november + december + first words

Finally an update!

NOVEMBER

The end of November was chocca as for the last two weeks we relocated the whanau to Palmerston North while Duncan helped teach a course about brain injury.

I was so looking forward to being back in PN (young heart easy living). Eden seemed to have a growth spurt and spent a lot of time sleeping so I didn't catch up with people as much as I would have liked and did not do any meaningful Christmas shopping!

The people Duncan was working with are really great people and it was really nice to get to know them a bit and become friends. We would all go for a walk over to the esplanade and see the ducks. Eden of course loved this and being new at the walking thing loved to walk amongst them all.

In the middle weekend we came back to Wgtn and stopped for lunch in Paraparaumu. Eden saw some ducks by the stream... "Ducks!" he said - behold the first real word! Previously he had a hissing sound for cheese and occasionly 'na na' for banana but this was the first full and proper word.

DECEMBER

With a few days to breathe in between Eden's Grandma and Grandad Babbage then came to stay for a week. Oh how nice it will be when they are back on whenua Aotearoa. Apart from hanging out at home we had some nice outings to parks and a very cool cafe in Lyall Bay - Eden just was not too sure about the sand and kept lifting his feet up in the air...

We then had a mad week of Christmas shopping and getting ready to go away to Pirongia. Wowee the Waikato is warm. I know this but it was great to be in it. The weather over Christmas time in Wgtn was appalling apparently.

Christmas eve at Tim and Megan's, Christmas day in Pirongia. It's hard to keep in mind the reason for the season. Jesus came to give us new vision and hope and a radical way of living.

Eden has some very cool new toys and clothes which is just fab. He wasn't into ripping open presents much - just handing them to people - maybe this will come next year...

Eden came back with a whole new vocabularly particularly of animal sounds. He loved the cows at Mum and Dad's and we saw a few sheep and a goat or two along the way so he has a hybrid sound for them a kind of "meh" or "maaaare". He also now says "da birds" - probably spurred on by Mum and Dad's housemates the canaries.

We had a great trip to the Hamilton zoo with the other junior Babbages. Eden's neighbourhood 'miaow' turned into a lion style roar and Fin 'roared' around the house for a couple of days afterward! It was also lovely to meet new bub Zoe and my first reaction was amazment at how she looks like a dark haired version of Megan.

Duncan, Dad, Stephanie and Michael went on a fishing trip one day (it was the men's Christmas pressy). Dad caught a fantastic snapper and we had 2 great meals of gurnard, snapper and kahawai. The guys also played quite a bit of golf and got saveloy skin to prove it. Duncan's is now peeling off in huge chards as we speak...

We did tons of other stuff too including a trip to the beach at Raglan but sandy sandwiches made us move on quick. Funny how you forget... Eden was very unkeen with the cold water. Maybe we'll try again in February...

We had some very crazy evenings sitting up late playing board games with much hilarity (All the Halse clan were together). Good fambily times. It was hard to leave apart from anything else - as I had gotten very used to not focussing on Eden all the time because other people were with him! He had a great time branching out walking around such a big area.

JANUARY

When we got home we rearranged the furniture - don't worry about the detail but lets just say that Eden is climbing!! No use having a coffee table as a barrier to the kitchen anymore. I have gone and spent $50 eeek on safety catches and the like...

I am currently obsessed with gardening and I never would have imagined it. Actually it is creating the garden bit that I am obsessing over (I sure don't like the weeding part or the waiting for things to grow...). Researching what plants would work in our small space with the weather and soil conditions we have here is where the time goes. I have spent untold hours on this and it has helped to keep me awake sometimes!!! You should see the piles of weeds and rocks (not to mention a whole of other rubbish too) I have gotten out of our dirt. Pooped I tell ya and I'm not finished yet!