A week of firsts

It has been a big week (alright week and a half!) of firsts around here. The first of the firsts is that we have official smiling!! I've endeavoured to capture it for you but Evie is still pretty stingy with the smiles. This is the best I could do. You can see a hint of a smile. She reserves the good smiles for when I poke her on the nose and she even throws a few in the direction of her lovely big brother (although clearly not in this photo).

Other firsts include:

- first efforts by Evie on her baby playmat. She figured out that if she kicks some things they make noises. Always very cool to watch them make a startling realisation such as this one. And then go on to repeat the same action.

- first bath in the big tub. The whole baby bath thing gets a bit tedious after a while so I jumped in the big tub with her and she just loved it. Like Ollie she adores floating on top of the water with her ears submerged and all the sounds of the world muffled (I do a similar thing when I put the two of them in the car and shut the doors and sometimes just stand there for a minute outside the car enjoying the peace and quiet!!)

- first summer outfit. It has been super hot here in the last week, bumping up into the 30s already, so it was off with the winter onesies and into some of the cute summer clothes I didn't think we'd need for a bit longer. Evie looked especially gorgeous in these cute nappy pants (thank you Aman & Alice) teemed with a top that I made for her. She looked so cute that she wore them to her...

- first girly outing with mum. Sunday afternoon saw Evie and I head off on our own to our good friend Marie's baby shower. Evie was on her best behaviour and didn't deter anybody from wanting to have babies, which is always a good thing. Thanks to her popularity with our lovely friends I also got out of having to hold her for most of the afternoon.

- first successful sleep on a weekday. I did it!! I finally got both of them to sleep (well Ollie is really the struggle) at the same time. We all curled up in our big bed and after initial shenanigans, Ollie happily allowed me to pat him to sleep while Evie lay beside me. It was a lovely hot day sleep beneath the fan, the best kind. I even managed to replicate this feat on the next occasion. Fingers crossed I can do it again today.

- first feed of formula. Now everyone knows that I'm not a formula mum (not casting judgement, I just haven't needed to use it) but we had always agreed that Evie would have one formula bottle each day, just to allow me to get a little sleep and for greater flexibility. I had kept putting it off for the last few weeks. I suspect I wanted to feel solely responsible for those chubby little cheeks and thighs. But with an evening social event looming, I had to take the plunge. To help keep it as normal as possible I fed her the first time and I have to admit that I felt a little rejected when she happily gulped down her delightful artificial food. But then I saw the possibilities this afforded me and I was able to view it in a positive light. Since then Nick has been in charge of her formula feed each night which is wonderful for them to have that close time together. It also allows me to go to bed earlier and have good stretch of sleep until she wakes up next between 1-2 am. Unfortunately the formula doesn't seem to have had that often claimed effect of making her sleep longer, but that was never the reason for doing it. I just hoped it might have been a bonus!

- first dinner out - well not really as we have been out for dinner quite a few times since Evie came along. But this was the first time we had left Ollie behind (with Aunty Hayley) so Nick and I could go out and celebrate our five year wedding anniversary. How time has flown, and how life has changed (so much for the better) in that time. Our plan was to go to Jakarta in the Valley for an Indonesian feast and to talk about a lengthy Indonesian odyssey in the future (Nick's long service leave looms and this is our plan). But upon arriving at Jakarta we were horrified to see that they were shut. A quick dash across to Bali Grill at Rosalie and we were soon holding icy Bintangs with yummy food only moments away. Definitely a fitting way to celebrate for us, but it would have been better if Evie could have slept a bit longer. Unfortunately it seems that the sound of us putting our cutlery down after dinner must have woken her, as she timed the end of her peaceful slumber perfectly.

And finally, but still fairly significantly, Evie has moved to her big cot. We have had her in a cradle beside the bed but since Nick noticed that her arms hung out the sides when she wasn't wrapped up, out came the old cot. Ollie loved seeing it and we couldn't quite believe that he used to fit into it. On the other hand, Evie looks so super tiny in it. She also seems to really enjoy sleeping in it, although it would be good if she could take naps for longer than 30 minutes during the day time!

Evie and I might have also enjoyed our first dance around the loungeroom to "Girls just want to have fun", but that might just be too daggy to admit!!