29 December 2009

Spoilt for choice

We've been able to take a total back seat to photographing our holiday this year, as our ace photographer-in-residence Uncle Nic has been trying out his new digital SLR. I think you'll agree some of the photos we have are MAGIC!

Nic has a real keen eye for a great photo and is considering making it more than just a hobby. We think he has a real emerging talent! A man of many talents, given he also pretty much singlehandedly built Mum and Dad's house (pictured in some of the photos) before he headed over to Australia 3 years ago. He recently finished a bible college course at Oxford Falls CCC in Sydney, and is now biding his time working full-time in a bathroom showroom till August when he plans to head to London both to work and follow the call of God on his life. He initially plans to help out part-time in the London church, before going further afield into Europe, possibly to Switzerland or the Netherlands, depending on where opportunities arise. In the meantime, we've really enjoyed hanging out with him the past 2 Christmases we've had here at mum and dad's!

Back to the holiday though.....although the pictures speak for themselves, the highlights so far have been:
  • Thankfully a very speedy trip north for Mark & Noah on Christmas Eve - leaving Wellington 6am and arriving at 1pm, a great effort considering the traffic on the roads
  • Fantastic weather on Christmas Day - the best in a decade according to the weatherman
  • Football, gridiron, waterfights and kiteflying - making the most of the huge outdoor space at Nana & Poppa's
  • Noah gaining confidence on his new balance bike - 4 days of practice until proficient and speedy. Yesterday he must have ridden nearly a km on his own around the roads
  • Lots of BBQ's, beers and bubbly consumed - although Poppa is still cringing at the thought of the dent in the ceiling due to one particularly effervescent bubbly!
  • The boys - Mark, Nic and Sam have enjoyed many a night playing cricket, American football, golf and FIFA football on the Wii
  • Mylo content to enjoy the buzz and hubbub being amongst the extended family - chewing and grabbing onto everything, particularly enjoying the wrapping on Christmas Day
So many photos to choose from that I've split them into three slideshows:

Outdoors Fun


  

Me and My Bike





Other Holiday Fun



24 December 2009

The Miracle of Life

Lately I have been given cause to reflect on how our journeys into this world are as unique and individual as the personalities we develop over time.

The night I was in early labour with Mylo, we had our dear friends Shannon & Guy over for a night in, complete with fish n chips and rugby on the TV. They headed off home about 9.30pm with the expectation that we might call in the middle of the night to come and look after Noah. Shannon then kindly returned at 3.30am after I put the SOS call out to her, allowing us to head off to the hospital, where Mylo was born just over an hour later at 5am.

Although we try and catch up regularly, last Friday was the first opportunity we had to sit down and have dinner together since Mylo was born. Shannon and I had both joked via text earlier in the week about the prospect of this sending her into labour too (their first baby due yesterday, Wednesday 23rd December). After a tasty BBQ dinner, we were relaxing around the dinner table about 9pm when out of nowhere Shannon's waters broke. As they didn't break forcefully, she was left to question at the time whether this was in fact what had happened. Nevertheless, we all thought it a good idea that they headed home at this point, home being just a short 5-minute drive away.

I thought of Shannon & Guy during the night when I was up feeding Mylo, but then left it till the respectable hour of 7.30am to text to see how their night had progressed. To be honest, I was fully expecting that they would still be at home, possibly in the stages of early labour. To my surprise and delight, a few minutes later I received a text back to say that Maia Rose St Clair had been born at 12.30am on Saturday 19 December - only 3 hours after Shannon's waters had broken. What an incredible first labour - 3 hours! And they came home just a few hours after the birth - wow, big kudos to you all! I have to admit that I have already been to visit twice since then, and it is just so lovely to see Shannon & Guy as parents, and wonderful that they can celebrate their first Christmas together with their little bundle of joy.



Let us not forget that we celebrate another miracle of life tomorrow, the birth of Jesus. The fact that the living God came to Earth and experienced the limatations of humanity from birth as a baby, should always be a source of amazement and wonder for us. Not to be forgotten amongst the tinsel and reindeer, presents and Christmas pudding. For without this glorious event, there would be no reason to celebrate.

21 December 2009

Gingerbread and Games

Last Wednesday I braved having both boys at home for the whole day for the first time. The timing was perfect in some ways as Mylo had his 3-month jabs the day before, he obliged with a 3-hour morning sleep (unheard of!) so that Noah and I could have great fun making and decorating gingerbread. Not quite the traditional gingerbread men though, as we only had cat and aeroplane cookie cutters!

