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Tuesday, December 29, 2009

ONE YEAR OLD! SUPER POST!

From this...


TO THIS...


HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAYLA!!

Current Weight: 16400g
(Her weight has stabilized)
Current Length: 83cm (roughly)
Current Size: 4-5

WOW! OK I'm going to do this post a little differently because I've got LOADS of photos from all different occasions so I'm going to section them throughout the post rather than have them all laid out at the end of it like I usually do.

Firstly I just want to say I can not believe how fast this year has gone and Dan and I could not be more proud of the beautiful little girl that our Kayla has become.

She is so full of life with a cheeky personality and she wins our hearts more and more everyday with her never ending milestones and her big heart of gold.

This month has been very eventful with so many occasions, firstly we had a very special...

FAMILY VISIT!

My Aunty Sam and her two kids Dylan and Joseph made a special trip from the UK to spend Christmas with us this year and it was the first time they got to meet little Kayla too so it was extra special. My Aunty Karen and Brother Danial with his fiance Ev also traveled to spend Christmas with us too who don't often get to see her much either.

Kayla use to be pretty shy and it would take her a while to come out of her shell for people she has never met - even with family that she hadn't seen for a while. But this month her shyness has seemed to have left almost completely! She is so bubbly, chatty and welcoming to everyone now - even to complete strangers walking by in the supermarket.

She was especially welcoming to her 2nd Cuzzy's Dylan and Joseph because she really loves boys and can be quite the little flirt! hehe

Meeting her 2nd Cuzzy Joseph for the first time
(and she ADORED him!)...

She remembered her Graunty Karen...



Meeting her Graunty Sam for the first time...

and they really hit it off...




FAMILY FUN AT THE STRAND!

The family took her out to the Strand beach for a family outing - I didn't go because I wasn't feeling well, but it was a very nice day for her. She didn't like the water park too much because at this stage she was still a little afraid of water. She had become very afraid of the bath for an unknown reason and was determined to stay out of the bathtub unless one of us went in there with her! We have no idea why she was so afraid - I'm thinking maybe it had something to do with one occasion when a frog jumped at her which we didn't realise was hiding behind the shower curtain at the time hehe! She absolutely flipped out! We even tried putting her in a baby blow up pool but she just would not have it!

But she was happy to hang out with the family and go for little walks around the park. She is walking with ease now and even running! And she loves to join in on conversations with her chatty babble! She is repeating EVERYTHING we say now - so we've got to be careful with what we say. She even said 'Heck' the other day (My bad! But at least I use the word heck instead of the F bomb! haha) She's also saying "oooo pretty" a lot too and she now says "Ooops" when she falls on her butt or drops something! It's so cute!!

In her cute lil bikinis...



She sure loves her Poppy...

going for a walk with Great Granma...

DINNER WITH SANTA!

Mum arranged for the kids to attend a little event organized by McDonalds to have dinner with Santa. They set up a party room for the kids which include a happy meal, games, prizes, lolly bags and they get to meet Santa who hands each of them a prezzie.

Kayla was the youngest one there and the only one who had the healthier option for her happy meal (fruitbag instead of chips and juice instead of soft drink) hehe poor Bubette! But we are trying very hard not to introduce her to junk food for as long as we can - if she's anything like her Mother - once she has a taste she'll want it all the time! haha! Besides... she's chubby enough how it is! :-P

We weren't sure how Kayla was going to react to the other kids let alone the big scary fat man dressed in red!! But she actually had a blast! She is so comfortable around other children and will walk straight up to them to play - especially the boys!

I was most surprised with her reaction to Santa though - although she didn't completely welcome him - she didn't completely freak out either which is what I expected. She was sort of in between - she let us sit her on his lap long enough for us to get a photo but then she shot her arms out quick smart for Dada to save her! heehee! She didn't cry though - so that's the main thing! :-)

With Nanny and Joseph...

She is shy at first getting ready for dinner...

But it doesn't take long for her to come out of her shell...

Here comes Santa...

But she's not too sure about him...

though at least she's not crying...
Ok back to Dada NOW!...

Though she'll happily take her present
(which was a McDonalds bowl!)...

