Anchors Away...er Aweigh

Well I survived another international flight with a baby. Hazel has logged some serious miles in her 9 months on this earth. Man, feels like I've know her for so much longer then that, but I guess that's what happens when you grow that human inside you, spend all your time caring for their well being, and follow it up with wiping poo from their backside numerous times a day. And that people, is how you create intimacy. Don't say I never shared any of my professional wisdom with you and for free.

The flight to the US was indeed long and I won't bore you with any of the details, like how many times my arms went numb and tingly or how 10 minutes feels like an hour when you are in the air with a child, honestly she did great and is kind of a superstar traveler.

The only thing worth mentioning about the actual flight is the magazine article I managed to read in a Woman's Day left on the plane. For those of you not familiar with said publication, imagine anything that makes you proud to be a woman and then picture the opposite. Anyway the article was about a young boy wanting a sex change. His mother told this story about him - " I remember, age three, he was watching a cartoon about a magic man on the moon and he said, "Mummy, do you think the magic man can take my doodle off so I can have a 'gina like the girls?"

If you were having a bad day, it's officially over.

Unless you are Emirates Team New Zealand and you might still have a case of the blues. I had no idea I could get so into sailing until this most recent America's Cup. It was truly exciting.  Kiwis are crazy for sailing and America's Cup is HUGE here. Many Kiwis we talked to were very surprised to find out how not a big deal it is back home. Adam and I totally got into it, watched all the races, and were Team NZ all the way. Unfortunately they lost in the end, but wow what a regatta. Productivity was certainly down in NZ during what was the longest race in the Cup's history.



But back to our trip home, it was great. Ahh it's so freaking amazing to see people that actually know you and do fun things with them. I got to go to Napa:


Take Hazel to the mountains:


See a Falcons game, catch up with so many dear people, and a slew of other things that would take too long to list. I also managed to drink a milkshake every few days. It was awesome. Almost as awesome as this pit stop one evening. Can anyone say late night date night?

A special shout out to our friends Josh and Patricia who flew in from Philly to see us. Our little girls loved each other.

Anyway, we were crazy busy and it often feels like there is never enough of us to go around, but that's just kind of the deal. I think everyone who lives the expat life or even just far from home, experiences the frenetic energy that accompanies a trip back, and it is exhausting. Luckily it's mixed in with moments of great joy, periodic relaxation, lots of people we love, and built in babysitters. And comic relief in the form of one particular trip to the pool.

We attempted to take Hazel for a dip with Adam's family and cousins that were in town and after finally getting everyone to the same place, a feat in itself, we are told the pool had just been closed because some kid did his business in the wrong office, if you know what I mean. Everyone then gets directed to use the indoor pool. This is when my ship sails, but Adam stays on and comes back later to report that shortly after the party got moved indoors that the inside pool closed because some kid took a crap in that pool too.  I can't make this stuff up people. Needless to say, I did not return to poop pool as it would be called if it was on say Scooby Doo.

We did manage to take Hazel for a swim in Knoxville and she loved it. The cool thing about going back in American summer is that you get to go enjoy it and then come home to New Zealand and have summer be right around the corner. Unfortunately what I also came home to was a bout of conjunctivitis. Haven't had that in years. When I went to see the doctor for my eye a conversation like this happened.

Me: "So, I have conjunctivitis. Is that the same as pink eye?

Doctor (woman with thick eastern European accent): Oh red eye, oh yes it can be but no.

Making mental note that from here on out I will just refer to it as Valentines Day eye

Me: Is it contagious?

Doctor (please read in accent for full effect:) "I don't think so. Not very much."

Alrighty then. Reminds me of that time I got a little bit pregnant.

Despite that and Hazel catching her first cold, it's been nice to be back. I mean, after all, this is what I'm coming back to.


We did have a window of health a couple of weeks ago and took a little road trip to the Mount, aka Mt. Maunganui/Tauranga. Such a lovely little spot and we had a great night out on the town with some new friends. That sounded weird, like we're swingers or met them online or something, but we didn't.  It was a fun weekend. Check out the view from the top:


It's a perfect place for a quick weekend getaway from Auckland. 

Room with a view:

Hazel enjoyed the café scene:

Still so much of New Zealand left to explore. Where shall we go next? Probably the same question the guy that owns this boat is asking himself.

a yacht called A

$350 million dollar yacht currently docked in Auckland harbor.