Noah is going through some real sensory exploration of late, and he can frequently be heard asking: 'Can I taste it?' or 'Can I smell it?', so there was a good deal of flour (yuck!), butter and sugar (OK I get that!) consumed before we had even made the dough. I did draw the line at him trying baking soda and ground ginger though! After the dough was made, we had to refrigerate it for half an hour (till 8.45am). Whilst waiting for the half hour to pass, we spent some time learning about how slow the minute hand on the clock moves, coming back every few minutes to see that it had moved from the 4 to the 5, 5 to the 6 etc. I think it was the longest half an hour Noah had ever had to enudure!

Then we baked the gingerbread and ate one still hot from the oven with our morning coffee/fluffy. Mmmm! Whilst waiting for the gingerbread to cool, we had some fun making a ramp and tunnel out of a box, played football outside, and lay on the ground imagining what shapes the clouds zooming overhead were.


My chief taster covered in flour!


The decorating was again another learning experience, as we chose blue and red food colouring for the gingerbread, which meant we could also get purple too! Noah helped putting the smarties on, although I think it was very much 'one for the gingerbread, one for my mouth'!



After Noah's nap, I had to hustle both boys out the door to Noah's first dental nurse appointment. We had practiced what was going to happen (i.e. keeping a nice wide open mouth and not being concerned about things being poked and prodded) in the bath, so Noah sat very still and obligingly for the nurse. His teeth are looking good (no holes), but she did say he has a bit of an overbite (as do I), and asked if Noah sucked anything at night....hmmm 2 monkeys ever since he was about 4 months old?! Since the visit, we have been making a concerted effort to put George the monkey x 2 to bed on Noah's little couch in his room beside his bed rather than having them in the bed with him. He has coped very well with the transition, although has been wanting to cuddle/suck them more during the day, and has woken up a bit upset in the morning wanting them. And since he has always stayed in his bed till we come in to get him, I think he has thought he can't get out of bed to get them. Bless. So we might have to put one George at the end of the bed so he can greet him in the morning and have cuddles...and then we still get an extra half an hour or so sleep!

Once we'd departed the dental nurse with a stamp on each hand, we dropped in on my friend Tanya and her two girls for an hour or so to round out our first official M.N.M day together. Tiring, but fun!

19 December 2009

Three Months

Another milestone down. Mylo has reached the 3-month mark with not a lot of fuss, apart from those first 6 weeks where some fussing is pretty inevitable! More recently, he has become a very cruisy, happy wee soul who mostly just seems to fit in with what the rest of the family are doing.


Here's a few recent snapshots and statistics:
  • Weight - 5.46kg (Noah was 5.44kg at same age)
  • Height - 60cm (Noah was 61.5cm)
  • Day sleeps - mostly 45 mins, occasionally 1.5 hour naps during day but mostly goes off to sleep unassisted (yay!)
  • Night sleep - usually a 6-8 hour stretch (7.30pm till 2-3am), although we have had a couple of 10 hour stretches which was rather nice for Mum!
  • Likes to chew on his fingers, smile, gurgle and he's trying out all sorts of movements and noises with his mouth which is funny to watch
  • Starting to grab toys on his play gym, easily moves his head from side to side to follow what's going on around him, and likes being up on his change table so he can see us moving around
  • Can roll from tummy to back already and is pretty good with 'tummy time'
  • Mum still breastfeeding, with one bottle of expressed milk/formula before bed where he will drink up to 180ml




All in all, a delightful wee boy! We are now looking forward to see how he develops and grows over the next three months. Thank you God for the gift of Mylo, it is truly a blessing to have him in our family.

13 December 2009

Mummy & son time

As Mylo settles into better routines with naps and gradually longer gaps between feeding, I've enjoyed picking Noah up early a few afternoons the past two weeks.

One afternoon we headed to the recently re-opened City Art Gallery to take advantage of the free entry they offer every 2nd Wednesday to view Yayoi Kusama's incredible, fantastical Mirrored Years exhibition.





You can't actually take photos in the exhibition but I found a few on the Internet of some of the more interesting rooms in the exhibition. I loved the ultraviolet lounge with multi-coloured dots, and the juxtaposed black room with yellow dots opposite the yellow room with black dots. The last room we saw is one of Kusama's most impressive and certainly most immersive pieces at her exhibition. It's called 'fireflies on the water'.



This piece is actually a dark, square room containing mirrors on all four walls, ceiling and water on the floor. Many small coloured lights hang from the ceiling representing fireflies. The lights are ofcourse mirrored everywhere around you to infinity, it's an awesome experience to even just stand and blankly gaze around. Due to its popularity, there is a 'one-in, one-out' policy and you only have 30 seconds or so to take it all in before the door opens and it's the next person's turn.

