Baby nearly here!

Now 37 weeks pregnant! Hasn't it zoomed past. Working full time helps with that! I finished a couple of weeks ago, and Jayson and I are now beneficiaries as he hasnt been able to find work. I get my paid parental leave from next week, and a nice bonus from IRD for a tax refund so money will be a bit easier than it has been for the past 3 weeks. Its hard to go from a decent amount of money each week to barely enough to cover rent! And Im much to proud to ask for help so struggle through it is. :)

So we are all set for babys arrival, the bassinet is made, nappies on the change table, bags are packed and the carseat in the car...and Libby has been prepped but it will still be interesting to see how she copes with someone vying for her mummys attention! She has been extremely clingy lately and I kinda put it down to so many changes this year - dad moving in, me back at work full time, moving house, not living with Nan anymore...its a lot for a little girl to cope with.

She continues to amaze me daily, she counted her fingers to 10 yesterday, she knows and can identify certain letters (L, O, R, T, I, B, Y, M) and of course numbers - she quite often looks at my digital clock - "look mum a '2'!!" and knows heaps of songs which she loves to perform. Shes only 2.9!! I think she will do well at school, and kindy. She is toilet trained now, we ended up doing a 3 day every half hour potty session and she finally got it. She is nearly out of night nappies, as she is only doing a little wee each night, and is occasionally dry too. Quite exciting! She is a very active girl, and going through a growth spurt at the moment, eating us out of house and home! I honestly dont know where she puts it. Hollow legs like her dad! The photo above is taken by Suz Bolitho, at 26 weeks. Ill put some up of Libby and me and Jayson taken by Suz - we are so impressed by the photos she took!

So hopefully we will have some news of the new arrival in a few weeks time - due date 2 August :)

Adding to the family

Well after much consideration, Jayson and I decided to expand our family. We have had so many changes in the last few months, its been rather crazy. Where to start....
Jayson has moved down from Palmerston North to live with us. My brother moved back from Australia so we had to find somewhere else to live. Since we are expecting, and have two dogs and two cats we decided we neede a three-bedroomed property with a fence that would allow animals! Not easy! But it has been done and we moved on Valentines Day. How romantic.
I am now working full time back nursing, and Jayson is being a stay at home dad. He loves having time with his girl and it means when the new baby arrives she will have a good relationship with him. Im earning good money, and should get paid parental leave when I finish too which will all help in the long run. Jayson plays cricket (indoor and outdoor) so he has games and practise a couple of nights a week and Nan comes to look after Libby and stay the night on Friday. Im enjoying work, and all the lovely money!
Libby is now nearly 2.5 and just so much fun. She loves singing and dancing and knows so many actions to so many songs. We go to playgym on Tuesdays, Mainly Music on Thursdays and swimming lessons on Fridays. Busy, busy!

Day 2

Friday was the EKKA - check it out on Google. We caught the train in (I think that was the highlight for Libby) and went on some rides, got to pet all the farm animals (ok maybe that was the highlight!) and brought some showbags - dressups for Libby and hi5 as well as chocolate for me of course! That night Claires mum "nanny" came to stay with the girls and Claire and I joined some of her friends for dinner and saw the show "Grease is the word" performed by a local private school. It was a fantastic performance.

Off to Australia (Take 2) day 1

Starting the day at 4am twice in one week is hard work! My poor Libby coped so well. We arrived at the airport and had to wait around 45 minutes in line to check-in. Then we had to wait for another hour before boarding. Eventually got on the plane and left early which was nice....until we were up in the air - the plane had a malfunction and we were diverted to christchurch! So we ended up being 2 hours late. Libby coped so well with being cooped up in the plane for so long. We had a spare seat so she sat in that some of the time and fell asleep for about 45 minutes. We arrived in brisbane and went to the outlet mall close to the airport for lunch and some shoe shopping. Later that night Claire cut both Libby and my hair, and coloured mine...what do you think??

Going to Australia - who thought it would be so hard!

I was so organised...had my bag packed....activities for Libby to do on the plane....and arrive at check-in and find out my passport expired! In March!! I was so shocked. I had organised Libbys months ago, but hadnt even checked mine.

What to do? Thankfully the woman at the counter got her superior and he printed the forms out for me and rebooked my flights.

Then I had to go home, get a new photo taken - you're not allowed to smile anymore people! Get my forms witnessed and take it in to Wellington for an urgent new one. Unfortunately I got to Wellington and found I had brought in Libbys passport instead of mine - so finally got it sorted on the third trip!! $300 later...

Have flights now booked for Thursday, and coming home the following Friday, so a bit longer than we were originally going for but Im just pleased I dont have to worry about missing work or anything like that. Only thing is missing swimming lessons for a few weeks in a row but never mind. Libby was a little disappointed to leave the airport but thankfully shes too little to really understand what happened. Im so looking forward to getting away and having some sunshine and doing some shopping for ME!!

Lets hope the actual trip is a little less eventful than this start....

I really want to put in some pictures but its not coming up :( Will try again later as my baby has grown so much!

May already

Well its been a busy week, and I'm a bit knackered! Had Blake for 2 days, and Olivia on Monday. Went to Antenatal coffee afternoon tea. Had mum staying 2 nights, for a Tupperware party and the second after we went to see Sue Nicholson show. And dad to babysit Libby while we went to that! Also it has rained all of this week so cloth nappies are taking forever to dry - along with all the other washing...have also had a meet up with another group of mums that I used to go to Playcentre with and am off for another catch up this afternoon with a friend I haven't seen in a while. I'm all for busy weeks, but it seems hectic!

Today is FREEZING, my hands are like icebergs and so are Libbys. I'm not looking forward to a shower in the ice-cold bathroom! Might go put a heater on in there before I jump in....I hate getting out of a toasty warm shower into the cold air of the bathroom. Libbys currently watching "in the night garden" and I'm on here. Have a friend coming over at 11 so I can do her hair for a wedding this afternoon - must get us organised!

Libbys been to her dads for the past two weekends. She had a blast, but he brought her home two hours late on both occasions. Now I understand traffic and it wasn't his fault but I was sitting at mum and dads for over 2 hours waiting and was getting so upset! It was bad enough that I missed her so much, but we still had an hours drive and dinner and unpacking and getting settled back in to do. He was very apologetic and we ended up having a huge text conversation (fight?) until he ran out of credit. I just am not sure what to do about the whole situation really. I'm happy for her to see him, but maybe shes too young? Maybe he should come here to see how important routine is? Why does it have to be so hard?

I'm loving living in my brothers house. I know he is desperate to sell, and I'll hate the day he does! Its going to be hard to find something we can afford, with two cats and a dog...I looked for a good couple of months before I decided to help Aaron out by staying here.