Walk a mile in those shoes

I am knackered!! Yesterday went well - after I got my crying jag out of the way haha. Chris came home and made dinner. It was wonderful. Then I went to bed early - but couldn't really sleep which was frustrating. Today I was disinclined to leave the bed. Alas, K had other ideas and romped so vigourously over the bed that I eventually hauled my reluctant carcass free of the bedding at 7:10am. Breakfast was made, rubbish was gotten out and husbands were turfed out the door to earn a living. I slumped on the couch with a bowl of all bran while K tucked into his chocolate porridge, We headed off to the Plunket coffeegroup which went really well, and I tidied up some of the toys that had become mixed up when the bookshelf fell on K's head. K was knackered when we got home tho, and was asleep quickly leaving me to make many many phone calls about graduation photos and sundry other bits and pieces as well as trying to arrange a carseat for the wellington trip. Ours is too large and spacious for the airline's liking. I finally managed to source a carseat - but the place was only open9-2... so THAT wasn't going to work. Luckily Rache - a lifesaver if there ever was one! - offered to pick it up for us. I will give her the money at babygym tomorrow and then Chris can collect the carseat hehe. Tomorrow is also Bandit's check up at the vet. I am hoping for a clean bill of health :)

Alas, the rubbish trucks roared into the Circle a mere hour into K's naptime so he was up about 10 minutes after I had laid myself down for MY nap. We headed downstairs and I made rosemary and parmesan bread rolls and hamburger patties. Dinner was delicious, if I do say so myself. K certainly enjoyed it - stunning and amazing us by the amount he put away!

K has fallen in love with his lion toddler harness and brings it over so he can get clipped into it. He then prowls around the house, growling quietly. Today, he brought over the new gumboots and stomped around in them having a whale of a time. He now demands songs by asking for "EIEIO" and Row row row bot". He also LOVES pumpkin pie - consuming it with a relish that has to be seen to be believed :) He also decided 2 days ago that he is now such a big boy that he will walk down the stairs using the railing..... they grow up so fast, sniff sniff......

Highs and Lows

We headed off to Jen's birthday brunch with Mr Sleepy. Why was he sleepy at 11am? Isn't everyone when they have risen at 5am!!! Oy vey. That morning I tried out a crumpet recipe I found online and soon realised two things. One, the author was an idiot who left ingredients out of the ingredient list - and then casually mentions them in the body of the recipe, and two -the cretinous author has no idea how to write a recipe and it drove me crazy. The crumpets weren't even that great after all that palaver!! K did enjoy the brunch though - looking at fish and pigeons and having a whale of a time. I then took part in the SKYPE meeting and started on the minutes (which I only finished at 11pm last night, naughty me!). On Monday however Chris had to stay home as he was feeling very ill indeed. K and I amused ourselves as we would normally and that afternoon we headed out to Henderson as Chris had forgotten to get the WOF done on Sunday - woops! I seized the opportunity to try out K's new lion toddler harness and we hit the Warehouse, looking for gumboots. I also bought a couple of tops -they were too cute to resist! Afterwards we went and played in the playground by Farmers. K had a ball. And, even better, the car got the WOF!! Yay!! Today I took K up to the library, where one of the librarians was having a rotten day, which she generously shared with me. Curse pregnancy hormones!! I walked out of there with K, in tears. I took K down to the Glendale playground and he had a blast. It was so nice and sunny, and he ran around on the grass, dug in the sand and played on the slide. Once home he was more than happy to slide into bed. We had gone out late as I was washing clothes and baking bread hehe. I also booked Bandit in for his checkup to make sure the gums are healing, and am trying to sort a carseat that will fit the dimensions that AirNZ has- ours is too large and spacious! I am so very tired though, that I head off for a nap!

You win some, you lose some

Chris arrived home at 4:10 with a very chastened Bandit. Who WOULDN'T look chastened when they had had to have 5 teeth removed!!! Yup, they knocked the wee beastie out for his tooth cleaning session and discovered that FIVE teeth had been left high and dry by receding gums, roots exposed to rot happily in the moist cavern of his mouth.... so out they came.... and so the vet bill increased. Indeed, to redeem our groggy wee puss, we had to pay the princely sum of $350 - not forgetting the moist cat food, and tins of tuna procured for the few days after the surgery! He was not allowed out the house until this morning and became shriller and more desperate sounding as the evening wore on. At 8pm Chris escorted him out to the garden where Bandit relieved himself of a mighty burden- and was quickly retrieved before getting too far up the fence... Desperate wails rang through the house again in the wee smalls, with Chris unlatching the cat door at 6am. No, not Kieran this time :P Naturally, now that Bandit has the freedom of the great outdoors he chooses to stay inside and snuggle on our bed....

