Jemma is no longer a baby.......

Jemma is now a big 1 year old! We had a lovely day. We got to put a girly dress on her and she looked so lovely. She kept playing with it and grinning as if to say she quite liked being made to look like a girl.

She got lovely presents and enjoyed them despite Riley stealing away with them though he was very good at it being HER day. We had a princess painting made for her and her room is starting to look like a wee girls room.

Mum made a yummy gluten and casein free cake and Dad helped with the decorating because he is better than Mum at that sort of stuff. Grandma and Grandad came down to see us. Lyn from next door came over and brought a present for Jemma AND the big brother. How lucky is that!

Jemma celebrated her milestone by starting to crawl. She is getting along a bit like a caterpillar- bum in the air and using her elbows. Unfortunately, the 'cage' has to go back on the tv/stereo because she likes to play with the on/off button and the volume dial on the stereo. She also likes to pull Mum's recipe books out of the bookshelf.

Jemma was able to sit at the chair for her birthday cake and it made Mum a bit sad. Her baby is becoming a toddler and since she is the last baby, Mum was feeling a little 'blue' about Jemma growing up. She has obviously forgotten all the sleepless nights of the last 6 months......

A normal week here

Time is certainly flying around here. Jemma has cut 2 teeth this week with 2 more looming. Now that her sleep is better, she is back to the amazing baby that she was at 6 months- very happy and placid. She is starting to wave and says da da a lot, which as we all know means mama! We got the jetboat out from the toy library that Riley used to like. It is pretty popular with her as well.

The weather has been great so out came the sunhats. Jemma is adjusting to wearing one- that's why hers has a tie!

Riley is an expert at reading toy catalogues now. He pounces on them and then declares we are going to the shop to get "...." and "pay the lady".... A great shopper he is showing himself to be!

There is a photo of him in therapy as well- it has just been a typical week here. Childcare to give Mum a break, therapy and lots of adventures. We went on a picnic to the gardens, Jemma had an eye appointment due to unequal pupil sizes but they think she is normal. As I thought when they said she may need glasses, if she can't keep a hat on, how can she keep glasses on? (and I rolled my eyes!) but no glasses needed.

Counting down..... 1 week to the big 1 year old! Riley picked out a jungle cake for her but I am not that ambitious. After all, he just got a supermarket sponge for his first! Though I have a new gf/cf cake to try for her. Surely, it will taste better than Rileys! Stay tuned, we will have photos!

Our Queenstown holiday

We have just had a wee break in Queenstown and it was great! We went to a seminar on Aspergers syndrome and learned heaps more about Riley and helping his future. We took lots of notes like the good students we are!

We found a holiday home to stay in that overlooked Millbrook and Grandma and Grandad came to help look after the kids. What do you think of the view out the front window? Magic huh?

We took Riley up the 'snowy mountain' (yes he has been watching too much Dora..) Although unsure at first, after awhile, we couldn't get him off the snow. We also managed to get him up the gondola. It is quite a quiet operation and not too many people and he hopped on so we were stoked. We had a photo of it but it hasn't uploaded properly-probably cos Dad looked horrendous in it.

We were lucky to have G and G there. Even with the cost of petrol, they spent every afternoon driving Jemma around the region while she slept. On the day we took Riley up the gondola, she slept 2 hours! It was a long car trip :-)

Jemma is nearly crawling. She is rocking on all fours. She has 2.5 weeks until she turns 1 so it would be nice if she could do it before then. Riley is making some great sentences and his reasoning is improving. It is nice to think all our interventions are working. Though he has had a couple of colds and being sick definitely makes him more autistic than usual. But we marvel at what a bright cookie he is and I would bet anything that he knows more words to songs than any other 3 year old around. He has a phenomenal memory and he knows so many songs including verses- it blows us away.