Super Strong God

You might wonder why the title of this blog is Super Strong God, well let me explain, Super Strong God is one of the Hillsong Kids live worship albums, one of our friends lent us the DVD of this album, we showed Zoe, and now... she is "addicted" to it! It's very cute though, after she had seen it once she started to point to the TV and clapping her hands, and stamping her feet. Now she wakes up saying "Jesus" (jee-sah! in Zoe's toddler language), meaning: PUT THE SUPER STRONG GOD DVD ON! NOW!!! Her favourite song is "One Way, Jesus", and when we say One Way... she raises her arm up in the air and says, Jee-Sah!

Aside from that she has been growing teeth, growing taller, growing more clever and more able to do things like stairs and climbing. She has a sandpit which is a constant delight and loves trying to catch those tiny lizards that always get lost in the sand. She can bang out a few notes on the keyboard and tims guitar, and has the cutest little singing voice ever. Definitely musical. YAY!!! her musical parents rejoice. She has just started to get into scribbling, so bring on the crayons, and she loves playing in puddles or with buckets of water.

Here are a few happy snaps over the last month or so...some i couldnt resist putting up.

Our church recently celebrated its 25th anniversary right in the centre of Sydney. At Darling Harbour. o many people came out for the night and it was an amazing and historic thing to stand there and hear the praises of God going out across the water, and across the restaurants and cafes and to think back over what God has done in our church and in our collective lives... it was great. Zoe had a ball, disappearing amongst the legs of the crowd and we had to stay close or lose her! She is such a tiny thing, it doesnt seem right that she can walk yet! She had fun in the park and the sandpit and enjoyed meeting Max and Melody and just taking in the excitement along with us.

Our holiday was so good. A much needed break, and we were so excited to be able to spend almost a week with family. We visited my dad and his wife, introduced Zoe to her Uncle Adam, and to my uncle and aunty and cousins. It was a great family time. Zoe and her Pa got on so well, and you could see the love on both sides. Since then she has been asking for the pictures of dad and debbie to look at closer, and you can see she remembers them. We went to the beach and played in the park, chilled out with a dvd when the weather turned, took Zoe to the lagoon and splashed with her in the warm shallows, and ate lots of yummy food and stayed up late talking into the nights... very refreshing. Of course, now we want to do it again, but they live 6 hours away.

when it rains it pours...

This last month has been challenging for us, both Phoebe and Zoe were battling a particularly nasty flu... and not just once, after the first round it decided to come back for another go. Any parent will know exactly what I'm talking about... its enough just to care for a sick baby, but to have the same thing is worse. In the midst of it that, I put my back out and had to just keep going (as you do). As always there are rays of sunshine that keep you going though, like Zoe's unstoppable joy and huge spirit, and Phoebe's mum coming to help, but we are in need of recovery! Bring on the holidays...

ZOE MIRACLE UPDATE:
This month Zoe gave us her first real word (aside from Mama and Dada and Nana), which was...wait for it....
"STAR". She also gave us "Apple" and an attempt at Butterfly, which came out Buff-A. Too cute. She also gained 2 more teeth (top two) so now has 4, with her molars coming through (nooo...). She knows how to shimmy off the bed or off the couch and daybed, she has been "helping" mummy with weeding by pulling out the newly planted herb garden!
She is more affectionate than ever, coming up to us and wrapping her tiny little arms around our necks and giving us the I love you eyes.
The Butterfly Effect:
Zoe fell more in love with butterflies than ever (something we didnt think possible) and we are the type of parents who cant help but fuel this obsession, so now our house looks like its been taken over by a butterfly plague...and whenever we pull her out of the cot, the first thing we have to do is go say hello to all...(I'm ashamed to admit this) 19 butterflies that grace her room. Ok, so I told you she was obsessed. We also have books with butterflies in them and Phoebe has been making a book for Zoe with beautiful drawings of butterflies, that Zoe walks around hugging.
She is getting better at dancing, and has added a funky hip swing to her repertoir, plus her popular dancing backwards move which is a crowd pleaser. Her singing is coming along, as is her keyboard and guitar playing (I kid you not). Also she has mastered the floating xylophone in the bath.
She now brushes Phoebe's teeth in the bath but wont let us brush hers yet, so for now she uses her toothbrush as a drumstick.



We also received a surprise package by airmail, "uncle Nick" showed up unannounced on our doorstep one morning. Aside from a confusing riddle which i didnt get, we had no warning, so it was a real surprise. So we took him in, gave him a bed to sleep in and taught him how to read books to his little niece, which had to include all animal noises and multiple repeats of the same book, the same pages, and the same noises! Little toddlers love repetition! We also put him to work in the garden and as our official dishwasher...hey, he didnt tell us he was coming! We had to teach him a lesson... He leaves tomorrow, and actually, its been really great to see him and to watch Zoe work her melt the heart magic on him. I think Nick will be more keen on marriage and children now! They made quite a connection. Also, Nick made some friends here that he will probably keep up contact with, and got a vision for his future wife! She walked past him at Hillsongs Encounterfest...joke.










This month we have some great things to look forward to...Phoebe's birthday on the 7th, Stevie Wonder on the 22nd (!!!), our 6 year anniversary on the 26th, and our holiday down south to Bega where Phoebe's dad lives and where Zoe can get to know her grandfather, her Pa. Good times. Zoe loves the sand on the beach, so we are gonna try introduce her to the ocean bit by bit.

da da da putchiputcha cha...

No, we aren't speaking in tongues, we're quoting our little baby girl, who has been wandering around the house for about a week stringing bunches of sounds together in the cutest random way, mimicking real sentences and, i swear...sometimes she makes more sense than we do! So far her favourite things are walking and jigging, stomping her feet, pointing to her nose, taking random pieces of paper for a walk, bathtime and sneaking through the baby gate. She is figuring out how to go down steps into our back courtyard and disappearing round the corner to practise going down the drive (a no-no). She loves the garden and is very gentle with the plants, treating more like friends and waving at the daisies (so cute). She has figured out our phones (sort of), and has sent tim text messages and called him a few times (accidentally i think!)- a real 21st century girl! She knows how to smack the laptop and change settings we didnt know were on there, and we hope the next smack will change it back! Her favourite thing on the computer is slideshows of herself, which there are many, but im not sure she knows its her, or some really super cute little girl who keeps showing up. Here we are on the first of SPRING, down at the park near our house, let loose on the green after cold and rainy days finished out winter. So nice to feel the sunshine again...note the cute hat that mum and I made for Zoe while she had a nap one day. Its reversible too!

Our Zoe Miracle is ONE! ...can you believe it?!

Well! Its been almost a year since we were online (sorry for taking so long) but this morning we connected to the rest of the world! Zoe Miracle is well and truly the love of our lives and she is truly a treasure and has to be seen in all her cuteness to be believed. I have never seen anyone so into life...
We celebrated her first birthday with my mum and sister up at mums place in Gwandalan, and it was a beautiful day. Zoe didnt quite get what was going on, but was keen to tear into all the colourful pressies we handed her and was pretty happy with the wrapping! She had a tiny sliver of her birthday cake and was pretty pumped about that!
Its been an incredible year.... I think Tim's mum said it best when she said the first year is a "year of wonders". Couldnt agree more. Watching Zoe zoom through all the first year milestones has been a thrill i guess only new parents can appreciate. So far she has done everything early, including walking just before 10 months and i swear she told me she loved me the other day :)
Zoe has the sweetest nature- full of joy and wonder and curiosity, and a fair bit of mischief too! Here are a few shots of her birthday, the cake i made (supposed to look like Zoe's favourite daisy from our garden!), and some of what she got. xx