Update on Helen

Well I figure I better brag about what is Helen doing instead of just posting more and more lovely pics.

Helen is going to be seven months in a few days. She is just doing so well. She is starting to sit on her own, sitting upright for short periods of time (maybe 15-20 min) and enjoys sitting and playing with her feet. She likes to roll from her back to her tummy but not so much from her tummy to her back. Sometimes she needs a bit of help. She likes to scoot around on her back and when she does it, she arches her back like she is going to break her neck but then moves forward. She is quick so I have to watch her. She still likes to stand assisted but not as much as before, maybe because she likes sitting so much.

We are feeding her solids twice a day and may ramp it up to three. She is just starting to eat well and I think that the tongue thrust reflex and just started to give way. She can eat almost all we give her and she actually enjoys it. We give her lots of fruits and veggies and those are big but over here, they start to give meat at six months. We have played with the idea and might give her some chicken or some fish. So far she has not shown any sensitivity to any food and that is promising since I had some food allergies. She loves her highchair and I think she feels big when she sits in it. I sit her in it when I eat and then I feed her. She seems to enjoy watching us eat too. We try to make it a real social time for us.

We were having a terrible time geting her to sleep. I think it was partially because when we were moving, we did not really set a schedule and she was needing to be held for quite a while to sleep. Well, Dr Dushman said to give her a few weeks here and then we can try back on schedule. Well, I decided to give it a go and in about a week, she is sleeping wonderfully. Everynight about the same time ( or earlier if she did not have an afternoon sleep), we feed solids, change into pjs, read two books and then it is right to sleep. Last night, she did not even make it through the second book so we might go to only one. It is so much nicer to get her on a schedule and I think it she enjoys it too.

I will post weight and height stats as I am making an appt with a Pediatrician and also the health nurse here in town. I should have those in about a week or so.

Other than that, we are very excited as we should move into our new house soon. We got our white goods delivered on Friday and this week, we should have the furniture we bought. So maybe in a few weeks we will have regular internet and I can post more often and also e-mail all of you. I am sorry to have been so remiss but I barely get any online time (only at the library) and that is only a few days a week. So I miss you all and will try to catch up as soon as I can. Peace out!

Some pics of Helen

Here are some general pics of Helen.

This is her holding her own bottle. She is getting to be so strong.



A good pic of her and daddy.



This is a pic of her at the park. With hat and sitting having some lunch in town.



This is a pic of her in the high chair eating. Sometimes she is good and sometimes she is not.






Kind of a smile, hard to get on camera.


This is the new carseat. We had to get a convertable that is rear and forward facing. 0-18 kgs! So it will last a while. (I hope so with the price we paid but they say is the best in crash ratings and safety).


I often get the blank stare look. Cute.

Out time in Sydney...

We had a lovely few days in Sydney on our day over. We stayed in a nice Hotel and after tipping everyone, was clued in that we need not tip anyone unless their service is over the top.

We went and saw the famous opera house and the Sydney bridge. These are a bit out of order but here they are.

This is me at the dock and the opera house in the distance.




Here is the famous bridge and if you look close you can see people walking on top of it.





There was some natives all painted up singing for money.



This is Austin, Feeding Helen downtown on the go. Conveinent, huh?



The Sydney Opera House


This statue is outside the Queen Victoria building (the QVB). It is an old building that is full of shops and resturants. We met some friends there for lunch.

The flight over here...

In one word, I will describe the flight over in one word. LONG. At least we don't have to do it again for some time.

We flew from Las Vegas into the mess known as LAX. We waited forever to get Helen's Infant ticket straighted out. I am glad because we had a 5 hr layover and used every minute of it. The Quatas flight was long and dark, we slept most of the way. This is Helen as we are getting off the plane.
(She is not really awake here.)



This is the bassinet that Helen slept in. It was attached to the bulk head and oh so nice for her to not be on my lap.





This is the look from outside the dubbo airport. We flew to Dubbo and then to Cobar a few days after being in Sydney. Those pics to come. Reminded me of the airport in Billings, MT.


This is the big plane we flew in on from Sydney.


This is the eight seater that we flew to Cobar on. Yeah, 8 seats (you heard me right.)



We flew into gate 2 from Sydney.



And flew out of Gate 1 to Cobar.



It has all you could need in a very small building. The baggage collection is the place on the floor where they just dump the luggage.



Here is the shot mid flight to Cobar. To show you how low we were flying. Bush planes....



There were no shots of the airport of Cobar. Because of the hot winds (and anyone who has flown across Nevada in a small plane in summer knows this too) the flight was real choppy. I was ready to spray chunks when we got there. We then met our first Cobar resident. The one women who works at the airport is very cranky. I am dry heaving on the landing strip and she says to me, move it inside. (No please, no sympathy) Then commented on our amount of luggage as "ridiculous." I heard that she is just evil from everyone here so I know it was not just a bad day. Maybe as a town we should complain but who would man the one room tin shed know as the Cobar airport. I thought about going back to get pics but I might get shot...

I am so sorry...

I have been a bad blogger. Bad bad bad. Well we are finally here in Australia and in our temp housing, no internet so I steel away at the library until Helen makes enough noise to get us kicked out. So it has been slow and I would love an e-mail from anyone. But here are some pics. um...where do I start? Bad julila for letting this get too behind...