Merry Christmas to all...

and to all a good night!

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

Hmm, I wonder which one is Richie's?

A is for avocado, part 2

Day two of the great avocado experiment was much more successful with Daddy doing the feeding. It's now been a week since we started and he's eating as much as I give him (about 2 tablespoons). At first he had a little gas but I think he's over it now. He's sleeping much better (woke only once the past 2 nights) and last night, drumroll please.....

He slept through the night! From 8pm to 5:30am! Mom was up at 4am wondering what was going on and checked to make sure he was breathing. He may have even slept longer if the crazy cat hadn't been on the rampage with a noisy toy in the hallway. Why is it that when Richie sleeps in the cat wakes us up early? One of life's great mysteries.

Next up on the menu is pumpkin. Now I just need to find an orange bib...

A is for avocado, part 1

Richie passed another milestone this week: eating his first solid food.

I'm proud to say he's been 100% breastfed until now (a shout out to all the moms who stick with it, it's a tough job!). But starting about 2 weeks ago he started waking more often in the night, teething and most recently, mouthing while watching Mom eat (all signs that he's getting ready to start solids). So at 4 months and 3 weeks we gave him his first food: avocado. 

Sure most babies start with baby rice but when avocados are in season and packed with lots of lovely nutrients and omega 3's why not give him more bang for his itty bitty bite? It's one of the "approved" first foods along with most root vegetables, apple and pears. Apparently it's harder to get them to eat veggies if you start them on sweet fruits, so we're going to give him veggies first and then will add in some fruits (again, lucky boy lives in the "Fruit Bowl of New Zealand" and will have his choice of peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots, etc).

From what I've read and heard there is also some controversy about whether giving infants starches like rice before they have molars is a good idea as well. Some say they lack the enzyme necessary to properly digest starches until they have molars and hence get terrible gas, and others say giving them starches too soon makes them more likely to get colds. In any case, we decided to play it safe and go for a food with as much nutrition as he could get that was still safe for him to digest. And hey you can't get any easier than mashing up avocado for homemade baby food. (ok, I did add a bit of breast milk at first and water to thin it out and make it more palatable). 

Below are pics from the first attempt on Dec 16th. He was a bit more interested in the spoon as a teething device but he did seem to know what to do with the food once it got in his mouth.

*Note that the food also matches his bib and chair. Momma ain't no fool.

Joy to the World!

In a time where the season often comes down to who gets the biggest tree, presents, etc., this morning I was reminded of the simple joys. I pulled a tissue out of the box and passed it over Richie's head, which led to a squeal of delight from him. Just passing the tissue over his head was enough to bring a look of pure joy to his face, from the simple sensation of a delicate touch.

A good reminder this holiday season to appreciate the simple, little things that make this thing called life grand.

Licensed to travel

Master Richard is now ready to travel. He got his NZ passport the other day and is officially protected by her Majesty the Queen, at the request of the Governor-General in the Realm of New Zealand in all his travels. Since he'll be traveling with us for the next 18 years and we're traveling on US passports, we're hoping that means we can go through whichever line is shorter at immigration!

How cute is his little passport photo? It was actually quite a mission for me. I did it myself with a lot of trial and error rather than taking him to a photo shop. Do you know how hard it is to get a 3 month old to sit still with a "neutral expression" on his face with his eyes open? There were plenty of cuter pics with a smile that had to be scraped according to the passport rules. In the end we made it, although he was sliding down the chair causing his overalls to come up around his ears. 

a handful

Scene: Sunday afternoon, Richie's room at the changing table

Me: "Paul come here."

Paul: "What, did he have a big poo?"

Me: "No, but you're gonna want to see this."

(Paul enters to see his son gleefully holding his privates and refusing to let go)

Me: "Our son has found his manhood."

Sorry, no pix to accompany this entry.

We love toy libraries!

"Look at this cool exersaucer Mom got for me! These things go for big bucks here so I must be pretty darn special. And she got me lots of other cool stuff too. Did Christmas come early?"

