10 months old

It's just mind boggling to think in a couple more months, Logan is going to be one year old! Time DOES fly, doesn't it?? It feels like AGES ago when I was super pregnant and starting to waddle and yet, it was about this time last year. :)

Of course, the latest developments for Logan have mostly been the experiences he's gained on his New Zealand trip. And, although I realize he won't remember any of the trip when he is older, I feel like all of the new people, new accents and voices, new sights and cities to see, all these new experiences are definitely contributing to his cognitive growth and personality which we continue to see blossom every day.

The last few days have been a little funky for us, adjusting back to "normal" life. Our schedule has been slightly wonky, as Logan is trying to figure out how to adjust back to Pacific Time, but more than that, I think he's trying to adapt back to life without Mommy and Daddy 24x7. And that has been VERY challenging for all three of us this week. He entered a bit of a "Mommy phase" right before we left for vacation - and has continued to want me, and only me, when he is super tired, exhausted and needs me to comfort him and put him to bed.

This has, unfortunately, overlapped a bit into our transition back to home life, since he's had a harder time adjusting back to school than we had imagined. He was very clingy for the first few days, crying whenever we dropped him off or picked him up, and was also having a LOT of trouble sleeping at night, often times crying WHILE sleeping (I still haven't figured out how that is possible) and yet calming down and snuggling into my shoulder fast asleep the minute I pick him up to rock him and settle him back down.

Fortunately, each day has been a tad bit better. We finally got two full night's of sleep the last two nights, and Logan also did much better at school, so that today when I dropped him off, he didn't even notice me when I left (ahhh, the good ol' days) and he was sound asleep on his little "pallet" (they start transitioning them out of cribs in this classroom) when I arrived to pick him up this evening. We're crossing our fingers this all continues!

A few firsts that Logan celebrated this past month (mostly trip related):

• Seeing all of New Zealand (duh)
  
• Traveling on an International Flight (12 hours. Each way!)
• Saying hi to friendly cows and sheep (LOTS of sheep) in nearby pastures
• Driving on the left side of the road
• Bathing on a beach and feeling sand between his toes (specifically, Hahei's Hot Water Beach)
• Laughing at Geysers and Blowholes
  
• Going on a Luge! Look ma, no seatbelt! :)
• Watching Waterfalls
• Riding on a Ferry
  
• Hiking up to a Glacier

He's also been working on walking to his left and is able to do that now (he mastered walking to his right very quickly but walking to the left has been really hard for him!). He loves picking up objects, taking them OUT of things (i.e. a box) and putting them back (although putting them back is A LOT harder for him, he doesn't always DROP the object back in). A take on this development, and probably his most favorite, is trying to put his bottle cap back on the bottle. He gets it right about half the time. ;-) He also likes using objects, such as a piece of bread, as a tool to help him pick up other food (say a Cheerio) to put in his mouth!! If it weren't so messy, I'd let him try to feed himself with his spoon - but that takes a lot of time and patience and clean up. So, I'm not quite ready to take that leap of faith just yet.

He's become VERY chatty and loud, as I've mentioned before. But, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised, given he lives in a pretty loud household. *cough* JON. *cough* He's just trying to be heard amongst all the chaos.

I've also begun introducing him to ALL sorts of new solid foods this week, since he's been taking more and more of an interest in what WE are eating, and getting less and less interested with the jarred food. It was a little daunting at first, to think up foods that I could make for him, and that were soft enough for him to eat (most of the time, the foods we eat are too dang spicy!). But, with a little help from friends and the school, we are doing MUCH better and I think he's happier and possibly sleeping better too because of it. We've tried all sorts of freeze dried fruits and veggies, along with the fresh versions, tofu (not a fan), fruity bars, graham crackers, or any crackers with cheese on them, or just cheese alone. ;-) He LOVES quesadillas (cheese and bread, what's not to like?) as well as pasta (the rotelli pasta pieces are perfect for him to pick up, but what is funny is he's learned to just SUCK the sauce off each piece and then puts the pasta back down on his tray) and mac n' cheese (I think he liked the pasta better tho).

