Of course Dan and I have felt exhausted for much of the week, but now it’s the weekend and we’ve both had a chance to rest and catch up on a little sleep. Dan even managed to get out on Friday night, to attend ‘The Onyas‘ award ceremony at Town Hall; celebrating New Zealand’s web industry – and scooped an award for ‘Most innovative’, for YouDo’s work with DNA and Powershop.

I won a prize too – in the Ministry of Health’s Breastfeeding Photo Competition – First place for the Wellington region! The $250 Warehouse voucher will come in very handy to pay for Alice’s nappies! The photo was in the Dominion Post on Saturday and I’m delighted to positively promote breastfeeding. I didn’t find it easy with Charli, but thanks to an incredibly supportive midwife and lactation consultant, I got there in the end.

Of course no prize can compare to the arrival of our beautiful Alice Rose into the world on Tuesday morning, a little earlier than her due date, of 18 February. She arrived in plenty of time to enjoy lots of cuddles with her Grandma, who returns to the UK on 28 February (Granddad is missing his bed warmer!). It’s been absolutely wonderful having her support this week.

The birth was amazing (which may sound kind of bizarre!). Having no drugs in my system and a natural delivery has really made a difference to my recovery and I feel so positive and proud of myself. It was a really intimate, peaceful experience, with just Dan and my midwife in a calm, dimly lit room. I did tear a little, but nothing too severe and no stitches required. As a result I’m not exactly running any marathons yet and have been laying low at home, hobbling around and taking lots of salt births (okay… too much detail already?!).

Alice, Grandma and I ventured out for the first time yesterday. We spent the afternoon at Te Papa, where Charli and Grandma enjoyed a fabulous visit to ‘A Day in Pompeii‘ and then Charli took Grandma on the ‘High Ride‘ simulator! Brave Grandma! Charli is certainly impressed! Dan and Sophie had fun exploring the discovery centres and I chilled out with Alice in the relaxed surrounds of the cafe on level 4. Alice slept for most of the time and I enjoyed copious cups of tea. It was great to be out of the house and feel ‘human’.

Dan has been an absolute brick with the girls, running them to school and kindi this week and giving them opportunities to run off their insatiable energy – Sophie in particular rarely sits still and runs everywhere! She loves playing footie in the garden and Dan’s taken her to her first Phoenix Football match tonight!

Hi 5 Daddy!

Patience was Charli waiting a year to grow the 110cm minimum height requirement to go on the simulator rides at Te Papa museum; The Deep Ride and The High Ride. On Sunday morning the tape measure did not lie. It revealed the extra Weet-bix in the morning had successfully assisted with those all important extra millimetres. Charli was so excited and Sophie was so pleased for her too.

Dan went on with her, whilst I kept Sophie company, and they were not disappointed. Charli said The Deep Ride was fun and she learned a lot.

From ‘Our Space’ at Te Papa:
‘Around 80% of New Zealand’s territory is under water. But more people have travelled to the moon than have explored the depths around the Brothers underwater volcano.

Almost two kilometres deep in the Kermadec Arc, the Brothers volcano is one of the most spectacular hunting grounds for underwater volcanic activity and weird deep-sea critters.

With renowned scientist and adventurer Dr Cornel de Ronde to guide you, join the hunt for deep-sea black smokers and erupting volcanoes from the safety of our deep-sea vehicle simulator.’

And The High Ride left Dan shaking and sweating, whilst Charli was high as a kite on adrenaline. At the end of the ride the operator said, ‘Well someone really enjoyed that ride!’ and Charli piped up, at the top of her lungs, ‘Yeh! That was ME!’.

From ‘Our Space’ at Te Papa:
Imagine the most exciting clips from the Our Space media bank.
The thrills of extreme sports, free running, flying foxes.
The nostalgia of trundling over cattlestops, sliding down grassy hills.
Clips that ride back in time.
Clips that go all around and under New Zealand.
Now imagine you enter the Wall and live these scenes first hand.
That’s the High Ride.

