Thursday, December 28, 2006

Merry Christmas!

Here are some photos from the lead up to Christmas:Matilda with Daddy and Santa at the Christmas celebration at the Marsden's (she loved their light display ... staring at lights is one of Matilda's favourite activities at the moment).
The whole family. Matilda at least was looking spiffy in her Peter Alexander Christmas romper ("Bundle of Joy" is written on it in silver), Mum and Dad looking rather less spiffy in our polo shirts.
Barnaby the rocking reindeer's assistant, Matilda, supervising Daddy and Aunty Janet decorate the Christmas tree. I stayed out of the way and decorated some garland.
We hope everyone had a merry Christmas. We had a great time for Matilda's first Christmas, full of family, friends, and good times. Unfortunately, Matilda isn't quite liking being cuddled as much as she did when she was first born. After a while, she definitely wants her own space (hm, sounds like her Mummy to me ...), but then is happy for you to devote attention on her as she kicks and wriggles on the floor or in the bouncer. So there wasn't as many cuddles with the grandparents as I was hoping, but I'm sure there'll be more cuddle time for everyone as the weeks and months go on.

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Christmas Gifts

OK, so Matilda won't really understand Christmas this year, or get too excited about any presents she receives (unless they possibly have a yummy sucking texure!). But I'm pretty sure Santa will still visit her, and I haven't been able to stop myself from finding a few things here and there for her ... :)
One very cool set of gifts for the people who have it all is on this site:
www.usefulgifts.org
Gifts are available from a Secret Santa/Kris Kringle price range ($5) right through to tens, hundreds, or thousands of dollars. Why not show someone you love them this Christmas and give them a goat or toilet (or give those items to someone else who really needs them on your friend's behalf)?? ;)

Our Christmas tree is up, lights are out the front (OK, so they've been there since last Christmas, but now we're turning them on at night ...), the garlands are decorated (ditto about being up since last year) and plans have been made for Christmas lunch at our house. We're having Christmas Eve dinner with my Dad, Lylia and siblings, except for Cam who's having a white Christmas in Canada. Then, Christmas morning and lunch at home with John's family and my Mum. If Matilda can cope, we're then going to celebrate Christmas night with John's Broadhurst family. And that's all the family celebrations this year!
The Taylors had a bit of a get-together last night at the Brekky Creek hotel, thanks to cousin Ben being in town. Ben works on an oil rig off the north coast of Norway, and has a flat in Madrid (but if I overheard a convo with Petie correctly, there's a move to Norway on the cards, together with Laura). So, we don't get to see Ben too often and any excuse is a good one to get together and eat some yummy steaks. Matilda actually managed to sleep with all the noise in the Spanish steak garden, but didn't really enjoy eating her dinner in that atmosphere. Definitely a night where a bottle feed is required, rather than attempting to breastfeed. We're encouraged by Matilda's ability to sleep around noise, particularly with New Year's Eve coming up, and our annual celebrations with the Hooker clan. This Christmas will be fun with Matilda here with us, even if she can't really rip wrapping paper just yet ...

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Matilda at 8 weeks

Well, we've survived the first eight weeks of Matilda's life. The main thing that John and I have learnt is that sometimes you have to teach a baby how to go to sleep. We didn't anticipate that! Once we realised that our girl wouldn't just yawn, flutter her eyelids, and fall asleep like an angel (well, she does that sometimes when she's being cuddled ... she loves cuddles!), life has gotten better. I'm not sure she's getting enough sleep yet, most of her daytime sleeps are naps of 30-60 minutes, but sometimes she does have a good two-hour sleep as well. At night, she's sleeping really well, and most mornings I want to wake her up, because I'm uncomfortable due to her long sleep. Many nights she doesn't wake between 9pm - 6am, which is rather incredible at this age.
Matilda's started cooing and gurgling in the past two or three weeks. It's very exciting that she's starting to use her voice for something other than crying! Not that she cries that much, but it's more fun to interact with a cooing and gurgling and smiling baby. We talk to Matilda a lot, so hopefully that will also stimulate her vocabulary development. :)

Saturday, November 11, 2006

And more photos ...

