A Deck!

 Another piece to the garden puzzle was added last week. We had a deck and pergola built! It looks fantastic and will be a wonderful asset to the house come Summer. I have already bought a soft mat that Jess can play on outside! We'll grow a grape vine over the pergola to shade the Northern window during the Summer and allow the sun in during the Winter. We're very excited about the having it finished and look forward to having a lot of great times out there.

Before

After

Works begin

the finished product

All done!

 Each evening, we'd take a little stroll around the works with Jess to have a look at how things were progressing.

 

Such a Cutie!

 Here are some more very cute pictures of the lovely Jessica!

we made the most of the sunshine on Thursday and wore a cute little dress and cardigan. I think that will be the last summer dress for the season!

Adoring Dad!

 I set up Jess' activity station last weekend. It says 'from 4 months' and I figure she's a pretty big girl, so we'll give it a whirl! She loves sitting up in it and although there are lots of things to see, touch and listen to, she is just happy being upright and looking around. She's getting stronger every time I put her in it but is a long way off using the activities.

Happy little bub!

All dressed up, waiting to go to church.

First Swim

 On Friday, Roland decided that at nearly four months old, it was time to introduce Jess to the wonderful world of swimming. We went down to the local pool and Jess had her first dip. She did a great job. She was uncertain at first and very keen for Dad to keep her close but slowly she opened up and was happy to float around in front of him. I took the roll of over-excited parent, running around with the video camera!

Some more yard

 It has been a while (nearly a year!) since I added a yard up date. To be honest, not a lot has happened over the past twelve months. Being pregnant halted works and now that Jess is around, time is harder to come by!
In December we had the yard levelled off  and a had a fence built around two sides of the property. It looks great, although it is still in need of a paint. Roland made a good start on the undercoat during the holidays but there is still a lot to go.

Levelling works

 

Levelling complete and some top soil to spread

the fence starts

Roland painting the finished product on a hot Summer's day.

Roland also created some usable space on the side of our driveway.

so now we can fit two cars side by side and get the Prado out of the garage without moving the Nova. Very handy!

He also created our first garden bed

There are now some plants and bulbs growing here. I love it!

11 months after starting, Dad came back to help me finish the base of the wall. He put down plastic, pipe and rocks to help drainage. Now I just need to back fill!

And as always, it's very tiring work!

Happy Little Girl

Here are some of the latest photos of our beautiful girl. She is growing like a mushroom, still sleeping well, and feeding is fine as long as there's nothing else of interest going on (including Dad talking in the same room).

About 10 weeks

Cuddles with Aunty Lisa at Easter

Some lovely smiles while I was making my breakfast the other day. It could have been my singing but it's more likely to be the fan, which is the best mobile money can buy!

13 weeks

She's getting very strong with her tummy time.

we went to the local park on Friday which was nice for about 10 minutes, then it started to pour! Just as well as the mozzies were more annoying than torrential rain.

A Sunny Autumn Day

Jess and I thought we'd make the most of this beautiful Autumn weather and spend some time in the park. A picnic blanket under a big shady tree next to the lake at Civic Park was a wonderful place to spend a sunny afternoon.

I know she isn't smiling but she did have a lovely time kicking her legs in the fresh air.



But too much fresh air is very tiring!

Dad even made a visit after school. Jess was very happy to see him!

More of a good thing (Jess)

Jess has been up to all sort of things during the past few weeks. We took a drive to Eynesbury to visit Nanny and Poppy on the long weekend. The weather was cool, so it was the perfect opportunity to pull out an old outfit - very old in fact. This one was mine when I was a baby!


It came in handy when we had an alfresco breakfast. Jess was warm and toasty in her outfit, blanket and sitting under the heater.



We met Nanny for lunch at Hersonswood the following weekend and had a lovely time. Jess enjoyed gazing up at the giant old fig tree overhead and Mum and I had a beautiful Italian lunch.

The bouncer has been extremely handy. Jess sits in it for every meal and sometimes the occasional snooze.

There is no better way to spend those long afternoons than snoozing with Dad!



And of course, there is lots of time spent with just to two of us. Lots of time for cuddles and gazing at each other!