Auld Lang Syne

Aaah and so 2011 dawns. C celebrated it by refusing to go to sleep until 10pm... but then slept through until 5.55am - yeehaa baby!! K slept through too - excellent child :) I must give some thought to resolutions... perhaps to increase my activity levels/cavorting hahah.

No more bites have been discovered upon C's delicate flesh. This is great news as the mosquito's are the size of blowflies! Seriously, I was able to count the black and white stripes on the one that landed on my arm!! Good west auckland water haha. This week is going to be a good one - chilling out and having some solid family time. We are looking forward to friday/payday. Chris especially as he received a italian cheesemaking kit for christmas and is afire with cheesemaking zeal!! We plan to take K to the museum before Chris goes back to work. We are putting up the pool today - which will excite K tremendously haha and will also be baking biscuits for K to cut shapes for. I can't believe K's birthday is in 10 days - where does the time go!! Soon I will be baking a gruffalo cake and partying up at the playcentre :) Plans for tomorrow include calling playcentre contact, Southern Cross and collecting my key from Suzie.

Hooray for Christmas Day

On the 23rd Chris headed off to work and I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. I also took the boys off for a walk to the playground. Sadly Chris arrived home at 2 - a full hour later than expected so departure got pushed out an hour too. We headed off to Puhoi and Ruthsnew house. Ruth's was lovely. We had a fab roast dinner, viewed the property and the BEAUTIFUL house and headed on up. We arrived in Kerikeri at 11:30pm, no credit on our cells and with 10c left in our bank saccount - but we got there. We chilled out on the 24th, doing last minute shopping (payday!) and then it was Xmas Eve..... We staggered into bed at some awful hour as K seemed too excited to sleep. Oddly, for all of his excitement looking forward to xmas, he didn't seem that excited on the day and had to be urged to open his presents. And, typically, twas sunny before and after xmas day... but the 25th was cloudy and dull. All 3 boys helped stud the ham with cloves - and boy, did they make a mess! Our gifts of preserves went over well, and K really liked his little fire station and truck. K had a blast. C just chilled. Before we knew it we had done xmas, visited the beach house, had birthday celebrations and hopped in the car to drive back home. It was a MUCH better trip back as the boys were quieter C sleeping for an good chunk of the trip and K just chilling. Today I got bread done, washing and heaps of other chores underway while Chris did a sterling job of walking K, hanging out washing, running the dishwasher and making dinner. Sadly C was savaged by mosquito's his first night back... 11 on one arm, and bites on his ear, eyebrow, forehead and lip. My poor baby!!!

Silenced seedlings

Alas, no WOF!! Chris returned to the house somewhat disconsolate and reported that the front brake hoses were perished and cracked... and OF COURSE needed to be replaced. $340!! This was exciting as we were heading out to a work function at Auckland University on sunday. We wound up catching the train in and walking through the domain. It was a hurried, hot and sweaty experience as we were running late. However a good time was had by all, and K was entranced by the magician's rabbit. We had a lightning fast catchup with Colin and Ros - too fast - and then we dashed off to catch the train home. We staggered into our respective beds at 11pm. But both boys were very good, and it was a good time out. On the monday we headed out in the stroller to playcentre where once again K romped and had a fabulous time. Tuesday it rained and we decided to stay home as Chris had taken the car into work. We did puzzles, and made a magic wand. I also made lemon cheesecake, swedish gingerbread, lemonade, bread and yoghurt. On wednesday we headed up to the rooms for the Plunket coffeegroup and K merrily built towers and frolicked about. We arrived home to find a christmas parcel and much frivolity ensued. That afternoon we headed into town on the train as I had a meeting to minute. To my horror, I discovered that K had dug up the precious 4 seedlings that had managed to escape K's trowel of doom. Since I had planted seeds on 6 seperate occasions - and K had disobeyed my very clear instructions to leave the seeds/pots/seedlings alone on 5 previous occasions I was understandably irked. Nevertheless, he was very well behaved on the gtrain and bus trip to the University. All was going well until, yet again, I was unable to find the area where Chris worked. And alas, Pascal was not in his office to be my guide. I made the meeting - albeit slightly late - and Chris cavorted in Albert Park with the munchkins. Friday was the last Playcentre session for the year and K had a blast dressing up as a policeman, rolling about on the gym mats, digging up the sandpit and playing with the trains. Cameron had a blast too, leaping about in the exersaucer. He was an angel on Friday too, politely requesting to play with his playdough. He has recently embraced the joy that is playdough - and adores it! Saturday dawned, and with it the last dance class of 2010. The next one is in February!! So, I have popped a vid up of once of the little dances :) Enjoy!!

Weekend frivolity..

Last weekend we headed out to the Playcentre xmas party. Sadly I forgot my camera so we have no visual record. K was in fine form chatting about Santa and sitting patiently for his present. It was only as we were 2 steps from the man himself that his courage failed him and he clung limpet like - retaining enough presence of mind to accept the gift AND say Thank you Santa :) As soon as snackings had been consumed by the K monster we raced off down the road with the stroller to go to Nicole's first birthday party. Again K thoroughly enjoyed himslef and showed excellent sharing skills and manners. He was a pleasure to escort about, and so an ice cream was purchased on the walk home. And boy, he enjoyed it. C chittered like an angry squirrel at the sight until he got a suck of Chris's ice cream. When Chris removed the cone a SUBSTANTIAL amount of ice cream was missing.... those boys!! Today is dance class, and I shall be walking the boys. Chris has headed out to (hopefully) get a WOF for my car. And tomorrow is an Akl Uni event - tres exciting!

The sound of one hand clapping

Truly my youngest has mastered the art of zen. He was lying across my lap on his back with one arm raised in the air, opening and closing his palm. His face was a study of concentration. He did this for about 5 minutes until I tickled him, causing his big brother to launch himself into the fray :)

We went to playcentre on tuesday and as usual K had a blast. He painted up a storm and is really getting the whole sharing and taking turns concept. I am really pleased. The only downside to this was the battle getting K to walk up the hill. We spent 20 minutes on our hill with him refusing to walk to the top of the hill. My policy is that he walks to the top of the hill, and can then ride the rest of the way. Wednesday was the same sadly, when we headed out for the Plunket coffee group. On wednesday afternoon I gave some thought to changing this behaviour. Both boys were asleep at the same time ( A MIRACLE) so I cleaned the lounge, beat the rug, set up lunch outside ready for the boys, and did laundry and dishes. K was very excited to see the little table and the bumbo waiting on the lawn when he woke up - and actually ate a good lunch. On thursday we headed to the library for storytime and a morning tea. I changed the way we headed up the hill and asked K to walk up the hill as "that would mummy very happy". It worked = yay :) Last night poor C sounded like an 80 y/o smoker as he struggled through the cold K afflicted him with. It was so bad I couldn't really sleep, listening to him. We cancelled our ride to Cornwallis Beach and booked a dr's appointment... and they are both fine!! Lingering rotavirus for k which is why his tummy still dodgy, and C...just a cold. We headed in to Henderson on the train today too - K was beautifully behaved!! We purchased all sorts of good things - yay. Tomorrow is dance class and while "we" dance Chris will be taking the car for its WOF..... Oh, let my assault on the fence/letterbox not cause it to fail!!!

Baby led weaning

OK, so K is a rubbish eater. He's getting better, no doubt about it but fruits and veges are not his friends... hell, most of the time they are barely passing aquaintances... and this is why I seized upon baby led weaning as the way to go with Cameron.
Basically you remove the need for purees and mashes by waiting until the baby is 6 months old and can sit up by themself. You then offer them finger food which they feed themselves. You know, steamed carrot, asparagus, broccoli etc. I have to say that it has worked like a dream. Cam has eaten a vast array of foods - and is not yet 7 months old. In fact, he eats almost as much as K, and a FAR greater variety. He has eaten pesto, pasta, fish fingers, pork, beans, carrots, brocolli, snow peas, mashed potato, chips, greek yogurt - plain and strawberry, tangelos, apples, strawberries, watermelon, kiwifruit, pineapple, marmite crackers, corn thins, gingernuts, muffins and, I must confess, has also sampled some traditional baby foods. I tend to buy the more exotic fruit flavours and stir them through his greek yoghurt. I got a lot of odd looks when I said I was going to do this but boy, oh boy. I am so thrilled that we did!!!