After the thrills and spills we enjoyed surveying the weekend events surrounding the current Formula One exhibition. The girls sat in a racing kart and Dan picked up a leaflet, discovering that for children, age six and up, there are racing karts and clubs to join (he was enthusiastically egging Charli on for a weekend spin on the track!). I am betting on getting my first gray hairs before I turn forty at this rate!

They also sat, with amazing concentration (second virtuous act of the day), for half an hour or so designing their own race cars as part of the F1 design competition. For their efforts they were each given a smart pull-back racing car (which Sophie then delighted in letting rip across the foyer nearly tripping up a few passers by – we quickly retreated to a quiet corner!). Charli’s interesting feature was a lollipop steering wheel – presumably to give the driver sustained energy and concentration with a sugar rush high as the car spins around the track. Sophie called her car, ‘Whale Car’ as it was able to go under water.

After such a fun morning we headed off for a Yum Cha lunch, followed by ice-cream, before heading home feeling quite soporific. The weather had turned to overcast with the outlook of rain and it was hard to motivate ourselves to do anything, though we knew that a good walk would sort us out. After two week’s of sun and no rain down on the coast the garden was hanging out for a downpour, but we didn’t know what to do with ourselves. We muttered the word ‘walk’ half-heartedly, but it was Charli who really took the word and put it into action. With trainers on she flung open the front door and said, ‘Come on!’. We walked down the hill looking at the track running up the other side of the valley with foreboding. There was a mean southerly blowing through the valley, but we knew we’d be sheltered in the bush.

Here is where the virtue of motivation came into play. Charli and Sophie strode up the track, leaving Dan and I in their footsteps, hearing the occasional call of, ‘Come on Mum and Dad!’. We’ve often told them of all the three or four day tramps we’ve done around New Zealand and how one day, when they are old enough, we’d take them – but we have also admitted that by the time they are strong enough we will probably be trailing behind – rendezvousing at a later point at a hut for the night.

So, we pulled ourselves up the hill, with Dan wondering when his post soccer legs (from the day before) were going to ease up. But, after ten minutes or so we felt that euphoric lift that fresh air and exercise never fail to bring and our bodies fell into rhythm with the contours of the land. By the time we reached the top (and were reunited with the howling southerly) we felt truly alive and the post lunch lethargy was long forgotten.

The walk took us an hour, beginning to end, and we were so impressed with the girls striding it out with such stamina. Thanks to Charli’s motivational spirit we all felt immensely alive and refreshed. We got home before the rain descended and tucked into a hearty dinner of home-made, gourmet burgers and salad.

Sophie adores the Babar stories. Her love affair started in the Lyall Bay surf cafe where one of the employees had an old copy of one of the traditional Babar stories. For six month’s we read that same book – until she could almost read it word for word to me! Sadly, ’said’ book went when ’said’ employee moved on – alas! However, we managed to buy a newer copy of the Babar stories (but they’ll never be the same).

Picture book author-illustrator Kevin Henkes writes of the stories of Babar, “Where else could one find a balloon accident, a deadly poison mushroom, a runaway carriage, an extraordinary flying machine, a snake attack, fire, war, death, birth? These books are full of adventure and fantasy, but they also deal with the stuff of real life. And I’m convinced children long to see both the dark and the light sides of human experience reflected in their books just as much as adults do, perhaps more.” I have to agree. We’ve certainly had an armful of ‘why’ questions from both the girls after reading the stories of Babar!

Babar was really there! – At least in someone’s backpack – but that was good enough for SJ!

Anyway, the morning was wonderful and Charli was so delighted to be in the museum. Since starting school she’s not had a chance to visit and misses it a lot (after all, it was practically her second home for nearly five year’s!). She was also rapt to come home with a beautiful poster of the Orchestra and both the girls treasure their Babar posters.

Thankfully, what started out as a dreary, cold Saturday turned into glorious sunshine and balmy temperatures. And after the delights of the orchestra we enjoyed a fabulous play in Te Papa’s bushland walkway. Charli met up with an old Kindi friend, who is now at a different school, and we ended up spending two hour’s playing in the sunshine. Sophie delighted in the play two – especially with the younger siblings of Charli’s friend – a pair of highly energetic twins! Both the twins got a little too close to the pond and ended up getting soaked!