Maybe he's not so bad after all...


FAMILY TRIP TO MAGGIE ISLAND!


Mum came up with the nice idea to spend a 2 night family vacation on Magnetic Island since it was going to be a while for us all to be together again (besides my Brother Paul and his Girlfriend Anita who couldn't make it this time.) It was a lovely escape and Kayla's first little holiday - we had an entire retreat to ourselves, with three bungalows to accommodate us all comfortably.

Some of us arrived late in the afternoon including Dan, myself and Kayla so by the time we got there it was almost dark. But there was a lovely pool at this retreat that we had all to ourselves and although it was pitch black by the time we got in (because there were no pool lights!!) Kayla showed interest in going for a swim with the rest of us! So this was her first swim ever in a big swimming pool in complete darkness but you know what? She absolutely loved it!! And after that she just wanted to be in the pool all the time!

It was a lovely relaxing little holiday for us, and although we barely left the retreat to explore the rest of the Island we still had a blast!

On the ferry...

We arrive and dump the baby with Poppy...

(haha just playing!)

Her very first swim!!...

and she loved it...

though she could use a good tan :-P...

Next morning having Brekky with Uncle Leth...

then she's ready for another swim...

Swimming with Dada...


We had a floaty for her - but her Thunder thighs were too big...

Again! Again!..
.
Swimming with Nanny this time...

and loving every minute of it...

Dylan and Joseph join her...

Now she's really excited!...

Cuddles with Joseph...

She gives him a big kiss...

She loves her cuzzy...

she blows a kiss to everyone else too...

Ok out time now...

Playtime with Poppy...

Time for some lunch...


I love my lil Bubette...


Again! Again!...

She can't get enough!...

Ok time for bed now...

Next morning we head to the beach and make a tropical Snowman
(Sandman)...


Kayla explores the park...

Hanging with Nanny and Poppy...


CHRISTMAS LIGHT HUNTING!

On this day - sadly my parents pet dog Riley had to be put down. Something he had swallowed got caught up in his intestine and he fell very ill to the point it was too cruel to keep him alive.
xoxo RIP Riley oxox

But to help cheer us up - we went on a little adventure to drive around town hunting the pretty houses done up with Christmas lights. Kayla seemed to enjoy herself.

Her reaction to the lights...


CHRISTMAS EVE!

It's our big family tradition to have a formal Christmas feast on Christmas Eve! A Turkey roast, ham off the bone and lots of veggies for dinner, a pudding full of five cent coins set alight with fire for desert with ice-ream, jelly and custard, and a few glasses of wine, a lot of laughs and games and a belly ache from too much food by the end of the night! I personally enjoy this night even more than Christmas day itself! So I was very excited to have our new special little family member to join us for the first time too!

This year Dan and I are really hoping to spend Christmas in Gisborne with his family. It has been such a long time since we have been back there and we would love for Kayla to meet the rest of the family on his side too. So we will be trying to save up for it this year! Either that or sometime earlier when the surf is good lol :-D YaY!

Little pink Christmas tree
(hehe)...


Whassat?...


Cuddles with Poppy...


Photo with her Cuzzys...

All the gals!...

the BEST looking bunch of gals you'll ever see!...

Four Generations!! Great Granma, Nanny, Mummy and Baby...

Our little Gillies Family...

Time to eat...


KAYLA'S FIRST CHRISTMAS!!


It was a lovely first Christmas for Kayla, and we enjoyed it too. I must admit before having Kayla - as I get older Christmas's were becoming less and less exciting for me! I loved hanging out with the family - but I don't really care for presents all that much and the stress of the silly season. But now that we have Kayla - I could feel myself getting excited again! Because it's all about her for us now, and it's exciting to see her reaction to all the fun stuff.

She was very spoilt from all of the family and her favourite presents were her bath book from Grandad John, Grandma Sue and Aunty Em (Thanks so much guys she loved it! And we loved our gifts from you too! xx) she also loved her macca pacca bath toy she got from Graunty Sam (she loves in the night garden) and she adores her table and chair set and ball pit which she got from Nanny and Poppy! But most of all - she loved the boxes they all came in!! haha! But that's always the way with bubs isn't it!

