George's new roommates

When I went to get Bunky up at 7am this morning, his door was ajar - which could only mean one thing: that someone* hadn't close the door properly last night, and two of our housemates** had decided to head into the "forbidden room" and see what was going on. When I pushed the door open a little more, Ben was sitting there looking up at me with his usual indignant  "What?" expression on his face, and Poppy was fast asleep on George's playmat.  Both of them scarpered when I came in, little chickens.

Thankfully, neither of them had thought to jump into Bunky's cot (although I have caught Poppy in there once before), and Bunky was happily snoozing away with Hiphop.

* Mummy

** Of the feline variety

Sai Kung

If our trip to Sai Kung is anything to go by, Hong Kong road planners throw cooked spaghetti on a piece of paper, and then ask the road construction companies to "do the roads like that." Honestly - it was like driving through a spaghetti-themed maze complete with toll tunnels and psychotic taxi and minibus drivers.  Thankfully we had been given awesome directions and got to lunch without a hitch. Anyway, we had a lovely barbeque with friends Susannah and Sam (along with toddler Max and baby Matilda), and also saw the Hoffpeople there.  Although the weather went a bit poopy on us as soon as lunch was served, we still managed to eat outside and have a great time.  I took a few photos of various little people running around in the rain playing by the paddling pool:

We managed to get back from Sai Kung without getting lost, and after we got home, Bunky had a little swim and a teeny tiny photo session:

In other matters, Bunky's late feed is slowly being moved forward.  It's usually 10:30pm, but for the last week or so Rachel has been bringing it forward.  Tonight it comes to 9:40pm, and the aim is of course to eventually eliminate it altogether. So far he hasn't woken up any earlier in the morning, but time will tell whether he can eventually hit the 12 hour holy grail sleep.

Righto - off to watch a spot of tv and then hit the pillow.

The Nanny Diaries

Day 1 of George's Nanny Chronicles couldn't have gone better. He slept all night without a peep (as was the case last night as well), and behaved like a little angel all day (well, an angel that poops itself at regular intervals, but an angel nonetheless).  I managed to get home at 6:10pm and Rachel wasn't far behind at 6:25pm, so we got to do bathtime and bedtime, which was rather nice. Here's a photo of the little munchkin in his blue onesie - I must say, blue sits him. He looks all sophisticated...

Six months old today!

Bunky turned six months old today!  He celebrated it by waking up repeatedly during the night (to be fair he did have an excuse - there was a typhoon in Hong Kong last night), but behaved impeccably during our 4 1/2 hour first aid course this afternoon.  Tomorrow is his first day with our nanny - although it will be hard for us to leave him, he'll be fine - and we'll make sure that one of us does bath time and feeding time every night. Shouldn't be hard with me working around the corner. Here are a few photos from this afternoon:

Muscle T-shirt Saturday

A few of Bunky hanging out in his muscle t-shirt (although you can't actually see it, he's not wearing any pants in these photos...) It was pretty gross outside, and apparently there is a typhoon about to cruise over Hong Kong. A T8 warning might be raised (T8 = get off the roads and everyone go home), which would be awesome if it didn't fall on a Sunday.  Bah.

And here's one of the predicted typhoon path (looks like we'll get the worst of it overnight).  Hopefully the roads are ok to drive on tomorrow, as we have a first aid course to go to in the afternoon.

Mushy pears with rice - the breakfast of champions

One from before the pear and rice mush festival:

...and then a few from after the festival of mush:

And finally - HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNTY KATY! (Who may or may not see this, depending on internet access in Greece...)

The weekend has begun

It's miserable outside (so much for telling Jane to bring summer clothes), and we're off to get the car registration done in Tin Hau, and will probably get a teeny amount of shopping done on the way back. Bunky woke at around 5ish this morning (evil little critter...) but after a quick feed he conked himself out again until around 7.15am when I went to wake him up. He's now back asleep and was in a lovely mood this morning. He spent much of it in bed with his mummy and daddy, alternating between playing with his BlaBla doll and playing with his toes.  A few photos of him below - I had to open the blinds a bit to let some light in, but it was pretty harsh and flat light, meaning that the photos turned out a little glarey (is glarey a word?):

Wide Angle G E O R G E

I'm taking some photos of a friend's coffee shop this weekend, and I borrowed a wide angle lens from my neighbour at work.  It's rather cool - I'll get a slightly cheaper one someday (his one is a professional grade one - overkill for me), but it's fun to play with. Took a few photos of George with it tonight during nudey rudey time.  Here's one of them:

Aunty Jane arrives tomorrow night.  My dastardly plan for "Operation Sunday with Aunty Jane" has already failed miserably - George took his weekly constitutional a few days early, and his mummy informs me that he unleashed his weapon of mass destruction this afternoon in his cot.  I understand that a fairly decent amount of laundry was required shortly afterwards. Oh well - she's here for a week, so with a bit of luck the WMD will blow again before she flies out...