And since we've been back home this week, he's also learned how to drink from his sippy cup (tilting it UP gives him the juice - tada!) without Mommy's help.


Happy 10 months Logan!

Day 2: Coromandel Peninsula

Sept 22nd

Logan slept well his first night in New Zealand. He did wake up in the middle of the night, around 2:30am, but ate a huge bottle of milk and went back to sleep until 8am. Success!! If we can continue to get him to sleep like this, we're golden.

Our cottages provided breakfast each morning - so we had a nice leisurely fruit, cereal and bread - OH THE BREAD - breakfast. Their bread is thick, fresh, homemade and oh so yummy. Yes, we liked the bread. And, Jon and I ended up eating all of our toast plus some of Eric and Jill's because they are healthier than us and we are smarter because we totally needed to carb up for the big hike that was soon upon us. So there.

We took off for a beautiful hike to Cathedral Cove - another hot tourist spot in Hahei - yet because we were there in off-season, there was hardly a person in sight! It was glorious. We whipped out our trusty new child backpack carrier, and wouldn't you know it, Logan napped in that backpack pretty much the entire hike down to the cove! The weather was hotter than hell, but I think that was mostly due to my choice of PANTS for the hike, and that I have been sorely out of shape. Definitely a much harder workout for me than anyone else in our party I'm sure, but I still did ok, and my PT would be proud of me. :) As I was saying, the hike was beautiful, with all sorts of paths leading through thick jungly greenery and then dumping you out onto views of private beaches and the BLUEST GREEN waters ever! Gorgeous.

After our hike, we all grabbed "smoothies" from a lunch van at the top of the hill for a snack. Our smoothies were more like freshly squeezed fruit juice, they were so thin in consistency. Was it just the style at this particular roach coach, or are all Kiwi smoothies like this? Stay tuned to find out.

We stopped off at the cottages to change and get more milk for Logan (he's an eating machine!) and then headed out to the Ferry to visit nearby "big city" Whitianga. Along the drive, we stopped at Purangi Winery for a free tasting and Jon got suckered into buying some feijoa liqueur. Blech. I have to admit, the owner/vinter was a hoot however, and totally earned every penny that Jon spent (he tried his best at an American accent but the poor bloke didn't do too great). ;-)

Another American family happened to visit just as we were leaving, and the mom had two boys, one about Logan's age and one about 3 yrs old. Logan was FASCINATED by the 3 yr old (the other one he could care less about) and wanted to "play" with him. The mother commented on Logan's vocal chords, "Boy, he's an expressive little one, isn't he?" since Logan was SCREAMING at the top of his lungs with excitement, having discovered an army of ants on the ground with her 3 yr old boy. Sure, expressive could be one word to describe it.

Continuing on our drive, we hit up Shakespeare's Cliff. Not sure why it's called that (the guy at the winery suggested we stop there) but it did have beautiful vistas of the bay which we all enjoyed. The scenery on this part of the island is just indescribably gorgeous and I'm afraid none of my pictures really do it justice.

We caught the Ferry to Whitianga (pronounced "Fitianga"). The Fireplace restaurant, that our cottage host had recommended for dinner, was closed (I'm starting to notice a theme here), so we hit up the Salt restaurant (his other recommendation) instead. The kitchen wasn't open until 5:30pm (it was a little after 4pm) so we walked around the small town of Whitianga to ooh and ahh at all the clothes and accessories behind the CLOSED doors and locked windows. Closed Mondays or just sooooo not the tourist season? The only place open was an Internet Cafe across the street from Salt. I whipped out a couple bucks to get my Internet fix and madly typed out a few emails to some family and friends while we waited for Salt to open up. :)

Had a ridiculously huge and decadent meal at the Salt Restaurant where they pulled together one of the best mushroom risottos I've ever had (which says a lot, since I've had a few tasty risottos while living in Italy!). We were all very impressed with the service, and have noticed that everyone has been super friendly and hospitable wherever we go so far.

