Goals Update: March (very belated)

I don't know where the time goes, really I don't. Please forgive the very sparse posting over the last month or two. I had hoped that we had turned a corner on that issue, but apparently I was not looking at reality when I came to that conclusion.

Anyway, I am here now and this is my brief recap of March.

Parenting

Introduction of solid food

This is going well so far. The only total reject has been avocado. Banana isn't particularly popular on its own, but hidden in with other things it is just fine. We are getting used to more chunky bits, although this wasn't a popular change. With two bottom teeth now we may attempt to re-introduce finger foods. This also wasn't popular - perhaps because the items are cold. Miss OWW has a definite preference for warm food.

Begin potty training

What was I thinking? Okay, maybe in a month or two but not right now. Far too much to do as it is.

Have a happy, healthy and active daughter

This is a definite success. Miss OWW is generally only unhappy when tired or having a clingy week. Fingers crossed, we haven't had anything to concern ourselves about her health. And on her activity levels - the current fad is cruising the living room furniture and attempting to use anything that looks even slightly solid and tall as an aide to standing. Of course this makes for a bit of "follow-the-leader" where Miss OWW is definitely the leader and her mother definitely the follower.
We took a month off from organised swimming classes, and are now debating whether to return to them through winter or find another activity to replace it.

Get more sleep

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. I'm a comedienne.
We are waffling between waking once and twice a night now. The odd day of multiple waking occurs, but seems to be becoming less regular. For my own sanity I am putting this down to "a phase" on the grounds that over the last month the little Miss has learned to sit, crawl and stand. Add to that the arrival of her first two bottom teeth within days of each other, and I think I have hope to call it a phase. I predict that this phase will continue through April. ;)

Creativity

We'll just agree to call this a write off. The only photography I have managed was during our family trip to Wellington (see Flickr album in the side bar). I will post the couple of B&W photographs that I took during that trip shortly.

Personal Pleasures, Treasures and Measures

Read 24 books or more

I managed to squeeze out another book this month, taking the year's total to: 3 books.
Not quite whizzing my way to the 24, but at least I am plodding along.

Work

Create the new website

This one has been very stop-start. I find it hard to achieve much in the 45 minute - 1.5 hour daytime sleeps that Miss OWW takes. With a dodgy memory and suspect concentration, this makes for a fair degree of frustration on my part. With the assistance of Bruce I have been looking through the possibilities and am hopeful, Miss OWW's daytime sleeps willing, that I will get something solid moving shortly.

---

Right, that would be it for the moment. If you've read this, thanks for hanging in there with me.

---

Yesterday was Anzac Day, here are my previous posts about the day and also a link to a friend's experience celebrating abroad on this day (ANZAC 2008, Kuwait).

---

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them.

Mother's Memory Aides

A little while ago I mentioned that I would post about some simple memory aides for the sleep-deprived and memory challenged new mother. Well here you go, take a look and see what you think.

The first of these is for pre-natal use and is very basic.

It's the Kick Chart recorder.

Then there is the newborn feeding and sleeping recorder.
If you aren't planning on using a bracelet or similar as a memory aide for breastfeeding, this may be a useful alternative. I have put in an imaginary entry at the top for you to see how I would use the form.

The originals of each of these were created in MS Excel, but WP doesn't support the format. If you are so inclined, drop me an email and I can send through the spreadsheet for you to alter as you see fit.

My experience.
I found recording feeding times, lengths and sleeping times to be extremely useful for when our midwife asked about the baby's patterns. Prior to writing things down I was pretty much guessing at what we were actually doing. So it should be no surprise that as soon as Miss OWW had a week of next-to-no weight gain shortly after joining us I began to write everything down. It gave very quick clarity to the fact that she was sleeping for long periods and therefore was not feeding as often as she needed to for optimal growth.

There is no need to panic about these things, but being forearmed allows you to see clearly and without the memory haze that can accompany a new baby. It also allows for patterns to be viewed clearly and for you to track alterations in behaviour that may be the cause of difficulties. While I never needed to show my scribblings to our midwife, I always had them available for her expert eye if things had not improved.

---

If you have other resources or links to similar ideas or a story to share, please feel free to leave a comment.

---

A Question of Death

In keeping with my current need to read small snippets at a time, I have returned to an old favourite... Phryne Fisher.

