Little girl getting BIGGER

Wow time flies and Aaleaya is growing up so fast its time I start blogging a little more regularly! She is a talented walker/ runner now! When she wants to get somewhere she is there! We've had some rainy and windy days lately so when the opportunity come up to try get out the door she is up for it!! About 3 weeks ago she started going to day care, she was not a fan at all in the beginning but she is warming to it and I cant believe how much I can get done in a day with no kids!!!!!!! She has a great vocabulary at the moment, we can imitate a cow, a fish (and attempt to say fish while spitting, iiissshshhhhh !!!!!!!) lion, cat, dog ... she loves meow but cant get her mouth around it... and of course her favourite word and food "NNAanna" everything in banana!!! I will add some pics of Aaleayas birthday party also as I didn’t add them in the last post! oops very slack! I will leave you with pictures and will have to update again soon so I remember things to update you all on!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY GORGEOUS GIRL xx

Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday to you Happy Birthday dear Aaleaya Happy Birthday to you xxxx What a year, I have enjoyed it so much and really tried my best at taking time to enjoy it knowing too well how quickly it goes. Aaleaya was very spoilt and had a huge day! here are some of the past few months seeing I have been so slack!!

Merry First Christmas Sugar....

Well we are indoors today after the second day in a row hitting over 40 degrees we are staying clear of the heat!! The poor air conditioner is working overtime! We had a hectic but all the same great lead up to Christmas with loads of social occasions to catch up with everyone before the big day! We went and saw Santa at Myer and Kai was quite willing to talk to Santa this year which was great so we were able to get a picture! We had a magical Christmas Kaitiaki was at a fantastic age to really get into it and I am sure that will just get better each year.!! Aaleaya had no idea what was going on apart from the fact that her day had turned on its head and she wasn't getting much sleep but loads of attention and goodies which were wrapped in her newest favorite thing ..... crunching crinkly paper!!!! On Monday night we were to see the houses where they are all decorated with lights .. they were, as usual absolutely amazing and Aaleaya and Tiaki were both loving the houses and various lights !! On the way home Kaitiaki crashed out in the backseat and had to be carried to bed he was that tired! In the morning he came into bed for a cuddle then we all got up to see if Santa had been! Aaleaya was very lucky and got loads of goodies just like her bro and both got a stocking filled with little bits and pieces! We then gathered up all our supplies for the day and headed to Pa's house for lunch! It was just a fabulous day and the yummy lunch was so great. Pork, Chicken, Ham, Roast vegies, beans, carrots, gravies, sauces yum yum yum. Desserts were my area and we had Plum Pudding, Choc Ripple Cake, Sponge cake and shortbreads. The kids had Jelly with a frog in it which Kai made and they looked great red and green yummo!! We then exchanged presents and the kids got loads of fun gifts, Aaleaya got a gorgeous teddie from Shaun and Em and some books also from Dad and Maz. After settling our food for a little while we headed up to mums for the afternoon/evening. Once we arrived we opened yet more prezzies and then sat back and relaxed for a little while then had some lovely salad and cold meat yummbo!! Aaleaya chomped away on her first chicken bone while I ate my dinner and she was loving it! We left there after Dinner and headed home for a well earned sleep!! Aaleaya's solids are going well .. we have tried a heap of different foods. Stand out favorites at the moment are Pumpkin (still), Banana, we tried Mango the other week which was a winner and yogurt is the new banana!!!!

AAhhemmmm

Okay so off the topic of AJ just for this post hehe!!! Although I will be back tomorrow with a 6 month birthday post !!!!! My sister is having a re-opening of the ColorLineDesign Store. She's been busy busy on the buzz for a new Designer to join her team and I hear the task has been enjoyable and the announcement is near! Another announcement this week at the FORUM is that there is a new welcome kit that you will receive upon registering with CLD.. Here's a preview for you ...

Video/Photo post!!!

