'tis the season to be jolly...

Nico is 2 years, 1 month and 25 days today.

We took him to Franklin Rd last night. This is a road in the Ponsonby neighbourhood, where all residents who live there have to sign an agreement that they will put up lights and decorations close to Christmas. As a result, the whole road except one (no one lives there) was lit up at night and had a lot of passers by - mainly families with kids. Nico enjoyed it, it was a lot of sensory overload and he fell asleep in the car on the way home.

For his 2nd birthday, Camilla gave him a gingerbread Christmas decoration kit, which consists of three gingerbread pieces, icing and decorations to sprinkle on top. Miraculously enough I managed to convince Nico not to eat any of the gingerbread pieces before we had time to decorate it. And the very second I put down the gingerbread to do the finishing touches, one had disappeared into his mouth. Other presents were:

A train set sent by Marama

A little DHL plane from Irene

A dump truck from Finn (sponsored by Finn's Mummy and Daddy)

Christmas dinner at Oma Yoke tonight, so we'll put Nico to bed late for his nap this afternoon so he can stay up a little bit longer to open up his presents.

So far he's loving having both parents at home - especially Papa.

38 days to go till Bean shows up.

I have to figure out a way to delay labour. Bean being in the 5th centile (i.e. small), I have to make sure that she packs on as much fat as possible while inside me. For the last 3 weeks and until birth, Bean will be gaining a third to half of her birth weight. This means that the longer she stays indoors, the heavier she will be at birth. This probably explains why Nico was so light (2.265kg) at birth, having been born 3 weeks early. Soooo, no exercise, walking, sex, hot baths, chillies until 31 January - and if we're lucky, she'll be a week overdue.

Yes!!!

Today I'm 47 days away from a lighter me - Nico is 2 years, 1 month and 16 days.

The placenta's moved out of the way! This means no caesarean, at least not for placenta praevia and not for a breech baby anyway.

The 32 week scan confirmed that the placenta is left lateral and that Bean is now upside down. Just like a bat.

The only concern is that Bean is on the small side, so Toni our midwife may decide to send us back for another scan.

We had a look and listen at the blood flows, heartbeats etc and everything else appears normal.

She seems to be running out of room in there, so either I need a bigger belly or it's time to get rid of my tenant real soon before she breaks something.

Had my blood results back from Labtests end of November - looks like I've got anaemia, which would explain why I've been feeling so tired in the past few months. Just never thought I'd need to eat more meat. At least it's an easy one to fix.

We went to Catherine's birthday party over the week-end, it was great to see Nico comfortable with leaving some distance between us. As long as he's got food for company.

Also got a Christmas tree, which I decorated last night. It took Nico less than 2 hours to pluck out all the stars and most of the balls within his reach. He now has them neatly lined up on the coffee table.

Toilet training breakthrough!

At 2 years, 1 month and 4 days old, Nicolas has for the first time indicated that he needed to go to the toilet.

He started going to the toilet at around 7 or 8 months old, able to control some of his bodily functions enough to respond to prompts whenever being held over the toilet.

Then a few months back we put a toilet training seat on the toilet, along with a little step stool, and led him there at each nappy change and before and after sleeps/naps.

BLISS! For a whole week last week, I did not have to deal with a single dirty nappy, just wet ones. Then Friday at daycare, day-long outing with Daddy to Goat Island Reserve on Saturday, a whole afternoon spent at the kids' Christmas party organised by my work on Sunday, stayover at Oma's on Monday and I was back to square one and wondering how I was going to get it going again... Till the magic word came out of Nico's mouth: Caca?

Yep. As Bas says, the joy of parenting. Never thought that I'd be so excited about poos.

We attended the Mangere Bridge Santa Parade earlier today and were in the double-decker bus. Couldn't get Nico to wave. Felt like Bean was waving from inside the whole time.

Proud mummy moments

Today Nico is 2 years, a month and a day old. I have less than 2 months till the big day.

Went to a shop yesterday and the Asian attendant pointed out that Bean could have been born the year of the Tiger had Bastiaan and I had waited another 2 weeks. So I guess we'll have a little ox on our hands (better start reinforcing the furniture), and either a Capricorn or an Aquarius.

She's still quietly bubbling away under my skin. I'm starting to think that I've watched way too many horror movies. Watching my abdomen freakishly move like this, there just isn't a single time that I don't think of one movie or another where some monster parasite rudely bursts out of its host's body (anyone ever wondered why they always come out the front of the chest or the stomach, and never sideways or through the back?).