Lotsa prezzies for all!...


Kayla gets spoilt...

one of her fave gifts - macca pacca...


But her absolute fave toys were the boxes they came in!...

Cheeky girl!...


For one of my gifts to Mum I decided to take up the challenge of making a sculpture of Kayla from polymer clay! As most of you know it is a new hobby of mine that I have recently taken up. This was my 4th piece and I put so much hard work and effort into it because I wanted to make it perfect! It wasn't easy but I was so proud of myself when I finished sculpting her - I had her absolutely perfect to how I wanted it and her face expression was spot on!! (And it's not like me to be so proud of my own work!)

The time came to put her in the oven to bake her and I was so relieved that nothing could go wrong now (because I had mastered the baking process with my previous pieces.) But to my horror, when I went to collect her... I realised that I had somehow accidentally put the damn thing on GRILL!!!! So my poor perfect sculpture got ruined!!!!

Her head and face got burnt and out of shape, her head was cracked her eyes had melted and the rest of her body was not baked through properly! I was SO devastated and bawled my eyes out! haha! But I wasn't going to give up - so I repaired her as much as I could. I put more layers of clay around the face damage, re-sculpted and painted her eyes and re-baked her (on OVEN this time!) And I was able to cover up the worst damage on the top of her head with hair.

She doesn't look any where near as good as I first had her but I was still thrilled and relieved with the final result!

After repairing and rebaking...


After the painting process...

After the hair process...


Complete with outfit...

I'm very happy with how she turned out and Mum seemed to love her too...


I also made other little sculptures for the rest of my family members too. They are what I call 'Grublins' If you would like to see them you can find them HERE in my Facebook album.

GREAT GRANMAS 70TH BIRTHDAY!

The day before Kayla's Birthday was another very special Birthday and that was my Granma's 70TH!!!!!

It was a nice relaxing day with family and friends at a lovely lagoon park where we let Kayla run around to explore! She found herself a little friend who was the little boy of another guest there, and she followed him around like a lost puppy! He is 6 months older than her but MY GOD she is like twice the size of him in weight! haha! It was such a funny sight seeing her interact with him - she just ran straight up to him as soon as she saw him - this girl is not shy at all!

Kayla was the life of the party...

she was more than happy to entertain us all...

until she spotted a little boy...


and she followed him everywhere!!...

he was playing hard to get but she was happy to chase him...

the little flirt!...

she tried to get a kiss from him...

but I think he wanted to take things slow...

*giggles*

KAYLA'S FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!

Finally it was time to celebrate her FIRST BIRTHDAY!! But to be honest the lead up to it was rather exhausting! I think it's safe to say that by this time we were all partied out! With our trip to maggie island, Christmas just days before and Granma's 70th the day before!

So we just decided to have a quiet one for her at my parents house with just the close family. She had been spoilt just a few days before at Christmas anyway and was about to be spoilt again! So it wasn't a big one but it was still a lovely day for her.

We also decided to allow her to have some party food treats! It was her Birthday after all, and one day of treats of the entire year was not going to hurt!

The Birthday girl arrives...

Looking beautiful in her Pixie outfit...


Spoilt again!!...

and yet she plays with the wrappers and price tags!...


Heading to the party food...

The one day in her life we let her pig out...

Now for the cake...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!...

She still has room for cake...

Time to get clean...

look who's not afraid of baths anymore...


Kayla now had a stack of new toys from Christmas and her Birthday so we decided to build her a playroom to store it all. We had it all set up and ready for her on the day of her Birthday and she absoluetly loves it! She runs around and jumps into the ball pit, then into the bus tent, then into the plastic house, she sits at her playtable and gathers up all her toys and kisses them all, she draws on her blackboard and gets comfy on the beanbag to look at her books - it's fantastic!!

She's getting more playful by the day and one of her favourite things to do lately is play hide and go seek / chasey. I'll run and hide somewhere and she'll creep around looking for me - then she'll spot me and I'll start stomping my feet towards her while chanting the jaws theme song "Dun Na Dun nun nananana". She runs away squeeling with laughter as I come towards her and she goes straight into the playroom and launches herself on the beanbag! (Like the beanbag is bar - or den as the kiwi's would say.) Then I'll tackle her down and tickle her and she laughs her little head off! It's SO funny!

