The Copacabana posts continue. I was up there for 2 weeks and so have many cute photos to share.

Evie and Audrey received a paddling pool from Nan and TD for Christmas. We put it out in the backyard a few times while we were up at Copa and the kids loved it.

They actually liked it much better than the beach. The water was warmer than the ocean (we always put a couple of buckets hot water in), it was just the right depth for splashing, and there were no scary waves to knock you over.



More photos (slideshow) on Flickr.

Last year, we had lots of fun dressing up on New Year's Eve so we decided to make it a tradition. This year, I decided to go with a Pirate theme as I figured I might be able to use some of the props we bought for last year (we had a Copacabana fiesta theme last year). Of course, I then wasn't able to find any of the props that I'd bought last year. Good intentions and all...

The best costume prize this year goes to Elliot. Clare made him an awesome Parrot costume.

The funniest costume prize goes to Adam and Chris. They dressed up in some awesome Pirate costumes that were more 80s glam rock than loot, pillage and plunder.

Here is Evie dressed up as Pirate. She wasn't too sure what to do with her dagger. She ended up trying to eat it.

"Hrm, what is this new thing I've never seen before? I wonder what it tastes like."

We had a BBQ, we played salad bowl (Goldy says "my hat is so much more awesome than this game") and we celebrated the beginning of 2012 with bubbles and sparklers in the backyard. NYE 2011 was officially a good night.




More photos (slideshow) on Flickr.

Second place at trivia again this month. You know the Badger motto: A good night at trivia is one where you don't leave empty handed. But, it would be nice to come first occasionally.

Here is your chance at this month's questions. You know the rules:

1. Name the two countries in the world that have names starting with "Z".
   
   
2. What film was Roger Moore's last appearance as James Bond?
   
   
3. How many Oscars for Best Director has Steven Spielberg won?
   
   
4. How many American states have names beginning and ending with the same letter?
   
   
5. Which was invented first: the fountain pen or the sewing machine?
   
   
6. The word "snorkel" comes from which language?
   
   
7. Who is credited as the inventor of champagne?
   
   
8. Is ranidaphobia the fear of frogs, fleas or rats?
   
   
9. Jaap is a chocolate bar (similar to a Mars Bar) from which country beginning with "N"?

1. Day010: Green Chair
2. Day011: MGroup meeting in the pool
3. Day012: Save a whale, harpoon a badger
4. Day013: Doing uni work while Evie naps
5. Day014: Rain and BBQing don't mix
6. Day015: The world's smallest lunch box
7. Day016: Is this Sydney's tastiest lamington?
8. Day017: Swimming
9. Day018: Water park

Last week Evie reached 8 months and I wanted to make sure I posted in a timely manner - you may have noticed that I missed the 7 month post. December was so busy that I thought I would combine the two posts into one.


Evie has sitting mastered now but isn't interested in crawling yet. Truthfully she isn't even really rolling around. She can roll, she just doesn't want to. So maybe she isn't that interested in being mobile yet.

She still isn't a huge fan of tummy time so I'm not sure that she will crawl in the traditional way. I think she may become a bum shuffler as she has started to bounce up and down on her bottom. When sitting she also leans forward and puts her weight on her hands. But who knows, she always surprises us with how quickly she picks up stuff.

The big thing that has happened in the past couple of months is that Evie has started to eat real people food. She's gone from being exclusively breast fed to eating three meals a day. We started Evie on a combination of purees and finger food, however Evie wasn't a huge fan of purees. She loved feeding herself, so when I tried to spoonfeed her it would usually end in a struggle for the spoon. Then I tried the "Spoon for Mummy, Spoon for Evie" trick but that didn't work either. Evie would end up with both spoons. So I stopped trying to make Evie eat purees and just gave her finger food.

Each baby at MGroup has a strength - some crawled early, some have lots of teeth, some can wave goodbye. Evie's super power is being able to eat normal people food. Everyone watches warily while Evie chows down on cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and pieces of unpeeled fruit. She loves fruit and will eat a whole peach, nectarine or pear in one sitting. She's pretty good at just eating the flesh and will leave the skin behind. Although sometimes we have to fish the skin out of her mouth at the end of the meal or she will chew on it for ages.


So here are a couple of videos of Evie eating. It's a new skill so we've found it kind of exciting.

Here is Evie eating Mango. She looooooooooves mango (like her Mum. Her Dad thinks mango is too mangoey.)




And here is Evie trying to eat steak. She found it a bit frustrating as she doesn't have any teeth yet. Poor bubs.