Life Goes On

We said some tearful goodbyes to my Mom and Dad last Friday. It's definitely harder to say goodbye when we've seen how much Madeleine (and Ross!) loved having them around. She has said "Papa?" a few times this week when she hears a noise outside that sounds like Grandpa coming home on his bike. And she found some strands of wool the other day, from Grammie's knitting and said "Mama." She loves identifying what belongs to whom these days. As I hung the laundry on the line this morning, she was watching carefully and with each article of clothing she would yell out to whom it belonged - "Baby Ross! Daddy!  Maanna!" (Maana is how she says Madeleine, which really makes me feel bad for giving her such a long name.)

Madeleine loves to run along The Promenade walkway near our house - Grammie took her out on a particularly windy day when this picture was taken. M pumps her arms and waddles along, moving as fast as she can. 

She regularly asks to hold Ross on her lap, and he smiles up at her and is very patient and tolerant of all her pats and brushes and kisses.

She started trying to climb onto the coffee table and sit or stand on it, so we quickly inverted it to make a little seat for her. She loves sitting in it and playing with toys or reading books. She is also really taken with cutting things lately, and loved this wooden toy pizza from the Toy Library. Her other current interests are helicopters ("helio") and diggers ("digga").

Ross has been very smiley and chatty lately, and has the most adorable giggle fits when we talk with him. He has transitioned to the cot very well, and sleeps from about 8pm until 4 or 5am, eats, and then sleeps another couple of hours.

Lately, Madeleine has wanted to 'burp' Baby Ross, and wants to hold him on her shoulder. He's more than half her size now though, so it's a bit awkward, but she loves it.

And then she gets tired of it, and wants him off.

She was reading "Tales From the Arabian Nights" to him the other day, carefully pointing at the words and pictures.

Our first week on our own has actually gone really well, and I am reminded once again of how much I love being at home with my kids. I feel so blessed to have had so much help for the early weeks, and am sure that is why things are going so smoothly now. Plus, Steve has made some great progress on his thesis in the last few months, so he is starting to see the light at the end of the PhD tunnel. 

At our Plunket visit earlier this week, the kids weighed in at 30lbs for Madeleine, and a few ounces short of 15lbs for Ross. He is quite long, so he doesn't seem nearly as chubby as M did as a baby. Ross moving to the cot meant that Madeleine moved to a big bed this past weekend. After a few nights of popping in and out of bed at bedtime, and falling asleep on the floor one night, she now seems quite content to stay in bed. She's also starting to use the potty, and asking to go now and then. Our little girl is growing up!

2 months!

Here is Ross at 2 months, looking well-rested after a week of sleeping from 8:30pm to 5:30am. I felt pretty rested too, although I definitely don't expect these long nights to last! We saw the Plunket Nurse for the first time about a week ago, and Ross was 13lb and 12oz, and 61cm long. He's certainly growing quickly and I have to be sure to regularly go through all the clothes we've received or else I'm sure he'll outgrow things before he's even worn them. 

Mom, Dad and I took the kids for a hike to Butterfly Creek, in the hills behind our house. 

Part of the trail overlooks Wellington Harbour, and it was a lovely sunny day. We have had one of the sunniest, driest summers that Wellington has seen in a long time. Everyone who talks to Mom and Dad about their visit comments on how lucky they've been to have this weather, since usually our summers are rather short and unpredictable.

Madeleine loved the chance to get out of the carrier and stretch. Here she is doing some stretches with Grammie. Either that, or they were singing "The Grand Old Duke of York" for the hundredth time.

This past Sunday was Ross' baptism at our church, St. Alban's. We got some family pictures before the service...

It was a lovely service with our new vicar presiding and one of our neighbours and friends, Carolyn, giving Ross his baptism candle. Ross slept through the entire service, and Madeleine struggled to stay interested and quickly squirmed out of Steve's arms.

She was pretty excited to get outside and run around.

Just hanging out on the couch...

Comparing foot size with Daddy...

Ross continues to love his baths, unlike Madeleine, who took months to enjoy the water. And fortunately, Madeleine loves sharing her big bath with him, and only rarely tries to splash him.

Daddy and Ross reading his card from Grandma and Grandpa Gibson...

Only another ten days with my Mom and Dad here... so we are working through the list of 'things to do before they leave' and I'm counting my days of unlimited help! Madeleine will certainly miss them as well... this morning, in the kitchen, she said very clearly "I want Papa." Her first clear sentence and it's all about Grandpa.

Butterflies, Birthdays, and More

One of our distractions in the past few weeks was watching a caterpillar turn into a Monarch butterfly. Here in NZ, they feed on a plant called Swamp Milkweed and one of our neighbours brought us a few branches of it with a caterpillar munching away on the leaves. It sat on our kitchen windowsill and brought me a new appreciation for the children's book "The Very Hungry Caterpillar".

We watched as it assumed the hanging "J-shape", a precursor to forming the chrysalis, and we checked on it throughout the day, hoping to catch the 5 minute transformation.

Unfortunately, we all missed it. The chrysalis remained for a couple of weeks, and we could see the wings of the butterfly taking shape inside.

Eventually, it became very dark and withered-looking, and we kept watch hoping to see the butterfly emerge.

But we missed that too! We put it outside to dry out, and eventually it flew away. Madeleine enjoyed watching the caterpillar and butterfly as much as the rest of us, and would regularly ask to be picked up to check on it.

Aside from watching caterpillars transform, we celebrated two birthdays - mine and my Dad's - and enjoyed two delicious cakes. Madeleine enjoyed the candles and singing Happy Birthday far more than the cake itself.

Some birthday cuddles with Grandpa Mark...

Madeleine recently got this tea set and loves having tea parties. "Tea? Tea?" is her prompt for one of us to join her, and soon after she heads to the fridge to get some cold water for the 'tea'. "Wahtah? Wahtah?" she asks in her Kiwi-accent (!) and then we carry the water and tea set to the front porch since it usually turns into a small flood and not just a dainty tea party. Maybe that's why she insisted on wearing her boots this day...

Steve and I recently braved the little ferry that shuttles between Eastbourne and Wellington, with both kids along for the ride. Here's Madeleine feeling quite proud of herself for surviving the trip. 

Madeleine has been very sweet with her little brother - she asks to hold him on her lap, and she often goes over to where he is to give him a pat, hug, or full-on kiss. He is very patient with her, and it's fun to see him smile at her and watch her intently.

Steve, the kids, and I spent this past weekend with our friends Matt and Emily at a bach (or cottage/cabin) to celebrate their son Jac's 2nd birthday. Madeleine and Jac put on their togs (bathing suits) and played all afternoon. Madeleine took many snack breaks and particularly loved the crisps (chips).

Cuddles with Grammie this afternoon, while Grandpa made funny faces behind the camera...

Cuddles with Daddy after work today...

Ross is growing and changing each day - he is 6.5 weeks now, and had his first set of immunizations last week. He was quite miserable that evening, but fine the next day. He weighed about 13lbs at that appointment, and is starting to fit some of his 3-6 month clothing. We've been enjoying his smiles and coos, and he still doesn't cry nearly as much as Madeleine did at this age. My memories of Madeleine's first 6 weeks include a lot walking, bouncing, and shushing in the evening hours, whereas Ross just eats, burps, and cuddles.

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.