Buns of Fire

I surfed the net last night but it proved distressingly free of family members eager to chat - dangnabbit!

It was an .... interesting night. K woke several times from 3am onwards, shrieking like a howler monkey and rattling the bars of his cot. Caring and empathetic parents that we are we instantly...ignored him and went back to sleep. He settled down and settled back to sleep - eventually. On the third round of shrieking I tossed a fresh bottle into the cot. Lo and behold he then slept until 7:40!! Typical! I had been hoping for a bit of a sleep in - instead, I experienced sleep sabotage! The zoo trip was awesome. Ruth and I experienced the chaos of three little boys running riot in a zoo :) I got to push, carry, drag and otherwise move a variety of infants about the zoo environs. Wicked fun! Poor K has got an awful case of nappy rash - bits of skin missing in places - poor wee thing. I have changed nappies frequently, and popped him into the shower to wash off the afflicted area but it's not getting any better. He fell asleep at 1pm today but awoke screaming a mere hour later -- from the nappy rash meeting natural functions I postulate. This afternoon I walked up to the library with K to pay Chris's Lack-of-WOF fine. While I waited in line with K in my arms I asked him for a kiss. I plead with my son for kisses on an hourly basis (needy or what haha) - with no luck whatsover. K believes that one of us gives the kisses, the other receives the kisses. Guess which one is me! Anyway, I looked at him and asked for a kiss. I was very surprised when he leaned forward and placed his mouth on mine for 3 seconds (mouth closed - yay!). Woohoo - my first kiss :P

After throwing $200 at Waitakere City Council we headed off to the kiddies area. They have a mat with 6 dinosaurs and dragons on it. I have made it a point to always get excited about seeing the mat (I cringe a little inside as I hear myself hehe) "Ooh look Kieran, can you see the dinosaurs! Wow, look, a red/green/orange etc dinosaur. Now he enters the area and scurries over to the mat where he paces along solemnly pointing at each vivdly hued reptile.

Tonight will be exciting, we will be changing K's nappy each time he wakes wanting milk. Unlike myself, an angelic child who could have a nappy changed without ever waking up, K is rather more, um, feisty/grumpy/miserable. Wow, can't wait!!

Boogie Nights

Today has been pretty awesome if I do say so myself. I awoke to the gentle burbling of my infant son at 7am. Yes, today I was able to sleep a whole HOUR later. I was very impressed - and thankful! The boy was fed, amused and showered by 9 and then I set out in the pouring rain to my weekly vitamin D apppointment. As lithe as a panther I sprang into Leviathan... with my library books cos, hell, the weather looked rubbish enough that I didn't fancy my chances taking the stroller out this afternoon. I popped into the library on the way there, then headed off to the appointment where they - shock, horror - drew blood and gave me my MTA voucher :) We headed off to mainly music where K had a ball. He followed along with 3 of the songs and just had a fabulous time. Later that afternoon the weather cleared (of course!!) so I took K up to the library to collect a book waiting for him. Once back we danced to the Wiggles (aaah, those Wiggles!) then K sat in his high chair with his colouring in book and crayons. All in all it was a good day.

Tomorrow I am meeting Ruth at the zoo. Our eta is 9:45 which should allow us to miss most of the traffic, and allow us to see enough of the zoo before the kidlets have their nap. I am looking forward to it - K could use a good run!

Read and weep

I was idly flicking through my Waitakere Library personal details when I noticed in my reading history that between this time 2005 and today I have checked out 2,791 books. This is a pretty large number, considering I buy books too :) So I did some calculations. On average I read 698 library books a year, 58 a month, and 15 each week. Booya!