A couple of days later, the three of us headed off to the zoo for the afternoon. With Mylo in the stroller and keeping an eye on Noah walking around, there wasn't any time to take photos on this visit. However, we enjoyed the new African village complete with goats and chickens that you can actually touch, and we only missed the opening of the zoo's new interactive animal hospital 'The Nest' (see website article) by a few days. But this means we'll just have to go back again soon to check it out!

Today, Noah and I ventured downtown to Wellington to check out the Kirkcaldie and Stains window displays and Christmas shop. It was the first Mummy & Noah outing in a long time, and the 2 hours we had together were very precious. First we checked out the giant Christmas tree and waterfall in 'Pigeon Park', then were entertained by the various bears in the Kirks window displays. We then headed up to the Kirks Christmas shop where we happened upon Santa's grotto. I asked Noah if he wanted to wait in line to see Santa (which he did patiently for ten minutes). However, his stage fright got the better of him and he was a bit dumbstruck when he had his moment with Santa, and he wouldn't let me take a photo of them together. He did manage to take a couple of lollies for the road though!







After a spot of Christmas shopping in Borders bookshop, I treated Noah to a soft serve icecream in Burger King before we headed home after a thoroughly enjoyable mother and son outing! Must do it more often.

And just to end, a couple of recent pics of Noah worth sharing

How grown up does our boy look? (3 going on 13!)



And we're still having coloured bath fun (this was as black as we could get mixing blue/red)

Parties and more parties

Tis the season to have parties. Kid's Christmas parties, work functions, birthday parties, you name it, they're all happening!

Wednesday was 'Dress Up' day at daycare, starting with the letter 'S'. Noah decided to go as a soldier, Rambo style, and we had fun putting together a costume for him to wear! Other children came as soccer players, sunshine, superhero, Spiderman, sheep etc. What fun!


Friday was Noah's daycare Christmas party, and we enjoyed a BBQ lunch before the kids performed a short concert. Then the big man in the red suit showed up with presents for all the children who were extremely excited to see him . I'm not sure they recognised him as one of the husbands of the teachers there, and there was a lot of jostling for position to see who could sit the closest to him as the presents were handed out.

We couldn't resist taking a wee video clip of the concert. The last 2 songs are fairly recognisable as Jingle Bells and We Wish you a Merry Christmas, but the first two are quite clever, and may be a little hard to make out, so here are the words:

A Jumbo Jet
A jumbo jet, a jumbo jet
A heli-heli copter and a jumbo jet
Concorde, Concorde
A heli-heli copter and a jumbo jet

A Ford escort, a Ford escort,
A mini mini mini and a Ford escort
Ferarri, Ferarri
A mini mini mini and a Ford escort

Incy Wincy Spider climbed up the Christmas Tree
Incy Wincy Spider climbed up the tree
Down came the snow and made poor Incy freeze (check out the kids 'freezing' - cute!)
Out came the sun and melted all the snow
So Incy Wincy Spider had another go!





Yesterday Noah and his friends also had a fun filled afternoon at Karori Pool for Aarnav's 4th birthday. As it's often just Mark and Noah who head to the pool for their regular Sunday afternoon swim, the camera usually stays at home. So I made the most of being along for the ride yesterday to get some great shots of the kids and espeically Noah, who spent most of the time in mid-air. As you can see, there's nothing wrong with his water confidence which is great.




Mylo sat quietly in his car seat for the duration, not making a peep, just taking all the noise and action in. He even dropped off to sleep quite happily for some of the time - little treasure!

06 December 2009

Daddy's Toes

Genetics never cease to amaze me. That we are all so individual made up of such complex structures of DNA is amazing enough in itself. But to see the workings of genetics in real life is so much more wondrous than the teachings of any fifth form science lesson.

In our family, genetics is no more apparent than when you look at all of our feet. Noah and Mylo have definitely inherited their daddy's feet. It is evident from the shape of their big toes, the ability to curl all their toes under and the way they can move their little toes independently, none of which I can do!

And here's the proof!

   
Noah, Daddy and Mylo's Feet - spot the similar big toes

   
Daddy & Noah curling their toes, and Mylo's independent little toe (just like his Daddy's).
Not the easiest trying to photograph Mylo's toes as he never stops moving them!

As you can see Mummy's feet are quite different!

