Love, bubs and life on our little farm

Just a quick update - have been pretty busy round here!

Elka is 15 weeks today and we dropped into the clinic for a check-up. She is 6.9kg and 63cm long now - in the 90th percentile for both height and weight so she is still going strong!

The nurse checked her and she has met all her 4 month milestones which is great! Ie grabbing things, turning to see me across the room and her neck strength..

Bubs is starting to laugh a lot more - she isnt real good at it though! Its a cross between breathing loudly and coughing! But so so cute! She is a cheery little thing at the moment - really loving playing with her toys, her crinkly book (a big hit) and stomping her legs. She is still trying to roll - she is good at getting on her side from her back but the tummy to back is still a bit tricky - she gets a lean up but really isn't getting there yet! She loves to be held in a standing position - she just beams and beams with big open mouth grins!

Sleep isn't too bad - she has been catnapping during the day. I am working on settling her between sleep cycles. Nights are still great from 7pm (dreamfeed at 10.30pm) through to 5.30am for a feed, then back to sleep till 7am.

On wednesday, I am leaving Elka for the whole day whilst I go on that work trip to Canberra :( I am sort of dreading it and will be glad when it is over. But really I have to suck it up as she will be going to daycare for 2 days a week in February anyway!

Otherwise, its been pretty hot here. We got some good work done on the drainage this past weekend plus some nice relaxing :) Not much to mention on the horse front - haven't had much time as working on a grant application for work.. but did lunge Spech over a little jump yesterday...

Can you believe that it is like 12 weeks till xmas! We bought some cute toys for Elka already ;)

As I mentioned we went to our third Swell festival on the weekend. The sculptures are set up on and along the edge of the beach. Its a lovely way to spend the day wandering around admiring all the different styles and designs.

Elka enjoyed the day out - we settled under a shade tree for her feed and she got to play on some lovely green grass which was cute to see. She was a little funny about the feeling under her bare feet. Yes we do have grass at the farm but we also have big bitey ants so we don't often lie around in the grass at home :) Here are some pics of the relaxing and bubba looking summery in her dress and hat




And in "roll watch" news - Elka tried to roll from her tummy to her back today (14 weeks today)! She almost got there but got her arm stuck underneath so the top of her torso didn't quite make it over. But it was darn close! When Jase got home, she had another go. Its terribly hard to watch her straining and trying! She hasn't quite figured it all out and gets so frustrated and starts crying out in annoyance! You just want to help her - but then she won't learn to do it herself...Can't believe how fast she is growing!

I rode Sam today - its lovely to ride such a big horse (17hh). He is green and really needs some work - he is so stiff to the right that he goes beyond the analogy of stiff as a board! But I like a challenge and he is lovely and calm and seems quite trainable.. sigh I will try to squeeze him in, in my spare time (hah!)

So 13 weeks has been a busy one for bub's development :)

She is really picking up her toys and playing with them now and she grabs her teething toy and brings it to her mouth to chew on it. I love watching her grab her toys - particularly her Lamaze panda, she picks him up and drags him up to her mouth or grabs his flowers and crinkles them. Not only that but I have been getting the occasional big laugh off her - so cute! She is a huge fan of gorgeous big opened mouthed smiles whenever she sees us too.

And here is the proof in photos of the toy holding and eating :)

Elka can now roll from her back to her side - she started yesterday (3 months 2 days) and as per all her new tricks now does it lots. Here is a pic :)

I guess once she gets sick of doing that then she might go further and do a full roll. So I am still on roll watch ;)

Otherwise we are off to the Currumbin Sculpture Festival tomorrow - we love to go every year. And on Sunday, I have my pamper spa package that my work got me as a mat leave gift. Yay! massage, facial and pedicure - will be bliss :) Jase gets Elka for the day so I am sitting here expressing away...

I have had this week off riding as I have been pretty busy and I was keen to jump on Sam today but I decided to be good and stay inside and work on a grant appplication for work.. grumble grumble! Sometimes I do wish I was the sort of person that could just walk away from my career for the time off but that just isn't me.. Not sure when i will find time to get back on the horse though :( as weekend is busy and then next week one of my lovely friends from Canberra and the PhD era is coming to stay and I am planning lots of nice things for her as between her PhD and medicine she never gets a break..

So I will probably get a little horse-sick - hopefully wont lose too much fitness in the meanwhile :)

It is so warm here now! Its beautiful! I am starting to feel that urge to strip down to light clothes and to head to the beach for some nice swims. We are heading to Currumbin on Saturday so I might be able to get a nice laze on the beach then :) The warm weather is also fun for bub as she gets to kick around with no pants or socks on. She is amazingly skilled at grabbing things with her toes.. yep we are raising a little monkey ;)

We have had some nice rain over the last few weeks too - hopefully that will keep up so that the warm weather doesn't burn off the grass too much. Here are some pics of a lovely morning storm we had the other day...



I had an Age Day on the weekend with LV Riding Club. Mum came along which was nice - kinda like old times having Mum leaning against the fence rail watching :) Jase was a great trooper minding Elka, she tested him having quite the screaming fit! He was lovely and jumped in the car with her so I wouldn't get distracted whilst competing by hearing her cry.