Yesterday was a hell mission. K wanted to saunter about the house and not eat his breakfast. I, well aware that we needed to be at playgroup by 9, was getting pretty stroppy with him. I eventually got breakfast into him at 8:30, bundled him into the shower at 8:40 and we were in Leviathan by 9:05. K had a wonderful time there. In fact, he had such a great time that we only left at 11:45. He didn't fall asleep in the car, he didn't fall asleep until 1pm!! Aaaargh. As soon as he woke up I popped him into the stroller and took him up to the library to drop off some books. On our way home we saw the first crop of Barnea Circle ducklings. K was enraptured. So was Bandit!

We headed up to the library this morning and K had fun running about and playing with the big white bear etc. It was only after I dealt with the Nappy from Hell and put K down for his nap that I remembered I was going over to Number 8 for a morning playdate. Oh well. I wasn't much in the mood for a playdate anyway as I have had a splitting headache since this morning that just will not go away. Maybe later this afternoon.... cross fingers.

Antics

You will be thrilled to know that I have much of the use of my arms back. K sure is a heavy little sucker!

On saturday I had a bit of a meltdown. Father and son fled the house and were devastated to be greeted by a pacing, pissed-off tiger on their return. Chris pretty much babywrangled solo while I skulked about the house until 2:30 when we headed out to the zoo. It was a gorgeous sunny day - and cold as buggery. However K loved the birds, and the swans, and the monkeys and a whole variety of other creatures too stupid to stay in their warm, heated cages. He sprinted his way around the zoo with his beleagured parents puffing along behind him. As it was Chris's turn to sleep in today K decided to rise at the crack of dawn. I lie, dawn arrived some 40 minutes later - grrrrrr!!! I was not amused! Today we visited Garth, Kym and Alex. It was great to catch up with them, until I looked at my watch and saw it was 11:25am - aka K's naptime! With unseemly haste I whisked us out of the house and sprang into the back seat with K. I did all I could to keep the boy awake in the car. 2 minutes from home I was reduced to slapping his face (the bruises will fade in a few days, I'm sure hehe) and pulling his hair to stop him going to sleep. We made it inside in the nick of time and had him installed in the cot in 2 shakes of a rat's tail. I then prepared a sumptuous meal, K awoke 40 minutes later and Chris headed out to do "manly things" shortly after, leaving me with the boy until 8. I don't know how solo mothers manage, I really don't!

Tomorrow we have Oratia playgroup - K will be THRILLED! Lucky boy!

The Great Trek

Oy Vey, what a morning!!!

The morning got off to a slow start. K felt it was more important to watch Little Einsteins that to eat his lovely weetbix. We were therefore running a little later than I would have liked by the time I spooned the last remnants into his gaping maw (2 weetbix! yay for fibre!). I then had to bustle the wee beastie into the shower where his happy carolling hinted that he might be some time. I was pacing the floor like an expectant father at this point, pausing only to thrust a toothbrush into the showerstall for the miscreant to "brush brush brush". I had K all prepped for our train trip into Henderson when it started to rain. A quick glance at the train timetable revealed that if I wanted to do all the things I had planned I would have to drive.

That was my first mistake.

We whistled into Henderson and I decided to park in Henderson Park so K could stretch his legs, check out the river and see some differents sights for a change. I also decided to take the bag of 12 library books and a golf umbrella.

That was my second mistake.

