Hoppings and happenings

It's hard to believe that it is a week since I last blogged - woops!!

Babygym on Monday went very well. K threw himself about on the equipment with an enthusiasm usually demonstrated only by Olympic athletes (or lemmings!). I put some pics up on Facebook as well as a little video. He absolutely adores it!! It was hard work getting him home awake though as he blew every iota of energy on the babygym and train trip experience haha. I had to jostle him quite rudely to get us in the door with his eyes open. And they fluttered shut as we passed under the lintel! Luckily we managed to milk him and get him off to sleep.... On tuesday K and I hit the library in the morning before we feverishly cleaned house. Chris has people over every tuesday night so it is a good day to clean ;) K has developed a veritable passion for washing dishes as well as helping me to bake. On tuesday he helped me bake a lemon cake then spent an hour and a half washing the dishes for me. Heeheehee. On wednesday it was another filthy sticky day so of course we hiked the half hour to Mainly Music - stopping briefly to pick up dinner fixing's. K spent much of the session on my lap being Mr Clingy - not surprising as this last week has been marked by incredibly poor sleep for us all. By the time I staggered home I was well over the Mainly Music experience. Once K woke up from his nap we made spaghetti bolognaise sauce for dinner as well as lasagna sauce and nacho mix for thursday. Then K washed the dishes and tormented the cat! On Thursday I went along to coffee group where K had a ball. That night I headed out to the Plunket meeting so only got into bed by 11 - yawn! On friday we headed up to the library but didn't stay for Wriggle and Rhyme as K was knackered. That happens when you get up at 5:30am!! Once home he was asleep by 11:30am! I then got to type the Plunket minutes. On Saturday we had planned to go out to the vet, go food shopping and do sundry other things in the morning... Alas, life got in the way and the only thing that happened was Bandit being whisked off to the vet. You can imagine how appreciative he was!! Alas, our nigh 8 year old pussum needs to get his teeth cleaned (receding gums) with the possibility of having to have teeth removed at the same time. The vet needs to knock him out for the procedure so Mr B will be staying overnight. And we get to pay the princely sum of $250 for this - more if teeth are extracted. Sigh. After K's nap - which was 2.5 hours - he always knows when we rely on him having a short nap somehow! - we headed out to Matt and Katherine's joint birthday party, then fled back home around 6 to purchase bits and pieces for dinner. Chris now cooks dinner on the weekends - and has waxed sarcastic about my apparent inability to refrain from directing operations. It's not true, I tell you haha. I advised him on a butternut risotto recipe and he did a fabulous job!! Colin and Ros came around and it was really good. I staggered into bed at 11pm absolutely knackered. This morning was Chris's sleep-in. So K and I went downstairs and finished washing the dishes leftover from last night. I left him to it while I scrubbed body butter off the glass garden doors. I then fed him - a whole 6 teaspoons of weetbix! Later today we are heading out to see Kym - who has finally delivered herself of a lovely little girl. Then this afternoon I have a TCANZ meeting to attend, then I get to come home, babywrangle and do the typing up of said minutes. Yawn. I was going to take K to playgroup on Monday but am considering having a day off haha!!!

Sunday snoozings

Gosh this weekend has just sped by!! The sleeping thing seems to be working too. There was some shrilling on sat am but K crept into the futon around 6 and snoozed for another hour and a half, whereupon we went downstairs and let Chris have his sleep-in. Then, once he was awake - much later, we headed out to Lynn Mall where the Adventures of Little Wombat was procured for K, along with a present for Finn, the dvd finding Nemo and a little car. What a lucky boy. He was returned to the house in good time for a snack and a nap. Then when he woke up we bundled everyone into the car and headed off to the zoo as my pass expires on the 22nd. Alas, we arrived 5 minutes after the gates were closed for incomers so headed off to Western Springs where K cavorted, chased geese, oohed and aahed at ducks, averted his gaze from eels and had a ball of a time running Chris and I ragged. There were only three attempts to hurl himself into sundry water features too - obviously the fowl scattered about the pathways were more appealing. On sunday there were no early morning squeakings - yay - and at 7:30am I escorted K to the bedroom and his waiting (snort) father. Well, he woke up quickly enough let me tell you once K was leaping about on the bed! Alas, my sleep in seemed to vanish and by the time we had all had breakfast we realised we were running late for the events of the day! We headed out to Finn's 2nd birthday on the shore. Arriving a mere hour late (it's hard with kids!!) K had a ball, and we just managed to get him home before he fell asleep on the car. Once inside and installed in his bedroom he revived and only fell asleep at 1:15!! This scotched my plan to take him out to the zoo that afternoon. Instead K played with water in the garden while I scrubbed out the pool, and repotted the mulberry. The cat, now known as Spots, sauntered out to supervise and spent a few hours dashing about the garden chased by an eager little boy. Chris made dinner, K and I bathed together and then he was popped into bed.... yay for cooler weather and darker evenings - it sure makes the bedtime routine go a bit easier!