After all the fun we raced on home so I could get ready for my night out! The girls were brilliant for their Daddy. I was a dirty stop-out and arrived home around 1am to find Dan asleep with Sophie (she’d woken asking for me – but was good as gold for her Daddy and went back to sleep – and he decided to give up waiting for me to crawl home and join her in slumber land!). Needless to say I had a fabulous evening, officially starting off with a 30th Birthday toast at Vespa Lounge to a good friend (but I admit to stopping off for a swift merlot at the Tasting Room prior to that – I needed a quick chill out after Dan and the girls dropped me off!). The rest of the evening was spent mostly at The Matterhorn (the most fabulous place for whiling away a night – I was in danger of waking up on a table there at 6am!).

Musical notes scattered on a score was very much how I felt by the time I got home…

Wellington has a plethora of bars and restaurants and in our pre-children days we enjoyed a very hedonistic lifestyle indeed! These days, I’m more than happy to curl up at home with a good book, a movie or a cuddle with hubbie (or waste countless hours on the Internet!)… HOWEVER, there comes a moment when a night out is very much needed – and suffered the next day! I have to say I’m not in a hurry to repeat Saturday night, even though it was a blinder! I just can’t cope with hangovers and children combined! I was a pathetic excuse for a wife on Father’s Day! Dan even allowed me a lie in so I’d be a little more civil when I finally emerged from bed!

This week has been a regular mixed bag of weather and we’ve embraced it with good grace (and the occasional grimace!). At school pick-up today parents clung to children as they walked head-on into the southerly to return to their cars. Those parents already safely back in their tin cans were practically laughing with hysteria and relief at the poor souls still battling their way against a wall of wind.

Looking down the valley from Charli’s school and the incoming southerly:

Earlier in the week was a total contrast. SJ and I ditched our regular story-time for a coffee at The Bach, on Wellington’s South Coast.

We toyed with some Orca spotting and saw none. But that didn’t stop us imagining every rock was a potential flipper waving ‘Kia Ora’ and every random splash was a whale letting it rip from the ‘ole blow hole. However, chalked up on a black-board in the cafe there have been around five sightings this year – so there is hope! But I reckon it would take some serious coffee drinking time or a whole lot of luck to see one! Anyway, not to be deflated by our lack of whale spotting skills we ventured forth to the rock-pools for some small fry and came across a lovely little crab and a few cat’s eyes.

[Note for locals: The Island Bay Marine Education Centre is having an Open Day this Father's Day - Sunday 7 September from 10am to 3pm. It's also Conservation Week (visit the Department of Conservation's website for lots of events to partake in!) and with the marine centre being situated within the newly created, 854 hectare, Taputeranga Marine Reserve it's a very exciting celebration!]

Later in the week, when the weather turned for the worst, SJ and I enjoyed our regular indoor haunts (library, swimming pool, Tinytown, Te Papa) mixed up with a few play-dates. She is really loving her own time and beginning to develop some wonderful friendships (and I’m getting a chance to have a good natter with adults too! Yah!).

Wednesday we adored story time at the local library – where SJ told the story teller off for laughing at a character in one of the books, ‘Excuse me!’ (with her hand firmly in the air) ‘You know, it’s not nice to laugh at people.’ On Tuesday she’d congratulated her swim teacher on excellent manners, saying in a loud voice, ‘Mummy! Alana has excellent manners’. On Thursday afternoon, when I was struggling to keep up with little Miss Chatterbox and wolfing down some quick fix calories in the form of a chocolate brownie, she loudly said (in front of some local surf dudes), ‘Don’t worry Mummy, if you get a head rush, I’ll look after you!’. Thursday was a really full on day…

It started with school drop off and a southerly rolling in. SJ decides we should go to the Botanical Gardens for a ride on the cable car (I found out the real reason was to buy some ‘wriggly worm’ sweets she’d remembered us getting there on a previous visit – this girls geography of the city is ruled by her tummy!). Anyway, we had a laugh riding down and up and playing cable car driver’s afterwards in the Cable Car Museum (much to the delight of a coach load of tourists!). I finally managed to bribe her away from another game of, ‘Mummy, you’re the driver, you go over there – no not there Mummy – over there – now….’ the bribe? Of course! Wriggly worms!

