Time has gone so quickly, we have been in Adelaide for about 2 months now and we are loving it! We have not visited many tourist places yet just enjoying time together as family when Dane has the time off work. God is good all the time!

Jono and his pet 'scruff' enjoying their breakfast.

Esther all dressed up ready to embrace another cold day.

Jono is making a banana sandwich. He is a good helper in the kitchen.

Esther loves playing with Lego Duplo.

Jono making his favourite egg sandwich

Esther and Jono having fun at Koorong bookstore in the city. We love their full size playcentre!

Visit to Queensland Museum during daddy's 1.5 weeks Home Trip

We had a great time catching up with hubby/daddy!

Me and my two beautiful children at Queensland Museum

The kids with the 'Koala' at Queensland Museum

 

Brisbane Wheel- it was so much fun looking over Beautiful Brisbane.

 

Brisbane Wheel - daddy with the tired boy

Mount Glorious Bush Walk --- We did not walk too far due to slippery road condition

 Mount Glorious Bush Walk

 

Our baby girl Esther is finally ONE!

I made this simple birthday cake

The Birthday Girl!

1st taste of Chocolate :P

We held a very simple but fun party for Esther. We invited close friends and family for a BBQ lunch. The party went well and everyone had a wonderful time. The highlight was hubby was able to come home for this special occasion. We thank God everyday for giving us this beautiful girl one year ago.

 

My baby Esther is turning ONE on the 24th this month. Where has the time gone???? She is walking, uttering a few words and loves giving cuddles. I am now really started to enjoy having 2 kids. Mainly because Jono and Esther can play together a bit more and Esther is far more independent than just being a baby. She can eat almost anything we eat and is happy just walking around the house all day (minus the getting into everything part :P). My mission this week is to prepare a small 1st birthday party on the 27th Feb. Dane will be home for it as well. Can't wait!

 

I can walk now!

I'm 11 months old and I love to chew everything.

I love eating cake

 

Mmmm, my favorite chocolate cake! 

  

I love my mummy more than any cake!!!!

We made cake together when daddy came home for a surprise visit.

 

Happy Birthday daddy!

 

Getting ready to swim in our pool

This is how we spend our summer - in our pool!

I can't believe I forgot to announce that Esther is walking now at just 11 months. She started taking steps at about 10 months old. She is so proud of herself and all she does now is walking around the house and explore everything that she can reach. She is also saying 'daddy', 'mum', 'duck' and she can wave her hand when we say 'hi', nearly clapping, and will give me whatever is in her hand when I say 'ta'. I'm so proud of her.

Esther is such a happy girl that most people think she does not cry (well how I wish it's true). She would smile at anyone anytime. I love taking her photos as she is always smiling. Her smile is so sweet and innocent. How blessed I'm to be Esther's mum. When I feel sad or stressed I would just look at Esther and she would give me a nice big smile. It always make me feel so much better.
Philipians 4:4 says Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Thank you Lord for Smiley Esther!

SMILE!

Esther is 8 months old. She is growing up too fast and I can't keep up with it. She has been crawling since 6.5 months and loves pulling herself up since 7 months. She is a chatterbox too. She likes making joyful noise and can say dadadada, duck and tada. Notice the similarity? Yes the D sound, babies can make this sound very easily. Another sound they can make easily is bababa sounds. It's just amazing to see how babies develop and grow, day by day they learn different things and become a little person of their own .

Jono sometimes can get really rough with Esther and he even said to me that he doesn't like Esther. :-( He seems to think Esther is taking over his territory and he is not happy with that. Aaahh the joy of sibling jealousy. Pray that Jono will come around soon enough to know that Esther is not going anywhere and she is part of us. :P

Thank you God for my two beautiful children who continue to amaze me and bring me lots of joyful and tearful moments. They are part of Dane and I. Even though I cannot see or touch dear hubby Dane for few more weeks but I'm able to hold mini Dane and mini Josephine. I can see us in them. :D

I'm feeling under the weather. I'm sick with the flu and is really missing Dane. It's two weeks now since he left for his trianing. He is doing great and very much enjoying the whole thing. I'm doing ok but no doubt I would have days like this when I feel run down and really wish he was here with me.

However, I thanked God for my two beautiful children who keep me busy and focused. Jono is still very chatty and he is learning to cope without daddy. He has started to learn to play with Esther and share his toys with her. :D Esther is very mobile now that she can crawl. She also loves to stand up holding on to tables or anything she can hold on to. She can say 'dadada' as to daddy and duck. How clever!

Everyday I just hang around for Dane's 6pm phone call and that would definitely make me feel better and ready for the next day. Less than 2 months to go now! Can't wait!

Jonathan is a delightful 3 year old boy who loves to talk all day. He is friendly and often mixes well with other kids. I mean I could not ask for a more cheerful son than him. However, he has entered into the phase I called: "The Negative Three" (in light of the 'Terrible Two'). He used to love his food, his bath, go to bed peacefully but lately he refused to have bath/shower, becoming difficult at meal times and his favourite excuse now is "I don't want to do anything". My patience has once again been tested on a daily basis. The battle of getting him dress, getting ready to go out, or whatever it is, the response is usually NO. It's ok if I have the time of the world to be with him but I still have a 7 minths old daughter who equally needs me to spend time with her. So, I try to be calm and firmly guided Jonathan to do what he needed to do everyday. It's hard and emotionally draining. Undoubtedly, there were times when I lost it and I just asked him to go to his room and let us both calm down. Hopefully when he turns 4 it would be a fabulous four. :D

On the same note, my little Esther who had been sleeping through for 12 hours straight at night since 10 weeks old started waking up at nights for the last week or so. She would screamed and appeared very distressed. I really hope it is teething because I NEED my SLEEP BACK.

 

Our recent trip to the zoo

The good news is Dane might be able to finish his training a week earlier. That means he could spend 4 weeks over Christmas time with us before he leaves again for his employment training. The things that get me going is the HOPE that we are going to meet again. WIthout hope there is no purpose for living. Yes, we all need hope and real hope can only be found in THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. "Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope." Psalm 16:9

Thank God our little girl is 6 months old today! Oh I can't believe my baby is growing up so fast.

Some of her progress so far:
-Started eating solid food this month and is doing well.

-Can sit for about 5 seconds without support.

-Recongises her name and people.

-Loves playing with her big brother Jono.

-Loves rolling around and has great hand-eye coordination.

Can't believe my little baby girl is already 5 months old. She is a very cheerful and sociable baby. She has started to play with her feet a lot and her hands would grab anything that comes to sight. She is nearly sitting up by herself and loves playing with her big brother Jonathan. We pray that Esther will continue to grow happily each day!