Merry Christmas

Christmas 2005


Christmas 2006


Christmas 2007



A big MERRY CHRISTMAS to all our friends and family all over the world.

Love Megz

Thirty-something plus Two Years and One Month

Today is Peter's birthday. It also means Victoria is one month old today. And Kathleen is nearly two (and acting it).

Peter ... The name Peter means "rock" and you certainly are my rock. Thank you for all your help and support. I couldn't do any of this without you. I want you to know I love you very much, even though life is so busy and stressful these days that I don't often get a chance to show it. Happy Birthday.

Kathleen ... Kathleen is almost two years old and at times it certainly seems like the "terrible twos" have arrived. She still loves her little sister, and still loves to give her lots of cuddles.

But there are also times when she can be a big handful and ignore whatever I say. Things like "don't touch that" are met with her instantly picking it up, or "come here please" just encourages her to run in the opposite direction. I don't know if it is just because she is almost two that she is behaving this way, or if she is acting up because of Victoria. Often she will do these things when I'm busy with Victoria and can't run after her.

But then there are also times when Victoria is crying and Kathleen will sit down quietly and not bother Mummy, or will try and give Victoria a cuddle to make her happy. Or if I'm busy feeding Victoria, Kat will happily play around my feet.

She's really grown up lately in a lot of ways. Most noticeably in her communication skills. She has started talking in sentences now. Pretty coherent sentences at that. Things like "Kiki squirt Kiki self" when playing with the hose. Or "Baby seestah wakey up". Or "I busy playey". Or my personal favourite (NOT) "I busy pooey". Every day she amazes me with just how well she can communicate. Her pronounciation is pretty good although sometimes I don't always understand her. She still insists on saying "Uncle Runkle" instead of "Uncle Richard" and "Eddie" instead of "elephant". LOL.

Victoria ... But while Kathleen has entered the terrible two's, Victoria has lately become the real difficult one in the house. She seems to have a very unsettled time every evening between 7-10pm. She can't sleep and gets over-tired and starts screaming and screaming. I know it's common for babies to have an unsettled period like this so I'm not too concerned, but it can be very hard to listen to the constant screaming. Obviously part of the reason she can't sleep is because it is a busy time of day with Peter home and us eating dinner and Kat having a bath and going to bed. Which is also what makes it all the more difficult to deal with a screaming baby.

We've also had a couple of bad days recently where Victoria hasn't had much sleep during the day either and has therefore spent a lot of the day screaming. Just like Kathleen used to do at that age. I thought second babies were supposed to be easier?????

But we have survived the first month and I'm sure we will get through the next month as well. Hopefully the first smiles will come soon.

In the meantime we have Christmas to look forward to. Kathleen's second Christmas but the first one she will understand. She is excited by all the decorations and trees everywhere, and even met Santa the other day (which you can read about in her blog.

Cheers,
Megz

Mimi

Mimi is Peter's mum. That's not her real name (actually her real name is the same as mine!), but her 'title' aka Grandma.

In July her husband and other children went back to Texas to live, but Mimi stayed on here to help us out with Kathleen and the little one when she came along. We were supposed to move in with Mimi while our house was being renovated, but when that got called off, she rented out her house and came to live with us instead.

A week ago Mimi left to go back to Texas to join the rest of her family. All I can say is WE REALLY MISS YOU.

Thank you so much for your help, especially in the week or so after Victoria was born. We really appreciate your help with all the little things - cooking meals, going shopping, doing dishes and feeding the cats. It's amazing how two little people can require so much time and attention from big people, that it takes three people at least to run the household. The cats REALLY miss you and were wondering if they could come live with you instead. They haven't been fed nearly so well since you've been gone.

We're all looking forward to seeing you (and everyone else) again when you come back to visit next year.

Love Megz

Middle Name

At the time that Victoria was born, we hadn't yet chosen a middle name for her. We'd had several discussions on the subject but had yet to make a final decision.

There were several factors influencing the name we were to choose ...

• It had to be a short name, one or two syllables at the most. Because both Victoria and Hamilton are long and multi-syllable, we agreed that a long middle name just wouldn't be appropriate.


• It couldn't end in "a". Victoria Sandra Hamilton just wouldn't work.


• It couldn't end in "y". Vicky Sandy Hamilton just wouldn't work.


• It potentially couldn't begin with a vowel if the two names didn't run together well, e.g. Victoria Elizabeth.

We came up with a short list of names that we liked that fit the criteria:

Victoria Anne
Victoria Jane
Victoria Louise
Victoria Marie
Victoria Rose

However, following Victoria's unconventional birth we all agreed that her middle name needed to commemorate the event. Suggestions included Front Yard, Lawn, Daisy, Pixie (from the bottom of the garden), Sunshine.