No, Richie, Mommy just discovered a perk of belonging to the local Parents Centre, their toy library. The Parents Centre is a national organization in NZ with branches in nearly every city that provide parenting education and support. They run prenatal classes, which we took earlier this year, as well as baby and me classes and other mini-courses on parenting issues like toilet training, infant CPR, etc. As a member we also get discounts at local merchants who cater to kids.

But my new fave perk is their toy library. They have heaps of toys for kids from ages 0-teens as well as baby furniture and equipment that you can "hire" (NZ for rent) for ridiculously cheap prices. It's only open a few hours a week so I hadn't made it there til now but I'll definitely be back. I got Richie an exersaucer (a basic model rather than one of the really fancy ones since he can't reach much of the bells and whistles yet anyway), a brand new frog tummy time mat, a crib toy with mirror and a cool book/teether thing. Grand total for 6 weeks of use? $17NZ. That's about $10US. All of the toys were impeccably clean (you are supposed to clean the toy before you return it and if you don't you have to pay a cleaning fee) and the tummy time mat hadn't even been opened. In case you're wondering, yes I did run a sanitizing wipe over the exersaucer as an extra precaution but toys only stay clean in a house with an infant for so long anyway that I'm not worried about it (can I get an Amen from the moms?). I mean kids share toys at daycare so why not share toys in the comfort of your own home?

I think it's a great idea that works on so many levels:

• Environmental - Reusing all those plastic toys that will never biodegrade rather than producing more of them). 
• Educational - Tons of stimulation and ability to get toys suited for each stage of life. Each one "parent tested and approved."
• Economic - Prices start as low as 40 cents a week for toy rentals. Did I mention those exersaucers START at $150 here? I rest my case.
  
• Space-saving - You don't have to find storage for that huge exersaucer, bouncer, high chair etc that you may or may not use again with other kids.
• Social - Since the library is only open a few hours a week, you're sure to meet other like-minded parents there.

I could go on but I've got to get some rest now myself. Suffice to say toy libraries rock! (yes they have rockers too!)

Sign of the season

A sure sign of Christmas is blooming outside my window in our back yard this morning. It's a Pohutukawa tree (pronounced just like it looks, like most Maori words) otherwise known as the New Zealand Christmas tree. It's a native NZ tree found mostly along the coasts that blooms brilliant red blossoms every year at Christmas time. We're lucky enough to have a rather large one on our property that is over 3 stories tall and visible from every rear-facing window, including the bathroom where I took these pics since it's raining today. It's a real treat to see it each year.

A jolly wee elf

Taking a cue from fellow blogger and new mom Melissa , I decided to post some out takes from Richie's Christmas card photo shoot. Because just one pic of this jolly little elf simply isn't enough!


Get me outta this stupid Santa suit!


"I'll have a buh buh blue Christmas without you," AKA Elvis Santa



Does this hat make my head look big?


"I'll get you for this one day Mom, I swear."

Corey Hart eat your heart out

"My future's so bright, I gotta wear shades..."

It's serious business here though. They advise you to get your children used to wearing sunglasses early here to protect against the damaging UV rays that come down through our nice big hole in the ozone centered over NZ. So at 4 months, Richie is already wearing his whenever he's out on the town. He's got lots of sun hats too. Pix of those to come!

Nursery rhyme SOS!

We've discovered in recent days that Richie is a huge nursery rhyme fan. After weeks of playing our own favorite music for him, we've discovered that he loves silly songs that mom and dad look like complete idiots singing. Case in point. Old MacDonald had a Farm. Never fails to get a giggle.

Now, soon after we realized he's such a fan, we realize we know frightfully few nursery rhymes and/or lullabies. Until now we've just been singing our favorite songs since he didn't really understand. But now he's starting to catch on that Daddy's singing Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

I went to our local library to get some kid-friendly tunes, but their collection is dominated by UK style ones like "Polly put the kettle on." We need more good old American standards to keep him entertained. Anyone care to share their favorites?