Alternately chivvying my son along the gravel paths and hoiking him up in my arms (along with the books and umbrella) when he tried to dive into puddles or bolt back along the path I became hot and flustered in short order. I exited the path, then sank into boggy grass up to my ankles. I performed a reasonable facsimile of a St Vitus' dance as I tried to free myself (and the child, and library books, and &#$! umbrella) from the morass. I must add that at this point the threatening clouds (the only reason I had brought along that thrice damned umbrella) had vanished and the sun was beating down on my unprotected head. Gaining the road I shrieked in horror to see that the zebra crossing I had been relying on had been eradicated at some point in the last 2 years. I struggled manfully up the hill, carrying my increasingly heavy burden, then navigated my way among some roadworks as I strove to avoid a vehicular collision. Relief in my eyes, I staggered towards Knitworld, my first port of call, and nigh wept to see they only opened at 10am. The time: 9:35am. Cursing the lazy owners of wool shops, I dragged my sorry carcass off to the library. By the time I reached its shadowed portals I understood how men seeing an oasis after traversing the desert felt. Embracing my inner bad mother I dumped K onto the ground as soon as we entered and told him to "Run, and be free" while I dropped off the books. We noodled about there for 20 minutes before I whisked K off to the play area in the mall. He loved it. I have never seen such happiness on his face. The play area began to fill up with older kids and I reluctantly picked up my heffalump, and umbrella, and departed for Knitworld. Aaaaiee the journey shook me to my core but we eventually reached the (now open) wool vendor. I transacted my business and tried to retrieve the child from the play area. He hid at the far end, and would not come near my questing claws - even when a piece of birdseed bar was held temptingly close. 10 minutes later we left the store, and finally headed for the car. K got to walk all of Henderson Park, and pat a dog on the way, to the car. He only got to do this as I literally could not carry him for longer than a minute at a time. As we walked along Wilshire Crescent The Leviathan seemed shrouded in an aura of golden light, with the music of angels washing over it. Or that might have been my bladder informing me that we needed to get home - fast! We certainly did. It was now 11:20am and K had had a big morning. He napped and I, fool that I am, reorganised the pantry. I had done most of it and was feeling fairly proud of my efforts. I gazed at the filthy kitchen floor and decided it needed a sweep. It is a little known fact that South Africans must smash something whenever they sweep floors. Accordingly I flung a glass jar of cinnamon sugar to the floor. And spent the next 20 minutes ensuring that K would not resemble a porcupine when he awoke and ventured into the killing field, I mean, the kitchen. Once K awoke I took him off to the library and vege store in his stroller. I had to stop 3x on the way up the hill to rest my pain-wracked arms. Seriously, ouch! However, he loved the library and had the usual wonderful time there. At the vege store I purchased some capsicums (fibre), show peas (fibre) and fruit (fibre). K managed to eat a third of a capsicicum by the time we got home. I was very impressed (fibre, yay!!)

Ans now the weaselpuff is in bed, and I am waiting for my mum to come online for a chat. I get to sleep in tomorrow and, boy, am I looking forward to it!!

Prunish Pranks

I learned a valauble lesson today. Let me share this knowledge with you. If you want a small child to drink some disgusting prune juice, just put it in your favourite cup and sip it. Said child will fight his way up onto your lap and INSIST on having sips from the cup.

Yesterday we headed out to mainly music - in the truck, or as I like to call it, LEVIATHAN. I drove beautifully, if I do say so myself, resisting the urge to annihilate fences and garage doors along the way. K really enjoyed the session especially the toys before and after the music part - head:desk! I got him home and noticed that he smelt like burnt matches. This awful aroma increased to the point where I was gagging on my coffee. You might ask - why didn't you change him? and my reply to that would be HE WASN'T FINISHED! A rather nasty nappy change episode occurred shortly thereafter and I retired to lick my wounds (metaphorically speaking) and K relaxed into slumber.

I prepared Cashew Marsala for dinner and K haunted the kitchen like a starving timber wolf until it was ready, and scarfed down a large portion. He does love his cashew marsala! Today I headed up to coffeegroup. We walked, because well, I could really use the exercise and it wasn't actually raining :) It was awesome catching up with people. Rache in particular cos I hadn't seen her in AGES. I was thinking about heading into Henderson this arvo but I think, gazing soulfully out the window, that it might be better to do that tomorrow as a morning expedition with the kidlet.