Good thing our offspring isn't too spoiled yet and prefers simple modes of transportation:

 

*Top photo by AK Vogel

 

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

This time tomorrow night I will be flying the friendly skies. Let's hope they are friendly at least. On occasions when they have not been, I have been know to impulsively grab the person's hand next to me whether I know them or not. In the moment it's comforting, then it's just awkward. I imagine for the person who is unaffected by such turbulence it is just awkward the entire time. And gross. My hand sweats profusely when I'm nervous. Thank goodness I don't get nervous very often.

Luckily, I am travelling with my two favorite people who will provide great distraction should turbulence hit. And this one should keep me pretty busy.

Like 12 hours busy. And that's direct. We start our US Tour in San Francisco followed by stops in Atlanta and Knoxville. I will be there for the whole month of August - yipeee! I have so much to do to get ready for our trip that this post will have to be short and sweet. It's been a quiet couple of months so I'll just hit the high and lowlights.

Highlight: Celebrating 2 years of wedded adventure with my groom.

On our actual anniversary we went out to dinner and even got to take the fun car. Heaters going, top down, one of the best feelings ever I might ad. Cruising over the bridge, blaring Robin Thicke's, "Blurred Lines," AKA " You're a Good Girl." Would be my summer anthem if it was summer here. Such a blast. I temporarily forgot I had a child, in the best way possible. Then I came home and remembered I had a child, in the best way possible.

Lowlight: Watching an E special where Mark Curry (yes Hanging with Mr. Cooper) has a shaman come in to do some sort of exorcism on him in his fancy California home. I don't know if watching this or the Hoarders where they extracted not one, not two, not three, but four dead cats from a woman's home made me feel worse about how I'd spent my time.

Highlight: A "Christmas in July" birthday party that had a snow machine. I'm pretty sure I heard Santa's sleigh bells. It was that good.  My picture, not so much, but you get the idea.

Lowlight: Crying in the back corner of a mall on a wheelchair ramp because the store I had gone to the mall for no longer existed. Sleep deprivation. will. break. you. down.

Highlight: Realizing I don't need to use the wheelchair ramp and have so much to be thankful for and now crying tears of joy. Sleep deprivation. will. make. you. crazy.

Highlight: Discovering Dante's Pizza in Ponsonby Central. I think we've been there  four times in the past month. Yum. It's the real deal. Think A16 in San Francisco or Antico in Atlanta, it's that kind of pizza.

 

Highlight:

Hazel Hazel Hazel. This girl is getting into everything and growing up so fast. She has two adorable bottom teeth and crawls ev-ery-where. She is a cheeky little bugger and oh so much fun.

Sunny days at the park:

She is a swinging fool too:

A trip to the Wintergarden in Auckland Domain.

See you soon America!

S is for Surprise

They say home is where the heart is, but after a recent trip home I say home is where I can dress like a homeless person and still feel good about myself. I realized this on my first morning back when I came to breakfast looking like Christmas meets 1996 and had a souvenir t-shirt baby. My vanity prevents me from publishing a picture of me in said outfit, but trust me it was fantastic. In that shabby no chic kind of way. So instead I'll just show you a picture of what a 5 month old baby looks like:

It was so wonderful to be back. Hazel and I decided to surprise my mom for Mothers Day, which was a lot of fun and I'm quite impressed with myself that we pulled it off. I couldn't have done it without my brothers, who helped with the trickery. My Dad pulled a little surprise on me by showing up at the airport to greet us, which was super nice.

The trip was a little bit of a last minute decision as Adam was going to Vegas for work and I thought about being here alone and then had the brilliant idea to hitch a ride, so to speak, to the West Coast. And by hitch a ride, I mean purchase a pricey international fare like everyone else that lives abroad and wants to go home. It was totally worth it.

Adam and I flew together to San Francisco, but I did the domestic legs and the return with Hazel on my own. I know, I know, flying internationally with a baby is on everyone's bucket list.

I gotta give it up for Air New Zealand again though. They were awesome. We reserved a bassinet seat, which meant that our seats were in the bulkhead and right after takeoff the flight attendants installed Hazel's bassinet.

It was great, mostly because she actually got to sleep which meant we got to sleep too. Convenient, as sleep has moved to the top of my favorite things to do list. Ok, who am I kidding sleep has always been one of my favorite things to do. The supply and demand ratio is just not in my favor these days so, it's at the extra top of the list.

