Organising

Living in a small house, I'm constantly trying to rearrange things so that it all fits neatly. I think also I have a rearranging gene passed on from mum, she used to rearrange the lounge every 6 months at least. Anyway I have all these ideas of how I'm going to fit things into our house and I have recently pulled one of them off! When Kaisha first started at her Montessori daycare we went to an information evening. Basically the Montessori philosiphy is about setting up kids to succeed in doing tasks on their own. So its about making sure kids have the tools they need in their own size so that they can do tasks themselves. Anyway one of the suggestions they made was to have a toy shelf instead of a toy box. The theory being that when a child sees a toy box they have a curiosity to get to the bottom and then they turn around after reaching the bottom and are overwhelmed by the mess they have made. If the toy is pulled off the shelf, they can see the space where it has come from and know where to put it back. Ever since hearing this I have wanted a toy shelf and finally I have one.

So far it is working really really well. Kaisha is playing with more of her toys and tends to pack them up without me asking. Yay! I think that is daycare's influence coming thru.
In other big news Kaisha has moved into a big girl bed this week! We finally got her bunks painted and put together over easter.
Here Kaisha is "helping" to put the bunks together. The funny expression on her face is her saying cheese.

Here she is sleeping, she only takes up a tiny amount of the bed, you have to look hard to spot her! The pillows are in case she falls out which so far hasn't happened.

And here is a last picture of Kaisha. She came up to me in this get up and told me she was ready to "go to the shops"

Down the Coast and Crafts

We went down the coast on Sunday to visit the relly's. Was nice to catch up as we hadn't seen them for ages. Kaisha and Lilla became best friends over dinner. They are exactly a year apart and had great fun chasing each other around

After our last long car trip when Kaisha wanted out of her car the whole way and wouldn't sleep or be quiet I had the bright idea of downloading a video to our ipod. She was absolutely silent for the half hour it was playing. Definitely worth the $2.99 from itunes!

I've got a new obsession with making fabric yoyo's. I found a tutorial on them a couple of weeks back. They are a nice short project, it only takes about half an hour to complete one. I managed to make this while Kaisha had her sleep on saturday.

Flu and Quilting

Flu season has started early in our house this year. Kaisha had it last weekend, Nick went down on Monday and now its my turn. Luckily Laura has just arrived back to stay with us and is entertaining Kaisha for me (hopefully she isn't next to get it). Since I have sore eyes I haven't felt like reading (shock horror) so I've been working on my quilting project.
Last year I made a very easy cot quilt for Kaisha. The fact that someone like me who can't sew managed to make a quilt inspired me to do it again.

This year I bought a king single quilt kit. I'm hoping to have it done by Kaisha's birthday in December but I won't be at all surprised if it ends up ready for her birthday next year instead of this year. I'm not very good at finishing project. I have a half knitted babies jumper that I started when I was expecting Kaisha 2 1/2 years ago. I have empty canvases, I have bits of wool and fabric. I can always picture how awesome something is going to look and never actually manage to finish it. Hopefully this year I can finish some of these things. Here is the fabric for the quilt.

I plan on taking the brown fabrics out and replacing them with more flowery pink ones. At this point I'm nearly finished the cutting out. Then comes the fun bit, putting together all the fabrics into squares. Then the sewing.

Out of the mouth of babes.

Kaisha was wrapped up in her towel after her bath tonight and I said something to her about having no arms. She replied "my arms have disappeared". What two year old can say disappeared!

Busy Days

Since our families are becoming more scattered I have decided that this is the best way to keep in touch with everyone. I will try and update weekly but no promise!
Currently Nick is still working as an Assistant Accountant.
I now work 3 days a week doing Research & Development for a natural skincare company. It is a challenge to formulate skincare using only natural ingredients so it keeps me on my toes.
Kaisha goes to a Montessori day care 3 days a week and loves it. In fact most mornings she pulls Nick out the door. She is a very articulate 2 year old and loves to talk and sing.

Here she is doing gardening this morning. We planted peas, carrots and flowers.

Coming soon....

Mel is looking to take over the main posting, after Nick has not posted for almost 2 years. Nick has changed the title, it is just a placeholder at the moment.

Watch this space.

July Videos

This video is of Kaisha looking at herself in the mirror. Even when she is sad it makes her giggle to look at herself.



This video is of Kaisha trying "real" food for the first time. It took awhile for her to get used to the texture and she pulled some hilarious faces but now she is gobbling up the food and opening her mouth for food when we eat.



This video is of Kaisha giggling. It was taken at the beginning of July when she was 6 1/2 months (4 1/2 months corrected age).