happy anniversary!

On the 17th of January 2009 Cameron and I tied the knot, if you know what I mean... Haha, how much does that sound like a euphemism (wow I've been saying euphenism all this time).

Look at this guy. I mean how lucky am I? 

baby name wizard

How great a name is that for a website? Well for anything!? I love the names we gave our girls. You can refer to me or Cameron as the baby name wizard if you happen to agree. Giving your children a name is one of your most important tasks as a parent, and you often do this on day one. So unprepared. So hopeful. Ada Ann Hockly and her sister Olive Joy Hockly, what ladies these two shall be one day! I also love graphs. Here are links to two graphs that help you visualise how Ada and Olive are old names that are having a resurgence in popularity. The height of the bar shows how many babies were given that name in that year (per million babies). Searching Ava and Olivia gives entirely different results and partly shows how Ada and Olive have their unique feel even though they are only one or two letters different in each case.

You can enter your name too and see how trendy it has been over the last 130 years. This is rather fun and addictive. My name was definitely a fad, the time of babies being called Loren has been and gone, also I was named Loren at the height of it's popularity. I checked a few friends names and found the same thing.

Kudos to the article that looked at lots of names and found interesting trends and things that I discovered this nifty tool on. If you have that link send it to me and I will add it here for others, so interesting!

Have you found anything curious about your name or your babies name? I would love to hear more.

blog reso's

1. Post something a little meaningful each week. Up my game and all. I am no longer trying to post every day, that did not last long at all with two under two! Now that I have a two year old and a 6 month old there is not magically more time, so I will do my best to be thoughtful about my experience as a mother and record those thoughts here.

2. Learn how to use a real camera! I have a great one and the file format is currently incompatible... blah, so many hurdles for this camera. Time to try, try again as they say. For now I will stop posting the whats app images from Cam's phone. Those are the super low quality pics I have posted. Um, sorry.

3. Garner more comments. Um, over to you dear reader! (Not sure exactly how to do this but I believe this relates to number one right?!) I love the communal aspect parenting can have, my ideas, your ideas, shared experiences, shared commiserations, I think it is time to chatter, no?! Thank you if you post here, at the moment I will

Do you make resolutions? I prefer to think of them as year goals and make them ridiculously achievable. Lazy? Nah, I am so about thinking I am awesome rather than getting into the "I can be more, do more" trap. It's not always easy as a typical NZer, but you know what, it's time to say it. "I am awesome"! In the words of Ada, "no, you, you do it". You can go ahead and say you are awesome too.

holiday in the sun

We spent a fantastic 7 days at the beach with Cam's family a week or so ago. The location was awesome, we were a 5 minute stroll from the sea at Waihi Beach and just 2 minutes from the shops. Everything we needed was close by, we didn't drive the car for 7 days.

Ada LOVED it. Well at first she seemed to HATE it. Huge screams and tears for the sand and the water, but we turned that around fairly promptly and she was so, so happy. She wanted to be in the water whenever we were at the beach and also loved all the play in the sand with the shells and pools and sticks.

Ada slept for 3 hours every single day. All the sea air and activity got to her as well as sightly making up for her and Olive waking at 5.30am every day. Olive was unsettled overnight while we away and after 3 nights of very little sleep we wondered if we could last the week. In the end Cam shared with Ada, hidden by a blanket in the middle of the room. They were in room that was a converted patio, it got cold at night! That likely was also contributing to Ada waking so early each day. We discovered through this that Ada talks in her sleep! Cam didn't report exactly what. Some mash up of A B C D and Mama, Daddy, Olive.

I shared with Olive, she slept with me a couple of nights while we were away anyway. We play white noise for her overnight, a track called waterfall that I found on itunes and I have it on my phone and our ipad. A few months ago she was waking every 90 minutes overnight and when I left some white noise on one night she woke once - so we love the white noise! However it is hard to sleep through though when you are not used to it. Made for some surreal sleeps and night feeds for me.

It was so lovely having the girls grandparents and Cam's brothers and sister in law on hand with the girls. We shared all the food and the dishes so it really felt like a holiday! I so appreciated having some one on one time with Ada and Cam while we were away too.

food glorious food!

