新年快樂！

Hi ! 各位長輩新年快樂！

我的名字叫Sophie Muir ，我是許涵涵和Andrew Muir 的女兒，我因為剛來到這個世界還沒有自己的朋友，過農曆年外公外婆和mummy都收到很多祝賀新年的e-mail，所以我也想發發e-mail，讓您們認識我。

Sophie 是我daddy幫我取的名字，是智慧的意思。我的中文名字因為外公考慮很多，好不容易取好了，卻發現講英語的daddy很難唸得出來，所以外公外婆還要再想一下。Sorry！您們可以暫時叫我蘇菲好了，但是頑皮的外曾祖父已經替我取好了綽號，不過我還蠻喜歡這個綽號，因為這樣外曾祖父就會一直給我零用錢了，哈哈！

我是2014年1月27日在NZ的Wellington 市區內的醫院出生的，我的體重是3.42kg，外婆說我是一個健康漂亮的"Big Girl"。我的皮膚是淡淡的粉紅色，哭的時候就會變成紅色，冷的時候會變紫色。我有daddy的大👀和他的👄形和下巴以及mummy漂亮的黑頭髮，我一直聽到外婆稱讚我的頭髮跟mummy生出來的時候一樣多。外婆說mummy最希望能有外婆的基因就是沒有花粉症.......

我還在醫院的時候就迫不及待的看東看西，咦！不止mummy、daddy外公外婆，連Chris 爺爺和Mel奶奶都撘飛機趕來。因為mummy和我都很健康，所以我們第二天就回家了。外婆說今天是農曆除夕，大家要吃火鍋團圓，也要煮湯圓，您們過年也吃這個嗎？外婆也說要準備我的碗筷和刀叉，真的很高興！不過我還是只能喝mummy吃過的"再製品"！

好了！mummy要我去睡覺了，她說小嬰兒不用守歲，要早點睡才會長大........拜拜


Sophie敬上

Sophie has landed!

Hi Everyone,

We are pleased to announce the arrival of The Muir Baby - Sophie Muir (middle name yet to be decided by the Taiwanese grandparents).

Sophie arrived at 14:14 on Monday 27th Jan, 2014.  She weighed 3.4kgs and has dark brown eyes and black hair.  

Here's a photo of her after birth: First picture of Sophie post birth (need Facebook log-in).

 The midwives at Wellington hospital were really professional and helpful during and after birth.

Here's Sophie and me enjoying a bit of alone time on the second day at Wellington Hospital Maternity Ward:

Here's a quick video I took of her while she's sleeping.  

She makes these funny little meowing sounds which makes me want to nickname Kitty...  What do you guys think?


We were keen to get home, so once everything checked out, we went home on Tuesday afternoon.

Here's Sophie sucking up to her dad post feed on Day 3.  Andrew is a wonderful and hands on father.  He has the facial hair and tiredness to show for it!

Thank you all for your support of us, this blog, and most of all your patience in waiting for updates.  We promise the chance to meet Sophie will come soon, just as soon as we get our heads around looking after a helpless new born and feel confident enough to cope.

Love to all, and hope to see you all soon with our new addition to the Muir family.

From Hannah, Andrew and Sophie

Week 37... and counting

Hi Everyone,

Hope you have all had a great New Years and a wonderful 2014 so far!

The Muir Baby is still in incubation mode, for those that have made enquiries or have kindly passed on gifts for the spoilt brat.

Thank you all so much for your loving thoughts, kind wishes and generous gifts.  It is all very much appreciated, and we hope to give you the good news soon.

My parents have come down early to help prepare for the birth.  Andrew has kindly been putting up with living with the in-laws the last couple of weeks with grace and patience - thanks darling!

The parents have been spoiling us too, with home cooked dinners, making sure I don't fall on anything sharp while Andrew is busy at work, or walk anywhere unassisted.  I am very very grateful for them and their support during these last few weeks of pregnancy.  Thanks Mama and Baba.

Here's us at the Wellington Botanic Gardens during one of those rare almost mythical Wellington sunny days:

For those of you who would like to see the belly up close and personal, here's a treat for you:

 My dad and I collaborated on this artwork.  We call it "Muir Baby Strikes a Pose".  It is literally pretty much how she is positioned in there.  

At last measurement, my belly is 35cm from top of cervix to pubic bone.  She is approximately 2.8 kgs.

 In this photo, you could see this right side is where she kicks and boots me on a daily basis.  Sometimes the little tyke manages to get her hands there too, and that is a really weird feeling indeed!

This afternoon, while she's booting me in my stomach after a particularly big home cooked lunch, my mum asked her to stop.  What does she do?  She kicks even harder, to the point where my belly meets my boob!

Yup, I'm growing a little kick boxer... sucks to be me...

This photo shows the current two problem areas - the head and the feet.  The head likes to bear down, which given the timeline is a good idea, except it hurts in a stinging sensation right down the lady parts.

For the mothers out there, I've been told there's the beginning of the thinning of the cervix.  So our bags are all packed, the bassinet is made, and grand parents are waiting eagerly... just... no... baby... yet.

So Andrew is counting on the baby arriving on my birthday, which doesn't exactly thrill me (thinking ahead of the years of joint birthday parties where I will have to have kiddie themed cakes instead of alcohol laden tiramisu or something adult-ish and unable to get completely sloshed), but he thinks its a stroke of genius as he'll only have to remember 1 date!

I'll leave you with my current birthing fantasy:

My friend Di told me of the birth of her first child, and after hearing it, I loudly declared that I wanted one of those, so here goes:

Di arrived at the hospital and since her kind hubby bought her a stack of women's mags, she propped herself up against the bed and started to read before she felt she had to use the ladies.  Telling the midwife before she goes on her merry way, the midwife stopped her and told her to get on the bed as she's going to pop...

... 15 minutes later she delivers a healthy baby boy who doesn't make a peep. Concerned, she asked why her baby wasn't crying.  

The midwife: "He's still asleep".  

Well bugger me!