Going from Air New Zealand to domestic in the US, though, is like going from first class to first arse. I fortunately had some nice people next to me and some helpful crew members. An example of helpful in this case would be giving me a plastic bag to put Hazel's clothes and my own in after Hazel had a massive poo explosion on me." Infant in arms" for 5 hours. Let's get this party started. Oh yeah, she just did.

It really was great to be back. I got to see so many people I love from old friends to extended family members. I even got to introduce Hazel to her 102 year-old great grandmother on Adam's side. Everyone was ecstatic to meet and see the new baby, especially my niece and nephew.

I stopped in SF briefly to catch up with friends. Man I miss those peeps. Apparently I was having too much fun to remember to take any pictures but imagine me surrounded by ladies I love and very happy. Being away from friends and family is one of the hardest things about living in a different country. Especially now that we have this little one.

Going back to the States is a reminder in some ways of what we are missing and in other ways what we aren't. I was shocked at how over stimulating I found the airports and mall to be. I just kept thinking why are there so many shops and people everywhere and look at all the racks of clothing, this is surreal! That is the beauty of living in a different country, it gives you a new perspective. How sad if I was unchanged by this expat experience.

Just the other day I was watching The Voice Australia and was delighted to learn that people on this side of the world apparently pronounce the word albino (you know the people that look like they need to get a tan but can't) as al-bean-o. As Americans we pronounce it al- buy-no. So the past few days I've gone around the house singing "you say albino, I say albeano....tomato, tomahto."

Another thing that makes me happy we live in NZ is that stuff like this happens.  A note on the door of our local Fish N Chips shop -

Anyway, point is I did love being home, but I also loved coming back here to New Zealand. Even if it meant returning to winter.

You might remember that Kiwis aren't too big on central air and heating so it's back to long johns and nights by the fire. How cold does it get you might wonder. That I can't tell you, you'll have to check your farmers almanac for those kind of details, but I'll tell you it's cold enough for me to lay awake the other night wondering if they make a giant flannel onesize for adults. Seriously this kept me up for a solid ten minutes . Hey don't blame me for trying to stay warm and keep the flame in my post baby marriage alive.

Hazel is doing well and while the trip home was great the transition back has been rough. Holy guacamole that baby had some jet lag. That plus teething at the same time. I'm still waiting for a bartender to come up with a drink especially for such an occasion. The show must go on though. And thank goodness the show recently had a 3 day weekend. It was the Queen's Birthday and we celebrated by ferrying over to Waiheke Island for the day. Waiheke is beyond picturesque and packed with tons of vineyards, rolling hills, and beautiful beaches.

We met up with our good friends, Andrew and Adrienne, for a little last hurrah. Unfortunately for us they are moving back to Canada. We had lunch at Poderi Crisci, a delightful winery and restaurant that temporarily makes you feel like you are in Italy, instead of the beautiful wine island in the middle of New Zealand that you are actually on. We did the "Italian Long Lunch" which as the name implies was long, but it was also incredibly delicious and filled with many courses and yummy wine. If you are a local it is a must do. Speaking of all this delicious food, Hazel recently had her first taste of the good life. Mmm rice cereal.

This new role of mother is still something I'm figuring out. It's kind of a weird yet wonderful club to be apart of. Thankfully, the actual mothering part comes very natural to me. It's funny, though, if you had told me a few years back I would be living in New Zealand and a stay at home mom making her own baby food I probably would have laughed. Life is funny that way.

Life is good in that way too.

 

Just a place I enjoyed my coffee the other morning. How did I ever get so lucky to live in this paradise?!



Up All Night

Well it's really hard to get any writing done with this little live doll around that I'm taking care of. But how can I resist that face? I'd trade in my Cabbage Patch any day for her, although Hazel would probably go for more on the black market.

Ahh  motherhood, our little babe is already almost 4 months old. Everyone says it goes by so fast and it really does. We have had so many visitors since she was born but everyone wants to meet the new grandbaby and I can't blame 'em. Even my friend Stephanie came all the way from the States to see us and do some New Zealandy type things like fly fish and mountain bike. While she was here we took Hazel on her first plane ride and went down to Queenstown over Easter Weekend. We had been there before but the view never gets old.

Hazel enjoyed her new surroundings too:

Oh and by the way, in New Zealand you get the Friday before and the Monday after Easter off. Number of National Holidays (12) still sits way on top of my reasons why NZ is a great place to live list. And the fact that things like this happen.....