Well just passing by and thought I would upload some videos and photos.. Solids are going down well .. hooray!! We are camped out at home today waiting for Chrisco to arrive!!! Well here are some pics and vids!! On Thursday Lynne and I got all arty and made our girls a gorgeous canvas with ribbons and painted their names came our really well ..!! Here is the load os vegies I steamed up for my lil Pumpkin, they all later got mashed and stored in the freezer!! Yay Chrisco finally arrived!!!!!!! Kai was most impressed!!! hehe He loves the little gifts you get inside!!! haha Here is all the dry stuff + the full freezer!!! haha (notice loads of ice cubes on the top shelf oh and excuse the placenta at the bottom of the freezer!!! bbaaahahahahah)

5 and a half months!!

Well we have ventured into unchartered territory!! AJ had her first solids on Sunday! AND she loved it!! after working out what it is she had to do with what was in her mouth she is now up to day 4 and we are going great guns! We are going to give some yummy pumpkin a go on the weekend!! Yay.. She is now getting excited when she see's her bowl and spoon come out!! So, now it begins! Now that AJ has mastered the roll, I am finding that I put her on the mat for a kick and I can walk out of the room and come back and she is so not where I left her! Although sometimes she has short term memory loss and gets stuck on her tummy and doesnt know how to get back hehe!! Aaleaya just loves Kai to pieces as does Kai!! She just adores him and she strains so much to catch him if she sees or hears him!! I find him talking to her heaps and doing 'this little piggy' and also plays the wheels on the bus with her which she is more into now that she can respond to the game!!! I am really enjoying watching their relationship grow, even since she was first born Kai has had 'something' with her hands and feet and every night when we say goodnight he has to grab her feet or hand for a quick goodnight kiss!! Makes me all warm inside!! heheHe still likes to bring her out in the morning although she is getting a little bit heavy so I am not sure how much longer it can go on for!! I picked up the hand and foot sculpture I had done for AJ, I will have to get a picture when it is finally mounted on the wall onder Kai's!! They look so lovely. Also did some more pictures at the bottom of this post!! We set up a little studio at home!! hehe Enjoy have a great weekend all.. xx

5 months on Monday...

aww my lil girl is growing and I am loving watching every moment of it!! AJ has conquered how to roll she did it for the first time yesterday as you can see on a video at my facebook so cute!! Also starting to giggle up a storm!! We had our 4 months review a couple of weeks ago and at the MCHN and she was 7 kgs !!! No wonder she is getting heavier and heavier!! Babies babies!! ... Uncle Paul and Auntie Lisa had their bubba boy last week little Liam, looking forward to meeting my little cousin!!! Today we went and visited Bree in hospital after she had bubs yesterday, he is such a cutie as the pics below show!! hehe The one of Mason and Aaleaya just blows me away ... she was smaller than he is oh my goodness!! just 5 months ago. awww Couldn't help myself and had to snap away!!! Our newest toy for the moment is a Jumperoo my latest bargain on ebay!! hehe AJ just loves it and gets right into it!!!! She bounces for ages!!!!!! Everything else is going along nicely Aaleaya is sleeping like a baby!! hehe Just like her Bro !! goes down at 8pm and most mornings we are lucky if we see her before 9am !! then she is tired again by 10.30 - 11 .. sometimes I ask myself how can that be!! On Tuesday we are going to an 'Introducing Solids' class!! It will be good as I am looking forward to staring her in about 3 or so weeks. Here are just a few pics to leave you with.. Hugs and Dribbles xx STELLA's NEWEST FAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Aaleaya and Luca!!! aww

Our group signature!!!!

