Eliza's first beach trip

With the warmer weather starting and a free Sunday, we decided to take Daniel and Eliza to the beach - Eliza's first trip. After having breakfast, we packed our beach bags and headed to Dee Why. After driving around a couple of times to try and find a parking spot, we scored a great place next to the beach and in the shade. Winner! Eliza had a little nap on the way there. I was so excited to be going to the beach again - first time in a while.

Ready to go

Daniel is looking quite grown up, wearing boardies, sun glasses and thongs. He was pretty excited to be at the beach again.

Beach boy

The boys headed down to the water while I helped Eliza get into her swimmers (she looks so cute!). She was pretty happy to put her feet on the sand for a little bit.

This is sand!

 When we went down to the water, one kid was very happy and the other wasn't. 

Not happy!

As you can see, Daniel was in his element... Eliza was not very happy at all. I think the difference from a really warm day to the chilly water didn't work for Eliza. The poor little thing. When the waves went out she seemed to settle down but as she re-entered the water, she became upset again.

So Eliza spent a little bit of time in my arms while Daniel enjoyed playing with his bucket and spade in the water and sand.

I had another go with Eliza asking Daniel to hold her hand. It still didn't go so well.

I decided to give her a feed to see if that helped her settle a bit (she did have a nap on the way so was due for a feed). While feeding her, she fell asleep in my arms... maybe her nap in the car was too short. She then proceeded to have a nap that went for 45mins-1hr. Possibly another reason why she wasn't very happy when putting her feet in the water. She is just so cute while she sleeps!

While Eliza slept, James and Daniel had a wonderful time by the water's edge. The built sandcastles, dug a hole to make a puddle pool, went into the waves, watched other people playing in the sand, and lots more. It would have been nice to have joined in and played with him too, but that time will come later as Eliza grows up. It was lovely watching James and him interact.

The boys building sand castles and making a puddle hole

Throwing Daniel in the air

Playing in his hole

After changing the kids back into their clothes, ready to head home, we stopped at a cafe so James could get a coffee and I could get an icecream. There were some kids seats out the front so we had Daniel sit there and Eliza sat next to him. They are pretty cute kiddies!

I'm looking forward to our next family beach trip!
 

Roll over, roll over

Eliza has been working on rolling over (without Daniel's help). 

She has still only rolled from her tummy to her back a couple of times, (here is one time that she rolled tummy to back. It took a very long time to convince her to do it).

She seems to just enjoy tummy time so much that it doesn't give her an intention to roll.

Sibling tummy time

Happy girl

I'm a bit tired now

After a couple of weeks rolling onto her side to play with her feet 

or wriggle to reach toys, today she was being very inquisitive about rolling to reach toys and see different things. Today, she managed to roll onto her tummy to watch Daniel play and another time to reach her toys. She hasn't done it properly yet as her arm is still stuck beneath her, however, she is well on her way.

Rolling over to watch Daniel play

My clever little girl!

Twinkle Twinkle

Daniel is enjoying singing songs. Here he is singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. He's pretty cute!

 

Brotherly Love

When I sit back and watch Daniel interact with Eliza I am amazed at how much he loves her and cares for her. He takes great delight in her giggling at things he does, at touching his hair when he gives her a hug, at talking to him, at playing with her. They both smile so much when the other one is around. It is a very special bond and one that I hope continues to grow as they grow up.

One afternoon while I was doing the washing up, Eliza was sitting in her bouncer playing with a toy but she kept dropping it on the floor. Daniel was playing his keyboard, however, he kept stopping to pick it up for her and then he'd return to what he was doing. It was just so sweet to see! Very different to his usual 'help' where Eliza is playing with a toy so Daniel wants it (of course) and takes it away from her and then gives her a new toy to play with for 5secs until he decides he wants to play with that one.

Here is video of Daniel giving Eliza cuddles and her giggling. I have given up on telling him to be careful or to not go on top of her because she just giggles and he tells me that 'La likes it'. Again, the bond is pretty cute.

Happy Fathers' Day

We celebrated our first Fathers' Day as a family of 4. Eliza woke up at 6:30 so I fed her and then Daniel woke up at 7am. Daniel enjoys coming down the hallway with his step to climb into our bed for a play or to read his story. It's pretty clever.

We climbed into bed and gave Daddy some hugs. Daniel was saying 'happy fathers' day' which was very sweet. 

We then gave him his present which Daniel was certain to help open.

Reading the card (and the description of the front cover drawing by Daniel)

Daniel couldn't wait to open the present

A present for Mummy and Daddy to enjoy

Strictly Ballroom Blu-ray

'Can we see inside?' A trick for Daddy to find tickets to Strictly Ballroom the Musical

Daniel and Eliza decided to give Mummy and Daddy some time together by giving him a present of tickets to see 'Strictly Ballroom, the Musical'. We now need to watch the movie to see the similarities and differences. We saw the musical last week and it was excellent. A very lighthearted musical but was very upbeat and interacted with the audience a lot (getting us to cheer for a specific couple when they danced, getting people up on stage to join in, etc). It was very lovely to have a night out - thanks kiddies!

After present openning it was kisses and more cuddles for Daddy

 Followed by Eliza having some more sitting practice. She is getting there, slowly. I just love the look of concentration on her face. She's such a cutie!

And then there was so loving sibling rumbling too. Go Eliza!!

Eliza then had some breakfast and Daniel was kind enough to help Daddy give it to her.

At lunchtime we gave Eliza some pear for the first time. She wasn't very sure about the taste of it but it gave us a giggle to see the faces she pulled and the shiver she did.

At lunch we had everyone come around to celebrate Howie's birthday (but also to celebrate our dads (my Dad, James and Howie). It was nice to see everyone and enjoy hanging out. The kids got into helping Howie blow out the candles on the birthday cake.

Just like with Daniel, I am so grateful that Eliza gets to meet her great-grandmas and her great-boompa. Here is a photo of 4 generations on Mum's side. So precious! So loved.

In the afternoon after the kids nap times, I made some berry smoothies. Daniel was very excited and enjoyed sitting next to Daddy while drinking it.

Smoothie Smile :-)

It was a lovely day celebrating Dads. I am so grateful that James is Daniel and Eliza's dad. It is so lovely to watch him interact with them. The laughs, the smiles, the giggles. He is loving but firm. He reads with them, plays with them, makes coffee (and babychinos) with them. They are so lucky to have him as their daddy. I hope they realise that as they grow up.