I managed to sweet talk Chris into taking me to Farmers yesterday after all - and we got K 2 tracksuits, a long sleeved top, socks, a pair of pants and 2 pj's. Yup, that's what a 50% off sale and $85 buys you these days!!! Next pay I will go to the Warehouse and buy him some gumboots and 6 long sleeved tees. Hopefully that will hold him for the winter, as we need to buy some bits and pieces for Cameron yet!

Today, after the regalia fitting, we headed off to the Plunket rooms so that Chris could dismantle the bookshelf that fell onto Kieran. We got the safety gate detached and laid the shelf on its side. With a couple of wedges underneath to tilt it slightly backwards it will be as safe as houses. K had a wonderful time cavorting, playing with toys and supervising his father - much to his father's dismay!

I also managed to line up 2 potential PORSE people - ie a house where K will go 2 mornings a week so that he has "fun time" after Cameron arrives - and allows Cameron and I to have some 1:1 time (and hopefully a nap!). Both of them were happy to pick up and drop off K - this is not the norm - and we went out to visit the first yesterday and the second this afternoon. The first one had a better set up in terms of space but neither Chris nor I really warmed to her. K was fine - he hoed right in, played with the Beagles, ransacked the toy cupboard etc etc. But she made no effort to interact with him which worried me a little. The one we met today was just lovely. He showed K the sandpit, chickens and rabbits and his daughters were busy dragging K around to show off everything. K was as happy as a clam, and this guy interacted with K very well. Both Chris and I decided to go with him and turned to each other to say this when we got to the car. So I am thrilled that we have found someone that we are both happy for K to be with :) He will go there for 2 mornings a week - Tuesdays and Fridays from May onwards. And, it is $6 an hour so affordable- yay!! The 2 mornings work out at around $90 a fortnight - awesome when you consider the local daycare asks for $45 per full day, full days only and a minimum of 2 days a week! Who needs to spend $180 a week on childcare hmm ;)

Today - why yes, it has been a busy weekend so far, why do you ask :P - we headed out to get Chris fitted for his regalia. They are getting a bonnet especially made for him as none of the ones there fitted that brainy skull. They are also getting a longer gown in so we will return the one we carried away and swap it for something a little lengthier. It's so exciting - Chris graduating on May 7th!! Luckily Chris is driving in on the 12th - after the midwife appointment so he can get the new gown then.

What else is new.... um, tomorrow is Jen's birthday so we are off to brunch for that, then dropping the car off for the WOF. I have done my back in this morning and have been in agony all day. No position is comfortable - just degrees of painfullness - ouchies!

Coffee group and caterwauling

Today I sprang from my bed..... hahaha that would be telling lies!! Last night it rained heavily. This disturbed young squeak - to the point where he roused 6x in under 3 hours. As I was the poor benighted soul heaving her pregnant carcass out of bed to deal with the shrieks each time I was less than impressed. Things settled down after 11, with only 2 callouts (so to speak). The crunch came at 2:30am where the miscreant was sternly informed that it was night time - ergo sleepytime, and that all the other members of the family were enjoying their slumber and so should he. When shrilling erupted again, a mere 30 minutes after this message, I rolled over, rolled my eyes at the cat (snuggled up on my pillow) and went back to sleep. Problem solved :P This morning K joined me for a snuggle in bed, then joined his father in the shower while I prepped breakfast - the breakfast that he did not eat..... oy. Then I baked biscuits and garlic and parmesan bread, tidied the house, washed dishes, did laundry, cleaned self and rugrat and invited Isabelle over cos Suzie was coming over too. The kids had a great time, feasting on biscuits and watermelon, and checking out K's toy chest. Bandit strolled in, recoiled and went to sulk on the stairs. Big mistake. Huge! K is now asleep, replete with star shaped pikelets and Bandit is asleep in the hot water cupboard. I am about to have a nap, after all, Bandit will be off to the vet at 5 for his overnight stay - not that he knows this yet.... We'd better stock up on tuna for his return tomorrow evening.