14 weeks today... awwww

14 weeks young!!! My lil pops blows me away each day.. In 14 weeks she has gone from a totally helpless newborn to holding her head right up when on her tummy, so close to rolling over, chatting away to herself, watching her brother walk/run and dance (sometimes all at once!) around the room, give mummy loads of gummy smiles and the list goes on. What a delight she is. Kai and I spend so much of our day at home chatting away and watching and waiting for Aaleaya to do something else!!! hehehe and we love it!! Tomorrow we go to the Maternal Child Health Nurse (MCHN) so I will be interested to see how much she has put on I thinks its been a month since we have been. I hopped on the scales with her last night and I think she weighed around 6.6 kgs... I had a look in Kai's book and he weighed that much at 10 week!!!! omg!!!! hehe he was a porker!!! After the MCHN we are going to Sorrento for mums group catch up, last week we were in Sorrento also and it was such a nice day we ended up going for a walk out to the back beach and back. Considering I ate Banana Pancakes it was a good move! Aaleaya has slotted right into quite a routine!!! She is having 2 x 2.5 - 3 hour sleeps during the day and I have been expressing and she has a top up bottle b4 bed and then goes down from 8-7am and wakes once during the night. During her wake times she is loving her play gym.. she stays under there for ages no nappy and loves it!!! Here she is watching a babies DVD!! hehe She has finally learnt how to settle herself to sleep and re-settle during her sleep. hooray!! I just am learning to LEAVE her to it!!! hehe and the little miss social butterfly needs to learn how to do it out and about!!! I have been good I am back at Weight Watchers yay, I have been walking every day sometimes twice!! Yesterday I had a HUGE spring clean (a lil early!!) in the kitchen, I pretty much cleared everything and got my Enjo gear working a treat!! Then went and did a big healthy grocery shop!!! Kai has enjoyed the walks too I have been walking him to creche and then I walk to get him in the afternoons it is great.. Tis a bit of a slow walk home but he enjoys it as much as I do!! On the 10th we are going to have Aaleaya's hands and feet set in a mould to be framed, Kai had one when he was a bubs so wanted to get Aaleayas done at the same age...Will b looking forward to getting that back.. I got a new pram last week after doing loads of research I decided on the Phil & Ted's Sports Buggy and it is perfect, so easy to push and no way near as bulky as the Valco was I am in pram heaven!!!! Aaleaya got a special prezzie today from Nana Junie there is a pic below .. its the most gorgeous carousel just beautiful and soo girly!! It is a wind up one and plays a tune. awww Lucky lil pop. Well thats all for now just off to tidy up and tuck away into bed.!! Nite Nite!

11 weeks tomorrow

So we are slowly slotting into a routine!!! The nights are quite good Aaleaya knows that it is night time and if she wakes for a feed it is usually about 3-4am and then she will wake about 7-8am and then go back to sleep in my bed for about an hour in that time I can have brekkie and shower and get Kai semi organised!! During the day we are up in the air some of the time still !! Depends what needs doing but she has a great afternoon sleep usually from 1 till about 4-5ish. At the moment I am totally in love with changing her nappy!!! I know sounds strange but she loves a nappy free kick and we have such a great chat while she kicks and gets soo excited!! I will have to catch a video of it!! We just had Nanny Rea and Pa Rich over from N.Z it was a lovely visit but as usual went too quick!! I was thinking last night, as much as I shouldn't think too much into it!!! what a huge task taking 2 little people to New Zealand when we go next !!!! whew .. what a difference from the days when we packed just ourselves up to go!! hehe On Thursday we went along to mums group, we are now gathering at pubs (haha sounds great) and cafes I am sure we will have them all worked out before long and know where it is easier and nicer to go with babes in tow!! On Tuesday we went for a walk with Lynne and baby Luke (who isn't that much of a baby anymore:-( ) to the plaza from our house, wow it was so nice to be out walking again I feel like I have the bug back. On Wednesday morning Kai wanted to walk to creche so we got out the pram and off we went it was quite nice. Unfortunately we haven't caught a nice morning again. Looking forward to the nicer weather and look out Lynne we'll be doing our huge walks again!!! Aaleaya FINALLY has found her thumb!!! and sometimes can soothe herself with it, U'd think she would like a dummy but NOOO!!! What else, oh she has taken to Kaitiakis old cot comforter!! There is a pic below, she loves it, bundle her up and she will sleep anywhere!!!! Little monkey!! We bought a new car seat which is fab as soon enought she will be out of her capsule I put her in for a pic!! she looked soo tiny!!! hehe Well thats all for now... AND huge Congratulations to Emily and Johnny on the arrival of Kellie Grace ... all these Girls!!! xx

My little bubba is 9 weeks already!!

