I can't believe it's nearly the end of January already! Goodness, it will be Christmas again before we know it.

DH had 4 weeks of holidays starting on Christmas Day. Typically, it rained pretty much every day. He did get to do a fair bit of stuff around the house, but due to the rain the work on our roof and pergolas was further delayed.

Then the floods came :(
It was so devastating to watch. My heart just ached for the poor people in places like Toowoomba, Murphy's Creek and Grantham. The terror of seeing a torrential wave approaching is just unimaginable. Then there were the thousands of misplaced families, families who had to leave their homes to the flood waters. I cannot imagine how I would act in such a situation. I have so many possessions that are precious to me. Would I try to save them, or would I just get my family to an evacuation centre as quickly as possible with no regard for my worldly possessions? I pray that I will never be in that situation. We were so very lucky not to be affected here.

DH had to go back to work on the Friday the week of the flooding. He has a very high stress job at the best of times, and I have so much pride and admiration for the way he handled such a massive undertaking. He was gone by 6am every morning from the Friday until yesterday (9 days) and his phone was ringing before he left and after he got home every single day. He never brought his stress home and jumped right back into his Dad role as soon as he walked through the door.

He turned 40 last Wednesday and it was pretty much a non event. He left for work really early and it was a beautiful day so MIL and I took the kids to the beach. I felt terrible having such a good time on such a big birthday while he was at work. We went out for dinner that night but half an hour before he got home, I realised I'd forgotten to make a cake and it was way too late to buy one. I felt bloody awful.
He wants to have a big party at our place once the work on the house has been completed. It will probably end up being a combined party for himself, Elizabeth and Jimmy.

Elizabeth update

So here's what Elizabeth is up to lately.

She started sitting up unassisted about a week and a half ago. Finally! She's very good at it too, and hasn't had many topples. A few days after being able to stay in a sitting position when placed on the floor, she figured out how to sit from crawling.

She's also standing up on her knees and inspecting everything on the coffee table. A couple of times I've caught her trying to stand on her feet.

She has started blowing raspberries on my arm when I hold her (which is all the time!).

She talks heaps. When she wants to get someone's attention, she makes this loud, short noise that sounds something like "Unh!". When she looks at the fish tank, she says "Sssshhhh". Funnily enough, 'Shhhh' (fish) was Jimmy's first word! She loves sticking her finger in her mouth and going "Wabawabawaba!"

Yesterday, she started clapping. It is the cutest thing! Since yesterday I've been clapping my hands and saying "Clap, clap!" and now when I say 'clap', she claps. It's awesome to see her understand what I'm saying to her.

Here is a video of her clapping. Enjoy!

At Natural Bridge on Sunday.


Playing with Jemima.

Outside with Jimmy.

Being cute.