There were two things I remember from fifth form genetics, one of which was eye colour, you know - how 2 brown eyes could make blue eyes, but 2 blue eyes could also only make blue. With Mark's brown eyes and my blue, the chances of the boys having brown eyes is far stronger - apparently 70%, and Noah's eyes turned a lovely light brown at about eight months old. Mylo's eyes are still dark blue, but as they look just like Noah's did at the same age, I'm sure I'll end up with two beautiful brown-eyed boys :-)

The other genetic example we learnt was tongue-rolling. Tongue rolling is the dominant gene, but I can't roll mine, and I don't think Noah can roll his either, well I've never seen him do it anyway. But I have already seen Mylo on several occasions poke his tongue out in such a way that I'm sure he will be able to.

The fact that our DNA is on one hand so unique to us as individuals, and yet there is also so much predetermined by our parents' genetic make-up is fascinating. I envisage God getting a big mixing bowl out when we're each conceived and mixing in the different aspects that make us who we are - in this case Dad's feet and eyes, and Mum's sticky-out ears - so sorry about that one boys - and there will be no photo evidence of that inheritance!

The bible says in Psalm 139:13-14

"For you created my innermost being,
you knit me together in my mother's womb
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made"

And I thank you, awesome God for choosing to put together the exact combination of cells that created me as I am. Rather than dwell on all the things that I would change given half the chance, instead today I will celebrate my uniqueness. I will celebrate the part my uniqueness has had to play in creating one half of the two beautiful children you have blessed us with.

A Baby Shower for modern times

Yesterday we were blessed with gorgeous weather for Shannon & Guy's baby brunch. Shannon wasn't too keen on the idea of a traditional baby shower, not only because it is a little exclusive for the partner, but also as her girl friends are all in very different circles and don't really know each other well. So instead they came up with the idea of a baby brunch at their house, a drop-in for an hour or four kind-of affair that worked really well.

We had every intention of getting there a little earlier but in the end Mylo's sleep patterns prevented us from getting there much before midday (start time was officially 9.30). Not that it mattered as most people had come and gone or were leaving as we turned up so we got to hang out more with Shannon & Guy than we otherwise might have. I had some fun earlier in the week picking up a few bits and pieces for them, which wrapped in green and red looked very festive and apt for their Christmas baby (due on the 23rd ). I also enjoyed getting the creative juices flowing at the last minute to create a homemade card (nappy brain had set in during the week and I had completely forgotten about a card!). Anyway, I think the overall result was rather cute.

   

I've told Shannon that it would be great if baby could come early so we can meet him or her, as we head off up north to the family for about 10-days on the 23rd. I think that they would also quite like baby to be early too so Guy can take advantage of time off from running their store Vast Interiors with the statutory holidays that fall over that time. But of course baby gets to have the final say on that one!

Noah and Mark enjoyed a spot of cricket and tennis in their backyard while we were there. And earlier in the day at home they'd put up the football goals Mark received as a leaving gift from APX (way back in January), and had a great kick around together.


   

   

Mark also took Noah down to the cricket for an hour this afternoon, and we finished off the stunning Welllington day with homemade burgers on the barbie. Bliss.

01 December 2009

Baby Magnet

Just returned from 3 days away in Hamilton with Nana & Poppa, and I must admit I had forgotten that being out and about with a young baby is an instant magnet for people to want to strike up a conversation...it's rather nice!

First there was the lovely lady at Wellington Airport who stayed behind to help me organise myself as a last-minute poo incident saw a quick change required before boarding the plane so as not to upset my fellow travellers' noses on the journey to Auckland. She even kindly disposed of the nappy for me whilst I gathered up Mylo and all our gear as we made a dash for boarding to be last on the plane! I think she must have felt a little sorry for me as she had overheard me telling Mark on the phone that the cash machine at the airport had just failed to hand out the $50 I had drawn out. After my $200 parking fine the other week, it would seem that me and money were not best friends at the moment. However, as I have subsequently been let off the parking fine after a lengthy letter to the council, now it just remains to try and get the $50 out of the bank!

Then there were my seat mates on the plane (both there and back) who kindly offered to do anything they could to help us get settled including holding Mylo so I could master the seatbelts for us both. It seems everyone has a story to tell you when you have a baby in tow. The young girl in my row told me how her brother had screamed all the way home from the UK when they were returning from holiday when she was little (eek I thought, but luckily the drone of the plane's engine soon sent Mylo to dreamland for the duration of the flight). Then there was the air steward who told me that at age 2 his favourite past-time was chasing his father's chooks around the backyard, I wonder what the chickens thought of that?!

And I can't forget my lovely friend Andrea who drove across Auckland to come and spend a quick half an hour with me at the airport to meet Mylo while we caught up on each other's news before I had to board the plane home.

