Another big first.

This time a first both for the girls and their parents. For the former, finding out that their behavior was just nice enough to win some goodies in a sock. And the other, experiencing their first season of aiding and abetting, and loving it more than the kids.

Note that those same stylish socks were actually worn by one of the elves later that morning. They may, one of these days, get back to their regular shape, but they will always be one quite unforgettable pair.

Now rationing and sharing all the 'sweeties' is proving to be a good challenge as well. The other big issue: we need to start talking about the easter bunny in terms of salt and sticks.

Santa's Eye View.

Early Christmas Morning. Ever so nestled all snug in their beds. Thanks to the Kindle store were got access to a free copy of the iconic poem and acted out the whole thing for Rhea who now knows most of the key punch lines by heart (note to self see bb video). Funny thing was when I threw up the sash, we got a blast of hot tropical air; but seeing snow squalls a few weeks ago on the way to Albany made it a whole lot easier to get away with.

Luckily the little shop opposite 'high house' in Lethem was open for some last minute goodies (stuffers) for the elves to pick up. Yeah, we had an unexpected emergency flight on Christmas eve and had to overnight away from the grandparents - turned out to be a very memorable one. By the way, a chest of drawers works really good in a pinch as a fireplace.

Baby's first International - alone with her dad.

Hailey checking in at Cheddi Jagan Intl.  

Good to go - the calm before the storm.

Direct to JFK in a 76 was nice but...   Full volume screaming commenced as soon as the seat belt clicked on.  

Hailey spent almost the entire flight wide awake and pacing the aisles to keep down the noise.   Here she is checking out the flight attendants work station.   She made friends quickly but was not happy sitting in one place for too long.

Final Approach to into Kennedy. 

Bracing for the cold.  

Mixing up an Enfamil Birthday snack on the go.

Hailey's big Adventure, on big sister's Birthday.

On the way to the airport with Pops. We're heading up to New York to catch the tail end of Rhea's Birthday who went ahead with her mother last week.

We have been practicing the six P's and are feeling fairly confident that we can survive the adventure of a lifetime.

Fingers crossed that we're not overweight and will have to jettison some kilos.

Stay tuned...

Best Buds

Hailey has hit some big milestones lately. Number one, she has figured out that it is she in fact, who is really in charge of her own hands. Pretty important stuff; so virtually overnight she has become a card carrying Grabber.

About a week or so earlier, she discovered her voice as a musical instrument. It is quite common to find her singing away in high flutesome melodies while spending more hours awake then before.

Her attentive big sister will routinely hold lengthy nose-to-nose conversations broken up only by joint giggling sessions.

First stick man with fingers.

Very cool to see this happen live.

Four Month Vaccines baby.

Good bye Polio. Also got 'bore' in both quads and rotovirus for good measure. Weighing in at a chunky 6.5 kg (14.3lb) Hailey looks happy moments before the screaming started.

Rhea quote of the week: "...when that diamond ring turns GRASS, mommies' gonna buy you a looking glass..."

She also is vary aware of her multi cultural heritage - particularly in terms of the various accents and pronunciations with creole. Three vs tree is a regular talking point. She can be annoying like her father - likes to ask lots of questions.

Home School

We really do this stuff for fun. Leaning is a blast and a passion. When it stops being that, it's time to go outside and run in the park.

(Before picture)

Work out, or Maybe Walk out on the Sea Wall

Sister time in the afternoon.

Picture of the day emailed over to Dad in Lethem.

Girls on the Move.

Out with our friends Jade and Josephine, Aunti Britta and Uncle Jimmy. Set a new personal best distance record by riding that trike all the way around the loop - or nearly so. The night caught up to us and we wanted to get in a quick slide at the playground. This ended up being a warmup for the super (dangerous) fast one over at Popeyes.

Special Treatment

Rhea has been working on her skills picked up a from her grandmother Judi.

Rhea - a flightless bird?

Mid-morning Lullaby.

Training for 2028

At this point it's really just pure fun to run in the breeze. Not doing it in the house every 30 seconds is the hard part. Jumping on the bed also might one day be an olympic sport - and one that she might actually medal in, if we maintain the current levels of training.

Pretend Paint

This made me think that it's time to try introducing water colors for the first time. I think we need to step back and actually try finger painting too as a matter of fact. So much to discover.

Toes and Smiles

Here is little sister with cousin Lorelei who is always around to lend a helping hand.

Sun Spot.

Try explaining the rotation of the earth to a two year old. Another great kite flying session at the seawall with Miss Taylor Marie.

Almost Comfortable.

Rhea can only be described as the model big sister. She is not expected to hold Hailey on her own but can manage it long enough for a quick picture.

Her attention and care for baby is something special to see. Lots of singing, gentle touches, and comforting words.

Moments of Magic

Middle Names

Once again, thanks Rhea, for lending space on this page so your distant relatives and friends can also stay in touch with your baby sister:

Hailey Joanna Amara

Joanna - after her Grandmother Joanie and Amara - after her Grandfather Ammar on the other side.

Rhea was able to speak to her Grandma overseas from the taxi on the way to register the birth of Hailey, just before the names were inked into the official form at Mercy.

