Zahra has been a busy baby

Well it has all been happening for Zahra in the last few days. On Friday we celebrated her 1 week birthday. Serap, who was there to look after me at the birth, came to eat cake with us, and brought her daughter too - my friend Lilith.

Then on Saturday Zahra had her first bath. Of course being the big sister I had to test if the water was OK.

Zahra actually seemed to like the bath. She was crying when she got in, but soon settled down and relaxed in the nice warm water. I got her a warm towel afterwards and she liked that too.

Later that day she had her first outing. It was only 2 degrees outside but luckily she didn't have far to go - just to the apartment underneath us, where they were celebrating finishing the renovations and getting new tenants. Because they have a different entrance to their apartment, it meant Zahra did have to go outside.

Here she is with Mama at the entrance to our building.

To celebrate Zahra's arrival, our landlord decorated our front door with these beautiful flowers.

They are to welcome Zahra to her new home and give her strength. Isn't that sweet? We feel very special coming home to our decorated door now.

More Zahra

I really wanted to have my photo taken with Zahra on my chest. I think it turned out very nicely. You can see her in her sleeping bag too. It is a bit big for her, but she will grow fast. Especially now that she is getting lots of Mama's milk!

I have a little sister!

Hi, as you may know my little sister (previously known as "Vegemite and Butter") has been born. She was born at our house in Basel at 4:47am on 5 December 2008 and I've been quite excited since. My friend Lilith's mama Serap was at our house to take care of me while mama had the baby and she woke me up when she heard the baby crying. So, I saw her when she was just a few minutes old.

Her name is Zahra Lily Bagshaw and here's a picture of her wearing the same outfit I did when I came from the hospital in Perth all those years ago.

Zahra is healthy. I helped the midwife count her fingers and toes and there are 10 of each. She weighed 3310 grams at birth, with a 34cm head and she's 50cm tall. She has red hair, although it's much lighter than mine.

Mama is doing quite well, but she's still a bit sleepy sometimes and a bit sore. But both her and Dada are very happy with how it went and that we are now a family of four.

I'll try to take and share some more photos in the next few days.

Waiting for Vegemite and Butter

I call the baby in Mama's tummy Vegemite and Butter. Mama and Dada had a joke that their kids should be called very Australian names. When I was in Mama's tummy, they called me Milo, which is a yummy chocolate drink from Australia. They wanted to call this baby Vegemite while it was in Mama's tummy, but I said you can't just call it Vegemite, you have to call it Vegemite and Butter, because that's what I love eating and they have to go together.

So, now we are waiting for Vegemite and Butter to come out. It is nearly time. Mama's tummy is very, very big. I don't think it can get much bigger. I can feel the baby kick in there, sometimes it even kicks me when I am cuddling up to Mama in bed!

Mama is going to have the baby at home. My friend Lilith's Mama Serap is going to come over to look after me. If I want to stay, I can, but if I want to go, she will take me to play (or sleep) with Lilith. I can't wait to meet the baby.

My Dada has made a website for anybody who wants to find out what is happening with the birth. You can see it at www.twitter.com/baselbirth

Next time I write, maybe I will have a brother or sister!!!!!

October

OK, October finished a long time ago but I haven't told you what happened then so I thought I'd tell you now. Mostly I have just been busy with Kinderhouse and Judo and Acroballet and seeing my friends, but one fun thing I started doing was having sleepovers with my friend Emilie. Every two weeks we swap and go to the other person's house for the night. At first I wasn't too sure about staying over without my Mama or Dada but now I love it. Last week Emilie even stayed 2 nights at my house, we had so much fun!

Emilie and I like doing lots of the same things, especially drawing and making things.

And of course watching TV.

Also, remember in Australia I loved going to the indoor playground, what I called "balls"? Well, Emilie is half French and she knows about a place in France that also has lots of balls, which I call, of course, "French balls". We had so much fun there one morning, because we had the whole place to ourselves!

And plenty of sweet things to eat.

At the end of October I celebrated Halloween. We went to a party with lots of American kids, who seem to know a lot more about how to do Halloween than we Australians do. But I like any excuse for a party, so I was happy to join in.

We had a costume parade and yummy scary-looking food to eat and games to play and afterwards we did a little bit of trick-or-treating. I still don't get that - we ask strangers for lollies?!? And do we really do something mean to them if they don't give us anything?!?