By the way, I just learned that I totally had the words wrong for the one lullabye that I've been using almost every night with Richie. In my mind this is how it goes:

Hush little baby, don't say a word
Mama's gonna buy you a mockingbird
If that mocking bird don't sing
Mama's gonna buy you a diamond ring.
If that diamond ring don't shine
Mama's gonna (ok and here I know I'm ad libbing) bake you an apple pie
If that apple pie gets burnt
Mama's gonna go and live in a yurt (you try rhyming burnt!)
If that yurt is too far away
Mama's gonna come back and stay. (and here I riff even more depending on how tired Richie is. But you get the general idea.)

The official words are:
Hush little baby, don't say a word
Papa's going to buy you a mockingbird
If that mocking bird don't sing
Papa's going to buy you a diamond ring
If that diamond ring turns brass
Papa's going to buy you a looking glass
If that looking glass gets broke
Papa's going to buy you a billy goat
If that billy goat don't pull,
Papa's going to buy you a cart and bull
If that cart and bull falls down
You're still the sweetest baby in town.

Ok, now the last line is nice but what baby needs a cart and bull??? Who came up with these?

a mouthful

In this picture Richie is:
a) attempting to ease his teething pain
b) whistling at the hot babe taking the picture
c) using his tongue to count his fingers
d) all of the above

If you answered a, you are correct and win this week's bonus prize: no sleep.

(hopefully the blog entries will pick up when this new and exciting phase of infant development is over)

World's Sexiest Man

I saw this morning that Aussie actor Hugh Jackman was named People's Sexiest Man of the year. In honor of handsome men from down under, here's a photo of our little charmer, looking dashing in a laid-back pose with his favorite rattle of the moment. Or maybe it's half a tamborine.

He's a one-woman man

Ah, sometimes there are moments when you know as a parent you're doing something that will come back to haunt your young child, and yet you do it anyway for the fun of it. Yesterday was one of those moments.

We took Richie out for his first official picnic at a local winery on the coast with some friends from my pregnancy pilates class. It was the hottest day of spring so far at 25 degrees celsius (about 77 F), so we decked him out in his super cute Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts that Aunt Susie brought for him. Well, he turned out to be quite the ladies' magnet. But I'm not quite sure he's up to the task yet. Here Richie finds the presence of young Naomi slightly perplexing. But add the slightly older and more worldly Chiara and poor Richie is simply miserable.





Ok, to be fair, maybe the "I heart Grandma" bib killed his mojo. Maybe next time minus the bib he'll have better luck. 'Til then he'll have to be content with mom.

I'm a big kid now

We had our first mini-vacation as a family over the weekend in Lake Taupo (about 2 hours from our home here in Napier). It went much better than we dreamed to hope for, which hopefully means Richie will do well on his big trip to the US soon. I'll post more pics from the trip soon but I wanted to share this one as a preview with Richie looking quite grown up in the hotel chair. He was in a very good mood in that chair. I think he likes being on the same level as us.

The Grabber

Richie's finally discovered that his hands are good for more than sticking in his mouth. Now he uses them to grab more things that he can stick in his mouth! He's quite proud of himself actually.

We interrupt this baby blog

...to bring you a sure sign of Kiwi spring: strawberries! This is truly one of the great things about where we live in NZ. Hawke's Bay is known as the fruit bowl of NZ and starting in October we'll be in strawberry season through April! I got these two big crates of strawberries for $10NZ. That's about $6US and is equivalent to about 8 pints! I could have gotten them even cheaper if I picked them myself from one of the many pick your own places here but I was pressed for time.

Next will be raspberries, then blueberries, boysenberries, blackberries... and that's just the summer berries. We should be seeing the first apricots, nectarines, peaches, plums and other stone fruit soon.

Did someone say crumble? I have become the master of the fruit crumble since moving here. A good portion of these were soon mixed with some rhubarb that one of Paul's patients gave him for a yummy strawberry-rhubarb crumble.

The legend of Richie One Sock

Our little guy is long and lean from head to toe. So lean in fact that we have a heck of a time finding anything that will stay on his long and narrow little feet.

