pint sized mia

 
hope you enjoy photos that follow. we haven't taken many recently but made up for it today. tomorrow - sunday - is forecast to be nice and sunny so hopefully we'll get out and about. saturday night here and we have had takeout pizza for dinner, toby is playing computer games and i have just watched a desperate housewives dvd. what exciting lives we lead these days. hoping to meet a couple of pals for coffee tomorrow morning and maybe squeeze a walk in. no sign of swell for toby again.... 

auckland domain

  

a walk in the park

  

  

saturday's child

 
taken lots of pix today so here are a selection. had a nice day, best bit was finding a decent pub - the "cock and bull" - serving decent beer. toby was a happy man. they also sell take outs so he bought a few bottles. pub was in newmarket, suburb we hadn't been to before. really nice so we'll go back. before that we had a stroll in "the domain", a large park on outskirts of city centre. 

look into my eyes

 
my job is still going well but it is bloody hard! enjoying being back in the workforce and enjoying the money but still feeling like i ought to be at home. mia seems to be picking up all the bugs going round but i guess it will be building up her immune system. she seems to cope with illness remarkably well, still she's female! i am still trying to walk part of the journey to work, means a 15 min walk along hurstmere road which is a bit like osborne road in jesmond, then a 10 min walk on the beach. very good way to start and end the day. toby is nearing the end of another term thankfully. poor lad is exhausted. he is hoping to head off on a 2 or 3 day surf trip with a couple of mates which is fine by me. he has had virtually no surf since i started work, combination of car sharing problems and the fact that there hasn't been much. today it is far too big but he should get a local wave at the beginning of next week. unfortunately i won't be able to take any time off work whilst he is off. i am trying to build up my hols for september so i don't have to take too much unpaid leave. we might head off into auckland later, toby has discovered there is a chain of real ale pubs which he is keen to visit. beer really is poor here, very decent pints to be had. i am happy guzzling wine to be honest and have really taken a liking to shiraz/syrah now winter is upon us. it was even snowing only 200km down the road yesterday..... ah, mia awakes so time for her lunch. 

juggling

 
what a week we have had. last weekend was tiring as 2 teeth came through and mia was not a happy bairn. she was a bit miserable and not sleeping too well. anyway, took her to nursery on monday but got a call at midday saying we had to go and get her cos she was poorly and covered in little spots. how to send waves of panic through me! anyway, toby managed to get released from school and went and got her and took her straight to doctor. not only was the poor lamb teething but she also had a virus. toby had to take 2 more days off work (not that he was complaining) and on thursday i took her back to the doctors and got the all clear. we have had a few grouchy nights but she seems to be back to normal now thankfully. she is just having a snooze now - as is toby - whilst i catch up on blog before doing housework. typical saturday really. been really homesick this week, wishing my mum was here to help with our poorly baby. we are friendless this weekend and i would dearly love to go out to the pub with marianne and have sunday dinner with all my family. 3 months to go. 

mia's favourite toys

 
yes, no matter how many toys we buy her, the old favourites are newspaper and tv.... actually, she also loves the other thing on the carpet, a round stacking thing. just bought her a cube with different shaped holes in and things to go into each hole. bit advanced for her but hopefully she'll get something out of it. she is sitting up strongly now and prefers sitting to lying on floor. now weighs around 7.3 kg and is filling out nicely. she has really changed this week, no longer our little baby. 

Trackie Bottoms

 
hope you like the new tracksuit, pink again, quelle surprise. just back from glenfield shopping mall where we had a wander. glorious day outside, blue skies but pretty chilly. hopefully we'll get out for a walk later. it has been a tough week and we are exhausted. 

First tooth and father's day

 
Dear all
well, mia's first 2 teeth are through and boy do we know it...! poor lass hasn't been 100% since friday so i think she has been in quite a bit of pain. this photo was taken during one of her good spells, yesterday evening, at nick and sarah's house. we were invited round for pizza and wine but we had to leave before pizza arrived. we are getting used to being the first to arrive and the first to leave. it's just not fair on mia otherwise. the weekend has flown by, spent cuddling mia and doing chores. the weather is pretty abysmal, cold and wet. we had even had some hail. it thundered so loudly on friday afternoon that people on the street outside my workplace screamed in shock! i managed to grab a lift to the car from my boss. now we are a 2 car family i drive to nearby milford and walk to work, sometimes along the beach. it's a fair hike, 25 mins, but a good way to start the day (unless, of course, it is tipping down with rain like friday). relented and bought both myself and mia coats on saturday. celebrated toby's first father's day with a card, new tie and roses from mia then a drink at auckland viaduct this afternoon. that's all folks, lots of love.