And now, just to paint me as a total crackpot, I am starting to teach Cameron Baby sign language... just a few key words to make our lives a little more harmonious :) But that is a topic for another post.

Sadly, my status as a plague Mary has been reconfirmed. Poor Jen, who stayed over Saturday night spend a merry night vomiting her heart out upon her return to Hamilton. Chris has picked up the mantle and staggered home early from work. I opened the door to his green faced visage and knew it was going to be a rough night. Luckily the poor bugger had made 6 litres of lemon and barley water from scratch... very lucky as he has been going through it at a rate of knots. The poor guy has spent much of the evening locked in the toilet, bewailing the fact that he got the more virulent strain, and saying that I got off lightly... I did at that!!! Today we stayed home so as not to infect Playcentre and K and I did puzzles, played with Cameron, had lovely chats and cuddles and had a lovely time. Tomorrow however we will head out to Playcentre for the morning... K has missed it, and it will be nice for him to have a more exciting environment. Poor little devil was still a bit off today, eating virtually nothing and putting himself to bed at 11:40 today.

A Bumbo

Over the last few months I have been looking into the cost of hiring versus buying a bumbo seat. It worked out cheaper to buy it, which was all good as they hold their resale value. Chris and Jen headed off to collect it and the bemused owner of said seat was presented with it today. He was interested in the toy, excited by the the tray liner and thrilled that he could now feed himself. So a win:win for everyone!

The other child was happily poking about the kitchen last night helping his father cook. He has developed an odd habit of fondly patting one's backside. So there the boys were, Chris cooking, while K patted his father's rump. I lounged on the couch eating choc - er, feeding my baby - when I heard from the kitchen "Ooooh! Daddy has a poo in his pants!" and his father's resigned (oh god, she heard, this will be on the blog) voice muttering "No Kieran, that's Daddy's wallet". Maybe Chris should don an adult nappy for a few days then announce he's a big boy now and needs big boy underwear.... reckon that would speed up toilet training? I think it's worth a shot :)

I want to RUN!!

It's been an exciting few days. Having felt somewhat nauseated over several days I celebrated Thursday with the onset of a quite delightful tummy bug. In fact, between one of my many dashes too the loo I emailed Chris to request an early departure from work if he could manage it. Lack of sleep - Cam's current routine of waking every couple of hours is quite ennervating - and illness do not a good parent make. Chris arrived home just after I collapsed on the bed for a quick lie down. Some panadol helped with the fever, but the 3 hour sleep I had helped more. I was still feeling pretty ill - and tired, thanks Cam! - the next day but I wasn't sick enough to keep Chris home. Alas, I had to renew my drivers license which had expired. The boys and I caught the train in. At this point I have to say that the boys behaved exceptionally well, as we hunted for the AA for nigh on 40 minutes. I then stopped the hunt to buy some baby food and allow K a play in the New Lynn playground. We resumed the hunt and found the sodding store 20 metres from the train station where I would have seen it had I not headed off on the other side of the road to post a parcel! Grrrr. I entered, and queued... and queued. Nearly an hour passed before I got to the counter. At this point I must note that the license is in my maiden name. I wished to have it in my married name. Apparently I did not have enough forms of id for this. Apparently some of my id only having Shannon Tracey, and the rest having my full name was such a cause for concern that my license could not be reissued. I had left the house at 10am. It was now 12:50. The boys were frantic, C in particular was having hysterics as he was hungry. K was just bored. I totally lost it. It was a hot day and I was still ill, had walked in a hot day up hill and dale to be told to come back later. Anyway, I left the store and it's mile long queue and bought birthday presents as K was attending Georgia's birthday on Saturday and Nicole's the following week. We then hopped on the train, and got home at 1:40. Both boys slept like the dead. K only staggered downstairs just past 4 and was ruthlesly hustled out of the house. Aware that I had the birthday party and the Santa parade on Saturday I knew I had to get my license that day. By the time I dragged a tearful tot to the train station we had missed 2 trains, and caught the 5:05 which got us to New Lynn at 5:18. There was one person waiting in line but the (ahem) person who had served me earlier was bollixing up their request in fine form. I eventually wound up insisiting on being served by someone as quote " it's now 5:28 and I AM NOT coming back here tomorrow". After the long and drawn out process was completed I left, bought bread for dinner and caught the 6:08 train... which had Chris on it :)

Saturday saw the return of my dodgy tum and the hogging of the toilet facilities. I had to cancel going to the birthday party which was really sad, as K had been so excited about it. However I still had to buy a sack of onions slice them and drop them up at the Plunket Sausage Sizzle along with the other bits and pieces. Suffice it to say that I barely made it there, before fleeing to the bathroom again. This occurred several times and I finally managed to stagger off home, meeting Chris (who'd been volunteered to bbq) and Jen on the way. I put K to bed fairly soon after we got home, ditto Cameron, as they were fairly knackered and I needed them to be good in the parade. The parade went well, K cavorted about in his Spiderman costume and when I asked if he wanted to walk or ride in the stroller stated "I want to RUN!" And run he did.... He had a blast. That evening Chris succumbed to the dreaded bug but Cameron surprised us all with a lovely 5 hour sleep, quick feed then a further 4 hour sleep. What a wonderful lad he is!! Sadly his brother was up and down all night long :( Sunday started out well. Chris made beetroot relish, which he liked so much he licked the saucepan clean. K was a bit low key and snuggly but we thought that was due to the wakeful night. Both boys were put to bed early. I amused myself by mopping the floor, wiping down the couches and sweeping under them. Absolutely wasted effort when one thinks about the following events. Sigh. At 6ish K erupted. Spectacular fountains sprayed over the freshly mopped floor, the child, Chris... but luckily not the exersaucer or Cameron. Chris bundled the sad wee boy up into the shower while I had the delightful job of picking up vomit covered clothes, washing them, and mopping the floor. We got him settled again and I reclaimed Cameron, who was producing his own fountains.. from the other end!! And then, K moaned gently sometime later and vomited all over the pillow he was resting on, his clothes and the couch that had been wiped down that afternoon.... this time I headed up to the shower with him, while Chris cleaned the furniture. Back downstairs we watched Happy Feet together, until C fell asleep. Now both boys are tucked into their beds, alseep and vomit free. Long may it last. My plans for Playcentre tomorrow are scotched - I couldn't do this to other kids! Happily I, while still feeling fairly seedy, am getting better!

same old, same old

Yesterday we headed off to Playcentre where once again K wrung every last morsel of enjoyment from the morning. He nearly wept when he was told that we had to go home. I had two tired little boys tho - K was asleep by 12:40 and C slept through being transferred from the car seat to the stroller - unheard of! The evening was spent typing minutes. I begin to feel a real hatred for minutes :) On tuesday Emma called up and suggested catching up. I threw the boys into the car and hastened out. K had a blast playing with Hana on the trampoline. We got home at 2 and I poured K into bed, and poured C and I into my bed. Happy nappings ensued. Tomorrow is Plunket coffee group, and setting up the Plunket display window. Luckily Chris is coming home early to manage childcare or I couldn't do it! Thursday - I had plans but they escape me, and Friday I have a Plunket meeting then Playcentre. God forfend I keep K from a playcentre session :P

6 months old

On friday I headed off to playcentre for the morning. K painted up a storm and we emerged at 12:30 content, happy, and ready for a nap. We all napped and at 3, when the boys awoke, we braved school traffic to head into Henderson to pick up Plunket posters, Alex's birthday present and look for small glass bottles for rhubarb vinegar. K was exceptionally well behaved and had a ride on Buzzy Bee outside the toy shop. We found an inflatable Ben10 beachball and a Ben10 watch. I also found some sticky wall decorations going cheap so got some for Kieran. I got some pirate ones for his birthday and a space theme for after the party. Well, Saturday dawned cool and grey and Cameron was 6 months old. It would have been nice to celebrate with an uninterrupted night of sleep but one can't have everything :) After racing around like a maniac looking for my wallet I left the house for K's dance class at 9:56. The class started at 10. I screeched into the carpark at 9:59, parked precipitously and hauled K across the carpark, and into the studio. TYPICALLY, K chose a day where I had no money and camera with me to truly dance his heart out. We dashed home and collected up Cameron (still snoozing in his cot) and Chris and headed off to Alex's 4th birthday. There was lots of toddlerish enjoyment, and K cavorted naked with Alex on the lawn, nimbly avoiding the water from the waterslide..... If I could have photographed those 2, buck naked, swinging together...... they looked so funny :) But alas! It was not to be. Cameron snacked ferociously upon watermelon and strawberry and pineapple... K ate nothing. He did however blow out Alex's candles as Alex was waiting for his happy birthday song to end. Face:palm. Chris has plans to do all sorts of exciting cooking this this weekend. YAY!