Hmm now for some strage reason I can't resize the pics - oh well you will just have to have larger pics in the meantime ;)

Bizzy Beez

Let's see, what have I been up to this week (all 2 days of it!). On Sunday K was still wickedly constipated - despite my efforts to scare the cr*p out of him :P. Half jokingly I suggested to Chris that we slip some prune juice into one of his nightime bottles of milk. Later that night as K shrieked his wrath into the uncaring night Chris turned to me and hissed venomously - DID YOU PUT PRUNE JUICE IN THE MILK?! Um NO, the little fiend is just too lazy to hunt thoroughly for the bottle next to his head! We visited Plunket on Monday morning where K was weighed at 13.45kg's - what a porker! We couldn't go to Oratie playgrpoup due to the Plunket appointment so I took K to the library where he had a fine old time. Kym came around on Monday afternoon and brought iceblocks and citrus fruit. She brought over Kieran's first iceblock - a lemomade one chosen by Alex. K scarfed it down but kept swapping it for the strawberry one I was eating.... hehe. It was very cute. I was however thoroughly scolded by Bandit afterwards for allowing strange boys into the house afterwards :P After slipping the kid lots of prune juice - always forcefully rejected after 1 sip, hoping that a myriad of small sips would have an impact on his blocked digestive tract I gave up. Of course, this was the moment that Mr I-dont-want-to-eat-cos-I-am-teething decided to regain his appetite. He feasted on apple, kiwifruit, carrots and cheese last night. Chris almost wet himself laughing when he saw the remains on the high chair tray. To my delight K ate 2 weetbix this morning, thrilling me to the core. As a reward I took him to the playground by the library. He had a wonderful time playing there, especially as another child was there. They played like maniacs - for almost an hour. K then dramatically flung himself to the ground and shrieked his wrath at the sky - our special signal that it's time to go home -we are so, so special :) I had planned to head into the library, and the mad butcher after the playground session, but took K home instead.... where he revived and galloped around the house for another 45 minutes. As a form of vengeance I brushed his hair while he sat on my knee watching the Wiggles... it seemed to lend itself to a topknot, and the camera was close by and poor Kieran is now on Facebook looking all girly :) Eventually I shuffled him off to sleep, and worked on my assignment. Naturally the weather then packed in - aaargh - but I did manage to bolt up to the library and the mad butcher. I also picked up some clothes for K - 16 items all in good condition :)
Tomorrow I have my Vid D appointment and mainly music. If the weather is good I will get Chris to drop me off with K and the stroller. If the weather sucks I will drive down. I wonder if the truck will survive.....

Vroom vroom!!

We headed out to the grassy shady lanes of Unitec today for my driving lesson.

The TERROR, the HORROR. Just as we returned to our abode, I lept upon the accelerator rather than the brake, launching the truck like a greyhound towards the gargae door. The girlish squeal from Chris, sitting in the passenger's seat and the footprint he left imprinted on the floor is a testament to the fear we all felt. Before he could grab the handbrake and attempt to bring us sfely to a halt I was through the garage door, quel horreur. Actually I managed to stop at the last second and watched as my very restrained husband, climbed out of the car and opened the door, without once resorting to swearing.

........ As you can see this is Chris's fanciful guest blog. I won't deny that the garage door approached a little faster than one would have liked, but K and I relaxed laughing back in the car while Chris cowered out of the car and through the front door. I do think that dropping down and kissing the floor was uncalled for though!

Raaaargh

It's been an exciting couple of days :)
On friday K awoke and demanded immediate release from the prison of his cot. I asked Chris to give him a cuddle while I located my dressing gown. Chris wasn't superkeen until a little voice piped up "Hi Dadee". Suddenly, the praising and petting was all on. I admit, I entertained a dark thought or two towards the infant. Anyway, I got to have my sleep in today. At 6ish I heard stirrings from the crib-o-doom so popped out of bed and got a bottle. I was much aggrieved to hear that K then slept in to 8am after this snack!!! Unfair, unfair!! I so know that he will be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow when I am on baby duty!
We headed off to Jen's so that Chris could connect up her vcr and we could leave a sleeping baby with her while we SAW OUR FIRST MOVIE IN 2 YEARS! Yup, Ice Age 3 was awesome - booya!
I decided to make a cottage pie for dinner so we stopped in at the supermarket where K savaged the capsicum we bought as part of the cottage pie fixings. He gnawed several large holes in it - the dear little lad. He does just love his capsicum! Got home and entertained the wee weasel - who finally ate a decent meal for the first time in 2 days. Must have been that illicit capsicum :)
Tomorrow I get to tool the truck around the roads - be afraid all ye who drive in west auckland, be very afraid!

