A big ol' recap

A little/big recap of the craziness that is December+January.

We had a great Christmas and I'm a big Christmas fan... but honestly I'm relieved it's over now and we can move on. No offence Christmas but you can be high maintenance sometimes.

My mum still fills our stockings and it might be the best part - JellyBelly gourmet beans are my love language.

We celebrated at Calum's parents' place with this epic view...

.. and at my parent's place where the views weren't so bad either. I guess there are some perks to living on a city that sits on a bunch of dormant volcanos hills.

As well as opening a few gifts at our own place with just the 3 of us. This year Ella's main present from us was a balance bike which she was super excited about - or was it more the Peppa Pig helmet? We'll never know.

[She rearranged all the low hanging decorations]

 One issue I have with NZ or the whole Southern Hemisphere is that everything happens at once. Christmas + summer holidays + end-of-year-everything-events ... then during winter and that loooong stretch in the middle of the year literally nothing happens. NOTHING. But the bonus I guess is that after the chaos of Christmas you get to take off on your Summer holiday and forget that your house is a dump of wrapping paper and festive decs that you'll have to deal with when you get home, along with unpacking a week or two worth of laundry and/or sand.

This was our first Summer holiday just the 3 of us and it was SO nice to wind down that way. 2017 is looking pretty crazy for us so we were making the most of every minute of quality time together and blissful weather. Ella and Calum were total buddies at everything my heavy pregnant butt wasn't up for - like running up Mt Mounganui (my 2 yr old ran!) and catching loads of waves on their board (my bump was majorly in the way for that).

[The Mount]

We were in the Bay of Plenty and every day was full of exploring different beaches, parks, bushwalks, waterfalls, etc.

[Heading out to walk up Drury Hill]

[McLaren Falls park]

[Can you spot all the people? There are hundreds of waterfalls and swimming holes at the top of this cliff area, and river below]

And then we came back home and I was surprised by how nice and spacious our house is. Maybe staying in a one bedroom unit was good for that?!

2017 is looking big, daunting, challenging, exciting. 

Aside from a new baby due in like 7 weeks (wwhhhhaatttt?!!!) we also have my husband starting out on his own with a new business venture, my toddler starting Kindy and toilet training and moving to a proper 'big-girl bedroom' and it just feels like so many changes are happening at once. We are looking forward to seeing how it all works out!

Anyway, my 2.5 yr old just climbed on my lap and started kissing my cheeks with little giggles in between. She's just figured out how to kiss and make the normal kiss noise and is really chuffed with herself and it's SO CUTE. Sometimes we pinch ourselves with this kid.

And that's a recap of life lately!