Dear Santa...

Dear Santa

For Christmas I would like a:

Ice cream

Lollipop

Sandwich

Sausage

BIG car

BIG truck

Fire engine

Blocks

xxxx Kieran

Dear Santa

GOO!

xxxx Cameron

My funny little boys :) As you can tell we have been working on the letters to Santa :)

The train trip was veeeeery long. We collected the newsletter but forgot the santa parade posters (doh), looked into the madness that was the Farmers sale, went to Toyworld where K found a HUGE truck ($800!!) that he fell in love with. We then hustled to catch the train, and got to watch it pull out of the station - without us. I took the boys down to the Zen garden next to the train station and K jumped in the fountains while C investigated the grass. Lunch was eaten and then we caught the train home. And K walked the entire time - very impressive!!

I was so tired by the time we got home at 1:40 that I fell asleep on the bed next to C, and K had to wake me up :) My evening was also quite exciting as my car got locked into the underground carpark! Luckily Suzie was there and called the property owner who turned up a moment later and released my vehicle hahaha. I could have walked home, Cameron in arm, but I didn't fancy it!!

Today is painting day at Playcentre and then I need to drive into Henderson to collect the posters, buy a birthday present and check out Briscoes :)

A bit of this, a bit of that

C is thoroughly enjoying starting solids - and what a messy beast he is!!! He rolling about like a loon and is desperate to crawl :) On saturday we visited rob and sam, borrowed their high chair and also visited spotlight on henderson road - also known as the store from hell! It took 40 minutes to get some fabric, the salesperson was rude, overcharged me and didn't give me a bag... Iwrote a complaint and they asked me to come in so they can :make it right". Perhaps saturday...The fabric will be used to make C a hat and also xmas presents for the twins. I was going to make K a superhero costume for the Glen Eden santa parade but Rob and Sam kindly lent us a Spiderman costume. We made a cat kite on friday. K mixed the paint. He was very excited as we cut out and painted the kite. I visited Kym yesterday morning, while the cat kite dried, at least, it was supposed to be morning! C threw a spanner in the works by sleeping for 2 hours 15 minutes! W drove past many trucks etc which K really enjoyed. He had a blast playing with Alex. Sadly he became very tired and fell asleep in the car. He slept for 15 minutes and woke up a right little horror! Even taking his kite to the playground to fly it didn't help - especially when he smashed it to the ground while having a tantrum.... on saturday we went to a BBQ over at Isabelle's. It was good fun and K cavorted about. They headed off to Quebec on Sunday. I don't know how K will cope without them haha. On Sunday we went to the Arataki Kids day which sent Chris's blood pressure through the roof. K used to be terrified of bouncy castles. At the kids day he flung himself on the "circus" and wouldn't come off. We hauled him off and he threw such a strop he had a timeout in the car. Sigh! I was mulling over doing a letter to santa so asked K what he wanted from Santa.... apparently he wants an ice cream and a lollipop lol! He loves Splat the cat books and we were debating getting him the splat books and Splat stuffed toy from the book depository for his birthday....we will see. On monday we went into playcentre and k loved it as always. I had a playventre meeting on monday that ran very late, so very late that Chris wass pacing the floor when I raced in the door....and he was jolly cross. On tuesday we went to visit Suzie and Amanda. K bustled about, playing with her toys and getting into the playdough like no ones business. Both boys slept like dream when we got home at 2! On wednesday we had plunket coffeegroup and K's behaviour was positively angelic! As a reward we will ride the train into henderson, buy some summer pj's, some xmas paper, pay money at the toyshop for K's xmas present, and pick up the plunket newsletter. I also have a Plunket meeting tonight, and a skype meeting to minute on Sunday..... Good times!

A 2 mouse day

Bandit surprised us the other day with not one but TWO mice, both lovingly stashed in the house. One had passed on to the great Brambly Hedge in the sky but the other was very much alive (and very well hidden by Mr B). Chris hurried out the door with the mouse hanging by its tail and flung its corpse into the garden. I am sure it was mere coincidence that it was flung at the fence of our loud party throwing neighbours :) After hunting high and low we found the mouse stashed in a box. It waxed lyrical and bitter on its predicament, and was released (again next to the neighbours fence). On Halloween we headed out to Craigavon park for a picnic. I dressed the boys as pirates and we had a blast! The weather was gorgeous and the boys really enjoyed themselves. A little orchard was planted opposite our playground, across the stream and K and I and C in the stroller headed over to the new community orchard which was planted across the stream from our playground. K was more interested in the mural on the wall than the orchard itself but enjoyed the walk, especially as we went on to the playground by the library. The week passed in a blur of meetings and minuting :) Guy Fawkes was then upon us and again our home sounded like we were sited in Iraq. Cameron then decided to destroy us by NOT SLEEPING. This has gone on ever since Guy Fawkes. The combination of a cold, fireworks and his first tooth have turned mr I sleep 8 hours a night into mr I wake every 85 minutes. Sigh. Some hard work has gone into trying to get his daytime sleeps sorted and last night we had slightly over 2 hours before each waking. I miss sleep! Today we picked our first strawberry which C shared with Chris. K declined to participate. We need to plant nasturtiums so that we can pickle their seeds. Apparently they are just like capers - but cheaper! K has dealt instant death to any tomato or capsicum seedling foolish enough to try and grow in my pots. They are now cunningly hidden throughout the house where he can't dig them up or tip out the soil. I plan to make C a new hat this weekend and also need to ..... see next entry

The world's longest blog post - ever! Part 3

It was the best labour weekend ever!!
The sun shone, the boys sang, and life was good!!
K's second dance lesson went well. He participated for most of the class and I was really proud of him!! We headed out to Olympic Park and he had a blast. We also headed out to Craig Avon Park for a picnic on Sunday. Colin and Ros joined us and we had a blast. I will however prepare a picnic basket with all the essentials pre-packed and ready to go :) The weather has been sunny and hot all weekend and I got all our washing done. I can't wait for summer. When we arrived at Playcentre on Friday I opened K's door to see him beaming at me, hat on his head. That's my boy!!!

The world's longest blog post - ever! Part 2

The train trip - from hell!!!
On friday K was promised a trip on the train. The previous friday we had gone to the Sid and Scrat show which was just a glorified decorate a gingerbread man event. K did enjoy decorating and eating his man, and eating C's as well. Anyway we had a blast and I found K's xmas present at Toyworld - which i was well pleased about. We headed into Warehouse Stationery to collect and pay for the Plunket newsletter and I was feeling pretty chipper when an idiot of a train conductor got my childs arm stuck. We were waiting by the doors and he grabbed for K to "help him out" K flinched away with his hand pressed on the door which whooshed open, sucking his arm into the side of the door. The pratt just stood there tucking on K, unable to understand that he was STUCK! I leapt across, jammed my knee into the door and made anough space to free the arm while the conductor just stood there, wringing his hands. Though he recovered enough to tell my weeping son to "man up". Only my great respect for the laws of New Zealand and my equeally keen desire to get my child to a doctor left him able to walk. Twit!! Anyway, K was fine, some mild bruising but nothing more. I took him on the train soon after and he isn't scared of trains thank god. The occassion of this trip? Monday evening, a fundraising Plunket event that Chris was supposed to babywrangle to allow me to set up. I was to be there at 6. I called Chris at 5:40. At 5:45 I was racing for the train with with boys in the stroller. Chris had been delayed and had forgotten about the event....grrrrrr. Apart from many run ins with the police, multiple meetings to attend and minute and a newsletter to prepare for - life has been pretty calm.