Lyn King
Liz Kubler
Matt, Olivia, and Nat Halpin
Granny Lib
James and Erin
Lexie and Hooker tribe
Gramps Taylor
Lou and Ash
Gran Lylia

More photos ...

Aunty Janet
Madeleine
Aunty Lou

Great-Grandma Moore
Grandad Richardson and Aunty Kate
Aunty Jen
Grandma Richardson
Aunty Petie

MorMor and Matilda

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Photos

A few photos from the big day.



Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Announcing Matilda May Richardson

Our beautiful daughter has finally entered the world! Matilda May Richardson arrived at 5:23 pm today, October 10, 2006. She is 51cm long and weighs7lb 14oz (3580 grams).
She was very, very comfortable inside her Mummy, and required a fair bit of coaxing to get out. She now has some stunning forceps marks on her face, but they'll fade in a few days. I'm very happy she's here, after contractions on and off since Sunday night. Although I know a good night's sleep is a thing of the past already, tonight has got to be better than the past two nights!
Photos will be forthcoming ...

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Curries and other tricks

Well, we had a nice hot curry for dinner last night. Might as well give a few of the old wives tales/reputed natural methods of induction a go while we're waiting for Bun Rabbit to arrive. The curry doesn't seem to have done anything much, apart from ensure rapid visits to the loo this morning (sorry if that's TMI!). Possibly helped to clear out our sinuses, which is a good thing after the cold we've both had this week (that's JR and KT, not BR!). I found a really interesting suggestion on the internet last night - warm milk with ghee in it. I didn't try it, but certainly a different suggestion ... if I try it, I think I'll add sugar or Quik/Milo/Chocolate mix to help with the flavour!
Today JR and I went up to the Eumundi Markets. We didn't leave til fairly late, but I had a very specific mission - to get some ginger fudge and to get a brochure from people who make these super cool dinosaur skeletons out of balsa wood. Megan gave one to JR a few years ago, which he recently painted white. Then, the Hooker kids came over one night, to find all of these dinosaur bones spread out through our yard - they collected all of the bones, and then helped us out by painting the bones to make them look more interesting. So we now have a multicoloured triceratops in our yard. :) At some point in the future, a stegosaurus will join him ...
Then we stopped by my CM friends, who are on a scrapbooking weekend away up the coast. At this rate, I might as well have gone for the weekend and got some album work done - I don't know how much time I'll have for my albums in the next month or two!! We took JR's car, which was great (helped to test the drive on a bumpy road to induce labour theory, as you seem to notice the bumps more in his car than mine), except for around lunchtime. Ever since the car was converted to right-side drive, the air conditioning has not worked for any longer than a week or so. Black car in Queensland in 28+ degrees ... I guess I shouldn't complain, at least it's not the middle of summer!

Friday, October 06, 2006

We have a pram!

Almost three months after we ordered (and paid for) our pram, we've got it! I was finally able to pick it up from the baby store on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I had to go back to the store and swap a part with the demo model (we got two "right side" holders for the sun shade, instead of a right and a left ...). But now, the pram is together, and ready to be used. It has a bassinet that the baby uses until they can sit upright. We're thinking that Bun Rabbit will sleep in this until the cot seems like it isn't super huge. Or BR will go straight into the cot ... either way, we're covered. Mum's making some little sheets for the bottom of the pram, but otherwise I think we're good to go.
Still no signs of Bun Rabbit arriving ... it's really looking like next week before we meet BR. It's my brother's birthday on Sunday, so hopefully we won't end up with a doubled-up birthday, but we'll see. So far, we've avoided the other family birthdays in the past week or so (my Mum and my step-sister). Luckily, all of John's family have had their birthdays, or they're far enough away that there's no chance of clashing ... as usual, it's just the complicated Taylors to be careful of! ;)
I'm starting to feel a little bit better from my cold. Still somewhat of a snot machine, but feeling a bit more lively today. I think I'll go and clean some cupboards in the kitchen and sort out the tupperware ... that's only been on my list since I finished work a month ago!!

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Yes, still no baby yet ...

