Choccy chops

Choccy chops
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

So it has been a very VERY long time since we've added to this blog, and yes, we're very slack, but in our defence, it has been rather a busy time!
Phil has been burning the cerebral candle at both ends, working very hard as a consultant on HotFrog and also working hard on his own project nospuds (www.nospuds.com.au), which is coming along in leaps and bounds.
Bianca has been mothering, baking and travelling around the country talking about The Sixth Wave, and in the meantime, also brewing up another little person (aka Bob the Bump, due around February 13).
And Nina has been gorgeous, which takes a lot of effort. She is growing into a very affectionate, strong-willed, fun-loving, funny and absolutely delightful little individual who continues to charm the pants off both of us.
Anyway, that's about it for the time being but I thought I should probably update this blog before it became totally obsolete.

The baby who walks

Finally, after making very certain she was going to be good at it, Nina has decided to walk by herself. It's a momentous occasion for Phil and me, as it means we no longer have to walk around hunched over like Quasimodo as Nina clings to our hands (Phil more hunched than me, obviously).

She seems a lot happier now that she's able to reach out with both hands and pull things off shelves, benches and out of cupboards. The house is a bombsite, but we've given up on maintaining any semblance of order during the day, and just wait until she's in bed before we put back the DVDs, put away her toys, put the cookware back in the cupboards, put all my carefully ordered paperwork back in my in-tray and retrieve my credit cards from the bin, where she's posted them.

The book is here!

The book is here!
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

It's hard to believe, but after nearly 2 years of work, The Sixth Wave is finally published! It isn't due to be released in bookstores until the beginning of April, but I have in my hot little hands one of the first copies off the press. The website is also up at www.sixthwave.org.

Nina pumpkinhead

Nina pumpkinhead
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

Nina's nickname of Nina Pumpkinhead (one of many terms of endearment we have for this little munchkin) is particularly appropriate since she absolutely loves pumpkin. It's like catnip for her - add it to any meal and you can guarantee most of it will go down, although she inevitably gets it all over her face and ends up with orange eyebrows.
These pumpkins are from our garden - first time I've grown them - so I'm pretty stoked. The garden has done magnificently this year thanks to good amounts of sun and rain. We got masses of snow peas, beans, broad beans, spinach, rhubarb, quite a few zucchini (courgettes), a few asparagus, quite a few raspberries and masses of blackberry (although these aren't technically in our garden but on the strip of council land next door)
We haven't blogged in ages but it's been a manic few months, especially with Nina waking up every 1-3 hours at night. But we've just finished 5 days at a residential sleep school and she now sleeps through the night ... hurrah!

Why Bianca has been a bit quiet on the blogging front...

... apart from the fact that the delightful Nina fills our every waking hour (and there are plenty of those) with smiles, giggles, crawling, the occasional tantrum and plenty of general babyness, I have also been occupied with writing a book. Call it insanity, call it overly ambitious, call it an exercise in time-management and dedication, but somehow I managed to co-author The Sixth Wave with my equally busy friend James Bradfield-Moody, scientist, engineer, ABC celebrity and whizz kid whose ideas form the foundation of the book.
And finally, it's nearly here! The Sixth Wave is due to be published by Random House Australia on 1 April this year (click here for a sneak peek at the cover and contents).

Nina Mobbed

We have just been out to Katoomba for lunch with Nina in tow. Bianca and I have decided that we can't go travelling to Asian countries for a few years as we will never get out of the hotel lobby with locals going crazy over Nina. We have been out and about with Nina a couple of times around the Blue Mountains and been mobbed with enamoured Asian tourists. This lunchtime I got it on camera. Also got a short video of Nina eating a straw while we wait for food.

Bianca: What this photo doesn't show is me flapping in the background like a nervous mother hen as all these complete strangers pass Nina around like the latest accessory!

Food wrangling

Food wrangling


Originally uploaded by Mistress B

Despite her parents' fondness for their tucker, Nina is far more interested in the world around her than she is in eating. We've been getting all sorts of grief from the childhood health nurses over her weight - she sits right on the bottom of the healthy weight curve and this week has actually dropped off the healthy weight curve. We've tried every trick in the book to cram more milk into her but we've come to the conclusion that she's such an active little thing that she just burns up way more calories than she eats.
So the latest solution is to start her on solids, seeing as she's nearly 6 months old. We're trying some baby cereal to try to get some more calories into her (but still breastfeeding as well), but it's easier said than done ... as these photos show. I think more of the cereal ended up on her face than in her mouth, and it was helped by the fact that she kept trying to grab the spoon and do it herself!

First girlie outfit

First girlie outfit
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

Poor Nina spent the first couple of months of her life largely in her pyjamas while we tried to get the hang of juggling it all, but we have become a little bit more adventurous with her outfits and she has acquired some rather stylish little numbers, including this cute knit dress. It's a long way from the 'funky goth chick' look that Phil is hoping for, but they don't really make baby clothes in black.