Forget booties, those fly off with nary a kick. Socks don't fare much better, even a pair of socks sent by Grandma labelled "wiggleproof" failed to live up to their name. One particular set of the smallest tube socks ever sent from the US have worked the best and usually last at least a few minutes on his feet. But sooner or later the inevitable happens and Richie wiggles his way out, one foot at a time (and always left foot first for some reason). Hence, he's earned the mobster nickname "Richie One Sock" in this house.

Here's proof.

Happy Halloween!

Here, Halloween is viewed as a very American holiday and is just now starting to catch on among the kids. But of course what kind of new parents would we be if we didn't submit their infant to the humiliation of dressing up for his first Halloween?

So here's Richie as his namesake, All Black captain Richie McCaw. In the first picture, Richie is getting into character for the traditional pre-game Haka, which is the Maori version of a welcome/war dance that the All Blacks do before each game. If you ever have the chance to catch the beginning of an All Blacks game it's well worth watching just to see them do the Haka. Below is a link to one that created a stir a little while ago because it was particularly vicious.

In the second picture, Richie is showing off his fancy footwork, and in the last he's reveling in the post game victory. BTW, if you're wondering what that elastic band is doing on his head, well that's what they use to keep the opponents from pulling their ears off in the scrum. And why rugby players are often teased about having "cabbage ears."
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1263399859472240677

Reverse Suckology

It's been a big transition in our household lately as Richie has started to trade in his beloved pacifier (or dummy as they call it for some unknown reason here) for a few fingers. Yes, that's a few fingers not just his thumb. In fact, the more fingers he can fit in his mouth, the better. He gets both hands in on the action. Here I caught him finding a novel use for his trusty pacifier.

Going green

It's election time here in NZ too. With a general election scheduled for the first week of Nov., the Green party has launched a campaign with pictures of children enjoying nature with the words "Vote for me" above them. It's proving quite effective. While the two main political parties here are the National (conservative) and Labour (slightly more liberal and the party of Helen Clark who has been prime minister for the last 8 years), the leader of the Green party was recently voted the most trusted politician in NZ. The Greens has a very loyal following here and are key to the coalition-building process in parliament. It's a nice change from the dominant two-party system in the US.

Paul and I were surprised to find that as permanent residents of NZ we are also entitled to vote so that means we will be voting in two national elections next month. In fact, we've already voted and mailed off our US absentee ballots!

Meanwhile, spring is in the air here and we've discovered that green really is Richie's color. He looks quite handsome in his green and brown jumpsuit with adorable "Mommy's little guy" bib that Grandma sent. And no, I didn't plan us to have matching outfits. It just happened one day.


The garden is already producing lots of tasty greens, and here's Paul with his little helper picking some for lunch. Richie now has a collection of sun hats to protect him from the harsh NZ sun (we are the lucky ones who are under the hole in the ozone layer so the rays are much more intense here than in other parts of the world). Now how's that for many variations on a green theme?

All part of my evil plan

Richie has really taken to his swing lately (thanks Farfar and Farmore)! Now he is usually happy to sit there after his bath and relax while we have dinner. Sometimes it does look like he's cooking up an evil plan with his hands neatly folded across his chest. Here, for example, we found out about five minutes later that he was leaving us a special "code brown" present down below.

A flash of brilliance

Today, mommy saw flashes of brilliance in her boy. (yes, moan and roll your eyes as you will, but hey I'm a new mom, I'm allowed.)

First, Richie was playing on his back in his baby gym and reached over and grabbed the ear of the musical stuffed dog toy we were playing with and brought it closer to him. Sounds simple enough but according to the charts that's advanced skill for a four month old and he was only 10 weeks!

Then, as if that display of brilliance wasn't enough, he accidentally hit one of the supports that holds the toys dangling overhead. He was startled initially, but then I could literally see the synapses firing as kicked it again, saw the toys move and put two and two together and let out a squeal of delight. I tried to capture it on film, but by the time I got the camera out the thrill was pretty much over but you can see some of the residual action in the video below. You also hear a little bit of Richie "talking." Not only does he mimic facial expressions (a standard trait for babies this age) but he is already mimicking sounds (a much more advanced skill). So far his favorite sound is "you" as in when I say "I love YOU Richie." I sometimes get a "you"-like sound in response. Of course this has led me to say the word as well as the vowel "u" endlessly and work it into conversation as often as possible. Don't be surprised if you walk by my house and hear me saying "A E I O U" endlessly...