Her creator, Kerry Greenwood, has a collection of short stories with lovely illustrations and the odd suggestion for recipes appropriate to the era (1928).
It is called A Question of Death.

I can quite happily recommend this for a spot of light reading.

If you are looking for something more modern, but in a similar vein, you could try the Corinna Chapman series by the same author. This may be somewhat more fattening should you take up the recipes offered.

My rating: 4 out of 5.

Very easy reading. Nice setting. Fun heroine.

Wellington Weekend

The Oh Waily family went on an outing together last weekend.
It took in Miss O's very first aeroplane flight, and her first visit to our capital city - Wellington.
We left Auckland on Friday morning and took the one hour flight south. The aircraft was about a quarter full and we had our row to ourselves. Miss O was so interested in the whole event that she was effectively asleep about five minutes after take-off. The only sign of any trepidation was the vice like grip one small hand had on her mother's finger during the noisy take-off. So much for her mother's worry over ear popping and then ear piercing wails resounding throughout the flight.

Miles was present to be travel pillow and edible toy in whichever capacity was required, just as Miss O's Gran intended when she christened him. Dad had the camera to hand to capture the excitement, as you can clearly see in Miss O's face.
And for the first time in a very long time Ms O wondered where the time had gone on a flight. One moment we were taxiing out onto the runway, eating the high class casava chip snacks and gulping down "fresh brewed" coffee. The next moment we were banking, nose down and looking at the top of the South Island. No bouncy arrivals this trip, thank goodness.

The only disappointment of the weekend occurred on our arrival. Our bright green Phil & Ted's, which we had so carefully checked in through the "oversize & fragile" desk, failed to make the trip south with us. This left Ms O fairly irate.
A quarter full aeroplane, a bright green stroller, and yet miraculously the clearly overworked baggage handling staff couldn't quite manage to make the two meet. Quite what those gentlemen thought we were going to do with a 7.5kg child for three days without her regular mode of transportation is beyond me.

The blase manner with which this news was given to the Oh Waily's didn't make the irritation reduce one jot. We were promised that it would make a solo flight on the next aeroplane, followed by a courier trip to our hotel. It duly did this, arriving some six hours later missing a small cap piece which would have taken some effort to dislodge. All-in-all an unsatisfactory level of service was had by all. It did however produce another first, as Mr O duly pointed out to his frustrated wife - Miss O's first flight and her first lost luggage experience.

With no sensible way of transporting Miss O around town, we resorted to driving around to Evans Bay and stopped for lunch at a nice little restaurant. Middle Eastern food happily consumed and a nice humour returned to the trip.

At this age regular sleep is still required by the Little Miss, so a reasonable amount of pleasant reading time was passed by Ms O and customer visits were completed by Mr O. The missing stroller and working husband both turned up at the hotel shortly after Miss O decided to wake and the Oh Waily family took the opportunity to enjoy a gentle stroll around inner city Wellington.

As the big game was on at the Cake Tin that evening we had plenty of yellow & black shirts wandering the streets and a fair representation of black and red shirts too. On Lambton Quay we were treated to the sounds of multiple Harley Davidson motorbikes growling their way to Westpac Stadium. On the back of one we spotted Captain Hurricane, and bringing up the rear the Crusader's mascot. At least the locals were nice enough to give him a ride. But I did wonder if they provided his normal white stallion.

We took a break in our perambulation at Mac's Brewery Bar and Restaurant and watched young folk jumping (illegally, no doubt) from the top of a small building into the harbour. The weather was pleasant and still sunny in the late afternoon, but the wind had built up and they seemed to be impervious to the chill.

As we sat outside the bar it began to fill with the many-suited occupants of this bureaucratic city. Pinstriped men and smartly dressed women turning up for their after-work gatherings at the local watering hole. Mixed in alongside them varied rugby fanatics enjoying a little hospitality before the brisk walk along the waterfront to the Cake Tin. It provided a lovely interlude of people watching nestled beside Te Papa.

With the sun beginning to slowly set and the wind getting a little chillier, the Oh Waily's made their way back to the hotel for the evening and some 'rugby time' in front of the television. Unfortunately for our host city, the game just didn't go their way.

Oh well, there was always tomorrow to look forward to.