But the name which struck a chord with everyone was Melrose, the name of the street on which she was born. We weren't completely sure it worked as a name though, so the compromise we reached was to name her ... Melanie-Rose ... or Mel-Rose for short.

And so in naming her Victoria Melanie-Rose Hamilton we broke our number one rule and made her middle name even longer than her first and last names. I guess sometimes rules are made to be broken!

http://vickymelrose.blogspot.com has been registered, however it may be some time before she is able to blog anything. Unlike big sister Kathleen.

Victoria is doing well and growing strong and healthy. So far she seems more settled than Kathleen was at her age, and she is sleeping well during the day (and ok at night). Kathleen adores her little sister and constantly wants to kiss and cuddle her. We have to keep reminding her to be gentle.

Cheers,
Megz

Victoria Hamilton

Peter and I are now proud parents to a second daughter, Victoria (undecided middle name) Hamilton. Kathleen is a very proud big sister who loves to give her little sister lots of kissies and cuddles.

Victoria was born at 3.10pm on Saturday 17 November 2007, weighing 2.780kg / 6lb 2oz, at home.

It was not planned to be a home birth. In fact we were on our way to the hospital when all of a sudden she couldn't be held back any more. And so our second daughter was actually born in the front yard of the house!!! Big huge thanks to all the neighbours who appeared out of nowhere and provided lots of help.

I've heard about people giving birth on the way to the hospital and laughed and said "couldn't you have left earlier?". Now I don't want people laughing at me the same way, so here is the whole story from my point of view...

(warning it may get a little graphic)

Saturday morning I woke up and felt like this was going to be the day. Victoria was already a week late, and every morning Peter would ask me if "today is baby day". As I got out of bed I felt a trickle. My waters hadn't broken but they were leaking. As the morning went on I felt period-like cramps. So when Peter asked if it was baby day I said "maybe".

In order to give me a little space, I suggested that Peter and his mum take Kathleen out Christmas shopping. They had some stuff they needed to buy anyway, and Kat was fascinated with the Christmas trees and decorations last time we went to the Warehouse. I suppose it was about 11am when they went out.

The cramps were getting stronger and I re-read through my midwife's instructions on when to call her. They said "When contracting every 3 minutes lasting 60-90 seconds for an hour". I phoned anyway just to give them a heads up that things were beginning. I spoke to the backup midwife who didn't seem overly concerned, said that it could take up to 48 hours and to call back when the contractions had been lasting 60 seconds, for an hour.

So I settled back to try and watch some TV and take my mind of things. Over the course of the next hour the contractions became strong and regular, probably only lasting 20-30 seconds (I was unable to time them myself).

I would say labour was definitely established by 12 o'clock.

Now Kathleen's birth took about 5 hours. She was also a week late and was induced. I have heard that inductions can speed up deliveries. I've also heard that second and subsequent babies can come quicker. Had Kathleen's birth been normal and not an induction then I don't know how long it would have taken - 12-14 hours is the average. So I didn't really know what to expect in terms of how long it would take. All I had to go by was my midwife's assurance not to worry until contractions have been 60 seconds long for an hour.

By 1.15pm the contractions had become intense and I was starting to think about pain relief. I texted Peter who said he was on his way home.

At 1.45pm I couldn't stand the pain any more and hopped in the shower, something which really helped a lot last time. However this time it didn't help much so I hopped back out again. Contractions were at least 30 seconds long, and definitely less than 5 minutes apart.

At 2pm Peter, Mimi and Kathleen got home. Mimi began timing my contractions, while Peter looked after Kathleen and put her down for a nap. The contractions were lasting about 45 seconds and were 2 minutes apart. They phoned the midwife who again said to "not worry until contractions have been lasting 60 seconds, for an hour".

I don't know how long until the contractions reached 60 seconds in length. Not long, maybe another half hour. But I still had in my mind that I had to wait at this stage for another hour before doing anything.

At 2.45pm I suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to push and knew I was reaching the "transition" stage. I fought back against the urge with all my willpower. The midwife was again phoned and she agreed to come to our house. She lives about 20 minutes away.

Peter and his mother kept insisting we needed to go to the hospital. I just wanted my midwife to be there.

After another 10 minutes even I agreed we couldn't wait any longer and we slowly headed for the car to drive to the hospital. We had to stop a couple of times for contractions. Being upright slowed the contractions down a bit thankfully. During all this time I did not push once, apart from the initial time when the transition phase started. I successfully fought off each subsequent contraction.

We walked down to the car and met the midwife at the gate. I felt another contraction starting and dropped down onto the grass to ride it out. The midwife watched and then she agreed to go on ahead to the hospital to get things ready.

Peter went on to bring the car out, and I stayed where I was which was behind the garage, out of sight from the road but as close to the car as possible.

