What is that thing?

Chef Juliet

Juliet helped me make some muffins this morning. I give her her own bowl with minimal ingredients as she tends to eat handfuls of raw flour otherwise. But she will always find a way of finding the "real" spoon to lick clean!

Our House

I took a few photos yesterday and thought I'd upload them for the US family to have a look at where we live. I haven't taken a photo of Heidi's room yet as I still haven't put in curtains... slack, I know!

Front of house:
Juliet's room:

Lounge room:

Loungeroom looking towards kitchen & backyard:

Backyard from kitchen area:

Backyard looking towards house:

Juliet's Romeo (sorry, had to be done)

Juliet has her first admirer. Little George at creche is so enamoured that apparently "Juliet" is the only word he can say (literally). He dragged his Mum in to show her Juliet's photo on the wall the other day. How cute is that?

I had a lovely experience 2 nights ago. Seven hours sleep in a ROW!!!! Heidi slept from 9pm til 4am! Oh, I was so pleased with her, myself and the world. Of course, last night she woke for feeds at 11 pm, 2.30 am and 5.30 am. And Juliet woke with nightmares at 3 am and 5 am. Harsh reality comes crashing down once more... Although I must say that Heidi is generally a dream to look after. She is the happiest little thing, and smiles constantly. (All my photos of her smiling are out of focus unfortunately, but I'll keep trying to get one to upload here).

James is doing his best to screw with Juliet's mind and language already. Apparently cows go "moo", sheep go "baa" and walruses go "coo coo ca choo". (I actually heard him singing the rest of "I am the Walrus" to her one night in the bath, including the lyrics about the dead dog. Lovely for a 21 month old!!!) She also enjoys playing with ice on a hot day, but inexplicably then goes on to talk about bacon. I had NO idea why, until it became apparent that "Ice Ice Baby" by Vanilla Ice contains the line "Cookin' MCs like a pound of bacon". And finally, yesterday in the car she suddenly yelled out, "Friday, Saturday HAPPY DAYS". Thinking I'd misheard her, I said, "Monday, Tuesday..." To which she said, "MORE HAPPY DAYS!" Oh boy.

Fairy princess

We played dressups for the first time today, and ended up with the fairy dress that Susan gave Juliet for Christmas last year. She looks about 2 years older than she really is in this photo, but I think it's just gorgeous.

Encore! Encore!

Satchmo ain't got nothing on Dooey Golden! Juliet helped Daddy install a watering system today, and used the opportunity to hone her musical skills at the same time.

A visit from Tessa

This afternoon we had a visit from little Tessa, who is Sarah and Nev's 3.5 week old baby. Very cute! That's Tessa on the left, and Heidi on the right:
and Juliet tucking Tessa into her car capsule:

The Green Eyed Monster

The old green-eyed monster seems to be rearing its ugly head a little this week. Juliet's still being lovely to Heidi (although her "helpfulness" is not always terribly helpful at all, especially when she throws toys in Heidi's pram on top of her, or runs up to her and yells, "HEIDI'S AWAKE" at the top of her voice. Well, yes Juliet, she sure is now!

No, the jealousy thankfully is being taken out on us rather than the baby. Lots of crying and tantrums over absolutely nothing. James is told frequently to "go away", and heaven forbid I need to feed Heidi when Juliet wants me to be playing with her. I'm sure all these things will straighten themselves out soon. It's really not that bad - being a toddler, of course Juliet's moods are mercurial to say the least, and even the worst freakout is over and replaced by smiles in a matter of minutes.

Heidi is smiling a lot now, which is lovely. I haven't been able to get a photo of one yet though, but will keep trying. Otherwise she is just doing what a 6 week old does, i.e. not much. Yesterday she was up for 6/7 hours (!) before finally crashing at 11.30pm, but she then slept til 5am. Oooh, that would be nice if it was the new pattern...

