Merry Christmas

A couple of weeks ago we picked out a Christmas tree and decorated it with some lights and the few decorations we have here. Every morning Madeleine eagerly asks for the lights to be turned on. She has been really gentle with the tree, and since all the ornaments are paper or fabric, it's fine if she pulls them off. 

 

The Play Centre that we go to each week recently had their last session until February, since Christmas also marks the start of summer holidays here. It included a Christmas Party for all the kids, and Father Christmas even made an appearance. You can see Madeleine standing in the middle below (pigtails, navy shorts, pale green top). She wasn't afraid at all but then again, no one was asking her to sit on his knee. 

The morning tea for the kids was at this big table...

... and long after all the other kids had finished and gone to play, Madeleine was still munching away, finishing off the trays of food.

Last week, we went to the Wellington Zoo with our friends Emily and Jac. Madeleine can finally keep up with Jac (who learned to walk and run quite early) so they have a lot of fun together.

We also went to a barbeque at Matt and Emily's house, before they left for holidays on the South Island. Madeleine and Jac had their own little table for dinner.

The food was delicious and it was nice to have Emily's parents there too, who are visiting for 6 months from Wales.

On Christmas Eve, we skyped with Gibsons during their family gathering, and Madeleine got to open the gifts that they had mailed to her. She loved getting her new little doll and she quickly turned it around to show everyone on the computer.

Madeleine and I walked to church that afternoon for the children's nativity play, while Steve stayed home to do some work on his thesis.

On Christmas Day, we opened the gifts still under our tree. We gave Madeleine a little workbench, which apparently also serves as a good seat or stool.

I gave Steve a little remote-controlled helicopter. I'm not sure who is having more fun with it - Steve or Madeleine. She's constantly asking Daddy to fly it again and again and she loves to hold the remote control. But then she gets quite scared of it when it comes close to her, so it can be a little stressful for her.

Here she is doing her hand gestures and long speech about how the helicopter works - she's got it all figured out and gets very animated when talking about it.

The last few days have been incredibly hot, humid, and windless here. It's rather unusual for Wellington, and I have to admit, it's rather uncomfortable for me considering I have a little internal heater going at full steam right now. I am now full term, at 37 weeks, and aside from the heat, am feeling pretty good. We walked down to the beach yesterday afternoon and took a dip in the harbour. It was still pretty cold, but felt lovely on such a hot day.

Merry Christmas to you all!

34 weeks

One of my friends mentioned that I haven't put many pictures of my baby belly on the blog, and I told her it was because we've hardly taken any! With Madeleine, I took pictures every week, but I guess the novelty has worn off, because I think this time I'll be lucky if I have one for every trimester. But here is one from last week, when I was 34 weeks along. Please ignore the mess in the kitchen - I think Madeleine and I had just finished making a batch of banana muffins.

This pregnancy hasn't been too dissimilar from the first in terms of symptoms; I have mostly only had to deal with fatigue, heartburn, and occasional lower back pain, so I feel pretty fortunate. This baby is definitely more active than Madeleine, but I figure that's because they have more room to move around. I haven't kept track of my weight gain at all, so I can't compare that, but I do feel like this baby will be bigger than M was, and my midwife (the same as last time) seems to think so as well. I haven't really had many cravings this time, but I do enjoy the pickle-avocado-cheese sandwiches that I loved while pregnant with Madeleine, and my ice cream consumption has significantly decreased. 

However, because my life is just so completely different this time and the novelty of pregnancy is gone, it feels quite different. It feels longer, and more uncomfortable. I think I'm complaining more - in fact, I must be because Steve has several times said "So I guess we're only having two kids?" But it isn't that I wouldn't want to go through this again - it is still an amazing experience (with a pretty wonderful end result) - it's simply that I've realized how different it will be each time, even when the pregnancy itself is pretty similar.  

This and That

Last week Madeleine had her 18 month check up with the local Plunket Nurse. She got weighed and measured and she told the nurse a few stories and then waved goodbye and headed for the door. Unfortunately, it wasn't time to leave yet, so she had to wait a bit longer. She is 29 lb now, so still in the 95th or so percentile for her weight, and is up to 82cm, which means that she is now in the 75th percentile for height (she was always 50th in the past). The nurse commented that with all her babbling and stories full of intonation and gestures, she will likely be quite a talker once the words start forming. 

She's getting tall enough that she can finally climb up onto things that she has been eyeing for awhile now, like our chairs and this little cabinet (she moves her little chair over to it to climb up and down). She loves being able to sit at the counter while we are in the kitchen, and she seems relatively stable up there, so instead of moving the cabinet, I moved all the junk and clutter on the counter so it's a bit more M-friendly.

This past Sunday was windy and rainy and when M woke early from her midday nap, I knew it was going to be a long afternoon if we stayed at home. So we took a trip to the Marine Education Centre in a suburb of Wellington, where they have several touching tanks and many aquariums with all sorts of fish, turtles, snails, and even an octopus. I wasn't sure if Madeleine would be old enough to enjoy it, but she loved it! She couldn't get enough of the touching pools and she wasn't afraid to pick up the starfish, crabs and snails.

Below, she is holding a Brittle Star - a creature closely related to a starfish but with long tentacle-like arms that help it move more quickly. The arms are very brittle though, so they often break off and regenerate.