In this respect, it's almost a shame babies have to ever grow up as these encounters and conversations are such a unique part of life with a very young one, and definitely dwindle away as they grow older.

The time itself at Nana and Poppa's was very relaxing, well as much as it ever can be with a 10-week old, and apart from indulging in a lovely 30-minute massage at a beauty therapy clinic kindly shouted by Nana, I didn't venture too far from the house.

I also must extol the virtues of my trusty sling (from Dulce & Zoet) which I would be completely lost without. This wonderful piece of material has been my right arm since Mylo was born, it's perfect for travelling as it takes up no space at all, weighs nothing and Mylo loves being all snuggled up inside close to me. As well as using it whenever I take him out in the car rather than trying to carry around an unwieldy and ungainly car seat, it's also great for his last nap of the day when he would otherwise protest quite loudly about being shut away in his room. Then, I just pop him in the sling and wander round the house doing little chores and I have even been known to eat dinner with him curled up and sleeping soundly inside. I used it quite a bit with Noah too, and it's going to be a sad day when Mylo eventually grows out of it!

  

30 November 2009

Feedback

A big hello to all the lovely people out there who we know regularly follow our blog (and especially to our lovely families). This is just a little post to let you know you can add comments and feedback on any individual posts, so please do!

The instructions are easy. All you have to do is click on the 'Post a Comment' link at the bottom of each post. A pop-up window appears, and will enable you to type a comment and leave your name for us to enjoy your message!

So feel free to comment away, it's all part of the fun of blogging!

We couldn't wait...

till the official 1 December to put up the Christmas tree this year. Saturday was so grey and cold and reminiscent of an English winter's afternoon that we indulged ourselves in a little early Christmas cheer. With Christmas carols on the iPod, and the cold rain beating down outside, we were well and truly wrapped up in our own festive world for an hour this afternoon.

The opening words of 'Slinky Malinki's Christmas Crackers' by Lynley Dodd came to mind:

"Christmas was coming, out came the tree
dressed up in finery, splendid to see
With trinkets and tinsels, baubles and bows....."


   

 

23 November 2009

Our Little Dribbler

We've just enjoyed what was a very quiet weekend by our usual standards! Friends to dinner Friday night, a quiet day on Saturday, followed by Sunday morning football for Noah/Mark and a family outing to Ellie's 4th birthday party in Tawa yesterday afternoon.

As a result, we didn't take any photos at all (very remiss!), so instead I thought I'd do a little blog about Noah's football.





He's been along 3 times now (and scored a goal the past two times), the photos were kindly taken by Jackie last weekend when she went along to support Noah as Mark has to run around the field with the other parents so can't really take photos at the same time.

I wouldn't necessarily say that Noah is raving about playing so far, but he does enjoy hanging out with his friends from daycare who are in the same team. Sometimes the kids get a little distracted and they can just as easily be found playing off the pitch as on, much to the amusement or frustration of some of the parents (depending on how serious the parents are!) However, that is the beauty of Little Dribblers, as it doesn't really matter, at this age it's all about getting the kids used to the idea of playing in a team, kicking a ball around and generally letting off some steam!

This week, Mylo and I are flying up to see Nana and Poppa in Hamilton for 3 days via a very cheap Jetstar flight booked back in June in anticipation of Mylo's arrival. I recall at the time having to book the infant as 'TBA' with a birthdate in June as it wouldn't let me future date his birthdate which I found a little odd!

I'm in the process of packing my bag which is 70% for Mylo and only 30% for me, the joys of all the paraphernalia you need for one so young! Thankfully I think we may have sorted out the last minute hitch around our infant car seat fitting in Dad's car (it won't and don't get me started on our experience with car seats generally as I could rave on about how annoying and difficult we have found it getting various child seats to fit in our various cars over the years!), so now Dad has had to hire one short-term from Baby-on-the-Move.

Just as a little aside (yes I am going to start raving now!), the infant seat we are currently using will only fit in the front seat of our red car due to a short back seatbelt and also doesn't fit Dad's car for the same reason hence the rental required! Having been given a bit of a lecture from Plunket about the front seat not being ideal from a safety perspective, I obligingly went off to the car seat rental scheme Friday afternoon to pick up another one designed to definitely fit in the back. Well after many attempts by both me and Mark (and a lot of muttering later!), it would appear this supposedly 'better' seat also won't fit securely in the back of our car due to our seats being quite bucket-shaped - this being the main reason we have always had trouble with child seats fitting properly. So this morning I was back on the phone to reserve a car seat with a base (there were none available last week) which should come available in the next few days ... sigh......At least I know the seat with base option will definitely work as it is what we used with Noah. We had been trying to avoid getting a second seat as the one we're using (borrowed from friends) transports quite easily between the two cars and fits perfectly in the back of the blue car. But oh the best laid plans...! Having said that, safety-wise we should be able to rest much easier with Mylo in the back of the red car, but talk about a palaver!