Juliet's language is coming along in leaps and bounds. She now speaks in 3 word sentences all the time, with some 4 word ones. Being a rather feisty little bossy boots, they tend to be commands such as "Daddy, sit down there!" She can now count to 6 (though she doesn't understand the concept of numbers/quantities beyond 2), and knows all the basic colours with only the occasional slip-up. She's learning lots of new words every day; it's amazing to listen to her.

James is off reliving his youth at a Roger Waters concert tonight. You would have to pay me to listen to "Comfortably Numb" I think. Even though Juliet did a poo under the dining table tonight (unfortunately I'm not joking - the first half was in the potty but there was a "surprise" second half), I still think I got the better deal of the night!

Australia Day

And what better way to spend Australia Day than on Daddy's shoulders, running around the park?

We spent this morning in the city, checking out all the Australia Day activities. Juliet enjoyed the baby animal nursery, and the ubiquitous poffertjes (little Dutch pancakes, for our US readers). But going for a run on Daddy's shoulders was definitely the highlight.

It was taken last week, but here's a photo of little chubby cheeks in the cardigan that Grandma knitted for her. She's in a good paddock, wouldn't you say!?

One month old

Hard to believe, but Heidi is already a month old! She is doing very well, growing lots and putting on stupendous amounts of weight (1.2 kg since leaving hospital) .Thankfully she's twigged on to the difference between night and day now, although she does seem to think the day begins anywhere between 4 and 6am. I'll probably start getting her into a vague routine soon-ish, just to give our days a little bit of structure. Just to get her down for the night at around 7pm would be nice, as currently it's anywhere between 5pm and 11pm!

Juliet has been a bit of a handful this week, with quite a lot of jealousy-induced tantrums (well, we assume they are jealousy induced anyway - who really knows). They seem to have calmed down over the last couple of days thank God. She was screaming "NO" at pretty much everything we suggested - "no dinner", "no bath", "no nappy", "no clothes"...well, you get the idea. A few times she even did an impressive toddler act of throwing herself on the floor and screaming. Oh joy!

Having said that, she is generally being very good. It's all a bit of a learning curve for us all living as a family of 4, but we're getting there. Here's some miscellaneous photos from the last week, including one of Juliet trying to lie in Heidi's pram bassinette. She really doesn't like the idea of anything belonging to Heidi!

Monkey Boy

Believe it or not, this crumpled and bedraggled piece of paper is one of Juliet's most prized possessions. It is indeed a picture of what James calls "Monkey Boy" - a reconstruction of an early missing link type human/ape. It frequently accompanies our little toddler to bed, as she simply can't bear to be separated from him for too long. It really doesn't auger too well for her future taste in men!

2 weeks old already

And growing fast. Heidi has put on well over 400g in 10 days - impressive when you are only 3.6 kg to start with!

Things are still going smoothly here. We seem to have produced another very alert baby, who clearly believes sleep is for the weak. She is awake for 2-3 hours at a stretch, but luckily she seems happy enough with the arrangement and hasn't found her lungs yet. Needless to say, we're not so happy when it's 2am, but hopefully she will learn the difference between night and day SOON!

Here's a couple of photos I took this afternoon, plus a nice one of Dad and 2 of his grandkids taken on his birthday (Christmas Day).

Welcome Heidi!

A big welcome to little Heidi Lucinda, born on Tuesday at 2.44pm. She's absolutely gorgeous!

Stats:
Weight: 3.67 kg (8 lb 1 oz)
Length: 51 cm

She is a great sleeper so far (though she's awake a little longer than I expected, but then she is very alert and curious already!) She's also a natural feeder, and we've had no problems in that area at all. She's already gaining lots of weight.

I came home from hospital a day earlier than planned, because everything went so smoothly. I'm in no pain at all, and it all seems much easier than last time around. The hospital also gave us a bribe (sorry, an incentive) to go home a day earlier, by providing us with $100 worth of nappies, a week's worth of frozen meals, 6 hours house cleaning and 2 home midwife visits. Yay!

