Aye Aye, Captain!

It was an exciting day in our house last week when Marco passed his final check and officially became a captain!!
The girls were VERY excited! (but mostly to get him home after 2 days away)

We also made cupcakes to celebrate!!

Well done Marco!! We're very proud of you!! 

Busy, Busy 7th week

What a crazy week we've had!

7 weeks old

Owen had Plunket (the well child nurses) come and visit him for the first time, a Dr's visit, his 6 week vaccines, his last visit with my midwife, his Oma and Opa came for the weekend AND he as baptized! Whew, I'm tired just remembering everything!

All three different health professionals deemed Owen healthy and fit. Phew, what a relief! :) he even did really well for the vaccines.  He screamed bloody murder for while they were poking him and then just as abruptly he stopped and was fine. But just for good measure, he gave the nurse a really good sneer! He only put on another 250g or so, but he's at a full 11 pounds now. Yippee!

7 week cutie pie

And, because he's healthy and putting on weight, he's started to sleep longer stretches! For the past 3 nights, I've managed to put him to bed around 7, give him a sleepy feed before I go to bed (around 10), and he's slept until between 4-5 and then with incredible precision, he wakes up at 7:30! Long may his perfectly timed precision continue!!

And, speaking of sleep, we just moved all our bedrooms around today, and Owen is officially in his own room! Woo hoo!! He's already slept there for 2 naps, and now I've just put him down for the night. I'm so excited to get our room back! We are just not cut out to have babies in our bedroom!

Our newest family picture

Owen in the baptism gown that his daddy also wore. (He has a tie underneath to "man" it up a bit!)

Oma & Opa. 

Marco's parents came for a visit this weekend and we had Owen baptized. Nothing overly exciting happened over the weekend, it was just a great time spent with family and letting them cuddle Owen and play with the girls. The baptism was nice. Great sermon about families. Kelsey refused at the last minute to come up on the stage with us. Morgan was happy to come, but had a minor wardrobe malfunction. As we got up on the stage, Marco pointed out that I needed to fix her skirt as it was all bunched up around her waist. Turns out while she as sitting in the pew, she had been playing with her stretchy necklace and got it around her waist somehow, and all tangled up with her skirt. So, while the entire church waited patiently, I fumbled blindly with her dress and necklace, until the necklace finally was flung across the stage and the skirt hung free again. Owen, meanwhile was oblivious to everything and staring up at the ceiling. He's a lovely little baby.

Baptism - minus Kelsey

If you're interested, you can watch Owen's baptism here. 

We did receive one other piece of news this week. Marco was offered (and accepted) and Captain's position with his company!! Yippee!! We've been waiting for a position to be offered to us. And, we'd decided a long time ago that when a position was offered to us, we would trust that it was God's timing and God's will for us to go to that place. So, even though it doesn't seem like good timing for us to move right now, we believe it is God's will for our family. So, on with our plans. 

Owen, announcing Daddy's new job

Marco will start training next week and be away from home a lot for that. When he is home, he NEEDS to keep working on finishing the house. We have a LOT of work to do before the house can be sold. Plus, we have plans to go to Canada in June, so we're going to go ahead with that plan as well. Hopefully when we get back from that trip, we can finish off the last two rooms in the house and get the house on the market in the spring. So, we would covet all your prayers over the next few months as we prepare for this huge transition. 

And so begins a new week...

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!!

Where's Marco??

Marco's camouflaged. 

Can YOU find him?

Mwahahaha!!

2011 in Review

So, here we are the last day of 2011. What's all happened??

• We got pregnant with our 3rd baby
• We got a our Piper puppy!!
• Kelsey turned 4
• Morgan turned 3
• We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary
• Marco and I had our birthdays, but frankly, numbers don't matter.. :)
• We learned all about rugby at the 2011 Rugby World Cup
• Marco built a new deck on our house
• He also stripped, sanded and painted 2 sides of our house
• He started 2 bedrooms and a hallway renovation
• Kelsey started to read
• Kelsey got a new bike at the beginning of the year
• Morgan got a new bike at the end of the year
• Marco bought  4 vehicles and sold 5 (and looked at 4,692,231 covetously). 
• Kelsey learned to stay dry at night
• Morgan learned to stay dry during the day
• I stopped working. Again. 
• We went to Nelson 3 times, & Christchurch once (where we got a new neice/cousin!)
• Or, in summary: we got our socks blessed off! 

Here's my 2011 in pictures:

Here's our house renovations from 2011 in review:

So. I hope you too had a great 2011. And, I'm looking forward to all that 2012 is bringing, Lord willing. I'm looking forward to having a baby, a visit from my sister, and a trip to Canada. Kelsey is looking forward to starting "big" school. Morgan is looking forward to starting preschool. Marco is looking forward to finishing some renovations, having a baby (same one as I'm having), and buying and selling a few more cars!!

Hubby's Birthday!

Well, its my hubby's birthday today. He has to work though - sucks to be him! I think that it should be law that you get a day of annual leave on your birthday - or if your birthday falls on a holiday that you get a day in lieu. I mean, why should new Year's Day be a holiday but not one's birthday!?!
So.. with the help of both parents.. I got Marco the BEST birthday present this year. Firstly though.. allow me to tell you what happened last year. Last year he wanted a welder. He'd been researching for a year, and knew what he wanted. And.. I thought I'd been listening for a year.. and knew what he wanted. So I went to a local store. Asked a few questions.. and they assured me that "this" welder was the one he wanted. But they didn't have it in stock. They could order it in though. Excellent. It wouldn't arrive till the next day. OH. I had left it sort of late.. the next day was his birthday. Well, if they got it sent to a different store 30 km away, it'd arrive by this afternoon. Perfect. Went home, confident in my purchase. later that day, drove the 30 km to pick up this new welder. drove back. wrapped it, hid it. threw something together for dinner. The next day I gave him his present confident that he'd LOVE it. He opened it. Looked at it. Said thankyou and kissed me. then shyly remarked that it wasn't the right kind. let down. He returned it, got his money back. All was good - although in hind sight, I don't think he actually bought anything with that money.. Hmmm...
Anyway.. so this year.. I compiled his parent's gift money, my parent's gift money and a few bucks from my measely savings and ordered the gift I KNEW he'd love - Guitar Hero Metallica. Not just the game either.. but a guitar too. So now we'll have 2 guitars. I gave it him last Saturday.. I was right.. he loved it. But now I have to play with him.. that's not so great.. I've really gotta think through these gifts better!
Anyway.. happy birthday honey. Can't wait to celebrate 60 more with you.