I felt another contraction starting. I tried to fight it, as I'd done before, but this time the urge to push just overwhelmed me. As I struggled to bring it under control I could feel the baby's head crowning and knew it was too late. So with one more push (on purpose), the head was delivered. I told Peter it was too late, the baby was here, but he didn't believe me. He came over and saw for himself, and after another minute and one more push, I delivered the rest of the baby into his arms.

And so Victoria was born. On our front lawn. At 3.10pm. After 3-3 1/2 hours labour and only 3 pushes.

The neighbours appeared out of nowhere with towels and water and phones and you-name-it. Mimi phoned an ambulance after I screamed out "it's coming", and they arrived maybe 10 minutes later to cut the cord and transport Victoria and I to hospital, where the midwife delivered the placenta and checked us out.

After such an exciting entry into the world, Victoria is quickly settling into her role as the smallest member of our family, keeping us awake half the night and being on the receiving end of lots and lots of cuddles.

More updates to comes over the next few weeks and months.

-Megz

How quickly they grow...

So, we're getting all of Kathleen's old things out and ready for Not Nooboo to use. Kat is fascinated with all of it and wants to play with it. She loves the rocker (which she calls a "rocket") and will put her toys in it, or climb in it herself.

Here's a comparison of Kathleen in the rocker when she was first born, and now. These pictures are pretty close to the same scale. It's hard to believe just how much she has grown.



Cheers,
Megz

PS: No sign of the little one yet.

D-Day

Well, today was meant to be Due Date for Not Nooboo, and with two hours left in the day, there's still no sign of the little one.

Guess he or she is going to be late, just like big sister Kathleen.

-Megz

Renovating

It is now almost a year since Peter, Kathleen and I moved to Wellington. The house we're living in used to belong to my parents, and we've been here since pretty much Christmas last year. All that time (and longer) we've been talking about renovating the house.

Now this is a bit of an emotional subject for me, since it's the house I grew up in. However there are several things that I would be happy to see the back of. Such as the 1970's carpet and wallpaper. I've been looking at these for 30 years now and I am SO OVER IT. I know patterned wallpaper is making a comeback at the moment, but I'm ready for a change.

So Peter and I have been talking about renovating the house for quite some time. We have come up with several different ideas and plans. The house is essentially 2.5 bedrooms (2 bedrooms plus study). And with baby number two on the way, we would ideally like to make it a 3 bedroom plus study house.

After much discussion and deliberation, we hired a Project Management company in July this year. Right from the beginning we said "baby number two is due in mid November, so we want everything done by end October at the latest". They said "Yes, we can do that".

The reason for hiring a project management company was
- so that they could take care of bringing together all the different contractors involved
- because they have contacts in the industry and know who's available in that time frame
- because they have good relationships with the contractors and get good rates from them

Peter and I came up with a design that we liked, that made minimal changes to the house. However as we talked with various people along the way we made a few changes to the plan.

Here is the original layout of the house as it was when I was growing up:



And here is the layout of the house as we have been living in it since Christmas last year.



What this floor plan doesn't show is the temporary nature of this layout. Because we always knew we were going to be doing renovations, we kinda just put things anywhere we could find the space when we first moved in. The house was already furnished when we moved in, so we had to cram both our furniture and my parents furniture into the house.

Thus ... The dining room was used more as a store room for bits and pieces, and not really used for anything else. In Kathleen's bedroom were stored a couple of unused beds, propped up against the walls. In our bedroom was the dining room hutch full of serving plates and glasses, and our big Plasma TV. It was always intended that the Plasma TV would be wall mounted in the living room. But knowing the walls were going to come down some time in the near future, we never bothered to wall mount it, and instead had it at the end of our bed - oh dear, how sad, never mind ;-)

So, here is the floor plan we proposed creating as part of the renovations.



Note that the walls come out between the kitchen and laundry, and kitchen and dining room, to make one large room. And half the wall comes out between the kitchen and living room, with a breakfast bar put in the gap. The idea is that anyone in the kitchen is not excluded from any socialising being done in the living room, and they can also see the plasma TV mounted on the wall.

You will also note an extra wall being built in the front bedroom. This would be a temporary wall, the kind they have in office buildings, that would provide separate bedrooms for the kids while they are little, but which would be taken out at a later date so they could share one big room. I was concerned about the new baby waking during the night and waking Kathleen up if they were sharing a room in the early days.


So, we dealt directly with the Project Managers, who arranged a valuation and an architect and builder and plasterer and Council building consent. Another reason for choosing a Project Manager was their expertise in this area and being able to get it all done quickly. Sadly this wasn't the case. The planning stage took much, much longer than we wanted it to. I understand that it is important to get everything right in the planning stage, but there were times when a week or two would go by simply because we were "waiting to hear from somebody".

Finally, on Sunday 23rd September, they got back to us with a final quote and project plan / timeline. Up until this point we really had no idea what it was going to look like in terms of cost or time involved (but we knew it wouldn't happen overnight). We knew we would have to move out of the house while the work was going on, and had planned on moving in with Peter's mum.

