my darling mummy

One of Holly's favourite things to call me at the moment is "my darling mummy".  It is so cute!  She mostly says it when she thinks I have hurt myself or gotten upset.  "Okay my darling mummy?" she asks me.  She always wants to kiss me better if I've hurt something.  My heart melts every time!

Thunder

There was a storm yesterday afternoon, and the thunder was pretty loud.  I already knew Zac was pretty jumpy, so I was sitting close to him when the thunder started.  Poor little love, he jumped a mile and burst into tears at the first loud clap.  I just held him close, and he buried his little face into my chest at every loud bang.  It is so precious to be able to be that person to him.

Chatty Zac

Recently our little boy has started to become very vocal!  If anyone makes a loud noise, he joins in the fun, trying to be louder than anyone else.  He makes lots of "talking" sounds - ba ba, da da, ga ga.  When he sits playing he chats away happily to himself.  It's so lovely to listen to and always makes me smile.

Praying

Recently Holly has started to want to be the one to give thanks before dinner.  This is how her prayer usually goes:
Dear God
Thank you for dinner
Thank you for lunch
Thank you for dinner
Amen

Yesterday I was teaching her that we can thank God for other things too, like family and friends.  I modelled a few to her (thank you for Zac, thank you for my daddy, thank you for my friends) and then she says "thank you for my Eva" (her friend from church).  So sweet. :)

Shopping

Our sweet little girl has only just turned 2, but already she loves to shop!  As she wanders through a clothes shop, she touches the dresses and skirts, exclaiming "look mummy/daddy/nanna/etc, pretty skirt" at every second one, and then asking "borrow this one?".  (Beautiful innocence!)  She doesn't even need to physically be in the store to notice all the dresses, she is quite excellent at pointing them out in the windows as we walk past.

She loves shoe shopping too.  If we ever go into a shoe store, she wants to try everything on.  We made the mistake of taking her into a shoe store the other day, letting her try on a few pairs, and then (uh oh) leaving without buying any.  Major tantrum.  Huge tears.  Big bottom lip.  Not a happy little girl.  But she was so delighted that afternoon when I brought home a pair of pink sandals I had bought for her from a factory outlet (while she was asleep!).

I wonder what she will be like as a teenager...

An afternoon at the park

 The four of us went to the park the other day... it was such a lovely afternoon. Here are some photos.

Our *particular* daughter

Neat?  Orderly?  Meticulous?  I've been searching for the right word for Holly, and can't quite find the one I want, but these ones give you a bit of an idea of what I mean.  She is super particular when it comes to mess and things the way they should be (or the way she thinks they should be).  If I leave a kitchen cupboard door or the microwave open, she'll insist on it being closed before she will eat her dinner (or do whatever it is I want her to do).  When she comes into the loungeroom after waking up in the morning, there's often lots of Stefan's schoolwork spread around from the night before.  She'll quickly announce "all messy here" and order "Daddy clean it up".  [We were out on a walk the other day and she spotted a messy driveway area, and said the same thing!!]

When helping me peg out the nappies she insists on putting a pink peg on a pink nappy, yellow peg on a yellow nappy, and so on.  She is quite put out when she wants to hang up something white or brown or black and I have to tell her we don't have those coloured pegs.

If Stefan or I rest our foot on the coffee table or the edge of her chair, she strongly requests (okay, let's be honest, demands) that we put it down.

She sure has strong ideas about the way her world should be!

Going away

We went away for the last few days with my (Lara's) parents and nephew Sean to my uncle's house in Bateman's Bay.  I was a bit apprehensive about it, just cause it's the first time we've been away since Zac has been sleeping well, and I didn't want to do anything to mess that up.  Also because Holly seems to get quite car sick, and it's a reasonably long drive.

Turns out, I needn't have worried!  The kids slept really well, Zac especially, and Holly didn't get sick at all.  We had a really lovely time.  We went to the markets, Holly played in the park with Stefan and Sean, we visited a cute little town 15 mins away, we walked along the boardwalk and we went shopping!  Not to mention all the lovely time we got to spend together at the house, playing games, talking, having fun with the kids, watching movies...  It was a real blessing to be able to go away with family, and for the kids to be able to spend time with their grandparents and cousin. :)