Dreamt last night that I gave birth at 29 weeks. Funny (or worst?) bit is that I was so focused on eating some foie gras (which I didn't even get round to before waking up!) that Bean's prematurity didn't really register.

Reflux is getting bad, it only takes 2 chocolate biscuits now :(

Joined the Growing Up in NZ study. Not really off to a good start, they called me so often even before the first interview it was painful. Better be worth it.

Nico's learning his manners pretty well. It only took a banana smoothie to teach him to say 'More' and a handful of grapes for him to understand that 'Pwease' goes a long way when 'More' by itself doesn't work. Cheese cubes took care of the 'Thank you' bit.

When Nico was a few months old we signed up with the Mangere Bridge toy library, and one way or another I ended up being the Committee's secretary. Had an interview with one of the journalists to promote the library, and of course we needed a model to show that the toys are fun. Yes, even stunned mullets have fun.

In the latest edition of Little Treasures magazine (Dec 09 / Jan 10). Even with the toys, it was incredibly hard to get Nico to stay on the green screen by himself, he just wasn't up for collaboration that day.

Daddy and I were cooking (well to be accurate I was cheffing and Bas was kitchen aiding) when every so often we heard in the background a little voice going 'bloow...' 'bloow...'

It didn't even occurred to me that before one learns to blow one's nose, one should first learn to tear off toilet paper.

Oh well you've got to start somewhere.

Apparently he should have 50 words to his vocabulary now. I wonder whether counting to 10 in 4 languages counts as 40 words, and the alphabet as 26, or would that be cheating? Let's count...

1. Family members: Papa, Mama, Ngoai, Oma, Thijs, Babiche, Karin (ok Karin's not a family member per se, but Nico sees her often enough to recognise her name)
2. Animals: dog, cat, fish, bird, frog, bug, chicken, horse, sheep, cow, duck, pig, butterfly, elephant, crocodile, snake, spider, bear, zebra, giraffe, bee, lion, monkey, rabbit, wolf
3. Food: cheese, grapes, banana, apple, pear, chicken (whoops I don't think he quite realises what it means), kiwifruit, dip
4. Objects: car, truck, slide, socks, shoes, shirt, phone, book, doll, tree, fork, toothbrush, bubbles, nappy
5. Body parts: head, shoulders, knees, toes, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, tummy, teeth
6. Common words: hello, bye bye, yes, no, more, please, thank you, up, down, baby
7. Verbs: sit, drink, pipi, caca, sleep
8. Plus whatever word he manages to mumble when singing along. But I can't quite make them out.

I think that should cover the 50 words. Too late to count, I'm going to bed while Bean's asleep and won't keep me awake hugging my bladder.

Happy 2nd birthday Nico!

Today Nico is 2 years, 2 weeks and 2 days old.

77 days to go till Bean stops playing havoc with my internal organs and starts working on my external bits (nipples, eyelids, ear drums,...)

Checking out the quilt that Oma Yoke made for his 2nd birthday.

On his actual birthday (29 October) we got him a little monkey moonchair, which he snuggles into to watch DVDs.

Last Sunday we celebrated Nico's 2nd birthday at home.

We had friends & family over, and of course more food and drinks than we could handle.

Fletcher, Elisa, Eliah, Nico and Finn discovering the bubble machine

and how not to shampoo a carpet.

Eliah couldn't find falling snow flakes to eat,

so had to make do with bubble solution.

Elisa trying (and failing) to teach Nico the value of sharing his ride with the girls.

Ohmygosh look at all the colours!

Nicolas had a genuine try at helping me ensure that there would be no leftovers.

Briar got the idea - one plate in each hand...

Felt some pity for the parents, so we let the offspring out loose on the driveway with chalk and bubbles to work the sugar and colouring out. Failed abysmally with Catherine who didn't go to sleep till midnight despite her arm-flail (tm) workout.

Nico's got so many toys that we've decided to gradually open the rest of his birthday presents - at the rate of about a present every two days and so far he's loving the ones he's opened. You can tell by the fact that they're scattered throughout the house.

Still loving staying at Oma's, learning Dutch songs, feeding the chickens and going for swimming lessons. Oma (sorry - Oma Yoke) has discovered the hard way that regular disposable nappies are meant to absorb and retain large amount of liquids. Seems I missed out on the sight of a Nicolas dragging a water-logged nappy inside his swimming shorts. Lucky for her, Nico didn't eat prunes or kiwifruit the night before.