Yes that is a Confederate flag flying at Adam's work lunch. How is possible? I'll tell you. So once a month different departments host a lunch with a different theme and this particular week's theme was Western/American BBQ. According to the department host, the party store was out of American flags but did have one of these. What?!

This is hilarious and wrong on so many levels. I keep picturing the New Zealand sales clerk ordering the Confederate flag, " yes I'm going to need two more of SKU #kkk..." You can only imagine Adam's surprise when he walked into the conference room to grab a quick bite. We really couldn't stop laughing at this one, mostly because we knew the majority of Kiwis wouldn't understand the symbolism or controversy around it making the whole thing that much more hilarious and ridiculous. Cue Hank Williams Jr. And no I don't know if that is the person's real hair or they are wearing a mullet wig.

But I digress, back to Hazel's maiden voyage. We rented a fabulous bach in Arrowtown, a quaint village 20 mins outside of Queenstown. Steph and I have been friends since 6th grade. Now that's some history or should I say herstory.

 It was minutes away from Lake Hayes, a real stunner if I do say so myself.

There is a great loop all the way around it that you can do:

Our place was also close to Lake Wanaka, another real looker as far as lakes go. I was loving that it was right next to Central Otago wine region too, which makes some of our favorite Pinots. We had lunch at Amisfield Vineyard and Adam was in charge of feeding Hazel that afternoon so I could imbibe pre-baby style.

Sometimes it's nice to just to enjoy a drink or three and not worry about how it affects your bloodstream and relax knowing you're not going to have to whip your boobs out in public. It really was a great trip. Hazel was a dream on the plane and while travelling with a baby is a little more work it is definitely doable. Although I did miss flipping through magazines instead of just reading the safety card. I will give a shout out to Air New Zealand who produces the only safety videos I've ever seen that are actually fun and entertaining to watch. I think it reflects Kiwi culture, they never take themselves too seriously.

It felt good to know we could still get away and that our life, even though totally different with a baby, could still go on in some ways as it did before. Being a mamma is tiring though. The constant out pour of energy caring for another being, whew. Calgon take me away. Hazel bright eyed and not affected by my tiredness:

Speaking of, when someone says they are tired don't respond with, " oh yes, you look tired." Everyone knows that's code for crap. I don't need you to confirm what I just saw ten minutes ago when I looked in the mirror before I left the house. Not that that has ever happened to me, that's just my friendly advice.

That and stop wearing maternity clothes after you have the baby. Even after I could fit into my old clothes, I had to ween myself off a few items that were just so comfy that I thought I could get away with looking "easy and comfortable." I learned the tough way when I went to the spa sporting a dress I wore throughout my pregnancy and the therapist asked "so did you have the baby? " HA. Yes I did and here she is:

A lot of this baby stuff is trial by fire. What seems like a good idea initially may not always turn out to be. Like when I thought it would be fun to take Hazel to a yoga class at 6 weeks old . Hey I thought I love yoga and I love my baby why not combine the two. Yeah, not so much. Hazel slept the entire time and as much as I want to hear your baby cry while I'm in downward dog....it's not for me. I told Adam about it and he said, "Oh I thought that sounded awful when you mentioned you were going to do it." Not that I would have listened. Now I do yoga the old fashion way - alone.

What is fun though is Wriggle and Rhyme at the local library:

I continue to be impressed with the resources New Zealand has for new parents. Most impressive is Plunket, which is "New Zealand's largest provider of support services for the development, health, and well being of children under 5." Thank me if this is ever a Jeopardy question or perhaps you're more of a Cash Cab kind of guy or gal. At any rate Plunket is amazing. You can do all sorts of stuff through them - hire a car seat for crazy cheap, get help with your baby's feeding or sleeping at their Family Centre, freaking take your own nap at their Family Centre (for real they have beds), they also have Plunket nurses that are assigned to you that check in with you regularly, and they even offer coffee groups.

A coffee group here basically just means a mothers group. I joined one through Plunket and the one thing almost all of us had in common was that none of us were from NZ or had our family here. The first time I went it was like a little UN meeting - Liberia, Argentina, Scotland, India, and Australia were all represented. It's an amazing resource to have and it's all free. I'm also in another coffee group, which is composed of women from my antenatal class. So while I miss my friends and family like crazy, I do have lots of nice first time moms to hang with.

 

 

And share stories with. Such as when Hazel and I went into to see Adam at work and she managed to do a poo waterfall out of her pants and onto the office carpet. Well I guess I'm that person now that talks about my kid's poop. I have arrived.