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A busy two months?

Hello people. Well how slack has my mummy been in keeping the blog updated? I can't begin to imagine what has been keeping her so busy? I mean, sure, we do get up to quite a few adventures, and there has been lots going on around the house, but really, given she manages to play Mafia Wars on facebook every day, she can't really say she hasn't had time... slack bugger.

We've had zillions of trips to the zoo, and I've managed to stay awake for most of them. What I like most at the zoo is pulling up the grass with my hands. And I like the birds. But those monkeys are way too noisy - they woke me up screeching and I almost jumped out of my pram. Cheeky things.

This is me being a crocodile - Amanda and Malakai sent it to me

I have also managed to grow my teeth bigger, although I still only have two. Mummy thinks I look like a little chipmunk now. Daddy keeps checking to see whether the next teef are there, but I haven't decided to grow those ones yet.

We had a fun trip to Wellington and we saw trillions of friends, which was really lovely and made mummy and daddy smile a lot. I wasn't keen on the port-a-cot, but I liked the cable car and the swings a lot.

Me and daddy playing on a cannon up Mt Victoria in Welly

Us playing on the bed in the hotel in Welly

We have had lots of men around the house making noise and banging things. I didn't care - it didn't stop me napping cos I am like mummy and can sleep through anything. When the noisy men had finished, we had a new kitchen and two new bathrooms - they were very clever. It all looks very grand now, but for some reason mummy and daddy still want to move to a new house. They keep saying stuff about dangerous stairs and child-proofing. I don't know what that means but I hope the new house has a garden so I can have a swing and a slide!

Another thing that changed was mummy's car. She kept calling me a hippo just because she's too weedy to get me and my car seat into the back of her two-door car, like that's my fault. Two words mummy - The Gym. Nuff said. Anyway, after all that moaning, she seemed happy enough when she finally spotted the car she wanted and her and daddy got one with a body kit and sexy alloy wheels and two sunroofs (so I have one of my own!), plus the back doors slide open like on a van and they open and shut electrically so I just sit there and it feels like I have a chauffeur who does it all for me. It's fab. Mummy calls the new car Big Flomsk, and she says it's like an A Team van. So much for moaning about her back!

The new car is like this, except it's black

Ooh and it was father's day - so we spoiled daddy, but I refused to say "dada" even though mummy and daddy said it to me alllllll day. What am I, a performing seal!

Me and daddy having breakfast in bed on fathers' day

I had my first sleep-over last weekend while mummy and daddy were off disco dancing with all the other mummies and daddies from the antenatal group. I thought the group was for me and the other babies, but I'm beginning to wonder now. I think they drank lots of Ribena cos they looked a bit funny when they picked me up from Auntie Rachael's, where I'd been pampered and spoiled by everyone and tickled by Spanner the dog. I like Auntie Rachael's cos she tickles me and sings to me and makes me laugh. I think when I can walk I might run away there sometimes to get spoiled!

Me and Auntie Rach up to no good (again)

While all these other exciting things have been going on, I have learned to sit up, to roll, to sing, to raspberry, and to feed myself. And I have graduated to the big boy bath now, too, so I can do lots of splashing. Life is so much fun once you can sit up by yourself.

Me in the little boy bath, before I graduated to the big one

Starting next week I will be having swimming lessons - apparently I will be a Little Limpet. And I star my singing sessions at the local church, which has scared daddy, but mummy assured him we won't be singing hymns. Not that he can talk - he's been known to sing "If I had a hammer" and "Oh Jesus I Have Promised" in the car when he gets giddy. he can be very silly sometimes, my daddy.

Bye for now xxxx
Monty

Noo toof

I woke up this morning with a cold. Mummy says I snored for the first time last night, and somehow she said that with pride. I think it's cos she snores and she just wants more evidence that I'm really hers. She often waves me in the air and shouts "How can you be mine, you handsome boy?" and I just laugh and tell her that I am hers and I love her. I tell her that with my smile.

I smiled when she came to say hello this morning, despite the snotty nose and little cough, and of course that got me some big cuddles. Oh yes, I have definitely worked out how to get cuddles. And mummy let me have a gnish on her finger (a regular game we play), and was busy grinning at me when she suddenly shouted 'Noo toof! Yoo got a toof!'