Three nights away from Noah is the longest I will have been away from him, but with the possibility of Skyping, a sleepover at George's planned one night and the promise of a wee present on my return if he's good for Daddy, he seems to have accepted that I'm going off to Nana & Poppa's without him. The other saving grace is that our trip up at Christmas is only 4 weeks away now so it won't be too long before he will get to see them again anyway!

21 November 2009

Back on track.......

Two reasons for the above titled blog!

The first is because I finally feel like I'm back on the exercise wagon, having managed 2 hours (3 x 40 minutes) on the stationery bike trainer plus nearly 2 hours of yoga/muscle workout on the Wii Fit this week. Yeeha!

Eight weeks post-partum isn't bad for getting back into it, given that it took me eight months to get myself in the right mental space to start proper workouts again after having Noah (which is when I started running again). Ok, so I did do a lot of walking fairly soon after having Noah (as it was the only way he would have a long sleep during the day) but am trying to avoid this with Mylo, as I prefer he sleeps in his bed since he's proved lately that he can and will sleep there during the day.

This week I've seized the opportunity to get my 40 minutes on the bike when I put Mylo down for his first sleep after the boys leave for work/daycare around 8am. It's worked out well as I've gone down to the garage and thrown a load of washing in the machine at the same time. By the time I finish on the bike, the washing is finished and Mylo is about to wake up for his next feed. First thing in the morning works best as I definitely have more energy for it then too.

As for worrying that the exercise would make me more tired, it's actually just like I found in pregnancy, the more exercise I did the more energy I had. And this week I've actually been less tired rather than more tired, not to mention feeling really mentally positive for getting off the couch!

The other reason for this post is to report that Mylo's weight is also back on track. Last week we went to Plunket and both the Plunket nurse and I were a little concerned after he only put on 90 grams in 10 days (the minimum desired weight gain being more like 100 grams a week). So I must admit I had a week of worrying whether my supply was enough or whether Mylo was himself feeding properly since he often only feeds for 5-10 minutes at each feed. And as I've so far managed to continue breastfeeding exclusively - which I'm pretty proud of after a few early doubts, I certainly didn't need the thought that my supply wasn't sufficient to give me yet another excuse to think about quitting and switching to formula feeding.

I dutifully took Mylo back for another weigh-in yesterday, and the scales showed he'd gained 300g this past week - earning him the title of the 'Week's Biggest Gainer' from the 50 babies the Plunket nurse has seen this week. So while I'm not entirely sure why his weight has fluctuated so much over the past few weeks, I am just pleased that at 2 months he now weighs 5 kg (11 pounds), and is gaining as he should be.

And with our next Plunket visit a whole 4 weeks away, I should now be able to relax knowing that he is back on track.

16 November 2009

8 weeks

This has been a busy weekend of blogging with lots of action to report on (4 posts including this one if you read futher below).

However, having taken some rather sweet photos of Mylo yesterday, it seemed timely just to provide a little update on how our baby boy is progressing.

My Pics of the Week:
 

Highlights from this week include:

Much better day sleep - including a 2.5 hour mid-day nap Friday and a 3 hour nap mid-day Sunday - it would seem letting him get to sleep on his own has paid off with him now settling himself reasonably easily for most naps....having a little time to myself during the day has had a wonderfully positive effect on my sanity and mental health I must say!

Lots of smiling and gooing (as evidenced from the photos). He smiles so readily with a cute little dimple on one side that it just melts your heart, and it is all I can do not to keep trying to get him to smile all the time!

Earlier bedtime of around 7.30-8pm means Mark and I have reclaimed a little of our evenings!

One 10 hour night sleep this week - and most nights his first sleep is stretching out to 6-7 hours, usually waking between 1.30-3.30am now for a feed, which helps me get a little more shuteye!

Being a super chilled and relaxed baby most of the time - he hardly cries now compared to what he was like at around 4 weeks, it seems he only cries when he settles for sleep, wakes for food or occasionally when getting dressed after bathime

Mummy (and Daddy) are even more in love with this gorgeous little morsel as he grows day by day!




Christmas is coming!

There are a few things that herald the coming Christmas season, the first of which is attending the annual Christmas parade in Wellington. Although we will refrain from putting our tree up till the traditional 1 December, going along to the parade seems obligatory (now that we have children!), and heralds the beginning of the season's festivities.




