Poppys' Dedication + more

Well I guess the big news of the last few weeks has been that Poppy is now dedicated. We had a lovely weekend, where she got to meet her Uncle Nick (aka Nuck) for the first time as he was in transit between Canada and Hayman Island, her Poppa came over from NZ for 24 hours and her Nonna stayed with us for just over a week.


The dress she wore at her dedication was made in Switzerland in about 1912 and comes down from Merilyn's Great Grandmother (I think I have that right!). Many of the Matthews clan have been dedicated in it over the years, including Rob. It is a beautiful dress and Poppy just looked adorable in it (as you can tell by the photos).



Despite a last minute venue change on the day everyone managed to arrive on time and witness the beautiful event. Ps Col Usher dedicated her, which was a really nice touch since he was also the one to marry Rob and I, 2.5 years ago. And then it was followed up by lunch and hanging out at our house. It was an ultra hot winter day, where the temperature got up to about 31°C I think.

It was also seemed to make sense that we made the dedication our last service at Brisbane City Church. So with everyone around us we sadly farewelled a church that we have called home for the past 14 years combined to move to a more local Baptist church. We are really looking forward to the times ahead, meeting new people and getting connected into our local area.

In developmental news, Poppy loves standing up, including watching the bath fill up with water each evening, is slowly taking her first steps and loves walking behind her bike I am currently hiring from the Toy Library for a month (photos to come), and the other morning I found her splashing in the left over shower water! Now every time I leave her unattended in the bathroom, she makes a beeline for the puddles.


Its' not going to be long till she is walking I don't think, but I have decided that she should first learn to clap and maybe crawl on her knees. We will see how that goes for me!

In Work news, there has been a whole lot happenning. To cut quite a long story short, (if you want the whole story ring us, we would love to hear from you!) Rob is now working 4 days a week and I have taken on a promotion at work, where I work 16hrs a week from home and 8 of those hours are on Friday when Rob and Poppy have Daddy Daughter day. Its been two weeks officially so far and its a three month trial (part of the long story that you don't know) but I'm really enjoying the mental challenge of it all.

I am learning (very quickly) how to be a Sales and Marketing Assitant for a company called Sitecore who sells Content Management Software for websites. There are only 5 of us in Australia and we all work from home, so very flexible hours which is exactly what I need.

That's all for now folks!

CRAWLING

Yup you heard it here first. Our 6.5 month old little girl is officially on the move . . . forwards!! For about 6 weeks she has been quite happily working her way backwards around the room as she so desires, finding it far simpler than rolling everywhere.

But as of two days ago the temptation to reach her spoon was far too great, that what would normally warrant heading in the opposite direction and twisting and turning until by some fluke she would end up where she wanted (if at all) she suddenly decided she wanted to take the most direct option. Good on her I say!

And here is the video to prove it . . .



That's all!

Here are my excuses . . .

For not updating you earlier on our antics:

Since we left you last Rob and Poppy had just had their first swimming lesson together. That was 2 months ago. We haven't had a swimming lesson again until Saturday just been. But none the less it was like she had never left the water. She loved it.


NEW ZEALAND

Mum decided that she missed her and hadn't seen her for a few weeks / months so Poppy and I flew to NZ for 5 days so that they could hang out together and have some quality time. It was lovely, because Mum got to babysit, we had a great lunch with Dad and checked out his renovations, saw a few friends and all in all just chilled out. Literally that is, considering the mornings were 2°C, but thankfully the beautiful blue skies through the day helped defrost us:

Poppy got to play with her friend Madeline:


We played at the park down in St Heliers:

Most mornings Nonna got to give Poppy a bottle in bed whilst watching TV:

Poppy made a new best friend:

Poppy and Poppa deep in conversation:


SOLIDS
Unfortunately for me Poppy was ready for solids while we were in NZ, and so she kept waking in the night. That meant they day after we got back to Australia she started on one meal a day. She LOVES them! Now we are on 3 meals a day, including porridge, chicken, avocado, banana, broccoli, apple, pear, pumpkin, kumera to name a few. Porridge is by far the messiest of them all!

The kitchen after my first attempt to puree pumpkin . . . I have got it down to a fine(r) art now!

Poppy loving her food:


HERVEY BAY
At very short notice Rob had to take a week off work to use up some leave he had accruing. We decided that this was our opportunity to head to Hervey Bay, somewhere we had been meaning to go for a long time, but had just never got around to it.

Also being on the cusp of the whale season meant that we were able to head out on a boat to have a go at whale watching. Turns out there weren't any whales and instead we had 80% of the boat vomiting around us. Poppy thought it was hilarious. Thankfully the skipper thought it best that we turned around and spent the next 1.5 hrs motoring back to shore. We were grateful for the free return tickets the company gave us for not seeing whales. I think we will use them during the middle of the season when things warm up, and the sea settles down!!

A family photo on the boat:

Poppy and Rob on her first ever boat trip:


We didn't see any whales but we did see a dingo heading up Fraser Island:


And that's a summary of it all. The next development is the most exciting of all though (so far!)

First Swimming Lesson

This morning Penelope and Rob had their first swimming lesson together. About a 10 minute from our house (directly opposite Bunnings) the council has just opened up a swimming complex with and indoor and an outdoor pool. The indoor pool is set up predominantly for kids swimming lessons which is very handy. They start the kids at 4 months, so now Poppy is 4 months and 4 days we decided to give a lesson a go and see how she went . . . turns out she LOVED it!!

We went with one of Robs work mates Mat and his daughter Sam, while Alison and I took photos from the sideline, wishing we were in the water with them.