The world's longest blog post - ever! Part 1

It was a dark and stormy night when K came howling out of the night and into our bedroom..... the rather unsettled weather of the last month has not been doing our sleep any favours alas. Luckily, now that the weather is becoming more settled, these episodes are beginning to become fewer (ie 3 uninterrupted nights in 2.5 weeks). The time has been absolutely jam packed! Minutes have been taken, children excursed, more minutes done, trips undertaken, events setup and children to enjoy.... so, to begin....
Chris has gone on a pickling binge! Every jar in the house has been washed and filled with pickled red cabbage, pickled onions or rhubarb relish. While the results are lovely - especially the relish - the pungency of the vinegar seething through the house was a bit hard to take. He vanished off to Gilmours to see Chef Doyle last saturday when K had his first dance lesson and was gone for hours. HOURS!! It was a terrifying moment seeing him struggle through the door laden down with bags haha. K's first dance leson went well. We walked there. I am trying to walk more with the stroller as this should have dual benefit of exercising me and conserving petrol. K enjoyed it but only participated in a fifth of the class. There were also episodes of lying on the floor weeping that he had to follow orders :) Obviously I am not enough of a mean mummy! We also planned on going to playcentre on Monday. As I gazed out the window at the teeming rain I mentally scratched Playcentre from my list of "things to do today". Instead we stayed home, and cleaned. The boys were a big help :P Speaking of the boys C is well on his way to crawling. He rolls around on his mat like a maniac and my days are punctuated with excited goos then pitiful shrieks... I trot over, flip him over and the cycle resumes.... oy vey. In other exciting boy news K managed to break the clip on the side of the high chair. We now have a ravenous 5 month old baby and no high chair.... yay! We have also now ended the PORSE sessions. By going to Playcentre on tuesday (rainy Monday remember) I was able to mitigate the blow for Kieran. Truth be told he hasn't mentioned it or seemed to care at all. Which is fantastic. We also headed out to Cornwallis beach - the boys just loved it and I could hardly tear K away. All that digging. It was so good in fact that Chris and I went out there again on the weekend. K had a blast - especially as he was allowed to dig to his heart's content. I must pronounce a death knell on the poor beetroot and capsicum seedlings that I so happily planted in recent weeks. K's furtive diggings in their pots have killed them all.

Yowsa

Um, what have I been doing recently? Let's see, I have worked on Plunket newsletter, minuted meetings, wrangled kids, dinged the car, cleaned, cooked and baked and attended a Fireman Sam show..... right, and now for the details! Let's see... K has been put on the list for the Rosier Rd kindy and I have fingers crossed that he will be at the top of the list when they open in January after the Xmas break. I have been head down with Plunket stuff and am absolutely knackered. When you have no family for emergency babysitting life can get a bit fraught when one is stressed and needing some space from shrilling kidlets. And why would I be tired? K maybe slept through the night TWICE in the last 3 weeks. He is terrified of the rain and wind, and panics when he wakes to rain in the dark.... even though he has a lovely nightlight in his bedroom. C trucking along beautifully, apart from his obsession with snuggling and snackin' - simultaneously! Now that the weather is improving we are using the stroller a lot more. This has the benefit of keeping me "trim" and saving petrol dollars :P On friday (with a mere 3.5 hours of sleep under my belt) I walked (in the rain) to the train so K could go see the Fireman Sam show in Henderson. Fireman Sam had one of the most "interesting" Welsh accents it has ever been my privilege (I use the term loosely) to hear. The show was diabolical. It is amazing the things you do as a parent!! The weekend was spent preparing preserves, baking, babywrangling and no cleaning. Somehow that always seems to get deferred to the weekdays :O. Our poor neighbours - the ones we visit all the time - locked themselves out of their house on Sunday ... $160 for the locksmith!!!! We are planning a key swap to prevent future incidents. Today I ripped through 3 loads of washing, hung out same, handwashed dishes, ran dishes through dishwasher, prepared dinner from scratch and then lay on a picnic blanket next to my sons looking up at the sunshine through the trees in our garden.... then headed out to the playground with the boys - I love warm Spring days! Tomorrow is Porse for K (his 2nd to last session), Wednesday is the new mum's coffee group, Thursday a trip to the beach and Friday is Henderson to view Sid and Scrat. Hopefully it is better that the Fireman Sam effort!!

Alas, I managed to reverse into a fence and mailbox when collecting K from his last PORSE session. Luckily the fence remained upright (it was a close thing) and the mailbox was only slightly dented... the car however looks like an Indian painted for the warpath - and being in a fistfight :( I have to get on to a panelbeater for a quote sometime this week. What else.... lots, but it is all on the lines of taking K to parks, playgrounds etc and running around like maniacs. One thing I do remember every day is how lucky I am to have such a lovely family, to have a loving (if somewhat eccentric) husband, 2 lovely, naughty, healthy little monkeys, my health and the prospect of a summer picking strawberries....

Snuggle!!

Our playdate over at Erins last week went very well - apart from Chunky soiling himself in a dramatic fashion :) We headed out to Kym's for a Wii date. Cheeky had a blast playing with Alex - and the vast collection of cars. Kym also lent me some clothes for Chunky. The weekend did not go so well. Not only did my email completely sh&t itself but the weather was wild, wet and stormy. Since Cheeky is terrified of rain and wind at night this meant minimal sleep for Chris and I. We wound up playing swap the beds as we navigated between our bed and the mattress in Cheeky's bedroom. I then had a Skype meeting on sunday. This went well as Chunky was happily snoozing on my lap for the duration. On monday Ruth called to say she was out West. Yay!! So I invited her out to playcenter, where the boys had a blast and then we headed back home where more playing occurred :) Tried to put Cheeky down for a nap but the wind scared him too much, and I took the boys up to the shops and library. Pausing only to rescue more ducklings we had a great time, despite the wind, and that evening I headed off to a Plunket meeting in the torrential wind and rain!!! Poor Chunky wasn't best impressed either! Ckeeky has headed off to PORSE this morning with his lovely madagascar tupperweare lunchbox and we will visit IKsabelle this afternoon. Good times :)

Post grr grr grr grr Gruffalo

Cheeky is still on a high after the Gruffalo patted him on the shoulder as he ran past..... whereas I am just relieved to be back home, smelling only slightly of second hand yoghurt.
Going to the Gruffalo was fun... but having the living daylights scared out of me by the police was not so much fun ;) Missing getting onto the western m/way due to said police was fairly sucky too :)
We arrived with one little boy happily playing with blocks and the other fast asleep. As always, Cheeky was viciously grumpy and weepy after a too-short nap - and it took a kinder surprise to make him a happy bunny again. He was in alt throughout the play, shrieking at the players, especially the snake Joachim - so called apparently because when people saw him in their houses they say Whak Heem Whack heem (I know! Groan!) but the best moment for him was when (as K puddled about by the stage) the Gruffalo ran past him and patted him on the shoulder. Chunky snacked through the show, leaping like a landed fish at particularly loud moments. Going home was going well until the sirens of a police car erupted directly behind me. Light flashing the whole hog. I was anervous wreck by the time I was ordered to pull over. Luckily they just wanted me to get out the way but I felt like Auckland's most notorious criminal. AND I missed the sodding entrance to the Westen motorway due to it and had to loop through Ponsonby to get back on the motorway. I did however manage to get an hours sleep out of Cheeky which was good going and then whisked both boys up to the library. Tomorrow we have a playdate with Erin, Georgia and Liam and on friday we have a Wii date with Kym. It will be good to see Alex and Bella again too :)

