Whizzz!

Time has been whizzing by. We've been pretty busy around here over the past few weeks. Oli decided to share his cold with the rest of us, so we both ended up on antibiotics, but Andrew managed to fight off his cold without any chemical assistance. And after a week of feeling good, I think I'm getting another cold. :(

We have had Ella's 3 month visit to Plunket, and went in for a quick catch up on Wednesday. At almost 4 months old, Ella weighted 6.15kg and was 63cm tall. She's made a bit of a jump on the growth chart and is now getting very close to the 50%ile line. This is probably because she has been waking twice in the night to get a feed for the last month or so. Hmm, I think it's time to try holding out on her and see if I can squeeze in a bit more sleep!

Ella has discovered she can control her arms and is reaching out and grabbing toys to try to cram them into her mouth. She almost continually has her hands, thumb, or fingers, jammed in her mouth to suck and chew on, so it's good that she wants to put some different things in there! She is enjoying her tummy time, being rolled over, gazing at people's faces, and talking to us all.

Oliver is also doing great. His language is continuing to flourish. We had a few weeks of him saying 'yes', after having months of him using 'okay' as a positive response to a question. Now, he is saying 'yeah', although it is already quite short and is more of a 'yeh'. Very cute for our conversations, but not quite so perfect and polite when talking to other people.

Oli has learnt his colours, over the past couple of months. He is getting them right about 95% of the time, but some of the subtle shades of greens/blues/purples are a bit tricky. He already knows pink and purple, so his sister will think he's very cool! He's not so good with his shapes yet, and has no idea what numbers are, but it is good fun for us to try to teach him new things.

We have changed Oliver's room around now, so that his bed is no longer against the wall. He helped his Dad move the furniture, and seems really happy with his "new" room. He had previously slept across his bed. By rotating the bed through 90 degrees he now lies the correct way in his bed, even though he is lying in the same direction relative to the walls in his room! All was going perfectly until this week, when Oli fell out of bed one night. Unfrotunately he fell out of the side without the matress on the floor to soften his fall. He was fine - he let out a big cry, grizzled momentarily (trying to find his blankie) and then settled back to sleep. I didn't know until the following morning, when I went in to get him up - oops! He's still sleeping in his Merino Kids Go Go Bag, so he was plenty warm enough.

Oli has also been enjoying working in the garden, planting seeds, and watching them grow into plants. He has also learnt to open doors! At this stage he can only open the bathroom door and the garage door - although he's not always successful. Luckily the door handles on the external doors are too high for him to reach.

We are also starting 'toilet talk'. Maybe we could call it potty mouth?!! We have bought a potty and talk to Oli about how and when it should be used. He's not ready to use it yet, but is aware of it after observing some of his friends at ABC's start their toilet training.

I am really enjoying watching the dynamic between brother and sister develop and change. Oliver has gone from seeing Ella as an object (and treating her as such), to seeing her as more of a person and understanding about caring for her and treating her gently. Now that he doesn't try to poke or hit her, he has been able to have some cuddles and holds. Unfortunately I haven't had the camera handy... next time! It is so hard to get him to sit still enough to hold Ella, let alone stay there long enough for a photo. We did manage to snap this photo of the two of them side-by-side on the couch.

I've grown over the last few weeks too. Well, I've grown older anyway. Another birthday has whizzed past. We didn't celebrate much, but I got some really lovely gifts - including some helicopter drawings in my birthday card from Oliver. :)

Well, we are heading into a long weekend now... so the weather has turned. We are staying home this weekend, but I'm crossing my fingers that I will feel well enough, and the weather will be fine enough, for me to get out on my bike. Enjoy your weekend!

The good and the bad

Life sure is full of ups and downs. Especially when there's two kids under two ruling the roost!

Oliver has had a pretty good run of things lately. He switched classrooms at ABC's in record time, so is now running amuck with the 2 to 3 year olds. He's almost 22 months old now, and still tracking along that 25 %ile line on the growth chart. He might not be the biggest kid, but he could be the smartest! (What do you mean, biased?!!).

Oliver's language skills have really improved since moving up a class... I guess all that time around the "big" kids and hearing them talk is rubbing off onto him. He is now starting to attempt sentences, by using several pairs of words to describe something. He will now ask to "feed the cat?" in the mornings before breaksfast - I'm glad someone remembers!

He is also not screaming/squealing quite as much. I guess (and hope!) that as his language develops more he won't feel so frustrated (exceptions to this will be expected when he's tired, grumpy, or just being a terrible two year old).

Unfortunately Oli is unwell at the moment. It looks like he's picked up another bug. He's got a temperature and all the symptoms of a cold. I hope that is all it is, so that he is ready to go back to ABC's on Monday. He's been missing his friends today.

And we still haven't come to a conclusion about his ears. The doctor has recommended we try the free ear clinic at the local primary schools in a couple of weeks time. So if that is inconclusive, we will have to ask to be referred to a specialist.

Ella is doing very well, and like her brother is tracking along the 25%ile line on the growth chart (well, the girl's version). She is learning new sounds to make each week, and has developed a delightful little squeal. She loves to look at herself in the mirror and make a few noises to see what the other baby will say back. Ella has been a bit unwell lately too, with a bit of a dodgy tum resulting in some yukky nappies (and the occasional overflow - yikes!).

Ella has just passed her 3 month milestone and got her second round of immunistaions. She was a trooper, only crying for the second jab (which, according to the nurse, was the 'stingy' one), and then recovering within about 10 seconds to be her normal self.

Ella is very similar to how Oli was at this age. As soon as she goes into her room she will start to complain about going to bed. She will cry while I wrap her up and tuck her in, but within 10 minutes she is usually settled and fast asleep. She is a very happy and cruisey baby, but really loves to have face-to-face contact (perhaps even moreso than Oli did).

To add to the good bits this month, I've been having a bit of good luck. I won a portrait photography sitting with Baby Shots in Cambridge. We have had our sitting and are waiting for the photos to be processed so we can pick the ones we want. Fingers crossed we got some good ones - they say you should never work with kids or animals!

My second dose of good luck came when I won tickets to the Air NZ Fashion Weekend in Auckland. It was a bit late notice for me to organise a trip away, so I traded the tickets for two bottles of wine. Perfect! They will be stashed in the back of the cupboard with "Mel's - HANDS OFF!" labels on them, until such time as I can enjoy a glass or two, without getting Ella drunk too!

And my third good luck story (they come in threes, don't they?) is that I won a $200 prize pack from NZMTBR magazine. It is a Vaude daypack, four boxes of muesli bars, a pack towel, drink bottle and $40 R&R Sport vouchers. Sweet!

My only regret is that I feel like my good luck will be running out, and I've used up all my prize mojo before any major prizes are drawn!

Not too much else to tell at the moment. I've not been out for many rides, just an hour or so last weekend. It was a beautiful day and a great ride, so it's got me keen to do more. I will post up some info about my current bike setup soon... I just need to ride it a bit more first!