Christmas Trees at the Beach

We got a Christmas tree this year to make the house feel more festive, because it is really hard to remember that it's Christmas when the weather is summery. In true Kiwi style, we got our Christmas tree from a truck parked on the beachfront in nearby Petone.

Here is Steve holding our little pine tree before loading it into the car. Pictures of the finished, decorated tree will come soon!
Madeleine is 7 months now, and according to our luggage scale here at home, she is 9.3kg (20.5lb). She is definitely on the move and can roll, turn, and scoot backwards to get where she wants to go. She's often backing herself into a corner, or rolling into something, so often gets frustrated and cries out.
She enjoys listening and playing the piano for little bits of time.
She is often quite happy sitting and playing on her own, but she can easily get onto her tummy from sitting, so the days of leaving her unattended for too long are soon to be over.
She loves hearing me read aloud from any book - as long as I put plenty of expression and enthusiasm in my voice.
We are really excited for Auntie Kristin's arrival later this week, and our road trip to the Coromandel with her next week. Then, a few days after we get home to Daddy, Uncle Chris arrives. We have lots to look forward to!

Mystery Solved

Last week, I was surprised to hear a helicopter buzzing around our neighbourhood. It was using the local playground as a landing area and I thought it must be some kind of medical emergency, but after watching for awhile, I discovered it was airlifting building materials to a house on the hillside below. In our neighbourhood, narrow roads wind around the hills, and many of the houses have no road access. Residents park their cars on the road, and use a stairway or tram to get to their house, so until now it was a mystery how those houses were built. (N.B. This was an exciting day in my stay-at-home-mom life!)

Madeleine has started eating 'real' food this month - mostly stick-size pieces of cooked veggies or pieces of fruit. She has really loved this, and it has been fun to watch her experiment and learn. Sadly, the day she started solids was also the day she stopped sleeping through the night. It may have been coincidence, but I felt like she was waking up with gas, so I have scaled back a bit on the solids (okay, I cut them out completely for a few days), and I think her sleep is improving a bit.

She is also rolling over a lot in her cot though, and has started sleeping on her side or tummy. I think sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night, startled to be on her tummy. She is also starting to push herself up on her knees and rock back and forth; I just wish she wouldn't practice all these new skills in the middle of the night.

Here are Madeleine and Daddy studying their optics book.

The days are finally starting to get warmer, and Madeleine is getting to wear all her cute summer clothes. We are all really looking forward to our holiday visitors - Aunt Kristin arrives in just 2.5 weeks, and Uncle Chris arrives in just a month!

6 months!

Madeleine is 6 months old this week! We had a visit with the Plunket Nurse yesterday, and Madeleine is now 8.7kg (19.2lb), and 65.5cm long - such a big girl! We've been back in NZ five days now, and it has been really interesting to see her adjust to being back here. While in Canada, she was not nearly as vocal as she had been prior to the trip, and she began waking 1-2 times every night. But within a day of being back in NZ, she was singing and telling expressive stories all day, and sleeping all night. She has also started rolling over a lot in the last few days, and today she began scooting herself backwards when on her tummy. It is so incredibly fun to see her learn all these new skills! Here she is, all ready for bed, in her cute new PJs (size 9 month!)...

Here are a couple more pictures from our travels back to NZ. This is Madeleine at the start of our 14 hour flight to Auckland...

... and here she is airing out after the long journey home.

October in Canada

We have been in Canada for nearly 5 weeks now, and I am finally sitting down to post some pictures and tell some stories. Get ready, there are a lot of pictures (and it was hard to keep it to only these)!