There are still no signs that Bun Rabbit will make an appearance anytime soon. Nothing much has changed since Monday - BR's till in much the same position (guess I should be watching more TV on the bean bag!). The only difference is that Monday night I started to feel like I was getting a cold ... and now I definitely have a cold! I can take vitamin C and panadol, and that's about it, apart from drinking hot drinks and resting. I tried to do that as much as possible yesterday, but didn't quite succeed. I'd now rather get over this cold than go into labour just for the moment!
At this rate, I'm thinking we won't be meeting Bun Rabbit until at least the weekend, if not next week. It seems it's just way too cosy in my tummy ...

Monday, October 02, 2006

Overdue ... two days and counting ...

We saw the doctor this morning, and there are no particular signs of Bun Rabbit arriving anytime soon. BR, while pointing head down, is still up high and the head is not engaged. It also seems that BR is in a bit of a posterior position. Looks like BR might have Daddy's sense of punctuality rather than Mummy's ... ;)
For now, the game plan is to wait to see what BR does, and if there's some change in movement that brings on labour. Otherwise, we're booked in for an induction later next week. Might try some visualisations and hypnotherapy-type stuff to see if that will get BR moving into a better position and coming out to join the party!

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Still in one piece

Well, I'm still one person, and not two yet. :) For some reason, I really think that Bun Rabbit is not going to arrive early, but there's only a couple of days left for me to be proven wrong!
That way my sister Peta will still get to see me pregnant (she arrives home on Friday after being in England and then backpacking in Europe and South America for the past couple of months), and we'll get to go to my step-brother's wedding on Saturday without causing any hassles. I'm still not at the point of "get this baby out of me now", which is kind of surprising. The whole pregnant thing has been going so well for me, I'm not too bothered by it. Might be different if I couldn't drive or if the carpal tunnel style symptoms were more painful. Although I'm pretty much living in about three outfits, so that's slightly tiresome (but very easy to make a choice in the morning!!).
Bun Rabbit's been kicking and moving a fair bit - I thought movement was meant to slow down at this late stage?? I've been suggesting to Bun Rabbit that if it's getting a bit cramped in there, then BR is the only person who can do something about it ...
We've been booked in for an induction on 11 October, in case Bun Rabbit isn't here by then. I'm hoping BR doesn't cook for that long!! We couldn't get an earlier appointment for an induction at the hospital, so hopefully things will happen by themselves before then.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Working Bee with the Grandies

This afternoon, Annma and Grandad Richie and Gramps came over to help move books and bookshelves. Moving the books and shelves was a simple enough job with all the helping hands involved, so we ended up clearing the whole room of all my unsorted important stuff and cleaning it out. Vaccuumed it. Washed the walls. Washed the floor. Washed the cornicing. Washed the window and fly screens. Aunty Janet and Annma did a great job, I just had to help a little (mainly with the cornicing) and a variety of Enjo fibres were put to very good use! Bun Rabbit's room has started out clean without using heaps of chemicals. :)
Bun Rabbit's room now has the change table and cot in it, and my old set of drawers. Still deciding if the drawers will stay there, and some of my old clothes need to be removed from the cupboard, but otherwise, the room is pretty much done! It was an AWESOME job, and I couldn't believe how much we got done in three hours ... YAY!

Thursday, September 14, 2006

From the doctor

We had our weekly visit with the OB on Tuesday. As soon as we walked in, she told me that I wasn't allowed to go into labour today. I think she had at least one patient in labour, and perhaps a caesarean already lined up for the afternoon ... luckily, there were (and still are) no signs of Bun Rabbit arriving early. Bun Rabbit's head is down, but not engaged yet. Eva thinks Bun Rabbit will be about 8lbs, at full term. She's finding it a bit hard to tell, as Bun Rabbit has so much room to stretch out in, unlike I guess most babies on smaller women.
My itchy skin was just itchy skin, so no worries about choleostasis (liver or kidney disfunction - if I had this, I'd be induced next week .. but I don't have it!). Apart from that, our appointments are pretty boring. JR and I can't even think of questions to ask our OB.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