Pre Gruffalo

My god, it has been a while since my last blog entry, non? Let's see... on the monday after father's day Chunky laughed for the first time - a proper laugh that is!! Too cute for words. He is burbling away like anything, and when we peer into the cot in the morning we get a huge smile and these flailing limbs as he desperately emotes "free me!! cuddle me!!" and of course "FEED ME!!" After it, it is usually 8 hours since the last bout of snackin's and that boy has a powerful appetite! That tuesday PORSE was cancelled as Henry's daughter had a nasty tummy bug so I took Cheeky to the craft morning where he was exceptionally good :) It was only after we were home that he acted up, and made me want to disown him :) Steve (TCANZ) also dropped off a mass of survey forms for me to enter into surveymonkey. It was a pig of a job but hey - there's a $100 bucks towards the Christmas pressie fund :) On thursday I took K to Library storyime - and he loved it. We will def be doing that again. On friday I took both boys to the Wriggle and Rhyme session - and Cheeky had an absolute blast!!! So much so that I am enrolling him in dance classes :) Chunky just chilled. The weekend was just noodling about as far as I can remember :) On monday I took the boys to Playcentre where Cheeky just had such a wonderful time. It was a good decision to go there :). Yesterday I took Cheeky down to the library and the playground by the sports fields. He loved it, except that Chunky's backside erupted in a terrifying manner. Despite leaping into the car immediately, all 3 layers of Chunky's outfit were terribly stained. I have them soaking in Napisan but feel it is a forlorn hope. Chunky's outputs have a permanency that outdoor paint companies can only strive to emulate :) Isabelle came around with her 2 kids and they rampaged around the house - good fun. I offered her the 2 spare tickets to the Gruffalo play - and she accepted. Her little boy was taken by his daddy on the weekend and when I asked how her son had liked the play she said her husband had really enjoyed the play, and and, oh yes, her son did too :P So today I drive out to Manukau for the show - free tickets, woohoo!!! I have never been to the venue so am going to leave A LOT early in case of getting lost etc. The sun is shining, the kids are happy, bread has been baked, stew is set for dinner and life is good :)

Calloo Callay, it's Father's Day!!!

And to celebrate I let Chris cook a roast dinner, complete with dessert. It was delicious!!! This morning, as he cuddled his 2 boys, I handed him the present that CheekyChops and ChunkyMunky had laboured so hard over. It was a trying time getting that present, so trying that a trip to the orphanage to deposit a certain toddler almost occurred. However, disaster was averted and Chris liked his painting of little boy hands (or at least he said he did, which is good enough for me) - and a bar of chocolate. Yesterday we headed out to ye olde North Shore to collect the exersaucer that I bought cheap on TradeMe. Chunky will be glad of it in a month or so. What else, Friday I went to Playcentre where CheekyChops made his father a Father's Day card and cavorted upon the gym equipment, climbing structures and sandpit. Oh boy, how he loves that sandpit. Next fortnight we sill start buying peapod nappies for him in our bid to begin toilet training :)
Just a short entry today as I am braindead from typing minutes between trying to persuade a wee boy that he is not starving and that he won't be left out on a hillside for the wolfies...., and not looking forward to a frantic morning of cleaning house tomorrow :P

An "interesting" week

Where has the time gone? ChunkyMunky is growing in leaps and bounds, and looks just like CheekyChops did...including his desperate desire to be held/cuddled all the time. CheekyChops celebrated this week by demonstrating his new habit - hitting people. This has severely reduced his popularity in the household as you can well imagine. Monday went well, We didn't go to Playcentre - that is a treat for tomorrow - but chilled out instead. On tuesday CheekyChops had a ball at PORSE, and we visited Isabelle etc in the afternoon. Bandit accompanied us and, upon being denied entrance, prowled about the domicile like a ravenous vampire at a church. This thrilled the kids no end, as you can imagine!!!! Wednesday was stunning - blue skies bathed in sunshine. We took the stroller and hit the library and plunket coffeegroup (where Erin very kindly lent me some clothes for ChunkyMunky... as my jokes about him going naked this Spring were not entirely in jest), before heading home. We had only been home for about 20 minutes when a great wailing and howling arose outside where the rubbish truck rumbled opposite the house. Struck by the level and range of profanity I ventured out (leaving K noodling about in the garden) thinking a dog had been run over by the truck and its owner was going apeshit at the truck when I saw the rubbish man lying on the ground, clutching his lower leg and screaming in agony. An ambulance was phoned and I headed insside for a blanket, towel and bag of frozen veges. I then made the poor lads life a living hell by taking off his shoe, and insisting on icing his leg. It took the ambulance 40 minutes to arrive..... oy vey!!! Between you and me he seemed a bit of a wuss :P It seemed mere moments later that it was 5:30 and time to prepare for dinner. I turned on the oven and gave ChunkyMunky a quick feed. An odd smell began to emanate from the kitchen. Peering into the smoky depths of the (recently cleaned!!!) oven I was horrified to see a thick red substance oozing gently down through the trays. I turned off the oven and frantically tried to remember what red toys we had. Luckily Chris arrived home at this point and the dance of the fire alarms began..... he removing trays and haring off into the garden, smoke trailing in his wake like a noxious comet, and me fanning away the noxious fumes filling the house with a tea towel. I am sure the neighbours marvelled at our antics, with every door and window open to fill the house with icy damp breezes and the 2 of us peering mournfully at the nigh unrecognisable carcass of K's Lightning McQueen lunchbox, while CheekyChops cavorted by the barbeque. It was at this point that I realised that I would not be making the Plunket meeting that night. Indeed, by the time the oven was cleaned, dinner made, kidlets bathed and put to bed I was knackered!!! Today was wet, and cold, and yucky. Both kidlets were little gobshites and I thought fondly of leaving them on an orphanage doorstep. I was able to get them both involved in making a Fathers Day present for this sunday - a Herculean task!!! Tomorrow is Playcentre and on saturday we collect our bought-cheap-on-trade-me-far-cheaper-than-hiring-one exersaucer. I have also fallen deeply in love with Wii and yearn for a console of my own. However at a price tag of NZ$400 this seems some distance away..... Roll on Xmas and birthday presents I say!!!!

Lightning crashes....

and it certainly did last night! Around 4:30am a noise like a gigantic bell being rung followed by an immense rumbling sound filled the air in the crescent. Chris and I were woken by it and were unsure whether the skip at the building site had been hit by a car or what had happened. The humongous noise was followed by torrential rain - so loud, with raindrops so large they sounded like hail, along with lightning and thunder. It was at this point that we realised we had experienced a lighting strike directly above us. Yowsa!!! Poor CheekyChops was awakened and afrightened, but ChuckyMunky slept blissfully on :) In other news I am in the long slow process of transferring all my files and email across onto the laptop - but was able to tear myself away to watch The Proposal with Sandra Bullock. I enjoyed it :) The weather continues truckloads of rain.....yippee :( and I have fallen in love with Wii. Alas, the cheapest one I could find was $400 Aiiieeeee, oh well, nevermind :P ChunkyMunky has bounced back from his immunisations, and was grinning and chortling like a loon today.
Tomorrow is going to be a quite day at home, as I have a Plunket meeting in the evening. Tuesday is PORSE, wednesday is the Plunket coffeegroup and thursday is free. Friday will be Playcentre - yippee!! Mind you, there is a fair bit of phone calling re the coffeegroup that I have to do - sux to be me!!

Raider of the lost lunchbox.....

CheekyChops has a lovely Lighning McQueen lunchbox which he adores. This is hardly surprising as he is a fan of all things CARS. Anyway, on tuesday morning as I packed the last few items into his lunchbox he watched with some interest before wandering off to watch the WOTWOTS on tv. I gave him his breakfast of which he ate all of 3 teaspoons worth. Sigh. A few minutes later he scurried over to his little train backpack and pulled out his lunchbox which he carried off to his highchair. Placing it on the tray he opened the lunchbox and selected a salami stick and an oaty slice for his breakfast. Using the lunchbox as the container for all meals seems to have promoted a better appetite for CheekyChops. Go the lunchbox!! He had a lovely time at Henry's - and as I arrived he was happily playing Henry's piano :) My craft morning went well - apart from ChunkyMunky pulling a surprise poonami on me. I used all my wipes..... Oy vey! On wednesday CheekyChops was in high spirits and had a blast at the Plunket coffeegroup. After I got home he puddled around while I developed the mother of all migraines. ChunkyMunky kept crying whenever I put him down and eventually, after the big one was put to bed I took ChunkyMunky up to bed with me. I had a nice 30 minute nap, and afterwards some panadol which seemed to take care of the headache. Upstairs 2 little boys slept, all snug and warm, while I frantically cooked a pork, apple and caramelised onion pie, in a caramelised onion pastry crust. I thought it turned out ok :) Then I drove out to the coffeegroup dinner with my pie. It was a lovely evening apart from my headache coming back - at one stage I honestly thought I was going to throw up.. luckily Suzie has some panadol etc that I was able to take :) It was a lovely evening and as I drove veeeeery slowly home (the lights were killers, and the rain did not aid my driving) ChunkyMunky chilled in the back. He was a very good date for the dinner - calm and quiet haha. I got in the house and fed the kidlet and poured myself into bed. It was 11pm after all :) On thursday CheekyChops headed off to Henry's and ChunkyMunky got to take a ride in the stroller up to the doctor's where he had his 3 month immunisations. He lay on the table and cooed and gooed at us - I felt like such a traitor knowing what was coming. He did have a shriek but it was over quickly and he settlerd down for a cuddle and some snackin's. We picked up CheekyChops and I had a chat with Henry. We will only have PORSE on a tuesday from here on in. ChunkyMunky was fairly lethargic thursday afternoon - and so was I. We had the Plunket nurse visit and K woke up just as she was leaving. Afterwards I really struggled to stay awake. All ChunkyMunky wanted was to cuddle down on me and sleep. His big brother wanted cuddles ansd stories too. Thursday night was a difficult one for Chris - and not because of Chunky, who woek every 4 hours in need of a cuddle and a feed - but because K kept coming into the bedroom every 20 minutes from 2am until Chris got up at 4am. Needless to say he was not in the cheeriest of moods!! Today is rainy and I have a very sad little baby so will stay home and cosset him :)

