36 weeks...daylesford

 we spent last weekend in beautiful Daylesford, where the air is fresh, the autumn leaves are red and gold and the local produce is soul food. the weather was icy but we rugged up and still managed to get out and about for walks around the lake and lazy breakfasts/lunches/brunches at our favourite haunts.

Atti got to pat some alpacas at the Creswick Wool Mills while we fed them. he dug his little fingers into their fur and squealed with delight!

a massive hit was the pool table at the holiday house. Atti spent hours crawling around it (supervised), watching the balls roll around and even figured out to put them into the pockets himself!

the crazy giraffe hat in the last photo was an impulse purchase at the sunday market but has been a great hit!

p.s. we were in daylesford approximately at the same time last year for our babymoon:)

our first mother's day

i've been meaning to upload these photos for a while and finally found an opportunity.(i always plan to upload photos but time just seems to get away). on the second sunday of may, we celbrated our first mothers' day with a leisurely breakfast with grandma n, and a chilly autumn lunch with grandma m and great grandma z!

Atti got into the role of being the superstar centre of attention very quickly and enjoyed monkeying around all day long! what a little flirt!

p.s. that grey knitted scarf with red tassels is one of mumma's latest creations:)

8 months

weight: 8.150kg length: 70.5cm

 Oh my, how did we get to 8 months? Atti has really grown into such a little person over the last month that i now think of him as a little man rather than a baby. the biggest development is that we are now crawling! yes, we're on the move. it all happened so quickly, first getting up on hands and knees and then he finally figured out how to push himself forward and in the space of a couple of days suddenly became a pro commando crawler! filipp has been busy putting up baby gates and hiding all the lose cords etc because Atti is busy exploring! it's so fascinating now observing him explore the objects that interest him and seeing him go where he wants to go. key objects of interest are...Harry....he's always chasing Harry, but also, my little hand held vaccum cleaner, chair legs, bathroom tiles, Harry's water bowl, glass doors outside...in fact as soon as he sees the sliding door open to the backyard, he crawls with all his might! he just wants to go outside and play fetch with the dog! 

Atti now has his top front teeth too! They broke a couple of weeks ago and i think they really bothered him. he was completely off solids for 2 weeks before they came in and wasn't sleeping very well.

ma ma ma and ba ba ba are new sounds that have been added to our vocabulary...he loves to babble! he loves to play peekaboo and look at himself in the mirror. to get someone's attention he keeps looking and smiling at the person with the cheekiest smile and when he finally gets your attention, he starts swinging his head from side to side with the biggest grin on his face! it's quite amusing. 

  ** on a style note, Atti's beautiful jumper and matching socks are from petit bateau and were a gift from my colleague.

(yes, i look tired in this photo)

family portraits

Our wedding photographer kindly came over and took these pics of us way back in february when Atticus was 4 months old. 

7 months

weight: 7.814kg length: 70.5 cm

Atticus wasn't in the best mood for this month's portrait session and really wasn't falling for any of my silly songs or sounds in an attempt to cheer him up. it was more of a "just get on with it mum, i have stuff to do" type of mood. he continues to be busy busy and is always exploring, playing, observing and constantly requiring more and more stimulation. i often feel that he gets frustrated when his little fingers won't do the things he wants them to or gets angry with certain toys when he cant get them to do what he wants.


physical development this month has seen Atti get off the floor and onto his knees. he gets on all fours and jiggles his bum around to gain momentum. in the last couple of days he's actually started moving each little leg forward individually then crashing back down on his belly, but it does move him forward! he's really starting to get around quite well, especially on floorboards.
he sits unsupported now and has almost managed sitting up from being on his belly a couple of times! off course with all this experimentation on the path to mobility come falls, bumps, topples and scrapes. the skin on his knees is starting to harden and you can see little red splotches of carpet burn.

Atticus also loves to stand and "walk". i'm totally blown away by the fact that he actually steps his feet forward quite effectively when held by the hands and takes great joy in "walking". he beams with pride and looks around with a big grin on his face to make sure everyone can see what he's doing! most of the time when i give him my fingers to grab, he tries to stand up straight from lying down instead of sitting up first. he grabs my fingers straight away when offered and is always ready to stand and walk. he's also started to lift up his arms when he wants to be picked up which is super cute!
oh, and his top two teeth are getting ready to burst onto the scene! any day now.... 

Atti's social skills have become a little more sophisticated this month. he spends a lot of time staring at and analysing strangers and won't smile at just anyone. he will occasionally, however, just start absolutely cracking up at some stranger in the distance...really laughing out loud, but when they come closer to say hi, he goes all serious and greases them off! 
he recognises family and friends and responds to his own name. he knows my little songs and games and spends our long afternoon walks blabbing to himself for entertainment.

challenges this month saw us tackling sleep problems with a couple of days of controlled crying. we got to a stage where Atticus would wake up 5-6 times a night, screaming, and the only way i could get him back to sleep was to feed him to sleep in our bed. a week or so of this had me calling the emergency helpline and trawling through sleep books. the first bout of control crying was heartbreaking but it only lasted 2 minutes or so and i was actually surprised at how quickly he started to settle himself after he realised i wasn't coming in to feed him. after just 2 days, he started waking up only once or twice and would settle back to sleep much quicker by himself.  


Atticus' interests continue to be people, smiles, watching the dogs and really exploring his world. he's become an absolute expert at pulling my hair out and i sometimes think his favourite thing is to lie next to me and pull my hair as hard as he can. he's also become fascinated with people's mouths. i'm not sure if it's the teeth or just a mouth moving but if he's in your lap, he can't take his eyes off your mouth and loves to stick his little fingers in there.
we've taken a couple of steps backwards with solids as Atti has started refusing all food in mush form. the only thing he has been eating for the last couple of days is watermelon and grapes! he loves to bite, squish, suck and play with the little pieces inside his mouth. i think the cold fruit probably feels quite soothing to his sore teething gums. watermelon is a definite favourite at the moment.

27 weeks late...the belly report

...and this is how it all happened at the Atti factory! (seems like another lifetime now)

in retrospect i really should have worn the same outfit for all the photos! oh well, next time...

27 weeks...fairhaven

last weekend we went away to fairhaven for the weekend. it was to be our first mini holiday with friends in a couple of years and a first one with Atti. i was a bit hesitant considering he started to get a bit sick on thursday but we decided that it was just a minor cold and that we would regret not going. if anything, we would just come back home considering it was only a 2 hrs drive away. 

the getaway was great: beautiful surroundings, beach, fresh air and great company. but relaxing it was not: Atti spent the whole weekend pretty much squaking like a seagull! i think a combination of him not feeling great and having to deal with new surroundings and people turned our usually chilled and placid baby into an unsettled and restless little man. 

still we found a new super cute cafe in fairhaven (where Atti sat in a high chair for the first time!!), had a beautiful walk to the lighthouse, and a scenic 3 hr drive along the great ocean road (granted that was only to make the little man sleep.) we're learning quickly that sometimes you just have to do what you need to to get some peace and quiet!