Mothers' group

Mums and bubs yoga
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

I haven't blogged about my fabulous mothers' group yet, and I don't know why because as Phil will attest, I never stop talking about it!
All new mums are put in touch with other new mums and bubs in the area (of the same bub age), via the childhood health nurses up here, and it's a fantastic program. It started with four get-togethers organised by the nurses, but now we organise our own get-togethers, and it's a non-stop social whirl.
We have a regular Friday get-together at someone's house, which is always a fabulous frenzy of babies and women (and some men) chattering, but then there's also mums and bubs yoga, bushwalks, gallery visit, movie excursions, endless excuses for lunches and home visits ... there's barely time for Nina to get her daily naps in!
It's exactly what we both hoped would happen when Nina came along - that we would meet other parents and finally start to establish our own social network in the mountains.
And it's lovely to think that these are the kids Nina will grow up with, go to school with, get into trouble with ... no, of course she won't be getting into trouble. With her innocent angel expression, she'll be the one standing in the middle of it all saying "moi?"

Moved to the Arctic?

Moved to the arctic?
Originally uploaded by nospuds

Its cold in the mountains. By the look of Bianca and Nina we could be in the Arctic!
We have a big pile of wood that I need to carry up the stairs but really its too cold to carry wood. Please, I don't need to hear that if I carry it up it will warm me twice ;)

My Morning Ride

It's officially cold. In fact it is freezing...literally. It was zero which with a wind chill at 90kph makes it -10°C for a trip to Sydney at 7:30am. Luckily I have new motorbike gear and my beema has heated hand grips. I was missing a heated seat though as the frosted seat meant that I slid backwards and forwards on the seat for the first 3 mins of the trip until my butt thawed the seat. At home we have the log fire going 24/7 which is really nice for Bianca when she gets up at 3am to feed Nina milky chops.

Nina falling asleep...

... on arm at a time.

Baby earmuffs

Baby earmuffs
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

Just been for our first trip to the movies with poor poor Nina. Bianca was worried about her hearing so made her wear socks on her ears!!
She slept through Star Trek except for a good feed somewhere in the middle.

Multi-tasking

Multi-tasking
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

I know there's this thing called maternity leave (and paternity leave), whereby a couple produce a baby and then they both get a period of time where they don't work... but we seemed to have missed that memo.
With Phil going great guns on NoSpuds, and me working on a special big project (soon to be revealed) plus doing a story for Scientific American, I'm not sure we even had a week where we both truly stopped working.
But little Nina has been very accommodating of our foolishness, and as you can see from this photo, happily takes her afternoon siesta tucked up on Phil's chest, or in the sling on my chest. We're both learning to snatch time to work in between feeds, nappies, walks and screams, and so far are doing OK.
Mind you, I've decided when bub number 2 comes along, I am actually going to STOP work for at least 3 months... at least that's the plan.

Monkey face!

got it!
Originally uploaded by Mistress B

Who'd have thought that breast milk was such good stuff, but the faces Nina pulls after a good feed look positively blissful! (and that's my arm, not my bosom, on the left of this pic, in case you're wondering).
Nina has just passed the one month mark, and it has been a pretty amazing month. As well as being just impossibly gorgeous, it feels like we've been blessed with a pretty easy-going bub as well. She's feeding well, sleeping pretty well and even her 2-3 screaming sessions each day are pretty tolerable at this stage. Mind you, have had visits from friends with slightly older babies and toddlers, we're realising that the screams are only going to get louder, so we're bracing ourselves for that!
But she's taken well to being walked around in the sling and pram, and has already become an accomplished bushwalker. The big test is an overnight trip to Sydney next week - mum is a little nervous about how the car trip will go, but there's a first time for everything.

Two babies get their outings

Baby one - Nina, 3 weeks old today, enjoying her second pram outing. A good hike for her parents too, as we walked to this spot all the way from home and back, a 2hr hour walk.
Baby two - Phil's NoSpuds bag, or more precisely, NoSpuds. This baby was delivered just before Nina, and can be viewed online at www.nospuds.com.au. Feedback welcome!

New season mushrooms

Bianca picked our first wild mushrooms of the season...yum. Just had some with egg and goats cheese on sour dough bread. The rest will go on mushroom pizza tonight.

Sock for gloves

It's enough to confuse any little girl. No wonder she has a frown. Bianca has taken to putting socks on Nina's hands to stop her scratching herself...when they wake up I need to tell Bianca about new fangled inventions like gloves and nail clippers...poor poor Nina.

Breakfast & Coffee

I’ve been meaning to write about my breakfast for ages and my coffee machine. I love my modded coffee machine! I added a temperature controller to my Rancillo machine to take out the faffage of ‘temperature surfing’ to get my machine to the right temperature for coffee (apparently 109.0°C). I’ve been drinking Campos Obama Blend which was a gift from some friends and it makes a really nice cup. Yum.

There are only 2 things that can help improve the start to the day...need I say more?

Obviously you need to check out NoSpuds for coffee courses and barista training ;)

First day at home

... and already little Nina is fitting right in! Seen here in her sling while Dad enjoys his morning toast.
What an incredible feeling to be able to bring Nina, aka Sprout, into the family. She and I came home from hospital on Monday, and every day has been an adventure, a learning experience, and a total cornucopia of delight.
There aren't really the right words to describe the emotions of all this. There's so much wonder in every little detail, from her long legs and big feet (go Phil's tall genes!), to the silky hair on her head, her blue-grey eyes, which will no doubt change colour, to her tiny little fingernails. There's also wonder in how such a small creature can consume so much milk. I'd wonder where it all went if it weren't for the fact that I see the end products in her nappies.
And yep, she cries, lots, and sleeps lots except when we want her to but usually we work it out in the end.
Ooops, I hear a cry that says "where's my milk!!!" so this is a shortened blog post, but we're loving it, even the mucky freaky bits.