27 September 2009

Tiptoeing through the tulips....




Blurb to follow tomorrow - am off to get some sleep - a precious commodity these days!

Monday update:

We have survived Week 1! It has mostly been very good, but a few challenging moments along the way as one might expect getting used to having a newborn in the house again. Mylo's hearty appetite has made me pretty tired as he seems to want to feed 1-2 hourly during the day and 3-4 hourly overnight. (At the same time, Noah was sleeping for about 6 hours straight overnight). Not only that but when he feeds, he can easily go for up to an hour (where Noah was always keen to get what he needed and get finished again!) Naturally, all that milk has to go somewhere but even so we cannot believe how many full nappies we are going through in a day!

He seems to want to cluster feed during the day, so we are only getting one longish sleep out of him during the day with other sleep sessions just naps with the dummy in where he's only really dozing...shades of his big brother Noah there already!

Noah has been a brilliant big brother so far, and we are trying to heap as much praise on him as we can for doing so well. He has his moments though where its obvious he is trying to adjust to not being able to get our (particularly my) undivided attention. However, life has continued much the same for him with daycare each day. On Saturday Mark took him (along with the rest of the daycare crew) to see the movie UP. Mark came home raving about the movie, and said it was a real tearjerker even in the first five minutes (best I don't watch it till my hormones have settled down a tad methinks!), although that side of it was probably a bit lost on the kids.

Then on Sunday, Mark and Noah walked down to the Tulip Festival at the Botanic Gardens, meeting up with George & Phoebe for some fun amongst the glorious tulip displays. There was traditional Dutch dancing and food to be sampled, but the kids were just as happy letting off some energy up at the park before a quick stop at the cable car museum, an iceblock and home again. We particularly love the cute photos of Noah and Phoebe having a wee cuddle...!

Mark has another week off work (which I am grateful for!), and with a few less visitors planned so far, we will hopefully have a reasonably quiet week at home. It is funny how this time around I am in no hurry to get out and about with Mylo, the only time he has left the house since arriving home from the hospital was for a quick trip down to daycare to pick up Noah one night. I seem to remember us getting out to antenatal, church and a few other excursions in the early days with Noah, but so far I am finding myself very happy to exist within the four walls of home!

24 September 2009

The milk machine

Today is Day 5 in the life of little Mylo....




It has been an amazing few days since this gorgeous wee morsel entered our world. Coming home straight after his birth on Sunday has made it seem as if we are already a few days ahead of where we are, so sometimes we have to stop and remind ourselves that he has actually only going on 5 days old.

After a very sleepy 12 hours when we got home from the hospital, Mylo fed off and on the whole of the first night, and as a result my milk started coming in after just 24 hours. He has continued to have a very hearty appetite ever since, which is fantastic, although this has meant a fair amount of pain for me while I get used to the feeling of having a baby constantly feeding on me. Its still painful now, i.e. a bit toe curling initially while he latches, and then a bit of ongoing discomfort but hopefully I'm toughening up day by day, I do remember the same thing happening last time so at least I know I got past it in the end!

Although I know that these first few weeks are usually a honeymoon period for all new parents where babies feed and sleep a lot before they often go on to have a few unsettled weeks with less sleep/wind issues etc, we have both remarked at how 'easy' it all seems 2nd time around when you know roughly what to expect, and knowing that you were able to survive every tough moment and situation with your first child definitely gives you a stronger sense of confidence in your abilities as a parent going into it again.

With Noah still attending daycare every day, Mark and I have been able to have some lovely quiet days together watching a few movies, enjoying visitors popping in to meet Mylo, and receiving regular visits from our midwife.

Today was Mylo's first thorough post-birth check-up with the midwife, and our little boy is thriving! He has only lost 180 grams since birth which isn't bad at all, and we know that he will go from strength to strength as he feeds so well. He has the loudest little squawk which sometimes surprises us when he squawks randomly in his sleep but doesn't wake up, and if he is waking up he seems to go from total peace to full squawk in the blink of an eye. He has such active hands and feet (which we are not at all surprised about given the extent to which he used to move around inside my tummy), and he loves to be sucking on something even when he is not feeding, so the dummy is already getting a very good workout. When he can find his hands he enjoys sucking on these, but they are still so uncontrollable that he can only find them for a second or two before he flings them away as if he forgets they are actually attached to his body!

As well as the photos above taken today, here is a little video of Mylo just after a feed, so happy and contented, and now starting to have a little more alert time to take in more of the world around him.




23 September 2009

Resemblances...

I've been quite interested looking back at early photos of Noah the past couple of days to see how similar Mylo looks (or otherwise). So here's a few more photos of Mylo taken over the past couple of days, and then a few of Noah at a similar age. We can definitely see some resemblances between the two boys in some of the shots!