I am hoping that Pascal is able to find the stroller that I, after months of research, have deemed the one best suited for us. If he finds it then it can be brought back to NZ with him - saving us a fortune on shipping. Fingers crossed!!

Tomorrow we are heading out to babygym as thursday is coffeegroup - gosh, it seems like such a long time since I was last there!!!

Running Man

Today was a big day for Kieran... he got to WALK with me to the library, and back. He had a ball!!And he walked all the way there bar the hill (both up and down). Unfortunately he turned into a bit of a nightmare after his nap and I wound up having to lever my ass off the couch where I was watching the men's long program (ice skating) to scrub crayon scribbles off the carpet at the top of the stairs and off 7 stairs, then the high chair, the bricks outside and assorted books etc. Bandit is also looking quite dashing with his multi-hued polka-spotted fur. I was ropeable!! Despite clamouring for food when he got given dinner he didn't touch it - sigh. Luckily Chris came home at that moment, forcing me to remove my clenched hands from K's delicate wee neck :P. While Chris checked out the plumbing I took K off to the local playground where he showed off his survival skills by running down the slide, bouncing off a preteen sitting at the bottom and doing a cartwheel/somersault on the (padded- thank god!) ground below. Tears resulted, and then he tried to do it again.... at this point Chris arrived at the playground asking why Bandit was sporting leopard print fur.....I decided that we would have a family walk to the 4-square to buy milk as we were all out. K fairly sprinted up the hill and off to the shops. Chris was trotting pretty quickly to keep up - but I lagged behind..... call it a perk of being 6 months preggers :) K's energy levels remained high and we had a bath together at 8.... from which he was forcibly removed at 8:40pm. Tired? My son? Ha ha ha. Of late he has been rushing into the bedroom around 3am, resulting in me ferrying him back to his room and getting him off to sleep again. Last night I slept in his room with him, and will do the same tonight. I hope by being there for a few nights that I can quiet the moment of panic that propels him out of bed and off to us. It seems to be working. However, last night was rather cold and around 4am a little shivering boy insinuated himself under the covers with me - but hey, at least he slept until 7:45am! Bonus!

