Glowing eyeballs.

Our dancing girl.

Yesterday the boy and I accompanied K80 and my niece to her dance competition. She performed a ballet and jazz dance. She is so graceful and certainly stands out. It was fun to see her perform, a little crazy to have some insight into the world of dance competitions, and see her having such a fun time. She was glowing.

Mike said it best, " I love how once a day he discovers his hands like he has never seen them before". It is fascinating to watch him see and discover every little thing.

Brother-cousins.

W perfectly posed for rebound and A, not sure what he's doing but it is funny.

My 4 nephews are super cool. They call each other brother-cousins. One of them is incredibly good in any sport with a ball (baseball, basketball, football, soccer) for a 5 year old. One of them creates incredibly intricate and super advanced lego structures for a 6 year old. One of them has proven to be quite the little snowboarder for a 5 year old and well the other one is just stinkin' cute- he's just about 1 year older than our little guy and I can tell they are going to be buds.

Yesterday one of them said, "You know Lars is a brother-cousin now". That's right, he is part of the club. I know they are all still young but I like how they are a little pack. It's nice to have brother-cousins.

Snow!

It snowed for the first time since we've been back. Winter in Vermont was looking unusually bare but there is nothing like a fresh snowfall to make the world look beautiful. We popped him in the backpack and went for a walk as the fat flakes fell so he could experience his first snow. He actually would try to focus on the snowflakes and even tried to eat it. Then we came home for a bath and he showed off his mad splashing skills again. Mike and I have been watching the Winter Olympics at night and I think our boy has a future in swimming.

or here it is on YouTube.

7 months.

7 months ago he was born. Boy, has that gone by quickly. I am beginning to believe everyone who tells me it goes by so fast because think I am already missing yesterday--things he did, smiles, and moments. Of course, I have always loved him but I really love him these days when I can I see his personality emerging, the cuddles, the interactions, they way he smiles and kicks his left heel to the ground when he is excited; he is our buddy.

The latest and greatest of the past week is how he is sleeping through the night without eating. He wakes a few times but is almost always able to get himself back to sleep without us even going to him and he is really done it on his own amidst readjusting time zones and climates. Now, we just need to get to bed sooner and everyone will be getting a pretty dang good nights sleep.

Me and my boy

Our past week.

a little bit of cousin time while Mike and Brig played some basketball

a little bit of popover time at the Pub after basketball



a little bit of boxing
(Clark made it to the Tri-state Championship and we drove up to Burlington to watch him)

a little bit of sitting up time after church



a little bit of sick time for our boy--hanging out with his dad and waiting
for his fever to go down

How is it only Monday? I feel like it should be at least Wednesday and the week just begun? We got up early for our 6 month check up (even though he is nearly 7) and the Doctor sorta, kinda, fell in love with our boy and said he was perfect--no really she said just that. He weighs about 16 and a half pounds now and is 27 inches long. He is lower on the growth scales but we all know the growth scales in the States are based on unhealthy weights so our boy is doing just fine.

He has developed a little cough and stuffy nose the last couple days but everyone has one and his temp was normal at the appointment this morning. He started getting a little droopy later in the day and I could tell he was warming up. We took his temp and it was pretty high and went ahead and called the doctor up at the hospital just to check in. He told us to get him stripped down to one layer and give him some tylenol and call back in 30 mins. It dropped and then continued to drop the next couple hours and our spazzy little guy came back to life. He is still pretty snuffly and not %100 but we'll keep a close eye on him the next couple days. Winters are rough on the little people, well everyone but again, I am grateful for our lovely warm house--well at least the 2nd floor is warm :)

Hopefully tomorrow is a little less than today was because I feel exhausted and nothing has happened. Onto the rest of the week.

Keeping Warm (especially for liz).

Wow--coldness. So cold it hurts your face to be outside. So cold, Mike had a bit of water in his beard and it froze almost instantly when we got outside. Ouch. I forgot how cold it can be. But our house is very very warm. Hooray for warm houses!

Good thing the boy has such sweet woolly outfits like this to keep him warm--thanks again to liz. When you first sent it months ago, I never thought it would fit but it's great and it will be worn all winter.

Last days in NZ and the trip home.

Avocado and Banana Facial

Looking like a Chinese King-fu Warrior

Mack, Mike, and Pete drift racing (Pete was the best)

Mack, Mike, Pete, and Luke Go karting (Mack had the fastest lap)

Artistic Shot of Mack to show his speediness

Mike



Last Supper--good ole' Fish n' Chips

Last liz Breakfast



Uncle Mack Rocks


Wonderful Auntie Alice



The ears

Grandad Pete and Grandma lizzie are missed

All the boys

Golden Gate Bridge

Rischel and Jon

The little guy feeling jet lagged, walking up the steep SFO streets

Cheesecake at Union Square

Just before landing in Boston after 30+ hours of travel time.

We are home and all trying to get back on a flipped time zone. The little man was an incredible traveler--sleeping 7 straight hours on the plane and then another 3 of the 12. We had a great time in San Francisco on our 8 hour lay over with a great friend from my London days (who I have greatly missed in my life) and her husband. We saw the Golden Gate Bridge, ate goooooood Mexican, drove down the windiest road in the States, ate some yum yum cheesecake, took showers, bathed the boy, enjoyed cool company, and got on the red eye for Boston.

The boy slept most of the way and we landed at Boston at 6:45 AM to a crisp 7 F or -13C. Leilani let us borrow her car and drive straight home. It feels good to be back in our house (we really like our house, even in it's after flood mess) and be back with everyone here. The little kiwi is sleeping pretty darn well considering and slowly getting into a new schedule. Mike and I can't seem to get to sleep earlier than 11PM--we just lie in bed, eyes wide open but we are slowly getting back on track.

New Zealand was fantastic--a welcomed break, time to reflect, reconnect with family, and introduce the little kiwi to his incredibly loving, passionate, giving, and supportive kiwi family.