Mylo's Early Days




Noah's Early Days


Will post a bigger update on how our early days with Mylo are progessing soon, but suffice to say we are totally besotted with him, and completely in love. He is a fantastic feeder (which meant my milk started coming in after 36 hours which is very fast). I was hoping to escape it this time, but have suffered somewhat engorged breasts the past 2 days, but Mylo is a little feeding machine so he is helping me out as much as he can in that department. We have had a couple of very good nights where he has fed well at regular 3 or so hourly intervals and then gone straight back to sleep after each feed. We have our 5-day weigh in and head-to-toe checkup tomorrow, but I will be very surprised if he has lost much weight as he has been feeding so well.

Otherwise, Mark and I are just enjoying this week at home together, so far it has been a wonderful time of bonding with our gorgeous boy, showing him off to a few visitors and to various family on Skype!

20 September 2009

Introducing......





We’re very happy to announce Mylo Jake's arrival at 4.56am this morning weighing 7 pd 5 oz or 3.34 kg. Having his birthday today on Sunday 20th September means his birth-date is 20.09.2009 – which we think is quite a cool set of numbers to be born with!

Well the latest addition to the family seemed determined to follow a very similar same path into the world as his big brother Noah did when he arrived 3 years ago, 5 days before his due date, a lovely water birth at the hospital where we again only made it with less than an hour to spare before he made his appearance into the world.

Our indication that things might be happening started with some contractions between 2-4am on Saturday morning and for a while there I thought it was all on, but they went away again as quickly as they had started which surprised me at the time. As a result, we had a very quiet day yesterday (Saturday) with the thought in the back of our minds that Mylo’s birth could well be imminent. It worked out perfectly that our friends Shannon and Guy came over for fish n chips and to watch the Tri Nations rugby last night, as we were able to discuss our potential middle of the night plans with them, which meant that Shannon could come back and look after Noah in the event we needed to go to the hospital.

I had been having very minor pains from early evening onwards but managed an hour’s sleep from 10pm-11pm before the contractions really took hold. However, they were a bit all over the place and by 1.30pm had slowed back to 8-9 min apart, at which point I thought ‘Right…I’m going to make sure things get going’ as I wasn’t keen to repeat the previous night when they had gone away again, so came downstairs and did some walking/dancing/semi-jogging around the place to help keep things moving which seemed to work a treat.

I was keeping track of the contractions but they seemed a bit all over the place, sometimes 6 mins apart and really intense and then I’d have a mini-one 2 minutes later. But it got to the point just after 3am that I thought I’d better wake Mark and call the midwife and Shannon. Shannon arrived within about 15 minutes and with a few last minute instructions we were off to the hospital (a 10 min drive away). The contractions had intensified to about 3 minutes apart and I couldn’t walk or talk through them, so it was a relief to get to the hospital and to the birthing pool although as the midwife wasn’t there long before us we had to wait a little while for the tub to fill up.

This labour was very different in that I was incredibly lucid and not in any pain between contractions whereas I remember with Noah being in a general haze of extreme pain even in between. It was a big relief to get in the lovely warm tub and think I only had about 3-4 contractions before the pushing stage started. I’m told I only had to push for about 10 or so minutes, and then our beautiful Mylo was in my arms. Mylo was a very ready feeder and we enjoyed some lovely skin on skin time feeding whilst I downed 4 pieces of toast, a warm Milo (apt really!), a milky energy drink and a brunch bar in the space of an hour!

So far I’m in a lot less pain afterwards this time with no tearing, and didn’t lose as much blood either, I remember feeling very woozy and light headed last time but was fine walking around pretty quickly afterwards today. As it turned out there were no beds in the postnatal ward, and I really did just fancy coming home to see Noah and be in a familiar environment, so after taking some time to do the formalities and recover some energy we left the hospital and were home by 8am. We greeted a beaming Noah at the front door who said ‘Here’s my little brother’ with the biggest smile on his face, and was most excited to see him…bless.

Mark and Noah have gone off to watch the Wellington Phoenix football game this afternoon (as planned) so I shall sign off there and go get some rest.

Hopefully we will be able to introduce Mylo to some of you in person over the coming days and weeks

Love to all
The new family of Four!

15 September 2009

Memories......

This week amongst all the relaxing and waiting for baby's arrival, I have been able to take a trip back down memory lane to reflect back on our wonderful honeymoon in the Greek Islands and Italy five years ago.

The island of Santorini is known for its absolutely stunning scenery with the hilltop towns of Thira and Oia perched precariously on the side of the volcanic caldera. The houses in the towns look as if they might topple into the sea at any moment which merely adds to their dramatic splendour, and certainly a fitting location for the most memorable week of our lives.




This was followed up by our return to Siena, Italy for a few days, the scene of our engagement 2 years before. Seeing Siena and the Tuscan countryside in the height and sweet scent of summer was even more impressive than our previous visit in spring when we had pledged our lives to each other.

