Nathan entertaining Maia

Christmas Tree Shopping

This year we decided to have a real tree as Nathan is old enough to know not to pull everything off it. We went out to the Christmas tree farm to get one freshly cut, there were so many to choose from it was quite hard. Nathan was very helpful when we decorated it, handing up the red balls. He also had lots of fun dancing to the Christmas music I put on to get into the mood

As you can see there are no presents underneath just yet. I have not done any Christmas shopping yet, ARGH!!! This weekend is the mission!

Mainly Music Christmas

Well we kicked off Christmas at Mainly Music last Friday. It is the first of many Christmas parties lined up on Nathans Christmas calendar :) He's a busy boy this time of year. This year he has more awareness of everything, Santa, Presents etc. I hope to also bring balance to that by teaching him the true meaning of Christmas also.

Keep an eye out for upcoming posts on his Pre School Christmas party and the Zoo Christmas party

Yay Daddys home!!

Dean arrived home last Thursday, it was a smooth trip back with all his flights on schedule. Nathan was very excited and once he saw his dad come through the doors at the airport he sprinted up to him for a big hug.

Dean picked this neat old tin box at the markets in Salzburg, Austria. It's packed with lots of goodies for Nathan, boat, cars, parachute man, dragons etc etc.

Who are you again???

Oh Yeah, my daddy, and you have gifts, yay!

Great, some help at bath time again :)

Not sure about the helmet, lucky dad was giving it away for his work secret santa present

Dean in London

On his second weekend away Dean cruised over to London to catch up with Wendell, Emma and Ueta who were down from Leeds.

No Pics

As Dean has the camera in Germany we have no pictures of what we've been up to here at home. Our original plan of mum coming up fell through with the poor love out of action with horrible back troubles. But we've been doing good, the kids have been very good and we've had Uncle Reid around to help out a little. He babysat both of them last Monday night and did a good job.

Yesterday we went to the Te Atatu Santa Parade with Lisa, Troy and the kids. It was a great day for it, and Nathan in his usual style was pretty non fussed with the parade and even got scared out of his wits by a big stock car revving up right in front of us. He talked about it all afternoon so even though it looks like he couldn't care less about being there he is obviously taking it all in. His preschool was in the parade and wanted parents to walk behind the float with the kids, but it was going to be too much of a mission with Maia as well so we opted to just watch. That afternoon we all had naps and then Nathan settled in with some popcorn and an ice cream to watch the Mickey Mouse Christmas movie on playhouse channel.

We're looking forward to Dean coming home. Hopefully there won't be the same drama's as he had going over and he'll arrive home on time on Thursday afternoon. YAY!!!

Cross Country Skiing

Dean's workmate invited him out cross country skiing. Dean enjoyed it and probably did a lot better than he would have if they were going down slopes. As he was getting ready to head home afterwards his workmate said after that kind of exercise they needed to go out and have a beer. Well who is Dean to argue with a suggestion like that??

Dean's Latest Pics

Dean's working about 15 minutes drive from where he's staying. He has to drive on the Autobahn and his record speed so far is 190km but overall he says he drives like a granny compared to all the Germans speeding past him at very high speeds.

Deans office building in Raubling, He's on the 7th floor with a pretty good view

Staff Lunch - $1 per sausage and a free pretzel - bonus!!??

Fresh snow falling onto Deans car

More Pics of Salzburg

Dean must be standing on a step? Wendell isn't that short :)

Dean said there were lots of these around, but they didn't go for a ride coz they thought that might look gay

Dean in Germany

Well we have been in contact with Dean most days via txt or webcam which has helped us not to miss him too much.

I thought I would update you all on his behalf, so hopefully I get my facts right based on secondhand info :) Well he finally made it to Germany Sunday night a day and a half late. They had fog in Dubai so got diverted to Karachi where they sat on the tarmac for a while. Once they arrived in Dubai it sounded like chaos as everyone was trying to find new flights to their final destinations. Dean ended being put up in a hotel by the airline until his flight, so at least he got to have a sleep and not just hang around the airport.

Once in Germany it was straight into the working week after a sleep Sunday night. He found the week a bit hard adjusting to the winter days where it is dark by 4pm so by the time he finished work there wasn't much to see. He ventured out to the supermarket where he had to put a euro in to get a shopping trolley, except he didn't have a single euro and they didn't have shopping baskets, so he could only get what he could carry. He had to return his rental car and swap the German navigation system for an English one, othewise he would definately get lost. The house he is staying in is nice, it belongs to the German couple who are working in his office here in New Zealand, so that's a nice alternative to having to stay in a hotel.

Wendell flew over from England for the weekend and sounds like they had heaps of fun. They stayed in Munich on Friday night where they ventured out to try and find some night life, they didn't find much but went out for dinner. Saturday they drove to Salzburg, Austria. Dean said it is a beautiful city. They looked around and did a bit of shopping. He said the shops are pretty flash so I guess he won't be getting any bargains. They headed back to Raubling that evening and then headed out again. They taxied to a bar nearby where the locals didn't seem to friendly but the barman was and he gave them the hot tip on a hip hop club nearby. Sounds like they had a good night and after a finding a hotdog stand they taxied home.

Sunday was Deans 32nd birthday and they went on another adventure. They were interested in checking out the old concentration camp in Dachau so programmed it into the navigation system which just guided them to the town, so although they didn't find the concentration camp the enjoyed looking around and checked out the Christmas markets intstead.

