At home with the girls

Saturday Mum and Isobel left birthcare after a restful 3 nights and David got to have all his girls home. Alexa was soooo very excited to see 'Bell' she immediately wanted to 'cuddle baby' and was so gentle and loving it was really lovely to see. She is going to be a great older sister.

Unfortunately the photo of her isn't very clear (I should have passed the camera to Dad!) but here she is hugging her sister (check out those possum booties on Bell). John goes in for a close inspection, with Dad proudly showing off his little girl.

We have been well looked after by both families - with flowers, food and help readily offered.

David hopes to have 2 weeks paternity leave (work demands allowing) so we will have some time togethger to get used to the four of us and balancing the demands of two girls.

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Isobel Maia Chapman-Smith

After a slow start to labour, Isobel was born on Wednesday 21 November at 6.31 pm, just 20 minutes after arriving at birthcare. We were well aided by a wonderful midwife Lee who was brilliant at guiding me and then spontaneously gave David the job of catching Isobel as she came into the world. She was a healthy 3.61kg or 8pds and looks simply gorgeous. Very similar in features to Alexa - brown hair, lovely skin, the David CS nose, dark eyes and a bit of dark hair.

Here are a few shots of her. In her special hat, being held by her mum, by Great Granny CS & by Gran (Henderson).

Our little Helper

Alexa has mastered the art of using the hose on both garden and to spray Dad. She has also been seen test driving or checking various pieces of baby equipment (car seat, basinet, new toys).

Dad and Alexa have been watering areas of new lawn almost daily and Alexa loves running into the spray. However Sunday evening she discovered it is just as much fun holding the hose herself and spraying Dad (and Mum hidden behind windows inside the house). What fun to see Dad jumping around and fleeing from the jets of water.

In the second photo she is test driving the baby seat to ensure it is safe for baby's use. She is looking forward to baby's arrival and is very aware of what is inside Mum's tummy. She has been fascinated with babies for awhile now which bodes as a good sign. We have tried out a few names on her, but she is adamant baba is the best name.

D day passes

We have had a busy and productive weekend. Due date (18 Nov)passed with no sign of No.2, we were much relieved by this as David has spent the last week putting in very long hours at work and needed some recovery time. We mixed it up with time at the park with friends, midday sleeps and a busy afternoon. Saturday we headed off to the garden centre and while I distracted Alexa looking for animals in among the plants, David pilled our trolley high with many many vegetables. Then he and Alexa spent the late afternoon planting. You can see the work in the background of our family shot. All going well we can expect to be kept well fed over the summer months - altho we may have to work out a stratgey to dissuade our little helper from 'picking' the veges before they are ready.

We had a visit from Anne and John on their way back from a weekend away in Rotorua. Anne is very keen to meet her third grandchild and is being kept on red alert as she is the ring in to look after Alexa leaving David and I to focus on no. 2. As you can see, she is helping us keep the garden tidy by trimming some of the flowers back!

Halloween

Alexa's first dress up. Daycare were celebrating halloween with a dress up day - the theme being

not too scary. So Alexa and I went looking for the right attire. When I showed her the tiger outfit she was pretty positive about it "yeah" was her response. Of course it had to be done right so face paint was also bought. After b'fast (her usual two courses of weetbix followed by toast) David and I enjoyed trying our hand at a tiger face, we donned the ears and then the tiger tail (which wasn't added until after she got down from her high chair). She was VERY proud of her tail and could respond with a growl when asked what noise a tiger makes. Here she is practising her tiger claws - altho she just didn't seem to get the idea that her hands shouldn't be closed!

The Pot

This blog posting is for Richard, Robyn, Katie, Bridget and Natalie - and for Grandma. They had made for David and I a wonderful outside pot which I mentioned earlier and there is a shot of Alexa admiring it. This posting shows in close up the four sides of the pot, each with a personalised scene from Pukerua Bay. Pukerua Bay has been a holiday destination in the Henderson family for 3 generations and it is a very special place for all of us. You can see that in one there is a picture of the family Bach with the pinetree to the left, there is one of Kapiti, one of the rocks at Pukerua Bay, and one ocean scene. We absolutely love the personalised nature of these scenes. We have yet to decide what should go into the pot so for the moment it lies in our porch greeting any guests we have.