We went for walks in the rain

And for walks at sunset

Read stories

Discovered that Penny likes the tops of hot chocolates

Penny helped with some ikea flat pack construction

And helped out when Lindsay had to work in the evenings

We invested in a kitchen island, perfect for chopping up watermelon on!

We decided that Lindsay’s office needed a baby gate

And that maybe we would not have a coffee table in the middle of the room

We went out for lunch in Blackheath with grandparents

Penny discovered the couch was a great place for a snooze

Then went digging for gold

Peek-a-boo!

Naked hallway dancing

And Penny was so enthusiastic to meet Santa…..

Penny pulled this face, the best face ever to be pulled

She decided that she would no longer sit politely in the seat on the shopping trolley but would rather stand like a mast head at the front.

She helped Jacob defeat the aliens

And went swimming with Olivia

She had a brilliant time at fagan park getting really really wet and sandy

And spent some time chilling in front of the tv

I started teaching her how to make Oma’s Apple Tart!

Then on the 22nd of October, Penny turned 1!
She received a tricycle from Mummy and Daddy

She was dressed beautifully in a dress I had bought in the UK 6 months earlier.

That didn’t last very long…it was so hot, all babies at the party had their party dresses ripped off and they were chucked into the paddling pool.

Jacob and Gerie made her a beautiful turtle birthday cake

Which Penny really enjoyed!

My dad, Jacob and Lindsay put on a puppet show which was a very funny, Penny and Sierra discovered the best place to be was on the other side of the curtain to the audience.

The very next day was Sierra’s first birthday! She wore the cutest pink tutu ever!

Penny was quite tired from her own party so spent the day sitting with her Nanna enjoying the yummy food

And playing in the balls

A few days after that we packed up all our most treasured belongings and moved up the Blue Mountains to Blackheath! Our new house!

Unpacking is not fun

Will helped us move

and he was able to construct a Penny proof playpen to put around the fireplace!

Penny discovered her new backyard

And I discovered we need more practice at making family photos…and getting a bit more sleep….and not letting Lindsay grow a moustache .

In September we went on a Holmwood family picnic where Penny discovered taps

We hung out at the park with friends

And took Penny on her first adventure across the Harbour Bridge.

Penny did cute things like look at at us when we put a backpack on her…

And discovered mangos truly are the worlds most delicious food.

There was back-burning done in mum and dad’s backyard, Dad taught Lindsay how to use the petrol pump fire hose.

But most exciting event of the month…we bought a house!

July 2011
We went on holidays to Coffs Harbour

We spent a week relaxing at the beach and relaxing in our resort

I managed to rip my toe nail off, so could barely walk…so lots of emphasis on the sitting relaxing

We met a dolphin

And experienced butterflies

Also in July 2011

Jacob became a demon

We hung out more with Bron and Sierra

Penny and Nanna started getting stuck into reading books

Penny stood on her own unsupported!

She slept occasionally in her cot! (victory for us) (it didn’t last long)

Penny discovered the joy of climbing everything!

Then in August
Mum and I took Penny to Laurieton to meet her great-grandfather and Linda

and to hang out on the beach

The middle of winter, the weather was beautiful and she went swimming!

She was not yet walking

Bye

4 generations!

In the second half of August I had to do 2 weeks of practical placement for my nursing so my mum kindly took long service leave and looked after Penny!
Nanna introduced her to tomatos!

And took her to the park

And most exciting, Penny learnt to walk at 10 months of age!

hmm the video isn’t working…click this link to see the video of her first steps
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jula_julz/6174534656/in/set-72157627357466809

It was also in June that we went on an adventure with mother’s group to the Maritime Museum in Darling Harbour.

We also decided it was time to move Penny’s cot base lower because she started pulling herself upright.

Penny discovered my laptop. So I installed a Penny-proof program (Alpha-baby) to make sure she didn’t delete everything.

Sierra encouraged Penny to learn to crawl and stand up, Penny reciprocated by teaching Sierra how to button mash my laptop.

Nudie photo!

Penny discovered TV

And decided that tipping her lunch every where was a good idea

In June we took Penny on her first ferry ride.

followed by some multitasking by Lindsay at Max Brenner, he ate chocolate, did on-call work and put a baby to sleep.