Baby G continues to grow well and move a lot. I am 33 weeks now, and I am actually feeling less tired in this third trimester than I did in the previous two. I've finally been able to get back into swimming regularly, and usually go in the mornings before Steve leaves for work. I'm not only counting down to the baby's due date (6.5 weeks!) but also to my parents' arrival, which is only 4.5 weeks away.

Toy Library

Our local toy library has been a great source of toys for Madeleine. Every Thursday evening I go down and pick out a few things to bring home for her. In the morning, I hear squeals of delight as she sees all her new toys. This past month we had a slide, rocking horse, and little activity set.

I think the rocking horse was definitely her favourite, and she would stop to give it a drink, or put a blanket on its back.

The slide was also a big hit and although I know she was sad to see it returned this week, we were happy to have the space back in our lounge.

The activity set is a bit hit or miss for her - she definitely prefers the more active toys over the sit still ones.

She does have her moments of sitting still though... and Daddy can usually get through a few pages of a bedtime story with her before she wiggles away.

River Valley Cottage

Before I tell you about our weekend away at a quiet little cottage, I have to share this picture of Madeleine enjoying her new book. She got a package from my Great Aunt Ruth in Michigan (from whom I've probably inherited my love of dogs), and in it was a book all about a little dog named Boo. Madeleine was literally squealing with excitement as she saw the little dog on each page, and since "doggie" is one of her first words, she was able to correctly identify the animal on every page! 

Now on to our weekend away... we picked a cottage in the middle of the country, on a sheep farm, with the hopes that it would have a really dark night sky for Steve to do some observing with the telescope. We arrived Friday after Steve finished work, and that night was clear and the sky was amazingly dark. He was able to set up the telescope right outside the front door, which meant that I even got to keep him company for a little while.

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day and Madeleine loved seeing all the sheep (of course she called them doggies) and walked right up to them. The sheep could walk right up to the cottage on all sides except the front, which was fenced off, so when indoors, M spent most of her time at the windows, pointing to the sheep and saying "ooohhh!! doggy!! ooohh!"

She also loved sitting at the big table with us and eating pancake after pancake.

Dressing up in Daddy's hat...

Here is a view of the cottage from a nearby hill. We suspect it was once the shearer's accommodation, now nicely refurbished. We were amazed at how friendly the sheep were - usually sheep are shy and quick to run away, but these ones were quite happy to be pet and take a closer look at little M. Then again, maybe they were trying to get a closer look at the not-so-little me lumbering up the hill.

Madeleine finally got worn out from all the exploring, and insisted on being carried.

Saturday night was cloudy and windy, so there was no stargazing. Fortunately we had the last episode of Downton Abbey to watch, which was equally as exciting (for me at least). On Sunday afternoon we started the 2 hour trip back home just as the rain was setting in. 

At The Beach...

It was Labour Day weekend here last week, and we all enjoyed the extra day together. We walked to the nearby Days Bay beach for the afternoon and even though it was pretty windy and not exactly warm, Madeleine had a great time playing. 

She filled and emptied her yogurt container over and over, and buried her foot under all the pebbles and shells.

She and Daddy explored the water's edge.

She came back quickly to do more shovelling and dumping.

They shared some cuddles on the driftwood.

And she helped me find some long sticks to use for my little pea plants that are growing!

Spring Playtime

The past two weeks have been school holidays here, which means that all of the toddler activities we normally go to aren't happening. We've been keeping busy with toys at home, I was sick for one week, and when the weather is nice we head out for walks to the beach and park.  I'll have to be sure to bring my camera with me one of these times - it's really cute watching M select various rocks and shells and then decide to walk off (after telling me a long story in great detail), only to get completely distracted by a leaf or passing dog.

One of our neighbours and friends from church recently brought Madeleine this old wooden trolley, and a shoebox full of wooden blocks - she has had loads of fun playing with all three!

The shoebox has now become Poppy's bed. Poppy is a wool doll knitted by my mom, and M has just lately started showing interest in her, mostly to put her to bed and cover her with blankets over and over.

She loves carrying around this purse from Grandma Georgia, and usually keeps her arm up so it won't fall off.

Reading a story to Daddy after work.... She is constantly talking to us, but still has very few discernible words. She understands almost all of our conversation with her - goes to get things when we ask her, shakes and nods her head to our questions, and tells us what she wants with various sounds and gestures. We're amazed, and pleased, at how well she can communicate even without proper words. 

Posing for pictures with me to get some rare shots of this baby belly... I have hardly remembered to take any pictures at all. I am 26 weeks now, so have another 3 months to go before we meet this little one. We didn't find out whether it's a boy or girl because Steve loves the surprise so much. I am dying of curiosity to know, but am willing to wait. Steve likens it to peeking at Christmas presents before Christmas, which apparently he would never do... of course, I have to confess, there were many years when I scoured my parents' closet for hiding presents, and my friend Jill and I had a custom of opening and re-sealing one present each during our annual eve-of-christmas eve sleepover. So it really is quite good of me to not find out what we're having.

Daddy's turn for a picture with M...

Madeleine kicking up a fuss about being brought back inside... she would spend her entire day outside if she could.