Teething trouble....

No idea where the last couple of months have gone.....well actually I do. They have been filled with illness and teething......just before freya turned 1 year she started to get her first molar.....it took about a month to come through. This was followed by number 2 molar....and then 3.....and now 4......and at the same time a canine as well....lots of drooling and grumpiness and not a lot of sleep some nights. On top of this Freya got very sick with flu (or a bad cold which included a high fever) and then a chest infection, which lasted about a week. So it has all been a bit of a blurrrr....

It was time for a new blog as Freya is changing so much. She is walking very confidently now...just struggling on rough ground. But the biggest change (at least from Aaron and my perspective) is her increasing understanding of words. She can't really say anything yet...except "at", which means cat....but also "ooof" which means woof for dog...and funnily enough despite the fact that we have no snakes in New Zealand, she can hsssss when she sees one in a book. But she understands so much.....and is communicating what she wants very effectively. Her eating has also changed a lot...and at the moment she seems to eat a lot, for someone so little, and be almost constantly hungry. Her favourite foods are cheese, yogurt, pancakes, Vegemite on toast....pasta is also pretty popular, along with mashed potatoes. She has also started to eat bananas....after months of finding them disgusting...

She still loves getting out on walks....we are making the most of the probably limited time we have left of her happy to be in the backpack. She especially loves walks where there are people and animals to see. She gets very excited when she sees a dog. Today we went along the south coast, out to red rocks (this was her first ever walk about a year ago). This time we made it out to sea the smelly, fat, seals lounging on the rocks. She also enjoyed having a little play on the beach.. checking out the shells and throwing rocks into a tide pool with her dad. 

In the backpack at red rocks a year after Freya first went there. 

Playing on the beach....

Lazy smelly seals

Walking the new escarpment track

A few weeks ago a new section of the Te Araroa (the track that goes the length of New Zealand) along the Kapiti Coast opened. It traverses along the coastal range with great views out over the Tasman sea and Kapiti Island. With great weather forecast, we decided it was time to check it out before the end of summer and before Freya gets too heavy to carry, and wants to walk for herself and not sit in a backpack for several hours. The nice thing about the track is that this particular section starts and finishes at a train station. So the logistics of doing a through walk were easy. 

On the train causing mischief 

As a result of this the track starts and finishes along the train lines, personally I didn't find this particularly exciting. But in the middle it climbs up the steep escarpment, well above the road and rail below, with great views. Lots of steps going up and down, and a few token swing bridges were fun. I quite liked the short sections through the bush which gave you a bit of shade and change from the exposed track. 

Walking down lots of steps

One of the swing bridges

Aaron and I took it in turns to carry Freya as it was hard work carrying the pack. While Freya enjoys riding in the pack she did get a little bored and frustrated just before we stopped for lunch at the top. Freya certainly enjoyed the bus and train rides, as well as watching the trains and people go by on the walk. Not sure she paid much attention to the scenery! 

A nice day out from wellington and big adventure for our little one. 

1 year

Well we made it to the 1 year milestone. 366 days, 2 mothers days and 2 Christmases and a round the world tour. So Freya has crammed a lot in to her 1st year. She also took her first independent steps a week before her birthday. Since then she has been practising, but mostly takes a couple of steps and then dives for mum or dad or a piece of furniture. She unfortunately missed the side of the doorframe with her hand and hit it with her head, so is currently sporting a massive lump and scar on her forehead. Learning to fall😢 she has also now got the hang of both her tricycles, the indoor plastic one and the outdoor one. So she scoots around the house to get places, or uses her trolley, which she can now steer where she wants to go. She is in to everything....so some serious baby proofing has been needed. 

Climbing into and pulling everything out of cupboards! 

We had a nice little afternoon tea for Freya on Sunday before her birthday (Mother's Day). She didn't quite know what to make of it. But she cruised around and enjoyed herself. Between us we made her a pretty cool bear cake...I baked the cake and Aaron made the vanilla cloud frosting and built and decorated it. A pretty impressive effort for our first attempt at a children's birthday cake. 

Bear cake 

Family Birthday photo

She got lots of lovely birthday gifts from family and friends.  Books, clothes, a couple of sets of crockery and cutlery, and a few toys, including a digger and an 80litre tub of duplo, on loan from our neighbours for the next few years. So we are looking forward to lots of hours of fun reading books and playing with diggers and duplo!  Thankyou for all the gifts! 

Birthday girl in her party dress with a balloon.