Olive is eating!

We are having a go with a mix of mush and some baby led weaning principles. It is quite fun watching her give a baton of pear or banana a good go. The big bits seem to be no problem, they just fall out and she has another go. Here she is having some pear! Her first solid, solids.




Here she is trying banana with Ada. Two girls, one menu! Whoop. This is moments before we go on holiday, great timing Mama. I do love when they are having the same snack though.

We have tried a few fruits and veggies, homemade toasty marmite things and rice porridge. Nectarine gets the best response. What first foods do you start with? I feel neglectful not steaming things for her to try, it just isn't as appealing in summer. I have got some pumpkin this week for her to taste.

On to steak next...

look ma, no hands!

Olive has moved from tripod to hands free sitting! At first she still was keen on crawling everywhere but has since discovered the many benefits of sitting, two hands at your disposal if you please.

Here she is the day she got the hang of it. Proud as punch to be eating a book. Yuss.

Now that she sits and crawls she seems to be trying to pull herself up. She is up on her knees holding on to the couch, wrapping her hands around the high chair leg and trying to tug herself up. Slow down Olive, no hurry baby!

6 months (whoop)

We have made it halfway to a year! Go us!


Olive is a wee darling. She is loving moving and whenever I am within reach she crawls over to me. She makes wee sounds that translate to "pick me up please Mama".  Olive is such a polite and clever girl. TBH it is a wee grizzle but I get it girl, you want attention right? While sitting she uses her hands to flap, to raise her arms to ask to be picked up, but mostly her hands are busy with the task of putting everything into her mouth.

I have been looking forward to having a 6 month old and a two year old ever since I got pregnant last year and even more so since I had a newborn and an 18 month old. Hooray, here we are, my hopes were not misplaced. Things are still very busy and two babies are still rather demanding, but these girls are more and more enjoyable. Watching them interact is a joy! They are obsessed with each other truth be told. Olive looks for Ada whenever she can, watching her non stop and now crawling after her. Ada is still like a moth to a flame for absolutely anything Olive is interested in. In fact, this is becoming useful. "Look Ada, Olive is eating her dinner" and so on!

Happy Half Birthday my beautiful, happy, healthy girl! We love you very, very much.


5 months
Four months.
Three months.
Two months.
One month.
Ada at 6 months.

resolutions

I've got 5 resolutions and I am going to work on them one at a time starting from the easiest to the most difficult. Working on 5 at once? Burn out! 

1. Wipe the table and the bench after each meal. Can you believe we don't do this already? How easy is this one? So far I'm on it. Yuss! 18 more days to make a habit. 

2. Time out with Cameron twice a month. So, so important. I take a bit of time to unwind at the moment and so the snatches of time Cam and I spend together don't always add up to me feelings as connected as I like. I am looking forward to making this happen. I am also prepared to bank dates and catch up dates so I can keep this reso. Who wants to babysit? 

3. Less white carbs, we will try to eat them just once a week. More whole foods in general but I like to measure my goals so will try and settle on once or twice a week. I really love when Ada, Cam and I eat together so pasta and rice are her faves so twice a week may be more realistic but we can test this one out. 

4. Exercise twice a week. So do you love that I said twice not thrice. I am all about achievable goals. This is number 4 because it will be so very tricky to keep. Does exercise more not turn up on every goal list ever written? This two times pregnant bod is in dire need of a work out. D. I. R. E. So when will I exercise? I am wondering about early in the morning this summer with Olive in the front pack. Something to try this week any how!

5. Try a new hobby. Sheesh I don't even know what?! Something musical? Something creative? I need something other than coffee appraisal. Ha, you think? This motherhood biz takes up a lot of time and head space and it is time to take some back! 

Are you a resolutions type of person? Do you have a plan to make something happen this year? Last year I was out of the game, I was ready to take it as easy as possible, being pregnant with a one year old I resolved to survive. The year before that it was something like 'be a mom'. Hehe. Tick. 

Here we go 2014! Game on! 

happy 2014

Hello from the future! 2014? What?!

Babies wield guns and toddlers mix fashion genres here. 

Happy New Year! 

Xoxox