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...

All change

Matthew is a fortnight old today and I think we're all doing pretty well! Feeding is a bit of a deal (it seems it is for a lot of babies & their mums!) but he's putting on weight and growing. We're getting enough sleep at the moment (though we're suffering from bad nappy brain and can't remember very basic events) and we're thoroughly enjoying getting to know our little boy. He often has me laughing with his interesting facial expressions and nappy times are an education all round!
We feel very loved by friends and family across the world and also from the amazing support we've received here by way of cards, gifts and meal parcels.
Not much gets done in a day except eating, sleeping and washing (there's tons of it!) but the days certianly don't drag. We have also made it out three days in a row this week so we've tested out the stroller and front pack and Matthew has had his first experience of our favourite dessert and hot chocolate venue, The Blue Rooster - obviously he'll have to wait to partake.
Each day is a new adventure and we're never quite sure how it will work out - we hired King Kong to watch last night but it's a good job it's on a 3 day rental because we only managed an hour!
Oh, and Matthew received his birth certificate today which is not nearly as elegant as our Uk certificates. It also confirms that he's not a Kiwi because neither parent is a NZ resident so he'll have to play rugby for the Lions and not the All Blacks!

Unto us a child is born!

The first picture of Matthew Joshua Shepherd, born 13th May 2006 at 8.10pm.

He weighed in at 6lbs 13 and a half and was 54cm long.

He is awesome!!!!










And our first family picture taken at 2 hours old!

Waiting...

Well, we've arrived at the due date! I didn't expect the baby to arrive early until the midwife put the idea in our heads a month ago and because of that it seems strange I'm still in one piece and not two! Neil is more impatient than me; he just really wants to meet our baby and start getting to know it. I do too but I don't feel really uncomfortable and am still enjoying the time to relax and do not very much. I'm enjoying reading & having impromptu coffee with people and I still haven't done a six hour Pride and Prejudice session so there's plenty of time yet!

Baby Shower

On Wednesday night some lovely friends got together for my baby shower. This was a combination of food, drink (one bottle of wine was called 'Cat's Pee on a Gooseberry Bush" - I only had a sip but it tasted nice!), silly games and praying for the new baby. One of the games was to guess how large my tummy is. Everybody cut off a length of string that they thought would fit around my bump - look how way out some guesses were! This one was at least two feet out! Everybody made me bigger than I am!

I also received lots of lovely gifts, inlcuding this 'nappy pavlova'! Kiwis are big on pavlova (apparantly they invented them, though I did hear a rumour it was the Aussies...) and the baby boutique on the high street, Wee Kiwi, has gift parcels made up in pavlova packaging. This one included the equally traditional All Black rugby playing kiwi and a book with the infamous Buzzy Bee!