The timeframe had the builders starting work on Monday 1st October, basically one week from the date of the meeting. It had them finishing the work on Friday 9th November, i.e. the work would take six weeks. HOWEVER this is the day before baby is due!!!


So that would have given us ONE week to pack up EVERYTHING in our house and either store the stuff we don't need in the short term downstairs in the basement or take what we do need over to Peter's mum's house. Which, as it turned out, we would never have gotten it all done in one week.

The next problem was that we'd then have to move everything back again, with a toddler AND a newborn.

But the worst part of all was the quote itself. It was way, way, way over our budget. Of course that was including all the "nice to have's" that we'd asked them to quote for along the way, such as granite benchtops and rimu finishings. But still, Peter talked to a few people and everyone seemed to think that it was overpriced by about 20%.

So to summarise, we had been given one week to:
- pack up and move out
- decide what bits to cut out of the project to bring it into budget
- decide on all the extras such as which carpet and which paint and so on.

It was just NOT going to happen.

So, rather than be rushed into such an important and expensive decision, we've put the whole thing on hold until the new year. Right now we're going back to the drawing board trying to figure out what to do.


In the meantime I have still boxed up the things we don't use on a regular basis and stored them downstairs. Because whether we do it now or in February, it still had to be done. And it's easier to do it with only one baby in the house rather than two.

We have also rearranged the bedrooms as per our renovated plan:
- Partly because I'd done all this prep work and wanted to see some benefit from it.
- Partly in order to see if it really works or not before we spend the money.
- Partly to make room for Peter's mum who has now rented her house out and come to live with us for a few weeks until she moves back to Texas on a permanent basis.
- And partly to make room for Not Nooboo, who will probably end up sleeping in our room for a while.

So the floor plan of the house now currently looks like this:



The biggest change from how the house has been previously and from our renovated plan, is that Kathleen's room is now the room off the kitchen (i.e. what would have become the dining room). We were surprised to find that it is actually a pretty good size for her at the moment, although of course it probably won't work long term. I still envisage that long term Kat and the new baby will share a room once the baby is old enough.

Peter and I are still deciding on our options. One option is to simply redecorate and not make any structural changes at all. Right now though we are enjoying not having the stress of moving - although having said that we've spent the past couple of weeks getting the Salvation Army to take away all our excess stuff, and then moving Peter's mum and her stuff in with us.

But now that is all done and we are sitting back and waiting for baby to arrive. It won't be too long now, so watch this space.

-Megz

My Predictions

These are my predictions for Not Nooboo. For the record, I am writing this on the 10th of October, but won't publish until around the 1st of November. I am making this disclaimer in case Not Nooboo arrives before that time, that these predictions were actually made first. But I'm holding off on publishing them until other people have had a chance to comment on my previous post with their own guesses.

GENDER - I don't really want to have a guess on this one. My gut feeling is a girl, but I am hedging my bets so that I don't get a shock in the delivery room. Peter is confident that she will be a girl, so if he turns out to be a boy then Peter is in for a big shock.

Either way I don't mind. A girl would probably be easier, i.e. we already have the clothes, books, toys, etc. But to have one of each would be nice too.

BIRTH WEIGHT - Kathleen weighed 3.135kg at 41 weeks. I'm guessing that if Not Nooboo goes to term or longer that s/he will weigh a little more than that. If s/he is early then I'm not sure. My guess is 3.3kg.

BIRTH DAY - As I said in my previous post, I do everything on the 22nd. So I really wouldn't be surprised if Not Nooboo shows up on either October 22nd or November 22nd. I know second babies often come early but somehow I don't think this one will. S/he is due on Nov 10th so I'm going to guess Nov 16th. We'll see.....

OTHER - The biggest thing I'm expecting is for Not Nooboo to be the complete opposite of Kathleen. While she takes after Peter with blonde curly hair, I'd like to think Not Nooboo will look more like me with straight brown hair. But more than looks, I'm expecting their personalities to be completely different.

Kathleen is a night owl. She's happy to stay up late each night and sleep in in the mornings. Not that I really mind that too much, although by the time she goes to bed I'm usually knackered. I predict Not Nooboo will be a morning lark and that I'll be getting up early with him/her and going to bed late with Kat, unless I can somehow change their schedules.

Also, despite the loud voice and outgoing personality, Kathleen is actually a quiet girl. She loves to sit and read books. She loves to get her toys and pretend they're cuddling or eating or sleeping. The beginnings of imaginative play. She doesn't really run around, and isn't one of these toddlers that's always on the go. She still has lots of energy and loves jumping, but she's not always going at a million miles an hour. But I think Not Nooboo will be. Have to wait another 18 months to find that out though.