Nico's been staying at Oma's every Monday night while Mummy and Daddy learn how to cook Thai dishes. His favourite so far is the money bags - like fried wontons. Separation time seems to get easier as time goes by. I'm sure that the fact that he's occupied with dessert when we say bye-bye has got nothing to do with it.

Bean is being way more active than Nico was. It's pretty distracting and dare I say disturbing to look down at my beer gut and see ripples on its surface every so often. Must not think of Aliens... Must not think of Aliens...

She's growing so well that when Nico comes up close to my legs and hugs me, his first words are not Mama, or even Cheese. Instead he says Baby - that'd be because that's all he sees when he looks up...

Random things

Thursday 29 is Nico's 2nd birthday, and Bean is about 14 weeks away.

Took Nicolas (and Bean, I guess) to 2 different Mainly Music sessions. The first one, by the airport, was a bit overwhelming for Nico with all these kids and people he didn't know (Reanna was there too but I doubt he recognised her) so all he wanted to do was head to the slide at the back of the room. However morning tea came and that just did the trick. The second one, closer to home, was packed with people I knew and Nico was quite a bit more comfortable, even crouching for one of the songs. Pity the time to crouch had passed. Again morning tea served to relax him (that's my son alright). He sat with the other kids to wait for water and a biscuit (bit of a meagre morning tea compared to the other branch if you ask me) and leant back to put his head in my lap. Then he looked up. Panic! Wrong mummy! What followed was one of the fastest shuffles towards me I've ever seen.

We went to another midwife appointment on Thursday. Everything went pretty much normal though all that happened was some poking around my belly, blood pressure and listening to the heartbeat.

Bean's doing a lot of kicking, I'm pretty sure that she's way more active than Nico was. Some of the movements, thankfully very few of them, are borderline painful. I just hope that this doesn't happen in the middle of a meeting. Pulling a face for no apparent reason just isn't a good way to be taken seriously.

I'm going through a shortage of pants to wear. I've broken the zip on one and popped a button on the other.

Monday was Nico's first sleepover - at Oma's place, while Mummy and Daddy were learning how to cook rice. The report was that he was very well behaved, and in the morning we found Oma's house and sanity in one piece and Nico dry-eyed.

We went to the Sake Bar to celebrate Oma Yoke's birthday on Wednesday. Aside from the fact that there was some sushi leftover (that would NEVER have happened had I not been pregnant) and that I had to keep my gaze away from the plate to stop myself from drooling, all went well and Nico behaved, trying just about anything that Oma Yoke and I presented to him. He was even willing to try Oma Yoke's Corona but all he got was the lemon.

Nico's now got a fairly good vocabulary, sings along to nursery rhymes, recognises most of his letters and is able to count till 15 (that's how many stairs we have at home). He seems to have developed an interest in boy things such as trains, trucks, buses, planes and tractors, which baffles us as to how he came to pay attention to them. Managed to plug in a USB cable into my laptop. Which reminds me, I must ask him how to change the answer message on the phone.

Dreamt that I was about to give birth and had to have an emergency caesarean. I remember feeling terrified at the idea. Bas says that worrying it about won't change things but it's easier said than done...

Both father and son spent Labour week-end gardening...

Shoveling the top soil from the trailer to Steve's wheelbarrow.

Each had his own spade.

Pushing the wheelbarrow.

Nico even got rides in it, better than the pony rides and without the queues!

Naughty Oom Thijs!

Nicolas is 1 year, 11 months and 6 days today.

On Monday, at Oma's place, Oom Thijs was admiring Daddy's handiwork. Which must have been quite nice, since a "****ing hell!" escaped his lips.
Of course, Nico was hanging around and of all the words that he could have picked up from Thijs, like his Visa's PIN, he chose those... Next thing that was heard floating around the lounge was a little voice quietly, naturally, skillfully repeating "mumblemumble hell!".
Which resulted in an unimpressed Mummy and an amused Daddy...
So now's the time to watch our language around the house. No more swearing for me.

Nico enjoys singing and dancing very much, so I have no choice but to enrol him to a Mainly Music session. Will give it a go once the school holidays are over and they start again. He sings the alphabet song and '1-2 buckle my shoe' (did I say sing? more like 1-2 mumblemumble-shoe... 3-4 mumblemumble-door...) to himself and is able to recognise about half of the alphabet letters and most animal names. Now to teach him colours... I have no idea how to.