I don't know what this noo toof is, but man it got her excited. She rushed downstairs to the computer and messaged daddy to tell him, and he came running up and started trying to get me to eat his finger, but I was over the gnishing by then and told them so. So they tried making me smile, and kept saying things about my tongue being in the way, which I thought was quite cheeky as my tongue is just where it's meant to be. They were just starting to look a little bit disheartened, so I flashed then one of my killer smiles, and whaddya know, they started shouting 'Noo toof' again!

They are so odd at times.

Big Boy Food

The not so subtle hints I've been giving mummy and daddy about wanting some curry have had some success, albeit a bit limited. Tonight they gave me a few blobs of baby rice... not a lentil or spice in sight, though. It tasted okay - much the same as my milk but less runny.

I didn't mind it but I wasn't enthralled, I have to say. Mummy and daddy were just impressed that (a) I ate it and (b) I didn't throw it straight back up, cos I spend all day yacking my milk up so it was mildly amazing that the rice stayed down.

So now I've shown I can do big boy food, I wonder how long I have to wait for the good stuff...?

I've learned a lot in my 4 months

Well, I know it's hard to believe, but I've been around for a third of a year already tomorrow. How time flies when you're busy growing eyelashes and learning vowel sounds. I don't know how I pack it all in the days, I really don't.

This picture is me being held a gunpoint by mummy for my giraffe. As you can see, I gave her my best Paddington hard stare, but you know what she's like when it comes to glumphies. Sheesh.

Oh, and thank you Auntie Deb and Unkie Seany for the PJs (John Lewis's - how posh). I love them, especially the bear and the moose.



I've managed to find loads more girlfriends this month. They all fall for the blue eyes and the cute hair - and what's a guy to do but accept their attentions. I find that all I have to do is give a wee smile they go all wishy washy. Yes, like that smile just there - I mean, how could they say no to a cheeky grin like that?

Mummy mutters stuff about keeping me locked up when I'm a teenager - I don't know what that means but it doesn't sound good.




Mummy is all mended now, with no remaining ailments. It's just as well really - I was starting to feel guilty. Well, not really, cos she assures me that she'd happily do it all again so it can't have been that bad, can it? Now she's up and running again she's rejoined the gym and started back with her personal trainer. As a result of this, she's started dressing me as Rocky (middle pic, above) or in soccer themes bibs (thanks Grandma Beryl and Grampy Arfur) so we can look sporty together. I humour her by waving my legs on the jungle gym and showing off my incredible balancing skills when she tries to get me to stand up. I tell, you, it's like Cirque du Soleile here some days.

Other exciting news is that mummy and daddy are planning to go and live back in the UK for a few months either next year or the year after so I can play with my cousins and get lots of cuddles from Aunties, Uncles, Grannies and Grampies. That sounds like an excellent plan to me, not least of all because I'll be on solids by then and I might be able to have a suck on a Jaffa Cake. Oh the joys that life has ahead for me... I can hardly wait.

Up, up and away

This month saw my first trip on an aeroplane. Mummy and daddy decided to ease me in gently so the first trip was only to Wellington, which takes about an hour. Mummy had just enough time to eat three miniature biscuits and drink a cup of tea before we were told to fasten our seatbelts for landing!

I was so well behaved on the flight - in fact it wasn't that exciting at all so I went to sleep. Some naughty children were crying in front of us; I think my mummy and daddy may have been gloating because I didn't make a peep.








We went to a lovely hotel bar to meet up with some of mummy's online friends and all of their babies. It was fun to see so many other little people all born when I was born because we are all different shapes and sizes even though we are about the same age.

There were lots of girlfriends all in pink, looking pretty for me - oh, and some boys too. Here's Felix - he's my friend even though he doesn't know it yet.

The big person is his mummy. My Mummy plays Scrabble with Felix's mummy and talks to her on the computer. They make each other laugh.