We’d planned to meet up with a friend at Cheeky Rascals and were running late…. anyway we finally got there (a little more sugar laden than planned!).

After a fun time at Cheeky Rascals (and more coffee for us Mums and even a chance to natter and read a magazine!) we headed home (more bribery required…). On the way home we stopped off at The Warehouse to get some maths and English workbooks for Charli – as she is addicted to them and spends hours before and after school studiously engrossed in them (even taking the completed books into class for news!). We had our first teacher/parent meeting on Tuesday afternoon and we are so proud and delighted for her happiness. She’s making incredible progress in all academic areas and is such an enthusiastic student. She’s settled into school-life so quickly and is already being a good role-model for the newer entrants. Yah! Go Charli!

Anyway… Thursday continues. I thought I’d finally get to go home for an hour before school pick-up but SJ, as I soon discover, has doughnuts on her mind! She says, ‘Mummy I want to go to the airport!’. But whenever we’ve been she’s more interested in the retail outlets and cafe than the planes. So I say, ‘Well, we can watch the planes from Lyall Bay for a while, there’s no need to pay for parking there.’ She keeps protesting and then I say, ‘What is it exactly that you want to do or see at the airport?’ The answer, ‘Eat doughnuts’. This girls seriously lets her stomach rule her head!

Anyway, a quick chocolate brownie (head rush for Mummy!) at the surf cafe on Lyall Bay seems to do the trick, before finally picking up Charli!

The pace of this week has been exhausting! Wednesday was pretty much the same, with shopping, library, Tiny Town, school pick up… where both the girls are keen to linger at the school. We end up playing in the sandpit and talking with children at the ‘after school care club’ for nearly an hour.

Now, finally, we can go home I think!

Oh no! There’s more! We end up driving across town to Pumpkin Patch as Charli’s taken to wearing the same denim dress to school everyday for the past fortnight on account of it looking ‘grown-up’. She does indeed look fabulous in it – but I need to wash it too! I mention that I’d been to a local shop to look for something similar but couldn’t find anything. They both get really excited and ask if we can go Pumpkin Patch. What the heck – I’m never one to turn down a bit of retail therapy (except it isn’t me we’re shopping for). Anyway, we go and come home with a gorgeous smock-like dress (Charli would be right at home in an English school – she’s craving for a uniform and this dress looks just like one!).

Is there anything we haven’t done this week?!

Finally, it’s Friday and whilst Dan’s out at a Beer Festival – Brew NZ – Beervana I’m seriously chilling out and looking forward to a girl’s night out tomorrow! Today was lovely and calm with a play-date (and gossip for me) at Te Papa followed by a few hour’s house work before school pick-up. SJ played happily for an hour talking to a group of bouncy balls about some sort of medical emergency (I didn’t dare ask!). After school we baked scones and played at puppet shows. SJ asleep: 7.30pm Charli: 9.00pm!

Roll on tomorrow…. (and take a break southerlies – my hair can’t take it!).

This little Kiwi has been spending time at Te Papa’s Nature Discovery Centre learning how to make some wise choices on her packed lunch…

Doing well…

She followed up by showing disgrace at the over-packaging of boxed lunches in Te Papa’s cafeteria, commenting to one of the staff, ‘That’s not good for the environment!’.

When we do the food shop at the supermarket she is also learning to make wise choices with regard the environment and is also getting food wise, asking me numerous questions as to the content of her food:

‘Is this good for me?’
‘Does this have sugar?’
‘Why is this good for me? What does it have in it?’
‘What’s the best thing to drink?’

