Hey Grandpa! Check out my top!

Well, I have just put Reuben down for his last nap of the afternoon (after this he won't go to sleep again until bed time.) For my dad's benefit, I thought I would add a couple of pictures of the top Reuben is wearing today. It is still a little bit big but he is growing all the time. For those of you who don't know, my dad came and visited me shortly after Reuben's birth (check the blog archives for pictures of his visit) and very kindly brought me over some baby clothes that Reuben is just now starting to fit. We don't have Baby Gap here and I think my dad did pretty well picking out things when he had no idea of my tastes. Reuben is smack bang in the 50th percentile of weight, length, and head circumference for his age but most 3-6 month clothes are still too big (it often depends on the manufacturer, though.) I guess he's also only 3 months old and if he's expected to fit the clothes all the way to 6 months, then it would be a shame if they were a perfect fit now!
Anyway, that was a bit of a ramble. Nathan is off to play rugby (real rugby, not just 'touch' rugby) this afternoon so I am hoping and praying he comes back in one piece. One of our other friends who plays competitively has already been knocked unconscious twice this season and you're only allowed 3 'knock-outs' in a season before they stop you from playing for like a year due to the possibility of long term injury. I was going to try to get to the game but Reuben was asleep and since he had a big afternoon with Aunty Tina yesterday, I decided to let him sleep (and it gave me a chance to have a much-needed nap as well.)

How Time Flies!

Wow! It's Friday already (but this post will say Thursday because of the time difference between NZ and USA), where has this week gone? The weather is definitely cooler these days and I think our fantastic summer is well and truly winding down and winter is on its way. I have spent the week tending to my monarch butterflies among other things. We have had heaps of caterpillars this year and lots of them have died which is a bit sad. The ones who have managed to make it to the 'butterfly' stage have been worthy of great celebration! The biggest challenge once they have hatched is keeping them safe from the cats (who think it is a wonderful game to chase the butterflies when they attempt to fly.) I discovered that adult butterflies feed on nectar (or sugar water) and have had to make some up a couple of times this week to give to one female that didn't seem to be flying properly and would keep ending up on the lawn. After a couple of days of TLC, she seems to have flown away for good now and it was cool to see her 'drink' the sugar water I had prepared - I guess the homemade variety couldn't have tasted too bad. I just wish I had gotten a picture of her (I'll make sure to take one of the next chrysalis that 'hatches.')
Also this week, I attended my first 'Buggy Fit' class which is an exercise program for mothers that we can bring our babies along to. It was quite fun and since I can't get to the gym as easily these days (due to the fact they have no childcare facilities), this is another way to stay fit as well as meet other mothers in the area.
Reuben is doing really well and I just can't get over how cute he is!! I got Nathan to take a photo of him last night because he fell asleep when I was feeding him and he was just so 'chilled out.' He often sleeps with his hands splayed out which is a great sign because it shows he is a relaxed baby. By the way, he's NOT wearing a dress, it's just a baby nightgown!!!! :) I'll add the photo and sign off for now because I can hear him grizzling in his room.

Update on our Week

Yay! I'm so glad that the video of Reuben was uploaded successfully. He is getting increasingly vocal and while he used to always giggle while getting changed, he is now starting to laugh just when I'm talking to him. He has such a contagious laugh as well - it is so cute. He also copies us when we poke our tongues out at him and the other day when he was in his bed, I noticed him sticking his tongue out at the tiger in his picture book (the tiger has his tongue out as well so I'm wondering if Reuben was copying the photo?) It may have been coincidence but I like to think he actually knew what he was doing. :)
His vaccinations went really well last week. We had him booked in during the afternoon and the nurse told us it takes about 6 hours for the vaccinations to really kick in and by that time he was in bed for the night so we didn't have a grumpy baby on our hands. In fact, the only thing I noticed that was different about his behavior was that he slept a lot the next day. Other than that, he was a real trooper!!!
Speaking of little troopers, I can hear my little man summoning me as I write - he has just woken up from his nap and I now have to decide whether to leave him in bed a bit longer in the hopes he'll go back to sleep or get him up. Some days he is happy to put himself back to sleep and other days he is like 'Get me up NOW!' Oh, the joys pf parenthood!!!

Video Footage of Reuben Giggling! So cute!

Alright! I am going to attempt to upload a video we took last week of Reuben as we were getting him ready for his bath. As I've stated before, he LOVES bath time and getting undressed so we thought we'd try out our camera's video and see if we could capture him laughing. Here goes... I hope this works!!!!

Kristina's 31st Bday

On Thursday, April 3 we went out to our favorite teppanyaki restaurant to celebrate Kristina's 31st birthday. We often go to this restaurant because the food and service are fantastic and we always walk away totally full and thoroughly entertained as the chefs are soooo good. I think there were about 19 of us in total so I will add some photos of the evening. Needless to say, I think Kristina enjoyed herself. Also, please bear with me as I try to sort out the layout of the pictures!

Random Reuben Pics

Ok guys, here are some of Reuben's latest exciting developments (at least they're exciting to me.) He has made definite giggling noises on several occasions, espeically around bath time, he is swiping/grabbing for things within his reach, he is showing a definite preference for people he knows over total strangers, he loves looking at his books and he enjoys looking at human faces over other objects. While he can hold his head and shoulders up off the ground while having 'tummy time,' it is still not one of his favorite pastimes and there are often cries of protest after only a minute or two on his tummy. Reuben is getting very talkative and loves people singing to him (hopefully some of the musical genes in the family have rubbed off!) He is also sleeping around 11 hours a night now - what a little legend!!!! We are quickly approaching the 3 month old mark - I can't believe how fast the time has gone - and Reuben now weighs 6 kgs (just over 13 lbs for our American readers.)

My most recent dilemma has been deciding whether or not to vaccinate him and at this point, we are going to go ahead with the shots but I'm not totally thrilled with the idea. There seem to be pros and cons with either decision so I'm just going to trust that we will make the one that is in his best interests.

Here are some recent photos of him. The one with the other baby is his 'friend' David who is 8 weeks older than him. :) The photo with the envelope on his chest is his first piece of mail (his IRD number which is like a US Social Security Number.)