Then we went to Uncle Brandon's house where we were staying. It's a lovely house with a lovely view of the water and ships and islands and all sorts of exciting things. It was fun watching how the wind changed the direction of the waves.

Next we went to see Uncle Mark, who bought me the most fabulous teddy bear and a ducky that flashes all different colours when it goes in the water. I like to play with that in the bath. Me, mummy, daddy, Uncles Brandon and Uncle Mark had a posh Second Breakfast at Floriditas, then 3rd breakfast a cafe by the sea. It was all most splendid.

That night we went to see Uncle Russ and Auntie Tash adn Lillie Pie the cat (and some other cats who are okay but not nearly as cute as Lillie). I can see why mummy and daddy like these people.



Soon it was homeward bound again so we had to say goodbye to Brandon and to Welly for a while. Never mind, I think we are going back in June and again in August!

I thought for one minute that we all might move to live there... but nahhh, it's too cold for poor old daddy!








All that was left then was for me to have my milk and go to sleep, and then soon I woke up in my own bed back in Auckland.

Splendid.

So where to next, I wonder...?

Who do I look like?

There is much debate about who I look like. At first everyone seemed to agree that I looked like my daddy with our matching flowing locks and dashing good looks, but now there's another school of thought... that I look like my grand daddy Walt.

What do you think?

Sleep is for wimps

or at least that's what I tell mummy and daddy...

I've been having excellent fun waking them up every two hours through the night by escaping from my swaddle and babbling. They've dubbed me The Great Moodini; they think they're funny. In my defense it's not my fault I wake up - someone has been feeding me milk that has made my bottom burp a lot, and it hurts my tummy so much that it wakes me up. So I blame the milk maid (she knows who she is). Of course, the milk maid blames the cook that fed her the curries... All I know is it isn't my fault. How can anyone this cute be to blame?

To make up for the all night play fests, I have been entertaining the grown ups by smiling a lot this week. It seems to impress them a lot if I wait until they look into my cot in a morning and then beam at them with a huge grin. Mummy even cries sometimes when I do it - she's daft like that. Daddy just beams back and then starts pulling funny faces. He makes me laugh.

I've also been practicing pushing myself up, and I am getting quite good at it. I think I will be able to roll over pretty soon. As well as that feat of magnificence, I can lift my head for ages, and I love looking at things, especially the trees and all of the cards people have sent for me, which are hanging on the wall. I also like looking in the mirror, and I amuse the grown ups by playing hide-i-boo with them. It makes them laugh.

Anyway, I must dash - I've got a mobile that needs bashing. Later dudes.

Just some pics of me looking cute

Nap time .. ZZzzzzzzz

Play time :)

Just looking cute

A Brief Foray into the Medical World

Life here's been somewhat eventful, all in the kinds of ways you wouldn't want, leading to numerous appointments with medical people of one kind or another:

The first thing (and the only ongoing thing) is that breastfeeding has become a bit of a mare, and has spiralled downwards into a farce that neither Monty nor myself much enjoys, I'm in some serious pain from him chomping at me in frustration when he's hungry and din-dins is not forthcoming. From my point of view, it's been very upsetting not to be able to feed my baby - very upsetting indeed - so we got a lactation consultant to come in and give us advice. Hopefully, now we have some tips and gadgets to help, we will get this show back on the road and get it back to being the lovely experience it was in the first three or four weeks.

Of course all of that was put somewhat in the shade when Dan fell down stairs and dropped Monty on his head, resulting in a trip Moo's first trip in an ambulance and a visit to Starship Children's Hospital where he had to have a CAT scan. Luckily all was fine other than a small bump. Daddy, on the other hand, was very upset and took ages to recover from the guilt.


Then, one week later, it was back to Starship again... Moo got a temperature and had to have a battery of tests including an IV line, X rays and - eek - a lumbar puncture, which was very horrid for both Moo and his mummy and daddy. Again, though, we were lucky that it turned out to be just a virus and not any of the rotten things that can also cause temperatures in wee babies. (Of course it meant I spent my birthday in hospital with Moo, but I was so glad Moo was okay and that I was having my first birthday as a mummy that I didn't mind a bit.)

