The day is here!

Yep today we leave on a jetplane to the other side of the world. Are we ready? Are we finished packing? I don't think we are ever really going to be ready and no we have not finished packing. I have left the girls pack till last as I knew it was going to be the hardest! We are hoping to travel reasonably light for a family of four but already we have had to add another bag. My initial idea was one pack for Dave and I and another for the girls then a carry on bag for Dave and I too. Of course then we also have the two single umbrella strollers. But with the wedding pressy, christening gift etc Dave and I just can't fit everything in one pack hence the addition of another small bag.

Things we are looking forward to at the moment....Hong Kong Disney, Germany spending three days with lovely Susanne and her family, Ireland, getting to see Grace and Donal and their new house, catching up with old friends and spending two days with Ezi who is coming over from London to join us for a couple of days exploring the east coast. Grace and Donal's wedding where Beth is flower girl! Seeing the madness of Tokyo and the beauty of Kyoto again and then we are hoping to come home to hot weather!!!! The last comment is the only part I am not sure we are going to get!

Anyway as well as packing I have cleaning and washing to do so this domestic goddess better sign off and get busy. Dave must be excited too as he is outside trimming the hedge and it's not even 9 o'clock yet!

We will try and post the odd update here and there so you can see what we are up too. We have decided to also take the video camera so we have a recording of our adventure seeing the girls probably won't remember the trip otherwise.

Look after New Zealand for us while we are away.

16 days to go!!!

Whoa, reality is starting to kick in! In only 16 days we will be loading ourselves and our precious cargo on a large plane to head overseas!!

We head out of Auckland just before midnight on Nov 15th and head to Hong Kong. We are staying in Hong Kong for three nights...we are hoping that breaking up the trip will help the girls adjust to the time changes a little better.

We then travel to Frankfurt where we are staying one night in Frankfurt and then three nights with my friend Susanne and her family for three nights...they live in Braunschweig which is three hours on the fast train north east of Frankfurt.

We then hop across to Ireland, stay one night in Dublin before heading south to Killarney. We are in Ireland for just over three weeks. Our big reason for travelling at this time of year is that my friend Grace is getting married to the lovely Donal and we have been invited, Beth is even the flower girl! So we have a few things to do once we are in Killarney and fabulous people to catch up with! We are going to travel round some of Ireland as well so that I can show Dave some of the highlights.

On the way home we are stopping in Japan for three nights, one night in Tokyo and two nights in Kyoto. We will be in Kyoto for our third wedding anniversary on the 16th of December. Then we get home on the 19th!
I imagine we will be very happy to be home and will be happily shattered from all our adventures!

Two great friends are house and dog sitting for us so it is great to know we don't have anything to worry about on the home front.

So don't expect any updates while we are away I will be having far too good a time to be sitting at the computer!!

I will have to load photos later as it isn't working at the mo. :)

August Antics

Change

Well both girls have had changes in their lives lately, with Beth moving into a bed and Niamh now in the cot.

Beth was wonderful for the first week and then she realised that she can get out of the bed.....hmmmm, she is still excellent at night, but the day nap is a little more work!! I have now removed anything that she likes to play with out of her room so that she has less need to get out of bed. This seems to have helped, yesterday she went straight to sleep at nap time but who knows what today will bring!

Niamh is now enjoying having more space and is now able to stretch out in all directions without touching the sides. She settles well to sleep, but is still waking up during the night. I have given her the rest of August and then I will get tough!

August Update

We had our plunket appointment for Niamhs 5 month check and Beth's 2 year old check on Tuesday.

Niamh is still sitting just above average for her height and weight (6.8 kg) measurements and Beth is still in the 25th percentile for her measurements (weight 10.8 kg) but still gaining nicely. So both girls passed with flying colours, though Beth needs to work on her speech, putting a few words together. She has started to parrot a few words...like book, ball, purple, blue etc but as usual Plunket want more! She is always improving so I am not worried about her. She will speak in sentences when she is ready.

Beth has introduced us to two year old trantrums which are always at their best out in public when it is close to her sleep time. They usually involve high pitched squealing and running away from us, I think I would prefer the collaspe on the floor version! Needless to say we do not give in and she doesn't get what she wants so soon enough she will discover there is not a lot of point having them.

Niamh is still a happy wee girl, though I think the teeth have started to play up a little, there is definitely movement under the gums. It would be so much easier if she just woke up one morning with a full set!!
Beth has discovered that she can undress Niamh quite easily by undoing the domes so I have to check Niamh regularly to make sure she is still fully clothed!

