A Busy Weekend

Yesterday we celebrated Stella's Granny Ruth's birthday with a delicious lunch put on by Aunty Linda and Uncle Cameron. Unfortunately Ruth has not been feeling well so didn't want to get too close to Stella, however Stella put on a great show of smiles and talking for Linda and Grandpa. On our way home from lunch we stopped at the Viaduct for coffee with Sam and Andrea, Stella slept the afternoon away in her snuggly sleeping bag in her buggy. We must have worn her out as she then had her longest night's sleep ever - midnight to 7.30am! I was awake from 5.30am wondering when she was going to wake up!

Today was our first wedding anniversary, Nana K (and Great Aunt Margaret for a wee while before she had to head back to Ngaruawahia) looked after Stella while we dressed up and went to The Hunting Lodge in Waimauku for lunch - fantastic venue and food. Great Aunt Margaret was in Auckland for Stella's dear Great Granny's birthday which was yesterday. Margaret had given Stella a beautiful cream merino all in one which Stella now fits and has been very cosy in (see pictures).

A New Hairdo

Stella has a bit of cradle cap at the moment so we are massaging almond oil and vaseline into her scalp to try and get it to lift off. In the meantime, we're having fun sculpting her hair into a mohawk, she seems to think it is great fun too! She has grown out of all her newborn gear and is now wearing her special purple cardy knitted by Mark's Aunty Judy.

People have asked us about Stella's temperament and personality. I think we are very fortunate as she is a pretty easy going baby, now settling off to sleep well at night and only has the capacity to be up for an hour at a time during the day. We go on outings and walks most days and she takes these in her stride, falling asleep no matter where she is, although she'll spend some time considering her surroundings before doing so! Stella's Aunty Katherine came over last night and cooked a lovely fish pie for tea, in return Stella put on a good show of smiles while having her nappy changed.

Stella and Her Mates

Yesterday, we took some pictures of some of the babies from our antenatal group. They were all born within a month or two of each other. Stella slept through the first photo shoot but stirred later on so we had a second sitting. In the big group photo from left to right we have James, Isobel, Lucas, Stella, Benjamin, Millie and Marcus. The other pic is of Stella with Lucas and Benjamin who were in hospital at the same time as us. Lucas was born on the same day as Stella, and Benjamin the day after.

Today we had a weigh in with Plunket and Stella tipped the scales at 6.5kg and is 63cms long. She is definitely in the upper range for both height and weight so is a big girl but in proportion!

Singing With Dad

Mark and Stella spend a lot of time singing to each other on the weekends. This is them hanging out together before bath time. Stella is almost too long for the baby bath and her carry cot so she is now sleeping in the big cot and taking big baths with one of us.

The other shot is Stella with James and Benjamin from our antenatal group. They had a great time at Michelle's house the other day hanging out on her beautiful mat. Stella is wearing her new green ensemble bought with vouchers from Mark's work team.

Two Months Old Today

Stella has taken her own good time when it comes to lifting her head up, usually Tummy Time consists of chewing on her fist and making gurgling noises for a couple of minutes before having a bit of a cry. She seems to prefer being in her back a lot more, however I've never seen a baby crawl on their back before so we perserve with a bit of Tummy Time every day. Today however she did some great head lifts and I was so excited I took photos - funny how one's priorities change although it always does seem to come down to achieving certain KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). My daily targets used to be focused on turnaround times and accuracy, now they are around poo and head lifting!!

A bit of a medical update... Our GP confirmed that Stella had a submucosal tongue tie which was likely to be the cause of all our feeding problems, at least we know now what the problem was even if it took 6 weeks and a number of people to pick it up (our clever Plunket nurse alerted us to it). This type of tongue tie couldn't be fixed by the GP and we were referred to a specialist. So, Stella had her first operation and anaesthetic last week and had her tongue fixed up to prevent possible future speech and feeding problems.

Pretty in Pink

Mark went a bit crazy buying pink stuff for Stella when he was in Melbourne working for several weeks earlier this year. We realised she is almost too big for her one and only dress so got her into it over the weekend. We're able to use the pink bouncer that came from Toys R Us now that Stella is a bit more solid and has better control of her head. She loves the green frog mobile that was given to her by Sarah's cousin Janita, it comes in the car with us too now that she is tracking her eyes further that 20cms! So... here are some pics of our vision in pink!

Cuddles

Sarah's cousins Hannah and Seamus are over from Aussie for the school holidays. Seamus stayed on at the farm in Ngaruawahia while Hannah came up to Auckland to stay with Kathleen. She was a great help with the baby, keeping her warm in the cold weather during a few afternoons this past week.

The other photo is of Stella gazing out the window from her carry cot, something she is doing more and more each day as she sleeps less and less! Fortunately she seems to be getting the hang of night time and the intervals between feeds is (very!) gradually becoming longer and longer.