Spech did well. He had only been back in canter work for a week and it did show. He struggled a lot with getting the right leg in the canter which was a shame and cost him positions in most classes. However he worked quite calmly and even faced his fears to pop over a small jump in the Hunter Class. We ended up with a fist full of second ribbons which I was more than happy with. Its never really about the ribbons for me - I like to see my hard work show through the horses quality of work. So therefore the compliments from the judge at the end of the day were my high point :) She, like every judge I have ridden him for, said how much she loved him and his paces and also commented that she could tell that we must do well in dressage. Was nice feedback to get :)

Its another 6 weeks until my next comp so I am giving him some time off, will also give myself a bit of a break and also try and give Sam some work... I have one of my good friends coming to stay next week and some stuff to do for my job so plenty to keep me busy out of the saddle! The equine dentist is coming tomorrow to do Spech's 6 month check up - he seems so much happier now that his teeth have been done which is pleasing.

Elka is still shocking me with her development. She is really co-ordinated and plays with her panda toy with both hands, holding him, picking him up and dragging things to her mouth. Mum and Dad stayed for the weekend and they were quite impressed at how much she has changed and how tactile she is. She loves to lie on her playmat and kicks and thrashes around whacking as many toys as she can at once - very active! She likes her tummy time but still no sign of any interest in rolling...

2 weeks old


12 weeks old and just fitting the same outfit!

Hasn't she grown and changed!

Its been awhile! I have a rotten flu and Elka has been going through her 12 week growth spurt so things have been fairly busy and tough!

We moved bub into the nursery for her night sleeps - still in the basinette though. She is doing well with that. Although she started waking again as part of her growth spurt - we had some 3am wakings again. It was only a few nights though and now she is back to sleeping from 7pm, 10.30 dreamfeed and 6amish feed. She was also pretty grizzly and started catnapping for her day sleeps. I have got the catnapping sorted again - moved her morning feed a little later and have started wrapping with a more secure technique as she was getting her little arms out and sucking away on her fingers and waking herself up. Now she is back to her lovely long 2 hour day sleeps - yay! That is my time to ride so its nice to get that time back!

She is getting very tactile now. Her little hands are getting good at grabbing things and dragging them mostly to her mouth! She grabs and holds the toys on her playgym. You can give her a toy with a ring and she will hold it and throw it around etc. She is also grabbing her clothes and dragging them up to her mouth also.

She is getting very strong with her tummy time and is actually enjoying it for awhile! She kicks her legs and is doing little "push-ups" with her arms. I dont think she is near rolling for awhile though!

Today Jase put her in her bouncer (which we use as a swing normally - which she loves!) and lowered her so her feet were touching the ground. SHe actually started doing some little jumps! Cant believe that she is already at that stage!

She has learnt to blow raspberries and does them all the time! (see photo strip below!) She gets quite enthusiastic and spits everywhere sometimes! She will do them in response to us doing one to her - very cute!

She is noticeably more settled in her awake time and quite happy to sit and play. She is much easier to take out and about as she is quite predictable and happy to go with the flow. She is pretty keen to be held however and will often grizzle if she gets put down or left in the pram!

I marvel at how darn beautiful she is and how she already knows and loves us as her parents. I love the little warm hugs and her sleepy head resting on my chest. Its a beautiful age with lots of little baby hugs but also grins and laughs and cheeky faces.

I still cant believe how fast the time is going... where has this year gone!

This weekedn should be nice - a horse comp and my parents coming to stay and my brother is also coming up. Hopefully some bubby hugs and smiles will help a little with the pain of his broken heart :( poor fella..

Well the dressage competition went well as you might be able to tell from the title of the post! I was surprised at how easy it was to go to the working bee on the Saturday, pack everything, wash Spech and get organised and then on the Sunday, get him organised and up there in time for our test. I guess having Jase there helping mind Elka makes all the difference! I am very appreciative for his help, especially as bub doesn't make it easy when she cries at him for not being me!

We did have a small hiccup when my idiot of a horse went for a rort around the paddock with Sam and bruised his heel late Saturday. I was so mad to see him limping around!! Fortunately as per the last episode of racing around ending in limping, it healed up over night and he was working normally Sunday morning (I was out at 6am checking him on the lunge - its never simple is it!). But its a lesson learned - I will be putting his back shoes on during competition season again as it seems that bare back hooves are too easy to bruise...

We barely had time to warm up at the comp as they were running early and had moved me up a few positions. Then the judge managed to finish her comments on the previous test really quickly so I got beeped in long before I was ready. This meant Spech didnt get a warm up lap around the edge of the arena and he came to a freaked out halt when he got to the circling at A and saw the arena number sign and a horse being lunged. after some reassuring pats I managed to get him into the arena! And after that he did brilliantly - he actually listened, stayed collected most of the time and gave a nice free walk. I was the one who stuffed up as I did our halt at a marker too soon - whoops! Jase filmed it and I actually enjoyed watching it! It looked pretty good! Still I was not expecting to win! Just getting there after a year off and with a 10 week baby was good enough for me! I am quite impressed with Spech's dressage potential considering he had never seen a dressage arena before last April!

And bubba slept in her pram most of the time :)

Did I mention that I rode with a broken toe too! I was loading Spech into the float and went in much faster than I anticipated (probably had something to do with the full hay net he could see!) and he crushed my toe. SO painful! It is impressively black!

Anyways - am hoping to get to a comp in 2 weeks time so I will rest for another day or two and then get back into it!