A weekend of racing. :)

We decided to stay in Rotorua on Friday night as the weather was awful and I was a bit tired as Lilli didn't sleep so well. Plus it was good excuse to spend another night with Tony and Annie and the boys. :)

I took some gorgeous photos and videos of Lilli with the dog (a border collie named Lily) and also some with Jack (her cousin) but unfortunately when I went to copy them to the computer I somehow managed to delete them! Bugger. I am gutted.

Saturday we came back up to Auckland in our new car and after lunch we headed into Pukekohe where my Dad was racing. We spent the afternoon hanging out there and then I gave Lilli her dinner at the track as we had a BBQ dinner/party with the Central Muscle Cars. Lilli and I stayed until about 7.30pm and then headed home. It was great to catch up with all my racing buddies as I hadn't seen them in so long. Lilli was her usual special self, so social and cute, and everybody just adores her.

We went back in today at about 11.30am and spent the day there again supporting Poppa. Lilli was so cute - we were watching from down the end of the track by the pit lane entrance and when the cars started coming into pit lane after the race she would clap her hands. It looked so adorable that all the people around us commented on it and laughed. What a cutie pie!! She would clap when Poppa was racing past as well. Then when it was time for her afternoon nap I walked her around the pits and she went off to sleep even with the racing going on in the background - a true little future racer girl if ever there was one. :)

Anyway because I was so hopeless at deleting the photos and videos and I forgot to take my camera to the racing (I also forgot my phone so couldn't even take a photo with that!!!) there are none to put up on this blog! So... that's all for now.

A trip to Rotorua for Lilli's Plunket visit & Mummy's specialist appointment

Lilli in her cute buzzy bee dress on 01 December.

Yesterday Lilli and I jumped into the car and headed down to Rotorua again. It was a great trip. Lilli woke up about half an hour out of Rotorua but was quite happy to play with her toys and talk and giggle with Mummy. Taking the top cover off the carseat has obviously helped keep her cooler and maybe not feel so closed in. We came down for our appointments and are staying with Uncle Toot and Aunty Annie - and the boys of course. :)

When we got there Tony was home for lunch and he had our new car for us to pick up!!! It's gorgeous. A Nissan Xtrail, 2005, in excellent condition. Lovely to drive. Awesome. :D

Last night we came down to Poppa's to look after Darrin's kids, Brad and Caitlin, while Poppa and Darrin worked on the racecar. I prepared dinner while Lilli played with Caitlin and Brad. She had a ball - she just loves kids, especially little girls like Caitlin who is 7. Soo sweet watching them together. When Poppa came up from the shed he cooked the stirfry and we all sat at the table to eat, including Lilli. Poppa is an amazing cook so the stirfry was yummy!

This morning we went off to our plunket appointment with Tany. Lilli is 73cm long and weighs 9.5kg! She is in the 90th percentile for her height and the 85th for weight. She is a big baby! She is also very intelligent and Tany told me she is really advanced for her age. She is doing stuff that she would expect a 12 month old to be just starting to do and her speech and communications skills are even more advanced. In fact next time I go to see her we have to talk about the future as there will be extra things to take into account due to Lilli being so forward - mainly to do with education.

Tany also said that Lilli is waking at night (the 3am wake up) because she is hungry and that this is perfectly normal for a big baby. The fact that Lilli is so active now means that even more so she will want a feed 6 or 7 hours after going to bed. She said that the fact that Lilli is so advanced is also a factor in her waking up and, of course, the teething. Lilli's top teeth are coming now too, both at once. Hahaha. As for the constipation, Tany said that at this stage of development babies bowels need to learn to change from the milk only function to the solid foods processing. It is a matter of teaching Lilli's bowel to alongate to keep it healthy and not let it widen. Make sense?? Hehe. Basically I just have to watch the signs and get alot of fruit into her and the drops that Aiden (my naturopath) has sent me when she is showing any sign of constipation which will help the process along. Basically though, Lilli is doing extremely well and is a wonderful interactive baby. Tany was well impressed. I feel so much better after her explainations as well. :)

After lunch we went up to the hospital for my specialist follow up appointment to make sure that everything is okay after what happened after Lilli was born and the specialist agreed with my other specialist so I am on aspirin daily and then when we have another baby I will take calcium as well. So nothing new there. All is well.

Lilli in her new chair - given to her by her cousin Jack from when he was a baby.

Playing with the boxes of christmas crackers.

Mummy got her hair cut

On Friday we all treked off to the hairdresser because Mummy decided that she has had enough of seeing her hair everywhere on the floor and having it tied up in a ponytail all the time! Lilli chatted and laughed away while we were there - she's just soo good. It took over an hour and she finally started getting a little grumpy towards the end because it was nearly lunchtime and she was hungry. I put her on the boob at Judiths (the hairdresser) and then we stopped for lunch on the way home. In the cafe she was so funny. She absolutely refused to sit in her highchair and kept going as stiff as a board so that I couldn't sit her down and get the harness on her. Hahaha Nana and I were cracking up. A few other people in the cafe were laughing too. Little bugger. Then we distracted her and got her into her seat and she was happy as and munched out on her lunch and chatted (very loudly) and banged things on the table. It was so cute - our loud little girl kept everyone entertained! :D

Mummy's new haircut.

