Happy Birthday Helena!

I am really excited because tomorrow is Ellie's birthday! She is 1 year old! I wasn't here when Ellie arrived, but Mum says it was exciting because it meant I wasn't far away. Mum remembers that Ellie was very small and very beautiful... and she is still small and beautiful, but I think she can do a lot more stuff now.

Left to right: Ellie, July '08, Feb '09, April '09.

So what this means is two things. Firstly, tomorrow I am going to my first ever birthday party! Mum and I are making some cupcakes today to take with us. I don't actually know what cupcakes are but it sounds fun anyway.

Secondly, my birthday is only five weeks away!! We are having a party too, at Grandma and Grandad's house in Emerald Beach. It's supposed to be a low key affair, but if I know Mum she'll get carried away and make it into the social event of the year. Willow and Ryder are coming with Aunty Bec, and Aunty SJ and Coco are coming too. Josie will be there, of course, with Uncle Sam and Aunty Jodie. Oh my goodness, I can barely contain my excitement!!

In the meantime, I have a lot to keep me busy. I have to practise my crawling some more. I don't want to... crawling is SO boring! But Mum says you have to learn to crawl before you walk... or is that walk before you run? Well, either way, apparently there is a procedure I have to follow. All these rule, pfft! The most fun thing in the world is walking around the house holding onto Mum and Dad's fingers until they turn blue. Those silly parents of mine try to refuse, but I manage to convince them every time.

The other day, they brought in a wooden trolley on wheels. It was very nice, I'm sure, but they kept putting it in my way when I was trying to walk. I couldn't understand what they were doing. Why would I want to walk with a trolley when I have them? Weirdos. Dad ended up pushing me around in it for a while which I put up with to keep him happy.

Talking is fun too, though I haven't ventured past "Mum" and "Dad" yet. I just wanted to master those two before I moved onto more complicated vocabulary. I do however make lots of squealing, yelping, cat-with-furballs type of noises, all with their own meaning. Mum and Dad get me, so that's all that matters.

Lots of love,
Amelia Joan.
xxx

Bathtime

Hi everyone,

Crawling is my main focus at the moment. I can commando crawl across the lounge now. I still don't really like it, and complain when Dad makes me crawl instead of picking me up, but I am starting to realise the benefits. For example, I can now get my hands on that wine rack I've had my eye on, and all the cords behind the TV are no longer a pipe dream!

A couple of weeks ago we went up to Grandma and Grandad's for Easter. Uncle Sam and Aunty Jodie were there with Josie and I was so excited to see her. I also saw Willow and Ryder and Aunty Bec. We had a lovely time. It was a bit strange being somewhere new, but I tried to be adaptable. The best thing was that Mum, Dad and I all slept in the same room, so I tried to wake up as early as possible so we could all play together. They were really happy about that.

Last week, Mum and I went on a (very small) plane to a place called Broken Hill, which is where Mummy lived when she was a baby. I met a LOT of people, who all seemed to love me a lot. Grandma and Grandad were there too and we had a great time.

I missed Daddy though. When I saw him at the airport, I was so excited! I didn't say anything except "dad, dad, dad" for the next 24 hours so he knew how much I missed him. I now can say "mum, mum, mum" too, which Mum is very happy about!

On Sunday, we had a great day! Mum and Dad took me to a place called a playground and I went on a swing for the first time. What an amazing invention that it!!



Hope you're all well and happy.

Lots of love,
Amelia.
xxx