Madeleine and I flew out by ourselves, and spent a week in BC before Steve arrived. She was a star traveler on the flights - slept for long stretches on the 14 hour flight from Auckland to Vancouver, and had no trouble with her ears popping. Our week in BC flew by; we went hiking at Mt Baker with Grandpa Mark, visited Madeleine's great grandparents in Bellingham, and saw some friends in Vancouver.
After Steve arrived, we flew to Ontario the next day and Grandma Georgia nearly ran out onto the tarmac to meet Madeleine. They were thrilled to finally have Madeleine in their arms.
Aunt Julie and cousin Caleb came over for a sleepover, in matching pajamas, of course. Caleb had just turned one year old, and was learning to walk, so Madeleine was in awe of everything he could get up to.
We had beautiful, sunny weather for our first week in Listowel, and it gave Madeleine a chance to try out her new summer frocks and sun hat.
Daddy showed her the corn field across the road.
Madeleine and I traveled to Hamilton several times to visit with one of my good friends and her girls. Emma, Abi, and Ida were like big sisters for Madeleine, and she loved hanging out with them.
Cousin Caleb showed Madeleine how to swim, and she seemed to really like it.
Grandpa Don let Madeleine sit on the tractor, and showed her how it works.
Our time in Ontario was wonderful - filled with family gatherings and visits with good friends. Part of our trip also included Steve having day surgery on his neck, for the removal of a lipoma (a collection of fatty tissue). The surgery was early on in our trip, and went very smoothly, plus it gave Steve an excuse not to shave for the remainder of our trip! Some other highlights from our time in Ontario include: Thanksgiving dinners, a day at a local cow auction, a visit to a family friend's horse barn, an Ottawa visit with old friends, a reunion of Steve's high school friends, a gathering with some of my university friends, and countless fun times with family.
After 3 weeks in Ontario, we flew back to BC for a final week before heading back to NZ. We went up to Mt Baker again, and got to see some of the first snowfall of the season.
We hiked a trail along a river near Mt Baker, and enjoyed the crisp fall day. My sister Kristin and her little dog Polly also flew out from Ontario, so we got to spend a full five days all together.
We visited my grandparents in Bellingham, and Madeleine got to show her great grandpa just how well she can sit up by herself now. She also rolled over for the first time at her great grandparents' house. I left her for a nap on her back, and went back to find her on her tummy! Fortunately, she did it one more time in front of everyone, but has not repeated it again since.
Since she is only a couple weeks away from 6 months, we decided to try giving her a taste of some 'real' food. She lunged for the spoon with sweet potato on it...
...but was less than impressed with the initial taste and texture. I will give her more solids once we're back in NZ, but it was fun to share her first taste test with family.

She has changed so much just in the time we have been here in Canada. She is sitting up on her own, rolling, and getting so much stronger and more coordinated. She has also started sticking out her tongue with every smile... it has made pictures a bit more interesting!


It is Halloween tonight, so here she is in her little pumpkin costume, all ready to answer the door for the trick-or-treaters.

Nearly There...

I feel like I have been counting down to this week for a long time, and now it is finally here! Madeleine and I fly to Vancouver this Friday, so we are (well, I am) starting to think about packing and getting very excited to see our families.

Here is Madeleine wearing her Daddy's favourite shirt (with a tractor on it) and her Daddy's favourite toque.

We went to the Botanic Gardens in Wellington this past weekend, and enjoyed some very Spring-like weather.
The yellow tree behind us is a Kowhai (ko-fai) tree, and they are all in bloom right now. The yellow flowers attract all sorts of lovely musical birds.

The magnolia trees are all in bloom as well, and are so beautiful with their big flowers and bare grey branches.

I was hoping to catch all the tulips in bloom, but it looks like they aren't quite out yet. They planted tulips in the colours of various flags, in honour of the Rugby World Cup which is going on right now. Rugby is by far the most popular sport here, and the fact that NZ is hosting the world cup is a big deal. Here is the Canadian flag, unfortunately not quite in bloom yet.
The one patch of tulips that were in bloom were so beautiful!

Miss Madeleine is now 4.5 months old, and had her 5 month immunisations today - a bit early since we are going away. She continues to be in the 90th percentile for her weight, at 16.5lb and she has grown nearly 4 cm in the last month, which would explain why I haven't had to roll up her pants quite as much lately. She continues to sleep 12 hours straight each night, and her naps have improved a bit. She is constantly drooling, putting everything in her mouth, and loves chewing on her toys (or our fingers). She kicks and squirms, and sometimes rolls almost onto her side, but isn't rolling over yet. She babbles away, and has bursts of laughter that are very unpredictable, and very cute. We are so excited for her to meet all her grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousin!

4 months!

Sometimes it's hard to believe Madeleine is already 4 months old, but when I wake up to the sound of her babbling away to herself, I am reminded of just how much she has changed and grown. She is noticing her surroundings more and more each day, and is now quite interested in grabbing her Sophie giraffe, or another toy, and chewing away.

Growing up is tough work though, and sometimes she just can't make it to bedtime in the evenings, without a little snooze in her chair. She must get that from her mummy. She loves sucking her fingers (not her thumb though) and it is the best self-soothing strategy she has learned so far.

Hiking in the Woods

This weekend we had beautiful sunny weather, so we went for a hike up to Mt Lowry, on the hills behind our house. We also wanted to try out the Ergo baby carrier - a gift from our friends in Ottawa. We took turns carrying Madeleine, and she seemed quite content during the hike, and the carrier is really comfortable to wear.

Madeleine enjoys tummy time best when there is something fun to look at in front of her - like mommy with a camera, or herself in a mirror.

And here she is playing with a cool new toy from her friend Helena in Ottawa.