Juliet is being a perfect big sister, which is such a relief. She's given Heidi lots of kisses, shown her her teddy bears, and is quite fascinated by her feeding and sleeping. Although she can say "Heidi", for some reason she keeps calling her "Honey" which is pretty damn cute. There haven't been any jealousy issues yet at all. And best of all, both our girls slept til 7am this morning!!! There is an amazing physical similarity between the two girls as newborns. Have a look: (That's Heidi on the left, Juliet on the right, taken when they were 2 days old in both cases)

Potty!!!

Who would have thunk that poo could be so exciting.

Juliet started displaying some signs of toilet training readiness a couple of months ago, but I was reluctant to start serious training with her because she is so young. Everyone has warned me that around the arrival of a new baby is a shocking time to do it, plus she can't even take her pants off herself! Nonetheless we decided to buy a potty and explain what it's for. She will wee in it a few times a day when I ask her if she needs to go. And this evening she did her first poo! (It helped that she was already a rudie nudie as it was just before bathtime). We are SO proud of her - our rather excited reaction totally baffled her! I don't expect her to really be fully day time trained for a couple of months due to everything that's going on, but it really looks like it will be a breeze when the time is right. Fingers crossed!

One week to go!

I had my last obstetrician appointment this morning. All is well with the baby, and we're all set to go for next week. He thinks the baby is slightly smaller than Juliet was, but then last week he said it was bigger, so who knows. We're pretty much all organised at home now, with just a few little bits and pieces to do before the big day. I'll try and remember to get James to take a photo of my belly tonight - I'm absolutely massive! We've had some very hot weather over the last few days (Sat was 38 and Sun was 42 degrees), which has been hard going. If the baby decides to come slightly early (as in NOW) I'm not going to complain!

Santa & Flipping Baby

Juliet's quite obsessed with Santa, firmly believing him to live under our couch. (Don't ask). So today I thought I'd take her into the city to meet the big fella at Myer. We talked a lot about what to expect - how he likes cuddles, was liable to say "ho, ho, ho" at random etc etc. After waiting in line for 20 mins, we were led through a corridor to Santa's Cave; a dark room with some fairy lights. Needless to say, she was very unsure about the whole thing, and it didn't help that Santa was not the jolly man I was expecting. They took 2 photos of Juliet and Santa both glaring at the camera; I declined to buy them although in retrospect I probably should have got one just for a laugh. Surely Santa could've at least looked cheery!

Now, the other big news here is that baby #2 has turned around in the last week. How I could NOT feel a 3kg baby turn around in my belly is anyone's guess; however apparently it's the truth. Now I have no medical reason for a caesar anymore, and am really not sure what to do. Mentally I'm all prepared for the 19 Dec and a C/S, so it's all a bit confusing. Anyway, I have another week to think about it.

Juliet is continuing to be excessively clingy towards me, and is getting up earlier and earlier. This morning she got up for the day at 5.30am, with no consideration for her 36 week pregnant Mummy at all! I think she might struggle a bit for the week I'm in hospital. I don't know if I feel sorrier for her or for Mum, who is kindly looking after her!

Little girl

Doesn't Juliet look like a real little girl now - no more babyhood for her. I know the picture is a little out of focus but I thought it's too cute not to share :-)

She had her 18 month checkup today, and it was exactly as we suspected. She is slightly below average weight, but very above average height (obviously Daddy's side coming through there!) Her gross motor skills (walking/running/climbing) are right on average for her age, but her language/behaviour is that of a 2 year old's. Hopefully that means that the "terrible twos" will be ending earlier as well as starting earlier, because we're getting some real doozies of tantrums! She's also developed separation anxiety, and appears to be Velcroed to Mummy for large portions of the day. Let's hope that ends soon. VERY soon!