A lifetime of memories created and dreams fulfilled against the backdrop of two of the most beautiful settings in Europe.

13 September 2009

Fun with friends, fine weather and fish!

I can officially say I am a lady of leisure now..well at least for a few days I hope! This last week at work was pretty hard work as sleep is getting harder and harder to come by after about 3am each morning. It's the first week I have really noticed actual exhaustion setting in, and I went to bed much earlier than I usually would most of the week, not that it meant I got any more sleep but I guess at least I was resting!

My work actually gave me a lovely send-off which was quite unexpected. I, myself, organised an M-co team $10 lunch curry out on the Thursday and was pleasantly surprised when the whole team came out for it. I think many of the team just relished the opportunity to go out and socialise together as it was the first 'organised' social event just for the ex-M-co team since we moved offices to NZX 3 months ago. Hopefully someone else may take up the mantle and organise a few more things in the future, as they are a great bunch of people and it would be nice to keep at least some of our 'M-co' identity! Then on Friday, I was not only given a very generous and unexpected gift of a dayspa voucher from one of the M-co managers, but also got a further dayspa voucher from my work with some chocolates, and a lovely gift for baby and more chocolates for me from my assistant, Michelle. I also went out for a few drinks with my new Finance team at St. Johns, not getting home till 8.30pm (what a dirty stopout!). So all in all, a lovely end to the week! I even ran into my friend Paula in St. Johns with her husband who I hadn't had a chance to meet before, so that was a lovely surprise! Wellington is such a small place, but it is one of the things I love about it though!

Yesterday, it was haircut time for Noah before George and his parents came and picked Noah up and he spent most of the day at Maya's house having fun with George, Maya, Phoebe and Ryder. I had every intention of relaxing on the couch or bed with my book, but in the end the bathrooms were calling out to loudly for more than just their usual clean. In particular, the ceiling of the upstairs bathroom was looking a little worse for wear, so Mark got to work with the sugar soap and in no time it was looking a lot better! We got about a half hour sit down before Allie popped over for a cuppa and we then headed out to Maya's house about 4.30pm to pick Noah up. I think he would have stayed all night given the chance, and they seemed to have had a brilliant time all playing together.



It rained ALL day yesterday, but today was a complete contrast. We went to church as a family for the first time in a wee while, Noah trying Sunday School (or Little Rock as it's called) for the first time now that he's a big boy of three. He didn't last the whole session, but not unexpected with our Noah who likes to ease into new experiences and new people gently! Then it was home for a quick bite (the second Sunday in a row that we've eaten lunch outside in the glorious sunshine) before heading off to the Island Bay Marine Centre for their open day and a chance to catch up with the daycare crew.

The kids enjoyed the touch pools, Noah being much more adventurous this time about touching the starfish, anenomes, sea cucumbers which must have been Daddy's influence (Mummy being a little timid last time we went just the two of which must have rubbed off on him!). We enjoyed spotting little carpet sharks - one was even snoozing with his mouth wide open, crabs doing funny dances that looked like they were knitting, and seeing the octopus gracefully extend and withdraw his tentacles was also very graceful. After spending a bit of time climbing around the rockpools, we all headed over the road to the Island Bay playground for a run-around. It's a pretty big playground and even with all the other Wellingtonian families who had similar ideas there was still plenty of space for the kids to burn off a load of energy together. Such a wonderful afternoon in the sun!

I'm now sitting here on Sunday evening with Noah engrossed in a Little Einsteins episode while enjoying a pot of yoghurt, Mark's got the Phoenix game on the telly in the background, and I'm feeling rather chuffed that when we got home from the park I finally managed to put Dayne's smoked fish to good use and made myself a fish chowder which I'm going to eat a big bowl of for dinner (and probably lunch the next couple of days too!).

My first day as a lady of leisure tomorrow is probably not quite as restful as it should be, aquajogging at 6am with Shannon (but I'm keen as mustard to see her as she's been away in Indonesia for 2 weeks so I want to hear all about her trip!), then I have Tracey and Tracy coming for coffee at 10am, and the midwife is coming for her first home visit at 12pm. However, I'm hoping I might get to put my feet up and watch the women's tennis final at some point during the day, as I am quite excited at the prospect that a fellow mum (Kim Clijsters) might have a chance of winning a Grand Slam Title for the first time in about 30 years I've heard. And I have to say I am always pleased to see someone other than Serena Williams getting a crack at a Grand Slam title!

Otherwise, I have plans to do breakfast with Mark one morning at the Brooklyn Bakery, a couple of friends with babies I'd like to visit, and I may just book up for a lovely relaxing massage with my vouchers. Time will tell just how many of these things I actually get to do....hey baby! Noah was six days early (a similar gestation would take me through to this Friday or Saturday week) but given how different this baby has been throughout the pregnancy I'm trying not to have any expectations!

