One Month!

Sweet little Ross is already a month old! He is packing on the pounds and is close to 12lbs now. He is sleeping and feeding well, although he is the noisiest little sleeper in the house. He wriggles, squirms, and stretches and with each movement he makes a grunt, squeak, or gurgle. I have finally given in and moved his bassinet into the living room during the nighttime. Both Steve and I sleep better and I still easily wake up to his hungry squeaks during the night. He is usually still waking about every 3 hrs to eat, although he can range from 2-4hr. 

Madeleine has been such a helpful girl this week and just wonderful with Ross (despite a few rough days last week, when 'No' was heard far too often and she seemed to be testing every limit). She loves examining his little fingers and toes, and fortunately seems to have lost interest in poking his eyes.

Madeleine never tires of going for walks and exploring the neighbourhood, and this week she decided to wear the baby backpack and carry her dolly. It was very cute to watch, and she wore the backpack for her entire hour-long stroll down to the beach. Between her self-invented sign language and her babbling, she manages to communicate with us fairly well. Lately we have noticed more and more words starting to come out, for example: cat, teeth, fly, shoes, and little phrases like "another one?" and "this one" and "there it is!"

While skyping with my Grandma Cordes recently, my Grandma asked if Madeleine had tried nursing her dolls yet. We said, no, she hasn't done that yet. But not more than an hour later, there she was, lifting up her shirt and putting her dolly to her chest to eat! Madeleine clearly listens to us very carefully and understands a lot! This is the pillow I sit against on the couch when I feed Ross, although I don't usually use him as a footrest.

Cuddles with Grammie...and a close-up of the little munchkin.

Planes and Helicopters

Hello everyone, Steve here.  A couple of weeks ago I took Madeleine to a popular bi-annual NZ airshow known as "Wings over Wairarapa".  Madeleine has been really interested in planes and helicopters lately so I thought she would really enjoy it.  It turns out I was right - as we pulled into the parking lot there were already several planes flying around and she let out a few big "woooow"s before we even got out of the car!

The weather was hot and sunny and the event apparently broke attendance records with over 20,000 people there.

We met up with our friends Matt, Emily and Jac.  Emily brought Madeleine one of her favourite fruit-and-yogurt treats, which became much more exciting than the airplanes until it was finished.

Madeleine's been extremely interested in my little RC helicopter lately, so seeing a real one up close and flying was a really big deal for her.

After a while she refused to wear her hat - but luckily she was happy to sit in her stroller in the shade.  When a plane flew by she'd lean forward to look at it, letting out a bit "wwwoooooowww" as she did so.

Emily also shared her fries with Madeleine - and Madeleine promptly ate only (and all of!) the fries with ketchup on them.

Keeping M Busy...

Summer holidays are coming to an end next week, and all our regular music and play groups will start up again. Without these activities to structure our week, and with the addition of Ross, Madeleine has required a bit more attention than usual. Fortunately, my parents and Steve have been up to the task and have managed to find many ways of filling her time. 

She has enjoyed taking her dolly and stroller for walks on the waterfront...

 Helping Grandpa with the gardening...

 Making friends with the local cats...

 Towing empty cardboard boxes...

 Baking with Grammie...

 Licking the spatula after the baking is done...

 Taking her little green frog for a walk...

 Opening gifts...

For Madeleine, one of the best things about Ross' arrival has been the chance for her to open gifts. Friends and family have been so generous with gifts for Ross, and sometimes something special for Madeleine as well. She gets to open both Ross' and hers, and this was her expression on discovering the music that came out of her new little wind-up music box.

2 weeks old

Our wee boy is 2 weeks old today! He was weighed by the midwife on Monday this week, and was up to 4.3 kg (almost 9lb 8oz), which means he gained 500g in one week. He is starting to fill out a bit, but still seems very long and lean to us. 

Madeleine continues to love him, and often lies next to him and says "hiii babyyy". She hasn't tried to say his name yet, just "baby".