Daddy "Sonday"

Mummy went out to check out some shops and get a pedicure (oh the tough life of an expat), and so Daddy and kiddo had some time together. It was of course just my luck that his weekly poo occurred in the 4 hour window when I was taking care of him - and anyone who says that baby poo doesn't smell is a lying bastard. I got a few photos of the munchkin - this one from bouncy chair time (I am clearly very amusing):

Later in the afternoon, Rachel made me do nudey rudey time with George (I was fully clothed - he was in the buff).  He's almost rolling over now - he lies on his back, twists his torso... and then *just* misses out on rolling over thanks to his left arm. Sooooo close.  His tummy time isn't as crash hot - today he hoisted himself up with his arms for a few minutes, then put his head down on the ground and let out a heavy sigh.  And stopped trying to get up again... bless.

Happy 5-month birthday to me!

The little monkey turned 5 months old today!  We had to take a few photos of him to celebrate this landmark:

In other news - Daddy took over all pre-bedtime duties tonight, just to make sure that George wouldn't flip out when the time came to leave him with his nanny.  So, I got his bottle ready, ran his bath, stripped him of his (verrrrry cute) clothes, gave him a bit of a wipe down, bathed him (including shampoo time), then dried him off, moisturised him, tolerated a few very potent baby farts, dressed him for bed, and then gave him a bottle.  All went completely according to plan, and after a nice big man-burp, he quickly nodded off to sleep. And is still sleeping.

Mission successful.

Odds and ends

Ash and Zoe are staying with us at the moment, and I think they took a load of photos of George this morning.  I'll see if they mind me pilfering a few tomorrow morning. I have a few of the G-monster, both taken on my phone:

And some random photos - a special treat for Father's Day... do you think George is too young to come along to this with me?  I mean, George shakes a pretty mean rattle.  Anyway, it's being advertised in the elevators at work:

And this is just evidence that I kicked Rachel's ass at Trivial Pursuit on Sunday:

Sunday freakout

Poor little George had his first public meltdown today - Sam and Mary kindly invited us to dim sum at City Hall, and so we jumped in the KKmobile and headed down there just after 1pm.  The first hour or so was ok - George played nicely with Mary... but then tiredness took over, and the little man completely flipped out. He was completely overtired but couldn't get to sleep, and the poor little man had a complete freakout in the restaurant (thankfully it was one of those super large restaurants where a few hundred people were busy feeding their faces.  Sam and Mary were totally understanding about it (esp as we had no cash and needed to leave midway through the meal - so they paid for us), and the other tablemates were also really nice about it. We beat a hasty retreat to the car and then after a bit of lane confusion found ourselves going via the longer (but probably faster) way to Pokfulam - through the Aberdeen tunnel.  We had a few moments of silence in the car, but it wasn't until he was tucked up in his cot that he actually decided that he'd get some sleep and stop screaming. Poor wee kid.

Here are a few photos that obviously weren't taken during said meltdown:

Meanwhile, life goes on for our feline flatmates - here is a moment of slumber from this afternoon. Seriously, I don't know how Poppy sleeps like this:

A busy Saturday

One of the hardest things about updating this every day is finding a title.  "A busy Saturday"?  Please.  Luckily for you, I have cute photos to make up for the stupid title. Today little G had his first proper swim. I forgot to take the camera downstairs, but Emily (also from our building) too some photos for us, so I'll hopefully be able to show you some soon.  That said, I have a photo of him all dressed up in his unused togs (complete with swimming nappy underneath), and a neighbour from the other block kindly lent us her daughter's floatation pillow - so George got to sit in this life ring and just observe the happenings around the pool. He was pretty stoic (although admittedly the water was pretty warm) and happily sat there in his ring and enjoyed the sun.  Verrry cute, I must say. 

Other than that, just a few photos of George enjoying a lazy Saturday.  Tonight he heads to Kylie's place for babysitting action while we head to Dublin Jack for Kylie and Alex's going away drinks.   As a special treat, we're taking the car (Rachel won't be drinking).  How exciting.  It's weird that in New Zealand we get excited when neither of us has to drive, and in Hong Kong we get excited that we get to drive...

That new car smell

...will soon be ours.  If you replace the word "new" with "14 year old".  That's right - we're (almost) car owners. Buying a car in HK is a peculiar experience.  We went to a yard that had been recommended by a few people online as having good warranties and honest sales dudes.  Got there just after lunch, and in the sales room there were four people standing around, all of whom were studiously ignoring us.  The salesroom had three cars, the cheapest of which I'm guessing was HK$250,000  (two of them were Porsche).  Unsure what the hype was about this place (four salesman, three cars and still no service? Please...), we stood around for a bit longer until a young chap walking into the shop from across the street cocked his head and asked us if we needed any help.  There was nothing about him that suggested he actually worked there, but we took a punt (it was a nice change from being ignored by the old guys) and said that we were looking for a second hand car. "Louis" (as we found out later when we exchanged names) said that he'd take us to the second hand lot, and proceeded to take us to his car across the street.

After packing George and his throne into the back, we hit the motorway and ended up in a carpark building in Quarry Bay, about 10 minutes away.  We went up and up and up the building ramps until we ended up at their second hand "showrooms".  Well, replace "showroom" with "top floor of a very random carpark building", and you'll have a better mental picture.