Warning: bragging coming up... She blitzed her language "tests", as she can point to over 20 parts of her body and can name about 12 of them. She has a vocab of over 200 words now, and is stringing words together in 2-3 word sentences. James and I are both very proud of course, as you can tell!

3.5 weeks now til the new little one arrives on the scene. I'm starting to look forward to it more and more, especially with the arrival of hot weather. Getting quite sick of being pregnant!

Fun in the sand

And the weird "hats" continue... (yes, that is a kitchen sieve)

Helpful girl

Things are finally starting to come together! Yay! The second nursery has been painted a pale yellow colour, and we have most of the furniture (although it's crammed into our bedroom at the moment til the paint is dry).



We've now agreed on a boy's name, but a girl's name is proving a little trickier. All in all, I'm feeling a lot more comfortable that we'll be ready in time. Quite a relief.

Now, time for a Mummy boast! This morning I said to Juliet, "I'm just going to get some washing; I'll be back in a minute". I went into our bedroom to get the laundry, and she went into her room. When I walked back down the hallway she had gone. "Odd", I thought... then I found her in the laundry. She had got her dirty clothes out of her hamper, gone to the laundry, opened the machine (front-loader) and had put them in! I was absolutely floored.

Sprung!

Juliet "helped" me make some chocolate chip biscuits this morning. She had a lot of fun mixing up the dough (mostly by picking up fistfuls and grinding it into the bench), but even more fun eating the results. Silly Mummy forgot to put away the steps in the kitchen, and of course it was a matter of minutes before Miss Feisty Toddler had climbed them and stolen her third cookie... However I think she needs to work a little more on hiding the evidence, would you agree?!

Turn, baby, turn...

Well - it looks like this baby's breech as well. My obstetrician said there is a chance s/he will turn around, but in his opinion pregnancies tend to be similar to one another in that respect. So, given that will mean a caesarian before the due date, we are looking like being proud new parents in 8/9 weeks!!!!! Must not panic. Must not panic. Must not panic.

Juliet's words...

I have to say, I absolutely love this age. 14 months was a bit erkky, due to clinginess and tantrums, but once Juliet turned 16 months she just became a total joy, all day every day. I'm constantly amazed by her sense of humour, her cheekiness, her curiousity and her language acquisition. It's like she learns a new word every day! She has over 70 words now, and that's not including ones she parrots back after you've said them; that's 70 words she will come up with independantly and correctly. Of course she understands so many more. She astounds me. OK, I'll stop bragging now!

First hot day and loving it

Today was a glorious sunny 30 degrees. Juliet made the most of the hot weather by playing outside and getting as wet as humanly possible. She discovered the outside tap for the first time, and played a new and exciting game which involved filling a bowl with water, tipping it over her clothes and repeating (x5).

General Update

Time for a general update on Juliet and her brother/sister.

Juliet's a lot of fun these days, despite the occasional tantrum. She is a stubborn little thing, and a true Taurean! She's often a little shy with other toddlers she doesn't know, but she loves watching other kids play. Having said that, she's already entered the possessive stage where noone is allowed to even think about playing with something that she may want for herself!

With her family, she's extremely affectionate. Lots of cuddles and kisses, and she loves to list all the members of her immediate family, "Mum, Dee [Daddy], Dooee, Dog" aloud. She can count to two, and constantly amazes us with just how much she understands. Last week James mentioned that he might read "We're going on a bear hunt" to her in the evening, and she immediately got up, walked to her bookshelf, looked through about 20 books and brought the right one to him!

To her daddy's delight she is a real outdoors girl, and every morning she stands at the back door insisting to go "sigh, sigh, sigh" (outside). Our lives revolve around sandpits far more than is normal, I'm sure!

I can't hazard a guess as to how many words she has now. Many of them sound unclear still, but her vocabulary seems to be increasing very quickly. She loves books. I bought one called "There's a house inside my mummy" to get her used to the idea of pregnancy and babies, and she loves it; possibly because she thinks it's literally about us. Very cute.

