A ski holiday in Adelboden

Last week we went on a ski trip. We were very lucky because it snowed lots the day we arrived, and then was sunny for the rest of the week. We were also very lucky to get a room upgrade and stayed in a great big apartment with this awesome view.

I had ski school every day, which was lots of fun.

And Zahra even took a gondola to the top of the mountain, so that Mama could do a little bit of snowboarding while she slept.

When Zahra wasn't doing apres-ski, she used her time to practise new skills, like pressing up on her arms. She is getting strong.

Fasnacht 2009

Another Fasnacht is over and I loved it just as much as ever. This time Dada took me to the Morgestraich at 4am on Monday morning. That afternoon I went in to see the parades, first with Mama and then with Dada. I dressed up as a bear, as you can see!

In the parades, wagons with these clown kind of guys called Waggis come around and the Waggis either throw out lollies or cover you in confetti.

On the Tuesday, the day for kids, my friend Zoe borrowed my bear costume and I was a Chinese princess.

The kids' day is great, because then we get to throw the confetti.

I also gave out most of the lollies I had got from the Waggis to other kids.

Here I am, hanging out with my friends.

It was Zahra's first Fasnacht, and here she is hanging out with her friend Lyn too! Well, they are there somewhere under those green hoods.

Out and about

Well, it's school holidays here and we've been having lots of fun. Here are some photos of what we've been up to. This one is just to show you how Zahra has to get rugged up to go out in Winter.

But last weekend was our first warm weather. It was a whole 14 degrees and we loved it and took the chance to take off all our coats and hang out in the sunshine on the Rhine.

For the first few days of the holidays Mama and Zahra and I went to stay with my friend Emilie, who has moved to a village in Alsace called Truchtersheim. Her dad was born there and now she and her family have moved back to live in a house on her grandparents' farm. I love it there, and so does Mama. She says she could move there tomorrow, but I think that has a lot to do with the French patisseries.

Truchtersheim is very close to Strasbourg, so we spent a couple of afternoons there and of course I had to go on the merry-go-round again. And again and again.

Here is a nice photo of Zahra at a birthday party last week. She is with Lilith, my friend who loves her a lot, and Serap, Lilith's mum.

This photo is just to show you how much fun it is having a little sister to dress up and make look silly.

Zahra crosses the border

Not last weekend but the weekend before Zahra crossed her first international border, when we drove to Germany for lunch. It only took about 15 minutes to get to the restaurant (and 5 minutes to get to Germany), but still, it is her first visit to another country, so we had to take a photo to remember it.
This trip reminded us that we needed to organise her Australian passport. This involves us sending lots of paper to Berlin and them sending it back, and then sending it all to Geneva, then us going there in person, then maybe one day we get the passport. But the first problem was getting a passport photo of Zahra. It went much better than we thought it would, and could you ask for a cuter passport photo?!?

Meanwhile, we have just been growing and playing. Here are Lyn and Zahra starting to get interested in each other.

Here am I dressing up as my favourite again - Pippi Longstocking. This was just to wear to kindergarten today.

And me doing crazy Pippi-ish things.

Life rolls on

Well, I never really got to have a twin, so this will have to do I suppose. Zahra's not looking her best really, going through the non-teenager pimply phase of life. But I like her jumper...

Last Saturday my kindy friend Joshua had his 5th birthday party. I was pleased to read that it was a pirate party, as then I could wear the pirate costume Nana sent me last year. I even found a parrot to sit on my shoulder, which is quite pirate-y.

Meanwhile Zahra has started giving off smiles, which we all love. We haven't quite managed to capture a big one with the camera yet, but here's a sample. I find her very cute at times, although at other times I block my ears so I don't have to hear her crying.

Happy 2009!

Happy New Year from Yasmin, Zahra, Steven and Janet! We wish you all a very happy and peaceful and healthy year. I made sure our little family partied on New Year's Eve, with a party bomb that explodes lots of toys and streamers and hats and noisy things. I stayed up to watch the fireworks from the roof (they started at 12:30am), and was very happy to see a smiley face firework. Even if it was upside down! Anyway, here I am cuddling with Zahra, which I am sure I will do a lot of this year.

We had Zahra's first car ride the other day. She seemed to like it. We went to the sports club for lunch on a nice sunny day and it was very yummy.

Introducing Zahra's first little friend - Lyn! She was born on December 27 and is the little sister of my Swiss friend Zoe. We were so excited to meet her, and so shocked to see how big Zahra was in comparison to her! Lyn weighed more than Zahra did when she was born, but as you can see, there is a big difference now. Could she have grown SO much in 4 weeks?!?

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.