They sang lots of songs, put their ears (not faces) under and tried to learn about blowing bubbles. The main skills they teach at this age is learning to grab the edge of the pool, or your clothing as well as confidence. Their were no tears, a few hand splashes and lots of leg kicking!!

Rob, Poppy, Mat & Sam getting ready to hop in the pool with the instructor:

Having fun whilst posing for the camera:

Learning to reach for the duck at the edge of the pool:

Of course the obligatory movie:



Poppy & Sam getting changed on the change table afterward (these guys are two days apart):


And for something totally unrelated, before we went to swimming this morning Rob and Poppy were reading a 4WD magazine in bed while Mum got up and had breakfast. I think they may even have the same facial expressions!


Too cute!

New Zealand, Flemings Visit & Camping

Yes I admit that I am about 6 weeks behind schedule so thought I better do a BIG catch up on our activities:

NEW ZEALAND
From 19 - 30 March we went to NZ to show off our little girl. We had a fantastic, yet slightly hectic time catching up with everyone and trying to relax at the same time. Penelope traveled like an angel. She fed on the way up and fed on the way down and chatted to herself and had wee naps the rest of time, on all four flights that we took her on.


She also enjoyed looking out the window as we travelled over the pacific and up and down the islands:


The biggest benefit of us going over was the opportunity for all remaining great-grandparents to meet the newest edition to the family. To do this we had a quick trip to Christchurch for 36 hours and had a lovely stay with Rob's cousin Cath & Eliot and their kids Emily & Darcy:


Poppy with Lois (Mums step-mum):


Poppy with Stan & Audrey (Dad's parents):


In Auckland we stayed with Dad for a weekend and Mum for the second half of the week. We got to take Rob out to Piha to see the wild west coast and its black sand beachs and other than that just has a relaxing time:





FLEMINGS COME AND VISIT
After 10 days back in Australia we had Greg, Sarah & Madeline come to stay with us for 10 days. We had an absolutely fantastic time with them! Rob & Greg got on really well considering they didn't know each other very well to start with (they became very close after bonding underneath a bulldozer for a day), Madeline was a little angel to have around, and Sarah and I had a great time catching up and a bit of reminiscing!

They were after a Aussie experience so we took them out to Rob's Aunt and Uncles house (Mac & Loy) who live 5.5hrs solid drive (no stopping) west of Brisbane on a farm called Tregona.

We did a bit of 4WDing, checked out the farm, the boys reinstalled the bulldozer radiator, shot kangaroos, fox, wild pig and cats.

Poppy also caught her first cold while we were away and being 2.5 hrs drive from the nearest shops made me very grateful to have some experienced Mums who knew exactly what to do to help decongest a whole lot of snot!

All in all it was a fantastic time and we can't wait till the Flemings move over here so we can see them more often. A huge thanks to Mac & Loy for letting us come and stay at such short notice as well.
CAMPING AT BOOREEN POINT
We were feeling brave after such successful other activities that we decided to have a go at camping with Poppy over the weekend just been. We headed up to Booreen Point, just north of Noosa for 3 nights. Well it actually turned into 2 nights because weather and traffic were not in our favour on the way up and so we ended up crashing at Chris & Merilyns at the last minute, however the rest of the weekend was extremely successful.

Out little girl slept through every night, I learnt to drive on 60 odd kilometers of sand when we headed up to Double Island point, included learning to floor the accelerator on the soft sand, we took Poppy for her first 'swim' and all in all reckon we didn't scare our friends off having kids(!)

We are not quite sure how people travel with more than one kid and fit everything in the boot without taking a trailer. This was our car and daughter on the way there:

Poppy and Rob hanging out infront of the tent:

Hiding from the sun in the car at lunch time:

Just before the first swim:

Bed time . . . she was tucked in between our bed and the edge of the tent:


The first swim:



HICCUPS
Today I had the hiccups and Poppy found it quite amusing. Just before this was filmed each time I hiccuped she would do an actual laugh. This video was the best we could capture!



So that's all folks. Sorry if some of it doesn't make sense or if I missed out something important. I'm tired and am just glad I have updated you all with some photos!

Luv to all

Shannon came to visit

After spending most of the week working in the Gold Coast, Shannon came to visit for a day. It was great to see her and for her to meet Poppy. They had a great time hanging out with each other, doing a bit of shopping, talking to each other and of course, skyping Uncle Nick in Canada:





I almost gave up trying to get good photos of Poppy smiling and laughing and so went for a video instead. I apologise for it being on its side but I haven't yet worked out how to rotate a video in the software that we use. Next time I will just have to remember to have the camera up the right way!

Poppy is having a grand old time smiling when we get her up in the morning, sing to her, play with her and any general interaction (if she is in a good mood). She loves strange noises and her favourite songs are 'Good Morning' and 'Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes'. Its so neat to have her interacting with the world more and more each day.



We are off to NZ tomorrow for 10 days so in the process of trying to borrow and find winter clothes for her (just in case the weather turns) I have come across these two beanies. . .I couldn't resist but to take a photo of her. Soooo cute!!

The cousins come to play

We have just had a lovely weekend up at Rob's parents place. Luke, Kim & Liam were up from Melbourne and Lizzie, Neil, Thomas & Amy came over for the day as well. It was a houseful of laughter, crying and chaos but most of all heaps of fun giving the cousins a chance to all play together.

The family together (except for Merilyn who took the photo):

Poppy and her two older boy cousins (Thomas & Liam):

Liam trying to drink the ice in the bucket :
Poppy hanging out with Nan:

Thomas walking all by himself:
Amy eating peas (sorry about the focus on this one!):
And in other news, here is some head lifting during tummy time and a part of a smile (the best we have been able to do so far.):

Poppy is due for her 2 month check up this week and therefore her 2 month injections as well.
Hope you are all well!