Yaaaaawn

Boy oh boy I miss sleep! The weekend went by like a flash. Possibly it felt this way because on Saturday (my sleep in day) K clamoured for attention by my side of the bed. I pulled him up and he had a lovely cuddle. I then kicked Chris out of bed with Kieran. Somehow K was left behind in the exodus..... Once he was reclaimed I snuggled down and prepared to snooze. The door being flung open with le vigeur startled me awake again and I found myself face to face with my son - who was eagerly presenting me with his teddy. This happened again after his father retrieved him and when they finally trickled off downstairs the cat came in and threw up copiously. I gave up and got up. You will be pleased to know that no such issues marred Chris's sleep-in...... I spent much of the weekend staring at my filthy house and looking after my cold-riddled husband... aaah, good times. It was a relief to pack him back off to work haha. I had been going to take K out for a walk on Monday but we had a rough night (sigh) and I was knackered, there were minutes to type and he was weepy and clingy. It was also humid as! Instead I wafted about in my sarong (roowwrr!) and scrubbed down the bathroom vanity, mirror and horribly filthy floor tiles. This is a task that has been passed onto Chris as I have had constant sciatic pain for the last 20 weeks. Alas, it shows. I think Chris thinks that we have household cleaning fairies.... we do, they got knocked up, and they are out of business... time to man up and scrub some floors sweetie :P. I also enjoyed watching the Olympic figure skating. In fact, I signed us up for the special sports package JUST so I could watch the figure skating hehe. On Tuesday life got a little fraught. Unable to cope with the tsunami of toys across my filthy floor I picked up and tidied toys, swept and mopped - and gazed balefully at Kieran as he frolicked across the freshly mopped floor. The heat (and backpain) was wicked. Afterwards we showered together and I took K out for a walk and "we" frolicked about the library and read books and generally had a blast. Well, one of us did. The other was trying to reach an upright position from a sitting position without howling like a timberwolf. We have both developed a love for Baker Delights Chia bread. Mmmm. Now when K is hungry he hurries over to the pantry and brings out the bag of bread :) After his nap I dragged out the vacuum cleaner and K's eyes lit up - yup, it's just like xmas... it happens so rarely that every time he sees the vacuum cleaner it's like a party :) Vacuuming went well, as K bustled about and helpfully repeatedly turned it off (but also on again when requested by his ever so patient parent - me, that's me!!) and pressing the cord retract button so I had to come back down the stairs to pull out the cord again. Finally, just as I had arranged his homemade chicken pie on his plate for dinner I looked over and he had emptied a bottle of water all over the couch and floor and was running through the puddles with filthy wee feet. I could have killed him. Instead, with remarkable restraint for 6pm and with people due at 7ish, I placed him in his high chair with his dinner - which he didn't eat, and cleaned up the mess before subsiding on the couch and glaring at the women's biathlon result - which is where Chris found me a few minutes later. Naturally K was hungry after no dinner and demanded an extra bottle that night. He also only fell asleep at 10pm!! And then awoke at 3am whereupon I left the bed and lay on the futon in his room waiting for him to fall asleep.... An hour later before I could go back to sleep!!!! Anyway, I wasn't well rested this morning haha. Chris had the day off and we had a midwife appointment first thing. You will be pleased to know that Cameron's heartbeat was strong and steady - even tho K was perched on my chest like the Angel of Death.... Afterwards we went to Baker's Delight (the Chia bread, you know!) and off to visit Kym - who seems quite tired of being heavily pregnant in this sticky weather. K enjoyed pointing to numbers and showing off his numerical prowess in return for lashings of parental praise. On the way home from Kym's K's eyelashes fluttered in an ominous fashion and we raced into the vege store to buy him a frozen berry icecream. It kept him awake until we got home- not bad for $2.50, and Chris and I got some of it too! There was a tricky moment when it fell into the carseat off the cone but it was retrieved, shoved firmly into the cone and passed back into waiting paws. Once we were home K and I hustled into the shower and Chris sponged down the carseat. Then he applied for jobs and K and I napped. This arvo I made an apple and plum pie and plan to have a good night's sleep. After all, tomorrow is baby gym!!

Baby Tumbleweed

On thursday K and I headed into Henderson on the train. We caught the early train and popped into the library briefly before heading off to West Wave. For some unknown reason the council has decided to dig up the footpath that has the only pedestrian crossing to West Wave so I had to push the stroller over a hill to get us to the crossing. Once we arrived I took one look at all the equipment and knew K would love it. And he did. Oh boy, how he did. It was 50 minutes of constant on the go - he insisted that I bustle along with him. I was never more thankful to see 11am chime in my life. But K LOVED it. I had been worried, thinking that $65 for 8 sessions was too much - um, hell no!! It was worth every cent. Sadly my camera battery died so I couldn't take any pics - but I will take some next week - you can count on that! Then that night I headed out to the Plunket meeting. I have agreed to be the Secretary for the Glen Eden Plunket so curled up in a chair and took copious notes- which I must type up this weekend! Today I rearranged K's room - and will hang pics on his wall tomorrow. K was a real angel baby today and was a delight to be with. I took him along to Wriggle and Rhyme today but there is a new influx of babies and he is getting a bit too frisky (old) for it - dangnabbit! This afternoon he played in the pool then painted his naked body before chasing the cat around the garden. Good times :)

8 years married

Saturday February 9th, 2002.

I can't believe that it has been 8 years since Chris and I got married in Kerikeri. In some ways it feels like just the other day we got together and in others it seems like we were never apart. Thinking back over the years I realise that I truly am a candidate for sainthood - as is Chris hehe. We celebrated our anniversary in style - by staying home with our son and Chris cooking a Beef Wellington. I had not eaten this lauded dish and was hopeful that it would join the list of family favourites. Chris did good work but I have discovered that I like my pate cold, not hot, and this kept distracting me as I ate. Apart from that it was just lovely! Cards and gifts were exchanged and there was much merriment in the house.

