Of course once a bride has had her nails, hair and makeup done, it's time to feed the pet rabbits...

I mentioned this image to Leah during the wedding - the way Chris is looking at her just makes me want to cry! I am SUCH a emotional softy these days.

Her little flower wand broke:

See you when you get back from honeymoon you two, and thanks for having me :)

(Actually I may be 12 months or older in the above image..)





Elmer has inherited my big mouth. And my teeth. And maybe a bit around the eye area. Otherwise he is a complete miniature Steven.

Happy babies: Things wrapped in plastic, and Thing with buttons on...

Elmer enjoys Grandad's famous pasta dish...

Me and my dad...

Elmer meets Max the dog...





Elmer and his adoring Gran...

Isn't he cute?! I must say, the flight wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The babies loved all the air hostess attention and behaved admirably.

I'm so excited to be back in the UK! I have a fabulous wedding this week in a beautiful old Cardiff church and hotel...

I'm off to pack - tomorrow we leave for Christchurch and then to the UK. We have 5 hours in transit at Singapore airport, where I am looking forward to the possibility of relaxing on a sun lounger next to the rooftop swimming pool!!!! I am thinking solely of this, and of meeting Elmer's grandparents in London, and NOT the 36 hour plane trip with a 10 month old... who has a cold.... and is teething....

I remember when Elmer was 3 months old my sister said "Nine months is my favourite baby age". I thought, how can he get any cuter than he is now? I stand corrected. At 9 months, Elmer has perfected his hearty, side-splitting giggle. He finds everything funny; Steven choking on a fish bone; the dog wagging his tail; me sighing over a boring spreadsheet. It's nice to be reminded of how ridiculous we all are.

Before I leave for the UK next week I have another very cute baby to share on the blog...

Oh and I have some very cute photographs of Elmer coming up!

I know... SO cute!

This time last year I was pregnant with Elmer, we ate out at a fancy restaurant and I was drooling over Steven's white wine. The year before we were in China eating noodles after a Peking Duck disaster. Hopefully next year I will be having a party in our BRAND NEW HOUSE!

Steven's brother Grant watching Elmer for us... although he looks more like a bouncer than a babysitter here....





The great thing about this stage is that we can see where all the doors and windows fit. Elmer is sitting infront of a big picture window below.. there will be a nice wide window seat underneath for lying on and reading books:

The dogs are thinking "That's it, you just stand around looking innocent cows.... but one slip-up and we're on to you.."

I have to say, I'm such a huge baby fan now that I've had Elmer. He's turned me into a big, gushing softy. Hopefully Steven won't read this and say "What's changed?"

This isn't his passport photograph (but it is very cute) because: 1) His mouth is slightly open; 2) The background is white; and 3) His face takes up less than 70% of the image and is not aligned. If he was wearing sunglasses and a fake beard he would be breaking ALL the rules...

I have a couple of baby shoots coming up, and will be blogging some more Elmer too of course...

At this point in the day after the sun disappeared it was COLD. And I mean wearing two jackets, thick socks and a hat and it's-still-cold kind of COLD. I could have easily shot here for another 4 hours, but I didn't want anyone to hate me so we moved on after a couple of minutes. I have to say, I could see the glow of the sunset on the snow-capped mountains in the rearview mirror as we drove off and I was slightly dying inside.

Thank you Emma and Hugh for such a fabulous, emotional wedding, and for being your lovely selves infront of the camera.

As Emma and Hugh partied into the night, Steven and I were driving back to Dunedin. A journey where we discovered that Elmer is scared of the dark - he sleeps with a dim light on at home - scared enough to sob in the back whenever we left a street-lit area. So I sat with him and held his hand until he fell asleep, the poor mite. I remember having a glow worm toy when I was little, so I'll have to get him something like that for any future night journeys. Such a sensitive soul!!

I'll blog as much of the build as I can over these next few weeks. If it doesn't rain constantly that is..........

Lush! Blog posts coming up: Cute Elmer; Cave Wedding; House Build....