My first Haircut

The best part of being a girl is that I get to do lots of girly things, like go shopping with mama and of course treating myself to a bit of pampering at the hair salon.  Last time I went to the salon and I have to admit I was not the best behaved little girl that I usually am, but to be fair I wasn’t the one getting the special treatment, mama hogged all the pampering for 4 HOURS!!! No wonder I was bored.  So I heard mama was due to go back to the salon very soon, something I was dreading.  She is there so often I think it was time I got in the hot seat.  I was happy to find out that Daddy was taking me out whilst mama was in the salon, music to my ears.  What I didn’t guess was that when we went to pick her up, she let me have my time to shine.  I was taken a little off guard and hadn’t planned this at all.  I always thought my first Salon experience would be just like mama, sipping on my babycino, flicking through magazines finding just the right style.  With no preparation at all and no thought to the look I wanted to achieve and walk around with for the next few months, I had to leave it in the stylists hands.  Some would say I was crazy but I think she did a great job on mama’s hair, so how bad could it turn out?   It was a sad moment to say goodbye to my little curls at the back but as cute as they were, they were also the beginnings of a great mullet, something that doesn’t bode well here on the streets of London. So here it is, the clip of my first haircut.

H x

Guess who’s back??

Have you missed me??

I can’t believe it has been a month since my last post! The last few weeks have been busy, busy, busy but not in the fun way that I usually have.  After my last video I posted about walking, I have improved a great deal, infact these days walking is my preferred choice to get around London.  I can’t believe it took me this long to work it out, walking is so much easier and faster than crawling.

In a less than two weeks we have to move out of our little studio flat so we have been spending our days searching high and low, all over London for a new place to live.  We have been so busy with flat hunting that I haven’t had a minute to blog and have been very quiet on skype as well. I can’t remember how many flats we saw but it was a lot, more than I can count on both hands and feet. Towards the end mummy was getting very frustrated and sad that she couldn’t find the perfect flat.  Finally after looking in Southfields, Wimbledon, Balham, Tooting and even Morden mummy and daddy decided they didn’t want to leave Chiswick.  We have made so many new friends and there are lots of lovely parks and kid friendly places to eat, we never want to leave Chiswick. The only problem is that Chiswick is so nice, everyone wants to live here, which means it’s very expensive. Luckily mummy found something on the other side of chiswick (she won’t admit it’s actually Acton, but the postcode unfortunately confirms this).  This place is so lovely, I get a room all to myself and we have a nice little backyard. I can’t wait to help mummy decorate my new room and play in the garden. Daddy has promised to buy me all new toys becuase I will have so much more room to play with everything as long as I promise to keep my room tidy.

The other great thing about our new flat is that there is a spare double bed for all our family and friends to come and visit.

Other than flat hunting, we have also had some other fun days, but I will tell you all about it later this week.  For now I just wanted to post a quick message to let you all know I haven’t disappeared and to show off this little video of me walking.  Mummy filmed this today as it was the first sunny day in over 2 weeks.

H x

Walking on a dream

The moment you have all been waiting for

Birthday week

It’s official! My age is finally a real number, I am one. I had such a nice birthday and to be honest it has felt like my birthday everyday for the past week.  Daddy has mentioned that mummy really likes birthdays and tries very hard to make her birthday last for as long as she can get away with, I like her thinking and so I have taken a leaf out of her book and had a birthday week.

I have been so lucky, lots of people have been so generous and bought me presents.  Thank you so much, I love all my new clothes and toys. My wardrobe has doubled in size and I love it. I am spoilt for choice now and love helping mummy pick out my new outfit for the day.

Wednesday was a very exciting day, my Omi and Poppy bought me swimming lessons for my birthday but sadly the term is too far into the season so we have to wait until next term after Easter.  I was a little bit sad but mummy took me swimming anyway and Uncle Luke came with too.  It was a little bit cold getting in and out but I love the water.  I am a real water baby kicking around and trying to put my face under the water and blow bubbles. We tried to take pictures but we got in trouble from the lifeguard.  I had the biggest smile on my face the whole time.  I am hoping mummy takes me more regularly during the week, so when my classes start I can show off how good I am.  I can’t wait till we have a summer holiday and I can go swimming in the beach again.

