Beautiful Memories

We just received a CD of photos from Viri's birthday weekend....

Blowing Bubbles

Matotea's new favorite past-times requires a LOT of concentration.....a bit like taking Heimana for a ride in the pram, when you can't see over the handlebar!

Cheese

Funny as it may seem, dairy products are one of the things I miss the most here in Rurutu. We don't have fresh milk on the island, though there is a dairy in Tahiti. We only have UHT or dried cow milk (of course we have coconuts aplenty) and until recently our choice in cheeses was mostly limited to processed cheddar (a weird plastic-like substance called 'cheesdale' ), laughing cow and smelly french cheeses imported for Christmas. However, since our new 'superstore' opened in 'town', the competition between stores and the market for things exotic has really grown. For the last month or so there has been a reliable source of a mild cheddar from NZ; OK so it's not an aged sharp welsh cheddar, but it makes my heart sing, just to have a little bit of cheddar cheese in the fridge......When I tried to communicate my happiness at having some cheddar cheese to the woman working the till I got some amused and slightly incomprehending grins (crazy gringo), I guess it'd be a bit like finding tinned taro at Tesco's in Ystrad Mynach!

Just keep smiling!

Over the past month or so Heimana's first weak smiles have blossomed into all out grins, yesterday we even had our first belly laugh! She is really such a cheerful little baby, it's quite delightful - she'll smile at almost anyone and even in the most unlikely situations. The poor little mite had a really bad cold a week or so ago, she was having trouble breathing and coughing up the mucus in her lungs, so she was prescribed physio sessions. If you've never experienced this it's quite something, the physio gives her chest a really good pummeling, kind of squishing her like an accordion, then half strangling her to get her to cough-up what's down there on her lungs, before squirting saline up her nose. Being woken up like this might be a bit traumatic for you or I, but Heimana broke into a radiant smile for several moments, before her eyes grew big and her lip started to quiver. The physio was astonished, even more astonishing was that she repeated the same radiant smiles in the following sessions! I know for a fact the three month old Matotea would not have let the same indignities be acted out on her, without considerably greater protestations......

Heimana continues to grow: 5.3kg now and 55cm. She's itching to get on her feet and is following a vigorous lower body exercise program, she loves to stand up on our laps and even though we haven't reached the stage of proper head-control, we clearly want to get fully upright post-haste.

Sitting up on the sofa with dad and big sis' is also OK.

The Big 4..0h!

Viriamu turned forty on saturday, of course he didn't even remember it was his birthday, but I figured it was a milestone worth celebrating, particularly because of a happy coincidence. Maeva and Marco from Moorea happened to come to visit over the same weekend. Maeva was here back in june for a music festival, she is a great singer and show-woman, so she very kindly put on an informal show for us.

Uschi, one of her friends had made us a beautiful painting of A'a Viriamu's family tiki with things Rurutu (whales and atae the flowers which bloom to announce the arrival of the whales in Rurutu).

It was a beautiful evening, with champers and a very dense chocolate gateau that I made, topped with frozen strawberries - how exotic!

Matotea made her musical debut playing the spoons......

Now we are three!

Matotea has now celebrated her third birthday, with balloons and lots and LOTS of candle blowing, (bubble-blowing is also an acceptable substitute, or even her new Peppa Pig 'Bubbles' DVD).


We didn't get as many pictures as we should have (sorry gomere,gopere), mainly because we are still submerged in guests, but I did get this great shot of her on her NEW bicycle - ready to go to school this morning!