She still enjoys her ice-blocks – but is now choosing water over juice and wants to know the sugar content on everything. I have to say many of the items we purchase – such as ‘children’s yoghurts’ probably have way too much sugar in them and I really must make a more concerted effort to read the details and make healthier choices for us all.

Charli’s packed lunch is now done without any packaging and she even brings home banana and mandarin skins for the compost! Little steps, more each day, slowly making a difference, before it’s too late!

It’s rainbow and party season at the moment. After a lovely morning to myself at the hairdressers, drinking coffee and catching up on all the gossip, I met up with Dan and the girls (who’d taken the bus into town and braved Te Papa on a rainy Saturday) for ‘Yum Cha’ at Big Thumb. We love Yum Cha as the food is brought round on trays before you’ve barely had a chance to take your seats. Each tray is a surprise and the girls love it. There’s no long deliberation over the menu and waiting for the food – perfect when dining with children!

We zipped home to change into our party clothes and then headed to Charli’s friend’s house. Charli’s friend lives in a house balanced on the edge of a cliff (like many houses in Wellington!). The views are absolutely incredible (above photo taken from their lounge!). Dan and I sat in a trance staring out at the view (the trance had nothing to do with the beer and wine we were drinking – these people have a dedicated, glass fronted, wine fridge in their kitchen!).

The girls had a blast icing their own fairy cakes (now that’s a great idea!) and the Birthday cake was amazing (though Charli declined a piece saying, ‘I’ve already had enough sugar, thank you,’ and continued to add, ‘But my little sister loves sugar.’).

The party was so relaxed and great fun – a magical highlight was the rainbows – which had all the children clamoring at the window in excitement! And I had to add this lovely photo of Charli with her Daddy (and baby!):

The girls went off to sleep beautifully, but Charli is asking, ‘How many more days of the holiday do I have?’ When I replied, ‘Eight’, she wasn’t too happy; ‘But I thought I had ten.’ She’s got mixed feelings about school, which is to be expected – it must be so very daunting to her – and me! I’ll just have to find the strength to keep encouraging her (when I’d rather keep her all to myself!).

This evening, I’m being a geek whilst the rugby is on… good friend Lulu is round and I’m laughing at the banter coming from the couch!

Meanwhile, I’m loving my new cut and colour and just have to add a photo – because by tomorrow it won’t look like this! And with the howling southerlies, and not a spare half hour in the day to blow-dry my hair, it won’t look like this again till my next visit to the hairdressers! This photo’s for my Mum and Dad – see I am looking after myself! Love you! x

After breakfast we headed off for Kindi and were greeted to the wonderful sight of dolphins hungrily fishing in Lyall Bay. They were cavorting in such an energetic display that they were making a break wave all of their own. Watching the surfers rolling in the waves before them was breathtaking and a moment of really being in ‘The Now’. No thoughts of past or future crossed my mind; just a blissful awareness of the moment of the present. And every day is just that, a present.

After Kindi drop-off I took Sophie to Wellington’s beautiful waterfront where we played at Frank Kitt’s Park, looked for fish off the wharf, marvelled at The Rainbow Warrior currently moored at Queen’s Wharf and spotted numbers and letters on our walk to the museum; where we spent a wonderful hour in one of the incredible discovery centres. Te Papa always works hard to provide new and exciting discoveries for our children and I am such a regular that I know many of the staff on first name terms. We are so fortunate to have such an incredible learning facility for free (though we do contribute to it in our taxes!).

This afternoon the girls and I enjoyed more dolphin spotting at Lyall Bay before returning home for some baking and arts and crafts. Both the girls are so enthusiastic with their artwork at the current time. My postage costs are dramatically on the increase with a never-ending flow of creativity. I’m well stocked up with impromptu Birthday cards and artwork for friends and relatives (as well as hand-painted wrapping paper!).

This was the scene today in my kitchen – artwork drying everywhere! [Please note: all the dirty dishes were quickly moved out of the camera's view! And, "I spy something beginning with the letter W, can you guess?". A clue: It's red and you can drink it - it's also necessary for my survival as a parent - but only in moderate doses - otherwise I can't function the next day!]

