Happy Birth-month to you . . .

Today our little girl is officially a month old. Its been an amazing month watching her grow and change each and every day. She is definitely learning more about her surroundings and her body, as she finds her lungs, and LOVES lying on her change table looking at her curtains.

She also completely surprised us on Monday last week and managed to roll from her front to her back while we were both sitting there watching her!!! Thankfully she hasn't done it again yet, but it was amazing to watch.

Here are some pictures from this week:

Dad has a racing stripe added to his singlet after a feed. I don't know if Penelope was too impressed having her photo taken this time!

The girls were busted having a mid-afternoon nap, and it wasn't even planned us being in the same position:
Swing time is a great way to spend the afternoon before a bath. Dad is teaching her about all the trees in our backyard:
Our first sleep in the big girl bed:

Bath time is the best time of day. Its so calming and relaxing. Penelope loves splashing her feet, and even gave us a huge smile the other day. She could spend hours just sitting there just watching the water and having it dripped all over her face and body.

Weeks 1-3

Little Penelope is now 3 weeks old and she is growing well. She has put on about 400g I think (in accurate weighing on my behalf) in the last two weeks.

Poppa came to visit (my dad) for three days which was really lovely. Penelope had her first story read to her, Hairy Maclary from Donaldsons Dairy, and we made muffins and went for walks. The two of them had a great time together. Having Dad here also meant that Rob and I could have our first Babyless date. We went for an evening stroll to Bunnings (600m away) to buy a doorbell, very romantic!

Mum has been staying with us as well, but she heads home today. It has been amazing having her here, helping around the house, cooking meals, giving advice etc. Penelope and I are now on our own though through the day to fend for ourselves and get things done! I'm looking forward to the challenges and the fun times ahead.

And of upmost importance here are some more photos for you:

Playing peak a boo

Best place for the hands when hungry!

It was a hot day that day and so most of it was spent lying on Mum . . .
. . . or lying on Dad!!
A family photo:

Penelope Eve

Does it make me a busy or a bad mother that is has taken 13 days for me to upload photos and video of our new little daughter onto the blog site?? I'll pick the 'busy' option (plus a bit of tiredness and a bit of awestruckness at how cute she is!)

So . . .

Penelope Eve Matthews came into the world on Monday 12 January at 3.23pm. Without giving you all the gory details in the readers digest version, my waters broke Sunday night, they induced us Monday morning coz contractions hadn't started yet, at 2.30pm the doctor was talking of caesering (is that even a word?) us and an hour later she was delivered naturally with the cord around her neck 3 times!

Her stats were:
Weight - 6lb 7oz (2.93kg)
Length - 48cm

She is just a little natural at everything though, thankfully she read all the books before she came out! She latches on and feeds great, sleeps well through the night (only waking once, maybe twice) and is so content and easy to please. We love her and have decided to keep her!

But enough of details, I'm sure you are all looking forward to photos and video so here they are:

Within an hour of being delivered she is already posing for the camera and so alert:
Daddy and Poppy poking tongues out at each other:
Fun time on the tummy:

Hanging out with a very proud Nona:
We think this hat might be a little bit big for her. Reminds us of Dr Seuss though:
The most comfortable burping position:

Nap time with Daddy:
Hanging out with Dominic at church the first Sunday (he was born 10 hours after Poppy and look at the size difference! . . . Poppy is the one on the left):

Bath time:
Mummy and daughter:
She reminds me of a Tiki here with her tounge poking out:
And of course a video of her on her new butterfly mat!


You can see more of her here . . .

DUE DATE . . .TODAY

So baby Tahi is due today and currently showing no signs of wanting to be on time. Rob is back at work and I'm sitting at home waiting impatiently.

Today I had my friend Bonnie come around and take some photos of the bump before the bump disappears and here are the results of her effort:






On another note, we had a fantastic Christmas up at Robs Aunty and Uncles acerage at Crows Nest. Mum was over from NZ so she got to hang out with us, do a bit of clay bird shooting, crack a whip or two and have a ride on the 4-wheel motorbike. We took her home via Toowoomba and had a lovely lunch up at Picnic point as well.

New Years was a quiet one. We went to Dave and Jo's, had a swim, BBQ and then sat around the brazier chatting until the clock struck midnight. We were in bed by 1am. It was a lovely evening though.

Other than that we are all well. Just waiting for Tahi to turn up. The room is all organised except for the feeding chair which I have almost finished re-upholstering (if you could call it that). It is meant to be this afternoons project that I would really like to get done!

It's beginning to look a bit like Christmas

Christmas tree went up tonight. Although its still 5 sleeps till Robs birthday new rules this year allowed for the tree to go up before the 7th of December. More to do with the fact that we have 20+ friends coming for breakfast on Saturday morning and I wanted a little bit of Christmas to show, whilst also celebrating Robs last birthday before becoming a Dad!

The tree was a freebie from a lady at work who was cleaning out her garage. I have been slowly buying decorations each fortnight so was really happy with the finished product!

Photos of the tree as follows:

Rob gets to put the star on top . .. since he did a lot of the work putting decorations on and mantling the tree while I sat and tied string onto the decorations


Rob subsequently had to slide the tree across the room into position above the stairs (only one scratch on the floor and it was rather entertaining watching Rob 'swim' like a frog!)
Tree in position with lights on. The photo didn't come out too well, but it looks pretty.

And of course the obligatory photo of the bump . . . 35 weeks tomorrow . . . 5 weeks to go. All is going really well. I'm still catching the bus to work (most days) and have 1.5 weeks full time and an extra week part time to go. Then it's early retirement.

19 week scan pictures

Wow two blogs in 1 week, how crazy is that!! Thought I would put photos up of Tahi so all could see what he/she may look like.

Robs first thought when he saw it was "Oh no, I think it looks like me!". I had to reassure him by letting him know that 'Honey, that's a good thing!"

These pictures were taken in miod-October, at the 19 week check up. All is growing well.

These are its feet
This is the head and arm reaching up to the face. Umbilical cord is that funny swirly line next to the arm. If you look closely you can see the osephegus and its big muscles
Here it is snuggling up to by uterus (I guess!)
And here it is giving us the thumbs up that all is OK!

Can't wait to meet the little thing!

Liz and I painted

So as part of having a baby that nobody (expect our sonographer) knows the sex of . . . we have been given lots of white singlets and body suits of various sizes! Very handy but difficult to tell each one apart. So Liz came over and we spent the night painting.

Below are the finished products! Its tempting to make a career out of it.

While I'm at it I better post photos of the bump for those of you who know we are pregnant. For those of you who don't, Rob and I are 6 1/2 months pregnant. Due 7th January 2009, gender unknown and is affectionately being called 'Tahi' (being Maori for one) until the time comes as we can confidently choose a gender specific name.

All is going well. I'm healthy, have lots of energy and eating plenty. Apparently I look like my Mum in this photo to!

This was me at 6 months. Still quite small but it reckon its because of my tight abs (he he he). It also means that I'm more comfortable.