Photo Update (It's Ingrid's turn to write something!)

The begining of a little smile

-
Ain't that sweet...
-

Just in case we forgot his last name...

-

Max adoring his big sis...Sophie adoring her little brother...and Mummy adoring both her kids

-

Hard work updating the blog

It wasn’t easy trying to update this bloody thing with 1 child – throw in one more and it seems 10 times harder!
Still, I would hate to look back at the blog in 10 years time, and kick myself for not documenting what life is like raising a 2 kids (or was like if we’re indeed reading this in 2019!)

-

Max growing heaps and starting to develope a real personality

-
Still enjoying his mat-time!
-
He's even starting to rip out the odd smile too
-

Not a great deal has changed with Max’s routines – he had a shithouse day yesterday, but today everything has fallen into place perfectly and he's been the perfect baby.
-
Last night I left Ingrid to fend for herself for the first time since Max’s birth…I had the grand final of our business-house cricket tournament and I was gagging to play (and to be fair, a night out of the house playing cricket with mates followed by a couple of quiet ones...seemed pretty inviting…). I would be lying if Ingrid wasn’t nervous about the prospect of tending to both kids, and having to deal with with dinnertime, baths and getting both of them off to sleep...I found out why she was nervous as soon as I arrived home around 8:30pm…poor Sophie was still wide awake and balling her eyes out upstairs and Ingrid was near tears in Max’s room trying to get the little bugger to sleep still!...mix all that in with little sleep for all three of them - and you can see why it sucked the big fat one…guess I won’t be doing that again for a few weeks!
-
Sophie’s personality and outlook on life has changed a little bit too over the past couple of weeks - I think we’ve both been trying to tell ourselves that she’s handled the new arrival really well – but reality is…she knows life has changed. For starters, she constantly asks for cuddles (not that we mind that of course) but every 5 minutes is a lot…and she’s becoming more defiant each day and she seems to be keeping to herself a little more too. Obviously we’re both trying hard to keep her feeling loved and trying to reassure her that things haven’t changed that much, but it’s pretty evident that she knows her perfect world of just Mummy & Daddy and Sophie has been blown to shreds. The great thing is though, Sophie doesn’t show any resentment towards Max at all and she loves to touch, kiss and stroke him every chance she gets, but unfortunately I snapped at her the other day when she got a little rough and elbowed him in the head by accident, Max screamed and Sophie looked devastated that I told her off for hurting him…stink situation...
-
Today has been really good though, Max has gone down nice and early, and Sophie has had a lot of exclusive 1 on 1 mummy time which has done them booth the world of good – everyone’s happy and life is pretty damn good again.

Brad

Sleeping Patterns...yeah right!

Max has continued his trend of having couple of great days followed by a couple of shockers. He gets really unsettled at night between 5pm-10pm which ain't the best and he hasn't quite done the big sleeps we've been hoping for over-night either...4 hours is about the longest he's had - but those ones are very few and far between!

The little bugger is putting on heaps of weight as you can probably tell by the photos and he's loving bath-time and is now starting to have some good mat-time too.

-

Enjoying some mat-time

-
"Hey! wadda you doin' up there!
-

4 weeks...almost

-

Max turns four weeks old tomorrow - this week he's had more unsettled days than good ones unfortunately - the little bugger has developed a case of not wanting to sleep at night - Ingrid is well stoked with that...not!
Thankfully, we've have had reinforcements arrive this week from the Naki - Nana arrived last weekend and has been fantastic - it's been really great having someone here to do all the cleaning, washing (and the odd grave-yard feed for Max) and of course, taking care of Sophie now that I'm back at work.

-

-

Max is really enjoying his baths at night - we've tried to get into a routine of eating early then bathing both the kids (that still sounds weird saying both kids) around the same time each night so we can relax and have a couple of hours to ourselves - but that's happened maybe 2/10 times so far though!

Brad

Maximum Pizza

Almost 3 weeks now with little Max - he's continuing his pattern of 1 great day followed by a fairly average day - His main pattern at the moment is sleeping lots through the day and not a lot oveernight - Ingrid is ajusting to the sleep deprivation providing she gets some decent shut eye during the day. I'm back at work full-time again on Monday but we have reinforcements on their way - Nana arrives today and in a week or so we'll change the baton to Grantz.

