Feeling hot hot hot.

43, 45, 45 - They are the top temperatures over the previous three days - remaining in the 30s for most of the night. Other days have been in the high 30s.

A cool change is supposed to arrive tomorrow and it'll be a cool - 35 degrees! Actually that does sound cool - it's about 10 degrees cooler! After that it'll be in the 30s every day and 20s at night.

I really hate hot weather. I do not cope well at all. I get headaches - even when I drink water constantly. I get very irritable. Normally I also can't eat - but this time round I have kept a healthy appetite (I assume because I am breast feeding Maya).

We bought a portable air conditioner and it's currently 30 degrees in the room, which still feels terrible to me! But when I go in to other rooms I realise 30 is pleasant in comparison.

I can't even stand in the shower for a second to cool off! Our pipes are outside, facing where the sun is at its hottest. So turning on the cold water tap brings boiling water. I am not kidding! Steam comes off the water. It is hotter than the hot water tap!! And you'd think running it for a long time would eventually bring cooler water. Nope. It stays extremely hot! So I have a choice of hot water or hotter water. Great!

Cool change - where art thou?!

Grow up but don't grow up too fast.

I rejoice in Maya's achievements and growth. Seeing her able to do new things, like a first smile or holding a rattle for the first time, gives me pleasure. I also enjoy seeing her go up a size in clothes - it means she's growing and healthy.

But then I have moments where I am sad that she is growing so fast. The other day I put some clothes away, which included an outfit I loved seeing her in and now will never fit her again. And I can see that she won't fit in her bassinet much longer and will have to move to her cot soon.

I know my baby girl won't stay a baby forever and that is both exciting and sad.

5 days old - lots of room for growth

12 weeks old - running out of room

It's pronounced.. MY-YAH

When I named Maya it didn't even occur to me that most people would pronounce her name MAY-YAH. Yes I can see how people get the MAY-YAH pronunciation but I am surprised that so many people haven't heard of the Mayans. Doing a quick web search now I found out that the name is commonly mispronounced.

I'm not sure how else you would spell Maya in order for it to be pronounced MY-YAH. Myyah? Myya? Myyuh? Myye? None of those spellings look any good to me. Besides Maya is pronounced MY-YAH!

So now I am constantly correcting people on how to pronounce her name. I also have to correct the same people over and over again because they don't remember. I'm wondering if it's something to do with the English language and our need to read things literally? - Maya obviously has the word May in it with an A on the end.

I still love the name Maya but I wish I'd thought of this before. Poor Maya is going to have to constantly correct people on the pronounciation of her name. And just to top it off she'll also have to constantly correct spelling of her middle and last names!

I can hear her now: "My name is MY-YAH not MAY-YAH. It's Katherine with a K not a C. And my surname has two E's not one."

Sorry darling daughter I didn't think this through before hand!

Greg and Tanti's Wedding.

Yesterday (10/01/09) was Greg and Tanti's wedding. What can I say except it was a beautiful wedding, beautiful reception and beautiful dress. :) It was great to see these two friends exchange their vows. :)

Unfortunately it was hard for me to take pictures with a 3 month old in tow and I also missed some moments (like their first dance which I heard was fantastic!).

Maya was unsettled at first and unfortunately she's going through a phase where she's afraid of strangers so any time someone looked at or touched her she started crying. And being the cutie she is everyone wanted to hold/touch/look at her so I had to keep explaining that she's scared of strangers at the moment. But apart from those crying moments she actually did very well. When she needed to sleep I put her in a sling and she fell asleep next to me. When she wanted to be awake I had her sitting on my lap so she could look around at the lights and things on the table. She was very content to just sit there and look around (as long as no one came within eye shot LOL). Lots of people commented on how well she was doing and how good she was (which a proud mum loves to hear). And I agree - I think she coped very well, though by the end she was exhausted and needed a good long nap! Then again didn't we all?

A reflection on 2008.

2008 was a huge year for me and definitely better than 2007. This time last year I was looking for a new place to live and I had no idea I was about to fall pregnant and have a baby.

In January Greg and I said goodbye to our home of six years (our first real home together) and moved to a new abode (one we weren't totally happy with but after a short period of time we settled into our new home). In February I discovered I was pregnant and then was hit by the most awful morning sickness (which lasted till the end of April)! In August I lost my grandfather (who thankfully knew about the pregnancy and knew I was having a girl but sadly didn't get to meet her). Then in October Maya was born and my whole life as I knew it totally changed.

Greg didn't know I was filming.

Also Known As: Maya is holding her rattle for the first time.

Maya's first Christmas.

We spent Maya's first Christmas with Greg's family. Maya was mesmerised by the Christmas tree, decorations and lights. She also seemed to enjoy looking at the other children. Unfortunately she didn't like being held by other people. I think Christmas was actually a little overwhelming for Maya because she's used to a quiet house with just Greg and I and there were lots of unfamiliar faces and loud noises. Though considering Maya's age (10 weeks) I actually think she coped reasonably well.

An enjoyable incentive.

While I was in the hospital (after the birth of Maya) I was asked if I would consider leaving a day early because they needed the extra bed. The difference wasn't much - we left at 5pm the night before instead of 9am the next day. Before we left I over heard a mid-wife telling patients 'don't bother calling for help tonight unless it's an emergency because we are severely under staffed'. So we made the right decision to leave.

But here's the interesting bit.. they offered us a choice of three incentives to leave early:
1) Three boxes of nappies - Nappies are expensive but we would buy them anyway, so we decided against this one.

2) Two day stays at a support centre - Again probably not cheap but we didn't know if we'd use it or not and if we did need extra support with Maya we would just pay whatever the cost.

3) Overnight accommodation at the Sofitel in Melbourne including a bottle of wine, breakfast and late check out - Yep we chose this one because it's not something we would have paid for.

We had four months in which to use the Sofitel voucher and last night was the only night I could find before it expired. We took Maya for a long walk along the Yarra River and through the city. Then we had a take away dinner in our room. At this point our plan was to put Maya to bed and then enjoy the wine and big screen TV but Maya refused to go to sleep with any light and noise in the room. So after a long struggle we had to give up and turn off all lights in the room and be quiet - which meant we had to go to sleep too. So it wasn't exactly a romantic getaway, but it was nice to get out and do something different. Plus getting served breakfast in bed was pretty nice. If only breakfast would appear every morning.....

Maya in her rocker.

Finally.. a non-blurry smiling picture.