Justin's 1st birthday party

We celebrated Justin's 1st birthday last Saturday with a picnic at the park. The morning started off sunny and bright and turned a bit dodgy as we left for the park. Luckily the weather held up and it cleared up even though it was still cold. We had a hearty vegetable soup and bread and steak rolls for lunch. The theme for the party was "Rumble in the Jungle" and I managed to find a table cloth, plates and cups with jungle animals on it. I baked cupcakes and decorated it with animal discs and mom helped decorate the cake board with a jungle. The cupcakes were put into the shape of a "1". The birthday boy was oblivious to the fact that all this fuss was in his honour as he was so busy pushing the walker around the park and passed out as soon as we had sung happy birthday to him. 

Thank you to everyone who came to Justin's party and for all the presents. Thank you to everyone who sent presents and cards. Justin was really spoiled!

Happy 1st Birthday Justin!

Wow, this time last year I had just gone through a 12 hour labour and was lying in my hospital bed not believing that I had just given birth to a 3,54kg baby boy....and now 1 year later, I can't believe that little baby is now a 1 year old boy. It has been an amazing journey so far, learning to be parents and to remember to give Justin what he needs and not what he wants which is not always easy. Our little baby has brought so much joy and happiness into our lives and has filled our hearts with love. He's taught us to take the time and enjoy life by playing peek-a-boo and hide-and-seek, to sings songs and dance around like no one is watching, to read story books about gruffalo's, hot hippos, cross crocodiles and clever jackals. We watched this little being develop from a zygote to a newborn to a baby who can hold his neck up, to lying on his tummy, to rolling over, to sitting up, to crawling, to teething, to pulling himself up, to learning to walk. It's been an amazing year and we're looking forward to seeing Justin growing up.

Happy 1st birthday Justin! 

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mummies out there! It was an especially nice Mother's Day for me as it was my first as a mummy and my mum was here from South Africa. This time last year, I was pregnant with Justin and we were awaiting his arrival...my how time has flown.

My mum and dad arrived on Saturday and are going to be here to celebrate Justin's 1st birthday as well as my dad's, BG's and my birthdays. It took a while for Justin to warm up to his grandparents; he was very serious and eyed them suspiciously for an hour or so, especially when they tried to 'bribe' him with presents, but he soon warmed up to them. Like all grandparents, the grandchildren get spoiled rotten and the parents don't stand a chance...out came the chocolates and the coke!!! But luckily, or unluckily for Justin, he still hasn't been able to sample these sugar-loaded, hyperactive-inducing products.

For Mother's Day, Justin painted me a masterpiece (pic to be taken) and even showed me the technique he used to paint this amazing piece of art. To celebrate this occasion, we  caught a ferry out to Watson's Bay for a fish and chips picnic. We bought take aways and set up a picnic on the lawn and enjoyed the sun, the food and each other's company. 

This morning, mums and grannies were invited to Justin's day care to have a Mother's Day breakfast. Justin was quite clingy as he thought we might leave him behind but he soon settled in and wandered off to play with the toys. He didn't even want to leave when I said good bye. But I'm so glad to hear that he's settled down at day care and is no longer known as 'Mr Serious'!

Hope all my mummy friends had a lovely Mother's Day.

The temptation!

Mother's Day picnic at Watson's Bay

Hide and Seek!

Justin loves playing peek-a-boo and hide and seek, absolutely loves it! Always gets a smile and a couple of laughs out of him.

Fingers fingers fingers everywhere!

Justin loves going to the playground and we have been making a concerted effort to take him every day or every second day. He's not too fond of the swings but he loves going down the slides and then crawling up the steps again to go back down the slide. Today, however, he found something more amusing and entertaining.....he found fingers poking out of the holes! If he tried to catch it, it would move and pop out a different hole....oh this game was fun to Justin and entertaining to us delighted parents.

Milestones!

As we near Justin's first birthday, he's been reaching a couple of milestones in quick succession. Over the weekend, Justin began standing on his own without pulling onto anything. He can now stand on his own for a minute or two or three. In celebration of this milestone, we excitedly went out and bought Justin his own walker which he is absolutely thrilled about. You should see him push this walker and manouver it around, swiveling it around when he hits a wall, it's so awesome! And then today, Row took Justin to the park and our little boy took his first 2 steps....and I wasn't there to witness this momentous occasion.

Check me out!

U..u...up!

Justin has a thing for musical instruments so we bought him bells, a pair of maracas and a harmonica. Ever the busybody, he doesn't know what he wants to do so he tries to do them all at the same time.

11 months old!

Today is Justin's 11 month birthday! 11 months of having this little person in our lives, watching him grow, developing a personality and sense of humour, growing independent and wilful and most of all, filling our lives with so much love and happiness. We can barely remember what life was like before Justin came along.

Justin now has 8 teeth; 4 on top and 4 at the bottom and still loves his food. He really tries very hard to feed himself but ends up getting most of the food smooshed all over his face, in his hair, in his ears, on the floor.....He's now drinking water out  of his sippy cup although he sometimes just likes to pour it all over the floor even though it's supposed to be a "non-spill" cup.  Justin loves pushing our wooden chair around the apartment, practicing his walking skills and has been standing on his own for short bursts of time. Another favourite past time is emptying out cupboards, drawers, bags, the dustbin! We try take Justin to the playground as he loves other children and gets very excited when he sees them but he has yet to warm up to the swings. He would much rather just crawl around, waving at the other children or sticking his tongue out at them. 

Can't believe my little baby boy is going to be 1 next month! We're planning on having a little party for him and wish everyone could join us for this milestone :(