So I think thats the lowdown for now. I got a text saying he has booked flights to London this weekend to catch up with the boys over there. So I'm sure I'll have some fun pics to post from that trip :)

The view from the house where Dean is staying in Bernau am Chiemsee, Bavaria, Germany

Salzburg, Austria

Wendell on the streets in Salzburg

I presume this pic is after their big night out :)

On Sunday they headed to Dachau which is a half hour drive from Munich city centre.

Dean's Ride. An Audi with a navigation system so he doesn't get lost :)

At the Christmas Markets. Looks cold!!

Some omlette type thing with gravy all over it. Dean said he liked it, hmmm.

Week 1 without daddy

We headed down to the Mount last weekend to spend some time with mum and dad while Dean is away. We stopped on the way down in Waihi to a get together with all the Tokoroa girls that I grew up with. It's always cool catching up and feels like hardly anytime has passed since we saw each other last.

The rest of the week was lovely as the weather was awesome and Nathan got to go to the beach lots. I turned 32 while I was down there and my lovely husband had arranged for me to go to a day spa down there, so I spent all morning relaxing in the private spa with trees all around me and then being pampered with a massage and pedicure, aaah. Nathan isn't missing his daddy too much just yet as we get to speak to him via webcam on skype most days so thats good.

Here's a pic of all the kids at the party in Waihi

Weekend Wrap

Well the pressure was on for Dean to get the stairs finished and the dirt moved before he goes to Germany. He and Reid did a great job and the mission was completed. They managed to recycle the old stairs and now I have easy access to my washing line again :)

Nathan getting a squirt from dad

Maia having a laugh :)

General Update

Well I thought I'd update what the Hilliards out West are up to in general. Maia is now 3 months old. She had her plunket check up, immunisations etc etc. She now weighs 7.41 Kilos 170 grams lighter than Nathan was at 3 months. She is also 63cm long which is 3cm shorter than her brother was. I like to check out the difference as she was bigger than Nathan was born. They have both been well which is nice as Nathan seemed to have a cough that lasted forever a while back.

They are both sleeping well. Nathan goes to bed at 8pm although he often fluffs around in his bed ie looking out the window, singing to himself, putting his legs up the wall, reading his books and so on, sometimes until 9pm. He loves his bedtime stories, and at the moment really enjoys all the old fashioned nursery rhymes. You often here him singing them around the house. He loves cars, balls, racing car games on the computer, he is a real boy. He can count to 15 on a good day, but always leaves out 13 for some reason. He knows his name, birthday and address. All in all he's a cool little dude, a bit naughty sometimes but just typical of his age I think.

He goes to preschool 1 and a half days a week and really enjoys it. I drop him off on Tuesday lunchtime then his Nana Miriam picks him up at 4pm and has him for the night and then she drops him to preschool again on Wednesday morning. It's so helpful as I struggle to get him there on time in the morning and it's a nice little break having a quiet evening on Tuesday. When he gets dropped home on Wednesday afternoon he's not that fussed on coming home and often wants to go back to Nana's house. I don't take it personal that he doesn't miss us, he he :) I'm just happy that he is secure with his other family members and enjoys his time with them. I'm sure he enjoys the one on one attention he gets there without his sister around too. Since staying there his Poppy is finding out how stubborn he can be at times which is one frustrating part of his personality :)

Maia goes to bed around 7.30, I get her up around 10.30, she prettty much stays asleep. I feed her and at the moment that helps her last until 5-6am. Although today was a rare treat where she woke at 8am, hoorah!! She is very smiley and chats a bit but mostly likes to get her gurgling sound going. She is quite lovely in general and I can't help but stare at her sometimes and think how beautiful she is.

I have started playing Netball on Tuesday nights. It's really cool, even though I haven't played outdoor netball for years. At this stage our team is what you would call average, but we still have fun, and I'm sure we'll improve a bit as we get used to playing with each other. It is just good to be getting some form of exercise as I was feeling rather unfit and keen to lose a little bit more post baby weight. I've got some of my old jeans I'm keen to make use of again :)

Dean is playing Touch rugby on Thursday nights, they're doing good with 3 wins in a row, gee when I played with them we struggled for a win :) Hmm does that say something, he he. He is off to Germany for work in a weeks time and will be away for 3 weeks :/ My goodness that's a long time!!! It will be cool for him though and I hope he gets to see a bit while he's there.

I have put an action plan in place so I'm not alone with the kiddies the whole time. First week we'll be going to the Mount so I've got some help, and the 2nd week mum will come up to my place. Third week we may be going solo but I'll also have my brother Reid around a bit, and he's pretty good with Nathan. Well at the moment he is buying Nathan's affections with playdough and other toys :) But he's good at kicking the ball around with him and other boy stuff that Nathan will be missing while his dads away. I'm sure I would cope on my own for 3 weeks but it would get a little lonely and a bit hard when I'm so used to Dean getting home in the evenings and helping out with the kids.

So yep thats the latest here in Westieville. Looking forward to sunny days, Christmas and the holidays.

Hong Kong Fooey

There were 3 in the bed and the little one said...

While mum was off out for the evening, the bubba's snuggled in for a night at home with Dad.

Maia and Moses in the Morning

Heres Maia's first time hanging out with Moses. It looks like they're enjoying each others company. Moses is a very gentle and tolerant cat and he puts up with a lot from Nathan!! He seems pretty relaxed with Maia and must know she's not going to sit on him or pull his tail.

They are changing

Like I thought they would, Maia's eyes seem to be slowly but surely changing colour. They have been a grey/blue colour from birth but with the amount of brown eyes in the family I was sure they wouldn't last. As you can see in this picture there is a ring of light brown around the pupil and I think they will end up being that colour.

Ayla has very dark brown eyes like Nathans. Kael has very light brown eyes and I think Maia's may end up similar.