Caught the Ferry home (windy as all hell) and everyone hung out together in the cottage until it was time to put Logan to bed (poor guy struggled toward the end of the day). Overall though, he did absolutely GREAT. He hung out in the backpack carrier all through our 3 hr (or so) hike without much of a fuss. He got cranky during the car rides but I was feeling a bit cranky too so I can't blame the kid (my back was starting to feel the aftermath of the flight and the long hike that day).

While on the Ferry, an old man asked Jon, in all seriousness, if we were visiting from The New World (which was kinda funny since you don't hear that too often, and isn't Australia/New Zealand lumped into "The New World" anyway?)

New Zealand is proving to be a wonderful paradise so far - another world in fact!

Perhaps it should be given a term all to its own.


Editor's Note: You'll notice the pics on both this post and the last one now link to an album I've created for the New Zealand trip. Click any of the pics for more of our fabulous trip!

Day 1: Auckland & Coromandel Peninsula

Sept 19th - 21st

We left on a Friday night out of SFO. The airline we flew on, Air New Zealand, has planned the flights just right. Leaving about 9pm and arriving about 5:30am (Sunday morning). So, even though you get in a little bit early, you can still pretty much sleep on the plane ride over and adjust to the time difference no problem.

That is, unless, you have a 9.5 month old baby with you.

Our flight out was okay. Logan fell asleep upon take off, which was wonderful. And, we thought ok cool, he's going to be out for about 8-10 hrs now, just like he always sleeps at home! HA. Unfortunately, he only slept about 3.5 hrs (long enough for me to watch a movie and not yet catch some zzzz's - silly me - never will I make that mistake again). Then, he was a little TERROR for about 3 hrs as we tried to get him back to sleep. Mostly, we think he was just too distracted and overly tired. But, it would be one thing if he was cranky in a quiet way. Being the baby that he is, however, he YELLED the entire (pretty much) three hours that we tried to get him back to sleep.

We tried everything.

We fed him, played with him, let him crawl or stand at the edge of our seats, walked up and down the aisles, covered his head/face with a blanket and rocked him in the Ergo Carrier. Jon even made a little "tent" and I laid down with him on the ground at our feet trying to calm him down enough to fall back to sleep. I honestly don't know how we finally got him back to sleep. He was probably just too exhausted to stay awake anymore. :) That was, however, the only bad part of the flight. He was a champ the rest of the time on the plane.

The bassinet we had was nice, but on the smaller side (capacity was 10 kg, or 22 lbs, so Logan was getting close to the upper limits). Logan moves a lot in his sleep - so I think part of the problem was it's a confined space for someone who tosses and turns all night. Add to that, all the bright blinky lights, bells, sounds, people walking by, and a kid like Logan just wants to sit up and see what's going on. :)

He was also an eating machine that flight!! He drank about 45oz in just 12 short hours! That is an all time record for him I'm sure (he drinks about 28-30oz in a day, on average).

Once he was back asleep for the 2nd time, the two of us tried sleeping ourselves but had a really hard time since we'd jump at any little noise or rustle he'd make. Or, we were just too danged uncomfortable. I think we slept about 3 hrs total that flight (in about 20-30 min stretches). My back had definitely seen better days.

Other than that, the flight was nice and uneventful. We got great service, fair food, and somewhere around 83 movie choices to watch on the plane (!!!!). I chose Sex In The City (since I figured I'd watch something that Jon would not want to see). It was ok, but in hindsight, I should have used that 2 hrs to try and sleep instead! ;-)

We landed early and waited in the baggage claim area for Eric and Jill to arrive (our friends who live in San Diego and joined us on this vacation). Logan and I kept busy watching the beagle "drug dog" sniff everyone's luggage (and make frequent stops to ours, because of our own dogs' scent on everything, I'm sure).

I should have known better, but we rented a "large" car, which in International terms means, something smaller than the car I drive to work every day. So, wouldn't you know it, our car was WAY too small. We could fit about 2 suitcases in the trunk. ;-) So, the guys went back to get a larger car and after everything was loaded up, we still just BARELY fit it all in! (80% was our stuff, and about 60% of that was Logan's).

