So Long, Farewell...

So.. goodbyes are hard. in fact, they suck. Just thought I'd mention it. But, all good things must come to an end.  So, I suppose its the end of my clean kitchen, clean (and folded) clothes, full cookie tins, and happy, occupied preschoolers. Yep, time to say goodbye to Jeanette.

So, with Marco at work all morning, we loaded up the kids, and Jeanette's stuff (after very accurately weighing her bag on my bathroom scales) and headed off to my girls' favorite place - the AIRPORT!!

I think its their favorite place because they can hang on these.. Hmm.. 

 Jeanette got lucky and her bag weighed in at 1.7kg under the weight limit. At which point she tried to decide if she should repack to add a few more things - I decided she shouldn't. :)

she'll hate this picture, but she was a bit pensive about travelling. 

 She admitted that she had a headache and was a bit nervous about the long trip. I reminded her that she'd already done the whole trip already and now she was just doing it backwards. If she was unsure of anything, she should just walk backwards so it looked familiar. I'm so helpful.

Marco flew her plane in and then was done work for the day, so he managed to say good-bye as well. He also double checked the safety of the plane first to make sure it was up to snuff.

Owen - the little cheeky monkey, gave a parting grin in his slumber.

Then, after a few tearful hugs - except for Morgan who didn't want to say goodbye - Jeanette had to board her flight.

Look! That's her climbing up the steps!!

And now, I'm left on my own.
My muffins & cookie supply are already dwindling.  :(

Jeanette's last few days

Suddenly, we woke up one morning and realised that we only had a few days left of Jeanette's visit! AGHH!! As usual, we hadn't gotten around to doing a lot of the things we'd hoped to.

So, we quickly headed down to the beach. We had been waiting for a "nice weather day", but alas, Jeanette's visit was fraught with the crappiest weather ever. So, we all grabbed our jerseys and our jandals and headed off to the beach for the afternoon.

 It still looked like a gorgeous day, even if it was a bit chilly (about 18C)

Proof that Jeanette went in the ocean. 

 And, as usual, the adults never really seemed to grow up!! :)

Here's me at the same beach 2 months ago!!

And here's me now :) My bump's gotten bigger, but I'm still wearing the same pants!!

 After the day at the beach (which was preceded by a girls morning out shopping), I decided I was rather wiped out. Dead tired in fact. Which meant that I was now reconsidering the next day's plans to go for a 2 hour tramp (nature hike). We opted to stay home. In fact, despite our list, we didn't get much else done. Instead, we stayed home, Jeanette did lots of baking (so I wouldn't starve after she left), we ordered Thai food for dinner one night (so I'd be left with a gassy baby) and played games. (Jeanette bought us the game Pandemic. Its really good fun and a great addition to our game collection)

Jeanette had only one thing left on her list of must do's: See Owen smile.

And, let me tell you.. we worked hard on it.

It was easy to see the girls smile.

Kelsey was so incredibly proud when she got to give Owen a feed. 

 But finally at the eleventh hour.. we got Owen to smile.. Of course, catching one of his fleeting grins, proved more difficult, so this is the best we've got for now !!

Picture Post!

Be aware... here's a barrage of random pictures!!

So, Owen has lots of different facial expressions. Every day he makes me laugh! Most of them are quite serious or disgusted or very old man-like.

no more flash, mom!!

all wrapped up!

sleeping angel..

What are you looking at? 

"Hey all, look at this awesome blanket!"

"If I hold my head like this, can you still see my double chin??"

I try to get pictures of everyone holding Owen.

Kelsey loves holding him and is CONSTANTLY asking if she can. She's pretty good at it, actually, but I have to watch that I don't tell her to "hold his head", otherwise she will, quite literally take her hand and hold his head.

Kelsey takes holding Owen very seriously

Marco isn't getting as much cuddle time with this baby as he got with the girls. Probably partially because of all the people we've had here , and partially because he has to share with the girls as well. But, perhaps it also has something to do with the fact that if I get an embarrassing picture, I WILL post it! HAHAHA

I tired to get a nice picture with daddy..

until I discovered the ears sticking up behind the couch!! HAHAHA

Morgan likes getting in on the cuddle action as well. Mostly, I think, because of the attention lavished upon the person holding the baby.   :)

serious...

happy!

We've been doing stuff other than holding the baby and taking pictures of him. (Hard to believe, I know!)