Thursday was my real birthday and I had such a fun day.  Daddy got me out of bed early and gave me big kisses and hugs.  Once he left for work mummy and I snuggled in bed and slept in a little bit longer.  We had planned to meet up with Natasha and Reece and spend the day at a HUGE softplay centre called Gambados.  We met Natasha and Reece at the tube and then caught a bus to Chelsea Harbour.  Mummy knew exactly where to go as she used to catch the same bus when she worked in Chelsea Harbour. Gambado’s was AMAZING!!! It was so big I didn’t know where to start bu Reece showed me exactly where to go.  It’s funny because mummy was so excited for my birthday but when we got to gambado’s she told them my birthday was the next day – I think it had something to do with paying but it was very confusing for me, as I was wearing my birthday outfit again, I was sure my birthday was today.  Anyhoo we got in I went straight to the ball pit.  I am really confident in there now and I bury myself in the balls and throw them at people.  Then I climbed the soft wall all the way up to the top to slide down the big slippery dip.  It was so much fun! There are three sections you can play in, there are also dodgem cars and a tea cup ride.  Mummy was having an awesome time as well, she felt like a big kid again.  I think I want my birthday party here next year.

After Gambado’s mummy and Natasha walked to the pub to get some burgers for lunch, it was literally around the corner and Reece and I were asleep almost immediately, all this birthday fun is exhausting!!

H x

2011 – The year of Adventure

What a big year 2011 has been for me and my family.  I never expected to do and see so much in the first year of my life and that is why this year was ‘the year of Adventure’.

When I arrived in February I was so surprised by how many people were there to shower me with cuddles and love. I had lots mummy’s family and friends and all of daddy’s big family came down to Sydney to see me. My first few weeks were very busy with family and friends and my first photoshoot with Aunty Kylie, she took some gorgeous photo’s which you will see.

I had my first road trip when I was just over 2 months old, we drove up to Coffs Harbour to visit my Oma for a few days then we carried on further up the coast to the Goldie to visit all the Stanley’s.  This was the first time mummy and daddy left me for a night, G Nan and G Dad looked after me whilst mummy and daddy went to an Engagement Party for Joel and Kez.  They had a really good night and I was such a good girl.

In the months to come I went sailing, went to a few birthday parties, met lots of new mummy’s and babies and applied for my first passport.  Mummy and daddy had a wedding in England in September and decided to go for a holiday beforehand in Italy.  Mummy and daddy used to live in London before I came along and they both missed it very much.  As much as they loved being close to family and enjoying the warmer weather they missed London and decided to move back.  After one more visit up north in June and lots of sad farewells in Sydney we boarded our Korean Air flight to Milan.  I really enjoyed my first long haul flight but I was relieved when we landed in Milan.  We had the most amazing time driving around Italy visiting all the major cities for two weeks.  The weather was ridiculously hot and I struggled in the heat sometimes but for the most part I was a little angel.  I had my first swim in the ocean and my first tastes of Gelato (thank you daddy).

Next stop was England. After Robyn and Chris’s beautiful wedding we moved into a nice flat in Chiswick.  Mummy joined lots of activity groups so we could make some new friends, it didn’t takes us long as I love to meet new people and my mummy is fairly chatty too.

London is our now new home, although Australia will always be our real home.  Since moving here I have learnt how to eat proper foods, crawl, clap, wave, give kisses, stand and walk around the coffee table and say ‘dada’ and ‘mum’.  I am learning new things everyday so it is a pretty exciting time for me at the moment, I like to copy what I see. I have also had my frist Christmas, it was amazing but I am not so sure about that Santa guy! My next big event is my first birthday (less than a month away)!

Mummy says this year has gone so quickly and we have done so much she wanted to look back on how much I have grown up already and so we put together this movie.  I hope every one enjoys this little movie, with lots of home video’s she has filmed over the year and pictures from our adventures.

Thank you everyone who reads my blog, I have so much fun writing it and my new years resolution is to write a blog at least once or twice a week.  This year has been a very busy first year and I know mummy has plenty of exciting things planned for 2012, I hope you will continue to join me in my adventures of Harlow Stanley.

Lots of Love

Harlow xx

Pumped up kicks

Mummy has made a little video montage of me crawling, sitting, playing and other little things she has filmed recently. So grab yourself a cup of tea and enjoy watching me play around.

H x

Hyde Park crawler

Lizardly

Mummy has taught me how to be a lizard.