bumble bee and Belly

Halloween isn't a huge holidy here in New Zealand. It's important to me though to make some of those things from home a part of our family culture here so on a beautiful spring day we dressed Laila up and went around to visit a few friends. They were gracious enough to dig some goodies out of their cupboards for her, a new word in her ever expanding vocabulary "Lolly" (Candy for us Americans out there). I only wish we could find some of those big orange American pumpkins....maybe someday.

On a different note, we have hit the 25 week mark in our pregnancy. I don't even know if we've made an announcement, certainly not like we did with Laila. I guess you lose track of time when you have a toddler to run after. We are expecting another little girl and she's due in Feb, right on Laila's due date actually. Baby seems to be doing well and Laila is anticipating finding out what all the fuss is about. Right now she seems pretty happy to hold the phone up to my belly and say 'hi' to her little siste, it's pretty cute.

Catchin up, holidays abroad

Just doing a bit of a catch up on the last few months. We had an Australia holiday a couple of months back to see one of my favorite friends and former teammate, Sara and her husband Ramon. We had such a great time. I sure do miss my special friends. Here were some of the highlights

walks on the beach

Introducing my little girl to some of my favorite people

cuteness

Beautiful scenery

getting to use the passports once again

a couple of videos

I think one of my favorite times of the day is about 6:30: dinner is done, Mark is doing Laila's bath and I get to jump into "America-land" and watch Friends. It's not a show I'd really encourage Laila to watch but as soon as the theme song comes on, she runs from wherever she is in the house to dance....different day, same song, same dance. It is pretty darn cute.

We also just had a fantastic three day weekend. We got our veges and flowers in for summer, tons of work done around the house and Laila finished the day with a run through the hose. I love how kids don't seem to mind their clothes getting all wet and muddy. This is a huge step for our little girly girl as well, she usually gets quite upset if her hands or clothes get dirty, didn't seem to mind so much while getting hosed down by Daddy though.

helping out!

Ever had one of those days where the clothes don't fit quite right (well, due to an expanding belly they hardly fit at all) so you have to put the pj bottoms back on after the shower? When it begins that way you should probably just call it a miss of a day and resign yourself to the fact that nothing will get done like you wanted and you might as well give in to the chaos. Earlier this morning I realized that Laila had gotten very quiet. I went to check on her and was shocked to find her in her room with all her clothes pulled out of every drawer, every book pulled off the shelf and toilet paper scattered around the room. When I asked Laila what she was doing she simply told me "helping". I didn't even know she knew that word but I'm not too sure she understands exactly what it means. Here is where we now stand 2 hours later....permanent pen on the arms and face, lunch all over the clothes, flour everywhere in the kitchen (she helped me make cookies too), cookie dough on the windows, sandwich smeared in the curtains and the drying laundry scattered all over the living room....when I finish my cup of tea and go out into that mess I'm sure I'll find more. What can you say, when it all starts with not being able to button your pants you might as well give in. I've given up and we'll start again tomorrow to get things done, for now I'm quite happy to kiss my messy little girl and tell her what a good little helper she is.

Learning the ABC's???

I think every parent brags at their child's genius. They show off their latest tricks so proudly while onlookers simply nod and smile politely yet think to themselves, 'yeah, not so much'. Now, we don't think Laila to be a genius per se, but she shocks us sometimes with the things that come out of her mouth and the level to which she totally understands us. Yesterday we were looking at some pictures and she pointed to the letter B, saying "B", then went on to say bee, ball, boon (balloon) and biscuit. I thought 'surely she didn't just do that, it was a fluke, she's only 16 months'. I was telling Mark about it later on and I'm not too sure he believed me since she wouldn't do it a second time. He took her out to the store however and in the car started saying, A, which she automatically followed up with, "apple", B "biscuit", C "coat", D "duck", (some letters she misses), F "finger", she doesn't say it but waves them around and finally landing on L-where she roars like a lion. To be fair she has an ABC book that she is basically repeating from memory, but that is what reading and learning is all about. So, it's your turn to simply nod your head and smile while I show off our daughter's genius over a lunch of tortillas and cheese!

just thoughts

I find blogging a bit of an on again off again thing. I only have one kid so no excuse really, but just can't find the time, or can't think of anything really interesting to say....we live a normal every day life now and sometimes it depresses me to be honest. I need, however, to see the every day things of life to hold the significance that they really do. We are aspiring to raise our daughter with a heart for God, a respect for other people and a love for life. Mark and I are trying to love each other in a way that truely reflects Christ. Mark is providing for our family and I'm trying to keep up with the laundry while studying for a final exam. That, I think is a much harder road and full of way more adventure than any Afghan or Pakistani journey could offer....Lord please help me to remember. With that said here are some photos from the past month or so. We had a surprise party for Mark's mom, it was a fantastic weekend with the family. We also took a trip to the zoo the other day which was great fun, wild animals in the middle of a city always gives me a chuckle.

walking with my little girl

kayaking in the sounds, what beautiful water.

Laila having nanna cuddles (she says cuddle now, so cute, although it sounds a bit like dudle)

Watching the giraffes at the zoo

wild safari

Super Energetic and Amazingly Fit

So we decided to enter a fun run the other week. A friend of Marks came 2nd in the marathon last year & had a good chance of winning it this year, so we both decided to enter the 10km (about 6 mile) event.
With only a couple of training runs, Mark came 11th of about 300 in the 10 km run, & Marnie about the same in the 10km walk (tho the 'walk' part got boring after about 2km). Bring on the Olympics!


In other news...Laila kisses boys. This is her best friend Kian & the other day she wouldn't stop kissing him. When he wasn't into it she would grab his shirt and pull him in. Get's it from her Mum I guess.