Chris is over the moon tonight as it rained earlier and it is nice and cool. Why, it is 9pm and K is able to have a sheet on him and not sweat half to death. Normally I wake up at 4am (pregnancy SUCKS!) and chuck a light polarfleece on him then - any earlier, and he would.... sweat to death :(

We headed out to Mainly Music today. I left slightly earlier so I wouldn't have to walk so fast. I still sweated like a hog and experienced sciatic pain tho. Sigh. K had a great time afterwards gallivanting around and playing with toys until I realised it was 11:20. He was snatched up and wheeled away - posthaste. Luckily these days he seems to have given up on falling asleep in his stroller. Obviously my pleas to "Don't fall asleep sweetie, or you won't get any milk" have made a lasting impact :)

Tomorrow is K's first session of babygym aka Tumbleweeds. We will hop on a train and head out to Henderson and give it a go. It is $10 a session or $65 a term which is expensive... but I am debating going to playgroup one week and babygym the other which would be a bit cheaper. However, if K loves it and it thrashes the sass out of him we will do the lot :)

Paucity of weekends

Why, oh why, are weekends so short? And why are the nights so nasty and sticky. It makes it very hard to sleep!

This has been a notable weekend in many respects.

I did some sewing for the first time in 2 years.... Kieran made his first loaf of bread.... It is my first weekend sans assignments - in fact, there is no more study for 2010- eeep, and... it is Kirsten's birthday. Wow.

Wee were going to go to the zoo but life happened!! Yesterday morning we headed out to Spotlight and the Warehouse to pick up fixings for a cloth book and to get a rucksack and toddler reins for K. Could not find toddler reins for love nor money. I wanted to get the ones with a little monkey backpack that has a nice long leash attached. Looks like I will have to look on TradeMe for reins haha. I did get the rucksack tho!! Score! K had a measly 1 hour sleep that afternoon and was an absolute nightmare for the rest of the day - sigh. Today went a little better. He still didn't have a great nap but he was much happier, although given to shrieks whenever I had the cheek to go to the toilet without him. I KNOW?!! What was I thinking hahaha. He did however help me knead the bread and made his own little loaf which was baked in the oven. What a clever wee lad he is. We have been reading a lovely book titled The Adventures of Wombat. I have been investigating places that sell it as K LOVES it. Chris and I can now recite all 4 stories after a mere 48 hours of the book residing in our home. He does love his stories!!!

Next week is shaping up nicely. Tuesday is Chris and I's 8th wedding anniversary, Wednesday is Mainly Music, Thursday is TumbleWeeds (baby gym) so K gets a workout and 2 trips on the train! and Friday is Wriggle and Rhyme. Monday is fairly empty. Thankfully fairly empty as much toy tidying and mopping and scrubbing needs to occur!

Jubilation!