Marco picked all the pears from our pear tree and so one day decided to can them all. 2 large buckets of pears turned into 14 large mason jars full. Not a bad effort!

canning pears with welding gloves - how men do it!

And, of course, we also have to do "the tourist thing!"
While the girls were at preschool one day, we went up to Te Mata peak. Jeanette closed her eyes on the way up (and down), but once up at the top, it was a STUNNING view! Actually, it was one of the best days that Marco and I had seen. Usually on warm days its also quite hazy, but this day turned out sunny, warm and clear.

taking pictures of tourists taking pictures! 

I wanted to perch Owen atop the rocks, but passing tourists wouldn't let me

Jeanette's on the TOP of the WORLD!!

Actually, we take a lot of pictures of each other taking pictures... that's a bit odd, isn't it??!!

Hobbiton

"hi-ho, hi-ho, its off to Hobbiton we go!!"

Wait, that's not right... oh well. We took a day trip to Middle earth the other day. After all, what else do you do in New Zealand??

So.. we drove 3.5 hours on a slightly wet and dreary day.. to take a tour of Hobbiton in Matamata, NZ
the tour company supplied umbrellas :)

even Owen got to wear a little hat :) 

he's such a little old man!

 So, we heard lots of interesting stories and saw all the little hobbit homes! It was really cool!!  And, of course, we all turned into geeky tourists with the cameras clicking and the rest of us posing!

Jeanette posing in one of the only hollowed out houses

Jeanette & I posing.
The guy in front wrecking our shot was our guide. Had he been a wee bit shorter with hairy feet, I'd have thought he was a hobbit!! :)

Marco, Owen & I posing. 

Jeanette & I posing by the lake with the pub in the background

Marco and I wishing we could go have a drink in the pub! :)

Marco & I being tools pretending we owned a hobbit house!

The day was really fun, despite the weather. But, as you can see, it didn't rain the whole tour, so it was lovely.
I was well and truly tired of driving by the end of the day.. but it was loads of fun. 

Owen did great.. except at the first stop of the night... 

Ok, so we drove for an hour and half and then had our first stop. Marco and Jeanette went to use the loo while I fed Owen in the truck. As I burped him he spit up all done my shoulder. It dripped down my arm, onto my leg and onto the seat. And, as any good wife of Marco should do, I quickly wiped up the seat first, then my clothing. :)

Then, as Marco & Jeanette went to get us some coffee & hot chocolates, I decided to change his bum. Seeing as it was raining outside and I am in fact made completely of sugar, I opted to change him on my lap, using a technique I'd seen a few weeks earlier, which looked SUPER easy. 

Simply place baby on your lap, insert new diaper under old diaper, whip off old diaper using a quick one - two wipe, and voila, new diaper is on.
Reality, is often different for me. 

So, I placed Owen on my lap, took off his dirty diaper. Proceeded to wipe up the poo as quickly as possible. At which point, he proceeded to poo all over my t-shirt. As I began to wipe it up, Owen decided that now would be a good time to pee. He then proceeded to allow his pee to spray all over my t-shirt and the seat of the car. I threw the wipe over his "spout", pulled up my t-shirt (which now has both pee & poo on it), and tried to wipe up the pee on the car seats. 

At this point, Owen decides that he wasn't quite finished. He pooed again. This time all over my nursing tank. 

Packing for our excursion, I had brought 3 changes of clothes for Owen, and 2 full changes of clothes for me. But, alas, I did not bring an extra nursing tank, or even an extra bra. Therefore, I could not change. All my careful packing had been for naught. 

Note to self: its a lot more difficult to change a baby on your lap than it looks!!

Jeanette's visit

So.. my sister is here for a visit. One of my big sisters. But, she's smaller than me (in more ways than one) - lucky her. 

First, I let her put her feet up for a bit. Read a magazine. Relax. I think I let her do that for a whole hour! 

Then I took her to see the sites. Well, one anyway. 

I eased her into her workload by handing over the screaming baby. Rock this! 

But now the real work begins!! 

 Mowing the grass.. 

Canning Pears...

teaching the girls Angry birds... 

and other general nanny-ing requirements.. 

I tease. 

We've been having loads of fun. We've tried to balance work stuff (you know, laundry and cooking which must be done) with fun stuff, so hopefully soon they're be some posts on some of the fun stuff we've done.. 

In the mean time. Thanks Jeanette, for coming to help me out and see my world! :)