3 weeks and counting

We've just returned from a lovely weekend at Rainbow Beach, with Great-Gran-Caroline. We went up on Thursday night, and have a great couple of days there. It's the first time we've been able to get up to Rainbow all pregnancy, so very exciting to finally be there. Probably one of my most sober trips up there in the past 5 or so years ... ;)
We had a very relaxing time, reading, a little walk on the beach, chatting to Caroline, and eating (of course) ... slightly hindered by my attempts to spend the last 4 weeks of the pregnancy on a gluten free diet (more about that in another post another day), but lots of fun. Caroline's friend Ellie B will be happy to know that I didn't go into labour while we were there ... she was very concerned about Bun Rabbit arriving early, and hoped Caroline remembered her midwifery stint during her nursing career! Caroline's a member of the local ambulance committee, so between her former nursing career and 'connections' to the ambulance, I wasn't too worried. I'll probably be wishing in a few weeks time that Bun Rabbit will arrive as quickly as people are worried about!
(Really KT posting this, not JR)

Monday, September 04, 2006

Latest news

Firstly, thanks to Char who said we should put a blog together for Bun Rabbit, particularly for when there are photos of BR to share with you all .. :) and then she found out that the bunrabbit.blogspot.com alias was available on Blogger. Too cool dude. It's also kinda funny that John put this together on the same day our friend, Brett, was in the local newspaper (Courier Mail), making comments about his company's corporate blog public later this month (OK, shameless plug - www.saucesoft.com).

I finished work last Friday, and have about 10 months off - I'm planning on going back in June 2007. To our American friends, I'm sure this seems like a really long amount of maternity leave! Depending on how long you've been with your employer, most Australian employees have a basic entitlement of up to 52 weeks leave during your preganancy and the birth of your child (and same entitlements if you adopt). Most companies don't seem to pay you for any of this time, unless you work in the Government sector, and one of my friends who worked for a bank received some kind of part pay for some period of time. I'm taking a few weeks of annual leave which I had accrued, but that's about it for me.
I had a nice morning tea with a few people at work on Friday, and when I finally made it out of the office, went to the Belgian Beer Cafe as it was social club drinks. After having a juice (really, alcohol-free Cosmopolitans are just juice and almost as good as the real thing!) and a chat with a few people, I went home, looking forward to a pretty relaxing weekend, before starting on my list of jobs this week.

I've been feeling very healthy and on the whole, fine. I'm getting a bit of fluid retention, so my normally knobbly and veiny feet occasionally look rather smooth and strange. My skin's also getting a bit itchy, but a midwife friend (and the 15 books I consulted) assures me it's just the skin stretching. I'm not too sure why the skin on my forearms is stretching, but we see the OB tomorrow, so we'll make sure that it's nothing serious. We've been very blessed that everything so far has been so straightforward, it'd be nice to continue with that theme at this stage!!

Bun Rabbit is moving lots. Daddy's hands still have the most calming influence of all. All motion stops when I try to share these wonderous sensations with John. Most of the movement is very much in the rolling/moving vein, and no so much in the kicking/punching vein. I think (like I know what I'm talking about!!).

I've compiled a list of jobs to get done before Bun Rabbit arrives, starting with getting the nursery organised. It's been my study for the past 6 years, and still looks like it for now. The main thing left to do in the room is remove the wall of (free-standing) bookshelves, and books, and put them all in another room. This will have to be a bit of a slow job for me over the next few days/week, as I probably shouldn't be lugging books downstairs (but I'm still weight training at the gym twice a week). Mum has made curtains for the room - very bright colours, with animals and ABCs on them. She just finished the curtains yesterday, and I can't wait to see how they'll look in the room. :)

I'll keep emailing updates to everyone for now, but when Bun Rabbit arrives, we'll be sharing photos with you all through this site.

Four Weeks and Counting

Kirsty and I thought it was time that we started a blog for our little "Bun Rabbit", who's due date is September 30.

For those not in the know, it has become something of a tradition to provide children with a nickname while they are in the womb. It has been an absolute scream coming up with some of the names. Bun Rabbit has become the nickname for our little one. This is a compromise between Kirsty and I. As to why, I am staying silent.