Brain fade

Gosh, it has been a week since mum and Mike left and I can't remember much of this week. Wednesday was the usual Plunket coffeegroup - which went well. On thursday I had a plunket committee meeting. I was also supposed to have a Plunket nurse visit - but she was sick and cancelled. I also found that the WINZ subsidy had been paid to Henry - which was good. However, Henry is growing to appreciate the work involved in caring for CheekyChops.... and $6 an hour just doesn't cut it :). On friday I visited Suzie and CheekyChops had a fantastic time playing. On the weekend we just chilled. We spent the the time cleaning up the house and going food shopping. We started our diet today so had to make sure we were stocked up. As it is I will be doing a vege shop tomorrow, before my craft morning before I collect CheekyChops. I also have to type up minutes too. Today I took CheekyChops to Playcentre where he had a blast. The weather was torrential rain but cleared to blue sunny skies by 9:30am -which is when we departed for Playcentre. CheekyChops had a meltdown at the end though and we dashed home and he was put straight to bed, where he had a refreshing 1.5 hour nap. This afternoon, as we left the house for the library, a fire engine came into the circle and the firemen waved at CheekyChops who was well overawed - but managed to wave back :P. The library visit went well, was followed by a quick trip to the local playground and culminated in a pizza dinner and bath for the Cheeky one. Alas, his younger brother took substantially more effort to get down (she says, typing at 9pm at night, having just deposited his ass in the cot!!!). On thursday ChunkMunky has his 3 month immunisations - and we should have a grand old time with that!!

Happy Families

Mum and Mike have just left. They left to a greyish sky and we have now enjoyed torrential rain and a general chilling down of the temp.... A good time to leave methinks :)
They arrived on Tues but only arrived late - 2 hours after I expected them. I did the usual things like check to make sure there were no reported accidents etc but it turns out their rental car agency had put a map of North Island into the car rather than the more useful Auckland map. On Wednesday they had the delight of coming along to my plunket coffeegroup. Mum taught Erin how to knit, and she seemed to really enjoy it. An hour of interacting with children - with K being a bit of a handful was enough to send them off to the shops. Lucky devils!!! And when they returned they brought a laptop. I was sooooo excited. It it amazing. It does everything. It is soo cool. Hehehehehe I am very very lucky!!! On thursday we headed into Henderson looking for several things, including a Lightning McQueen backpack for Kieran. Nothing of this ilk could be found - but mum and Mike found a lovely train backpack which K really likes. It matches really well with the Thomas trains that they brought. K loves them so much that he has slept with them for several nights :) On friday we headed out to MOTAT. I had been planning on driving but.... the car wouldn't start. Boy, was I ticked!!! We managed to squeeze into the little yellow car however, though I am still not sure how! It was a greyish blustery day with occasional drizzle. Much better than I expected from the forecast!! We marvelled at various pieces of technology and hopped onto the tram to check out the aeroplanes. K had a marvellous time when he discovered a pedal mini plane. He, and another boy, hopped into it and had a marvellous time. It wasn't so marvellous getting him out though!!! I eventually had to let him race around the hangar to work off his disappointment. On saturday Chris toddlerwrangled while we headed out to do some clothes shopping. It was exhausting - but worthwhile and I got some lovely things!! Mum has great taste :) I managed to pick up a nice present for a friends daughter too - useful as her 1 year birthday was the following day! Melita's birthday party was lovely and K had a great time. We (ie Chris) gave the car a good run to make sure the battery was nice and charged. This seemed to keep it idling a lot better. On Monday we planned to take the train into town to meet Chris for lunch at the Wurst House. We were, until I looked at the cost!! It would have cost us all $30 for the trip. Instead we drove. We started walking up to the University and when we reached the overbridge between Albert Park and AUT K had a major meltdown and had tantrum after tantrum, rolling around on the ground and screaming. I had to pick him up and carry him, cursing roundly the entire time. Difficult to do when one has a baby strapped across one's chest you know! We finally managed to drag ourselves into Light Metals where we found a native guide. This kindly Canadian directed us through the rabbit warren that is Chris's workplace and we gratefully passed ownership of K to him. Lunch was lovely and was finished off with some Kapiti icecream. It was a struggle to keep K awake on the way home - but we managed, and he slept fr almost 3 hours!!! The Baby Factory called to say that K's new booster seat was waiting. I was really thrilled to get one for $90 - mcuh cheaper than regular retail. K seems really happy with it,m and I have washed the covers for his old carseat. C will now be moved into it, and we will use the stroller more when out and about... though I have been developing great arm muscles carrying the capsule. C's sleeping has been fantastic (we got another 7.5 hour stretch last night!) and he has been a snackin' fiend. Judging by the little white bumps on his lower gums there may be teeth coming soon. Then Monday night I went out to dinner. It was an intimate dinner - just me, mum, Mike and Cameron. The meal was delicious and the conversation wonderfully adult :) Today dawned clear after some more torrential rain this morning. But then it blued up and we had a lovely time at Cornwall Park where we devoured a Devonshire tea and walked around enjoying the sunshine. We then headed back to Glen Eden where we collected Kieran and took the boys to Parrs Park where one frolicked, and one frolicked in my arms, and 2 adults swung on the swings, and played with a ball. I cursed the fact that I hadn't brought my camera.
Tomorrow is coffeegroup.... I believe it will rain - oh joy!

Panic and Pandemonium

Where has the time gone? Gosh, the week has just flown by. The weather on friday was beautiful so I decided to take K and C into Henderson on the train. K is very fond of trains. I also decided to take C in a sling and to let K walk - and left the stroller at home. Big mistake. Huge. We got into Henderson with K enraptured by the trip and headed off to the library. Excitement soon palled, especially as I had to pause to feed the snackin' fiend. I suggested that we leave the library to have some food- which initiated a massive meltdown by K at the foot of the stairs...sigh. I can now confirm that one can carry a child while an infant is strapped to one's chest - but that it is very difficult. I carried/dragged the child to Dr Shoe where I collected Chris's shoe. The repair looked great. You couldn't tell that Chris had ruptured the stitching pushing the car. K continued the tanty, then magically regained some semblance of normality. I purchased a chocolate man for him and we headed into the playground. All was well until some older boys entered the area (ages 7 or 8). One of them shoved K out of the way and this was too much for my litle boy. We had another massive tanty. I finally managed to get him onto his feet and moving but just as we approached the station I saw the train pull in. We could not have caught it. Feeling somewhat desperate as I now had 30 minutes to kill before the next train I headed into Toyworld where K was fascinated by the train sets - and even more fascinated by the Tonka trucks - Chuck the truck I think. They rolled and somersaulted their way along a track and he was in love. Luckily I spotted a wooden Iggle Piggle toy on the remainder table next to the trucks - for $10 from $30. I pounced and lured K away. We scurried to the train with 1 tanty on the 100 metre trip, then headed home - with one tanty on the way. Well, it was a lot of walking for a little boy I must say!! Once home a huge meal was consumed - wow. He even ate most of MY lunch!!! A lovely nap for all followed when I tricked him into having a snuggle on the mattress on the floor. On Saturday we were going to go to Craig Avon but it rained. We are talking torrential downpour. Dvd's were watched and children minded. Baking was attempted and consumed. Sunday passed in a similar fashion :) K is slowly getting back to normal re sleeping habits. I rearranged his bedroom - which seemed to help, removed the pictures from the walls, and we have had to sit in there with him. Despite this, he still screams the house down when placed into his Pj's. However, last night, for the first time in ages, he did NOT visit us in the wee smalls. Yay Kieran!! Cameron thrilled us too with a stretch of sleep lasting 6.5 hours. Woohoo. I was going to go to Playcentre today but K was in a bit of a mood and by the time I fed and dressed the boys and myself it was past 10am. Instead we stayed home and I changed around the toys to titillate K's interest. I also attempted to tidy the house - an exercise in futility if I have ever seen one! Tomorrow is the craft morning - hopefully I can get the cloth book tacked together - and maybeI can get the kitchen floor scrubbed... Maybe :)
Mum and Mike arrive early afternoon tomorro and stay for a week. It will be fun ;)