But, as the afternoon continued and the girls tiredness of a busy week caught up with them it was time for a change of scene. I tried playing a little Bach and Beethoven on the piano – which helped for ten minutes – but after a while, no distractions were working. The local playground is often just the ticket when the four walls of home aren’t kicking it. Unfortunately today wasn’t quite that! Sophie started off by bowling over a little girl and spending some time-out on a bench. Charlotte then started acting like a two year old – bless her – she is only the size of your average two or three year old (currently at 3% for her age on the growth charts)! I had to get them home quickly; with Charlotte screaming her lungs off!

We’re now at home, with dinner in front of them and Sophie in danger of falling asleep in her food. I best get them up to bed soon before they get a second wind!

I’m really looking forward to a glass of red wine and relaxing this evening!

Hope you’ve all had a good week and enjoy a wonderful weekend!

UPDATE: Girls both asleep by 7pm! I’m not even thinking about what time they’ll be up in the morning – just going to focus on ‘being in the NOW’ – the NOW is SO good!

The Christmas trees in Te Papa’s foyer were gorgeous – three themed tree’s: Scottish; Pacific; and Whales. It’s really beautiful to see the trees around town with themes linked to the Southern Hemisphere – paua shells and flip-flops (jandals!); dolphins and whales; native birds and native blossoms of the Pohutukawa tree. My favourite tree I’ve seen is one made entirely of drift-wood – totally summing up a Kiwi Christmas.

In the afternoon we enjoyed chilling out in the sun at home. We didn’t think we’d make the Carols by Candlelight at The Basin Reserve, as Sophie hadn’t taken a nap, but 7pm came and the girls were still sparky so we thought, ‘Let’s go for it!’. It was a great family, friendly venue and the girls loved the music and space to run around. Dan and Charlotte even ventured into the ‘mosh pit’ (though there wasn’t much ‘moshing’ – strictly a family affair!).

It was a beautiful sunny evening and fun to hear the lyrics of some classics adapted to suit the Southern Hemisphere. ‘Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow,’ was changed to, ‘It won’t snow, it won’t snow, it won’t snow….’.

The girls crashed to sleep by 9.30pm after all the fun and we continued our beautiful weekend on Sunday.

We took the girls up to the wave pool at Porirua and they had a blast. After a gorgeous lunch at Pataka we drove further up the coast to Lindale Farm, where the girls loved stroking a pony and feeding the goats. They really loved it and so did we – happy children, happy parents!

Charlotte recognised the Hector’s dolphin (Maui) as being the world’s smallest species and found only in New Zealand. This beautiful, little dolphin, with a rounded-dorsal fin is under-threat – particularly the North Island species. WWF-New Zealand, that I worked for in my pre-parent days, are very active in campaigning to seek better protection. We have ’sponsored’ a Hector’s dolphin with WWF and so Charlotte is particularly interested in this species and proudly said, ‘Mummy, that’s like the dolphin we’ve ‘rescued’ and we called it Charli!’.

It’s a shame this exhibit isn’t free, as we’ll probably be going a lot! At least it’s free for children and at $8 per adult it is quite affordable – just not every day!

The new exhibition will run until September 2012 and from our first glimpses it is a stunning creation, including magnificent artwork, interactive media and wonderful hands-on activities for children too. Sophie loved dressing up and playing the drums, whilst Charlotte practiced threading and weaving.

Charlotte and I also played a wonderful board game; which followed the journey of the first Pacific people to New Zealand and made us appreciate what an incredible voyage it was.

This Labour weekend every corner of the museum has gone Pacific, with everything from traditional crafts and dancing to modern hip-hop. The girls watched in awe at the traditional dancing (and I got rather excited at all the bare skin – as did a few other ladies in the audience judging by the pink cheeks!).

We sat in the cafe and enjoyed a lovely lunch before heading outdoors to the beat of the hip-hop; which was pretty ‘hard-core’ but Charlotte liked it and had us all doing a dance in the dinosaur pit!