Bean is now 116 days away from her scheduled arrival. She's been stretching quite a bit, active and all, hiccuping included. 2 weeks ago I was sitting on the toilet behind Nico, encouraging him to go. I'm guessing he gave it a genuine try, grunts and all, because I got rewarded with hiccupping. Soon he was joined by Bean. That's what I call synchronisation, one on either side of my belly.

I'm so over being pregnant now (ok I've been over it for the last 5 months), reflux has started haunting my evenings, so coconut chicken has now been banned from my menu. And I could set a treasure hunter to go to the deepest forest in search for the wisest, oldest, magicalest frog, said frog still wouldn't be able to beat my weather forecast ability thanks to my sore hip joint. Jai has been on the lookout to catch a glimpse of my famous limping waddle, which thankfully happens mostly when it gets colder - mornings and evenings.

1 month to go till his 2nd birthday. Time goes fast when you gave kids.

Our own PA

So anyone calling home today wishing to leave a voice message will be greeted not by my voice requesting them to leave a name, number and message after the beep, but by Nico's voice going 'beeeeeep'.

I don't even know what buttons he pushed so the message might have to stay on for some time until I figure out how to replace it...

Cold feet

28 more days and Nico will be 2 years old...

122 more days and I'll get to eat sushi...

Last week-end, we took 4 days off work... No wait. Travelling with Nico doesn't really constitute taking a day off work. Let me rephrase.

Last week-end, we took 4 days off paid work, and went to Queenstown to visit Ba Ngoai who was accompanying Lola, Mana, Kulani and Taaroa.

Despite the lack of luggage allowance, there were plenty of toys, clothes and books from New Caledonia.

And I've decided I hate toys that 1. make obnoxious sounds, 2. haven't got a volume control button and 3. haven't got an Off button. Nico's new Mushabelly does just that, and worse, it seems to be a bird. A homing pigeon to be specific. Thought I'd managed to lose it (honestly I didn't even mean to) on Wednesday and lo and behold it turns up in my car. Awww....

Bar the one in the freezer, this was Nico's first encounter with snow. He wasn't too pleased with it. Too cold to play with, too slippery to stand on, not edible enough to hold any interest. Especially the yellow kind.

Feeding the ducks with Ba Ngoai in tow was fun, but chasing them was even better. Maybe we should invest in a couple to exhaust him during the day. If it doesn't work, at least it'll keep Loki busy for a few minutes.

Bean is growing well, like her big brother she's a kicker (not to be confused with een kikker). Which makes me doubt the sonographer's statement about her gender. No longer able to hide my beer gut under baggy clothes. Not even able to contain it in normal pants any more, one of my trousers' button seems to have disappeared. Eat for two, people tell me... I'd love to, but it's really hard to find tasty food that's healthy too. And when I manage to enjoy my food, reflux and lack of room only allow me half a portion. When I get out of hospital (or even if I have to stay in hospital) I plan on filling my deprived stomach with salmon sushi, pate, salami & ham sandwiches, carpaccio, sashimi and just about any raw meat that I can get my hands onto. Stuff loosing my pregnancy weight.

Spent the last couple of weeks trying to get my head around supplies for Bean, and then remembered that we already have most of it. Mainly need a booster seat for Nico to move to, a portacot, some girly clothes and that's just about it. Oh, and if I'm going to be a human milk machine, as Byron so charmingly put it, I'm going to need a new electric breast pump. Think I'll attend the Parent & Child show end of October and see what I can get out of it. Let's hope that it won't trigger labour this year, 3 months prem seems a bit harsh.

Must remember to start cooking up a lot of food in the new year to freeze. Had a shock when I calculated that 1kg of apples costs $1 and makes a large pot of apple compote, Vs the same price for a tiny can of Wattie's. Thankful for Google and recipe websites.

Must learn to go to bed earlier than half past midnight.

It's a girl!

Nico is a year, 10 months and 18 days today. In 137 days (or so), he'll be the big brother of a little girl. Well, I hope she'll be little on the way out and grow from there.

We went to the 20-week scan yesterday and the sonographer said she was 96% sure that the Bean is a girl, considering we saw some girl bits and no boy bits.

