More movies and photos...

Watching the Bulldogs play with Dad!

3 months old

Lilah is now 3 months old, and getting bigger and more adorable every day. She's sleeping really well now, and is only waking one time in a 11-12 hour period some nights.

We went to Coffs Harbour (a beautiful beach-side town about 5 hours south of where we live) last weekend for Aunty Marg's 60th birthday. It was our first overnight trip with Lilah, and she did really well considering she was sleeping in a strange cot in a strange room. She also slept for the entire trip there and back which made it so easy for us - we just woke her up for a feed when it was time and then she went straight back to sleep again.

It was great to catch up with the family, which is growing every year, unfortunately the weather was freezing cold and wet. That didn't stop the cricket game though...

Here is Eric batting...

Lilah with Uncle Chris - see how bundled up she is? it was windy, freezing and raining...

Andy gives Noah a flying lesson while Fiona and Mitchell watch...

Andy is in for a bat, as Dad and Uncle Chris watch from the sidelines...

Aunty Marg and her sister enjoy a chat, while Nanna watches the game.

Girl talk for some, but Mum opts to play cricket...

Time to cut Aunty Marg's cake, and it was Fiona's birthday as well...

Fiona and the kids play in the sand, while Mark bowls...

Lilah with cousin Angela.

Eric and Lilah on his first Father's Day, 7 Sept 2008.

I can enjoy Father's day too!
Lilah loves her doll, Polly.

Here is a little movie of Lilah sitting outside today, enjoying the lovely weather and nature on our back deck.

Getting more sleep...

We're finally starting to get more sleep these days. Lilah is still going to bed really late, but she's sleeping well at night now, and I feel as though I'm getting on top of things and into more of a routine.

Lilah had her first set of immunisations a couple of weeks ago, and she coped really well - I didn't cope quite so well, and almost fainted a couple of times. Evidently I had let myself get too de-hydrated when we went hiking that morning, and then combined with the anxiety over the upcoming immunisations and what is now quite low blood pressure - well, it was a recipe for blackouts. Lilah only cried a little bit, and was a bit fussy that evening, but otherwise she did really well.


Eric has been really busy with work over the past couple of months, and has been working a lot of nights and weekends which has been challenging for a new mum!

We have gotten to see quite a bit of my parents, which has been nice, they love spending time with Lilah. She is smitten with Grandma and couldn't take her eyes off her when she came to stay for a few days. One time she was gazing at Grandma daydreaming while I was holding her, and when I started to speak she got such a fright that she was inconsolable! It was pretty funny, apart from her sad little face...





These are some photos that I took of Lilah at about 8 weeks old, and then photoshopped the background.













This is Lilah at 11 weeks sitting on the little couch that I bought her to assist her in learning to sit.

She's sitting up on it without any help at all, and having a great time!

What a grin!

This week Lilah has really started talking a lot. This video shows a little bit of talking while I am reading the Velveteen Rabbit to her, but she has been talking almost constantly the past couple of days in the most adorable little voice.

More photos and videos of Lilah...

Going to church for the first time, 2.5 weeks old...

Family picnic at West End, 28 June 08

Bath time! - 5 weeks old

5 weeks old...

Lilah, Grandma and Angela (5 weeks old)...

Introducing Lilah Joy!

We have had a new addition to our family - Lilah Joy. Lilah was born on Tuesday, 3rd June, at 7:21pm weighing 2.62 kg (5 lbs 12 oz), and 46 cm long.


A couple of weeks earlier, I had gotten PIH - pregnancy induced hypertension, or high blood pressure. So, I had been on bed rest, in the hopes that we could wait for a natural delivery. The doctor wanted to do a cesearean, since I wasn't ready to deliver, but said it was safe to wait a little longer.

On Monday 2nd, I went to see the doctor only to discover that my, normally quite low, blood pressure had reached a dangerous high and we would have to deliver one way or the other - I was 38 weeks along. The choices were a cesearean or an induction that would probably end in a cesearean, since my body wasn't ready for labour. After prayer and discussion, Eric and I decided to try an induction, and so I was admitted to the hospital that night, and induction was started at 8pm.

The next morning we continued with the induction, and by late afternoon the doctor still thought it wasn't going well and would end in surgery. However, between 4pm and 7pm, everything sped up and Lilah arrived healthy and well at 7:21pm, much to our doctor's surprise! - she thought we'd still be there at midnight...

Lilah was a tiny 2.62 kg (5lb 12 oz) at birth, partly due to my blood pressure issues. She also was found to have low blood sugar, for the same reason, and so was admitted into the Special Care nursery. She had a feeding tube inserted through her nose, and was fed formula to try to stabilise her blood sugar levels.