Jon took over driving, since he's driven on the other side of the road before (our honeymoon was in Ireland and Scotland). Still, it takes some getting used to - even as a passenger! But what was most funny to all of us, was Jon's habit (which continued for days, mind you) of hitting the windshield wipers when he wanted to signal a turn. I suppose that's ONE way to easily spot a tourist in New Zealand.

We ate a delicious breakfast somewhere on the wharf in downtown Auckland, and we all noted how perfectly sized the portions of food were. It was satisfying and not too filling. Just right.

We walked around a little bit, but didn't do any of the touristy things like go up the Sky Tower or visit the "Ice" bar - we were just too tired and not really interested. And, we knew we had a long drive ahead of us still.

Our drive to Coromandel Peninsula was long and tiring, but mostly just really twisty (near the end of the drive) which wasn't very fun. Especially after a 12 hr flight, no sleep, and a screaming kid in the backseat that you're trying to calm down, distract, entertain while at the same time reading the tour books and maps about where we were headed. This was Jill's and my job (and was to be for the rest of the trip) in the backseat. Yikes! What did we get ourselves into?

We got to The Church cottages that afternoon and I was so relieved and happy to see how beautiful their gardens and how quaint the cottages were! It was a perfect place for our first couple of nights to re-energize and start off this vacation right.

No one was in the office to check us in (just a sign at the door telling us which units were ours) so instead we took off and drove around the town (Hahei) to find something to eat. Well, Hahei is a *super* small town, and only one little cafe was still open but with a really small selection. Bummer. We gobbled down a few paninis, then stopped at the general store around the corner for a few snacks, candy (Jon/Jill) and milk (Logan).

Back at the cottages, I checked in at the front desk and found out it was the perfect time to visit Hot Water Beach (low tide starting in about 20 min.). No time to rest just yet! We took off for the nearby beach with shovels in hand. This beach is known for geothermal hot water that bubbles up to the surface -- people come and dig holes so that the hot water fills up the space and then they recline and soak in the waters....

So, Jon and Eric set out to dig a "tub" for us all to enjoy. What was entertaining, was watching how two network engineers approached this task, literally scoping out the best way to design the tub, so that they could efficiently route hot water in (via a hot water "channel") and cold water out (via the cold water "channel", of course). Because they had these channels built in, they could then balance the amount of hot, or cold, water needed at any one time. :) They did a great job and we all loved it.

Not only was it exciting as our first day was coming to a close, but it was exciting to see Logan enjoying his first time at the beach! He loved playing with the sand between his toes and fingers and seemed to like hanging out with us in the "tub" quite a bit (mind you, the water was HOT! in some spots, reaching up to 168 degrees apparently! So, he/I stayed in the cooler parts so he wouldn't get burned).

We went to the ONE and only open restaurant in town for dinner, but Logan finally had enough. I took him outside for a bit and he quickly fell asleep on me, but, because I couldn't exactly eat dinner and cradle him at the same time, we decided to get the food to-go to take back to the cottages instead. Jon took me/Logan home first so that I could put him to bed and Eric/Jill stayed at the restaurant waiting for our food to be made. After I laid Logan down in his crib, I laid down in bed myself, waiting for everyone to bring back dinner. And, it suddenly hit me that this was the first time I had laid down in over 24 hours. No wonder my back was killing me.

By about 9:30pm, everyone had finally crashed for the night.

Big Kid Room

Today was Logan's first day back to school and they've now moved him officially over to the "big kid" room! (basically, a room for mobile babies)

I didn't get to see how he did (Jon dropped him off/picked him up today) but I'm sure he did just fine. They had worked on a transition the week before we left for vacation and the few hours they had him visit the big kid room, he absolutely loved it. And, as much as we loved the teachers and atmosphere in the infant room, I could tell Logan was getting bored with the lack of furniture or things to climb on. Now that he's in the big kid room, he's able to crawl and climb to his heart's content (the room has a couple large jungle gym type of areas for the kids to play in and on). Nice!

New Zedland Fun Facts

Since I'm busy with chores today, I won't actually do my first NZ post just yet as I had promised in the previous post. However, Eric and Jill, our friends that we traveled with, put together a few fun "facts" about NZ for their family while they were away, that I thought I'd share with you to tide you over until tomorrow......

