18 July 2006 Sleepy Girl...

Play time before bed... why did you take my ball away??

I love my bottle - but cant work out why you are waving that camera at me

OK - go away now, I need to sleep...

I had a good day today but I have been very fragile all day. I nutted out when Nana left the room. She only went downstairs to get something and left me upstairs eating in my highchair with Craig.

Ive been practicing walking along furniture - Im getting really good at it now and my favourite toy this evening has been the baby piano. I like finding the "C - Cat...miaow" button then turning round with my nose all wrinkled up to find whoever is watching and laugh really loud with them.

I had meat patties for dinner and didnt really like it much so I tipped it on the floor for Zack.

When Mum got home I was next door at Marys place with Nana. Mum came over and I was sitting in Marys kitchen on Nanas knee. I saw Mum coming all the way from Marys letterbox and no one else noticed. I got off Nanas knee and crawled all the way to the ranch slider to her before anyone even noticed she was there! Im sooo observant!

I tried to sleep this afternoon but only slept for 1 hour because some people are building something down the back and were using skill saws and big excavating equipment. I tried to sleep this morning but cried so much Nana got me back up... so I was really tired tonight!

Tell you what Ive been doing tomorrow...GOOD NIGHT!!!

For my Daddy...

I miss you Daddy. Ive been looking for you - under your pillow and in the bathroom.

Im a bit frightened, I dont like being on my own in my room anymore...I cry if Im alone in any room or if Mum walks away. Im very clingy and I cant go to sleep very well right now.

But Im still smiling most the time and I'm looking forward to seeing you - I hope not too long before I see you.

LEMME FREE!!!

LET ME OUTA HERE!!

I love food :) One of my favorite passtimes is scoffing crackers and I mostly like savory stuff instead of sweet stuff.

Sadly I like beer and will try to jump out of peoples arms to get wine from Daddy

Erika has become a very cheeky wee girl, full of personality and determination. She is 11 months old and can now crawl and pull herself up on anything. She is beginning to cruise around furniture and has a set of lungs on her like a bull elephant. Man can she holler!! She is very skilled at turning on tears when she feels they are needed

She loves singing and dances while sitting on the floor. She will headbang if she is crawling and likes the music she hears.

Erika talks more now, she says Mumma and Dada, Nana and Dog. She says Pa for Poppa and kind of says teded for Teddy.

She is very entertaining!

Miniature Rose between two very cute Thorns

Dylan (4yrs) Erika (9mths) Ryan(19mths)

Erika posed (not very willingly) between her cousins on Mothers Day in May 2006

Ryan had so kindly piled lots and lots of cars in front of her to entertain her, but she remained unimpressed.

Ill have my people call your people....

My agents number you ask? - 0800 SEXY BABY

Check out her teeny wee teeth - Shes got three now and just about a fourth coming thru maybe tonight? They might look weeny but geez-louise are they sharp! When she manages to get her jaws around your finger and chomp down with her brand new pegs you sure know about it.

Erika is getting a bit clingy, shes not keen on strangers, particularly men - she bellows like a bull if they dare touch her... and her Daddy thinks thats great. In fact we are both happy for that phase to continue until she is about 25!

She is trying to speak and her word du jour is 'Boo'. She has mastered Ba ba, Mumumum, Da da - occasionally spits out Nan, and as far as I can tell the dog is called AARGH! with a low growl after it.

With her clingy phase she has also got quite cuddly and its nice having her give hugs and slobber all over my face with big open mouth baby kisses. It just leaves me a little on edge not knowing if she is about to exercise her new teeth on my jaw bone, or give me a spit bath while imparting loving kisses. A little bit of breath holding is involved on my part.

She has decided that she is not keen on crawling and would rather just stand. But her standing looks like she is doing a booty dance as she has bugger all balance and just succeeds in bopping around looking hilarious. She goes rigid stiff if you try to sit her down and when forced into a sit position she bellows and splashes tears down her face. Erika is apparently rather determined :)

She calls by using a high pitched screetch which is lovely. If I walk out of the room it is usually followed by screetching and she trys to get the attention of the dog the same way. Also she trys to make her dummy come to her by screetching at it. I havent seen that work yet.

Miss Polly had a dolly who was sick sick sick...

Erika is now 8 months old and has been sick a couple of times in the last month. She is cutting teeth and is overall a bit sad. Her Dad snapped this pic of her today when she was feverish and needing sleep. She wasnt impressed at having a camera stuck in her face either!


We went on holiday last month for a couple of days break on a weekend and Erika had a practice of being a little Malay girl. It lasted approx 3.5 seconds before she ripped the scarf off...

This is a few days ago playing at home with Nana during the day. This is what she does now instead of going to daycare and I dont know about you, but she seems pretty happy to me...

Too cute!

This is about the last time Erika will fit this bunny suit, so she had to have pics taken wearing it

Erika and Dylan (4yrs) sitting in a chair waiting to go out for dinner for Nanas birthday.