Larking about

Yesterday I was ready to disown K. My angelbaby had turned into Satan's spawn (teething) - and it was driving me crazy. I took him along to storytime at the library and due to his shrieking and wittering I had to leave after 1 story. His problem? He was hungry. He was hungry because he refused his breakfast, and the treat I got for him at the bakery. Then he refused lunch - despite me giving him 3 options. By dinner I was sitting on the couch snarling at him. We went out food shopping and he feasted on scraps of burger patty and chips when we got home, before falling asleep at 8:30.
This morning I had hoped to catch up with Kym, but she was otherwise engaged. Instead, I whisked K into Henderson on the train as soon as the rain stopped. I headed into the baby factory for a new NUK sipper bottle and picked up some tights for K to wear under his pj's at the same time. I whipped past toyworld(go in? not on your life!) and headed into the Warehouse to pick up a polarfleece all in one with tread on the soles for K to wear in the mornings. I also found some large size crayons so K will enjoy scribbling on the walls with those. Haha, NOT! Those will be given to him when he is in his high chair only. I then took him over to the playground as the whole expedition had included K's shrieks of wrath at being trapped in the stroller. He raced around like a maniac, climbing around, and fondling the toy car, and spinning the large wall mounted beads until I realised the train left in 7 minutes. Oh how we ran! And made the train - always a bonus. I then had to howl at the stroller as we approached our road and jiggle it mightily as a certain person was trying to go to sleep in it. He was forced awake and is now slumbering in his cot, dreaming of his mean mother. Poor boy has been a bit bunged up so was given prune juice this morning. He grasped the bottle eagerly, took 3 sucks and dashed it to the ground in outrage.... so I don't know how much prune juice actually went into him!
Tomorrow we are swinging by Knitworld as we seem to be 2 balls short of finishing my jumper, then going to see Jen, K will fall asleep there - while Chris and I see Ice Age 3 - my god, a movie!!! I think it will be the first one in 2 years that we will see at the cinema! And I will be test driving the truck to get a feel for positioning on the road and its acceleration :P

You've got to move it, move it

My child is a conundrum at times. He discovered a laundry basket on one of our newly purchased chairs. He paced about eyes intent on the prize for 20 seconds, then walked to it, grasped the edges in his hands, swung it out level with his head and carefully lowered it to the floor. I couldn't have done a better job! Once on the floor he fossicked among the old cellphones that have been left in our custody by Sue and Kingsley - I am guessing we are to dispose of them ;). Then he performed his first somersault today. He stood on the edge of the futon gazing down on the mattress and did a somersault off the futon - slowly and carefully - onto the mattress - then repeated the process. I still eagerly await the word "up, up" rather than him racing over and patting my knees briskly.
He empties the box by the door of shoes, retrieving them in matching pairs and placing them close together before abandoning them on the floor for his doting parents to trip over.
Today is incredibly cold! I was going to take K out for a walk but can't face the thought of going outside.
Tomorrow I have my next Vit D appointment. I will check out the weather to see if I walk or drive.

