In July we were thrilled to announce that we are expecting our second child, due 2 March 2003, just a few weeks short of Lydia's second birthday! We'd had an early scan at 8 weeks which showed a tiny healthy heartbeat, but waited for the 12-week scan in mid-July before daring to get excited - which we certainly did as we saw our little one moving his/her arms and head around... everything looked fine and we are looking forward to the next scan (late September) to confirm all is still well, and to find out what we are having (ie boy or girl). I'm just as excited about this pregnancy as I was with Lydia's - can't wait to feel the first little movements which should be any time now. |
|
To make room for this new 2003 addition, we're preparing to move Lydia into a new bedroom upstairs at the end of the year and, like her nursery, we've put a lot of creative energy into it! The room's looking really great already (it's a real girl's room this time, with pinks and oranges, flowers etc) - it just got some finishing touches to go such as perhaps a small painted feature wall. We'll show off the final result on our next webpage update, once its all complete! |
|
Our trip to Sydney
| At the end of August, Lydia and I
accompanied Brent on his business trip to Sydney.
We stayed there for almost a week at the lovely
"Stafford on the Rocks" apartments,
located in the heart of The Rocks just up from
Circular Quay, overlooking the Sydney Opera House
and (from the street) the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The accommodation was great, with a full kitchen
and seperate bedroom (so I could still socialise
in the lounge while Lydia slept - a big priority
on this trip!). While poor Brent had to work weekdays, I'd organised a very busy social time for Lydia and myself, booking in to see as many friends and relatives as possible, two appointments a day in some cases so it was pretty hectic! |
|||||||||
|
On the first day, Thursday, we met up with my
Aunty Frances and we spent the day shopping,
driving out to Randwick to pick up some things
for Lydia's new bedroom, and wandering around the
shops in the city centre. Lydia thought it was
great fun, taking it all in from her stroller! On Friday, my Aunty Jan and cousin Frith drove all the way down from Nelson Bay to see us with Frith's children Dahnley (aged 3.5) and Nala (just turned 1). We went down to the park area by Circular Quay and the kids played happily together while we caught up with each other's news. Lydia was particularly taken with Dahnley and followed him everywhere, copying whatever he was doing! |
|
|||||||
On Monday we went into KLine where Brent was working so they could all meet Lydia, then we left to meet up with Leona (a friend from my Coffee group, who's now based in Sydney, has a son Jarrod who was born the same day, hospital etc as Lydia) at the park by Circular Quay - the kids had a great play together there and then we took them for a walk around The Rocks in their strollers. That night our good friends Alan and Nicki visited us in the evening and we had a good long chin-wag about anything and everything! The next day Lydia and I did some shopping in town (Grace Bros, etc) and played a little in Hyde Park before we all headed out to the airport. So it was a very busy but eventful trip - we had an awesome time! |
|||||||||
|
 |
|
The Wiggles Concert The Monday after we returned from Sydney we'd booked tickets for The Wiggles concert in the Aotea Centre. Lydia's a big Wiggles fan - she's learning all the actions for the songs and loves to dance away - so cute to watch! I'd been lucky enough to check the Wiggles website a few months earlier and found out they were coming to New Zealand in September, and happened to call up the booking office just one day after the tickets had gone on sale, so I was able to secure great seats for us all - 9 in total (the two of us, my friend Lissa with her two children Laura and Finlay, Donna and Lydia's cousin Katie, and Donna's friend Victoria with her daughter Emma), right at the front of the upper circle. Lydia got right into it, dancing away to the music before they came on, and watching the show, captivated, from my lap for pretty much the entire hour, clapping and squealing in delight! When the show ended she started clapping again, hoping they'd come out - she was a little disappointed when they didn't! |
|
|
|
Life with Lydia Lydia just keeps getting more and more interesting! Her speech, which was looking really promising a few months back, kind of regressed for a while (making us worry about her ears, but they were fine!). Recently though the attempts at new words have sprung ahead again, but they are still mostly abbreviations (eg Monkey is "key" etc) so we're probably the only ones who understand what she's saying at the moment! She loves her books, and can differentiate between all of the common zoo and farm animals, types of fruit etc now, as well as a host of other everyday objects (eg flowers, keys, shapes). She also recognises her own printed name and knows which letters are the L, D and A (Y and I sound a little too similar to her at the moment) - the letter A is for some reason a big hit, which she likes to point to and repeat over and over again! The best thing is that she can now communicate what she wants most of the time, often by dragging us to what she wants and pointing etc, which takes a lot of the guesswork out of parenting (and is probably why she isn't so fussed about talking more)! Her favourite activities at the moment are playing with the neighbours' pet rabbit, playing with matching shapes toys, reading lift-the-flap books and washing her hands(!) |
|
