Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Love Team Wyatt. xxx

Another year, done and dusted.... yikes! I think 'time' needs to take a big old breath and slow down. It sure is in one hell of a rush lately! I can't believe 2014 is all but over. Crazy! Its been a brilliant year, full of fun and excitement with our lovely little lady. We have truly had a blast!!!!

STATS
Height - 77cm
weight - 10kgs
Clothing size - 1
Shoe Size - 4

Ok, so I've committed to the 'next size up' but she is still borderline 0 in clothes (as they go up to 10kgs) and 3s in shoes.... But more excitedly (!) her hair is finally getting thicker and longer. Granted its still short and fine by most standards, but slowly, slowly, it seems to be thickening up. Fingers crossed.

EATING and DRINKING

Eating has continued as last post, she is joining us for an early dinner and eating what we do. She does have difficulty chewing larger pieces of meat and will often let them roll around in her mouth chewing but eventually spit them out. We've found cutting the pieces finer makes it easier for her to eat. We've also been exposing her to more varied cuisine such as Indian. Last week, much to the shock of her uncle, she ate chicken korma and rice, without hesitation. She's also taken a real shine to eating whole pieces of fruit, particularly stone fruits like nectarines, plums, peaches etc.

She is very capable of drinking from a glass now independently, we've even got best mate Ellie in on it. Sure, we have the occasional spill, but very rarely. She's also started drinking poppers too, which she loves.

Perhaps the sweetest thing on the whole eating/drinking front is her offering and sharing her food with us, her friends and/or her toys. She is such a cutie patootie! It really shows us what a kind, caring soul she is. It just melts your heart watching her extend her hand full of a biscuit or cup to another. We couldn't be prouder!

 

  Some for mug, some for me.... such a sweetheart!

 

COMMUNICATION

Right .... I've been reluctant to list here the words Chloe can say consistently and in context as it really has been hit and miss with some of her words.... but she most definitely has the following words under her belt.... bubble, ball, more, daddy, wow, yay, pretty and will 'woof' when she sees or hears a dog. There are a few more close to being put in that list.... but for now, I'm going to show restraint, muzzle the 'proud mumma' in me and leave it at those ones.

GETTING AROUND

Like in the last update Chloe is very confident in walking and is very steady on her feet. However it is still easy for her to misjudge the depth of a stair or trip when she picks up speed running in for a cuddle or something. But in general, the falls and bumps are at a minimum now. She's so keen on walking now that often when we hit the shops the pram is used more as a trolley than a pram; as little miss prefers to walk than ride, unless she's tired, or its hot - she ain't silly, ha!

Her favourite game in getting around is still chase-ys. It has her in hysterics no matter who she plays with, be it bestie Ellie or daddy. A close second is taking her stroller for a spin. A big hit Christmas gift from Auntie Laura was a toy stroller and she.just.loves.it! She regularly has a blast burning around the unit pushing the stroller with a stuffed toy in it. Her favourite track is to do laps around the dinning room table.

SLEEPING

Thanks to Nanny and the purchase of a 30 dollar shade cloth from Toys R Us, extended day sleeps in the pram are now a reality! Makes it ALOT easier for us! As Chloe is sleeping from 11-1, or there abouts now. It's great! It also means when we have functions through the day now we don't have to worry about her having a short day sleep, or dashing off, or trying for an earlier sleep. It really does take the stress out of it now. Although, recently she has worked out she can get herself upright in the pram and work hard on avoiding the sleep, which is very cheeky....

Obviously being able to sleep in the pram is great, but it is always better for her, mum and dad that she have her day sleep at home. But the realists we are, we appreciate that, that is not always possible. But with her day sleeps at home we have started putting her down without being in a bag. It was an idea a while ago with the encroaching hot weather to get her out of the bag for the day.... So far it has been mostly successful, with the exception of one day where I heard her call out to me about 5 minutes after I'd put her down. I walked in to check on her and there she was, standing, sleeping bag in hand, outstretched to me as if saying 'you forgot to put me in this'. So I did. The next day I didn't. And she was fine. She still sleeps in her bag at night, as it is cooler in her room of a night time and she does kick about and move so a blanket is not possible. But eventually we will phase that out too.