Dazed days

This sleep palaver of K's is an absolute nightmare. Yesterday I had to take his bed out of his room, strip and make it afresh and put it in the pc room - where he could conceivably feel more comfortable with it. I put the mattress down on his floor instead and we spent much of yesterday afternoon lying on it (that would be C and me) while K perched cautiously next to us reading books. He was comfy enough with the matress after several hours that him sleeping on it seemed an option. We all bathed together and then Chris took K in hand to get his pj's on for bedtime. OH. MY. GOD. Some time later K was dressed and the tears hadmostly dried up and then Chris tried to get him to lie down on the mattress. Some time passed... C had dropped off to sleep so I tried my hand at enticing our tired (no nap) boy onto the mattress. Eventually he crawled in on his hands and knees like a little beaten dog. All went well with me lying down and him snuggled next to me. I read the Gruffalo, pausing to feed my now wakeful infant, and K fell asleep just before the end. He woke at 11 but I dashed in, lay next to him and he then slept the night through.... so a partial success. He is at PORSE today and we may go up to the library this afternoon. Depends on whether the rain keeps falling out of the sky :)

Big Brother's watching you

Kieran loves Cameron. He comments often on "our baby", names him as Cameron, and lays many a sloppy kiss upon the little one's face. C for his part is riveted by his big brother and thinks the world revolves around K... I still get number one position - but that is due to the fact that the boy is highly fond of his snackin's. It was a hard night last night. Both boys actively resisted sleep. This was made worse by the fact that K was up and down like a yoyo the previous night (while C clocked up his first 7 hours snooze). K had not had his daytime nap and so was fraught and overtired - though he ate beautifully throughout the day. C snacked whenever he got a chance and was too excited by playcentre to sleep more than an hour total. By 3 I gave up and bundled both boys off to the library in the stroller - it being a fine and sunny day. After some shrieking C fell asleep in the stroller as we headed home - via the local playground. We had met up with Isabelle at the library and, as both sets of children obviously hungered for the wind through their hair, we decided to leave the sheltered confines of the library. K had a blast on the swing and slide and only reluctantly departed. I prepared cinnamon swirls which Chris baked.... I myself would have baked them a little less than he did, but the crunchy morsels were very tasty, if I do say so myself :) I decided to cancel the craft morning and kick about with C at home Tuesday morning while K is at PORSE. I have pretty much decided to end PORSE at the end of September. The weather willbe better, the boys will be older... hopefully this is a good decision :) In other news C has had a growth spurt and barely fits into size 0-3 months clothes and will def be into the next size imminently - he was so small just a few weeks ago!! He coos and goos and cheeps a lot now - very sweet :)
K was a diabolical little beast - he finally went to sleep just before 4am in the morning after coming in and out of our room, having multiple tanty's and being a right little gobshite!! And where did he sleep? Next to me, after climbing up onto the bed while I "slept".

A farmer's life for me...

K had a great time on Thursday with Henry and we walked up to the library once both boys had awoken from their naps. On Friday we had the MAGS farm trip. The day dawned foggy. I was happy with fog, as rain would have been diabolical. However, it soon warmed up dramatically, with clear blue skies and warm sunshine - it was lovely. We arrived at the farm to see 10 piglets milling around with ducks and chickens. K nipped over like the wind and cavorted mightily. His enthusiasm faded when we watcheda cow being milked and he absolutely declined the treat of either milking or stroking the cow. The cow in fact received strokes from all three mothers, and none from the 3 toddlers :P We then walked down a slippery slope to watch the calves receive their milk - a high energy performance that riveted the 3 young ones, and then turned our attention to sundry other pigs, cows and sheep. The finale was the opportunity to feed a lamb with a bottle. I wish I could say K was first in line for this -but he wasn't. Most of the time he wasn't even in the room, being too busy crawling through the sheep pens, running down the ramp, playing with the fire hose and climbing a heap of stones. But he had a good time at least. He had such a good time he was in bed mere moments after we arrived home :) The weekend just flew by. Saturday we took the boys to CraigAvon Park where K galloped around twice, collecting interesting branches, leaves and pinecones as he went - and jumping into puddles as he went. He had a blast. C slept for nearly the entire time :) On Monday I took the boys off to Playcentre to see if it would suit us better than Oratia Playgroup. Hell, yeah. The people are friendlier and the facilties are much better. K had heaps of fun and C enjoyed himself too :) This afternoon we are heading up to the library and I will do some baking upon our return. I am sure K will appreciate that :)

These boots were made for walking...

K has taken to walking like gangbusters. I suspect that the new stroller is not quite as comfortable as the old and that this has spurred on the change in attitude. Whenever it is a nice day I take the stroller up to the shops/library/Plunket rooms etc. On Monday we headed up to the Glen Eden kindy to put K's name on the waiting list. It makes sense, as we will be here until July (after that, who knows!). K had a great time and the Kindy looked good, with very nice staff. K walked all the way to the Kindy, holding my hand as we waited at lights etc.I was so proud. I was happy too, because on our train trip last week he flung himself onto the ground to have a tanty while we were crossing the road at an major intersection in Henderson. Blind with rage would not be an innacurate description of me that day, and I discussed his traffic safety failings, and why he needed to hold hands when we crossed roads at great length.... maybe it got through :P After the Kindy visit his excellent behaviour continued with him walking back, holding my hand for the train crossing and traffic lights etc. We then headed into the pet strore where puppies were ignored in favour of rabbits. After the pet store came the library where we played on the rocking horse, read books, wrestled teddies etc etc. Alas, this idyll was brought to an end by C producing ominous pouring noises from his backside, followed by a spreading yellow stain on his onesie (and my pants!!!) I thought the other mother there would die as she tried to contain her laughter when I announced to K that C needed a change and that "mummy would quite like to change her pants too!" Eventually I had to bribe him with pikelets to leave - and he walked all the way home. I was super impressed. He had a ball with Henry on Tuesday, while I headed off to a craft morning with coffee group girls. I managed to get the Bazoople cloth book for C cut out - that's all - but the morning was fun. Today I took the stroller up to the rooms. K was walking like a dream when I knocked him flat with the stroller, causing consternation and tears. It probably hurt quite a bit! In my defense I was trying to come up alongside him so that "if" something happened I was able to prevent it. He wound up riding to coffeegroup and being a sulky grommet until we left. I spend half the time while in the rooms spraying the toys with a bleach solution - naturally, these were the toys that K and the other kids then wanted to play with - immediately! I now reek of bleach! Phew! K did walk home like an angel though, indulging in puddle jumping the whole way - in which he was actively encouraged by his mother. C is cooing and chortling and giving us all big smiles. He is not fond of tummy time and prefers to be upright, the better to see the world. We shall have to hire an exersaucer shortly - to stimulate those litle brain cells haha. Dinner tonight is a mystery - though I may investigate the shops as I need to collect some library books and buy some yeast this afternoon.

When he's good, he's very very good...

