washing hair

Phew! Bad start to the day today and I am hoping things improve. Flora was up at 5:30 this morning and I couldn’t get her back to sleep. She slept for a little bit with me on her chaise longue but when I tried to put her back in her crib she started screaming. I was happy to cuddle with her, it is a luxury I don’t get much anymore, but she had started to squirm a little bit and I thought she was uncomfortable. ANYWAYS! Onwards and upwards! It is 9:15 and I am knackered.

Last night in the bath Flora grabbed the soap I use to wash her hair (sorry Holly!!!) and started to pretend to do it herself! Was so funny and totally unprompted.

What a party!

Flora’s birthday party was wonderful! I was a little stressed, it is hard hosting that many people but we got it done! Tara made her cake and it was amazing. The kids consumed far too much sugar and spent the later part of the day playing hard and destroying the house. It was great to see them all having such a good time. I am very thankful for our house, it made having 29 people here seem not too bad. Thanks to everyone who came and made it such a special day for us. My mom loved it when we all sang happy birthday to Flora, she sat in the centre of a circle of people who love her, and we finished and she smiled. A simple moment, but completely perfect.

My sister has a few pictures on her blog (not her photography one) that have turned out a little better (okay, a LOT better) than what I have. http://amillionlittleloves.blogspot.com/2011/11/birthday-love.html

My mom brought a kitten for Flora. She insists it was a joke but I am sure she was hoping she wouldn’t have to take the little guy back with her!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Flora!!! I can’t believe that my baby is one today.

We are having a big party tomorrow with all of Flora’s Canadian friends and family so today was a quieter celebration. Tom, Flora and I went to the pool for a swim and Flora practiced going fully under the water. I think it frightens me more than it frightens her! She had lots of hugs for Tom and he was a great cousin and willingly obliged. She got a nice treat tonight and ate some onion rings from Dairy Queen, her first taste of fast food grease. We got to talk to her Grandma and Grandad in England and when she finally got the hang of web chatting she was kissing the screen and poking at their faces! Was pretty cute when she looked behind the screen to see where the rest of their bodies were!

Somewhat stressed about entertaining 30ish people tomorrow although I am looking forward to properly celebrating this brilliant little love.

Tara took Flora down the slide...looks pretty exciting!

Boone and Flora enjoyed the swings.

I stole this picture from Kael. I thought it was an adorable shot of Boone and Flora playing on the teeter-totter.

Tom and Flora, day 1

Today was our first day taking care of Tom. It went really well and we had a lovely day making wooden spoon puppets, reading stories, playing Animal Doctors and going to the park. Flora had a fairly massive meltdown this afternoon and that would have been down to total exhaustion. She has been terrible for naps lately and it has certainly caught up with her! Other than that, I had a moment of embarrassment at the school park when I was told off by a slightly overweight 5 year old with a lisp that we shouldn’t be playing at the park as it was “school rules”.  We left immediately, heads lowered in shame.

A little video attached of Flora playing with her tow truck. She makes wonderful truck noises! As you can see, she is really into agreeing or disagreeing with things! We had been asking her earlier if she wanted an i-pod for her birthday, lots of nodding for that!

little dog lover

Halloween guilt

Last night was Halloween and we took Flora out to the farm so we could spend some time with Mom and Ron. I had decided not to dress Flora up because we had originally planned on being at home and I figured it was pointless to dress her up simply to take a photo to mark the occasion. I regretted this yesterday and started feeling like a hopeless mother so called Rich to ask him to pop into town on his way to the farm to pick up a costume. As it turned out he wasn’t able to and when Ben and Holly brought Gunner round looking like an adorable little garden gnome my guilt increased significantly. I have no photos of the afternoon yesterday, nothing to mark Flora’s first Halloween. Feeling a lot of mother guilt, like somehow I have deprived her of a significant moment. Ridiculous? Absolutely.