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!!