Eggnoggery daze

So yesterday was an exciting time. On Friday night I prepared 2 Frangelico trifles with love and care and placed them into the fridge. I meticulously cleaned the kitchen and laid out Kieran's breakfast for his doting father to serve him. You see, Chris and I have a deal where we each get a sleep-in on the weekend and Saturday was my sleep-in. Chris staggered out of bed at whatever ungodly hour K chose to awake and took him off somnewhere. I didn't care, I had a hot water bottle and a Siamese. At 9 I emerged to find the kitchen not quite as pristine as it had been the night before, the kidlets breakfast - largely untouched - on the counter and some bacon wrapped kumara that needed rescuing. Chris had fled upstairs as soon as my feet had hit the tiles downstairs so I salvaged the kumara, fed the child, played with the child and performed sundry other duties. We managed to hit the road at 11:15. Our goal was to get to Bryony and Helen's so K could go down for a nap. Well, guess who fell asleep in the car! The weather was absolutely dreadful as Chris can attest, having had to run to and from from B&H's aerie in the pouring rain. Alas, as I raced up the stairs with K in my arms I fell through one of the risers on the stairs. Tres painful!!! You should see the egg shaped lump on my shin. Anyway, despite Bryony's well laid trap, the midwinter xmas rocked. Colin the Magnificent produced a marvelous turducken, K bustled about playing with 4 dogs and trashing the place and merriment was had by all. The bacon wrapped kumara and the Frangelico trifle went down well - always a pleasing sign!
Today Chris had his sleep-in while I babywrangled, then I headed off to Rachel's baby sprinkle courtesy of the lovely Ruth. We went to Arum Cafe at Palmers Garden Centre and it was exceedingly pleasant. When I got home Sue and Kinglsey had arrived and we had a good catchup before they headed off to the Tron, leaving behind the truck. Transport!!! I have transport!!! Yeehaaa! The world is my oyster :)
I have no plans for tomorrow although I suspect that the library may be visited - on foot!

Tantalising Toddlers

Yesterday I headed off to coffeegroup. It was a gorgeous bright blue day, with sunshine to boot. It was great catching up with everyone - apart from Rachel but I will see her on Sunday at her Baby Sprinkle. I whisked a slightly squeaking K boy where he snuggled down into his cot to dream of chocolate milk. He really is an angel baby. He adores reading and sits on the floor flicking through books several times a day. He will bustle over, face bright with anticipation and a book clutched in his wee paws, as he begs for "storytime". I rearranged the spare room with my son's lemming tendencies in mind. A mattress has been placed on the floor for his jumping pleasure with pillows placed upon it. I hope it meets with his approval.

Kieran has emphatically outgrown his stroller and just looks faintly ridiculous in it with his legs sticking out any which way. I must take a picture cos he looks ridiculous :)
Today I dragged him out for a walk. I got a run instead. He pretty much sprinted around the circle as well as the adjacent circle, coming to a halt next to the house of a woman who goes to our coffee group. She and her husband are moving to the USA and are selling off all their stuff. Ahem, so I now own: 2 chairs, 4 storage bins, a potty, a lightweight stroller cos our is knackered and a sesame street ride on interactive toy for K - and all for $115!!! Awesome or what.
Tomorrow we are heading off to a midwinter christmas dinner over at Bryony and Helen's - it should be awesome!! A Turducken has been prepared as has 6kg of pork... we are taking along bacon wrapped kumara and 2 Frangelico trifles - mmmmmm, yummy!! I have half a bottle of Frangelico and was worried it might not be enough. Luckily there is another bottle stashed in the cupboard-under-the-stairs....phew!! We will have to head over a little early to set up the portacot and set Kieran upon Rabbit and the corgi's. He will be THRILLED!!

