Jet lag

Having incredible difficulty loading pictures of our trip but hoping there will be breakthrough soon - a bit like the breakthrough we had with jet lag actually. Matthew slept really well on the plane and was still sleeping Thursday afternoon so we thought we'd wake him up and keep him awake until the evening. No chance. He slept 'til 10pm (we'd gone to bed @ 7pm) and then was awake ALL night until 10.30 the next morning! I then tried to wake him up throughout the afternoon, again with no success, and beginning to wonder how the total reversal of night & day would ever occur if was going to continue to sleep through the day (and consequently was there any point in us trying to get our body clock sorted when he pretty much dictates it anyway?). Well Matthew did wake up at 7pm which was great because it meant Emma & Dan could catch up with him and then we thought we'd do the usual bath, bottle, bed routine at 11pm and see if we could fool him to sleep. And it worked! Gradually since then he's been moving back to 'normal' and last night he slept right the way through! Praise the Lord!

Home Sweet Home

We've now returned from our time in the UK and it's quite amazing how quickly five weeks can go. We had a fantastic time and it was so great to catch up with everyone we got to see; there's never enough time, I guess, but it did feel that there was real quality time with many family and friends. Nearly everywhere we went it felt like we'd only been away a couple of months which was quite bizarre (the greatest change was seeing the children of friends because they give the biggest reality check that we've been away two years - Sam Hewson was only the age Matthew is now when we left and now he's a proper boy!) but great because it felt we could carry on where we left off.
Matthew was adored and seemed to take the travelling in his stride; it did take a few days to adjust to the differences in time, temperature (minus 9 in Rangiora when we left to the heatwave of the UK!), food, bed etc but enjoyed all the attention and cuddles. He was very spoiled with gifts of clothes & toys too (so many that we had to post them back!). And he's changed so much - he's now smiling and chatting away and generally interacts much more with what's going on around him. The highlight was of course watching Matthew with his grandparents, aunts & uncles and cousin (our neice who we met for the first time too and who was dedicated while we were there) - very precious times.
Other highlights (not nearly as significant or memorable) included shopping at Tesco (Finest triple chocolate cookies), driving on motorways (you just get to drive faster than in NZ), listening to quality radio, eating great indian food, Neil finding trousers he liked and going to the National Gallery on our trip to London (actually, just being in London) and the hills & moors in Derbyshire .
Going back to the UK felt like going 'home' but coming back to Christchurch did too - especially returning to mountains and a home with a roaring log burner (stoked by Andrew) and homemade soup for lunch (from Christine).

Unimpressed

On Saturday we gate-crashed Emma & Dan's day together and joined them as they headed to the mountains for sledging. We headed to a slope that had been highly recommended to the Andrews, very near to Lake Lyndon (perhaps Emma will put a picture on her blog...) where Neil went biscuiting on Boxing Day - the difference now is that the lake is covered in 12cm thick ice and people were skating on it!
While the adults were drinking in the amazing scenery, Matthew slept. He missed the drive there, he missed his Dad sledging down a near vertical drop and even having been woken up, fed and dressed in his bear suit he still slept on (just blew a few bubbles). I know he's a baby and wouldn't have got very much out of the whole experience but he never sleeps that much (except on Saturday night when he slept for 8 hours. This would have been great but it was the night of the England match which we got up to watch so we missed out on the benefits. Matthew must have been unimpressed by the football too - or thought he'd save himself from the disappointment).
Maybe Matthew will be more impressed with the heatwave in England than the freezing weather here. Speaking of Engalnd, only 48 hours to go and counting...

Legal Alien

We finally got Matthew a visa yesterday so he can legally be here in NZ. Since January 1st only children born to NZ residents are entitled to citizenship which means that Matthew is a British citizen and not a Kiwi. We got a passport for him two weeks after his birth (with a photo that has to last for the 5 years validity!) and then yesterday waited two hours to get the visa and permit which allows Matthew to return to NZ after our trip to the UK. The conditions of Matthew's visa are that he does not undertake employment and cannot study here for more than three months - I don't think we'll have a problem with that yet!

Baby Sitters

Saturday was my 29th birthday (though my Nanna was shocked to discover I'm not 27!) and I kind of feel 29, if that makes sense. Can't really explain it, other than that I think I expected to be at this stage in life at this age so it seems to fit.
Anyway, Saturday night we went for a lovely meal (again, chocolate dessert being the highlight) and it was the first night we left Matthew with baby-sitters, the very able Dan & Emma. It didn't feel that strange to be honest. Matthew was sleeping peacefully when we returned, giving the impression he'd been like that the whole time but apparantly not! Generally he's a happy bunny but evenings have been more grouchy lately, giving the opportunity to try lots of different cuddling/bouncing/rocking positions!
Anyway, Emma & Dan did an awesome job (despite bits of information I think I forgot to tell them) and have said they'd do it again which sounds good to me!

Snow

Although we know the match wasn't fantastic, an England win was a good opportunity for Matthew to show off his England outfit sent over by his auntie and uncle. Kiwi friends weren't hugely impressed but seen as it's soccer there really isn't much competition.


On Sunday night the weather forecasters predicted heavy rain & strong winds (which did come & woke me up more than Matthew's night time noises) but did not predict snow down to sea level or how much there would be. Many areas of teh South island have been without power but our supply was maintained - good job too or we'd have been heading to friends who have a gas supply!
I was very excited about the substantial amount of snow and wanted to go out and play but Neil pointed out that Matthew is still probably a little young for such antics (and we may have lost him in his white bear suit!). The snow weighed so heavy on the trees that many branches broke and several plants have been trashed - a number of trees have blocked the path to the back door. So we stayed in and I had plans to curl up with the log burner roaring and watch movies all day but Matthew didn't want to play...

Having 'nappy brain' means I really can't remember what we've been up to and the days are merging into one somewhat. Matthew has put on lots of weight (like a pound in 6 days!) and is beginning to grow out of some of his clothes, though not his hats!

Emma, Dan, Andrew and Christine came for a meal to celebrate Dan's birthday and Matthew did a great job of getting Emma to sleep!

We had our first trip to the mall too on Saturday and had quite a substantial shopping time without feeding or nappy interruptions. Neil & Dan decided a round of golf would be more fun which left Emma & I to shop and eat very nice cake.

The other exciting event of the week was booking flights home to the UK for 5 weeks time! We'll be around from the 7th July to 6th August and there's lots of catching up to be done which we're really looking forward to. Now just trying to get our heads round long flights with a small person...