Whatever s/he is like, s/he will have a lot to live up to with Kathleen. Which is why I think they'll be so different. Kat started sitting up at 4 months and crawling at 6 months, but didn't walk till 15 months. I think Not Nooboo won't crawl until much later but will walk sooner, maybe around the 12 month mark. Once again, we'll have to wait a year to find out.

I'm also hoping against hope that because Kat was such a high maintenance, social baby, that Not Nooboo will be a placid baby. Yeah right!

So, there's my predictions. We'll just have to wait and see how it all turns out.

-Megz

One Month To Go

Only one month to go now until Not Nooboo is due. My biggest worry at this point is not the birth, but how I am going to cope with two little ones. How am I going to continue to give Kathleen the attention she deserves while still looking after the needs of the little one. When I think back to when Kathleen was tiny, all I remember is spending all my time either feeding her or rocking her to sleep. She was a full time job. She still is a full time job, although she can amuse herself for short periods of time. Can a person hold down two full time jobs at once??? AND keep their sanity??? I really don't want to fall into the trap of sticking Kathleen in front of the TV when I've got my hands full with the little one, but I'm afraid I will end up doing that. She really loves Dora. And Maisy. And Barney.

BTW, it's slightly off topic but I gotta say that Kathleen really is her Daddy's daughter. Because she also loves computer games. She has two games - Busytown and Reader Rabbit - and is always asking to play them. I don't mind but it does mean that I'm stuck there helping her. If I hear the Busytown songs one more time I may go crazy. She has learnt to sort of use the mouse though and can play the colouring in games by herself by just pushing the mouse back and forth.

So with the due date only a month away, I can't help wondering what Not Nooboo is going to turn out like. We don't know if it is going to be a boy or a girl. Both pregnancies with Kathleen and Not Nooboo have been very similar. Both times I have gained a similar amount of weight, but slightly more this time. Last time I found I had no appetite for nine months and didn't eat much. This time baby is sitting lower and therefore my stomach isn't so squashed and has room for more food. I don't know if carrying low is an indication of gender or just the fact that everything is so stretched from last time!


But at this point I'd love to hear other people's predictions for Not Nooboo. Please leave a comment in the comments section with your guess. I will post a follow up with my own predictions later on.


BOY or GIRL
BIRTH WEIGHT
BIRTH DAY
Anything else you want to place bets on - hair colour, eye colour, name, etc.


Here is some info to help you...

• Baby's due date is Saturday 10 November 2007.


• I have so far gained about 11 kg / 28 lb. With Kat I only gained 6 kg, so actually that is quite a difference.


• Kathleen was due on 13 Jan 2006 but was late and induced on 21 Jan 2006.


• She weighed 3.135 kg / 6lb 15oz.


• I do everything on the 22nd - I was born on March 22nd, Peter and I started dating on Nov 22nd, we also got engaged on Nov 22nd several years later and married on Nov 22nd a year after that. I also think Kathleen would have been born on Jan 22nd if she hadn't been induced the day before as my midwife thought I may have been going into labour naturally anyway.


• Plus, here are some comparative tummy shots of Kathleen and Not Nooboo at 34 weeks (note this about a week and a half ago).

Not Nooboo

Kathleen

I'm looking forward to seeing who is closest.


-Megz

Let this be a lesson to you

Every time I visit the Plunket nurse with Kathleen, I am reminded by them about keeping your baby or toddler safe. I tend to dismiss this as common sense - things like keeping medicines and poisons out of reach, supervising them around water, etc. I thought "that doesn't apply to me, I already do that stuff". However I have now learnt that you can never be complacent about safety where a toddler is concerned. Even the most watchful parent can take their eyes off a child for just a moment, and that's all it takes for them to get into trouble.

Three weeks ago we had a few friends visiting us. It was after dinner and everyone was relaxed and happy. Kathleen wandered off into the kitchen, which is somewhere she goes every day. I wasn't too worried about her, except that I knew it was time for her bath and was about to go get her when we heard the sound of something falling and Kathleen start screaming. Someone had left a cup of hot tea on the bench to cool, and Kat had pulled it down and spilled it all over herself.

We quickly threw wet towels all over her head and shoulders. However she was still in a lot of pain, so Peter and I took her down to the emergency department at the hospital. It was Friday night, so there was nowhere else open. They admitted her straight away and gave her both Pamol and Morphine to stop the pain. The doctor said she had a first degree burn on her left shoulder. She had a large blister on top of her shoulder which had burst, and they wrapped up her whole shoulder with gauze and a stretchy bandage.

We were at the hospital for only about an hour in total, but it seemed like a very long time. We spent a lot of that time by ourselves waiting for the drugs to take effect, and keeping Kathleen busy by playing with toys and reading books. By the time the nurses came back to bandage her up, she was quite tired and sleepy due to the drugs and the late hour of the evening, and didn't protest at all.

