Yesterday.

Yesterday was a very interesting day. I was excited all day because my mum was due to land in St Louis that afternoon. She has come to visit us for four weeks until we all fly home together for Christmas. When the time came to finally leave for the airport we all jumped into my nice shiny new car (yes we finally got ourselves a little motor). It was all going great, Calleigh was quietly playing on my iPhone and we were well on time to pick up my mum, even if we were stuck in a little bit of traffic. 

And then the day took a horrific turn. All of a sudden Calleigh started projectile vomiting. It went all over herself, the car and the car seat. It was horrendous. At the time we were on the interstate so we had to somehow get off the interstate and find a Walgreens to get some stuff to clean her up. I was panicking wondering if she was okay as she just sat there quietly not saying anything, while all the time I was sticking my head out of the window of the car to escape the smell (why oh why did the last thing she ate have to be banana).  

Finally I got a "I okay Momma" as we pulled into a Schnucks supermarket. I ran inside and picked up some kitchen roll, baby wipes and a car air freshener and we got started on the task of cleaning her up. As we stood outside of the car wiping her down I saw glances from other people with a look on their face as if to say "Oh yeah, I've been there" and others that said "Rather you than me". 

Finally we got back on the road and Calleigh was back to her cheery self as if nothing had happened. At this point we were already half an hour late picking mum up. When we got to the airport Mum was overjoyed to see us as I quickly explained our lateness as we hurried back to the car.

Back at home the first job was to bath Calleigh. After that had been done Calleigh sat with mum whilst we spent the rest of the night washing clothes, car mats and the car seat. Which bring me to our next disaster of the day.
We thought washing the car seat would be relatively easy, we took it apart making sure to take pictures so we knew how to put it back together, pretty easy done. Off it went in the washing machine and then the tumble dryer to dry out before tomorrow as we had to take her to daycare in the morning.

The problem came when trying to put it back together. It was impossible, even the with pictures we struggled with which strap goes where and how it all fitted back together. So on the Internet I went, which is when I found out that it is apparently a big no no to wash the straps of the car seat in a washing machine as it can fray them and weaken them rendering them unsafe in the unlikely event of an accident. Oh poo! If only I had read that before.

An hour and a half later we finally managed to get it back together and we decided it would do for the time being but we are now on the hunt for a new car seat. The straps may be fine but I am not willing to take that risk when it comes to Calleigh's safety.

So I would like to ask anyone that knows of a good car seat or has any good reviews to please leave a link in the comments section. We are looking for a toddler seat with a great safety rating and easy to use and clean. 

Reindeer.

There are so many Christmas things starting out here now. We are really happy that the holiday season starts so early out here, because we are going home this Christmas, it's nice to be able to do some things before we leave. Last weekend we went to a small Holiday Open House and Calleigh got to meet a Reindeer. 

We are so looking forward to more Christmas things to come! 

Riding the Carousel

I can't get over how much this girl loves the Carousel! 

This was from our trip to the mall, we always give Calleigh a go on the Carousel because, well shopping is boring to a almost 2 year old! 

Below is the video I took- the big smile on the picture doesn't do it justice of how much fun she was having!

Outfit of the Month: November

Dress and Tights- Gymboree

What's cuter than a winter jumper dress? 

Funky Giraffe Bibs Review

Now Calleigh is older she isn't too keen on wearing a bib whilst she eats, which means a lot of washing for me as she still hasn't quite mastered eating without it going all over her. Whilst I agree that bibs do seem a little babyish for her now I still wish she would wear one to keep her clothes clean. So when I was contacted by Funky Giraffe Bibs I was excited to try out their bandanna bibs.
The bandanna bib is a different take on the usual square bibs that are available and something that can be worn by babies as well as toddlers to keep them clean at mealtime. They are really cool looking and don't make Calleigh look like a baby while she is eating. They just look like a really cool fashion accessory.

I got to choose a few designs from their extensive range of bandanna bibs and I decided on a music note bib, a birthday girl bib (for her up coming birthday) and a Christmas tree bib (ready for the season). They all look really great and are made with soft high quality material.

I love the designs we received and there are plenty more to choose from on their website. Calleigh was happy with the designs too and spent more time looking at her new bib than actually eating her dinner. It did the trick and at the end of dinner I was happy to see clean clothes.
Calleigh didn't want to take the bib off so spent the rest of the afternoon walking around in it, she looked super cool!

It's not just bibs you can find on their website either.
Funky Giraffe Bibs also offer baby and toddler fashion from head to toe. You can find T-shirts, dresses, vests and socks all made from the finest material and at affordable prices. You won't find their designs anywhere else so go to their website for the latest styles and trends.

I was really impressed with the bibs and can't wait for her birthday and Christmas so she wear the other two.

Connect with them on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with the latest news and special offers.
Funky Giraffe Baby on Facebook
Funky Giraffe Bibs on Twitter

I received these bibs from the company for the purpose of this review but all thoughts are my own and I was not compensated in any other way for this review. 

Bird Watching

One of the best things about living here is definitely the wildlife. Just standing on our decking you can see an assortment of different animals. We have seen a deer, a raccoon, squirrels, rabbits, next doors cat and tons of birds. Calleigh is a bit of a bird fan. She loves feeding the ducks and geese and gets very excited when she hears birds calling. 

Yesterday there was quite a bit of bird activity so we sent Calleigh out with her bird book to do some spotting. 

My attempt at photographing the birds didn't go so well. The closest I got was a shot of a Downy Woodpecker flying away. So I decided to take photos of my favourite thing instead... Calleigh. 

We Went Trick or Treating!

After a long and incredibly wet and rainy Halloween day we finally managed to take Calleigh out for her first time trick or treating. It was a bit later than we wanted because of the awful weather but when it finally slowed down and we saw other kids walking the street we quickly took our chance to take her out. 

Unfortunately the rain didn't completely stop so we didn't stay out long but I'm happy with the time we did have, Calleigh really enjoyed herself and got into the spirit.

Happy Halloween

This is what we see every morning

Happy Halloween Everyone! 

We are looking forward to going trick or treating around our street tonight (even if it is raining)! As for the rest of today we will be going for our medical and meeting with our solicitor for the green card process. Hopefully this will be the last step and then it's just a long wait to find out if it goes through okay. 

Fingers Crossed! 

Tooling Around

Calleigh loves to help Daddy when he's doing a bit of D.I.Y. Just recently he has managed to finally fix the lawn mower (it only took six months), this means we no longer have to pay $25 a week to get our lawn mowed and we can put that money towards our savings instead- Woohoo! 

Calleigh loves to copy at the moment and everything Daddy was doing, Calleigh had to do too. I think she would make a pretty good mechanic, she seemed to know what everything was for. 

Playing in the Leaves

There are no words to describe how much fun this was, so I will just show you in photos!