7 Months old today!

We've past the halfway mark...Ella is 7 months old today! I really can't believe it, we are pushing closer and closer to her first birthday.

The 7 month update will be uploaded tomorrow!

Fun things to do in Auckland - a trip to Auckland Zoo

It's been a long time since I have paid a visit to the Auckland Zoo and since the recent arrival of Anjalee the Asian Elephant as a friend for long term resident Birma I was very keen to return and what better time to do it then a, showery, mainly fine Winter's weekend. 

So, thats exactly what we did today, we went along to the Auckland Zoo with our friends and their little boy for a fun day out. We had so much fun and it was great to have a nice long walk around the zoo checking out all the animal exhibits, my favourites being, of course, the elephants, monkeys and giraffes.

Although the visit was mainly for us adults - with Ella being too young to understand - Ella was very happy today and seemed to enjoy the trip out and seeing something different, she liked looking at all the animals including squealing and smiling at them - a win all round I think!

A trip to the Auckland Zoo is definitely worth the money it's a not-for-profit organisation with every spare dollar raised channelled into caring for the Zoo's animals and to support conservation projects that help endangered animals in the wild. It has particular focus on trying to save the endangered Asian Elephant in countries such as Nepal, Sri Lanka and Sumatra by researching elephant populations, protecting their natural habitats and trying to prevent human and elephant conflict.

An adult pass is $28 per person, a child pass (ages 4 to 14) is $12 and infants under the age of 4 are free. Family passes are also available. It is definitely worth it! So, if you are in Auckland or perhaps visiting I recommend you go pay the Auckland Zoo a visit - you won't regret it!

The first stop on our trip was to visit the "Pridelands" it's currently under construction, in the view of improving the enclosure, but we still had a great view of the Giraffes, Zebra's and Ostriches.

There are six giraffes, one male Zabalu, and five females, Rukiya, Kiraka, Shira, Mdomo and one calf born in 2015.

On to the Lion exhibit, it seemed all the animals today were making the most of the Winter sun by sleeping, sunbathing and not doing much else really but I did manage to take a couple of pics when two of, the three, sleepy lionesses raised there heads to give us a cursory glance.

 Next on our visit was the highly anticipated Elephant clearing which houses Asian Elephants Birma and new arrival Anjalee. Following the passing of Kashun in 2009, Birma, sadly, became the sole occupant of the elephant enclosure until the arrival of her new mate Anjalee only just this past week.

Much to the surprise of Birma's keepers, the pair hit it off much quicker than anticipated and we were fortunate enough to see them in action during the Elephant encounter today. This was by far my favourite part of our visit!

Anjalee

Birma

Anjalee and Birma 

 

Checking Birma's teeth

Checking Birma

Following our visit to the Elephants our next stop was to the Orangutan enclosure where the were let out into their big enclosure to hunt for their food.

The cheetahs are beautiful animals and them like every other creature at the zoo yesterday enjoyed sunbathing and not much else.

The tiger were enjoying the sun just as much...

The "Aussie walkabout"enclosure... Wallabies, Emu's and a Rainbow Lorakeet.

The Alligator that looked like a statue...

A beautiful Tui bird, not an exhibition but it just happened to be hanging around the lemur enclosure.

The gorgeous ring-tailed lemurs, they are so cute!

One of the tiny little Cotton-top Tamarins scooting around their enclosures...

The only picture I managed to capture of the spritely little Squirrel Monkey's...

One of my favourite encounters was the Spider Monkey's with their lanky, long limbs they were incredibly amusing and I could have watched them all day!

All in all we had an incredible day out at Auckland Zoo, it was so much fun and we all enjoyed ourselves including Ella and her Daddy!

So, if you are looking for something to entertain the children this coming school holidays why not take them for a visit to Auckland Zoo!

What are somethings you love to do or places you take your kids to? I'm always looking for new places to go!

A (typical) day in the life of a stay at home Mum...

I've been finding it increasingly difficult lately to blog on a regular basis particularly as Ella has been rather challenging for the past week or so. There's also been quite a few developments in our household over the past week or so which is taking quite a lot for me to get my head around - all will be revealed in a couple of weeks or so.

Finally, though things seem to be on the up, she's perked up a lot the past couple of days, aside from a rip roaring tantrum at bath time tonight, I'm hoping she's through the worst of this particularly difficult "developmental" stage. I'm hoping now that she's sleeping better in the day and generally happier I will be able to blog a bit more frequently.