Look at the little man - isn't he cute..."thanks mummy, nice feed"

- Ingrid accidently hit The Edge present on the radio..."No! Turn it off!"
-

Sophie loves helping make dinner every night - tonight it's Pizza!

-

Little bit of ham and salami too

-

no one saw me sneak some cheese did they?

-

Yay - Pizza!
-

Brad

2 Weeks

Little Max is now 2 weeks old.

I think it's been a little easier the second time around...but only just. Max will have one fantastic day, followed by an absolute shitter! - some nights he will sleep for 3 hours in a row before needing feeding and others - no sleep at all and screaming the house down, but the great thing about having a blog is, we can both look back and read what it was like for the first few weeks with Sophie (I can't believe I had time to update the blog as much as I did back then too!) - we both forgot how bloody hard it is...especially now when you throw in an almost 3 year old with constipation and a severe bum infection...thank god there's alcohol at the end of the day is all I can say!

-

Max is one bath and Sophie in the other...we've learnt to mutli-task pretty quickly these days!

-

A quick comparison shot - Sophie and Max around the same age...not a huge likeliness but a lot of similar mannerisms

-

Yes, there has been some horrid days...and no doubt there will be plenty more to come...but there's also moments like these....

-

Auntie Nicky and little Max

-

Max

The little geezer finally has a name...Max.

Sophie loves the name too and finds it a lot easier to say than the others we had short-listed.

Max has been pretty good the past couple of days - he's had his moments of not wanting to sleep during the day and wanting to stay latched onto Ingrid for hours on end...but his sleeps overnight have made up for the unsettled days - last night he fed around 10:30pm and the little bugger slept until 4:30am this morning - Ingrid nearly got 6 hours of straight sleep! - if that pattern continues for a while we'll both be well stoked.

-

Hi - my name is Max!"

-

Quick trip to the mall today..Max was crashed out for aruond 3 hours...even took him up to The Rock to show him off

-

Sophie had quite an eventful weekend too - Saturday morning I took her along to dance class (she didn't enjoy it as much as last weekend...I think she missed having her mummy there this time) then after her afternoon sleep - we went along to Rock The Park - a free rock concert we put on annually through work. Sophie absolutely loved it there...I think it had something to do with the fact she found the bands food tent and started stealing all their chips and food... We stayed there for around 3 1/2 hours and even had time for a quick swing and slide at the park at the end of the day.

-

Child labour..daddy making Sophie wash the car as he looks on...
-
Sophie getting her groove on and dancing up a storm at Rock The Park
-

Brad

The kid with no name...

The little tacker is 5 days old now and still has no name. The name we both like, we've realised is now the 2nd most popular name in the last two years and it seemed like every 2nd kid born on 15th at North Shore was called it too! - good things take time I suppose so back to the drawing board...

Sophie having fun at Kids Klub

-

The first couple of days at home with bubs and Ingrid were pretty difficult - Ingrid managed around 6 hours sleep in 48 hours and most of that was in 30 -45 minute bursts, so apart from the household chores and tending to Sophie, I have guilty that I can't just 'swap' some sleep time with her.

The good news is, Ingrid's milk-flow is fantastic and she's even managing to express some extra each day, so hopefully I'll be able to at least feed him once during the night-time which should give her a breather. Along with good milk, the last couple of days have been a lot better all round - bubs is having way bigger sleeps through the day - and at night he's sleeping for up to 2-3 hours at a time. (all be it while laying on Ingrid in bed)

Sophie is still infatuated by him, and she's been pretty damn good under the circumstances - she's still going to Kids Klub which makes life a littler easier during the day, as she can't keep her hands off the poor fella!..

-

Sophie's favourite past-time at Kids Klub...playing the plastic food in the kiddies kitchen...she's obviously going to grow up to be a chef

-

The little bugger will probably have nightmares about tigers eating him forever now!

