Taming of the garden!

During the uni holidays Aaron has been finishing up his steps and building gates to secret gardens!

Aaron the handy man

The finished steps

The new gate 

Through to the secret garden (council land next to the steps up the hill)

He has also been chopping back and taming the olive trees - they now look a bit more like trees!

While mum and dad (nagymama and nagypapa) have been weeding, sorting out the compost and planting winter veggies... With a freshly mowed lawn, the garden is looking the best it has in the last year! Thanks for all of your hard work Aaron, mum and dad! 

Freshly Weeded bank....

Freya - 8 weeks

The last 4 weeks have been tough! We have been through a couple of rough patches with lots of crying and not enough sleeping. We are told this is normal for 6-8 weeks. Freya does not want to sleep very much during the day.... She has short naps of 5 to 30 minutes... But seems to think that sleep is for mortals and she might miss out on something if she sleeps longer! She is also not a fan of going to bed in the early evening.... Fortunately she is still feeding and growing very well - she was 5.78kg and 60 cm at her 8 week check-up. Things are starting to settle down...or we have just adapted!

It hasn't been all hard times - we have had some great times as well. Freya is smiling much more and very interested in everything around her - especially lights. She also enjoys tummy time and loves to stand up. Her neck is getting pretty strong now! 

Freya standing up

 

Tummy time...

 

Freya has also had a lot of "firsts" in the last few weeks!

Although it is winter we have been getting out and about and have been on regular walks around the neighbourhood. Freya went on her first proper hike to Red Rocks along the south coast of Wellington - unfortunately we didn't see any seals...but we smelt one.

Freya-bear in her ergo sling on her first proper hike - to Red Rocks on Wellington's South coast

Freya has also been out for her first meal to our local Mexican restaurant to thank Nagymama and Nagypapa and an early celebration for her mum and dad's 10th wedding anniversary!!!

First meal out at La Boca Loca 

We are very grateful to Nagymama and Nagypapa for all their help the last few weeks. It has been so great to have some extra pairs of hands to help with juggling/cuddling/settling Freya, cooking, doing the endless washing, cleaning and gardening (see the next blog). Also giving us a little time out!

Playing with Nagymama

 

One Month

We have survived the first month..... At 3 and a half weeks Freya weighed in at 4.68 kg and is 58 cm in length, so she is obviously feeding and growing well. We are starting to learn each other's habits... until they change again. Her eyes are getting better at focusing and her neck is getting much stronger and we had our first proper smiles the last few days...

 

First family photo in the front garden

One of Freya's first smiles

Hanging with Grandad David

 

3 weeks.....

Well Freya is just over 3 weeks old and thriving. She is now well over 4 kg and rapidly growing out of her small babygrows - she now only fits the 3 month size..... She is sitting between the 50-75% of the growth chart. Not so good at sleeping.... still slightly nocturnal - although the last few days she hasn't really been sleeping much during the day either, except when she is taken for walks in the sling.

Freya in the sling ready for a walk

Freya in her awesome bear suit ready for the cold...

She had her first couple of baths and seems to enjoy sitting in the warm water.

Bath time....

Snug in her towel

1 week on....

Well I can't believe it has been almost a week since Freya was born. It has been one of the longest, hardest and most amazing weeks of our lives. We finally got home on Wednesday afternoon from hospital and have had a couple of days at home getting used to being a family. The first night didn't go very well, but after a visit from the Midwife on Thursday who gave us a lot of tips and a checklist to follow and we rebuilt our confidence and things have got much better. Fortunately the breast feeding is going really well and she is almost back to her birth weight again - a very healthy 4 kg...

Freya is very cuddly at the moment - which we are both enjoying getting lots of cuddles - Mifi (the cat) is not so happy that she has lost her lap to sit on. Freya is slowly getting used to her bassinet and we have had a few play sessions on her baby gym mat.

Aaron's lap is prime property - both Freya and Mifi sharing it

Post feeding cuddles

We have had a few friends and neighbours come over and visit (although Freya has been asleep through most of them). It is nice to know we have a lot of support. The weather has been pretty horrendous this week with some of the worst floods in Wellington in many years. So it has been a good excuse to stay at home. We hope to venture out in the near future.

Playing and napping

Freya's First Day

After a long wait - she has finally arrived at 41 weeks and 2 days.... it wasn't a very natural birth, but eventually she was born at 2:20am on the 10th May 2015, weighing in at a healthy 3970 g and approximately 52 cm in length. A not so little baby! Appropriately it was also Mother's Day in New Zealand! So what a present for my first Mother's day.

She has a very happy Mum and a besotted Dad. We will be spending a few days in Wellington hospital recovering, before heading home later in the week.

Baby Freya a few hours old.

Sleeping in Dad's arms.