That being said, I must admit that she looks more like an old man than a girl at the moment, without the fat on. Time to head to the nearest KFC, all for the baby's sake.

Everything for Miss Bean is going well, or at least as far as we could tell. The sonographer checked for Down's syndrome, cleft palate, femur length, and head circumference. And other stuff.

The only potential problem is that the placenta is low lying for now, which could mean placenta praevia if the placenta doesn't expand upwards. Placenta praevia is a condition where the placenta covers the cervix, blocking the baby's traditional exit route. In which case we'd have to go for the scenic route via the rooftop. Let's hope it doesn't happen...

Nico behaved fairly well considering he'd received the full weight of a toy chest's wooden lid on the face in the waiting room earlier on. The wonders of cuddles, grapes and a glass water... Must find a way to bottle this and sell it as a miracle pain killer on the black market. Why black market? Because morphine sells for more than ibuprofen.

The rest of the time he's his happy angelic self with the exception of when he doesn't get his way - in which case we'll get a theatrical performance where he'd rush up to the cause of the upset in question, dramatically fall on one knee and collapse to the floor, crying/whingeing. Move away to another room, and he'll follow for an encore.

We went to visit Finn to give his birthday present yesterday. He and Nico got on really well. Must take Nico out to socialise at Playgroup more often. Hopefully he'll enjoy the interaction with his little sister, though I'm expecting some drama as he will no longer get undivided attention.

Nico is pointing at my belly and saying 'baby', but I'm wondering whether he might be confusing it with my belly piercing.

To Brisbane and (unfortunately) back

Today Nico is 1 year, 10 months and 8 days old and I'm 19 weeks pregnant.

Daddy had to go to Brisbane to see a client, so we tagged along for the ride. Nico decidedly enjoyed his 3rd trip overseas, waking up every morning (well if you don't count the days he had fever and our 6am start on the last day) full of beans and zooming around the apartment like a hoon without the wheels.

Typical me, I had extensively researched Brisbane's child-friendly activities, had addresses and schedules noted down and of course forgot them on my laptop at home. Blame it on baby brain. Still, we managed to find pretty fun places to see and do.

The key to an easy trip is definitely down to two things: toys and food. As long as the beast was fed and entertained, no one's sanity was in danger. I now have a standard checklist of things to take for road, camping, plane or overseas trips.

So what did we do?

- Got in touch with our inner Ponsonby St selves and ordered fluffies, known as baby-cinos in Australia, at each cafe/restaurant. Tried (most of the time successfully) to tip it away to see if gravity works on hot liquids.

- Ran around the apartment naked (incriminating pictures not supplied) because it's so warm

- Got up close and personal with snakes, koalas, kangaroos, lizards, and other animals whose names I can't remember at Currumbin Sanctuary and Australia Zoo

- Impersonated a gibbon at the Currumbin Sanctuary playground

- Had yum cha at a restaurant in Chinatown

- Got shorts, t-shirt and non-swim nappy wet at Southbank's Aquativity playground

- Demonstrated how Nicosaurus-Rexes chase hordes of Daddociraptors down at Queensland Museum

As a bonus, Nico decided that it was time to say things that an adult would actually understand.

As of today, his vocabulary includes:

1. 3 in all 4 languages, Hai (2 in Vietnamese)


2. A, C, D, E, I, O, Q, R, U


3. Nana (banana), Cheese


4. Gau (bear in Vietnamese), Chat (cat in French), Bo (cow in Vietnamese)


5. Down


6. Papa, Mama, Thijs (as in, Uncle Thijs)

The pregnancy is progressing well, we're going for our 20-week scan next Tuesday and will hopefully find out then if Nico's going to have a sister or a brother. The Bean is kicking a fair bit and causing me some grief with my breathing. My belly is now obviously sticking out if I wear tight-fitting clothes and I've resorted to using my belly belt for the first time today to keep the ends of my pants together.

Yes!!!

Nicolas is 1 year, 9 months and 22 days today.

We realised earlier this week that it wasn't just wishful thinking and that Nico actually has started saying his first words... Kind of.

C, D and E in French and 'Two' do count as words, right? Or am I being desperate?

We're getting things ready for the trip to Brisbane on Saturday. I got Nico a Monkey Happy Buddy which he seems to like. Can't stuff much in there since it's more a harness than a backpack, so guess we'll stick in a sippy cup.

