Bug = 3 years 2 months
Bub = 1 year 4 months 11 days What was Linus up to at this age?
Bud = 16 weeks 4 days gestation

On Good Friday (10th April) – after two disappointing cancellations – I finally had my first proper appointment with my midwife and the second-year midwifery student (a personal friend) who will also be following my pregnancy. I was very pleased that Bob, my Mum and I finally were able to hear Bud’s heartbeat!

Since about that time, I’ve also been feeling quite frequent movements from Bud. I definitely feel movement internally, but it’s hard to know for sure whether I can also feel any externally (i.e. with my hands on my tummy) since feeling both at once confuses the senses a little. No one else has felt Bud kick yet, although Daddy tries to feel kicks and hear the heartbeat most nights.

I’ve been feeling exceptionally well since the first trimester ended. The nausea is gone, no heartburn has arrived yet, and I have no fatigue, aches, or pains. I’ve had occasional insomnia, but that might not be pregnancy-related. If it weren’t for the regular kicking and the fact that many of my jeans no longer fit, I’d hardly know I was pregnant!

Bug = 3 years 2 months
Bub = 1 year 4 months 8 days What was Linus up to at this age?
Bud = 16 weeks 1 day gestation

Yesterday, our little family decided to hit the road and enjoy some of the moderately nice weather, given that it might be the last clement weekend before winter arrives.

We drove along the harbour to Port Chalmers, and then up and over the hill to a couple of places we’d never been to as a family (and where Bob and I hadn’t been since we were much, much younger!) – Purakaunui* and Long Beach.

While Ada slept in the car, Linus had a play down at the Purakaunui jetty throwing stones into the water, and when Ada woke up we all had a delicious picnic lunch (thanks, Daddy!) in the car. (The weather was nice enough for us to have picnicked outside, but there were some boisterous dogs around who would have probably made it unpleasant.)

After lunch we headed over the hill to Long Beach. We all wandered and played and did our own things on the beach… Linus kicked up sand, I dug a three-way underground tunnel compound, Daddy built a sand-castle, and Ada chased a wind-blown seaweed pod around.

It was a great day out (in spite of the kids BOTH refusing to succumb to much-needed sleep on the drive home), and was almost enough to make me reconsider my aversion to sand!

Bug = 3 years 2 months
Bub = 1 year 4 months 4 days What was Linus up to at this age?
Bud = 15 weeks 4 days gestation

Any mother will tell you that keys appeal to babies very strongly as a toy. Like remote controls and cell phones, they are objects that seem to hold endless fascination for Mummy and Daddy, so baby wants a turn. Unlike remotes and phones, though, keys jingle and sparkle irresistibly!

So when I tell people that Ada loves keys, other mums smile knowingly and say that their baby does/did as well. But they don’t quite get it! Because Ada doesn’t play with keys like they’re a rattle – she’s obsessed with using them to unlock things. She has can spend substantial amounts of time trying to unlock doors (not the lock, you understand – the door itself); washing hampers; and drawers.

She is also a fiend for buckles, specifically the plastic safety clips on high chairs, prams, and Linus’s trike. She seems to have a sixth sense about when there are any in the vicinity that aren’t done up, and it is her calling to do them up… and then to do her darndest (usually unsuccessfully) to undo them again.

Bug = 3 years 2 months
Bub = 1 year 4 months 1 day What was Linus up to at this age?
Bud = 15 weeks 1 day gestation

Time Out

Over the past couple of months we’ve been doing “time outs” with Linus.

The other day we were out in the backyard, and Linus – who can be a bit sensitive about noise – was bothered by the fierce wind blowing through the trees. He shouted out angrily:

“STOP, wind! … Do you want some time out, trees?!”

Toilet

The other day Linus summoned me to wipe his bum after he’d used the potty. I told him I’d be back in a sec, and walked away to quickly finish what I was doing.

“OK!” he yelled after me, “Have a good time!!”

Bug = 3 years 1 month
Bub = 1 year 3 months 22 days What was Linus up to at this age?
Bud = 13 weeks 5 days gestation

An update on the kids’ new sleeping arrangement is definitely in order. Our last exciting episode had a cliff-hanger ending, with Ada refusing to nap in the new room, and her poor parents looking forward with dread to a fretful evening and night from one or both children.

Night One

But nothing could have been further from the truth! Ada finally took a nap in the afternoon, and in the evening went to sleep ridiculously easily, with Linus sneaking into her room 10 minutes later to go to his bed.

I was rather disconcerted by the ominous silence emanating stubbornly from the room all evening, and was a little emotional about going to bed in a room without my baby girl for the first time since she was born (the first time since she was conceived, in fact!).

Linus awoke at a semi-civilised* hour the next morning, and an added bonus of the new arrangement is that he comes through to our room, leaving Ada to sleep in peace. In the past, he has come through to our room, and on 90% of mornings he’s woken Ada through grizzling or talking or playing.

Nights Two – Five

All good. Babies sleeping well, waking at civilised hour. Parents well rested despite mild state of shock.

Ada’s Shameful Secret

Another bonus of the new sleeping arrangement is that we now have the camera in use again and can watch Ada sleeping (and going to sleep) for the first time. Thus we have discovered that every sleep – without fail – her much-loved Mandy and Foxy are unceremoniously thrown over the side of the cot within minutes of our leaving the room. I guess she’s not quite as attached to them as we thought!