Apparently Farmers has a 50% children's clothing sale. This is good as K has had a growth spurt and fits nothing. At least the Farmers Teeny Weeny brand size 2 will still fit him, so I will stock up on some pants, long sleeved shirts, a winter jumper and a set of pj's.... hopefully that will see us through winter cos we need to pick up a few things for the baby yet! Aaargh just found out Farmers sale ends today - there goes that idea! Will have to wait for Easter sales and hope for the best! The weather was lovely this morning but now rain falls gently upon the land... let it fall! I am going nowhere, and the washing is hung up in the garage - sweet!

Excitement and adrenaline

Saturday was a blast! Good food, good company and the chance to lurch around howling like a wolf or moaning like a plague of zombies. On sunday we had a quiet relaxing day haha. We needed it after the late night of saturday. On monday I dashedup the hill at 7:30am so that I could do my glucose challenge test. The last time I did it I was instructed to stay in the office for the hour. New company, new rules apparently. I was told to go away and come back in 45 minutes. I trotted off home and got ready for babygym. Chris then dropped me off at the lab while he and K bonded over a chocolate brownie. Tests were done and I was out of there. K was passed over into my loving care, and Chris headed off to work while I headed off to babygym on the train. As usual K had a blast and, as usual, I forgot my camera! His favourite activity this week was the beam. He was on it half the session. Little paw clenching mine as he walks the length of the beam, then descends, grasps my hand again and ascends the heights again, and again, and again! That evening was the Allie Mooney fundraising session which went really well!! Tuesday K and I stayed home. Why, you ask? On Monday night K decided to make my life a living hell by not settling to sleep - we will be spending the rest of the nights this week nipping this behaviour in the bud, as I need more than 3.5 hours of sleep a night! We also had a house inspection on wednesday morning and I NEEDED to clean. Boy, did I ever! I had the bathroom and toilet floors scrubbed, the bath and shower scrubbed out, mirrors cleaned, tiles mopped, floors vacummned, rooms picked up including the hellhole that is Chris' lair, K 's room reorganised and the kitchen scrubbed to within an inch of its life. Chris cleaned the toilet. Last night I was up 4 or 5 times - memory dims when one has had very LITTLE SLEEP. However the house was presentable when I left for the new mothers group that I run. All was going swimmingly until K pulled the tall bookshelf full of toys down upon himself. There was a sickening moment when I saw the bookcase tip, shelves and toys cascading down and realised K was under there, cos he was nowhere else in the room. Not a scratch. Not even a bruise. He was standing in the one spot that protected him from the deluge. I hope to god adrenaline is good for babies because Cameron got a massive dose today!!! After everything was tidied up and I staggered home with K and got him down for his nap I got to sit and think about it. Damn, but it was scary!! He didn't bat an eyelash after a wee bit of cry - more from the sound and fury of it all, rather than any pain I think! Chris is going in on saturday to break down the bookcase so no one else is tempted to use it.

And tomorrow - coffeegroup is at my place ;)

Fatherhood

Fatherhood has changed Chris - and the years of parenting Kieran have changed the way Chris is a father. Before, any report of unusual spots or lethargy in his son would be examined immediately and in minute detail. This morning however, when I reported that Kieran had flushed cheeks and strange red spots all over his body, did Chris dash downstairs to check out the situation? He did not. It was more of a slow amble... and to think I spent 15 minutes putting those flushed cheeks and spots on little Mr K. Yes, since you ask, we did do some colouring in this morning haha :) As you may have guessed it was Chris's morning to sleep in. On the education front K can count to 10 and knows his entire alphabet - but he can't say the letter W. He adores anything that involves letters or numbers - good times :)

This afternoon we are off to Bryony and Helen's for a bbq and an evening of Cranium. There will be romping with Rabbit the dog, and feasting on yummy food and prancing about as we act like idiots. All in all, a perfect saturday night.