Another milestone achieved this week, another thing I no longer will take for granted: the art of nose-blowing. I have no idea where Nico picked up this one from, it came as a complete surprise when he actually blew in the tissue. He's still not blowing hard enough to clear all the muck from his nostrils, so I've had to resort to the 3 times daily nasal torture: Babydoo nasal aspirator + Sterimar sea water nasal spray. Poor Nico hates it and tries to run away at the sight of either of them, but he's come to reluctantly accept his fate. It's made a massive difference compared to his other colds, visibly reducing the amount of snot. I've often wondered how come he's not looking all wrinkled up after losing all this amount of liquid but I guess it's the same principle as other liquids coming out of his body in the last 2 years - drool, snot, various nappy contents... in reality Nico's a sponge in a human body.

Butterfly creek

Today, Nico is 1 year and 9 months and I'm 15 weeks pregnant.

We thought that it'd be nice to start having a weekly family outings every week-ends. Either go to playgrounds, the swimming pool or some other place.

Last week was the Mt Eden playground, and it definitely was popular with Nicolas, who just couldn't get away from the slides, making whoosh sounds as soon as he saw them.

Yesterday we went to Butterfly Creek, which is not a hugely known place but well laid out. Nico especially liked the fishes. Must remember to drag him to Kelly Tarlton's at the next rainy day.

He was brave enough to touch the baby crocodiles. Though I suspect this is only because he hasn't been bitten by one of them.

Butterfly Creek's latest addition: a mime-in-training

The petting farm was also a great place. Bunnies, chickens and one goat were freely hopping around, hoping that they'd find a sucker of a visitor to buy their food. Next visit when Nico isn't so wary of chickens (still traumatised from his encounter with the muffin-stealing rooster at the zoo) we'll get him a bag or two.

Nico's gotten a lot more interactive and independent, quite happy to walk the streets without holding anyone's hand. He loves puzzles and knows most animals' names quite well, pointing to the picture when asked. It would help if I knew how to say seagull or rhinoceros in Vietnamese...

He's taken on the responsibility of feeding Loki, the cats and Capt. Barbossa. He still has to be supervised, to make sure we don't end up with obese pets.

If only Nico could be just as efficient when dealing with his own dinner...

The toy library we belong to has recently acquired a bouncy castle. This is going to be a hit!

Bang bang goes the little cowboy... but something's missing...

I'm sure Daddy will remedy this in good time.

The pregnancy is progressing well, or rather it's just progressing. I'm getting a bit of a pot belly but nothing too obvious yet. Morning sickness isn't happening as much any more which is a relief, but I can't wait till I finally get my sushi on 31st Jan. Tiredness is the most difficult part to deal with this time round as I end up sleepy and cranky (crankier would say a certain Daddy who shall remain unnamed) if I don't have my afternoon nap. And to think that Kavi's cousin went through her pregnancy without even knowing she was pregnant till less than 1hr before the birth.

We got to hear the Bean's heartbeat at the latest visit to the midwife and of course my phone decided to restart so I got no recording.

Oh well, 25 more weeks to go. That's 175 days, 4200 hours, or 252 000 minutes to go.

Here it goes again

Today Nico is 20 months old and will have a little brother or sister in about 27 weeks.

Yes - I'm 13 weeks pregnant (well, 11 weeks according to the scan but it used the baby's size which isn't really an indication considering Nico was tiny).

We had our first scan yesterday, to check how many were in there (just one), that it was ok. Hearbeat, check. Skull and brain, normal. Abdomen, normal. Stomach (his not mine), check. 4 limbs, check. Risk of trisomy 21 (Down's syndrome), 1:10534.

It looked like a tiny bean, a bit like Mr Peanut without the top hat, monocle and cane. It (yes it's an 'it' for now, until the 19-week scan which will hopefully tell whether it's a 'he' or a 'she') was asleep until Dr Alistair Roberts, the sonographer, asked me to cough. There - I did it and woke it up! Thankfully we didn't hear any crying so it wasn't too bad. So it suddently stirred and turned around and we got to see pretty cool 4D shots.

I guess that was the confirmation that I am pregnant, and not just going through a really long period cycle with urges to vomit through the day and pee through the night.

FAQ:

• When am I due? Either 20 Jan (initial estimate) or 31 Jan (estimate based on the scan's measurements. Should have timed it with the summer holidays so Bas could be at home with me...
  