Solo Artist

This is pure RTMT.

Collaboration.

Working in partnership with her big cousin Lorelei and her dad on this one. The new crayons and sketch pad are a big hit.

My baby sister

All pride, tlc, and tender kisses so far. A little baby acting on the side but so far doing really well with the new role.

Three ladies

Self Explanatory.

Sisters Meet.

Amazing experience for all. Lots of giggles and excitement - followed by an attention shift to the shiny helium balloon.

Thank you for the overwhelming amount of emails, calls, visits, messages, and #mentions from friends and family. We hope to get back to all of you soon.

Feeding Frenzy

Almost 24 hours old and already firing on all cylinders. We've seen a long list of firsts already.

Two highlights:
- woke (for the tenth time) this morning to some sweet serenadeing from a house wren just outside our window on a section of scaffolding

- our third dirty diaper in less than a day.

- her big shiny blue-ish dark grey eyes.

- three smiles that she served up only for Mother in a private moment together.

- basically she is a miracle.

Well that's more than two but we gotta run for a bath.

Thank you Rhea for being such a patient and understanding big sister and for letting us use your blog.

... Eyes Open for the First Time.

It had to be for Grampa. Not only that, but she attached and fed properly for the first time immediately afterwards!

Hailey's First Visitors

Grandma, Grampa and Sophie came over this afternoon and generated a serious performance.....

Tekin' Breeze.

Going for a stroll in the new wing at Mercy. (Good place to spy on the embassy hehe).

Walkin and Rollin

Mommy Jules doing great already. Surgery Schmergery.

Rest time.

Perfect in every way. Little sister Hailey is getting lots of rest along with Mom and I am told that no children under 9 years would be allowed in the facility.

No rush I supose although I can't wait to film the first encounter. Thanks Carolyn for spending the morning with us!

A few minutes worth of breast feeding already although things are pretty low key with more snoozing in order so far.

Only a couple blinks of the eys so far for Hailey - like this world is still to scary and bright for more than a peep.

Baby Hailey!

Born about 7:45 am this morning. Seven point three seven pounds, excellent APGAR scores. Both doing great, mother and baby snoozing now. Lots of Black hair just like Rhea had.

Rhea is a big sister today.

Getting Ready For Baby.

Helping clean up the house for the expected new arrival. Exciting times.

Sideways Smile

Slide Impact

Be careful with this high speed, steep angled, wooden one at PopEyes on Vlissengen Rd. Its crazy-scary fast - and addictive we found out.

We did sample every single one at the new playground at the national park as well. None quite as quick but the curving blue plastic one in the central jungle gym got top marks by our judging panel of one.

Climbing Champion

Climbing anything is fun stuff, coming back down is a little tougher and has required a little coaching to master. Pictured here with Uncle Oliver.

Sea Wall

Stationed now in Georgetown in anticipation for the little sibling, Rhea and Julie are pictured on an evening stroll on the legendary sea wall.

Towers and castles are a regular talking point and we've had to learn the word 'Cathedral' to help describe St Georges more accurately.

Her latest observation has been the various Guyanese creole versus north american pronunciations.

For example:

Cat vs. 'Cyat'
Twenty vs 'Twenteh'
Goat vs 'goot'


It's funny having your two year old try to correct your accent to a more acceptable version of the queen's language. A sponge is truly an understatement in terms of her observational powers.

She of course knows all about being a big sister and has started talking regularly on the subject.

Princes Purple

Milestone of the week:

Climbing all the way up a ten foot step ladder onto the third floor of Grampa's house. Then learning how to turn around and climb all the way back down again.

Up was easy but the other way took a few coaching sessions and a few episodes of 'freaking out'. Truly an amazing inherent balance of daring and caution.

Happy Birthday Great Grandma Pep & Uncle Gary.

Special Birthday Greetings go out to our very dear Grandmother and Great-Grandmother today. Uncle Gary we love you almost as much and welcome to the Twenties my man!

Girls Wear Dresses

Question from this morning:

Dad: Look, there's Buggs Bunny!
RTMT: Where? Where's the Bug daddy?

.....

Also recently: Why?

- an important first imho. Hopefully the first of thousands.

......

Dresses. Thanks to numerous aunties and adopted grandmothers we have enough dresses to last for the next year or two. The idea that PJ's are more appropriate for sleeping than a 'Ballerina' or 'Princess' dress is regularly a point of serious discussion and sometimes even a flop-down tantrum.

"I'm broke Daddy"

I got this yesterday when mentioning to the princess that we had to head back to the house to pick up some money for groceries.

Pagwah Songs

Thanks to our Uncle Noel we were busy playing Pagwah from an early hour yesterday. No pics I'm afraid due to battery constraints. He got us with the pink powder but took a full bucket of water broadside.

A few song lyrics that we have heard recently (all of course sung very nearly in tune):

"Rock-a-by daddy on the tree top"

"Old McDonald had a brush"

"The 'J' says dress". (Kinda makes sense when u sound it out)

Phonics, with very little prompting, have become the latest craze as u can tell.