Reading a book with Nana while taking a quick rest in her walker.

Ooh. The book has sounds of farm animals in it.

Lilli was not great yesterday. Poor little thing. I think she had sore gums and a sore tummy too. She is a little constipated at the moment and we are trying to figure out what is causing it. Aside from me stopping anything with cocoa in it we are looking at what Lilli eats to see if something is causing her to get a little blocked up.

Last night Lilli slept pretty good! I actually have nearly 4 hours sleep without interruption! Yahoo. I am going to talk to my naturopath, Aiden, to see if he can help with the constipation issue and also maybe even the sleep issue.

Here she is zooming around in her walker this morning while we were watching the All Blacks play France.

We went into Howick to day to get the second to last load of furniture from the other house. Cleaners are coming in next Thursday so we need to get everything out by then. Lilli played on the floors with Olivia and Jess (Bron & Lawrence's girls) and they were showing her how to crawl. She actually managed two 'steps' while we were all watching which was gorgeous. I think she'll be away soon. We stopped over to see Bron and Lawrence and co before heading home.

She stills love to jump.

Swinging on her jumper.

Pops cooked us a BBQ tonight and we ate downstairs. I brought Lilli's walker down and she zoomed around all over the place flat out. She had a ball! Crashing into poles and trying to go over the gravel to see the sheep. She ate some more dirt out of a pot plant and chased her ball around like a little mad thing. Sooo funny. :D

Lilli's latest achievements:

Get's on to her hands and knees from her bum and rocks back and forth.

Says Baa for sheep, Bir for bird, Ish for fish.

Is very vocal - yells and squeals a lot.

Calls me Mama.

Calls my Mum, Nan Nan.

Chases her toys in her walker and can run and jump in it.

She's like a little ballerina/acrobat/gymnast in her jolly jumper. :)

Has started voicing her opinion and refusing to do things like getting into her highchair or car seat, or lifting up her bottom so you can't put her nappy back on. :D

Lunch, Visits with old friends, Dinner, Lunch, Playing in the park...

Monday Lilli, Mummy, and Nana when to the Cottage nearby for lunch and there were heaps and children there. Lilli was so excited! She sat there happily watching them all and really wanted to get up and join in - one day very soon she will! After lunch we checked out the chickens and rooster and then headed back home.

Tuesday we went over to the North Shore to catch up with Jo who is an old family friend so that she could meet Lilli. It was lovely to catch up with her again and she just adored Lilli! Lilli thought she was pretty great too. Haha. Then we went to visit Jacquie who is an old friend of mine to see her new baby girl Keira (2nd baby for Jacquie - she has Erin who is 3 as well). She's not so new anymore though as she just turned 4 months old! We have been meaning to catch up for ages and the time has just flown. Lilli played with their cats and thought they were pretty cool as they are used to little kids and so they let her pat them and pull their hair. Then one was swishing past Lilli and it's tail went in her mouth and she had all this cat hair sticking out of her mouth! She thought it was a big joke. Of course Mummy got it all out.

Lilli eating her first strawberry after we bought some on the way home.

She's getting close to crawling now...

Wednesday we went to the park! Lilli wasn't too sure about the swing but she enjoyed the slide I think.

Wednesday night we went to dinner at Bron and Lawrence's again and Thursday we had lunch as usual with Mary. Clare was going to come with baby Zoe but her husband's birth mother came over earlier than expected and she had to cancel. Terri was also going to come but she ended up having to work. Fortunately she finished work on Friday to go on maternity leave so she will no doubt come for lunch one Thursday soon. Lilli was so cute at lunch! We go to the same place every week and they know us well now so when we get there we always get the same table and they bring out the highchair for Lilli and some boiling water so we can heat up her lunch. It's a Thai restaurant and they are really lovely people. Today one of the guys even held Lilli for me so that I could finish my lunch! She knows them all now too so she went off with him quite happily for a little walk around the restaurant. :)

Lilli and Nana with Olivia and Jess

9 months old today!

Lilli having a quick chew on Ollie's head.

Thursday we went for lunch as usual which was great. Clare is home from the hospital so after we went to lunch we popped in to see her and baby Zoe for a few minutes. Lilli loved Zoe but was probably more interested in the cat truth be known! Hahaha. Little Zoe is just under 5lb! Wow, I have never seen a baby that small before. Sooo cute but so tiny you worry you'll brake her. Seriously she is the size of a doll. She is still too small to fit premmie clothes. Gorgeous. Mum and I had a little cuddle each.

Yesterday we helped Pops plant some new avocado trees. Lilli was in her stroller and kept us all entertained as we worked. She was such a good girl, no trouble, and very patient. When she'd had enough we all went inside but it would've been at least a couple of hours that we were out working!

The major news of the week is that Lilli is 9 months old today! Wow. She is still a little treasure but she is sure starting to show she has a mind of her own! She certainly knows what she wants or doesn't want! Lol.

Now that I'm 9 months old can I drive the lawnmower??

Oh come on, I can do it. :)

Hmmm how am I going to reverse out of here??

Let me out!!!