Lots of visitors!

We have been fortunate to be having lots of people, from far and wide coming to see our beautiful daughter and possibly share some "weekend soup" with us, which is quickly becoming a winter tradition for us. Last weekend, Trish, Sinka, Sammy and her friend Bethan came by and had a cuddle with Emily.

Today, Pam, Andrew and Andrew's dad Hugh came for a visit and it was great to see them and eat some yummy soup.

I know it seems weird to mention soup so much, but it is truly good soup. And I know soup. It might be my second favourite meal, next to sushi. We make a trip to the farmer's market every Saturday, and that usually involves a stop at the local butcher as well. He sells bacon hocks and beef bones; the essential parts of a good Saturday veggies soup. The best part of a Saturday soup, however, is eating it on Sunday. "Saturday soup: the sequel" is a highlight of our weekends these days, besides having more laughs from Emily. Amazing how having a child makes you appreciate the little things in life, eh? ........like soup.
Another visitor we had this weekend (who thankfully did not raid our soup when it was put outside to cool) was Potsy the possum. I do believe, however that Potsy had a brother hanging around too, but we only ever saw one at a time. Bryce took our green waste out into our backyard compost heap, which is kind of in a jungle area that has massive trees and big overgrown plants. (here is a pic of myself when we were making the compost bin)
When Bryce came back in the house, his eyes were pretty wide and he said a possum had interrupted his leisurely stroll into the jungle and caught him off guard a wee bit. We don't see them around our house much, although we do hear them occasionally, so to see one was a bit unique. We went out onto the deck to try to see them with Bryce's bike lights (from the safety of our deck) but couldn't see much so the brave guy that he is, Bryce went back into the jungle to try to get a photo. Unfortunately, Potsy was camera shy and we couldn't catch one, but I borrowed this photo from the Queensland government webpage to show you what we saw. (Kirstin: I apologise for using a photo that it probably not the right breed and far off from the kind of possum we have in NZ, but it looked right to me. Too funny that we took it from an OZ webpage, when they are protected in Australia but pests here. Funnily enough, when I told the neighbour about our exciting encounter with Potsy, he asked if we had a .22 to get rid of it with!!)

We decided to get out and enjoy the sunny day today, so we headed to Queen Elizabeth park to show Emily the beach. Well, actually, she mostly saw the roof of her pram/stroller, since she slept the whole time; that is, until we had a photo shoot with her. It was just too nice of a day to show all those folks back in Canada how rough the NZ winter can be. (note the sarcasm please.....) Mind you, I did feel a pang of homesickness in the morning when I got to skype with my whole family back in Toronto for the big summer birthday party with all 8 adults and 7 kids under 6, where it was nice and summer warm...even though it was raining....


But as you can see, we have it pretty good in New Zealand. When your winter walk can still be along the beach.......

Emily is doing well; talking lots. Well, when I say talking, I mean lots of "gaaaaah" and "oooooohhhhhhhh" and other noises that are hard to type. She is grabbing things with her hands now, still not with too much coordination but with real intent now. Our favourite thing to watch is to see her concentrate on trying to grab the stream of water that comes from a small jar we play with in the bath. She is mesmorized everytime she sees the water pour out of the jar and as she clamps her hand down on the water, she doesn't understand why she can't grab it....and of course, then put it in her mouth. This being the thing she does with everything else she grabs, these days. Yay for teething! She is going through at least 3 bibs everyday that attempt to keep the saliva off of her soaking through her layers of shirts, often ineffectively!

Cyclocross weekend

Bryce competed in a Cyclocross event last weekend which involved a 30 min race around a loop track, with some obstacles in one part of the track where you have to dismount your bike and jump over them. Bryce has not been racing or riding too much lately as Daddy-duties seem to be more fun and exciting; although his Wednesday night bike ride is still a part of his week that he looks forward to.