Perturbed and Peeved

Those who read my facebook status will know that I spent much of yesterday calling down maledictions upon the male sex. After the cause of my angst exited the house Kieran and I did some major tidying up. Couches were pulled out and swept behind, toys were retrieved, bookcases were packed up and rearranged, the cupboard-under-the-stairs was opened, reviewed and repacked, the cat scratch post was moved and the kitchen got a revamp. Throughout all of the 3.5 hours it took to do this K was bustling about after me - playing with the broom, chasing petrified (geological sense haha) snacks across the floor, crawling into packing boxes I was placing books into, hurling toys into said box, now also containing a Siamese - and basically driving me to distraction and laughter.I received some respite when I popped Howl's moving castle dvd on - it is actually a great adaptation of Dianne Wynne Jones as long as you understand that just the concept remains the saem (oh, the names too, I guess hehe). Chris arrived home and gazed around the scene of much activity and labour and said... I see you moved the cat's scratching post. Aaaaarrrrgh!
This morning I had the weekly meeting for the vitamin D trial. K woke up at 7:58am which was awesome!! Alas it also meant a flurry of showering and dressing. And NO breakfast for Chris or I. No lunch for Chris either. Man, that bracelet is a pain in the ass. The velcro catches on all my sleeves and makes it very difficult to have the face of the thingy uncovered. Oh well. only 7 more weeks! While I was there I realised that the team work with Uncle Dan :P Such a small world isn't it!! Kieran and I walked back from the meeting at 8:40. The sky was grey - yet rain free, the weather cool and we were breakfast free. It was an enjoyable walk, well, for me anyway. K rode in the stroller, rugged up to the nth degree and sucking on his bottle - hopefully not a foretelling of his future as a wheelchair bound boozer :) We headed into the library cos we reached it just as the doors opened at 9 and K loved it. Again, he ran up and down the aisles, "helped" the librarians shelve books, leapt upon the big white bear etc. Eventually my lust for breakfast could not be contained, and I whisked him off home.
I popped him down for his nap and spent the HOUR in which he repeatedly thrust his clenched fists to the ceiling while grunting ferociously, or rolled about the cot clicking his tongue by reading books for my Massey assignment. Three down, 12 to go! I also popped a video of K leaping from the Futon up on Facebook, as well as some pics. There was a wail of horror from Chris last night as K leapt from the futon..onto the carpeted floor..... foolish morsel!
Oh, and our Daphne is blooming. I will take a pic on pop it up for tomorrows blog picture.

Beef Burglar

We had a lovely dinner planned last night. We were going to finish up the remains of the roast beef from Sunday. Fate, or the Siamese, had other ideas!! Yes Bandit truly lived up to his name - dragging the chunk of beef off the counter and stashing it is a safe place - the base of the cat scratch post.
On a brighter note K ate almost half of a scrambled egg- and wolfed the rest down when I hid it in some mashed potato... he LOVES mashed potato!! It has been a struggle getting him to eat eggs - but I persevere! After out dinner of Noodle Box's finest I did a load of laundry, dishes and prepped a shepherds pie, and also did a dinky baby one for our baby :) I am sure he will love it - after all, it has mashed potato in it :P

And now for the book list!! These are just a few from this month's reading mark you!
Awesome Books:
The Magic bites series - Ilona Andrews
The enchantment emporium - Tanya Huff
Thirteenth child - Patricia C Wrede
Psychic Eye mystery series - Victoria Laurie
Choice - Edith Layton (a truly awesome Regnecy romance)
The Charm series - Candace Haven
The ultimate guide to winning Scrabble - D Hinch
Garden Spells - Sarah Allen

Didn't-bother-finishing books:
The Stepmother's diary - Fay Weldon
The secrets of happily married men
Primal heat - Sherri L King (only good if you like back door entry - bleh)

Pyjama Days

Yesterday was wet and not particularly warm - dammit! It was Chris's turn for a sleep in and I was incredibly jealous as I hauled my wretched, expectorating carcass out of bed to retrieve McShrieker from the cot at 6:30am. Once K woke up from his nap we headed out to Palmers to get a Daphne plant. We got one already potted with heaps of buds on it. It is currently in front of the front door but I will drag it out back when I have a spare moment (haha). We have a house inspection due in the next 10 days so Chris got the usual option: A- clean the house to my satisfaction or B- babywrangle. After lunch I began to scrub out the bathroom. It was damn hard work as for some reason the bathroom gets muckiest fastest. I will work on the rest of the house each afternoon while K naps. Today's target is the lounge. If you came to my house you would believe it was inhabited by a troop of unhygienic baboons with an eating disorder. It would not cross anyone's mind that I actually sweep, mop and tidy up on a regular basis - all of it undone behind me by a cracker munching toddler tornado.
Today looks gorgeous - I will take K out after he wakes up to his favourite park then the library. At the moment he ius enjoying a shower - one much needed once I pulled off his nappy and shrieked in horror at what resided inside. Reading has commenced on the assignment - but I have also been reading a few other books as well. Next post I will give you my "I loved it" and my "it blows bears" book list :P