She has also adjusted to her sleeps at day care, often having her BIGGEST sleeps there (3hours+). We have asked the staff not to let her sleep past 2pm as (thanks to my journal) we've deducted that it's on those days that she doesn't seem ready for bed at 7pm. But recently, particularly with the holiday to Hobart and the festive season, we've I've been a little less militant with bedtime and she's gone to bed (provided she's had a good day sleep) as late as 930pm (only once). That time she was pretty tired by the time we got her into bed and it required a few bum pats as I think she was OVERtired and couldn't get herself to sleep.

More recently we've had some night waking's, we suspect this is due to teeth, more specifically her molars. I can see MASSIVE bubbles in her gums at the rear of her mouth. In the past teething hasn't affected her sleep... but this time it seems to be doing a real number on her. And us!

LOVES and HATES

Chloe's love of things this month is sure a diverse list ranging from the obvious like play dates with Ellie, to the bizarre like sitting on random things like her pig, fluffy toys and her bucket in the bath. Little weirdo. She also loves eating out and helping me review cafes as part of my gig as a reviewer for Little Eats. Finally, she loves her bike, daddy's hat, mummy's feet and swimming... well, anything outside, often bringing us her shoes and pointing to the door to indicate she's ready to go out.

 

 

Funnily enough, despite loving DADDY'S hat, she hates wearing hers...... as well as (frustratingly still!) giving kisses. Also, sharing any of her favourite things (including mummy) and more recently being dropped at day care.

 

OTHER STUFF



Trip to Hobart
The trip to Hobart was wonderful, so wonderful that it required its own post entitled #meetinggoldenboyroy - you should really check it out! It also made us realise just what is possible with Chloe, how far we can push her and what we can achieve. As always she was beautiful on the plane, watching cartoons on the way there and wooing all the passengers. Then the flight back slept most of the way til she woke up screaming as her ears felt the full force of descent. But despite that one, small hiccup, it really spurred us on to get our bums into gear for Japan and since the trip we have locked in an itinerary and started booking accommodation. Go us!

Modelling
Turns out she did get the 'smart casual' gig.... hilariously! She shot two photos for Bambini (nothing to do with her agency) Studio Magazine's Autumn/Winter edition which is out in March. It was a rather interesting experience, as she wasn't featured as much as she was a prop in the scene. The shoot was an editorial piece on furniture, she will appear in a piece about nursery furniture and another on designer chairs. I'll be sure to update you all with a still when its out! Meanwhile I still need to book her in for new headshots... which hopefully I can get done in January, despite the late notice.

Christmas & Boxing Day.

This year we spent Christmas with Jarratt's family, since my mum was super busy. We have decided to head to Maitland in January and spend Christmas with Nanny and Poppy then, when they aren't as busy. So Christmas morning we woke up and spent the morning as a family, having brekkie, opening pressies and attending church. Before lunch we came home for a nap (Chloe and Daddy) before heading to the Wyatts at 1230ish. There we celebrated with Grandma and Opa, The Tandeks and The (QLD) Wyatt's indulging on seafood and Moet. That night, back at our place, Brent and Lei popped in for a quick gift exchange, some rumbles and a lot of bubble pouring fun! All in all it was a really fun, jam-packed day!

Boxing Day, being a Thursday, had to be spent with Auntie Nic and bestie Ellie. But being a public holiday, we were lucky to be joined by daddy and Uncle Greg. It was a wonderful day where the girls spent time in the backyard, playing chase-sies and generally being the beautiful little people they are. It made me feel very blessed to have such a beautiful family to share a special day (and a few flavoured ciders) with. It occurred to me watching Chloe and Ellie chasing each other and playing hide and seek just how lucky we are to be making such happy memories with them, with surely many more in the years to come.

And so ends another eventful year, next time I speak to you it will surely be 2014.
So from Team Wyatt....

We hope your festive season continues to be filled with love and laughter,
and that each new day brings joy, for the year that follows after. xxx