So, when thinking about what to write I thought I'd share a typical day in the life of me and what we get up to on a daily basis!

So, here goes...

A (typical) day in the life of a stay-at-home Mum:

7.30 - Ella wakes up, her wake-up times vary from day to day. So, depending on how tired this Mumma feels, and whether I've gone to sleep at a sensible hour or stayed up most of the night eating and Facebook bingeing, we both get up and I'll change her nappy and then she give her a bottle. If, however, I'm feeling pretty tired I'll bring her into my bed for cuddles and a bottle and then we'll snooze for an hour or so.

8.30 - Is breakfast time for both of us. Since it's Winter, it's been freezing in our neck of the woods, we've both been having porridge. She has half fruit (either pear and apple or apricot, peach and pear) and half porridge. I have mine with milk and a little bit of brown sugar.

A frozen morning

0 degrees outside today.

9.00 - Solids feeding is a messy business so it's time to change her out of her pyjamas and in into her outfit of the day. I love picking out her outfits - it's like dressing a doll as a child all over again - but I hate changing her, it's always such a battle and normally ends in tantrums and tears. It's even harder to change her now that she's more mobile!

9.30 or 10 - Ella is generally pretty tired and grizzly by this stage so I'll put her down for a nap. She's an infamous catnapper so she could nap anywhere from 30mins to 2 hours (if I'm very lucky!)

10am to 12pm - Say I'm lucky and she decides to sleep for two hours, I'll have a bit of a break and then try and do a couple of loads of washing, the dishes or general cleaning - thrilling stuff!

11.30 or 12pm - Second bottle of the day.

12.10 - Playtime! I'll set her up with a few of her favourites toys to play with or I'll sing her a couple of songs and we'll play with blocks or play peek-a-boo.

1.30 - Lunchtime. She gets three meals a day and lunchtime is a finger food meal. I'll offer her different things every day such as toast soldiers with a tiny amount of vegemite, rice rusks, fingers of pear or apple, bits of cooked chicken or some plain yoghurt. If it's a good day I'll try and have lunch as well, lately I've been having chicken wraps.

2pm to 3pm - More playtime, and if it's a nice day we'll have some time in the sun with her in her exersaucer or tummy time on a blanket.

3pm - Nap time again. I'll do the same, i.e cleaning, washing and have "chill out" time.

4pm - Generally, she won't sleep as long in the afternoon. But, who am I kidding? She could sleep for any period of time! This will be her last nap of the day so then the aim is to try and keep her as entertained for as long as possible. She'll also have another bottle at around this time.

4.15pm - More playtime and then maybe some time in the Jolly jumper, as a good distraction. If I'm running out of things to keep her entertained I'll take her for a walk in the Ergobaby carrier.

5.30pm - Dinnertime for Ella. She'll have a couple ice cubes of defrosted, pureed veges (such as pumpkin and potato or carrot, kumara and potato or pumpkin, cauliflower, carrot and parsnip. I try and give her lots of different variety) or a chunk of chicken or meat to chew/suck on.

5.45pm to 7pm - It's Daddy time (if he's not working late), cuddles, playtime and then bath time. During this time I will start dinner, get her pyjamas ready and make her a bottle.

6.30pm to 7pm - Bedtime for Ella - relax time for Mum and Dad, yay! Depending on how tired she is or how well she has slept during the day she'll go to bed at 6.30 or 7pm and then that's her for the night - relief!

7.15pm - I'll finish off dinner and then we'll sit on the couch and watch a bit of T.V - how civilised!

7.45pm - If I have the energy I'll do a tidy up, pick up her toys, fold some washing and maybe do the dishes and then...anything goes!

10 - 12pm - Is bedtime for us, as I said earlier depending on how sensible I'm feeling I'll go to bed at 10.30pm or so. If I'm not, which is more common, I'll stay up to a stupidly late hour and then wonder why I'm tired in the morning!

So, there you have it a typical, non-glamourus day as a stay-at-home Mum. I'm sure you can all relate!

Our days do vary throughout the week, we'll meet up with other Mums and babies for social time or do a bit of shopping and run some errands etc. Friday is swimming lessons for Ella and it's, generally, Tom's day off so anything goes really as with the weekends.

I hope you enjoyed reading about a day in the life of Ella and I!