Emily and I went along to cheer Bryce along. Craig (who works with Bryce, and is also an extremely talented photographer - he took our wedding photos) was also at the race. He was taking photos of all the riders but decided to snap a few of the Lorcet clan spectating as well.

During Bryce's race, I was talking with Craig and complaining to him that Bryce was hoping to buy a Cyclocross bike (lighter frame, thinner wheels, etc) and that I was not approving of another bike joining the fleet in our garage. Unfortunately, my complaints fell on deaf ears as Craig immediately jumped on Bryce's team and proceeded to outline all the reasons why Bryce DID need a Cyclocross bike. At this time, Bryce was racing pretty hard out and had been in 2nd place for a few laps. Craig decides, as Bryce comes past us to yell out, "Candace says that if you come first in this race, she will let you buy the Cyclocross bike!" So of course, Bryce gets excited, gives it some more steam and wins the damn race! Bryce, looking very proud of himself, walks over to me at the end of the race and says, "so you think I can get the bike??"
I have never been one to stand in the way of Bryce purchasing what he wants, but now that we are on one salary, we are both trying to cut costs here and there.
Sadly, for him, he won the race for glory alone....and no hope for a new bike.

Emily was a great spectator. She enjoyed all the colours and speed of the riders and bikes flying past her. You can imagine Bryce has already selected her first bike, and is convinced she REALLY liked to watch the bikes because she wants to ride one herself. Bryce was gutted to hear from a fellow bike enthusiast that his son is 7 and no matter how much he has tried, his son is only now just starting to enjoy riding his bike. I think it was the first time that it occurred to B that Emily MAY not be the future female Mountain bike champion that he has expected her to be!






**All photos in this post were taken by Craig Madsen, www.hedgehogphotography.co.nz

3 months!

So we have hit the 3 month mark and are feeling so much better about this parenting thing. I would hesitate to say we are feeling on top of it, and she seems to be changing her routines all the time which is forcing us to stay adaptable; but much more confident than those first 6 weeks!
Here is a picture of her and her Grandma Maureen's teddy bear which we are using to gauge how big she is getting from month to month.

Last weekend we took another road trip to see John and Cushla in Palmerston North for lunch. Emily is a very good baby and is really enjoying watching everything around her now. However, when she gets tired, she can get pretty grumpy (as is expected I guess). I have this sling thing called a Moby which I wear her in and last weekend I noticed her getting tired in the cafe. So, I put her in the Moby and she fell asleep while the rest of us were able to chat in peace.


This is a picture of some of the babies from our coffee group (the group of us who took a parenting class together while we were pregnant). I invited the group around for a Buggy Walk 'N' Talk and we had a gorgeous sunny winter day blessed on us to wake in. Such a nice relief from all the rain!

I love to drool - Part 2.

Its all about her....

So Bryce and I have questioned whether we should change the name of the blog to something more about Emily since her life has taken over the blog considerably. However, we figure that someday, we will have more things to talk about than JUST how many bowel movements she has each day. (For those of you who are counting, we hit the 11 day hiatus last week, but supposedly that is still not something to worry about. It sure was an adventure for Mommy though to clean up after.)

Emily is 12 weeks old now just growing up so fast. She is starting to reach out and grab things on her playmat, intentionally, and gets so excited while aiming to grab them that she kicks up a storm. I think kicking seems to demonstrate that she is concentrating. She is so much more interested in things around her and will sit on a lap and just watch the world go by for long periods of time.

We have been told to appreciate this time because as soon as she is mobile, the long sitting moments will soon change to long chasing escapades! I must say, it is alot easier than it has been in the past few weeks. THe crying has become only when she needs something that we haven't anticipated. She is settling into more routines now and just a joy to be around. Mind you, when she is hungry, the whole town knows about it! She may have some operatic talent in her because she seems to be the loudest baby by far in her baby group!

She drools like she is trying to help raise the global water level on her own, and if she is held face down on our arms, you have to keep a cloth under her face or else have drool stalactites which tend to leave wet spots all over the carpet. Still, she is just too cute.