The next day the extent of Kathleen's injuries could be seen (apart from the damage to her shoulder which was still bandaged up). The left side of her face was pink, like a sunburn, and her left ear was red and swollen. However none of it seemed to bother her, and she was happily bouncing all over the place.

Sunday evening we had been told to go back to the emergency department to get Kat's dressing changed. The skin under the bandage was very red and sore looking. But once again it didn't seem to bother her and she was bouncing around all day. Maybe it was the Pamol helping to hide the pain.

Two days later, on the Tuesday, we went down to our local GP to get the dressing changed again. This time they used a Fixomull dressing rather than gauze. This type of dressing sticks directly onto the skin and onto the burn. And it doesn't come off. At least not without soaking it with oil for four hours. The nurse said to treat it as another layer of skin. Although it sounds a bit strange, apparently it helps burns to heal faster and also makes them hurt less. What I liked about it was the fact that Kat could now bounce around without the gauze slipping out of the bandage or rubbing her skin.

Kathleen however wasn't particularly happy about having her shoulder touched. Either by the nurse or by me on subsequent days, as I followed the instructions to clean the dressing twice daily.

The new dressing was meant to stay on for a week, i.e. until the following Tuesday. However, by Sunday Kathleen's shoulder had started to become itchy. A good sign that it was healing. But she didn't understand this and just wanted to itch it. And she managed to pull the bandage away from her skin a little bit. Which it's not meant to do. I stopped her and kept her covered up all day. However overnight she was free to itch as much as she wanted, and by Monday morning the dressing was half off and her t-shirt was covered in blood.

So I took her back down to the GP a day early. They advised me to soak the rest of the bandage in oil and come back in the afternoon once it had had at least four hours to soak in. Well, that was lots of fun. I distracted Kathleen with a Barney DVD and attempted to rub oil into her shoulder. She protested and wriggled a lot. Then I had to wrap her up in Gladwrap (cling film) to keep the oil off her clothes. That was funny. And very difficult. I was reminded of that scene in the Full Monty where Dave wraps himself in cling film to lose weight. Only, it's not as easy as it looks. Especially on a one and a half year old!

We went to the supermarket, had lunch and then I put Kat down for a nap. And amazingly, everything stayed in place. We went back to the GP in the afternoon. The dressing peeled off nice and easily. Her shoulder was still looking very red and sore but they said it was healing nicely. The doctor did however pick up on a couple of areas that she thought might be infected, so she prescribed some antibiotics for Kathleen and then they re-dressed the shoulder.

This time round Kat's shoulder seemed to heal a lot faster. There was no bleeding and no weeping or crustiness that we had with the first dressing. But the antibiotics were a different story. She had to take them three times a day on an empty stomach - meaning "two hours after eating and one hour before eating". She had to have 7ml at a time and she HATED it.

For the next five days I turned into Evil Mummy, forcing my daughter to drink this horrible medicine three times a day. Not only that, but starving her in between meals. No snacks allowed. We were both pretty miserable by the time the five days were over.

However, on the bright side, her shoulder seemed to be healing pretty well. It was still itchy, and by the next weekend it appeared that the skin underneath was peeling like a sunburn would, as the dressing was starting to lift away from her skin. I kept her wrapped up with stretchy bandages over her dressing so that her couldn't peel it away again.

We went back to the GP's for the last time on Monday this week to get the second dressing removed. Once again I had to oil her up again and wrap her in Gladwrap. This time the protests were much less. When the nurse peeled the dressing off, even I could tell it was much, much better. Her skin was mottled pink but there was no sign of scaring or bleeding. There were a few spots which the doctor said indicated there had been a small infection, but they had cleared up nicely.

That was at the beginning of this week. It is now three weeks tonight since Kat got burnt. Her shoulder is still pink and mottled but it isn't bothering her any more. We have to keep her out of the sun for the next several months, so it will be a summer of hats, shirts and lots of sunscreen. I am just so thankful that there is no lasting damage, and that she will be ok.

And so the moral of the story is - always be careful, accidents can happen any time when you least expect it. And the reason the Plunket nurse is always going on about safety is not to be repetitive but to remind you that you can never be too careful.

-Megz

Kiki

Kathleen is in the midst of the "toddler word explosion". Every day she learns more and more words. At first it was just one word a day, but now she just learns so many new words that I can't keep up. I have no idea how many words she knows. She repeats a lot of what I say (yes including the bad words).

For the most part her pronounciation is pretty understandable. Especially if you know the context of what she is saying. But sometimes she comes up with some things out of the blue, and I have to admit even I don't always understand her.

Her powers of observation are amazing. She is always looking around and notices the smallest details that I would normally miss. Things like a tiny National Bank logo on a newspaper, she will immediately spot and say "neigh" (because it's a horse). And don't even mention Dora or Maisy. The funny thing is when she spots something that reminds her of something that happens in one of her videos or books. She will say for example "Dora, Dora, Dora" until you acknowledge her - "yes, Dora has a bracelet doesn't she", or "yes, Maisy's friend Eddie fell over and hurt his knee too".

