Citizenship and Feijoas

We finally got around to getting some photos taken for Ross' Canadian citizenship application. We went to the same photographer who did Madeleine's photos. She was a couple months younger than Ross, and far less photogenic (see July 2011 post entitled "Our Week" for a reminder). Ross was incredibly calm and cooperative for the photo shoot. Thankfully he was more interested in the camera and lights than his crying sister hanging onto my leg. He looks like a little boy ready for his first day of school! He certainly is growing up quickly - he started rolling over this week and weighed in at 16lb 12oz. Although who knows how much of that weight is poo, considering he hasn't gone in 16 days now. Shocking, I know, but a good conversation for Mommy-types. He's pretty happy in spite of it, so I'm not too concerned; I just really hope I'm home when he does finally go.

It's feijoa season here in New Zealand. Feijoas are a fruit I had never heard of until moving here. They are a bit odd (Steve thinks they're awful) - very aromatic and a bit gritty in texture. But lots of people have feijoa trees in their yards, and we often end up being given big bags of them. Fortunately, I have come to love them and Madeleine likes them too.

You cut them in half and then scoop out the flesh to eat it....

... just like this! 

4 months!

Ross is 4 months old today! Some recent changes include: hair that lies a bit flatter, serious attempts to roll over, and laughing so hard he has tears in his eyes. He won't be weighed and measured until next week, so the stats will have to wait, but he's fitting this 6-9 month top from Grandma Georgia very nicely! 

His eyes remain a beautiful deep blue, but some days I think I see flecks of brown starting, so I'm not entirely convinced they won't still change colour.

He is a wonderful napper during the day, although a bit less reliable at night. He sometimes sleeps a blissful 10 hours, other times he wakes up every 4 hours.

While Ross works on the art of wriggling in circles and rolling over, Madeleine discusses the day's events with Daddy on the phone. She is obsessed with the phone these days, so it now lives on top of the fridge (which is quickly getting crowded with all the other things we need to keep out of her reach) in order to prevent calls to Timbuktoo or emergency services. She loves talking to Daddy though and acts out all her stories, so it's always very clear to me what she's trying to say, but sometimes not so clear to Daddy. 

May is the month of birthday parties for all her little friends from our antenatal group. We got her all dressed up like a ballerina for this one party, and then she threw a fit when we tried to take her picture (because, of course, SHE wanted to take the picture). Here is the best we could get - all the others she was blurry and lying on the floor in what Steve calls her "hippy protest" - a non-violent form of protest against all unjust parenting acts. 

Happy Birthday, Madeleine!

Our little girl is two! We celebrated with chocolate cupcakes, angel food cake, pickles, olives, diggers, dolls, balloons, and skype.  

Ross was not too impressed with the Happy Birthday hat we put on him, but he put up with it very well. The first of many things he'll do to make his sister happy, I'm sure.

Madeleine was not impressed with the hat either actually, but had so much fun opening all her cards that she forgot about it for a few minutes.

Grandma and Grandpa Gibson gave her a little doctor's kit for her dolls, and she has had so much fun using it. However, Ross has quickly become the preferred patient.

They also gave her some really cute new clothes, but this hat was the only item she was willing to try on that day.

One of the things Grandma and Grandpa Hoffmann gave her were some little toy diggers, which she is very proud of, and here she is holding one up for Ross to see.

She loved blowing out candles, so we gave her lots of opportunities. First, on chocolate cupcakes, which she actually ate very little of...

... then on angel food cake (can you spot Ross in the background mess of the room?! Still putting up with the hat)...

... which she ate slightly more of!

And then on her absolute favourite these days - pickles and olives! She calls pickles "tupitees" and olives are indicated by a noise that is something like a duck and a roar combined - not sure how to spell it, but clearly they embody some very cool things in her mind.

Being a birthday girl is hard work! She fell asleep on me while we were skyping with my sister and stayed there for nearly an hour.

No, this isn't Ross' hairdo for Madeleine's birthday, this is his everyday, completely un-styled hairdo. It really is impressive and his hair stands a good 2-3 inches on the top. He looks like a different child when his hair is wet or he has a hat on.

All in all, it was a fun birthday for Madeleine, especially since Steve took two days off of work to make it a four-day birthday weekend. Even though our families are far away, we are thankful for skype, which lets them share in the celebrations.  We didn't have a party with all her little friends, but her birthday was topped off with an evening visit to her favourite friend Jac, who lives just a short walk away. Every time we go for a walk, she asks if we are going to see Jac, so this time she was very excited to take him some of her birthday cake.