Love, bubs and life on our little farm

Miss B turned 1 a few days ago. I can't believe that we are done with all things baby (but we most definitely are!) and that I have survived a year of juggling two under three. This time last year we were starting to demolish the side of the house to extend it whilst caring for a teeny newborn and a stroppy two year old. Some lovely memories but I can pretty safely say that I don't desire to revisit the tiredness, lack of space and privacy and sheer demands on my patience that that time brought me.

So it was a real celebration to see my littlest one turn one. She is really coming out of her shell - loves to laugh manically as she trucks around the house with her walkers, loves to copy Elka in every way- colouring, noises, sitting on their little matching lounges and carrying around dolls or pushing strollers. She is a brilliant sleeper - 1-3 decent day sleeps a day plus a good 12 hours at night, she never cries when put down in the cot and smiles or nods when you ask her if she wants a sleep. She is also a great eater - a huge appetite and will eat most things. She loves corn cobs, carrots, all fruit and cream cheese on bread. Her favorite treat foods are hot chips and chocolate cake. She has dropped her day formula bottles and is having a sippy cup of milk instead.

Despite her hearing loss, her speech is developing well, she is learning to say hello and miaow and words like that. She is also a very good mimic of sounds which her speech pathologist is very keen on. She understands a lot of questions now and responds with emphatic nods or head shakes, which is very handy. She loves Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and will hum along and wave her fingers when we sing it. She wears her hearing aids most days thanks to the special caps and bands that we have bought for the purpose, if she doesn't have the caps on, the hearing aids are pulled to pieces within two minutes.

She has two bottom teeth and two on the top - however the two upper teeth are both on the same side of her mouth - we call it her hill billy teeth and its pretty cute!

She has a very cute habit of loving to lay her head down on anything soft. So she will crawl over to it and lay her head down - she sometimes does it to my slipper on my foot!

She has been taking steps since she was 10 months old but has lacked the confidence to really walk (I suspect this has something to do wiht our hard tiled floors and a certain older sister who seems to specialise in knocking poor Bronte down). However, she has been getting braver and today she has taken off - walking at least 5 metres at once without holding on to anything! I am not a soppy type of Mum but watching her proudly wobble off on her little adventures has made me teary tonight.

She has been such a different bub to Elka - much fussier, quicker to cry, far shyer and content to watch more than do but very rewarding with her beautiful smile and wicked sense of humour. She certainly has kept me on my toes - being so different meant that even being a second bub, we still had a lot to learn!

I am looking forward to getting to meet more of this intriguing personality as it develops even more in the next year!

Happy Birthday Miss B xo