One day last week, Kathleen and I were playing outside. We found a small stick and I told her it was a stick, which she repeated a couple of times. She then said "cookie". I was like "it's almost lunchtime, you can have a cookie after lunch". But she kept insisting "cookie, cookie, cookie". I kinda wondered where she learnt that word from, as we say "biscuit" not "cookie". But I figured she probably learnt it from one of her books. Anyway, she kept insisting "cookie", and when it became obvious to her that I wasn't understanding, she changed tacks and said "dogg, woowoowoo". Then I realised she wasn't saying "cookie" at all, but "Corky" the name of the dog in one of her books. A dog who chases sticks. It's the little associations like this that she makes that really blow me away.

Some of the funny things Kathleen says are:

Kiki - She calls herself Kiki, and it has stuck. Half the time we now call her Kiki instead of Kathleen (I only call her Kat when I'm typing now because it's quicker). She's actually pretty good with names and can say the names of everybody she knows (except for Uncle Richard - see below), but can't say her own name. But she knows that Kiki is herself because if you show her her photo or look in the mirror, she will say "Kiki".

Uncle Winkle - Kathleen's Uncle Richard was for the longest time just called "Uncle". Or "Uncle, Uncle". This morphed into "Uncle Runkle", whether by Kat intentionally or by being misheard by us. In any case, everybody thought it was funny and reinforced the name by calling Richard "Uncle Runkle" all the time. Kat has since morphed this into "Uncle Winkle" and this is what she calls him now.

Speaking of Uncle Richard, he and Kat's Auntie Mardie and Poppa have all now moved back to Texas to live. Kathleen misses them a lot and talks about them all the time. She understands that they have gone, because every mention of them is followed by her saying "pann", which means "plane". Which is her way of saying "they went away on the plane".

Lubb ju - This is her way of saying "I love you". Awwwww.

Numbers - Kathleen learnt long ago to say the number two. Especially if she's in trouble and we start counting to three - "Kathleen ... one ..." and she will smile up at you and pipe in "twooo". Which makes it incredibly difficult to keep a straight face and continue to "three".

Her standard answer if you ask her how many of something there is, is always "twoo".

She has learnt even more numbers than that though.
- She'll sometimes say "wunn".
- If you say "one" she almost always says "twoo".
- If you then count "three" through "five", she will say "siiix" after each one.
- If you say "seven" she will say "att"
- If you say "nine" she will say "tennn"

In other news, we are all doing well. Peter is now contracting at IBM in Petone. A bit of a hassle for him to get to and from work (bus + train) but he seems to be enjoying it. A couple of times Kat and I have gone out on the train to have lunch with him, and she has really enjoyed it.

A little over a month ago we all went up to Mount Ruapehu with Richard and Mardie. The idea was to give them the opportunity to try skiing or snowboarding before they went back to Texas, where I imagine there aren't a lot of ski fields. Richard had a go at snowboarding, while Mardie, Kathleen and I went sledding on the learner slopes. Had a good time, but it was very crowded, being the end of the school holidays and great weather. Kat enjoyed eating the snow!

I am doing well. Here is a comparison of Kathleen and Not Nooboo at 28 weeks gestation ...

Not Nooboo

Kathleen

Cheers,
Megz

Introducing Not Nooboo

We had our first ultrasound scan for the new baby last week. It was great to finally see him or her, and now it finally feels real to me - there is now a reason for my ever-expanding tummy besides eating too many biscuits! Luckily everything is looking ok in there. Everything is doing ok on the outside too. Kathleen continues to grow and her vocabulary is ever expanding at the rate of at least one word a day, plus she repeats a lot of what we say. We are trying to prepare her for the new arrival. She understands that there is a baby in Mummy's tummy, but there's no way we can really prepare her for what that means.

We have nicknamed the new baby Not Nooboo, and here is an explanation of what that means.

Before she was born, Kathleen was known as Nooboo. This term comes from the Sims 2 computer game, which I used to be addicted to, back when I used to have time for such things. The Sims is all about controlling virtual people as they go about their daily lives. Because it is designed to appeal to as wide an audience as possible, the sims don't speak English but rather they speak a made up language called Simlish. The Simlish word for baby is Nooboo. Thus Kathleen was known as Nooboo.

Just after we moved to Auckland in 2002 we got a new tortiseshell kitten named Noodle. When she was about six months old, Noodle went missing. We put up posters and an ad in the local paper. One morning when I was out, Peter got a phone call from someone who had found Noodle. They brought her around to him and he said "well she looks a little different but I guess I haven't seen her for a few weeks", and took her in. I got home an hour later and immediately said "that's not Noodle". And it wasn't. But we didn't know where she had come from and couldn't return her. We advertised her as a found cat but got no reply. So she stayed, and became known as Not Noodle, or Bubby. Noodle was never found, but we still have Not Noodle.

