Holiday Virtual Visitors

Aunt Corinne never would have experienced Skype had we not moved to New Zealand (smile)! I bet Corey & Alex would have sooner or later! We also got to see my cousin Sharon, Chloe's Uncle Chris, Uncle William, & Uncle Aaron. As well as her Aunt Julie and her parents, John & Teresa, her Granny Linda and Grandaddy. And, lets not forget the pets: Elle & Millie.

 

Christmas 2006 Auckland, New Zealand

This was definitely an unusual Christmas. It ended up seeming like a bonus because all the way leading up and even all the way through, it just never felt like an actual Christmas. Its so interesting how the season changes and the weather prompt us for Christmas. So for me, it was like, "wow! presents and chocolate and dinners and stories of Jesus' birth...all in the middle of summer!" I think I'll be expecting it again come mid-July when we're in the peak of winter here! Although an unusual Christmas, we were again amazingly hosted by the Kiwi's. From Christmas dinner at Josh & Amy's to supper at Dave & Anne's, Chloe experienced the true form of Christmas with the generous Kiwi spirit! She even got presents from our surrogate family. She also got all kinds of presents shipped from our family at home in the States. We got to start our own tradition of opening presents in bed the day AFTER Christmas...we'll see if that one sticks (smile)! We also heard some very cool messages from the story of Christ's birth at our church and are more grateful than ever this year for that gift that God sent.  

 

 

Her Christmas Dress

Chloe's MiMi C had a little dress made just for her for Christmas. Well, its just precious! And, it was the only way to find a dress from the U.S. with short sleeves and light weight to accomodate for the summer weather here!


 

The Roll Over: ~10 Weeks

Lest anyone miss out on Chloe's first's, here's the roll over! Well, so this isn't the ACTUAL first one, but let me tell ya, it looks very similar and in actuality was about her third go at the trick! Now that she knows this trick, she rarely stays on her stomach for any length of time. I am oh so proud of her and am sure she achieved it because of all the neuromuscular facilitation we've been working on in our spare time (smile)!


 

 

Chloe's Friends

Luke, Emma's son from Coffeegroup
















Alyssa, Sarah's daughter from Equippers
















Zane, Krystal's son from Life Women

















Bear, from home

Mom hot

kim and i have the shared experience that whenever our mums generously serve us a hot drink the temperature of the drink is invariably super-heated to approximately 300 degrees C. we now commonly refer to 300 degrees C as one degree 'mom hot'. for example, the temperature of the sun is estimated to be 6000 C. if someone were to ask us,'how hot is the sun?', we'd say, 'it's about 20 mom hot'. in a flash of brilliance, kim discovered the origin of mom hot just the other day! (science is fun, see?). it just so happens that our kettle warms water to about 1-1.5 mom hot. i delivered kim a 1.0 mom hot tea the other day and she became preoccupied w/ a need chloe had. by the time chloe was taken care of, kim sipped her drink and it was just right! (which is 0.297 mom hot) she then realized that a warm drink must initially be at least 1.0 mom hot for a mum to enjoy a warm drink due to the distraction of her child/children. voila.

Daddy's Favorite Outfit

Mike just loves Chloe in her little pajamas. She's such a little snugbug! As she is approaching 3 months old and 14 lbs, we think this may have been her last time to wear it! It is interesting how you have to briefly mourn one stage, but have the excitement of the present stage to delight in, not to mention the ones to look forward to! Thought I would note some of the landmarks she's reaching...pretty much all on or ahead of schedule. Easy to see that her weight is up in the 75th percentile. She is now able to roll from her tummy to her back some of the time (that's probably her coolest trick). She smiles a lot, laughs, and coos. Chloe will squeel in delight, like when we sing Winnie the Pooh and substitute her name: Chloe the Pooh or give her a little tickle and baby talk with her. She has had a few goodnight's sleep here lately....making it from 10:30pm to 2 or 3am and then going until 9am one morning, but more likely to 6am, then 9am. Its been nice. She does have some time in the evening when she's fussy (or grizzly as the kiwi's say) from about 7pm until 10pm. Pretty much she just doesn't want to go to bed until we go to bed....hmmm, doesn't want to miss out on anything. We're just lovin' her to pieces! She's such a gift! 

Fireworks From a Mile Away

We were impressed with the Christmas in the Park fireworks. Seeing how spectacular they were from our balcony, we imagined what they'd be like from inside the Domain. I wonder where New Zealand gets their fireworks? We somehow don't seem to have any quite this striking in the states!


 

Christmas in the Park

What started out as a sunny day with clouds only threatening to dampen things, soon became a downpour! But, this was followed by resumed sunshine. Chloe definitely had the dryest seat in the house with her pram covered with a rain guard! We met up with Mirko & Krystal, Corinne & Markus, & Pablo's daughter, Rene, for an evening of carols. We did head home about half time and watched the fireworks above from our balcony!


 

Native American Name

Chloe's is: "She who fights sleep!". She's actually gettin pretty good at taking her naps, but from 7pm to midnight, she's begun declining her bedtime, though clearly she is tired. So, the sling has come in handy. It often lules her to sleep and keeps my hands free for things like wrapping Christmas presents!