A lot happens in 2 months...

Isla is now off her medication (wahoo!)  at 6 months of age, is such a roller that we got a safety sleep wrap for her at night time, is now sleeping through the night (at 6.5 months)- after a tough mum and dad routine (!), and now at nearly 8 months is starting to pull herself up to stand...with anyone or or anything, can move from sitting to lying to beginner crawling position AND has TWO front bottom teeth!!! Wow! The first tooth popped through on the 12th (7.5 months) and the second two days ago. She seems to be doing things a little quicker than Niamh at the same age...and I'm not use to it :-) Isla is a very alert wee thing who is happiest out and about always watching to see what's going on! She loves people and is such a little delight with a great big smile. She's our little sweetheart!

Niamh has settled back at pre school since being away for 7 months. She is 2 years and 9 months now and is constantly keeping us on our toes. She's a strong willed, independent, spirited wee toddler who is quick to learn new things. Niamh has been doing amazing things at swimming this year and next year will be in the 'advanced chicks' which is a smaller group that sets children up to be independent swimmers. I think she'll do great! Niamh is a little fashionista who is beginning to have a unique way of dressing ...including putting her bracelets on her ankles! It actually looked very cool. She tells me that she likes wearing skirts because they are "good for dancing". Niamh has magnetic letters on the fridge that a few times in the last week has been using to 'write' words. I'm soooo impressed with her beginner writing.... it's all jargon but she can tell us what the words are (grandad = G M F D E; Dad = D H R F S)  She's got the intial sound sussed!! She's our little princess :-)

The past few months have been a blur with moving into out new, wonderful, amazing BIG house....(and sorting out a few issues with it); Anthony's work do at the zoo; a friends' 30th get together; Oli's 6 th birthday party; a sick Niamh with gastroenteristis :-(; coffee group get togethers; Pre school Christmas party/concert and the build up to Christmas. I don't think we have had many weekend days spare! Lots of fun, family, Christmasy things going on :-)


We have just had two wonderful Christmas family get togthers. The Simon's family one was last Saturday and lucky lil Niamh got a trampoline!! Thanks Nanny and Popsie. Isla also got a cute musical wind up ferris wheel. Niamh loves her tramp which took dad a bit to put up, but it's been a hit so far with Niamh's cousins and play friends.

Christmas Eve was complete with Niamh putting out a cookie and beer for Santa, and a carrot and water for the reindeer. It's soooo neat that she is really into Christmas this year. We had the Parsons side at our new place for the day. Niamh got sooo many very cool things- watering can/ seeds/ and pots; books/ clothes/ felts; paints to name a few. Isla got teething things (perfect!); books, book ends; a moving turtle and beach towel. Lucky little girls! From us Niamh and Isla got tutu's; books, duplo for Niamh, a mary lou doll for Isla etc. It was a really wonderful day.

As 2012 is nearly all complete, it has been a truely wonderful, amazing and AMBITIOUS year for the Simons family. We had Niamhs second birthday in March, moved at Easter, welcomed Isla in May, built a house, and moved again in October. Phew! A bit crazy but soooo worth it all. :-)

Moving!

Isla is moving- rolling now from her back onto her tummy, and sometimes right over again! So clever at 5 months :-)

And.....

We are moving- into our lovely new home tomorrow! We can't wait as this process started back in August 2011 for us. Very, very excited!!!

Time flies!

Where have the months gone? A lot has happened in the last few months, with building and looking after my two gorgeous girls. It's been a pretty healthy winter for us on the 'Shore', which is a big positive. Our house is only weeks away from being complete for us to move into and we are really looking forward to that.

Isla is now 4 and a half months old. At the last Plunket visit (last week) she was 5.85kg and 62 cm long. Isla is such a chatterbox now and loves to be around people. Her face absolutely lights up when someone is near. Isla happily wakes in the morning and enjoys having a chat to herself for a wee while, which is a great help when I am trying to get Niamh sorted too. She is sleeping about 6-7 hours every night, waking once for a feed, but the feeds are pretty quick and it's back into bed for her after 10 minutes max. She is just starting to roll up onto one side, but hasn't quite worked out how to fully roll over. Isla has such a strong grab now too and will latch onto anything in sight! We are still in Devonport, so she is still in the bassinet which we are hoping won't be for too much longer...it's working at this stage but will be great to have her move into a cot when we move into our house.

Niamh is great! She is 2 and 6 months at the end of the month. She is such a lovely big sister to Isla and the first thing she wants to do in the morning is see Isla. We have being busy in Devonport going to Rhyme Time at the library most Mondays, Arty Smarty on Fridays, swimming on Saturdays, Plunket and doctor visits for Isla, and playdates for Niamh during the week. It has certainly made the weeks go quickly. We went to the Wiggles concert on Sunday which Niamh just loved! She had her fairy wings on and disco beads and danced to the songs. Very cute! We took Isla too as the concert was only just over an hour and she was good as gold in the front pack with dad. It was a fun, full on morning!

Weeks...