Two Years Old!

It is hard to believe that our wee girl is now two!! What a journey so far!

Born at 31+5 weeks old she was flown to Wellington hospital by plane and was in the neonatal ward there for 3 weeks, we were then transported by ambulance back to Masterton and spent a further few days in the paediatric ward there before finally going home with a baby who still didn't weigh 2 kg!!

It feels like Beth has always been in our life and I know our lives are richer for it. Despite the odd tanty and squeal she is a lovely, funny wee girl who loves to socialise and spend time with those she loves.

Our little girl who loves sitting on your knee to read a story, dancing, talking to her toys, spotting planes in the sky, jumping, galloping and running everywhere and watching High5!

Life with Niamh

Well Niamh has fitted in well. She loves giving cheeky grins and loves a good chat. It is getting easier at night time now that I usually only have one interruption during the night to feed her. If she goes to sleep at about 9pm she will often sleep through till 5 or 6am which is bliss.
Niamh is 3 months old today....now it seems that the time has gone really quickly!!

Beth and the cows

We spent Easter over in Masterton with mum and dad. Beth always has a great time out and about around the house and in the paddocks. She loves a good wheelbarrow ride...poor mum and dad have to hide the wheelbarrow otherwise they could be there all day!
She has now discovered the cows (thanks to her dad) and it is really cute watching her crouch down and clap her hands in front of her calling the cows just like she calls the cats! Thankfully these are some very friendly dairy cows that don't mind an inquisitive wee girl approaching them.

Too cute!

Imagine my excitement last night when after putting Niamh and myself to bed at 10.30pm I wasn't woken until 3am!! Four and a half hours of uninterrupted sleep! YAY!!!! Then she let me sleep for another 3 hours after that! I know I have probably jinxed it now and tonight will be the night from hell....but you can't blame me for getting excited!

Family photos

Just a few photos of the new extended family. Enjoy!

Baby Niamh Isabella

Here is our new addition, Niamh (pronounced Neeve) Isabella Bramwell-Cooke. A quick explanation of our name choices, Niamh is a name I have always loved, I like the fact it is a celtic name which links nicely with the Gleeson Irish roots. My middle name is Margaret which has been handed down from generation to generation linking us back to our Irish grandmother through mum's side. But because we really wanted to use a middle name from Dave's side, having an Irish first name kept us both happy. It took us a while to decide on the spelling....whether to go traditional or not and in the end we decided she is always going to have to spell it...just like we all have to spell our names for others anyway. Keeping the traditional celtic spelling means it keeps its Irish link.

Isabella is the name of Daves grandmother and Isobel is his mum's middle name. We both love Isabella as a name too. One of the reasons we didn't put the names around the other way is that at the moment there seems to be an influx of babies with Isabella as their first name.

Niamh is just over a week old now, this photo was taken today. She seems to be a very content baby so far and she has an attentive older sister who gasps every time Niamh makes a noise in the bassinet. Beth loved watching Niamh's first bath, she was very helpful, offering the loofer and trying to put on Niamh's hat and booties.

It has been great having Dave at home to help out and help me adjust to managing two little ones. So far so good....

So here it is....

I know I know it has been forever since I last blogged...and it's not because nothing has been happening, maybe it's because too much has been happening?

We are now living in (what we call) our family home in Whitby. Yes we sold Kedge lane (also in Whitby) and now have a lovely 200 square metre blank canvas we call home. Blank canvas because it doesn't look like it has been renovated since 1987 when it was built! Thankfully there are neutral colours throughout so nothing hideous that needs to be done immediately.

I am still pregnant! At 36 weeks I think my specialist is patting herself on the back pretty chuffed that we have got this far. Me on the other hand am thinking why would you do the third trimester unless you REALLY had to! It is nice to think of having a normal (well as normal as can be expected) new born that you can cuddle and feed straight away instead of the little bundle being whisked away and placed in a hot fish tank.

The pregnancy has gone well and now that I think about it I guess it has gone reasonably fast. I have another ultrasound tomorrow to check on the babies growth, the specialist seems to think the baby is looking quite small for my dates....I think I am supposed to be upset about this....but as long as the baby is healthy, having a small baby (considering where it will be entering the world from!) has to be a good thing!!!!

Our wee girl is walking and has been doing this since January, but since we moved into a spacious place she has taken up running too! The photo of Beth was taken a month ago, so she is 18 months old in it.