06 September 2009

Fantastic Fathers Day....

I hope you enjoyed and got a giggle out of the post we put up below this one of the baby's tummy antics. But back to the rest of our life now....



Last weekend I was busy all day Saturday at a church women's conference, it was nice to spend the day with Sally & Marissa and also receive some lovely teaching from the speaker Tracey May. I managed to duck out during the mid-afternoon break to catch up with my boys, and we headed out to Upper Hutt to visit JP and Leah and their new baby, Grayson who was born 10 days earlier. They seem to be lovely, relaxed first-time parents and they were very kind to let both of us have a hold so we could get in some practice of what holding a newborn is like again...wow he was so tiny!

Sunday afternoon we went to a first birthday party for Baby Brooke as Noah calls her (although we can't really call her that anymore!). It was wonderful to see how well Jonny and Becky are doing after this first year of parenthood, having made it through some pretty tough times early on in the piece when Brooke had colic and reflux and hardly slept.

Monday night I caught up with my girlfriends Linda & Caroline for a 2-4-1 meal at Chow in Petone...yum! Such delicious food and good company! Tuesday, Mark was out at an event for APX (his old company), Wednesday was the only night we both managed to be at home, Thursday Jackie came and babysat for us so we could go out with Becky & Jonny to Il Piccolo, our quaint and authentic Italian down on Willis St, and then Friday, Mark went to watch the Phoenix play with some mates.

Yesterday (Saturday) was Sally's baby shower which Marissa and I had both organised. It was really fun to be a part of the organising, coming up with some fun (and not too silly games) and a lot easier doing so once you're already a mummy and have a few ideas up your sleeve from your own experiences! There were about a dozen of us there, and with the sun also shining on us, a lovely afternoon was had by all!

But onto today which was Fathers Day here in NZ......

Mark was out the door bright and early at 6am (treating himself to time out with a mountain bike ride up the coast with his regular mountain bike buddies). Noah decided an early morning was on the cards, but we managed to stay in mummy's bed until 7am before heading down for chocolate porridge. Noah then helped me make corn and bacon soup for the week, and we cleaned the french doors inside and out (the grime from this winter's wild weather all too apparent for me to put up with any longer with the sun shining in so much more these days!). Noah was a great help on the lower windows both with the rag and squeegee. He then implored me to chase him around the house for about half an hour which I did (albeit gingerly...moving a lot slower these days as you can imagine!) before we settled down for fluffies and coffee as Daddy arrived home at 10.30 to open his Fathers Day card and scorched almonds.

I thought that it was high time Mark had at least one meal off cooking so volunteered to cook corn fritters for lunch (and lo and behold they were actually very nice...I even surprised myself!). We ate outside in the glorious warm sunshine, and then Noah got the sandpit and paddling pool out for their first outing this spring. The boys then headed off to the zoo for a father/son afternoon (Jonny and Brooke joining them there too) whilst I had a quiet 5 minutes before vacuuming and cleaning out some cupboards (yes I think the nesting is definitely starting to kick in!)

So onto this week, which is (finally!) my last week of work, and Friday truly can't come soon enough!! Although the past couple of weeks have passed reasonably quickly, the weeks before that really dragged so I will be one very relieved mummy-to-be in 5 day's time. It must be some kind of record that neither of us have any nights out this week planned at all, so hopefully a few earlier nights will be the result.

Off aquajogging at the crack of dawn as usual though so I'll leave this post here....and I hope a very Happy Fathers Day was had by all the daddies out there in NZ today!

04 September 2009

Crazy Belly Movements

This baby certainly likes to make his presence known to his mummy! I think that having my placenta at the front last time must have shielded a lot of the movement because I have been absolutely astounded (almost to the point of concern at times!) at the level of activity that this bub gets up to morning, noon and night in my tummy! However, the midwife seems to think that if he has always been active then it's just normal for him!




Just 3 weeks to go until DD.....



Mark said he thinks the crazy movements look like something out of the movie Alien (which is rather charming I must say!), I'm guessing that means he is glad it is me carrying this baby and not him! Thankfully as we move into the last 2 or 3 weeks there have been less sharp jabs of feet in my side, instead made up for by more crazy wave like movements. My midwife visit this week went well, my blood pressure is good, baby's heartbeat is strong and even though my tummy was measuring only 31 cm (which is smaller than 3 weeks ago, and about 4cm less than at the same time with Noah), she wasn't concerned as baby is well over halfway engaged in my pelvis already so is sitting very low and ready to go....on the upside I haven't suffered much from heartburn and indigestion but on the downside it is no wonder it has been too uncomfortable to do much walking for a while!

Enjoy seeing the crazy belly movements, it never fails to amuse me, although sometimes it is also very distracting!!!!!



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