I mean it's my duty to foster the genius, isn't it?



p.s. Yes, I know the pants he's wearing in the video are a little big on him at the moment but he's in an in between sizes stage. Long and lean like his Dad!

Italian Baby Fashion Show

This one's for Aunty Grace. Here's Richie modeling the latest in Italian baby wear. That's him walking the vertical catwalk showing off the contrasting orange soles and flashing a smile for the mirror hanging down from his baby gym. Even he knows he looks good!

Word up

Despite our attempts to dress Richie up like any other baby, his personality is really starting to show through and he has a way of making each outfit his own. Take this Rumplestilskin-esque nightcap and gown for example, he manages to get the hat at just the right angle to give himself some street cred. "Word to your mother!" I imagine him saying.

OMG! What did I do?

Tonight Richie dropped a bomb. That's the most polite way I can think of saying Richie pooped in the bath. We heard a boom and thought it was just gas but soon the bits were floating to the surface. So we had to mount an emergency evacuation effort to get Richie out of the tub as quickly as possible and remove any traces of contamination from the area (ie dump the bath water out, clean the tub and start over again). Richie took it in stride and looked surprisingly calm during the calamity but I thought he did have a bit of a "Oh my, what did I do?!" look on his face while bundled up in his appropriately named Winnie the Pooh towel! Apparently babies do this all the time and Paul said he was lucky that we made it 9 weeks before the bombing.

Buckle up for adventure!

When I put Richie in his car seat, I always try to make a game of it and tell him to "buckle up and get ready for another adventure!" Mind you, that adventure usually ends up being a trip to the grocery store or out for coffee with my mother's group. But he plays along anyway. Here I thought he looked like he was riding a roller coaster! I don't think my driving is THAT bad though.

Good Morning!

Unlike his mom, Richie is definitely a morning person. In the first few moments after waking from sleep, Richie is at his most charming. It's enough to almost make you forget about how little sleep mom and dad are operating on.

Win a trip to NZ!

Yep, it's strange but true. For all those who have wanted to visit but haven't yet had the chance, this is for you. By clicking on the below You Tube link, you could win an expenses paid trip for two to New Zealand!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB24JazI7JQ

And if that weren't motivation enough, you'll get to see a clip of Paul and me with our new baby Richie when he was just 3 weeks old in August.

As you know, we liked Napier, NZ so much we decided to live here, and the folks here have asked us to help promote what a great place it is to live back in our homeland. So they put us in front of a camera with bright lights that scared the heck out of little Richie, who had been a cutie pie right up until the camera started rolling. The end result is a video intro with a crying baby and two sleep-deprived looking parents, which if you ask me isn't all that enticing for their campaign, but it's worth a laugh and the video in between shows you what you're missing here in NZ and why we stayed.

To win the free trip for two of our friends, we have to have the most views of our clip on You Tube from our home country. That's where you come in. Forward this link to all your friends, post it on your web site, circulate it around your office, put it on your Facebook page, whatever will get it the most clicks possible. It looks like we're up against some stiff competition from a Russian family who already has nearly 10,000 page views, so start clicking!

Thanks and enjoy the video.
Cheers,
Jen, Paul and Richie

Smiles 'R Us

Since you've seen "Prelude to a smile," I figured I better post some of the real thing, or at least as close as I could capture on film. He's what the Kiwis would call a "cheeky wee fellow."

Back at the clubhouse

This weekend Paul competed in the final round of his club championship. He made it there after winning many rounds against seasoned golfers with much lower handicaps. We think Richie was his good luck charm so he caught up with Daddy at the clubhouse on Sunday afternoon. Of course it won't be long before Richie will be caddying for Dad but in the meantime, I think he's already starting to look more and more like Dad every day.