He spends most of his day sleeping, and continues to be a very settled baby. I'm quite sure that by this age, Madeleine had her fussy periods each evening, requiring us all to bounce and carry her. Ross still rarely cries, and mostly squawks and squirms when he's unhappy.

We gave him his first bath a couple of days ago. We were both surprised and happy that M didn't mind sharing her bath with him, and didn't even try to splash him. She emptied a few containers of water on his tummy, but he didn't seem to mind too much. Unlike M, who screamed during her bath for the first few weeks, Ross was relatively calm. He certainly didn't love it, but he didn't protest too much.

 Cuddles with Daddy after his bath...

 Cuddles with Grammie while watching Downton Abbey...

Wide awake this morning...

4 days old

Ross is already looking older to us. Admittedly, washing his beautiful locks of hair did help immensely, but he's also starting to make more and more little faces and expressions. He is still sleeping most of the day, but has moments of being so alert and wide awake, taking in everything around him. He is nursing like a champ, although it has taken him awhile to learn to open his mouth wide enough for a strong latch. 

While some people (probably most) seem to have shorter and "easier" labours with their second baby, this was certainly not my experience. I started having contractions Monday night, and spent the night timing them, writing, listening to music, and getting excited for the arrival of my baby. But by the wee hours of the morning, it was clear that they weren't getting any stronger or more regular, and I eventually fell asleep for a few hours. They returned Tuesday morning and I spent all day Tuesday feeling too uncomfortable to sleep. Finally by Tuesday evening things picked up and we were sure we would have a baby that night. But by 11pm that evening, it was clear that things were actually slowing down again. I managed to get a few hours of sleep when I was woken at 3am with very sharp pains. We met the midwife at the hospital at 4am, she broke my waters (which had meconium in them), at 5:20 I started pushing, and at 5:35 I had my little boy in my arms. I used the entenox (gas and air) for a little while, but mostly I got through each contraction by standing at the side of the bed, holding Steve's hands, and imagining that I was on a bicycle sprinting towards a finish line.  We spent that day in hospital and Ross had the routine hip check and hearing test done. He was required to stay one night for observation, due to the meconium, but it was a peaceful night for both of us, and I thoroughly enjoyed sleeping on my stomach again. 

Here are a few more pictures from the last few days. 

Madeleine got a new stroller from Grandma Georgia and she absolutely loves racing around the house pushing her little doll.

Ross Nikau Gibson

Hello all, Steve here.  I'm very happy to announce the arrival of our son, Ross Nikau Gibson.  Arriving exactly on his due date, little Ross made his grand entrance at 5:40am on January 16th, weighing in at 8lbs 9oz.  His name is given in honour of my grandfather, who passed away a few months before I was born.  Nikau is the name of a native New Zealand tree (pronounced nee-cow).

He and Annemarie are both doing great, despite a long and drawn-out labour.  They are spending the night at the hospital because Ross needs some extra monitoring after swallowing a bit of meconium during the labour.  We're expecting them to come home tomorrow morning.

Just a few pictures for now (with of course more to follow in the next few days). 

Still Waiting...

Much to my surprise, this baby has still not arrived! My mistake was expecting it to be early, and now, even though I haven't even reached my due date (the 16th), I feel like I'm far past what was expected. Madeleine was five days early and my midwife gave me some false hope by predicting another early arrival this time. Nonetheless, I feel basically fine, just a bit too big for comfort. Below is a picture from 38 weeks.

Madeleine was lucky enough to get some of my pomegranate the other day, and she had a great time picking all the seeds out.

It was a very serious affair for her.

My parents arrived on the night of the 4th, so we've now had a full week with them here. Madeleine took about 10 minutes to warm up to them, and now enjoys the chance to actually choose who does what for her.

We've been enjoying a walk on the hills near our house, and despite doing the hour-long walk quite frequently over the last week, the baby is still inside.

Madeleine is enjoying lots of Grammy and Grandpa time and we're already feeling spoiled with their cooking and help around the house.