And as if that wasn't enough trips to see medical personnel, today the poor wee bugger had to have his immunisations -one in each leg - so he's been stabbed right left and centre this past week, poor lamb.

Still, the end result of all of the sagas is that he is fit and well and none of it was serious, so other than scaring us half to death two Thursdays in a row and some seriously gnawed boobies, I think we can safely say we got away with it lightly.

That said, we're hoping now for a nice boring fortnight of feeding, sleeping and eating, oh and some poohing, with a bit of bath time and some bashing of rattles - nothing more exciting than that please, and certainly no playing doctors and nurses!!!

One month old

Jeepers, how time flies when you are busy eating, sleeping and poohing all day! I've barely had time to get my PR staff onto the blog for an update, let alone keeping up with emails, texts and YouTube - it's all go here at Monty Brand Inc ...

I have had a very exciting time since last we blogged. I have finally managed to get up to my birth weight, after toying with mummy and daddy for four weeks and making them worry. I don't know why they were concerned - what kind of Khan or Blackbourn would ever be under weight for long? I am now a very bouncy 4.4kg, which is 9lb 11oz in old money, and I am a lot longer than I was when I first got here. Mind you, I am still getting into my newborn clothes, which is just as well considering how many I have. (I heard mummy say that I had to wear everything at least once or there'd be bother, and who am I to argue at such an early stage in our relationship?)

We have discovered a very exciting thing called 'Bubs On Board', where babies and toddlers can take their parents to the cinema for just $6.50 per adult (about £2). It's great cos mummy and daddy get to watch a film and mummy feeds me for the entire film to keep me quiet, so I get loads of boobie time, hurrah. That has certainly helped me gain that weight we mentioned earlier, and it's scored me some mega brownie points with the oldies cos they get to see films for next to nothing. So far we've seen Dean Spanley (4.5 stars) and The Secret Life of Bees (4 stars), although next week it's Confessions of a Shopaholic, which daddy iasn't quite so excited about. Somehow they don't seem to put boys' films on for these screenings ... funny that...

We also had our first trip to the beach, although we had a picnic on the grass by the beach and didn't actually venture onto the sand cos it was a bit windy and it was making my ears cold. We'll gloss over the fact that the oldies forgot to pack any suncream or a sunhat for me, so we had to stay under a huge tree the whole time. I'll let them off cos they are only trainees, but by jingo they'd best get their act together soon cos I'd quitelike to have a wee paddle before summer leaves us entirely.

I did my first smiles this week... the proper ones, not the pretend ones where I am realtl trumping or poohing. It's fun doing smiles cos it makes the grown ups go all silly and giddy. You should hear them start cooing and shouting each other to come and look. Lord knows what they'll be like when I start with the really exciting tricks, like standing up or talking!

Another first this week was when daddy decided to see if I could bounce. I'm not sure what he was doing but he slipped down the stairs and launched me doiwn the final meter or so onto my head. Luckily I am very clever and stayed floppy and just got a little bump on my head, but of course the grown ups got very animated about it all and we had to have a ride in a ner-ner to the hospital where they looked into my eyes (not around the eyes, lookinto the eyes), put a little machine on my wrist and took measurements, and then put me in a gigantic metal doughnut to see hwat was happening inside my head. Luckily everything looked marvellous (well of course it did, with a brain like mine), so they let me come home. Daddy looked very upset for a couple of days, but I gave him my best smiles to let him know it was okay and that I still love him lots. Daddy has banished his mean old slippers now and is very careful on the stairs, too - he has started talking about moving house again...

I have been getting trillions of presents from all over the world and have begun to feel just a wee bit spoiled and very much loved. I have had 39 cards so farm, and my very favourites are the home made ones from Cari, from Jaiden and from Cara - they are the very besterest by far. I also got a blankie made for me by Orn and a cardie that Ithing Faux Grandma Berylhand- made for me - with giraffe buttons, no less. As well as those exciting things, I have had lots of toys and clothes, sme cute shoes, an Indian heffelump mobile, glove puppets, books, a painting with my name on it, a CD with songs that have my name in them, and my very first Moo Moo cow outfit! How exciting is that? Mummy has had gifts too - she has had lots of flowers and some oil that is calming so that she and I relax. Oh, and there seems to be some sort of battle on as to which soccer team I will support ... so far I've got a Celtic teddy bear and a Rotherham United bib... nothing from the Blades or the Owls yet though, which is a bit slack! I am thinking the Celtic colours are the most exciting, but the Rotherham United bib is rather fetching, so I am still undecided as to where my loyalties will lie.

