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Dressing up

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Thursday, 15 May 2014: One Year and Forty Five Days Old.

Ayla’s getting to the age now where she loves dressing up.

It’s not uncommon for me to find her in our bedroom with a pair of my underpants on her head (charming) or in her own room pulling out the duty laundry and trying to re-wear her outfits.

Ayla’s also taken a recent interest in my shoes, particularly now that I’m back at work and my poor old thongs have been relegated to weekends.

This morning however I gave Ayla her first piece of costume jewellery to play with and without a moment thought Ayla began adorning her neck with a long strand of plastic pearls.

What was cutest of all was that Ayla seemed to know they were pretty because she almost blushed when she put them on.

Complete with a one-shoulder shrug, half a smile and a tilt of the head Ayla was the epitome of a little girl pretending to be a princess.

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First Christmas

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Wednesday, 25 December 2013: Two Hundred and Sixty Eight Days Old.

Well, I think it’s safe to say Ayla’s first Christmas was a huge success.

The day started off with a sleep in (I know, awesome!) til 8.30 then Ayla was up and ready to see if Santa had come.

And he had!

Ayla’s stocking was full of little nic-nacs and there were presents oozing out from under the tree, we didn’t know where to start!

I think I even had myself believing in Santa’s magic again, even if just for a moment or two, as I walked Ayla around the tree explaining what had happened overnight.

Ayla is a very lucky girl indeed! From Santa she got a bucket of shaped blocks and a very cool push-along walker toy, and in her stocking was a couple of teething toys, a Schleich Shetland pony, some bubbles and a book about colours.

From her Mummy and Daddy, Ayla got a ladybug bouncing ball, a pop-up book called “Little Tadpoles Big Surprise”, a tambourine drum and a set of crayons with an art pad.

From friends and family Ayla got everything from gorgeous outfits to stuffed animals, from electronic learning toys to books and games.

Ayla even received a pair of genuine Baby Raybans and a beautiful butterfly bracelet engraved with her name.

Although most of our family is interstate, thanks to the wonders of FaceTime we were able to include them in our Christmas morning as they watched Ayla open her gifts.

It was great to know that despite thousands of kilometres they could still share in Ayla first Christmas, and see her face light up as her presents were unwrapped.

But after the gift giving, unwrapping and thanking was over we were off to our neighbours house for a street-party champagne breakfast, complete with bacon and eggs!

The afternoon was spent cleaning up and getting ready to go away on holidays tomorrow, and from evening to night we gorged ourselves leftovers while relaxing the couch with a wine, watching our little Baby Ayla play with her new toys.