Thats right 9 weeks!!!! We have been enjoying our days at home in front of the heater in our recent cold weather. there is nothing better than sitting and staring at a newborn all day!! hehe!! Where does my day go!!? We have been having some great nights sleep anything from 6 - 8 hours.. some night a feed in between.. but all good. She had her first sleep in her big girls cot today and did well..... She looked tiny in there!!! awwww!! Mainly going to fill this post with pictures as I am having a baby brain moment and have not too much to report...!!! Kaitiaki is the BEST big brother and is celebrating his 4th OMG 4th birthday tomorrow !!! He absolutely loves and adores his little sister and is her interpreter!!! He tells me she has a sore tummy or she is hungry or has a dirty nappy!! hehe At the moment we have Nanny Rea and Pa Rich over from New Zealand and Kai is loving it, Aaleaya is getting loads of catch up cuddles and kisses too!!! Off to the health centre tomorrow to see how much bubs has grown and we have our last mums group catch up before branching out on our own... it is a great group but quite a big one so at times it is hard to get to know everyone in the short time we are there.... Last week we did CPR which was fab to do a refresher!! CONGRATULATIONS to friends Stacey and Jon on the arrival of Storm Kuini on the 6th of July and also blogger Hayley and Adam on the birth of their daughter Miette Grace.. GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS!!!!!!! Here are some pics to soak up..... be back soon.. and will update Kai's blog with birthday boys pics, after his party on Saturday. xx

Aaleaya is 4 weeks old today!!

Wow that has flown, but at the same time I have made myself slow down and really enjoy the first weeks. Mainly the reason for my absence!! I have been passing by blogs but just not always commenting.!! Aaleaya has been doing really well and my wound has healed well after a small set back with an infection it has all cleared now and we are on track..! Our massive June month full of birthdays has kept us busy being visited for my b'day and visiting all the other Gemini's!!! Aaleaya is feeding really well and we went to the health nurse last week and she weighed in at 10 lb / 4.5 kgs!!! whew!! I really enjoy getting weighed as it makes it all the more rewarding I think as with breastfeeding I feel like I am still growing her if that makes sense!!! Kaitiaki is such a loving and awesome big brother and son. He is so in love with Aaleaya and will want to do anything to help. He has dealt with it all so well. Yesterday Aaleaya and I went and saw Rachael and Luca who was born on the same day, it was lovely to get out and have a cuppa with her, although we both decided we are vauge which is all normal 'baby brain'!!! At least we understand each other!! hehe Today we had Stacey and Braedyn over which was lovely Kaitiaki was wrapped to have someone to play with as the weather hasn't been outdoors weather at all.. Stacey made a lovely chocolate cake for us which went down well !! And she unpacked and re-stacked my dishwasher, *thanks Stace* what a gem. Tomorrow I have home help out to clean the house and Bree is going to pick Kai up for creche which is a big help, I am not SUPPOSED !! to be driving for 6 weeks due to the c/section but I have driven here and there no too far, mainly to work to pick up stuff to do at home.. We are getting excited about Nanny Rea and Pa Rich coming over from NZ in 4 weeks for tiaki's birthday and to meet the new addition!! Well for now I will add some pics and be back for a better update soon and on Tiaki's blog soon too!!! 2 weeks 2 weeks 3 weeks 3 weeks today @ 4 weeks

It's a GIRL ...!!!!

