Christmas

You'd think that Emily was excited for Christmas morning by waking up at 5:50am, but she didn't have a clue; she just didn't want to be asleep anymore. As you can see, Bryce's eyes can indicate that it was an early morning.

Em wasn't really into all the unwrapping of gifts without being able to play with what ever it was that she had just unwrapped. Until she unwrapped the Dora chair. Now THAT she loved!


Off to Christmas lunch and the Dora chair had to come along with us.

Post lunch energy-burning adventure to the park.

I may have been working off a couple of beers and a big lunch.


36 weeks and growing.

A more relaxed start to boxing day with Nanny.

Lining up a photo of Candace in her new Puku ('stomach' in Maori) shirt when Emily shuffles sideways into the scene with her best smile...

Then off to the park with Nanny and GG to feed the ducks.

Emily likes chops

Ah summer bbq's. Looks like Emily likes chops.

Post bike ride picnic

CK convinced a friend of Bryce's to take him for a birthday ride (not a hard task convincing Bryce to ride) under the guise of setting up a picnic lunch date with Candace and Emily.

Damn fine ride topped off by meeting up with a waving Emily in the middle of a park at the end of the ride.

Good times.

Zoo time.

Emily is pretty good at using a mix of sign language and words to name animals, and is a huge fan of her plastic "ammils" so we decided a zoo visit was in order.

First up feeding time with the Giraffe's


We think she liked that.


Wandered over to see Chimpanzees. Em was crouching down to admire the platform decking then spied some Chimps and just sat there pointing saying "Oooh".



Back to #1 favorite Giraffe's.



Plenty of other cool stuff there, and we now have a daughter who is big fan of big cats.




There is certainly something to be said about crouching on the other side of a (bullet proof) glass window and looking directly into the eyes of a lion and seeing his pupils adjust, you note that all you are is a meal.

Big Girl Bed saga continues....

Day #3. After the debacle of the cot/bed naptime confusion, we decided that maybe because some of Emily's things were still hanging around in her old room, she was getting mixed messages about where "her place" was. So that night we decided to put her to sleep over night in the big girl bed. We were both a bit apprehensive about making the full switch to the bed, as it gives Emily more freedom to wake and come and see us whenever she wants, including in the early morning hours! Anyway, it was a cold night so we put her in her blue pajama suit which is nice and warm and makes her feel like a teddy bear when you cuddle her. She fell asleep pretty well and cried out around 1am but didn't continue so we left her alone. I woke up at 3:30 and went and checked on her. As I walked beside the bed, I felt a teddy bear on the floor and wondered which teddy it was and whether Bryce had put it there or she had. Just as I was about to pick up the teddy, the teddy took a big breath and sighed sleepily. It was then I realised it was my lil girl, dressed as a teddy, who had fallen out of bed (probably at 1 am, when she cried) but decided to continue to sleep on the floor, head down, bum straight up. Too cute. I was able to pick her up and put her back in bed without waking her and sneak out of the room easily. She woke up an hour earlier than normal but we figured that was going to happen with all the changes. Last night, she slept even better and I think that was partially due to moving all of her stuff into the new room and her really feeling like she has her own place now. She even slept through till 7am this morning and gave us both our sleep in again! We shall see how night #3 goes, but I can almost say that our little baby has indeed transitioned into big girl now!

Big Girl Bed

Last week we began the "Big Girl Room" transition in preparation for the new baby to arrive. We emptied the "Palatial Manor" (the name our good friend Robyn named our spare room, even when it was only a small piece of floor in the kitchen of our old apartment). Then we put in a bunch of kid furniture, all of Em's toys and her new single bed, fitted with Pooh Bear sheets to sweeten the deal. Emily was thrilled and has really enjoyed playing in there for the last week. Also, for the first three or four days, she was very keen to sleep in her "big girl bed" for naptime during the day. Selfishly, we have kept her in her cot in the other room at night to ensure a long sleep and no early morning wake-ups for us!
However, for the past 2 days, Emily has chosen to have her nap in the crib/cot instead and does not want to be in the big bed anymore. Today, she was all excited to sleep in the single bed until just before she laid down and then she was sure she wanted to sleep elsewhere. However, when taken to her cot, she refused to lie down there also.
When given the option again as to where she would like to sleep, she just kind of stood in between the two rooms, unsure. I suggested we read another book before we decide. Instead of going to her bookshelf, she quickly went to the lounge and grabbed Bryce's industrial sized "The History of New Zealand" and pulled it off the shelf. With all its 562 pages and no pictures, it is not the ideal pre-nap time story. I think she knew what she was doing though. We better keep an eye on her!

