Baptism Day

On Thursday morning Little m was baptized! The deacon made an exception for us since we were coming in from out of town and he agreed to celebrate the Christening on an unusual day and time.

It was a really nice ceremony and Little m was a complete doll the entire time. She smiled non-stop. I think the deacon fell in love with her a little!

We're so grateful that our family and friends could support us on this special day. Even M's nannies from Halifax flew in for the occasion!

Special thanks to C&R for being Little m's Godparents. We couldn't ask for a more loving couple to be a part of our peanut's life. She's one lucky girl to be loved by so many people!

Many thanks to M's parents for hosting the party afterwards and also for providing us with the family Baptismal gown. I think it's pretty cool that Little m was able to wear the same gown as her daddy did!

New Zealand: Days 12-13

Carrying on in the South Island, we made an overnight pitstop in the small town of Twizel so that M could go to another Lord of the Rings tour. While he was exploring Pelennor Fields I took advantage of free wifi at the town's bakeshop and sat in the sunshine while the little one slept on my chest. Once the tour was finished we took a drive from Twizel to Te Anau, and from there onto Milford Sound. This is technically a fjord, not a sound, and one of NZ's most famous tourist destinations and also a World Heritage site.

There is only one long windy road that goes in and out of Milford Sound but it's definitely worth the trek. We took a Mitre Peak boat cruise and it's probably my favourite thing we did in all of New Zealand. So gorgeous. And now for way too many pictures:

We took an early morning cruise and it was very chilly! There's a baby in there somewhere!

Even Kymani made the trip!

After enjoying Milford Sound we took the coastal drive to Queenstown, which is sort of like the village of Whistler. I kinda loved it there.

We asked for a recommendation for lunch and were told to visit Fergburger.

ZOMG so good. We ate there twice of course.

Bear with me, I'm almost done the New Zealand recaps. Two more posts to go! Then we can move on to more Little m :)

New Zealand: Days 10-11

Time to finish my New Zealand recaps before I forget what we did!

On our tenth day we left Kaikoura, which was one of my very favourite cities. I'm not sure you could even call it a city, more like a sleepy beach town with amazing scenery. Before leaving we stopped to see another seal colony but unfortunately the tide was out and so were the seals. There wasn't much to see other than a few loners.

The gorgeous view was worth the stop though. Gosh, now that I look back on our pictures I can't believe how beautiful New Zealand is. The pictures simply don't do it justice.

From Kaikoura we continued on to Ashburton but decided to split up the long drive (with our screaming infant) with a stop at Waipara Springs Winery for lunch and a tasting. I've had a craving to guzzle down a whole bottle of wine so many times since Little m was born, but haven't had the chance. This time I was prepared and fed her before we started drinking and I also had a bottle of pumped milk to give her, so I had a grand ole time, finishing off my tastings plus M's!

We spent the evening in Ashburton and got up the next morning to drive through Mount Cook National Park. What a scenic drive! I couldn't believe the colour of the water of Lake Tekapo - a bit difficult to tell from the picture below, but the most beautiful turquoise I've ever seen. The lake is fed by glaciers and the rock dust particles mixed with sunlight create the beautiful colour.

While continuing our drive to Mount Cook we came across sheep crossing!

Tons and tons of sheep coming right for us!

We stopped for lunch in the valley of Mount Cook and this was the view from our table:

You can't get much better than that!

We also took a walk up to the terminal face of Tasman Glacier and what we thought would be a trail walk turned into a steep climb up a mountain! With a baby! Eek!

Glorious!

Stay tuned next time for Twizel.

Getting the Beats

My little cutie is already getting picked on by her older cousin!

Life is busy but good. Be back soon :)

Month Three With Little m

Little m’s third month of being was a busy one!

She is now a world traveler! At ten weeks old, Little m took her first flight from Chicago to Toronto, and at twelve weeks flew from Chicago to San Francisco to Auckland. She is a very easy traveler and everything went more smoothly than expected.

Not gonna lie, this was probably our most difficult month yet due to her sleeping, or should I say lack there of. Sleeping? What's that? Some nights she’d be up almost every hour. Some days she wouldn’t sleep at all between 9am-9pm. Things have definitely taking a turn for the better now and perhaps all of the craziness was due to a growth spurt? Blame everything on growth spurts, that's my motto.