Aaleaya Janet Kahikatea Newth... My birth story starts 10 days overdue, on the Monday I found myself at the obstetricians as the I saw him at my 40 week appt and he had booked me in for an induction the following Saturday making me 14 days over. Upon having the weekend to ponder this I became very uptight and 3 stretch and sweeps later there was progress but not a lot. I thought about it more and more as with Kai he was almost 2 weeks over and had pre-eclampsia and I was induced went through 6 hours of labour to fully dilated but due to fetal distress and my heart rate going through the roof they decided on an emergency c-section. It was all very scary and everything was happening so quickly we barely had time to think about anything. This time I didn’t want to go through that or chance going through that again it was traumatic and I felt totally robbed of the ‘birth experience’. So I told the OB I wasn’t prepared to go through with the induction and that I would prefer to be booked for a c-section and hopefully with the stress and pressure off I may go into natural labour over the course of the next couple of days. He had tried to ring the hospital to organise the c-section and wasn’t able to speak to the lady so sent me home and said he would ring with the details but didn’t think it would be possible before the end of the week …. Once I got home there was a call from the hospital and the lady was lovely and said, as the words rang through my ears for hours later as it all sunk in .. ‘the only place we have available is in the morning I’m afraid’!!! I freaked and Massey said my face dropped!!! So that was it we were off to pre-op straight to the hospital and have blood tests etc. We were told to be back at 7am and I was first off!! We went to Mum and Ron’s when we left Kai and had explained the whole process of where we were going etc. He was quite excited. The whole process was a lot nicer and calmer than with Kai. The theatre staff were lovely as they were getting me ready for the spinal block we were all chatting away and it was a really nice atmosphere. Time for the spinal ….. it took 4 goes until she got it right and it was quite painful… I then got wheeled into theatre and Massey sat beside me. We had made it clear we didn’t want to be told the sex rather see for ourselves. After what seemed like an eternity Mass and I were talking away and talking to the staff, taking photos etc and then the tugging began…. Then there was a wail and bubs was shown to us, the cord was in the way so it was quite hard to determine the sex although finally we were sure it was a GIRL our perfect Aaleaya Janet Kahikatea Newth .. Massey was called over to cut the cord which he described as cutting someone’s finger!!! She was bought over to me and I got to touch her. Massey was holding her as they were closing me up and I was pretty much just gazing in amazement!!!!. The smells and sounds all came back to me as I was laying there (yuk!!) We were then off to recovery, this was the part that affected me most with Kai, being separated so I was shocked to hear they were allowing my request to take bubs into recovery with me AND Massey was allowed also. It was fantastic as Aaleaya was on the breast within 30 minutes of birth and we had skin to skin contact. I was then transferred up to the ward with Aaleaya still with me skin to skin. I was a little whacked out but thrilled to pieces, we decided to wait till I had some movement in my legs back before getting mum to bring Kai in so rang all the relo’s to spread the news. Once Kai arrived he was in awe of his new sister and couldn’t believe all her hair! After being so determined to have a natural delivery I was still really happy with the outcome as I felt I had been able to make the decisions about what I wanted. She was weighed in at 8lb7oz Huge compared to Kai!! Later that morning I found out Rachel, a friend I met on a birth forum had birthed her little girl just an hour after Aaleaya arrived!!! So we had a hospital stay together!! Although with so much going on we need a catch up coffee to talk babies (hey there Rachel have to catch up soon!!!)!! So born on Tuesday 22nd May, my ‘just’ Gemini is just perfect. I left hospital on Saturday and have been enjoying baby daze. Aaleaya is feeding and sleeping perfectly, we have the health nurse out tomorrow so will be interested to see how much weight she has put on. Well that’s my rather long winded birth story. WELCOME TO THE WORLD BABY AALEAYA xx

Welcome to the World ...

Hello everyone!!! :) This is Kellie, Mel's older and wiser sister ... NOT , lol I am posting here for Mel today because she is in hospital with a beautiful bundle of joy. Introducing ... Aaleaya Janet Kahikatea Arrived by c-section at 8.50am 22 May 2007 8lb 7oz This is the photo I received yesterday morning sent from Mel's mobile phone ... gotta love technology hey, lol Just look how adorable she is awwwwwwwwwwwwww.... Melissa looks fantastic, Massey is pleased as punch with his beautiful baby daughter and Kaitiaki is one very proud and gentle big brother. Melissa had Aaleaya at Frankston hospital and they both arrived at Rosebud Hosiptal today. I have just come back from my first official cuddle and grabbed some more pics ...