Penny took up sitting in her toy boxes/buckets/baskets

We went with Sierra and her mummy to a play-school concert. I think I had more fun than Penny, she was more interested in eating Sierra’s toys.

In June I bought Penny a standing toy thingy, it plays old macdonald. Its really annoying!

Penny started a new phase of chewing on cables

And Penny had her first swimming lesson! Lindsay took her in the pool for the class, along with Lilly (from my mother’s group) and her Dad Kevin.

The first lesson was a success…the rest were not so successful.

In June Penny was still not sleeping at night, and after some very stressful nights with no sleep I decided that sawing Penny’s cot into pieces was a great idea. I then tied it to my bed using stockings. (white stockings can be seen in the top left hand corner)

We joined in on a mother’s group photo shoot in June. The only way that we could stop Penny from stuffing leaves in her mouth was Olivia, Lilly’s mum, to sing wiggles songs!

Now don’t cry, there are more blog posts to come…or maybe thats a good reason to cry…

But all this mess meant Penny needed a lovely hot bath every evening.

After a couple of stories, it is bedtime.

Every night we would put Penny to bed. She would be awake 1 hour later…with absolutely no intention of going to bed. I think she would rather spend time with the family (mostly Jacob) than be asleep.

I would wake up in the morning with her in bed with us. And sometimes no memory what so ever of having put her there.

In May Penny graduated to the toddler seat of shopping trolleys.

We went on our first family picnic in May,

I am powering through these blogs posts! Things are looking up!

How about I catch you up a bit…

As Penny became more aware of her surroundings we started making mummy and baby friends.

Sierra is one of Penny’s best friends. Sierra was born the day after Penny:

She would have naps in her funky little swing:

Then she started being on the move and would not be where you left her!

She developed a passion (addiction) for the iPad:

In preparation for a night with Nanna we tried to get Penny to drink from a bottle. She would only drink from the bottle if she held it herself.

At the begining of April we moved to the Decates household before our trip to Europe and to save some money to buy our own house. One of our first mornings in Berowra Penny sat up unaided for the first time! With her favourite uncle Jacob there for moral support.

In April she learnt about grass:

About sharing with her friend Lilly:

And how a washing basket can easily become a boat:

At the ripe old age of 6 months we packed our bags:

…and flew to Europe for 2 weeks of ‘Show and Tell’.

We visited the Troups in Yorkshire:

…then popped over to Holland to introduce Penny to the Dutch Family.

She met my Oma:

…and my Opa:

…and Elke:

She and Yvonne got on very well!

We celebrated Queens Day by all wearing orange:

We discovered that Dad as a baby looks very similar to Penny:

Penny and Marja had an instant bond:

Then we stayed in Den Haag with Penny’s ‘God-Opas’:

Lindsay and I took Penny to our favourite pancake house:

…for pancakes:

only 5 more months of updates and photos to go and we are up to date.

Peace out:

She is a real Mummy’s girl, and over February she became very attached to me. Which is lovely…but also means I am not allowed to leave her side for very long.

Unless she is with her Daddy. When Daddy is there, she only has eyes for him. She loves her Daddy and I often keep her up to see Lindsay once he gets home from work. He works from home 2 days a week, so is able to have cuddles all day when he at home.

She started letting us know she was tired by rubbing her eyes, which I find super cute.

Penny got much better at tummy time and started holding her head up for longer periods of time

Penny started the “shark phase” chewing on and sucking on everything and anything.

She got in touch with nature

We moved her from a bassinet to a co-sleeper cot. Which basically involved us taking a side off her cot and pushing it up against my side of our bed. So she can easily move from her bed to our bed, which is lovely.

She no longer needs to be wrapped up to sleep, and likes to lay on her right side, sometimes snuggled up to the Nellie the elephant.

Meet Nellie.

She plays Fur Elise…waaaaaayyyyy too fast.

I did a little photo shoot, playing around with Lindsay’s nice camera.

Penny has many funny faces

and she loves being in front of the camera!

We had a couple of cooler days which gave Lindsay the chance to try out the ring sling

And Penny continued to charm her grandparents

And loves showing off to them how she can roll over

She has started taking her naps on flat teddy. She likes to be close to me, and lay on her right side so sleeping on flat teddy in the lounge room is perfect.