Louis happily walked us around the "lot" and pointed out which cars were within our budget.  The first one we wanted to drive was an old Renault which didn't start - even with a jumpstart.  Perhaps the engine immobiliser was still on (quite possibly the case if Louis was inadvertently trying to sell us a car that someone had innocently parked there while heading to the shops - after all, it was a carpark).

We were then pointed in the direction of a blue 1995 BMW. Now we were in the market for something like a late 90s Toyota Corolla, but apparently there is a "Cheap Toyota Black Hole" somewhere in Hong Kong. Reasonably priced Toyotas in Hong Kong are as easy to find as real chicken in a Chicken McNugget.

Anyway, after Rachel took the Beamer for two pedestrian-paced laps of the car yard parking lot (I still haven't got my Hong Kong licence and was happier in the back with George anyway), we decided to take the thing out for a proper street drive. Apparently it was a pretty easy car to drive and we ended up - unsurprisingly - back at the car sales offices, where a lovely chap called Toby put on a rather slick performance in sealing the deal.  We figured that it wasn't really a popular car, as he knocked 15% off the price before we even thought about haggling.  To cut a long story short, once the insurance and transfer papers are sorted, and once they get a new warrant of fitness for it, we will be the proud owners of this little beast:

We have yet to name this fine piece of German machinery, but are open to suggestions.

Gigglemonsters and Babysitters

Tonight is the first time we're leaving George with someone while we head out (for Alex's 40th birthday).  Admittedly, he's only heading downstairs (literally one flight of stairs), but I'm going to bet that his Mummy will have her cellphone in her hand at all times.  We'll only be out for 3 or so hours, and it's about the time when George sleeps extremely soundly (from 7:30ish to 10:30 or 11pm), but still - our first time away from him will be most peculiar. A few photos of George from this morning - Cecilia was entertaining him, and he was giggling like a little loon.

Friday at last

It's been busy at work, so the week has gone fairly quickly - looking forward to the weekend.  Can't even remember what we have planned, but seeing as it doesn't involve work, it's all good. A few photos this morning - George decided that he didn't want to smile for the camera, so you get a few of him giving distant and broody looks. 

Monday morning

A quick shot of George as he watched his mummy making coffee and his daddy putting the dishes away.  His hair looks a little less freaky than his usual morning hair because he had a bath this morning instead of last night.  We went out for dinner at the Football Club with Cam and little Sam, and by the time we got back it was too late for G to have a bath, so he went straight to sleep.  A few yells between 5am and 6am, but apart from that he was pretty good last night.

Sleep in

Whoops. We slept in by half an hour this morning, and when I went in to get George from his bedroom he was lying on his side with his eyes open, happily sucking his finger.  Bless. Had a lovely morning, during which I read him "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" for the first time.  I think he took most of it in (before proceeding to cover the pages in freshly manufactured drool).

Also took a few photos of the furry ones last night (with the borrowed lens I've been experimenting with).  Here's one of Ben.  Clearly he's starving and weak and has been deprived the necessities of life. Or... he had just hoovered up a small dish of tuna and whitebait and was feeling a tad lethargic.

Back to work

Honestly, the older George gets, the more delightful he is during waking hours... and the faster the weekends go.  We had a great long weekend, topped off with a lovely lunch with Emma, Mark and Sam B, who came over to Chez Narly for a long lunch. I got to smack the BBQ up again, and we had some delicious lamb chops which clever old Rachel prepared. This photo of George was taken this morning (I think). Now that his sleep routine has settled, he gets up at 7am in the mornings.  While Rachel feeds him, I have a quick shower, and then I get about 45 minutes with him before he goes back to sleep at 8am. I can then get ready for work and take off while he's asleep.  I love that bit of time with him in the mornings, and he's usually in a fantastic little mood after a nice long 8 1/2 hour snooze*.  This morning we read "A Lion in the Meadow" by Margaret Mahy together.  If I'm being honest, I don't think George was really into it - but he did sit there quietly on my lap and look at the pages as I turned them.

As for the second photo - Rachel took that tonight.  I don't usually like photos of myself, and this is certainly no exception - but I think George looks really sweet here, and so for once I'll post a photo of my face without a camera obscuring it.

It's actually quite a useful photo for seeing just how pale our little Gmonster is. He got his colour from his mummy, obviously.

The hair is mine though. Of that we can be sure.

* George's mummy is insisting that George got 12 hours of sleep rather than 8 1/2 hours of sleep.   She's partially correct - George did go to sleep at 7pm, but in fairness, he was woken up for a 10:30pm feed. Without that feed, he would probably be up at 4ish for another one.  And George's mummy would be all grumpy due to a lack of sleep.

George of the Jungle (Gym)

After another pretty good night of sleep, the little man decided to hit the gym this morning, and then posed for a photo with his Daddy:

Holiday tomorrow - it's officially Labour Day, which means Daddy gets to hang with the monster tomorrow.  And also with George.