Catch up news

Ruby had a busy old time between 14 weeks and 8 months, and seeing as today she is 9 months old (i.e. been as long 'out' as she was 'in'), I thought it timely to show some of her goings ons since that last post.

When she was 5 weeks old we spent a week in Wellington for her Uncle Andrew's wedding to Megan. Here they are getting acquainted... she was full of smiles for them both!

And meeting her Aunty Tasha (who popped over from Australia) properly for the first time was fun too...

Aunty Tracey came up to Auckland and fell in love with Ruby and helped us get over the initial 'baby shock', then came back later for a visit and more cuddles...

Xmas was a lovely fun and relaxed affair at Aunty Sarah and Uncle Mike's house. The antlers just had to be done; what are kids for if not to make fun of?

Ruby's Grandad and Nan gave her a 'piano' for Xmas and it was an instant hit. As she got bigger, she got more and more clever... and here she is playing it with her feet. If there's one child that is destined to be musical, this one's it! No pressure or anything!

Owen's Mum, aka 'Granny' popped over from England not long after Xmas and got in her share of cuddles too...

Many people couldn't just pop over from far away so Ruby got lots of parcels within weeks of being born too. This wee softy (which got labelled a dino-raffe because Owen thought it was a dinosaur and I thought it was a giraffe) was well loved instantly and I got home to find that she wouldn't let go of it, so it ended up being her nap companion! Way to go Aunty Sophie - you chose well!!

Late in January we spent Auckland Anniversary Weekend at Auckland Folk Festival, parked up in a caravan. It was super hot, so Ruby spent most of the time naked and eyeing up my water bottle. She was a firm favourite with many of the 'folkies', especially as she had just been a 'bump' at the previous festival!

Since Xmas we've also been up to Paihia for a couple of gigs with Owen's mate Paul. Here's the hungry monster being fed something involving pumpkin in the back of the van. My aim obviously wasn't that good at the time. We have both since improved! Quite hard to feed such a nosy little monkey; her head keeps turning to see what else is going on... and parked on the side of the road isn't helpful - much like trying to feed her at a tennis match I would guess!

A couple of Ruby's best fans (and it's mutual!) are her Aunty Hannah and Uncle Gareth. Here they are in our van at one of Owen's gigs.

They also had their first babysitting stint a week ago when we went to the Bonnie Raitt concert (yeeha - a night out on our own!). Here she is stuck under the couch after practising her backwards shuffle a little too enthusiastically (Ruby, not Bonnie).