Emilie and I loved it all anyway.

Ariane and Zoe came to visit

Last weekend I did lots and lots of playing because my friend Ariane came to visit from Frankfurt with her little sister, Zoe. We were so excited to see each other and we got straight down to business: getting out all my toys and spreading them all over the house! So much fun.

Zoe is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO cute. I liked playing with her and practising being a big sister. Here I am giving her a little push on the swing. I think she liked it.

Carolyn and Bengt came from Bonn

Well I had a big smile on my face this weekend because my friend Carolyn from Bonn came to visit and she brought her little baby brother Bengt. We had so much fun playing together, it was just like old times.
We made gummy bears using a kit I got for my birthday. It turns out they are more fun to make than to eat!


And we had a quick trip to the Puppenhaus museum to see all the dolls and teddies.

On the way home we had some fun in the park.


Then at night we got cosy on the couch and watched a movie. (Actually there is photo that looks a lot like this one called "Cuddled up" on my blog for November 1, 2006!)

A weekend in Strasbourg and Truchtersheim

This weekend my Dada went to his annual metal festival in Wacken in the north of Germany. Mama and I were just going to stay home, because Mama can't travel so far, but some friends invited us to stay with them just over the border in France, so we went off on a little adventure. First we took the train to Strasbourg, which, as you can see, is very pretty. Mama and I stayed in a hotel together and went out exploring in the evening.

I made a tour of the carousels.

This one was fun because I could whizz around really fast.

The next day our friends picked us up and took us out to the village of Truchtersheim. My friend Emilie's dad comes from there, and her grandparents still live there in the farmhouse he grew up in. It is really, really beautiful there, and lots of fun for a kid like me. I loved running around and seeing the animals and eating all the delicious food Emilie's grandmother cooked for us! You can see me here with Emilie, just before we went to church with her grandparents. I even sat in the choir with them! Pretty funny.

A quick goodbye visit from Zio

Last week my Zio came for a last quick visit to Switzerland before he moves from England back to Australia. He is going back there to work and his girlfriend Becky is moving with him too. He could only come to Basel for a little while but I loved it so much - we went swimming and to a restaurant on a farm with a park and to a cafe for "kinder cappucino". I was very sad when he left and kept crying about it for a day or so but I know I can still Skype him lots. And now when I visit Australia, he and Becky will be there too! Yay!

Carla and Marcel

I made some new friends this weekend! Actually, they are old friends of Mama's, because Mama met Carla in a youth hostel in Melbourne 12 years ago! They are Dutch, they live in Amsterdam and they came to visit us for one night. At first I was a bit shy but by the end we were very good friends, and I had lots of fun playing with them and showing them all my stuff. They are getting married soon and we wish them lots of fun at their wedding party and in their years of marriage afterwards!

Summer holidays in Sylt

Well, I had a pretty exciting summer holiday this year. My friend Nepheli invited me and Mama and Dada to stay with her and her family in their house on Sylt, an island in the north of Germany. I love flying on planes with my friends!

Travelling together is lots of fun.

Their house was right next to a beautiful beach. Look at the cute baskets they have on the beach for people to sit in!

At first it was a bit cold and rainy, but we still had fun exploring.

And flying a kite.

After the weather warmed up and we actually went swimming in the North Sea. It was pretty cold, I said it was like ice blocks and I felt like an ice block when I got out.

We had fun hanging out on the beach in my tent.

And we even went to a circus together. It was the best holiday.

On the way home Mama and Dada and I stopped in Hamburg to have a look around. It was very pretty.

And they had good ice cream!

Can you believe I'm 5?

Well, it's true! And here are some photos to prove it. I had a very busy day on Thursday.

First I celebrated with my friends at the Kinderhouse.

I asked Mama to make chocolate cupcakes, some with pink icing and some with yellow, and she did! I shared them with everybody.

We liked them a lot.

Next I had my normal Acroballet class. I had to go because we were practising for the concert we had on Sunday. Here is a photo from the concert.

After Acroballet I had a BIG party with my friends. We had it at the sports club that they have for Dada's work, because I wanted to invite so many kids. That was great, because we played lots of games on the lawn, and had face painting and a pinata and everything. There was lots of yummy food there too.

Afterwards we had an icecream cake, with smashed up Crunchie bars inside and lots of Smarties on top!

I was the luckiest girl ever and got SO many presents. It was the best day!