I discovered that she loves ‘helping’ with the laundry. She loves watching me hang out the clothes, but she hasn’t been invited back to help me fold the washing.

After rolling over in the big bath and trying to drink up the bath water, giving us a bit of a fright, she now bathes in her tummy tub. Which is great for everyone! No more sitting on the bath room floor and she gets to chew on her feet.

Did I mention she found her feet?

Its super cute when she goes to grab a foot and misses because her foot moved. She stares at it quizzically and grabs for it again.

She is exceptionally cuddly! And is very happy just to sit there an be cuddled. She might vomit on you, but its worth it.

Because with a smile like that, the vomit is hardly noticeable.

While feeding her Penny like to play with my fingers and rings.

We are slowly starting solids. She tried some watermelon at her Gran and Pop’s house. I dared remove it from her mouth and she began to shake and cry until I put it back in her mouth. I guess she liked it then.

I also tried giving her some rice cereal, but have gone back to giving her only fruit and vegetables.

She does massive yawns which are just too cute.

One of her favourite things to do it lay on the floor in the nude watching TV.

She has improved her grabbing skills (much better already again since this video) and is good at picking up toys. She is a real chatter box and loves to squeal!

Playing 8/2/11 from Julia & Lindsay Holmwood on Vimeo.

And finally,
She is obsessed with our iPhones. Wanting to grab them, and suck on them! I don’t know how slobber proof they are… She has so far managed to send 1 SMS and 1 tweet to twitter. Both times I was holding her and the phone in my lap. I looked up and looked down and she had button mashed in the right order! I sometimes let her watch herself on the iPhone screen, and the other day she hit the record button!

Penny vs iPhone #2 24/2/11 from Julia & Lindsay Holmwood on Vimeo.

In Jaurary when I last blogged she was starting to develop a real personality.

note her foot.

She worked on her smiling and started to drool.

We went on our first family outing to the architecture of air, it was amazing! More photos of that here:

She worked out how to unwrap herself after a nap:

….and developed an evil persona apparently.

And names were decided for Lindsay’s parents.

Gran and Pop! So now Penny has a very proud Nanna, Opa, Gran and Pop!

We learnt that she is very much like her father while asleep

sleeping in the same position and also sleep talking/laughing just like him.

Getting her to take naps was and continues to be a time consuming task. I often resorted to letting her sleep on my lap.

She started going out for breakfast each weekend with Lindsay, giving me a chance to sleep in, have a long hot shower and a hot cup of tea!

Penny decided that without a doubt that Jacob is the most fascinating, amazing person ever.

No matter what she may be doing, the moment he enters the room she stares and smiles at him.

I bought her a Bumbo off ebay which she only just tolerates…

She was introduced to the world of video games by Uncle jacob

Penny developed a love for tv. And by love I mean addiction.

We joined Lindsay in Brisbane for a conference (LCA) and spent a week wandering around Brisbane and spending our evenings with Lindsay at conference functions.

She was such a good girl. On the plane to Brisbane she charmed all the flight attendants. We had many late nights, but she would sleep happily in her stroller not at all concerned by the noise and people.

In Brisbane she taught herself how to squeal!

Penny squees from Julia & Lindsay Holmwood on Vimeo.

She rolled over for the first time, but then promptly forgot how to do it.

It was hard work preparing for Christmas day, she would snooze in the stroller while I did Christmas shopping.

Each year, Santa drives past my parent’s house. I remember Jacob and I sprinting up the driveway to see Santa. Its so special that Penny gets to enjoy this too.
Her first encounter with Santa, she was not impressed, Penny was more interested in sucking on her fists.

On Christmas morning we went to my parents place. There were so many presents under the tree, Penny almost got lost.

I am worried that she doesn’t get enough love and attention…

Penny got some lovely presents including a book about a Mole with poo on his head…with sound effects!!

She got a lovely dress on loan from the NZ relations

And her first doll from her Mummy and Daddy.

other people were there too and they also got presents

back to Penny!

She had a nap in her basinett while lunch was prepared.

After Lunch swimming was done

As was sleeping

And a bit of sitting too

It was a lovely relaxing day.