• Was it planned? Yes. We do know how to use contraceptive methods. We just didn't think that it would be so fast. But I guess we should have known, it was like this with Nico.
  
  
• How do I feel? Tired. Sleepy. Breathless. Hungry. Missing raw and smoked fish & meat. Going through a lot of toilet paper.
  
  
• Do we know if it's a boy or a girl yet? Not yet, give it another 8 weeks and we'll be staring at the screen, eyes stretched wide like a couple of possums in headlights, trying to look for the plumbing.
  
  
  
• Do we want/think it'll be a boy or a girl? Ideally, one of each but we won't pawn it off if it's a boy. This pregnancy hasn't been as easy as Nico's so far, so people reckon it's a girl. I personally blame it on Nico for making me more tired.
  
  
• Have I told work yet? Not yet. Guess I'll ask for the maternity leave forms on Friday. Can't decide whether I'll leave them on Vaughan's desk for when he comes back from Australia or be good and give them to him in person...

Nico is still too young to understand that he's no longer going to be the centre of Mummy and Daddy's world, which can't be a bad thing.

And he's on TV!!!

He's the baby in the pram on the left-hand-side, and that's me holding the pram. We spent half-a-day on Mission Bay beach shooting the ad for Westpac. So that was his first wage. And no, this does not count as child labour so I don't want to see a CYFS officer knocking at our door.

Nico is really enjoying puzzles, dancing and music at the moment. Harder to keep entertained while I work from home and the TV and DVDs are looking more and more appealing each week.

He managed to get a nasty strain of norovirus from daycare (again), which causes gastro, and infect Mummy, Daddy, Oma and Uncle Thijs. He was like a little plague-carrier.

Daddy and I went out to Cibo's on Tuesday so Nico stayed with Oma. It was soooo nice to finally be out as a couple again. And Oma enjoyed having him over, enjoyment which I think is reciprocated.

In September - trip to Queenstown to visit Lola & Mana and family who will come from Noumea. Ba Ngoai will be there as well, so it'll be nice for Nico to see her in the flesh instead of just via Skype. Time to start shopping for the warmest clothes we can get our hands onto!

19 months on...

... and things are still fun. Mostly.

We've been amazed at what Nico is able to do. I'm guessing that it's not because he's a particularly talented baby (Note to self - in 6 months time, give him an IQ test to see if he'll qualify for Mensa), but because we don't know much about what kids should be doing at his age.

Random stuff he can do, some newly acquired and some old:

• Turns his toys on. Of course there was an incentive, so after I showed him, he figured it out pretty quickly. Must teach him how to turn them off, which considering his paternal heritage, will be pretty hard to do. Especially the lights.
  


• Follows simple instructions in 3 languages. I shall turn him into a bloke who can read and follow user manuals, ideally before messing up the assembling.
  
  
  
  
  
• Happily sits on the potty ring on top of the toilet. Not only that, but also actually knows that it's time to do a caca. Hence the grunting accompanying the crimson facials expressions.
  
  
  
  
  
  


• Climbs up a 1m+ high slide and slides down.
  
  
• Feeds the cats, leaving biscuits everywhere on the floor.

• Understands and uses some sign language: come here, dog, eat, drink, cat, duck, finish (as in 'food all gone'. Unfortunately he's also indiscriminantly using it when he's finished with breastfeeding and potty)

• Throws Loki's ball so he can play with him. Haven't yet been able to teach him not to throw his own ball.
  
  
• 
  


• Tips out the lid of his clam shell so he can play in the sand.
  


• Does a few swimming basics, courtesy of weekly swimming lessons with Oma: jumps into the water, goes underwater, blows bubbles etc
  


• Dials 111. Hopefully not in an attempt to call CYFS.
  


• Finishes his shapes, animals and numbers puzzles with minimal help.
  


• Turns off my laptop while pretending that it was entirely accidental.
  
  
  
• 
  Is wary of anything with beaks, wings and feathers after a little incident at the Auckland Zoo involving a hungry chicken and a stolen muffin

• Pretty much eats by himself, enjoying bread, beetroot, corn, mummy's chocolates and fluffies. I keep on having this feeling of dread at most dinners - I think he's turning into a vegetarian. If he is, he's disowned.
  



• Enjoys his books, foam letters and alphabet cards. He's asked for specific books to be read to him, his favourite being Kikker Heeft Honger, a great story that hasn't got any of that PC they-happily-lived-together-forever thing.