After slaving away over lo these many days I have completed my third and final assignment. Yeeehaw baby! However, the last few days have not been uninteresting - oh no, not when I have a Kieran running about. On wednesday we headed out to Mainly music. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself after I got washing done, dishes on, and bread ready for baking. By the time I had walked to MM (a half hour walk) I was hot and sweaty and well over the whole concept of exercise. Kieran however was THRILLED to be back at MM again. I think he was just thrilled to get out of the house to be honest. We headed home via the library and vege store and I got to mull over the joy of being 5 months pregnant and feeling the heat. Normally, this is not a problem. After all, I am the girl who wears a jumper in summer ;) Once we were home I got K down for his nap and worked ferociously on my assignment. It went really well - yay - and I was feeling pretty chipper when K sprang from his bed as fresh as a daisy - if not as sweet smelling... peeeyoooo! I decided to make a Spaghetti Bolognaise sauce, a cottage pie and some garlic pizza bases. There was much slicing and dicing and frying and K climbed up on his chair by the counter and helped me knead the pizza bases (which he then drove his trucks through...oh well). I then realised that we had no spaghetti - whoops. I have to mention here that we only go out in the mornings these days. There are 2 reasons for this. The first is that it is seriously hot and unshaded around 3 when we would go out, and the second reason is that building is commencing on the plot of land by our hill. The sidewalk (the ONLY one going up the hill) has signage, trucks, supplies etc across it making it actively dangerous to leave the circle. It is especially dangerous as signage is on the path about a metre from the main road turnoff onto our hill, meaning I have to leave the path, move onto the road, and then get back on to the path past the sign. No car could stop in time. Seriously. There is NO way they could. And every day I get crosser and crosser that the signage hasn't been moved to a safer location. So, back to the spaghetti. Once I realised I was out (and that there was no way I was risking death again for a packet of pasta) I remembered my birthday present of a pasta maker. I hauled it out and gazed at the instruction manual. In Italian. With NO diagrams. I followed their (pathetic) Italian recipe for pasta, looked at the resulting mess and booted up the internet. Seconds later I had a decent recipe and rolled it out. K now realised that exciting things were happening on the kitchen counter and moved from dabbling his paws in the sink (from a chair) to pushing the chair back to his Optimum Viewing Spot (OVS). From his OVS he noticed a crank handle and his eyes grew noticably brighter. Girding my loins I set out using the machine with the eager assistance of a 2 year old. It was fun. No, really. Much frantic cranking (in both directions, thus negating his efforts) resulted before the Wiggles came on and I was abandoned. I made spaghetti with feverish abandon, ever conscious that my little helper might recall his kitchen duties and return to the fray. He did, but I had finished it all - yippee. He had to settle for more splashing in the dishwater while I washed the sharp knives (KIDDING!!). Dinner was pretty awesome if I do say so, and I shall definitely make pasta again soon. Today I ripped through household chores like a monkey on crack. I got 2 loads of washing done- 1 before 7am! Got 2 loaves of bread mixed and set out to bake - my chocolate, walnut and currant loaf was extremely fine, if I do say so - and K and Chris agree! - beds stripped, aired and remade, laundry hung out, dishes washed, child bathed and dressed, soup prepared and we were off to the postshop to buy a large envelope to send off the assignment (Gone! Precious is gone!!) and then to the library for storytime. K definitely approved of the extracurricular activities starting back up and kept squeaking with joy. It was like having a dancing chicken on my lap haha. Sadly this meant that the little devil didn't go to sleep until 1. Once he was up at 3 I prepped a chicken for roasting and relaxed on the couch while K and Bandit scurried about the playtent in the garden, with wee breaks to investigate the paddling pool and snack plate (Kieran) and the bbq and fence (Bandit).

And then, oh sublime happiness, I got my assignment 2 mark- from the pain-filled contact course, an A-, yay me :)

And tomorrow, well we will head up the library for Wriggle and Rhyme - risking death as we march up the hill - and then we might relax at home for the afternoon.

The pool is appealing - but I have no togs. Sigh.

And the week-end cometh!!!!

Smaug Seal

Kieran is progressing in leaps and bounds. He has become extremely affectionate to his father (also known as the one who did NOT run away and abandon me), to the point where he has a fit when Chris leaves the house in the mornings. I am not sure if this is because K wants to playdrive the car and believes he is being shortchanged, or if he is indeed momentarily sunk in despair upon Chris's departure. He settles down really quickly though haha. He runs over to us, book clenched in paw, hops onto our lap and closes our hands around the book. This is his subtle way of indicating that a story would be a good idea. He also hoards. Every morning, as he scurries into our bedroom, he has his teddy, bunny, a couple of cars and a bottle clenched in his arms. We call this the hoard (it varies, depending on what was in/next to his bed) and have nicknamed him Smaug. As I roll over to the edge of the bed then pick him up for snuggles between us I am not completely enamoured with the hoard, as it always seems to scrape me, or catch in my hair. No doubt it is a passing fad however :). He has taken to his easel the way the irish take to alcohol and it's a rare day when the crayons aren't out. His face is changing too - he is now a real little boy :) He teases us now when we ask him to point to a bird/whale/duck etc, deliberately pointing at something different - just to see our expressions - and loves to puff on our bellies (or in my case, chest). He has also decided that he is the glue that holds this family together and pulls us together for a 3-way group hug, beaming proudly the entire time.

Our only issue is the struggle to get him to bed at a reasonable hour. It is light so late, and so hot and sticky, that he is only going to sleep around 8:30pm or 9!! Not good!

This week-end I have prepared beautiful meals, baked gorgeous loaves of bread - white and a spiced nut, choc and raisin and baked an apple and strawberry tart. Chris had a crack at another sourdough. It sits hunched on its plate, glowering malevolently at me whenever I am in the kitchen..... Meanwhile I have finished minuting the 5 hour meeting I attended on Saturday - God, I hate minuting, and am back onto my assignment. Which I have to finish by Wednesday night so as to print it, bind it and post it. And then... I am free, FREE!!!!!

And.... this is the week that all the activities are back! Yay, so we are golden for Mainly Music, Baby Gym, Library storytime etc - Hallelujah!!!