Wellington Christmas Parade

We adventured down to Wellington last weekend for the Xmas parade. Em stood pretty much transfixed watching the procession, saving extra special waving for the floats carrying cartoon characters despite having never seen many of them. Good times.




Then there was this guy getting a better vantage point.

Newbee continues to grow...

I am at 28 weeks but measuring a belly that should be at 34 weeks! Our midwife is confident it does not mean an earlier baby arrival; it's just that there is an excess of amniotic fluid that is present and pushing my navel out towards the free world. So essentially, I am carrying around a baby paddling pool, which is conveniently attached to my front, so that I am now bumping into people and things more often. It is difficult to squeeze past students in the hallway when it is really busy and more of them are starting to stare now; as I am a bit of an oddity to look at! You know you have a big belly when even close friends laugh at you when they first see you. This is becoming more common, but I am getting used to it. I am pleased, at least, to have the "big belly paddling pool" excuse for being massive, instead of just having to succumb to the fact that I have eaten too many cookies.

Guy Fawkes night

Emily experienced her first Guy Fawkes Night along with her first exposure to fireworks and sparklers. She didn't really get a chance to enjoy the sparklers too much as she didn't get that it needed to be held away from the face. However, she loved the actual noisy fireworks that were going off in front of her on the beach. What a fun night! We were pretty sure she wouldn't stay awake long enough, but having other kids to hang around that were super excited made Emily go the distance.
Once on the beach, we settled down onto a beach blanket and Emily was all cozy and tucked into Daddy's lap. Only removing her hands from Daddy's cupped hands to clap and ask for "more" every time the fireworks stopped going "BANG!"
She was a champ and super cute, despite the cold wind and late night.

Rugby World Cup Parade

The ALL BLACKS won the World Cup and the country has gone mental. The number of flags that we have seen adorning cars and houses for the past 6 weeks has been huge and we have seen very few taken down even a few days after the final was played. It is nice to see the patriotism from the kiwis, even though it has to be surrounding a sport and not just about being a New Zealander. However, since there is no day of celebration here, equivalent to Independence Day or Canada Day, the kiwis only get so many chances to embrace being a citizen and showing their pride. We decided to join in the fun on Wednesday when we went and cheered for the ALL BLACKS as they paraded through the streets of Wellington, in the rain. Thank goodness they were on trucks, or it would have been too hard to see them from where most people were standing. The forecast was shite, but luckily the rain mostly held off during the parade and the torrential downpour started once we were back on the train. Kim and I braved the elements with four kids ranging in age from 18 months to 7 years old. Easy peasy.

Rugby World Cup

Here are some of the pics from CANADA DAY at the Rugby World Cup last weekend. We didn't actually get to any of the games as they were pretty expensive but it sure was fun to be a part of the action in town before the games.

First haircut

We took Emily to get the hair out of her eyes last weekend. She was a good sport, considering she was sitting on Dad's knee and it took all of 5 minutes. We didn't dare cut any of her curls but needed to fix the fringe/bangs. As you can see, she is pretty careful to watch Mommy and make sure that Mom is okay with all of this scissor action.

Spring is here, summer is on it's way!

We have had a pretty long winter with some unusual weather around the country. Even last week we had another hailstorm hit our house and leave Wellington with slushy streets for the day. At long last we are having days without the fireplace roaring and many more visits to the beach. Emily is even starting to get used to wearing sunglasses, although she still pulls them off pretty quickly. Bryce just got back from his annual Vegas trip and brought back an american cold/flu which has slowed his down considerably this week and amalgamated with my current New Zealand cough to put me on bedrest yesterday! Add all this to an emergency 111 call to the fire department last week when the chimney was glowing red from a chimney fire and we have had an eventful month of September.
Emily is still being a fussy eater from time to time, with the exception of "as-tah" (pasta) which she enjoys immensely (as you can see from the following photos).



Em found a cowboy hat in the closet that had been destined for her cousin Nisha in Canada but would have cost jizillions in freight to mail it, so it stayed in New Zealand. Lucky for Emily, because she is loving being a cowgirl!


Em is enjoying tearing around on her bike, even indoors. Here you can see her taking George the teddy for a ride around the kitchen. She is really starting to create her own little stories and make believe. She especially enjoys feeding her baby and tucking it under a blanket to go to sleep. It's so sweet watching her kiss the baby good night. Mind you, if she is caring for her baby and I offer her some food she usually just chucks the baby on the ground and runs to me, so we still have a ways to go before she perfects her mothering. It does make us think she will enjoy having a baby brother or sister though. She knows that there is a "bubba" in my tummy, but isn't quite sure whether that means her and Daddy also have one in their tummy too.