We call him....Lemming Boy

Today I had the boy in his play room/one-day-his-bedroom/spare room and he kept trying to leap off the futon. I bore with this for a while but eventually got tired of supporting his weight in my arms as I gently lowered him to the ground. I wondered, "what would June Cleaver do?" and inspiration struck. I piled up every pillow in the place in a heap then threw my son off the futon. Don't worry - once the sprain settles down and the gash over his eye heals he'll be good as new. KIDDING! He is unhurt - if you don't count a sore tummy from too much laughing. He sprang from the futon for what seemed like ages - and was probably a good 20 minutes. Inspiration then struck the little weasel and he hustled over to the pillow pile, arranged it to his liking and raced along the carpet before flinging himself on the pillows. I fear that when he has a big boy bed we will find that he's a jumper. Dangnabbit all to heck!
As predicted I was unable to see Wolverine before it left the movies. Gutted, I am just gutted! Ice Age 3 is on and I don't hold high hopes for seeing that before it's released on DVD either! Aaah movies, I love you so much :) yet see you so rarely!

Despite a lovely sunny day yesterday I didn't make it into Henderson so K will have to go without crayons for the next little while. We are heading into Palmers to find a Daphne once K wakes up. I went to the Doctors on Thursday as I thought I was anaemic. Man it took ages! The doctor was very nice and gave me a prescription for some iron tablets, and sent me off to diagnostic medlab for blood tests. I went in and the place was empty. I handed over the form and after about 5 minutes Snarky Cow the Phlebotomist came to my cubicle. She ranted on about how I needed an appointment and the only reason they were doing it was because the place was empty (well, duh!). She finally wound down her rant and asked why I was there. I said miscarriage and watched as she attempted to remove her foot from her mouth. She was a lot more pleasant after that - but I was glad to escape with band aids on both arms :)

Closure

We headed off to the scan yesterday expecting the worst, but with that tiny spark of hope that maybe, just maybe we were wrong. We weren't wrong. The scan of my uterus was markedly different than before - for starters, no baby. We managed to get out with our dignity intact though I was crying by the time we hit the carpark. Despite the sadness I also experienced a feeling of relief that it was all over and we could mourn the baby and move on. It sounds callous but I was actually terrified that there would still be a baby after all that bleeding, because it wouldn't have stayed there... and that would have been a terrifying time.
Chris thinks that a Daphne plant would be a good one to plant in remembrance so we will hit the garden centres on the weekend.

I am also sick as a dog and feeling very put out about it. It's not fair that I am sick in addition to all this other... stuff! I might take Kieran out today - perhaps to Henderson - as I want to buy him some crayons. We got him a book to colour in yesterday which he liked but the pavement chalk I found only came in pale shades - boo.

Nothing says "I love you" like a

potato. Or at least, that is what K thinks! With acres of toys to play with he shows a marked fondness for an old egg carton, the dishwashing brush and ... a potato. So far today the potato has been carried, rolled across the floor, flung into the toy box, moved around his playhouse and flung up onto the dish draining board for me to admire.. and it's not even 9am!!

I got signed up for the vitamin D trial. I now get to wear a snazzy device on my wrist and must expose it to sunlight every day. I get rewarded with petrol vouchers which seems well worth the effort. I have been feeling dizzy and rather ill today - perhaps low iron levels. Tomorrow we have the scan to confirm that everything has progressed the way it should have. Sigh. Wish us luck.