Adventures with Gill, William and Mallory

New Zealand is a long way. So we always appreciate it when people come and visit from a long way away. So nice to see an old friend and her wee ones. We had a fun week starting with some nice walks on the volcanoes at tongariro national park through the native bush and to waterfalls. Freya's first time to the volcanoes. 

Freya enjoying her walk with views of ruapehu in the background. 

Mallory being chased out of the bush by William. 

Then we had a few days in wellington going to the botanic gardens, cable car, zoo, beach....and multiple playgrounds around town. The weather was very cooperative, with virtually no wind (for Wellington) and fairly balmy for this time of year. William also enjoyed playing and grooming our cat mifi.  While Freya enjoyed having some big kids to watch, copy and play with in the bath. 

At the beach paddling and throwing stones.....

Riding the purple dinosaur with Mallory. 

William and mifi cuddling. 

Hope it isn't too long before we see you again. 

 

11 months

Kamikaze girl when it comes to going down the slide face first in the playground......but Freya isn't quite walking yet. Very good at pushing her trolley and starting to stand up and let go balancing for a few seconds, or longer if she is distracted. Life is certainly full on...this little girl isn't one for sitting still. The comment from care he was "she is a busy little girl". She is enjoying crèche and has lots of friends and fans....she loves to be outside with the older kids racing around, playing in the sandpit and climbing on stuff, and walking with one of the walkers! 

Her favourite toys at the moment are clothes pegs and a bunch of bottle caps we have been saving....taking them out and putting them into things. She also loves the stacking cups...although they don't stay stacked for very long these days. She also plays with her teddies and soft toys a lot more, putting them in the bassinet with everything else...and giving them the occasional hugs! 

 

She is also more interested in her books...and not just chewing them. She likes to turn the pages and opening flaps and touching the books that are fluffy and different textures. 

We still struggle with sleeping. But have had the occasional good night where freya has only woken 2 times. Usually more like 3 or 4 still. She struggled to cope with daylight savings....we had a few vEry early starts this last week....

Our stream of visitors continued. Which Freya loves. She loves having someone to pay attention to her and play. So nice to see you Julia. 

Home life is a bit more hectic as Aaron now has a full time job as a achitectural technician in town. He seems to be enjoying the challenge of his new career so far and he has survived the first few weeks. However the house and garden are suffering from a bit of neglect as it is hard to get much done when I'm at home with Freya. Oh well.....life is too short to worry about that! 

10 months

We have had a busy month with lots of visitors...and a very active little girl! Freya has been enjoying having lots of attention. So nice to see James and Becca and Louisa and Christian. 

Freya got her 8th tooth a few weeks ago ...so we are looking forward to a few months of no teething ;). Freya is crawling faster and faster, climbing up the stairs in the garden and pulling up on everything, even things that aren't very stable or don't have much to grab on to. Last week she started to pull up on her trolley and started walking off...she hasn't quite got the hang of steering yet, so lots of crashing in to the walls and furniture, so lots of adjustments in direction required from mum and dad. She is managing to balance for a few seconds at a time....so perhaps we are not far off walking? 

Walking with my trolley

Climbing the stairs.

She seems to be enjoy crèche, and is pretty settled there. She has a couple of friends who have recently started. So she has been helping them settle in. Swimming is also going well, with lots of underwater fun. And Freya managed to successfully ride a tricycle the other day. 

 Riding the tricycle

This parenting is pretty exhausting....even just watching her race around. 

9 months

Freya is 9 months....and changing so fast. It seems like every week she has a new trick. She has finally learnt her name and can clap and give high fives and she is starting to pull up and let go - balancing for a few seconds, and has been taking a few steps with her trolley. Still a little way off walking...but not too far. She is certainly getting around and exploring everything and is very social, getting very excited when she sees a group of kids at the swimming pool or the park. Her favourite game is peekaboo...which she plays herself now. 

We are also getting a few new sounds too. However the biggest challenge has been teething the last month and a bit. Freya now has 7 teeth....just waiting for one more on the bottom left to appear. Possibly related to the teething (or not), but Freya has been struggling eat. We have finally got the hang of eating finger foods without gagging all the time. So Freya is starting to eat a little more. Her favourite foods are yogurt, and she really enjoyed cherries, although she looked like a little vampire after. She also likes the pancakes her dad makes on the weekend. 

Breakfast time....yogurt....yum

We just had her 9 month check up and she is now 10.06kg and 71.5cm tall. So continuing to grow fast and following the same 95th and 75th percentiles on the charts. We are now in 12-18 month clothes....although over the summer she often doesn't wear much at all. She especially enjoys playing with water on the back deck to cool off. 

Bathing on the back deck.