25/52

"a picture of my daughter, once a week, every week in 2014"

This kid likes to pull faces, let me tell you. This week Romy started to really refine her 'cranky' face with one raised eyebrow and all. It's the face she pulls at me when I go into her room first thing in the morning, and it is almost as good as a big cheesy smile. She knows we find her 'cranky' face funny and a sly grin usually comes straight after. Her cheeky personality is definitely shining through more and more each day.

24/52

"a picture of my daughter, once a week, every week in 2014"

I set out to post a picture of Romy each week so at the end of the year when I get that end-of-the-year-nostaligia I can look back on how much she changed from week to week. I missed quite a few weeks on my blogging sabbatical so instead of taking a new picture today, I thought I would come back with a bang with this beautiful photo taken almost two weeks ago by Rikki Jones. Aside from being a 10/10 kind of person, Rikki takes the most delicately crafted memories without missing a single bit of detail. Seconds before Rikki snapped this picture of Romy she was mid-tantrum throwing the washer out of the sink because she didn't want to get out of the water, and then Rikki appears with her camera and all was forgotten. Romy loves having her picture taken!

16/52

"a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week in 2014"

Luke & I have been feeling quite nostalgic this week & have been looking back at every single photo we have taken of Romy since her first day. And it is extremely hard to believe that it has been an entire year since this amazing little girl has come into our lives. 

15/52

"a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week in 2014"

This isn't so much of a portrait of Romy, but this picture really sums up her spirit this week. She has been into everything! We have the stairs barricaded off so she can't climb them, so she found another way to get onto the stairs through the sides. And she loves putting her head into the washing machine to either scream really loudly, or bang her xylophone stick on the inside because it makes a much louder noise than the xylophone keys!

14/52

"a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week in 2014"

For a while there I didn't think we would ever see Romy's hair get any length to it, and then this week, almost overnight, her locks became very Rapunzel like. Well, almost. 

13/52

"a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week in 2014"

This moving business has thrown Romy off her game a little, but not off her food thankfully! This afternoon she snuck an extra sneaky hour onto her midday siesta & woke up with a roaring appetite. While I put together her lunch she snacked on some super healthy banana bread that her Aunty Ash made, and then I almost lost my hand when I put her plate on the highchair tray! At the moment her most favourite thing is cheese. I usually cut one slice of cheese into smaller bits for her so they're easier to manage, but lately she has putting them all in her mouth at once! If she is eating something else and notices something more appealing on the plate, she will spit out whatever she is eating and replace it with whatever caught her eye! 

12/52

"a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week in 2014"

Last week Romy discovered the stairs, and this week it has been her favourite thing. Don't worry guys, we are going to get gates for the stairs, we just held off because we weren't sure if our next house would have stairs. It is on the top of my to-do list for next week though. Romy knows that it is naughty to climb the stairs without us watching her close by, so she waits until we notice her and she peeks through the gaps in the stairs to see when we're coming. Our little Bear is very cheeky! 

11/52

"a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week in 2014"

This week Romy's top front teeth made an appearance along with her right vampire tooth that has been on its way down for a couple of weeks now. So the poor little bear has cut three teeth all at once, and has still managed to stay in a relatively good mood. Also this week Romy discovered that she is a natural stair climber and showed us how fast she could climb the entire stair case in one go without even a hint of falling. She sure is getting faster every day!

10/52

"a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week in 2014"

My parents put up a swing in their yard on Saturday and Romy LOVED it! Our little Bear is becoming quite the danger mouse really getting into things, so while my Mum pushed her gently on the swing, I gave her a firmer push and she really liked going a bit higher! This week we've also been sitting her on the top of our lounge & she throws herself off into our arms. She is definitely a little thrill seeker!

9/52

"a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week in 2014"

In the last two weeks Romy has started to pull herself up onto things into the standing position. And this new skill has given her a confidence boost and now she is looking at just about everything more curiously. She loves to pull the paper apart and the ink rubs onto her little fingers and she smudges the news over everything. She has been keeping me on my toes the last week especially now that she's been getting into the pantry and pulling all of the tea bags out and moving them into the living room. While I am sure that these little things will get old the more times I have to pack the tea bags away, I'm really enjoying these little quirks. 

8/52

"a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week in 2014"

The Bear did not hold back this week, and oh boy, there have been some tantrums! At times it can be a little difficult to take her tantrums seriously and acknowledge that yes, taking the remote off her makes her sad because she is just so darn cute, even when she cries. Lucky these little meltdowns don't last for long. There were a couple of times today that we started to laugh at the same volume her crying was so it would change her tune, and it worked almost every time. A couple of months ago the Bear worked out that when she coughs it catches out attention, so the fake cough has made a mysterious return this week, only this time around she is far more unsubtle about aiming to get our attention. Everyday gets better & better with her.

7/52

"a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week in 2014"

This week has been quite difficult for our little Bear, her teeth are on the move and boy oh boy are they giving her grief! Romy likes to stick to her routine, she likes to have good hearty sleeps and she really likes her food. But not this week. On the plus side, she has been pushing herself a little bit further each day to practice her standing skills which she has just started to do in the last week. Today I put all of our throw cushions on the ground for her to climb over and I caught her using them to push herself up. We thought living in a rental with stairs would be an issue, but so far so good. There have been a few attempts to climb them, but she quickly loses interest and remembers that her most favourite thing ever is to push our tall standing lamp over! 

6/52

"a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week in 2014"

This week Romy has been kicking her legs like crazy, every time I walk past her she is kicking something. I think she is itching to start using her pins, the last couple of mornings she has been leaning on us and pushing down on her little legs. Our little bear is extremely determined, and rougher than ever this week!

5/52

"a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week in 2014"

As each day passes more of Romy's personality starts to come through, and it is very clear that she is going to be a daddy's girl. On Luke's days off work she will follow him around the house quietly whispering to herself, 'dad dad dad dad dad', and will only be settled by him in the evenings, which means I am basically their third wheel. This week Romy's top vampire teeth started to come through, so there have been a couple of long nights with extra hugs. She was so keen to use her new teeth that she started to bite the adjustable side of her cot over the weekend!

4/52

"a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week in 2014"

These last couple of weeks have been pretty exciting for Romy, it feels as though the moment she started crawling, she hasn't stopped. Of a morning in her cot she is moving about, eagerly awaiting to get back to it. She especially loved Australia Day being outside for the afternoon with as much space as her eyes could see, and crawling on grass for the first time. 

3/52

"a portrait of my daughter, once a week, every week, in 2014"

As of today Romy is officially 9 months old! I remember in those first few months when she was still very little thinking, 'I wonder what she will be like when she is 9 months old'. And now that she is 9 months old, it is almost hard to remember what she was like at 3 months. The time just passes by so quickly, yet those early days seem so far in the past. I am most definitely loving this age the most so far because she is a lot more responsive and now that she can crawl and sit up on her own she seems more content.

2/52

Bright eyed and bushy-tailed after her nap this afternoon.

1/52

Last year I enjoyed so many different '52 projects' on a variety of blogs that I wanted to do something like that myself this year, and a 52 portraits of Romy project was my choice.

Romy loves having her picture taken, and I mean really loves it. A couple of weeks ago we had to make a late night trip to the hospital and even though she wasn't feeling the best, the second she saw an iPhone her spirits were up! I know I am probably not cultivating great habits with all the selfies, but when she is having a public meltdown it is one of the quickest and surest ways to get things under control.