11 weeks. Isla is 11 weeks now and had her Plunket visit. She is now 4.84kg which is the 9th percentile, down from above the 25th percentile at the last visit (!). Her head circumference is now 38.5 cm and is 56cm long. We aren't really surprised. She has been so unsettled lately and getting any feed into her has been a battle. She is now exclusively bottle fed and I'm very happy with that decision. Feeding was not working at all with Isla and so we changed to formula. We are onto Osteopath number 2 now. She is great and has the same ideas as the first Osteopath, so it's all pretty consistant with lil Isla. She is really tight and stiff in her neck, and has a tight diaphram....Hopefully we can work on making her a bit more relaxed. Isla's sleeping 5 hours in the night BUT she wakes up before this and needs a resettle, so I'm up about 4 times in the night. I hope she starts to improve soon cause it's tough going!!

9 weeks. Our house will be ready in 9 weeks! Have had a few issues with the build but are hoping we can get some things sorted. Fingers crossed.

1 week: 1 week till Niamh's first haircut. She's actually quite excited. Don't think she really knows what it's all about though. Wonder if I can get a photo of the occasion.

My beautiful girls :-)

Deja vu

It feels like we have already 'been there done that' with everything at the moment. Currently I am now taking Isla to the same Osteopath that I went to with Niamh. These two girls are quite similar in a lot of respects it seems! Isla is so stiff, arches right over backwards and has difficulty relaxing....at any time. The best thing that is working for us at the moment is a front pack to have her close, upright and she can feel movement. Isla also has a tight diaphragm and neck area causing a bit of pain for her. We are already up to 3 times at the Osteopath now and am hoping it will help things along and help Isla to relax and settle. We can only try :-)

The night time stretches are getting a bit easier, as Isla gets close to 8 weeks. She averages a 5 hour stretch at this stage and this is after an evening bath. At 6 weeks Isla was 54 cm long, weighed 4190kg and head circumference of 37cm. We had our 8 week Plunket check today and lil Isla is now 55cm long, weighs 4610kg and 38cm head circumference. She is around the 25th Percentile.

Isla is now coo-ing and smiling and just being so so gorgeous! She is beginning to use her limbs to push things in the bath, and use her hand to push her dummy back in...it's all a bit random but she's got the right idea! She's starting to suck on her hands too.

Niamh just LOVES her sister. She wants to read to her and see her all the time. "Isla looking", "Isla smiling", "Isla stretching", "Isla yawning"- as the big sister keeps tabs on her baby sister. She has been continuing with swimming while we are living on the North Shore for term 2 and has had great Dad and Niamh time in the pool. We have just enrolled her for term 3 also. She is using so many more words now as her vocab grows and we get "What's that?" all day everyday as she tries to make sense of her world. The terrific twos are in force though as she makes her 'personality' known. I have also just enrolled Niamh for Arty Smarty- an messy art course for pre schoolers during Term 3. It should be great as I can take Isla along with us.


We have been busy lately with Emma and Caleb's Baptism, Ella's 4th birthday, exploring the North Shore, catching up with friends who come to meet Isla, mid wife and plunket visits, Rhymetime at the Library and Lollipops Ellerslie with Niamh's friends. Phew!

In other news our house is coming along. Less that 3 months to go now!!! The roof is on, windows in and outside cladding is going on. I am getting onto sorting out the curtains now. My next big job for our house.

4 weeks young

Wow! I had forgotten how busy life is with a newborn again. I don't know where the day goes with a newbie and an active toddler. I now have a whole new huge appreciation for mums, especially with children close together in age!!

My two beautiful girls.

We have had a few ups and downs with lil Isla. She also suffers from reflux :-( On the positive side, we have been through all of this with Niamh so could identify the signs quickly. It's pretty hard seeing your new baby screaming in pain everytime after a feed and then taking hours to settle. Having Anth home has been great, a huge help and support and we were able to see a paediatrician to get Isla onto Losec at week 3. Phew! Niamh loved having her dad home too. We think the Losec is helping. It's not affecting Isla so much now and even though it still takes time to settle her after a feed, it's nothing to the extent of how long it was taking. The other good sign is that she is putting on weight now. Poor thing couldn't feed so wasn't gaining weight before. We also now give her a late bath to calm her for the night which she just loves. We think she's another water baby :-)

The night waking has been hard to get back into! Isla wakes twice a night and we have had up to 3 times...that's tough! I think she got her days and nights mixed a bit. We put her down at 9:30pm and she usually wakes at 1am, then 3:30am, then around 6am. I'm focusing on the fact that this is not forever.....and catching up on sleep when I can get the two girls down for a nap in the afternoon :-)

Isla is starting to make coo-ing sounds and smile. Niamh just loves seeing her sister and wants to give kisses and cuddles...all the time! Niamh has really impressed me about how accepting she has been since Isla arrived.

In other news our house is coming along. It is roof ready and believe the roof is going on this week. Exciting times! We have just over 3 and a half months till it is all finished and ready for us to move in and back to Pukekohe. We can't wait!

Welcome to Isla Ruth

Isla Ruth Simons arrived on Thursday 3 May at 8.54am. She weighed 7lb 9oz (3430kg), 51cm long and 35cm head circ. She is a delight :-)

Changes....

