had a pretty good first Fathers day - my hopes of letting him sleep in were dashed when M got super grizzly during brekky. After some medicine and a few cuddles, M perked up and then had a BIG sleep (2 hours) that morning. After her sleep, we took her Daddy to Wagamama for lunch. Yummy. :) Dinner was at bro Cam's place - he cooked Roast Lamb for us all. Cuddles all round, and a lovely fam dinner with Cam's flatmates, too. M loved exploring all over the apartment, and finding out just how un-baby-proof a bachelor pad is ... ;)

No more photos for a bit

I won't be able to post any photos of M for a bit. :(
I need a new PC. This one has less than 2GB of disk space left. Yes, I know you don't have to get a new PC when the disk space runs out, but this on is getting a bit old and clunky. More RAM and other such things are needed, as well as more disk space (to cope with the 10megapixel camera which produces photos that are at least 3MB each).

Not about Matilda

Just thought I'd let everyone know, I now have my very own Creative Memories website - mycmsite.com.au/ktaylor. You can browse the full range of Creative Memories products, check out my upcoming events, and even order products. So cool.
On an album related note, I will be FINALLY starting M's album soon. We have so many photos, got to start putting them somewhere other than the hard drive and photo sorting box. :) I've just got to finish working on Grandad Moore's album ... then it'll be all about Matilda.

Feeling a bit better

M's starting to feel better now. We're well under way with the Amoxil doses, and have scaled back the Panadol. If necessary, there's a bit of Dimetapp around bedtime, to help dry up the nose (otherwise if she wakes during the night, you can find her headl lying in a damp spot, poor thing - must be horrid when you can't blow your nose). No waking up last night through the night ... we'll see how tonight goes. I've got a cold now, so not keen on spending too much time awake in the middle of the night.

Over the weekend, I was at the annual CM consultant conference. There was lots of great training, inspiring speakers, AWESOME product launches, and a sneak peek of a future digital product ...
Hopefully within the next few days, I'll be able to add a link to my very own CM website. So cool. At the Gala Dinner on Sat night, I ran into my brother Cam and sister Peta. They were at a Thiess fundraiser in the room next door! Who'da thunk it?

Tomorrow's People's day at the Ekka. We haven't seriously thought about taking M to the Ekka, but ever since I said to John "you aren't going to the Ekka, are you?", he's wanted to go. Unlikely to happen at this stage. Hopefully we'll hold out for another year or two ... or if we don't, we'll only be looking at animals and the like, no rides or bags! I'm so harsh. ;)

Waving Bye Bye

Matilda has started waving Bye Bye in the past couple of days. I first saw her do it when she was strapped onto my front in the Baby Bjorn as we were leaving daycare. How cute!
Also at daycare this week, the "big" kids (I'm talking the 2 year olds) were so happy to see M. They exclaimed "It's Baby Matilda!" when she arrived, and one day one little girl came up and gave M a hug, and then everyone else followed suit. How cute. :)

We had to bring M home early today - a temp of 38.8. She started getting hot last night, and gets better with doses of Panadol. We took her to the GP this arvo, she has a middle ear infection (again), but he doesn't think that's the cause of the temp. Might be in for a few rough nights ... we'll see .. fingers crossed for good sleep for M and her parents!

Feeding

I'll try not to get too TMI. ;)
M has dropped down from three BFs to two a day (and two bottles of formula during the day time). We dropped the "dreamfeed" in the last week or so, as we'd worked it forwards from 11pm to 8:30pm, and we figured M would cope without it. She really wasn't drinking much at all, and barely waking up for it. So she still has a BF after waking up in the morning and before going to bed at night. But lately ... anything distracts her! If JR is walking around, if the TV's on, if there's air in the room .... anything, and she's moving around, chatting, stretching, trying to climb on the couch, grab the TV remote, anything she can to move around. The big, wide world is SOOO interesting. So I'm not too sure if this is a hint that she wants to wean or not. She still drinks OK, in between the very occasional bite (ouch!). I've been hoping to get M through winter with at least some breast milk every day, but it seems she might have other ideas ... we'll see how it all goes.

Drinking Water, standing up, being cheeky

Matilda is getting very good at drinking her water, all of a sudden. I hadn't been able to figure out why on her daily "report cards" from daycare, there would be comments that M had drunk water. One day I popped in at unch time, as M had also been rather picky about her lunch eating ... I noticed that the carers put her cup on the highchair table while she's eating. So I've been doing that since, and M actually drinks a fair bit of water, but only on her terms. ;) And sometimes the cup is really a missile to be propelled to the far corners of the room (ok, I'm exaggerating), but generally, she's pretty good about drinking it.
For people who've been to our house recently, you can now slump on the couch and still see the TV. The piles of mags have been moved ... now that M is pulling herself up onto the coffee table, she's been enjoying pulling everything off it ... so we've minimised what's there, and are trying to help her exercise restraint ... let's see how that works.

Doctor's appointment

We saw the opthamologist on Thursday. M's right eye is getting better, but we still need to keep patching. The doctor is keen to operate as soon as M is using her eyes evenly to see. If we have to, we're going to put something like Elastoplast over M's patch to try to keep it on. Hopefully as her right eye gets stronger (again), M will protest less about the patch ... fingers crossed!