Baby Signing DVD

Not long after Baby Bee was born we were at a baby shop and we came across a DVD called My Mealtime Signs. We bought it along with a couple more called Bathtime Signs and Bedtime Signs. The mealtime one has always been her favourite but we don't like her to watch too much television so she's only been watching it once or twice a week.

The first sign she learnt how to do was the sign for "all gone" because when she finishes her dinner I always say "All Gone!" and do the sign. Yesterday however I was reading her a book and one of the pictures in the book was of a bib so I said the word bib and she did the sign for bib all by herself. Of course I was over the moon and made a big fuss about it.

Then last night at dinner she ate a piece of toast and I said "More?" and she did the sign for more - all by herself. It was hilarious. We had to go and show Daddy straight away and she was so proud of herself. It's so exciting to able to see her trying so hard to communicate with us.

Sweetopia

If you've never been to the Sweetopia site it's definitely worth taking the time to go and visit. Marian has lots of information about baking cakes, cookies, gingerbread houses and desserts. One post that I found particularly helpful was this one below on decorating cookies with Royal Icing. She has a step-by-step tutorial with gorgeous pictures. Enjoy!

http://www.sweetopia.net/2009/09/how-to-decorate-cookies-with-royal-icing-top-10-tips/

A Trip to the Bookstore

Last weekend my husband, Baby Bee and I went to a Christian bookstore and had so much fun looking around the aisles. As usual, we spent more money than we had planned but we came away with some really good buys.

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We bought the Fireproof DVD (neither my husband or I had seen the movie) so we took it home and watched it that night for our "Saturday Night Movie Night" date. We both loved it!! It had such a good storyline that we just want to give it to everyone we know. If you haven't seen it, you should, it is really good.

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We bought a DVD for Baby Bee called Sunday School Songs and it has the cutest little kids singing about 15 different songs. I think my husband and I like the songs just as much as Baby Bee does because we've been singing them all week.

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I bought a book for myself which is actually three books in one - The Power of a Praying Wife, The Power of a Praying Parent and The Power of a Praying Woman, all by Stormie Omartian. I've read the first few chapters of The Power of a Praying Wife and it is really good. If you are married and you struggle to know what to pray for then I'm sure you'll find this book helpful. It's broken into 30 short chapters, each one focusing on an area of your husband's life that you can lift up to God in prayer.

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I bought this book because I felt that for the last few months I'd just been rushing through my prayer time, saying the same things over and over again. I feel so much more refreshed and focused now that I've started reading this book and I'm hoping that the other two books (especially the one about praying for my children) will be just as helpful.

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Anyway, after the bookstore we stopped at the cafe for a hot chocolate and went to visit my nana who lives nearby before coming home. What a perfect day.

Butterfly Party

Last weekend we held a party for my daughter's first birthday. Unfortunately the day turned out cold with a light rain, but lucky for us my husband had thought to hire a marquee and some tarps from a party store. There was no way all of our guests would have fit in our living room so they were nicely protected out in the backyard.

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We had lots of fun seeing all our family, some of whom we haven't seen for quite a few months. Baby Bee got lots of nice presents and I made a butterfly cake.

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I also made some butterfly cookies but with all the excitement of the day I forgot to take any photos. It was lots of fun and I can't believe that I now have a one year daughter!

The first rose of the season