Erika and her Mummy all ready to go out in the car

Playing in Nanas room. She has lots of different toys to choose from, but she chose to play with a pillow instead of the toys :-)

She is not crawling still - she reaches things from sitting and sits back up rather than crawling and if she cant reach something, she sometimes uses a tool, like a spoon or drags things closer to herself. She seems to be getting frustrated that she cant move around so I dont think it will be long before she is mobile...

Sitting Pretty

Erika began to sit a couple of weeks ago and has it totally under control now.
She sits very strong and is beginning to get around by rolling, slithering and commando crawling across the floor.

The pillows behind are just in case :)

She is 7 months old today and is such a happy baby!

Erika finishes daycare tomorrow. Her lovely ladies who look after her at daycare are sad to see her go. I have felt quite guilty taking her out of her daycare centre as the ladies really seem to love looking after her. Who wouldnt! Shes a delight!

From Monday onwards her Nana will be looking after her at home - so she wont have to be woken up early to go to daycare, and wont have to get upset when we get stuck in traffic and she is sick of being in her carseat... A good arrangement for Erika and her mummy too :)

Erika and I shared a bath which she really enjoyed. She was propped in a bath seat so I didnt have to keep my hands on her all the time and we could have a really deep bath. We had fun:

She is trying to copy us now, using her voice and hands to mimic what we do. After a particularly raucous rendition of twinkle twinkle little star tonight Erika was trying to copy the hand movements I had done when I sang the song.

LOOK what I made!

Erikas first tooth popped through on 31 Jan 2006. She seems mighty proud of herself, and wont leave it alone. She feels it with her tongue most of the time and chews her fingers the rest of the time. Its very sharp! She wasnt grumpy while she cut it and didnt cry any more than usual (which is hardly at all). I didnt even know it was there until she bit my finger. You can hardly see the tooth actually because it has only just broken thru the surface of her gum.

Erika is doing really well with her bottles and I only feed her about 3 times a day now. She must be having a growth spurt because she seems hungry all the time.

Shes doing wonderfully at daycare and moves from strength to strength with rolling and trying to sit. Her coordination is excellent she grabs things and puts them straight in her mouth soooo fast! Going to have to start putting things higher at home very soon.

Theres another piece of me down there too!

Erika has discovered that she has feet and apparently they taste good... Her cousin Ryan knew this already, having tasted them not long after she was born and he tries to go back for another chew whenever he can get anywhere near them.

Can you resist this?

This wee drama queen shot was Erikas attempt to make her Dad pick her up. It didnt work to begin with so she spun herself into a major hissy fit and eventually got what she wanted.

Having become quite adept at rolling, Erika wont stay on her back for long and falls into this gorgeous pose whenever she is concentrating on something.

This was Erikas first try of solids ... not her favorite thing but we are having a go each night and she is getting used to it. She first tried baby rice and sad to say - shes right, its quite revolting. No bloody wonder they dont take to it. I gave her mashed kumara tonight and she seemed to like that a lot more. I have started to wean her off daytime feeds and put her on formula, and she has taken well to a bottle for her morning feed. I still go to daycare to feed her in the afternoon but will try to wean her off that next week...

All is going well. Would be better if we could get her sleeping through the night shes not good at that yet, but we are working on it.....

Hi Dee Hi Campers...

Heres our happy camper on her Aunties knee, on her first camping trip to Orere Point Holiday Park. She is a week short of 5 months old.

This is her preferred position. She believes she can stand up. I just balance her - she stands herself up, shes got very strong legs. We are sitting under a tree on Orere Point beach watching Dylan swimming in the sea with Deen, Mike and a blow up boat.

Our tent site was pretty near the owners bedroom window at the camp but the first time the owner met Erika was when we were leaving. She was so quiet the whole time, they didnt even know she was there! She doesnt cry at night at all.

We camped with Andrie, Mike, Dylan and Ryan - they are Erikas Aunty, Uncle and cousins and we stayed all together in one tent for 6 days and had a great time. Her Nana joined us on the second day in her own tent and stayed for the rest of our trip and Erika had a nice time getting to know her relatives better :)


Erika takes a nap on Nanas knee down by the swimming hole at the river in the camp ground while Dylan swims again with Deen and Penny. We had such a good time that we are all going back next year.

Little Miss Cranky-pants!

She may look gorgeous - and she is, but boy does she have a strong will! Erika has decided in the last couple of days that if she doesnt get what she wants - FAST - then she is going to scream until she gets it...LOUD! Its a bit of a shock to her dad and me as she has been so easy going up until now. In her defense she has been feeling a bit sick because everyone got a tummy bug and were sick after xmas, and we are hoping that the loud crying will pass with the tummy bug... shes also decided that there are some people that she just doesnt want to talk to and she screams if they talk to her. This pic is one of her happy moments :) :) :) Even when shes sick she manages to charm the pants off everyone.