We were thrilled at how well everything turned out and so glad to have a healthy baby!

Lilah was very sleepy, and slept through every second feed for the first few days, so these feeds were done via the tube. However, by Friday she was finished with all that and was allowed to 'room-in' with me that night - oh what a night! Her increased strength, coupled with coming off formula meant that she didn't sleep at all that night or the next few nights - and there was a lot of screaming. However she had adjusted better before too long. She's still fairly nocturnal, but is much better.


On the Sunday we were allowed to go home, and it's been fantastic ever since. Lilah has been such a good baby, with only a few really unsettled periods so far.

She's still tiny, but is quickly catching up. At her 4 week doctor's appointment she weighed 3.5 kg, and had grown 4.5 cm. She's now average newborn size (at 4 weeks old).

Lilah has been smiling at us more and more lately, and at her toys, books and the gift cards sent to us by family and friends that I have hung in her room - she loves them! She has an adorable smile, and spends her awake times taking in her surroundings. She also loves bath-time.

Here is a short video of Lilah at 4 weeks old on her change table. She has the hiccoughs...

I'm in a book!

On Saturday night Eric and I went to the launch of a book called 'Tech girls are chic, not just geek', featuring 16 young women in IT (including myself!).

The aim of the book is to encourage girls to consider studying IT, since enrollment is so low. The editors got corporate sponsorship to send the book out free of charge to thousands of Australian school girls, so I'm going to be famous! well, almost... they've also gotten some international orders for the book already.

Here's the website, along with some newspaper and radio articles about the book!

http://www.techgirlsarechic.org/index.html

The launch was a lot of fun, and they interviewed each of us on the night - I believe the interviews are going on uTube at some stage. All very exciting...! Cheers, Bron

Baby on board

As most of you would know by now, we're expecting our first baby in June. We know it's a girl, and we're excited about meeting her soonish - well it seems soon to me, time is flying by!

So far things have been going really well. I was nauseous for the first 18 weeks, but not too bad. However, it made me really hungry and tired, so meant too much weight gain - but I'm feeling much better these days.

Work is really busy and stressful at the moment, but that is good as it keeps me busy so that time is passing by quickly and each week seems to pass faster than the last. I am really looking forward to maternity leave! I hope I can have regular coffees (or more likely hot milk with honey - my latest craving) with friends, decorate the nursery, and put my feet up. It won't happen until May, but that's approaching quickly.

Eric is going really well. He hosted a Superbowl party here last weekend, and had about 10 guys over to celebrate. I made hot wings for the first time, and they seemed to go down well. We also had a few other American foods and drinks to serve, and I think they had a good time together. Most of them didn't know much about gridiron football, but they still enjoyed hanging out. Meanwhile, I spent some time with a girlfriend - which was nice.

We've put our housebuilding plans on hold for now, with the baby on the way. We have decided to make this time as stress-free as we possibly can (ie. no moving house), so we're just going to keep the land, keep renting, and figure it all out later... later sounds good!

Church is going really well, and Eric has been enjoying helping out with a film that is being put together - Biblestudies, music etc. He's had input into recording and engineering the musical aspect, so he's really been having fun with that.

Eric also had one of his big camps for the year (Jan camp) a couple of weeks ago. There were almost 300 people there, and all seemed to have a great time. He also survived the weekend, so that's a big plus!

We finally broke down and bought ourselves a second car. Since we're not moving to Kenmore in the near future, we needed another car for when the baby comes along. So, Eric got a small Hyundai Excel hatchback for commuting, and I'll keep the Pulsar for myself (and the baby of course ;)).

Eric's been mountain biking at least once per week, and is actually out riding with Marty (my brother) right now. They usually ride together every week if they can. They really enjoy getting out into the bush and the challenge of traversing new trails etc. However, Eric does seem to come home with injuries more often than I would like! But that's mountain biking for you.

I've been able to stop travelling for work - which I'm very happy about. I would have been in Sydney for most of the past two weeks, but I have a great excuse now and they're letting me get away with it - big belly!

Eric was finally able to purchase his ticket to fly back to Atlanta in April this week. We were waiting for some points to be added to our mileage account to help with the purchase, so we managed to get a fairly cheap flight out of it. He's going to be in Atlanta from the 15th April, to the 1st May. He's really looking forward to seeing everyone and going shopping too! Augh - I'd better start saving now...

I'll try to keep updating you as all the excitement unfolds for us this year.
With love, Bron