So when we were coming up with nicknames for the new baby, I said to Peter "will it be Number Two, Nooboo Too, or Not Nooboo". He ROTFLOL and said it had to be the latter.

-Megz

Conversations with Kathleen

Kathleen, what sound does duckie make?
Makes a quacking sound

What sound does piggy make?
Snorts

What sound does cow make?
Mooooooo

What sound does sheepy make?
Ba Ba

What sound does horsey make?
Nee

What sound does lion make?
Raar

Kathleen, where's Mummy?
Mama
Points

Where's Daddy?
Dada
Points

Where's pussycat?
Maow
Attempts to give the cat a cuddle

Do you love pussycat?
Attempts to give the cat another cuddle

Do you love Mummy?
No

Do you love Daddy?
No

Can you say Yes?
No

Is it time for a nap?
No way


-Megz

An addition to the family

Our little family is soon to be joined by one more. And no, we're not getting a new cat (although Peter did try to kidnap a beautiful Burmese a couple of weeks ago). We are going to have another baby, a little brother or sister for Kathleen. He/she is due in mid November so the two of them will be around 22 months apart, almost two years. I'm sure she will love being a big sister. Already one of the few words in her small vocabulary is "bebe" and whenever she goes to playgroup she is always excited to see the other "bebes". I am a bit nervous about having two babies/toddlers in the house - one is definitely hard enough. But I'm sure we will find a way to cope. Hopefully Kathleen will be of an age where she will enjoy 'helping', but with the terrible two's looming, who knows...

We had our first midwife appointment this week, and got to hear bub's heartbeat for the first time. So that kinda made it official for me at last. I'm currently almost 15 weeks pregnant, past the first trimester now. There's nothing to see yet. Kathleen didn't pop out till well into the 20's so I don't expect this one to be much different. Once again we're not going to find out if it is a girl or a boy.

Apart from that we are all doing well. Kathleen now happily toddles around everywhere, although I still carry her when we're out because she's just so darn slow. She is now working on expanding her vocabulary. Words she currently says are:

MAMA, DADA, MIMI and BEBE
NO (LOVES to say this one)
GO (especially when I say "let's go")
UH OH
OH KEEEY (OK)

And in the last couple of days she has added TEDDY and MICKEY to her vocab. Plus she loves to repeat words that I say, particularly CLICK, CLOCK, CHICKEN, SOCK, STUCK, TRUCK and anything else with a "K" sound.

She also says many, many, many other words that I'm too dense to understand.

We've all been pretty busy as of late. Last weekend Peter travelled to Nelson for a paintball tournament, while Kathleen and I went to Palmerston North to help a friend move house. This weekend we're all headed back to Palmy for another friend's baby shower. Heard on the news today that NZ is experiencing a baby boom. That comes as no surprise to me as I know lots of people having babies at the moment. That's good - lots of friends for Kathleen and number two to play with.

Cheers,
Megz

Walking

Finally, at the ripe old age of 14 months, Kathleen taken her first steps. Not that I was worried or anything. But she was the first in her group to sit up and the first to crawl, and then ... nothing. All the others have been walking for a while now, but not our Kathleen. Maybe when she started crawling at six months she thought that was it, she'd found a way to get around and she was going to stick with it. She finally took her very first independent steps at the end of March, but it took her until April 20th (a day shy of turning 15 months) for her to actually decide to try walking without mummy or daddy encouraging her. She is still very slow and still crawls a lot of the time, but at least she is giving it a go now. More often than not she'll reach for my finger and ask me to take her wherever it is that she's going. Walking holding on to someone's hand is definitely her preferred mode of transport now - a la the photo above of her with Poppa and Auntie Mardie.

Now I love this photo here. It perfectly captures Kathleen as she is most evenings lately - climbing onto the couch by herself and screaming her head off. Not screaming unhappy. Not screaming scared. But a combination of screaming "look at me" and "I like the sound of my own voice". Sometimes I worry about her falling off the couch, but I can't stop her and hey, a few bumps and bruises are all part of growing up. She's fallen a couple of times but it certainly hasn't stopped her. She's such a clown. No shrinking violet, this one.

We are all doing well. It has started getting a lot colder around here lately and we have the fire going every morning. Kathleen has settled into a good routine of waking up around 8-8.30am, having lunch around 12-12.30pm, a nap around 1.30pm until 3pm, dinner at 6.30pm, bath at 7.30pm and bed at 8.30pm. This is working out quite well for us. I know it's a bit of a late bedtime, but dinner and bath and getting dressed and reading a story take SOOO long. And if we started any earlier, Peter wouldn't be home from work yet. So it works.

-Megz