Xmas time fun with Mum

<-Sitting on mums knee having xmas at Grandads house next to cousin Dylan who is almost 4yrs old. Erika is wearing her flash new shades that she got from her Aunty
-> Under the tree at Aunty Andries house posing with Mum, Andrie and cousins Ryan (14 months) and Dylan.

Showering our baby with love...

Erika and Deen take a shower. Erika is 4 and a half months old and although she may not be entirely comfortable in the shower (shes a bit unsure) she doesnt cry and is interested in where the water comes from. She doesnt seem to mind the water splashing on her face and is quite happy to have her hair blow waved dry with the hairdryer after her shower!
Sometimes she showers with Mum - this photo was the first time showering with Dad.

My First Xmas

We wish you a merry christmas from our family to yours!

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' ........

SHE ROLLED!!

Clever little Erika rolled over today at daycare from her back to her front and the ladies at her daycare were so proud! They think she is so strong. Actually - she is so vain that she rolled so she could see herself better in the mirror :) Hope her Dad and I get to see her do it soon. At daycare they think she will crawl soon! Bloody hope not - our house needs baby proofing before she gets mobile!

Sleepy Time babies....

There were 3 in the bed and the little one said roll over, roll over - so they all rolled over and Mum fell out... : (

Erika and Dad having a lazy morning... (Erika is 3.5 months in this photo)

Peacefully snoozing together :)

Its.....................SUMMER!

And its bloody hot 'n' humid!

Erika has been given an early xmas present and its a pretty little dress that she looks beautiful in. Thanks Renata :)

The photo was taken this morning just before heading off to Kimba Corner daycare for her last day. She had only just woken up... such a happy girl in the mornings. On Thursday she starts at Absolutely Positively Kids where she can be closer to Mums work during the day and can be fed by Mum instead of being bottlefed by the daycare ladies. Her carers at Kimba Corner are very sad to see her go...

Erika is beginning to gain coordination of her hands and sometimes manages to put her dummy back in by herself. It seems that she is starting teething as well - she is drooling and chewing everything, but there is no indication of teeth coming through yet. It looks like she may be sitting soon, her balance is becoming more steady and she tries to sit all the time, even in her car seat.

Shes growing up SOO fast.

Big Daycare Girl

Erikas hair is getting long enough to tie up now and she looks so cute when its up! She is talking a lot now - cooing and gurgling when you talk to her. She smiles easily and her smile is beautiful!

I have decided to move her from the daycare centre she is in to one just round the corner from work so I can go and feed her myself instead of expressing... it should hopefully make things easier for me, and I get to spend time with her. Its not so far out of the way and the big bonus is that the new daycare centre is cheaper :)

Bub is spending lots of time with our friend Renata now - she is learning Italian with Luca and Malay with her Daddy. She might end up multi-lingual! Cool! There are also Spanish speakers at the new daycare centre - so she could end up speaking languages that her Mum and Dad dont understand - actually not much different to now. I already dont understand her babbling.

She loves to look at faces and even a photograph of a face makes her smile. She also likes to look at herself in the mirror - I keep her change table next to a mirror and she talks and smiles to herself while I dress and change her. This pretty photo was taken on Friday 25th November before we left to go to daycare. So cute! She wasnt impressed that I had laid her back down on the floor - thats why she was frowning. Erika thinks she is such a big girl that she can sit up now, but she cant. She struggles to sit everytime I put her down by lifting her head and shoulders off the ground (straining away) but she has no balance yet. So even if she had the strength to sit, she would fall over. Funny girl :)

Clever Girl!

Erika started daycare yesterday and stayed for the whole day.

She did really well - such a content wee girl!

She was very tired and a bit hungry when I collected her, but she slept right thru the night from 8.30pm til 7am (when I had to wake her up) and she has now managed to slept right through the night for 3 nights :) :) :) YAY!

She is very alert and responsive but she is fairly quiet - coos softly unless she is hungry or tired when she gets a bit more vocal. She watches everything and smiles so easily. Erika looks like she is always ready to break into a smile. Happy little girl.

She is staying home with her daddy tomorrow as he is off work for a couple of days, so we will see how they both get on :)
Good luck Dad!

Beautiful smiles...

Well she sure is getting beautiful! Her smiles light up her whole face :)
Our Plunket nurse visited home this week and weighed, measured and checked Erika over.
She is now 5.2kg and thriving. She has grown to 58.5cm tall with a head circumference of 38.5
She is still fully breastfeeding but we are putting her on bottles during the day to ease her into a daycare routine. She is due for more vaccinations next week and we will chat to the doctor about some very dry skin she has developed on her forehead, cheeks and knees. Not sure if it could be an allergy or maybe something else. Her vision, hearing and general development is good.

We stayed at her aunties house in Pokeno for a few days this week and her Daddy missed her very much :(

As you can see from her photo - she really is a beautiful baby (very biased - I know).