Kate and Andrew Scott

Waves and water in the West

January’s been a pretty massive month, and on reflection it’s not surprising the the whole family is currently a bit tired!

Our big adventure was to head over to Perth for Catherine and Green’s wedding. Leaving on a Thursday, and coming back on a Tuesday, it was our first trip with Harriet, and frankly a somewhat scary proposition. But our girl came through it with flying colours. On the flight over we had a bassinet and we’re not sure that she even noticed the plane taking off or landing, so intently was she eating. She even managed a decent nap, her favourite combination of white noise and movement paying dividends. We stayed with Andrew’s parents, or Granddad and Grandma as they are now known, and had a lovely time. It was great to be able to share so much of Harriet’s time with them, as she still sleeps quite a lot during the day actually staying with them meant that they got to have a lot more cuddles and hugs then they would have otherwise. Harriet adjusted to the 2 hour time difference quite well, waking at 6am and going to bed at 6pm, very reasonable. We caught up with lots of Perth people, and it was lovely to be able to introduced Harriet to them. We also took Harriet to her first beach (while she had gone to my Nana’s 91st birthday we’d kept her off the sand, her first beach had to be a real one aka a Perth one!). She seemed to find the whole experience quite bemusing, but at least she didn’t cry! She also experienced her first swimming pool, which we thought she’d really like as she loves her baths, but again she found it quite disconcerting (still no crying however).

Green and Catherine’s wedding was gorgeous, although it was a 38 degree day they sensibly had chosen to have the ceremony at UWA’s tropical grove, which was shaded and cool(er). The happy couple both looked stunning, and the reception was lovely, not only for the fabulous company, ambiance and food, but also for its fabulous air conditioners. The flight home was a lot more stressful than the one over, as QANTAS in their infinet wisdom, had sent the wrong aircraft and we were without a bassinet. Still Harriet put in a good show, having a couple of naps (one on Kate and one on Andrew) and sleeping through the landing, which was very good of her.  There were quite a number of children and small babies on the plane and Kate ended up breastfeeding Harriet as we waited for the luggage to arrive chatting to another mum as she also breastfeed her baby, Kate sitting cross-legged on the floor, and the other mum balancing on a nearby metal post, her elder child strapped into his car seat which she was rocking with her foot. When you think one child is a lot of work imagine having 2 or 3. Lots of photos of the Perth trip on Kate’s Flickr page.

We also managed to survive Melbourne’s recent heatwave, three days over 43 degrees really took it out of Kate and Harriet. By moving from friend to friend they managed to keep coolish, and thanks to Tim and Lynne had a good night’s sleep in Mentone. We did end up restoring to staying in a hotel the night it was 40 degrees inside our house, and have finally!!!, had our air conditioning installed, after several months of delays. In a lot of ways we were very lucky, with Jemena, the people who own the lines in our area, recently cancelling all non-emergency work, and the air conditioner installer taking 3 phone calls while Kate was trying to pay him, all from people asking him to come around urgently.

As well as surviving the heatwave and heading over to Perth we also hosted a very last minute Australia Day BBQ, after deciding it was too sad that we had a long weekend ahead of us, and not a single thing planned! We also went to Al and Gudrun’s Babies Shower, Harriet’s looking forward to having two new playmates, to celebrate the impending arrival of the twins. As mentioned above January also saw Kate (and Harriet’s) Nana celebrated her 91st birthday, with a picnic and BBQ at Ricketts Point. Three of her nine great-grandchildren were present, which was pretty special.

Kate and Harriet also enjoyed seeing a lot of Sarah S while she was on school holidays, with some lovely walks along the river as well as many sanity-saving afternoons with Claire and Althea. Andrew’s gone back to study, choosing ‘Risk Management for Finance Sector Enterprises’ as his current unit. He knew he’d picked a winner when a book he’d read and enjoyed was mentioned as excellent pre-reading!

Harriet’s milestones this month include:

• Turning 4 months of age!
• Survived her first head cold (snot and a temperature)
• Happy to lie on her tummy now and even play with toys, rather than scream the second she’s turned over 
• Very powerful legs, from constant standing!
• Giggles if you ‘eat’ her neck and ears, or jiggle her from side to side
• Pulls at the hanging toys on her play mat, and really gives them a good tug. Plays with hanging toys with both hands.
• Moves around in her cot at night, no longer stays exactly where you place her
• Several of the largest poos ever seen by mankind, and a wee-nami, which Kate particularly enjoyed as she was feeding her at the time
• Smiles if you sing to her, and loves to ‘chat’
• Has beautifully podgy thighs, tummy, chins and cheeks.

So it’s been a big month, and February is shaping up to be similar!