I'm now 27 weeks pregnant and still feeling very unprepared. We're going to start setting up the new nursery in the next couple of weeks, and hopefully will select names soon too. It's hard to believe it's only 13 or so weeks away! I must say I'm starting to feel much more excited about meeting this baby - it's FINALLY seeming real.

Unfortunately I seem to have developed pelvic pain (SPD) which is making things pretty awful physically. I'm off to see the physio on Monday so hopefully there are some simple ways of making it less painful to sleep, walk, roll over, stand up, lift things, and basically exist! According to my obstetrician's assistant, it almost always gets worse rather than better as the baby grows, but hopefully I'll be in the minority there. We shall see...

Two hats are better than one!

Clearly this is the new fashion...

We've been keeping busy recently, with lots of visits to friends and family. We've found a local cafe 10 mins walk away that has a big sandpit and lawn out the back, so we spend many hours there every week while Juliet plays and her Mummy has a decent coffee and relaxes. Juliet's also discovered a passion for gardening, and loves nothing better than to play in the mud and dirt! (Whether or not the vegie plants survive being pulled up and replanted several times a day is another matter). The days are starting to get warmer which opens up a whole new world of outdoor activities for us. Bring on summer!

Parklife

These were taken this morning before Juliet's first accident at the playground, when she slipped over head first on the slide and cut her lip quite dramatically (and messily). No doubt the first of many such incidents to come.

Holiday in Queensland

Enjoying a babycino, perhaps just a little TOO much...

Games with Daddy on the balcony

"Hey, Mummy's here too!"

Trying on Daddy's hat for size - many, many times!

Easy Rider

Well, OK, so it's not quite a Harley. But today Juliet had her very first ride on a bike! Once we'd got over the initial hesitation of wearing a large purple and orange helmet, it was smiles all around. James took her up and down the street a few times, and I could hear a loud "Weeeeeee!" as they whizzed past. Hopefully we can squeeze in a few small-scale family outings before my belly gets too big for riding.

Ear infection... and Ham

Looks like we're back to the doctor again this afternoon with another ear infection. I'm going to ask for a referral to a specialist this time; I'm tired of the endless cycle of antibiotics.

In a more amusing anecdote, this morning we went to our local IGA supermarket to get a couple of things. We're there every couple of days, so all the checkout chicks know us. It's a VERY Italian supermarket, so lots of "Bella!" type stuff going on. Anyway, the lady at the deli decided to treat a very baffled Juliet to a rolled up slice of ham. Juliet had NO idea what to do with it, so brandished it in her fist, shouted and enthusiastically waved it at everyone we passed. All of whom looked more than a little alarmed and treated me to some very puzzled "you give your baby HAM?!" type glances.

The Littlest Golden

We had our 19 week scan today, and it was all good news. Being a paranoid pregnant woman, I was starting to worry that the baby isn't kicking much (although I do feel kind of rumbles). But all my fears were allayed today - the baby is doing very well, and the sonographer reaffirmed the estimated due date to be the 29/12. Fingers crossed s/he manages to avoid being born on Christmas Day or New Years Eve!

We got to see the baby in 3D this time which was pretty amazing. It's very skinny of course, but apparently they don't start building up fat til 24 weeks or so. Still, fascinating to see!

Bipedal Action is the Go

Yep, we are now proud parents of a walking toddler - finally! I do believe that the last lot of antibiotics for her ear infection made a difference, as her balance was not quite right while she was sick. This week she's been getting more and more adventurous with the walking, until a couple of days ago she walked right across the room. Now of course there's no stopping her. I'm not sure who's more proud - us or Juliet!

She's also decided to continue her "big girl" development this week by moving to a single middle of the day nap. And at daycare she's graduated to sleeping on a mat on the floor instead of a cot, and a little chair instead of a highchair. She's also taken to giving us LOTS of unexpected big kisses and cuddles. Very, very sweet.