She even does the same to me too which is even cuter! She even does the jaws theme song really well too! She's actually got a very good ear and even from a very young age she has been able to copy my pitch. Like I'll hum a low sound and she will copy it and once she has got the right pitch I'll hum another - like really high and she'll master that too! It's very impressive.

Another cute thing she's doing now is fatting out on the couch! hehe. She can climb on and off the couches now and when she gets all puffed out from playtime - she'll toddle towards the couch, climbs on and lounges out like a little couch potato! She'll put her little leg up on the arm rest and then let out a big sigh! She even likes to have the remote in her hand while doing it - just like her Dada! haha!

She has become very brave lately! She use to be scared and weary of everything and would cry when ever one of us left the room. Like even if we'd go outside and left the door open - she would follow us out there, and as much as she wanted to stay out there - all we had to do was walk back in and she would come running back because she was too scared to be out there alone. But now she is so brave and independant she'll quite happily bolt out the door without us!! Although I'm proud of her for being a brave girl - I do miss my little scared Bubette! Because heck she can be a brat to drag back in! haha!

But at least she is a real snuggle bug with us lately! It use to be hard to get a cuddle out of her because she hated being tied down and just wanted to explore all the time! But now she comes to us and gives us big lovely cuddles and kisses - it's very heart melting!

Her Playroom...

Dun nun, dun nun, da nanananana...


SHRINKING BEAR SHOT!

Every month it's always hard for me to get a good photo of her smiling with her shrinking bear, but now she is just so full of life all the time - she smiled in almost every shot and it was hard to choose! They were all so cute I had to add these too...


People keep asking me if I'm going to stop updating this blog now that Kayla is one... my answer to that is.... NO WAY!?!???!?? hehe! This is a blog of Kayla's life journey and I plan to update it for as long as I can - hopefully till the day I die! I may be late with my posts due to being too busy to get them done on time but I have managed to get each monthly post done before the next month is due - every month for a year now- so I will try my hardest to continue doing so. And I do find the monthly posts much easier than posting too often.

And when we have more kids I intend to create their own blogs too! It's my thing! hehe

Which brings me to my next most asked question...

"So when are you having another baby?" Peoples please! Yes we want more kids eventually - a little brother or sister for Kayla, but there's no need to rush! *giggles* We'd like to enjoy Kayla for a while and give her our undivided attention for now. We have decided we will try for our next after Christmas this year the soonest! We actually considered August this year after my Brothers Wedding (Kayla would be around 2 and a half) - but that would mean that I could be too far pregnant to be able to fly to Gizzy for Christmas, so we decided to wait until after then. :-)


We are so, SO proud of Kayla and are so looking forward to her second year!!



SmileyCentral.com Thanks for stopping by! xx

4 Comments for Kayla - Click here to comment too!:

Peach said...

hey, what a fantastic blog post - and amazing photos! Harry too was scared of the water and now loves it, so it's possibly an age thing - you have a lovely, wonderful family honey and you sound and must be so proud - well done and can't wait to one day meet you all - lots and lots of love from harry and peach xxxxxxxxxx

Graunty Sam said...

Phew, I'm nearly as exhausted reading this post as I was doing all of the stuff! lol!

It was such a fab time and I'm so glad I finally got to meet my adorable great niece.

Can't wait to see you all again in July! xxx

Jacquie May said...

Super cool stuff! I hope you guys do make it for Christmas this year! It's lots of fun having all the kids playing and this year was at Aunty Catherine's so Iain made sure there was plenty of beer and booze for the older cousins ;o) (not breastfeeding me though!) Will call you sometime xox

Tenelle said...

wow! its been a year already! What an awesome post. Judging by the piccies it looks like you's had a lovely family christmas and 1st birthday for bubette! (btw im coming over next christmas eve for your traditional feast *Droolz*) LOL. I hope next year is as fun and as exciting and full of new milestones and acommplishments!
xoxo
P.s- Muus is looking lovely! ;)