Little m talks and smiles and kicks her legs a lot now! I’ve heard a few giggles too. She is happiest in the mornings. She absolutely loves being naked. She doesn’t love tummy time. She is very nosy and wants to look at everything around her. Her neck is getting much stronger but still needs support. She loves when I lay down beside her and hold a book above our heads and read to her. Eating her fingers is her favourite way to pass the time. Driving in the car is the worst thing in the world to her. Unfortunately, sitting in her car seat for a stroller ride is the second worst thing. She loves being carried in a sling or moby wrap. Bouncing on the exercise ball is the number one way to calm her down when she’s upset and I was so close to bringing it to New Zealand with us.

She’s still a tiny girl weighing somewhere around eight and a half pounds. She’s long and lean and outgrows the length of her clothing way way way before the width.

She’s our not perfect, yet perfect to us peanut.

My Wish List

Christmas is coming soon! My birthday is sooner! All I'm really wishing for is a full night's sleep but that's likely impossible. It's hard to think of things I want or need but using the wishpot website makes it easier and when an idea comes to mind I try to record it before I forget. Look at my full list here.

1. I already have a necklace from The Vintage Pearl with mine and husband's initials and now I'd like another M charm for the little one.

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2. I enjoy reading Mama Pea's blog and would love a copy of her new cookbook!

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3. I'm not sure if there are any donut recipes in that cookbook but I've seen a few on the internet that I've been wanting to try, but alas, I don't have a donut pan. If someone buys me this I promise to make them donuts!

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4. I also wouldn't mind a tea infuser mug of some sort. I recently bought of bunch of different teas to try and this would be perfect to test them out in.

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5. M's friend from high school has a new album out called Hibernation Nation. I first heard Andrea sing a few years ago when we traveled to Colombia for a wedding. Her voice is heavenly and I'd love a copy of her CD.

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I also added a few things that Little m's wishing for, but they're mostly practical (boring) items like bibs and diaper cream! Poor girl.

Her daddy would cringe at this but I think she'd look super cute wearing some babylegs leg warmers, and they're still on sale from Cyber Monday:

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What's #1 on your wish list this year?

New Zealand: Days 8-9

I really enjoyed our time spent in Wellington. It's an extremely walkable city with lovely scenery, a terrific waterfront, and tons of shops and restaurants. They say Chicago is the windy city but it has nothing on Wellington. The wind there is unbelievable. It rained a bit during our stay and we learned there’s a reason why no one in Wellington uses umbrellas – they turn inside out in seconds! The rain blows sideways. Luckily, weather moves quickly in New Zealand and the dreary morning we experienced on our ninth day turned into an afternoon filled with blue skies.

After M met up for lunch with some NZ colleagues, we took an old cable car up to the botanical gardens. The view of the city was great and we could even see the cruise ship that was in port.

After walking around the gardens and cable car museum for a while, we needed a rest. I asked M to take a picture of me in that moment because I wanted to remember it forever - sitting in the sunshine, drinking a bevvy, doing nothing! Ahhh, I miss those days!

On our tenth day of vacation we got up early to catch the Interislander ferry, which took us from the North Island to the South Island. The ride took around four hours and once we were a bit closer to the South Island and had entered the sounds, the views were incredible. I stood in awe at the back of the boat for an hour, just taking in all the scenery.

I love how the sun shone on the water, making it sparkle.

As per usual, it was a tiny bit windy.

When we got off the ferry we drove to Kaikoura, which is a popular place to go whale watching. Ever since experiencing sea sickness multiple times in Thailand, I am petrified of boating in rough waters so I knew I didn’t want to go whale watching. Instead, we decided to go swimming with seals. Unfortunately, because of the water and weather conditions plus time constraints on our end, this plan didn’t work out. We did get to see a seal colony up close when we stopped along the side of the road at Ohau Point.

The baby seals were terribly cute! We got so close to them, only to read a sign later that said stay 10 metres away! I'm pretty sure we could have outrun them if we needed to.

In this small area shown below where the waterfall is, we counted over a dozen seals frolicking in the water. Ahh, the life of a seal. They looked like they were having so much fun, swimming and flipping through the water without a care in the world!

Up next: more Kaikoura and onto Ashburton!