We met up with our daycare friends again this year on a very windy Wellington afternoon. Gale force winds of 120 km/h and rain were forecast, and although there were some strong gusts of wind during the afternoon the rain held off and the show was able to go on! It was definitely one of the windier days in a while, as evidenced by the wind bringing down tents at the annual Toast Martinborough wine festival held over the hill in the Wairarapa, none of which failed to dampen those attending's spirits it seems, Toast Martinborough a Blast.

We decided not to attempt parking in the centre of town and took the boys via the cable car which exits right onto the parade in Lambton Quay. I was envisaging having to find a sheltered spot indoors somewhere to feed Mylo, but he was oblivious to the occasion and slept for nearly 3 hours, only waking when I found a quiet spot in the children's section of the public library whilst Mark and Noah checked out the after party in Civic Square.

It has been quite some time since Noah took a ride on the cable car, which we used to do a lot in the good old days of walking home from work every day. He was obviously rather delighted to be able to ride it again as on the way down to the parade he said, 'Hey Mummy....' 'Yes Noah?' 'I love this!'. Perhaps we can find an excuse to ride it again in the near future!

It was quite the relief to get home afterwards though, mostly just to escape indoors from the battering wind, and to sit down and reflect on what an action packed weekend we have had!

Arguably one of the Best Moments in NZ Sport History

The whole nation is celebrating! We who were too young to remember the 1982 football team qualifying for the World Cup are in awe of the achievements of the All Whites on Saturday night, beating Bahrain 1-0 to launch their official journey to the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup in South Africa.

What a gutsy, commanding performance the team put on, not only to score a great goal to go ahead, but to then defend so well for the next 50 minutes to secure their historic win. Mark and a few of his friends (Jared, Jonny and others) had prime seats on the half-way line at the stadium, whilst Jackie and I watched it from the comforts of the couch at home looking after our two boys.

The win certainly had a big impact on Mark, as I heard him say what I never thought I would hear. After seven years in NZ, this is the first time he has watched a team play and truly felt like a New Zealander, something which he would never say about the All Blacks (and I don't blame him, given the grief he has got from All Black supporters for being an Englishman).

It is so lovely to see that football fever has surpassed any interest in rugby this past few weeks, and with the $10m FIFA will now invest in NZ football, one can only hope it will be a turning point in the game here, and encourage a whole new generation of footballers to take an interest and pride in the 'beautiful game'.

Two articles which I've read this week along footballing lines have really resounded with me, both of which focus on the team members who had the two stand-out performances on the night, Rory Fallon for his on-target headed goal, and Mark Paston for his brave defence of the NZ goal under pressure.

One is an article Mark found on Rory Fallon's Christian faith, evident for all to see in some of his after-match comments. The story of how he came to find Jesus in a church in Tenerife a couple of years ago is quite wonderful.

Rory Fallon: Playing on the Side of God

Also during the week, Stuff had a great article on Mark Paston with a picture of his 10-week old son Jack. Just this year, I've gotten to know his wife Amie through our mutual friend Sally, and also as members of the team who put together the Vessel women's magazine for church a few months back. I've not yet had the privilege of meeting Mark but have met his gorgeous wee boy Jack, as Sally, Amie and I got our 3 babies together a couple of weeks ago (we all have boys born 3 weeks apart!). The article on Mark's perspective on the importance of winning or losing the game versus his family life showing he has his priorities aligned.

It's Childs Play for Paston

The timing of the win couldn't have been better as the All White team were able to lead out the Wellington Christmas Parade yesterday afternoon, and the team received a very warm reception from the 50,000+ crowd who turned out for the annual event - our video of the team in the parade below!




I can only imagine how life must be for all the families of the team at the moment, it must feel incredibly surreal to suddenly become household names overnight, and to have played such a pivotal role in potentially altering the name and status of NZ football for years to come.

15 November 2009

Fun with a good friend

This weekend has been full of fun for our Noah. We offered to look after Phoebe for the day on Saturday so Faye & Glen could have some time to work on their house (having been delayed getting back in after their major renovations). Faye dropped Phoebe off about 10am and the fun began. Within half an hour we could no longer see the carpet as every toy in the toy box had been investigated, the sandpit had been explored, and Noah's room had been pulled apart by two very excited and exuberant children! Then it was time for fluffies and smartly followed by bacon/banana pancakes for lunch, before a little fruit and quiet time in front of the TV watching Dora the Explorer. Then we headed up to the park with both strollers, Mylo and Noah in one and Phoebe in the other. It was the first time we'd had both the boys in our big stroller and seemed to work well, Mark doing a sterling job of pushing what we calculated to be over 30kg up the road to the park!