Gosh the week just flew by! We didn't go to the MAGS farm on friday as numbers were too low and several people had forgotten about it so we are going this friday instead. It will be heaps of fun methinks! I don't know what happened to the weekend - it seemed to vanish in a haze of breastfeeding, baking and chores. K wakes up several times a night still - damn those ear infections!! Last night I had fallen asleep after the 2am feed and slowly surfaced to wakefulness to a slow and sinister chant. A shadowy form leered down at me, huskily whispering "milk... milk... milk" I appreciated the low volume as Cameron has been quite wakeful and desirous of snackin's over the weekend. The "milkman" received no milk, but got a cuddle before being tucked into bed. About 15 minutes later I awoke again to see a small form being carried out of the bedroom by a lurching, shambling figure (not a drunken kidnapper, but his father). We all headed out food shopping this afternoon - something we were dreading as K's behaviour at the supermarket previously has not always been stellar (cough, cough). Today he was an angel! He helped push the trolley, got items off the shelf, placed items in the trolley and was cheerful the entire trip. It was a pleasure going food shopping with him and we made sure to tell him how thrilled we were by his behaviour. He has started saying "Thank you" when given things - and it is just adorable! We visited his great grandma on sunday as she had a bag of toys for him - including his Grumpy's old aeroplane. K loved it and drove it up and down his father's chest quite happily. Today I had a Skype meeting that I needed to attend/minute. Naturally Cameron woke up screaming 5 minutes into the meeting and I wound up breastfeeding for the entire hour. He fell asleep 5 minutes before the meeting ended - typical! He was happy, and I was just relieved it wasn't a video call haha. At 9 weeks old Cameron is doing a lot of smiling, leg kicking and utters coos and makes interesting noises. You can also hear him fill his nappy from across the room. K is now able to inform us of his brother's impressive farting ability.... should we not hear a bottom eruption for ourselves a shriek of "Fart! Fart!" will let us know that C has yet again proven himself his father's son :P We have a big week planned and it should be fun!

... and ears, and throat - oh my!!

I cannot believe the perfidy of mechanics performing WOF checks!! The WOF that we had done before the car was purchased indicated no problems with the brakes. When the car was seen we found that the pads had been worn away to bare metal. So that little repair cost us over $600! Ouch!! However the car drives beautifully now - which is something. I plan to call said WOFers - and ask for the $50 back. Well the last week of School holidays just flew by! We headed out to Plunket coffeegroup on Wednesday - but were the only ones there. Not a problem, and K enjoyed playing with the toys. On thursday Ruth and her 3 young charges came over and little Mr Lethargic curled up on the couch and fell asleep. That night things took a turn for the worse and he started running a fever. On friday Kym came over with Alex and Bella. K was tucked up in bed - he put himself to bed that morning - so I KNEW he wasn't feeling well. Alex popped upstairs to say hello to him, and K, like Lazarus, arose from his sickbed and came downstairs and had a play. He ate nothing however but seemed fairly frisky and happy. This is why I didn't take him to the doctors. His fever spiked and fell and spiked again over the weekend - and he clung, limpetlike to his father. Poor Chris got 9 hours sleep over Friday/Saturday and Sunday - that's 9 hours in total for the 3 nights. Poor Chris. I whisked K off to the Dr's on Monday where we discovered that K has tonsilitis and an ear infection in both ears. He does nothing by halves that boy!! Forcing antibiotics upon him (stashed in the milk as he refused to ingest them any other way) has produced a marked improvement and we had a frisking happy boy today - although somewhat prone to sudden meltdowns - I guess that comes with the territory. In happier news the Daphne is perfuming the garden as it has blossomed beautifully. Chris also brought home some BabyGap socks that I asked Dr James to procure on her jaunt to the wilds of Cornwall. She is a knowing one, that Dr James, becuase she brought back socks in brown, red and blue - which coordinate perfectly with the colours of Kieran's winter wardrobe :P She also brought back a little top for Cam -which has a teddy on it shrieking "Feed Me!" So appropriate :) I had hoped K would improve markedly once the drugs took effect and he did, but we had to cancel his PORSE morning. Sniff sniff. However he slept until 9:50am and then had a 3 hour sleep in the afternoon so he was obviously knackered. Cameron is sleeping well too, with us getting a 6 hour stretch at night - followed by a 3 or 2 hour block.....yippee!! Go Cameron! I took K along to coffeegroup today. I decided to take the stroller and timed it so I got halfway there when the rain bucketed down and arrived at the rooms as the rain stopped. Oh Yay!! Today was also the first day since Thursday that K deigned to eat - a burnt crumpet, a gingerbread man and an oaty slice. Tomorrow K goes to Henry's and on Friday we head of to the Mt Albert Grammar School Farm - which K should love!! Fingers crossed. I also plan to buy a student membership to MOTAT so that should make K a happy boy.

Firsts

Well, it has been a rubbishy weekend!! It started badly by the lawnmover disintegrating as Chris mowed the berm outside the house. It got destroyed so well that there is no possible way that it can be repaired. Joy. You can imagine how happy we were. The only bright point in the whole debacle was that the lawns had been mown before the mower went to the great junkyard in the sky. On saturday afternoon as we headed out to go food shopping we discovered that the car wouldn't start. Kieran had been playing with the lights, which had drained the battery. We couldn't get the car jump started from Chris's little truck and, when we rolled the car back into the driveway Chris tore both his shoulder muscle and the stitching out of his shoe. Horrified at the expense (and this was going to be a tight fortnight as it was!) Chris remembered that one of his workmates had a trickle charger - which he drove off to collect. On sunday we cautiously hoped for the best and initially things looked good. The battery was charged, we all hopped into the car and attempted to reverse out of the driveway. The car appeared welded to the driveway but finally reversed with a bit of a jerk. We headed out to Western Springs to give the car a bit of a run, and settle in the battery charge. K had a wonderful time. It was a blue clear - and very cold - day and he gallivanted about the lake, while we followed in his wake. Cameron snoozed happily against his fathers chest throughout the expedition. We then headed off to Lynn Mall to buy Chris another pair of shoes. Chris was quite concerned about a mysterious scraping noise that had manifested after the departure from Western Springs. By the time we parked he was concerned enough to creep around the car peering at the tyres - but there was nothing overtly amiss. Once inside we procured some shoes for Chris and headed home. It was on the way home that the steering began to play up and us to become worried enough about it to not stop off and buy the groceries. Once home, I discovered my computer crashing. It takes an hour and a half for the computer to boot up , the screen fades to black every 40 seconds and it shuts down intermittently for disc/drive errors. Safe to say it is almost dead. We knew it was on its way out - it is 8 years old after all, and were going to save for a Notebook but now.... So we have to save up for a new lawn mover, new pc, new shoes that actually fit Chris feet properly and let's not forget car repairs. I called pitstop this morning and the car has been booked in for 8am tomorrow. The man offfered to free up space if I wanted to bring it in today - but I don't feel it is safe to drive with the 2 wee Squeaks. Hopefully it is only a minor (and cheap!!) repair. In other news K is being an excellent son, and loving big brother. I took the boys up to the library today - K walked up the hill and some of the way along the road before tripping and deciding riding was better. Amazing how much easier it is to get up the hill when one is not pushing 20kg of kiddies and 12kg of stroller. C is now smiling lots. Seriously, the boy is a grinning fool. Despite this, all the pics I have of his are of him sleeping or looking cross-eyed. Tomorrow I am heading to the Plunket rooms for a scrapbooking session. Yup, it's time K got his scrapbook haha :) Hopefully the weather is as nice as it was today - cos I am walking....

A ha! A ha!

It is a hard life being a Conference Secretary when one is an Engineer. The crippling responsibility would have destroyed a lesser man. Luckily it was Chris who was in charge. The myriad tasks expected of him didn't faze him in the slightest. Task after task was apportioned to him, and completed without him batting an eye... even when he was asked to create an Engineering Department Haka for the conference. Yup, it took 3 weeks of rehearsal by the department, a similar amount of time to choreograph on Chris's behalf and a mere 5 minutes to perform but the triumphant Auckland University Engineering Haka was performed at the close of the conference yesterday. Hideously complex and convoluted (one might almost say "over engineered") it was a triumph of planning and precision.... and you should just see the A3 flowchart that was used to define the steps, chant, and final shriek of triumph!

Disclaimer: No engineers were hurt in the making of this post, and alas, no such haka has been created, or indeed performed, by the Engineering Department. We can but hope though!)