Thanks for the guest post Eric! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few things about NZ:

• Restaurants all have very strict hours, so if you miss the window you can't get any food at all (3PM - 5PM = no food!) Editor's Note: This totally sucked since we were always ready for lunch right about 3pm ;-)
• Restaurants don't know what "over medium" means when cooking eggs (you end up with fully cooked yolks) Editor's Note: I don't think *I* even know what an over medium egg is either! ;-)
  
• Their Indian food rocks -- seriously, it is really good. Editor's Note: Because of this, we ended up eating Indian about 3 times on the trip I think. And, the boys had "bum burning" Chicken Tikka Masala every single fucking time. *sigh*
  
• Sausages are called "bangers"
• When you get water at restaurants they give you a big bottle (think wine bottle) with water and a bunch of SMALL cups, every restaurant has done this. Editor's Note: Eric also learned on this trip that "still" water is actually bottled water, not tap. hehehehe
• It's not expected to tip
• Portions are reasonably sized, so everyone can order their own "main"
• "entrees" are like appetizers, and "mains" are your main meal
• A "bowl" of Mochacinno is huge
• Bell Peppers = Capsicum
• Yogurt = Yoghurt
• Kumara = Sweet Potato
• Pizza with olives comes with whole green olives w/ pementos
• They have 4 different "mites" - Vegemite, Marmite, Justmite, and some other one we forget
• The "International" section of the grocery store has Dr. Pepper, and it's $1.60 per can
• Every hotel has a fridge and a small electric kettle
• Their toilets have dual flush buttons.. #1 and #2 :)
• Almost all of their bridges are single lane, so one direction yields to the other
• There are a ton of roundabouts.
• There are baby sheep everywhere
• Their top 2 exports are beef and dairy, yet I can't find a good steak house! Editor's Note: Eric finally found his perfect steak (I think) on our last night in Queenstown at Botswana Butchery.
• Oh, and Internet isn't expensive to the end user ($30-40/mo like us), but they get away with charging $1-3+/15 mins at every town we've gone to. There are no "free" wifi spots anywhere.

And finally, I'll add one more. Kiwis (New Zealanders) pronounce the letter "Z" as "Zed". So for the rest of the trip, Eric referred to the country as "New Zedland".

Crazy Americans.

Back in the Concrete Jungle

After only a few hours back home yesterday, Jon commented that we were "back in the concrete jungle". I've never really thought of the South Bay as a Concrete Jungle. San Francisco, ok. Los Angeles, sure. New York, hell yeah. But not the South Bay.

Still, it definitely seemed like a fitting description, having just left the lush jungly backroads and beautiful countryside of New Zealand. There were literally HOURS, even a whole day perhaps, where we'd be driving through farmland and rolling hills without a person in sight. The roads were "sort of" paved, but that was about it.

We had a great trip. We're glad to be home - but we already miss NZ - especially as we tackle all the chores today (we both took the day off today and boy am I glad! unpacking, laundry, grocery shopping, bills, rental house maintenance and yes, even clean up, since the cats were pissed we left and pissed on our beautiful new leather couches. *sigh*)

If that weren't enough, I have hundreds of emails to sift through, 234 blog posts - seriously - to catch up on, about 1000 pics to upload and scrutinize and 15 days of a journal to blog. :)

Since Internet Access was spotty in NZ, I didn't get to post to the blog like I had hoped. I did, however, keep a daily journal so I could remind myself, and you, what we did along the trip and how Logan, especially, fared. He did wonderfully overall, and we couldn't have been happier about our choice to bring him along. Since I still want to capture and share those memories, I'm going to post each day's logs here, one day at a time. And, if I'm feeling extra motivated, I'll sprinkle in a few posts about how life is faring now that we're home too. ;-)

So watchout. You're about to get a flurry of posts over the next couple of weeks to make up for the lack of posts during our trip. :)

Yes, we are alive

Quick post. We live. We are having a blast. Internet access has only been free at 1 place, and it was so slow as to hurt my soul. About to run out of internet credit here.

With love,

Jon, Bree, Logan