-

After the initial screaming...he enjoyed the bath

-

-
We manged to get out of the house and go shopping together yesterday too - bubs was OK for the first half of the trip, then decided he didn't want to be in his pram - I ended up carrying him round most of the time...much to the delight of other shoppers who all came up and commented on how cute or small he was...they all asked his name too...

-

"Don't go home Auntie Nicky"!

-
Also wanted to say a big thanks to Auntie Nicky who came around Saturday evening and stayed with Sophie overnight while we were at the hospital, and then looked after her all day Sunday - you were a life saver sis - huge thanks again!

Brad

Day 3

Ingrid and the little one came home yesterday from the hospital. Ingrid managed to get a little bit of rest on Sunday, but bubs pretty much stayed awake all night demanding more food - unfortunately he repeated the same routine yesterday too with loads of big sleeps and feeds during the day and bugger all overnight - poor Ingrid was shattered this morning, but has managed a small afternoon kip.

The midwife (Diane) came around this morning to check-up on everyone and while she was here she did the old 'foot prick test' with bubs...not nice seeing him squeal in pain as she squeezed blood from his tiny little ankle onto four test markers...but it's gotta be done.

-

As Sophie simply calls him "the baby"

-

Sophie is besotted with him and doesn't think he needs a name at all, she is more than happy with 'the baby'. Soph has been pretty good with him though, she constantly asks (or should I say demands) to hold him, pat him and even feed him every chance she gets!

I detected moments of jealousy this morning when I got her up, her first words to me were: "where's the baby daddy?" - I told her: "baby is having a sleep in mummy and daddy's bed" she looked up at me and dropped her bottom lip a little and then stared at the ground for a couple of seconds...she'll be right though, we're making sure she gets plenty of attention from both of us so she doesn't feel left out at all. In fact, all four of us are about to head off for a coffee together shortly.

-

"Now ain't that cute aye"

-
He's bloody tiny!..but very cute
-
It's like a florist at our house...flowers galore!
-

Brad

The new edition

I know it's a cliche, but a picture really does say a thousand words

-

Wow!...it's been a pretty special 24 hours indeed. I'll let Ingrid fill you in on all the juicy details...but I will say - I have a pretty special wife who did magnificently well, and now a healthy baby boy who weighed in at 6 Pound 9 ounces - or 2.99kg. He was born at 5:30 February 15 at North Shore Hospital and both Ingrid and bubs (yes I know we still haven't got a name for him yet...) seem to be doing very well.
Ingrid has managed a few patches of sleep throughout the day and hopefully she gets some quality rest tonight. Sophie cracked a huge smile when she first laid eyes on her brother too...it's pretty cool having a family of four now.

-

Dance class

We have be meaning to take Sophie along to the local kids 'dance class' for ages - and today we finally got around to it - I'm glad we did, 'caus Sophie loved it! click here to see

-

Two weeks to go

Nudging closer now. Baby is in position with head engaged and ready to go at anytime now according to the midwife, so am taking each day at a time now. One thing I must make mention of though is this weather, I know we are all affected by it, but I need to note it for furture reference just to remind us all of what an incredible summer we are having. This humidity is crazy, it reminds me so much of our time living in Hamilton times 10! I thought Hamilton was a terrible city to live in weather wise and found the nice breeze of Auckland over summer a welcome treat, but this summer has been on a par with Hamilton over the last week. If I wasn't pregnant I may have actually enjoyed it, but all I can do at the moment is sit inside with the air conditioning on with my own little personal furnice glowing in my tummy!

-

Brad and I have both been having trouble sleeping at night, I think Brad is affected by it more than me as my pregnancy snoring isn't helping at all - he says I sound like a freight train! I can believe it as I am HUGE! Sophie however doesn't seem to mind it at all and she has the hottest room in the house too! But she has been sleeping though the nights no problems at all - mind you I practically have the fan in her bed with her, so that always helps! Waitangi weekend was the hottest on record and the newspapers were calling Sunday the Sunday Roast because it was so hot! We spent the weekend either at the beach swimming or at the pools along with a whole bunch of other pregnant women. It was a welcome relief to have some cold water to plunge into.