If the day had been a little warmer and less windy we may have stayed on a little longer, but in the half an hour we were there the kids explored every piece of equipment, and enjoyed being chased by the 'monster' - an older boy (probably about 5 or 6) who obliged by engaging in their game.

Then it was home for a Milo (hot chocolate drink - not to be confused with Mylo!) and choccie biscuit, before Mark dropped Phoebe home again about 4pm. Phoebe also had lots of lovely cuddles with Mylo throughout the day, and loved sitting next to me while I was feeding both to touch Mylo's head, and so she could be first in line for a cuddle after he was nicely full of milk!

Whilst he was out dropping Phoebe home, Mark picked up his friend Jonny and they came home for a quick bite to eat before heading off to the All Whites game (but more on that in the next post!). Jackie also arrived late afternoon to stay the night and help me out with the boys' baths and bedtime (which turned out to be a little easier and less stressful than last time Mark was out - and the more we do it the easier it'll get I imagine).

Anyway, here's all the fun and antics of the day from Noah and Phoebe, it was lovely to see them playing together so nicely and having such a great time!


09 November 2009

Just Tricking...

The title of this week's post is Noah's latest favourite saying, and I get the feeling he is going to inherit his daddy and grandaddy's teasing sense of humour. Noah is using the phrase whenever he can, he will deliberately say something wrong so you can correct him and then his reply is 'just tricking!'

This week Mark was out on Thursday night for the first time over bedtime, so I enlisted the help of 'Aunty' Jackie to come and stay the night so she could help me out. It went reasonably well all things considered, apart from a couple of explosive poo incidents from Mylo (in the bath and on the towel I put him on when I went to get some fresh bathwater), and Noah playing up a bit to the fact that Daddy wasn't home. It happened to be Guy Fawkes night so as Mark arrived home by 8.30pm, us two and Jackie went upstairs to view the spectacle from our upstairs bedroom, the 20 minute display was most impressive this year I must say.

Having decided enough was enough with rocking Mylo to sleep for half an hour for him to then only sleep for half an hour, I tried a much more tough love approach last week, leaving him to 'self-settle' for 10-15 minutes before returning to soothe and offer the dummy if necessary with fairly good results. It certainly made my mental health a lot more positive by the end of the week knowing that Mylo could actually get himself to sleep with a lot less intervention from me, and made my days a lot more bearable and enjoyable. We've also started trying this at night too, and usually only have to return 1-2 times to settle him for a few minutes which beats holding him till he goes to sleep which was taking us up to an hour, not to mention the sore back/dead arm from carrying him around!






Our gorgeous Boy at 7 weeks old


Mylo's 6 week jabs passed uneventfully, other than him being decidedly more sleepy and less hungry for a few days (the timing of which fitted nicely with our little attempts to do some 'sleep training'). I finally visited my work for an hour on Thursday afternoon, and also took Mylo to the cranial osteopath for a session on Friday afternoon to assist with freeing up his neck as he has a definite preference to turn to the right and I could see the beginnings of a slight flat patch on one side. Thankfully he was an angel throughout the treatment, as I clearly remember Noah screaming through his sessions for the same thing!

We had a much quieter weekend (thankfully!) with a trip to the shops Saturday morning, and it was (incredibly!) the first time all four of us had ventured out together, although Mark and Noah went off to do the supermarket shopping whilst Mylo and I headed to The Warehouse. In the afternoon, Maya & Ryder came to play and we caught up with Laura and Adrian, before Mark cranked the BBQ up for it's first outing this spring. We topped it all off by indulging in chocolate fondue - Noah had a ball dipping his strawberries and marshmellows in the warm, melted chocolate. His face certainly was a picture afterwards!

Sunday morning Noah and I took a quick trip out to the garden centre to buy some tomato plants to replace the ones bought a few weeks back. Unfortunately the coldest October NZ has experienced in 60 years meant that the original plants were in a bit of a sorry state, so we shall try again with this lot and hope for better luck! Then Mark headed out to a game of indoor football whilst I made the most of both boys being asleep at the same time to spring clean the kitchen. Mark and Noah then headed out for their usual Sunday afternoon swim, and then collected me and Mylo to enjoy fish n chips with George, Maya & Ryder and families at a park in Karori. It was a gloriously fine weekend (the first in a while!) and I think, much needed to lift everyone's spirits!


This week's fun!



Here's a few pics of Noah at about the same ago as Mylo is now for comparison



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