A LOT has happened in the last few months...so much so I haven't had a chance to update this blog. We have a few very exciting weeks and months ahead of us as newbie is due on the 2 May (15 days away now). I'm not as organised as with Niamh but we have everything we need. With Anthony taking time off when baby arrives we are sure to get everything sorted.

It's been a busy time as we moved out of our house at Easter and have relocated (for 6 mths) to Devonport. Going from a 3 bedroom house with internal double garaging to a 2 bedroom flat has been challenging to say the least but we are determined to make it work especially with the little bub on her way. It's going to make us absolutely LOVE moving into our new 4 bedroom house when it is finished being built later this year!!

I'm starting to get excited about that too as we chose colours on the weekend, going for some very bold choices but why not go for the 'wow' factor. The section has been dug out and the drainage has been done. We are hoping for the concrete foundations to be completed very soon. It has been a bit of a hold up to get council consent- over 2 months but am happy to say that hurdle has been overcome!


Moving was a mission!! Thankfully we had a lot of family help as even though we started packing up, sorting and sending boxes to Hamilton early, it was still a lot to organise and shift on that last day. It was also a bit sad to say goodbye to Isabella Drive, a place that has been our house for 5 and a half years and before that we were renting on the street for 1 and a half years also. We got to have Niamh's 2nd birthday in the house before the move so that was special to me. Niamh was totally spoilt and Nan made an amazing cake.

Our little Niamh is now 2!!!! All 11kg and 84cm of her. Her language has increased and her communication has improved sooooo much. So has a few 'stubborn' moods. I guess this is the terrible twos. This hasn't been helped by the last eye tooth popping up...then going down....then popping up again. She hasn't had the best luck with teeth emerging- it really affects her. Niamh is such a little sponge. She can count to 10 forwards and backwards and is learning to count to 20 now. She can identify numbers to 10 (I feel like i'm writing a school report!!), she is now identifying letters. It's all been driven by her as she is really interested to learn. She's also all about colours too.

Niamh is in a big girl bed and after an initial settling period it has been really positive. She looks like a tiny dot in it, so much so we short sheeted her sheets as she only needs them to go halfway! Niamh can be really fearless at times. She had her first turn on a bouncy castle recently and went straight in without thinking, she loves tramps and any slide. With swings she loves going fast and high. I wonder who she get's this thing for speed from (Her dad!). With our move, Niamh won't be going to a daycare until we move back to Pukekohe. I have enrolled her in swimming on Saturday mornings up here and want to take her to a dance group for 2 year olds called Toddler and Toes on Tuesdays term time. I also want to give Playcentre a go.

The next thing we are looking forward to is the arrival of baby Simons. It will be wonderful to meet her and see the interactions grow between Niamh and her little sister. An exciting, challenging, wonderful, special time ahead for the Simons family.

Christmas Time 2011 and other stuff

Another year has flown by. I'm sure they seem to be picking up speed!

We had a lovely Simon's Christmas get together on the 17th December, then Christmas Day was spent with the Parsons'. Niamh got thoroughly spoilt!! I'm not too sure that 21month old Niamh knew much about what Christmas was all about as the sparkly Christmas tree and wrapped presents underneath had no impact on her. She did get into the hang of opening the presents on the day though! Santa got her lots of bits and pieces- a colouring in book, clothes, playdough tools, lollies and books. Lucky girl!

Niamh also had her daycare Christmas Party on the 23rd December. The children from The Playhouse had prepared songs to sing to the parents. I'm sure it would have been overwelming with soooooo many mums and dads sitting (or standing) so close with cameras and camcorders pointed at the children while they preformed. We were SO proud of our girl as she took part, shy and sitting on Sheree her teachers knee, but still sat with the others and joined in. We also now know the songs she has been 'singing' at home. "Fire Truck" and the "National Athem". We got Niamhs portfolio for the year and it was so good to read her progress and to see how her confidence has grown over the year. Mummy and daddy are soooo proud of you Niamh!

We spent a couple of days at Kawhia straight after Christmas, went for walks and a drive and even went for a swim- it was a little chilly though. Anthony has only has the Stats off so it was back home after 2 days.

Niamh is becoming a real little girl now, picking up lots of words and starting to put them together like "All gone". Her communication is really improving. She is still an incredible cheeky, cute wee thing. She is at the stage where she loves helping us AND prefers to do things herself. I have found new patience!!!!! She loves reading and blowing bubbles and spending time outside. Niamh is started to go up stairs standing up and holding the side. She still loves slides and anything with speed (!).

We have ordered Niamh a big girls bed and I'm looking forward to setting it up in her room to start day sleeps in. We have just bought her a pillow and started putting that in her cot to get use to. So far so good! I have my eye on a gorgeous duvet set. Can't wait to get her all set up and ready in plenty of time before baby no.2 arrives.

It's been a very wet January so far, so we haven't been up to much. Niamh and I have had lots of mummy and Niamh time as she has a little break from going to daycare. She will start back mid January and still only for 2 days as normal.