-

-
I picked up the baby's car seat yesterday - we decided to just rent one this time around for six months as they grow out of them so quickly and as we already have two older seats then bubs can just grow into the bigger one. It made it feel much more real now having that in the car ready to go and of course Sophie seems rather excited about sharing the backseat with a baby. I am taking her over to a friends house this afternoon for a playdate with her daughter who is the same age. She also has a three month old so will be nice to see how Sophie is around the baby and see how jealous she gets when I give bubs a cuddle. My brain is total mush at the moment so will try and remember to take the camera with me and get a photo.

Ingrid

Three weeks to go!

Yes, still three bloody weeks to go. I thought that by this stage I would be feeling relief that it wasn't too long - but as I am much bigger than I was with Sophie and this heat is relentless it feels like an eternity! However the best bit is that I get to spend all day at home if I wish and sit under the air conditioner when it gets too unbearable. Luckily there isn't really anything to do now except wait...
-
Its been pretty hot at night here the last few nights, so I have tossed and turned trying to get comfortable, we have given Sophie the only fan in the house as her bedroom is 10 times worse than ours, so I really feel for her, although she doesn't seem to have any problem sleeping and doesn't think it is too hot at all, in fact she is even insisting on having her duvet on the bed still!
-
Last night however I found it so hot - especially on my feet, which are the size of tree trunks, that I had to resort to getting two cold faceclothes and dousing them in cold water and wrapping my feet up in them to sleep! But it worked really well and my feet felt pretty good after that.

-

Enjoying a quick dip in the ocean

-

I am now meeting up with my midwife on a weekly basis which is good, however she has mentioned that she is taking four days off over valentines weekend! Although she has a backup midwife if I do end up going into labour we didn't gel at all and I would much prefer that I didn't have her. In fact I would go so far to say that I didn't like the back up midwife one bit! However I guess I will just have to take what I am given if that is the case. I suppose as long as she can do the job then it should be enough.
-
We still haven't got a name picked out yet. We did have a couple of favourites but then Brad decided to go through the baby name book and now we have about 10 names to choose from! Brads favourite is Ra'oul - somehow I don't think we will be going for that, not if I can help it anyway!!!
-
Sophie is doing really well. She keeps asking when the 'real' baby (as opposed to her play one) is going to come and stay - so she is obviously over it as well. But for someone who can't understand how long a week is let along three, its kind of hard that we have to keep telling her that he still has to grow a little bit bigger yet! She is really good with a little baby at Kids Klub called Bosco who is four months old, she really mothers him - albeit a bit roughly - but sweetly all the same, so hopefully it continues when her baby brother comes along. She loves to rub my belly and sing to the baby, favourite songs are Twinkle Twinkle and Happy Birthday. But I have noticed she does get a little jealous if I give attention to any other kids at Kids Klub or to baby Bosco. So will be interesting to see how it all goes.

Ingrid

Sophie goes to the Circus...sort of.

I managed to get some tickets thorough work to the big "Le'Grand Cirque' today - it's a musical circus type thing with acrobats, contortionists and a few freaks...

Sophie has been chomping at the bit and rearing to go for the past few days and has been talking about 'seeing clowns at the circus' every five minutes....

Unfortunately though, Sophie hated it...the circus was pretty loud and I think the clown type of people scared her a little too. We managed about 5 minutes in the theatre and then I took her out (she was bordering on hysterical at this stage) - We told Ingrid to stay until at least half time and Sophie and I went out for an ice-cream instead (just as well the tickets were free!)

-

The circus clown

We've taken full advantage of the weather and have gone for a couple of swims up at the local pool during the past few days - Sophie is definately a little water rat and already jumpinmg in from the side of the pool (sometimes before daddy is ready to catch her too!) - it's only a five minute walk away, so I imagine we'll be doing a lot more of that over the coming weeks.

- Enjoying the local pool
Learning to swim with a flutter board
- Happy times again (taken a few hours after she smashed her button-nose on the toybox and squirted blood everywhere!...not a good start to the morning...)

More from "Le Grand Cirque"

-

Brad