Right, I think it is time to make some wailing sounds so that mummy will feed me - it's such an easy trick, she falls for it every time! Big squishy Monty kisses to all of you, love the Moo Moo

18 days old already!

Hello grown ups, I am 18 days old already and it's been a very exciting life so far! I have already had four or five trips to the shopping mall and tried out two different parents' feeding rooms, plus I got mummy and daddy to take me to the park. Daddy was very giddy about the spider's web climbing frame and the jazzy swings - I'm not sure, but I think he really wants to play on them himself, which is okay by me because I prefer to sleep at the park and just be pushed around in my chariot.


I have had heaps of visitors, and lots of ladies keep holding me and cooing at me - they're a funny lot! Auntie Raewyn was the first ever visitor I had, at the hospital, then Auntie Rach came, then Trudes, Jo, Bronwyn, Girzy, and Jude - and all of them gave me huge hugs and lots more lovely presents. I heard mummy saying that I am being spoiled, but she said it with a grin so I don't think she minds much. Auntie Rach has been a few times now, and she even brought Harry and Ian to see me as well, which was nice. Oooh and I went over to see Uncle Brandon and he liked me cos I slept the whole time I was there. I am so well behaved.



As well as visitors, I've had millions of emails and texts and cards from people all over the world, not to mention beautiful flowers and even more wonderful presents, which is VERY exciting indeed. Daddy has hung all the cards up on the wall and said it looks like Christmas, but I'm not sure what that is yet. Mummy is going to print off all the emails and type out all the texts so I can read them when I am a grown up like her.

In keeping with my status a a techno wizard child prodigy, I have already had a couple of Skype sessions and met my public in Wanaka and Newbury over the web cam. Grown ups seem to get very excited when they see me on the camera - funny lot these big humans.

Auntie Glenda, my midwife, came to see me again yesterday and said I am not putting enough weight on and have to eat more. Mummy and daddy said it is most unusual for a Khan or a Blackbourn to have that kind of trouble with food and that I'd best start putting my back into it pronto before we get a bad reputation, so they took me to the osteopath and now I can move my head better and suck better, so I think that might help me get a good feed.

I am worn out from lots of learning. I could lift my head from the day I was born, and could suck my thumb from about 10 days old - how clever is that? Before you know it I'll be programing my first computer.

I like music a lot. We play the Foo Fighters and Def Leopard quite a bit, and I like the Eagles and the Doobie Brothers, plus Chairman of the Board (which mummy says reminds her of Auntie Irene). I also have my very own play lists of the music system with lots of classical stuff on it, which is nice for resting to and seems to calm mummy and daddy down when I do my really loud "I have wind" screaming for them. My very favourite music in the whole wide world, though, comes from Uncle Steve and from Auntie Jean, Uncle Mick, Ellie and Abby: Uncle Steve wrote me my very own track to celebrate my birth, and it is fabulous. I know he only does that for very special occasions so I feel very lucky indeed. And then Auntie Jean and co sent me a CD full of songs with my name in them!!! Mummy loves to sing "Monty Wake Up it's the Morning" to me, and Daddy likes "Rumble in the Jungle", which as giraffes and tigers in it. Yay.

I have to dash now cos I have a busy schedule today, with lots of sleeping, looking around, pooping and eating planned, not to mention growing my foxy ear hair! It's a hard life but someone has to live it.

Big Monty Moo Moo kisses to everyone xxxxx

More Monty pics from the first two weeks

Tummy and nappy free time on the play mat - see how I can push with my feet!

Ooh look, I've decided I like bath time.

Mummy and Monty Moo Moo Blogging

Daddy using the sling to take a stroll around the garden with the Moo

Bliss