Hugo plays in the garden (sorry that's my foot and not a surrogate hand)

and can't get enough of the grass

He loves the feeling of grass on his feet

He's cute, cute baby feet

In the garden

Happy Hugo

Hanging out

With Mum

Cheeks. Need. To. Rest. On. Chest.

The many...

Different expressions...

Of Hugo

"Maybe my tummy is just a little on the large side..."

"Are you talkin to me?"

It's biting season!

Road trip

With all the excitment of our new sports luxury Lexus, Kristian, Hugo and I made the journey down to Thirroul* last Sunday to meet up with Kaylee (Kristian's cousin).

Despite the thunder and lightning, torrential rain and heavy fog, the journey was great to sleep in to Hugo, full of great potential dangers to me and "just great" according to Kristian, which goes to show how much he loves that car. Not enough to wash and polish it every weekend though methinks, if only Peter lived closer ;)

Anyway, we didn't pick the best weather to travel in, but despite that we had a fantastic time and this is what we learnt:

• Kaylee + Hugo = good clucky combination, Kaylee + Reina + Hugo = lethal clucky combination;
• According to Kristian, the nearby town of Bulli (pronouced Bull-eye) is actually pronounced Bully. We all have it wrong. He doesn't;
• There are few restaurants open in Wollongong on a Sunday evening and absolutely none in Thirroul;
• Those few open restaurants will take you about 30 mins to locate;
• You can pretty much cover all of Wollongong in that time;
• Kristian's technical skills are greatly appreciated in a Canadian bachelor pad with little-to-no IT know-how that is highly dependent on the net. He will be deemed 'Hero of the month', which he'll quietly think is just about right;
• Road rules don't apply to Thirroul so the town is full of absolute speed fiends!

BUT the best thing we learnt is that the drive must be done again in kinder weather conditions.

* For those who don't know, Thirroul (God knows how it's pronounced) is around 80km south of Sydney. The nearest city is Wollongong (pronounced wool-on-gong), which is approximately 100kms south of Sydney and only a 10 min drive from Thirroul. The journey from Sydney takes around an hour and a half to accomplish.

The intense fog on our way to Thirroul

Hugo meet Kaylee....

Look at the size of that baby@!

Coy baby not sure if he wants to smile for the cameras

Hugo tired of the scene

First Chinese New Year

The following is conversation snippets from our family Chinese New Year yum cha feast:

"Excuse me, can I have a glass of lemonade please?" Andrew asked the waiter.
"No, later," he said and walked away.

***

"Catherine, look at that baby," Mum said to me in Mandarin.
"So ugly, no one's baby as beautiful as Hugo."
"Mum, you can't say that," I replied.
"Huh! Ay-yah, it's true, just look. You can always find many faults," she said.
"Ok, you're right," I slowly admitted.
"Hm. Your mother is always right. Also right in wanting more grandchildren. I give you 12 months. Fourteen months is also good. Yes."
"Mum, give me some time," I said.
"You just have the baby, I'll look after it," she replied.
"Gee, that makes it all better."

***

At the end of Kristian's sarcastic remark, a hearty laugh escaped from everyone's lips, with the exception of Esther. No longer preoccupied, she suddenly turned to face him.
"What was it?" she asked.
"Nevermind, you've missed it," he said.
"That doesn't matter, tell me. I'll laugh anyway."
We all laughed again. That's typical of my sister.

***

"Catherine, I have a hom bou for Hugo," said Mum.
"Mum, please, you don't have to," I said.
"Rubbish," said Kristian. "Of course she has to."
"Yes, that's right. I'm his grandmother and this is his first Chinese New Year. You just take a picture of me, him and the hom bou," she snapped.
"Ok," I said. "But he hasn't mastered the art of gripping anything yet."
As soon as that sentence escaped my lips, my son betrayed my words and held onto his first object - a little red envelope filled with money.'
"Oh no!" I gasped.
"Haha, good boy," said Kristian. "Daddy's taught you well."

***

"Excuse me, can I have a glass of orange juice?" Andrew later asked a waiter.
"No! I give you lemonade," he firmly replied.
"Ok then."

***

Today was the last day of the Chinese New Year - may this one bring you all good fortune!

xx

The imfamous picture

He's starting to put everything in his mouth

Drool city...

So cute!

Beautiful boy

Three months: a retrospective picture story

Hugo turns three months old this week so we've featured some of our favourite pictures and stories in celebration below.

We hope you enjoy them!

xxx

Newborn: How wonderful life is...

After finding out three months beforehand and enduring six hours of labor, Hugo Wolfgang was born on Wednesday 10 November at 6.48pm. He was three week's early and I was awfully thankful as he already weighed 3.7kgs and was 52cms long.

Kristian's first words were, "What's wrong with his head?"

I felt elation, shock and pain, but we were both immediately in love.

Sporting a funky light brown mohawk and blue eyes, I wasn't surprised when my Asian relatives looked hard for a similar trait. I occassionally still look for one too, he's so obviously his Daddy's boy.

Hugo - a day old... beautiful

Born with a funky 'do - the only way to start things really...

The only time Hugo would sleep was when he was held (I found out the hard way)

We felt so happy and proud of our new family

Daytime sleep after a total night (no exaggeration) of crying

Five days old and already so alert

Month One: A month of crazy sleep

From no sleep to a little more... a month into the journey was all about watching Hugo catch some zzzzs...

The "king pose" (hands almost behind head) is a sign of true relaxation

The "hands over face" sleeping technique was a self-defence mechanism against Mum's kisses

Sleeing face down is great for freakin out Mum and Dad

... legs crossed and in the air can also do the trick

I love sleeping on Uncle Andrew

But sleeping on Dad is best

Two months going on...

At the age of two month's, Wolfie decided that lying down was for babies, so unless you propped him up in a sitting position he would cry like one.

Unsatisfied with the weight of a newborn, he also ate like a trooper and became the weight of a 3-4 month child.

"Good boy," we thought.

"Soon you'll be big enough to eat other babies."

He also started to sleep through the night (woohoo!), his neck muscles developed greater strength and he started to smile a lot more. In fact, Kristian and I used to spend the better half of our days just trying to make him do so.

Not much has changed...

Sitting up to watch some tv

Sitting at home with Dad

Sitting up at Aunty Linda's place

Month Three: I'm on my way from misery to happiness to misery then happiness....

Yes, Hugo's starting to express his likes and dislikes a little more now:

• He loves it when Mum and Dad sing to him, but is a little wary when they do so together;
• He adores the feeling of water on his skin, but will certainly start singing (ie. screaming) in the shower if you take him away from it!
• Meals are always good no matter what the time, even when he's sleeping;
• Car rides are fun, but traffic lights are not (yes, he's learning quick); and
• Sucking on his dummy/pacifier is great, but trying to suck on his whole hand is better (the best when he actually misses his mouth and then tries to find it).

As you can see, we're having so much fun with Hugo. My favourite moments are when he wakes and instantly smiles when he sees me, smelling his breath and the folds of his skin and feeling like we communicate during our baby talk conversations (yes, they're very important).

This parenting stuff rocks.

Hugo (three months old) with Mum

Getting grumpy :(

Baby not impressed

Hugo