A bit of this, a bit of that

Let's see, what new and exciting things have happened in Chez Seal since my last post. Um, nothing! On tuesday I headed up to the library. I even made the effort to go to the Glendale road playground so K could have a run around but it started to rain just as we arrived. How frustrating! So, as I had neither carriage rug no rain cover with me we dashed pell mell up the hill to the library. Well, one of us dashed. The other reclined in the stroller, eating cheese! We had fun at the library tho so that was good.On Wednesday I ran the Plunket coffeegroup which has now doubled in size - yes, 2 people turned up this week!! Hahahaha. K was quite well behaved towards the other kids, tho he wanted to bodysurf across the couches. Sigh. After K woke up I made him pikelets which he fell upon with a relish that had to be seen to be believed. He even stole my pikelets off my plate cos he had eaten all of his! I then made hamburger patties and beer bread rolls for dinner. I used the Alison Holst beer braid recipe and just bodgied it about to make rolls. The rolls were nice but I think could be improved by doubling or tripling the salt, and by adding some Chia to it, or some herbs. It was past 5 by this point so I took K down to the local playground for a swing and a run, and a slither down the slide! He loved it. Just as we had reached our limit Chris came in and we frolicked for a few more moments before heading in for dinner. Mmmmm, and it was good!! There were heaps of rolls left over so I froze them. Then today we had babygym. K ADORES babygym and we will def be back for the next term. There are 2 more sessions to go but then we are off to Easter in Wellington so it works out beautifully. We dashed off for the train and just missed it.Sigh. So I took K into the Mall where there is a playground there and we frolicked before dashing off to catch the next train - which we almost missed. Hahahaha. Once home K indicated that he would appreciate some milk and his bed, thank you very much and we had a lovely long nap together. Once he woke up I made meatloaf for his and Chris's dinner - I had hamburgers haha - and then made Chris's lunch. There will be meatloaf for their dinner tomorrow too. I will head into the medlab tomorrow and see if I can take the nasty preggers diabetes test - where you drink the syrup then hang around for an hour - and then be at the library. I have a suspicion that I will need to actually be in the room. So I will have to see if I can do first things Sat morning - sucks to be me! But K will not respond well to being told to sit in a tiny waiting room for an hour. And the milk cutoff has worked... although K still comes pattering into our room around 3ish and has to be put back to bed. No, his door is not closed. Chris has very firm VIEWS about that :)

Tomorrow is Wriggle and Rhyme at the library - yippee. K and I will pop along and have a good time :)

Like peas in a pod

Saw the midwife today and heard the baby's heartbeat etc etc. After feeling my belly she laughed and said that Cameron was breech too - how typical. Yay!!! That's my boy!! Kinda funny that my mum had 2 breech girls and I am having 2 breech boys :) Gotta love that family history. So, unless Cameron turns between now and 37 weeks odds are pretty high that we are looking at a c-section... and I will be getting my tubes tied at the same time methinks!! We scudded off home with me practically dancing with joy at this turn of events and Chris headed off to work while I gaily tossed K into the stroller and headed off to the library. The library was fun, primarily because K's pants were too big and kept falling down to his knees whereupon he would look startled and freeze. Yes, I find amusement in the oddest things. We came home and watched some of the World of Birds then headed upstairs for a group nap. Yup, Bandit, K and me all in one room snoozing away happily. Last night went really well on the no milk front. K woke up a couple of times but settled himself - until he woke at 3am and felt a mite peckish. A cuddle helped sort that out and he slept until 7am- yay!! We have been putting a plate with choc digestives for him to snack on in the night if he gets hungry. He doesn't though, though he grabs that biscuit and crawls into bed with me for munchies. Typical, no crumbs in HIS bed :) I called the vet today for costings for Bandit's great teeth cleaning - looks like it will cost around $300 - and that's without any teeth extracted. They think one canine"might" have to come out. So I booked the furry wee rascal in for next thursday, he stays overnight and we collect him on Friday. Tomorrow I have to clean house - boring I know!! -and then an early night. I am certainly at the stage of being preggers where I am well over it. I feel bile up in my throat most of the time now - sigh, oh those memories!!

Cold Turkey

It has been some time since my last post...

On thursday K and I headed out to meet the coffeegroup girls at Henderson Park. We headed in a little early as Chris had tasked me with buying some groceries. Naturally the train was over 10 minutes late. Once in Henderson I hotfooted it into the mall, raced around like a maniac for groceries and sprinted off to Henderson Park. I was planning on being there at 9:50 and dragged my sweaty ass into the park surrounds at 10:10 which will give you an indication of just how well I was doing timewise. The kids had a great time at the park and my camera battery died as I tried to take pics of K romping around...sigh. We headed home, had a nap and had a good time in the local park later that afternoon. On friday I took K up to the library for the Wriggle and Rhyme program, where I shamelessly plugged the Wednesday coffee group that I am being paid to run :P. On Friday night I made the mature and reasoned decision to leave Chris..... and to sleep in K's room Thursday-Sunday nights. Why? Because K is going cold turkey on having bottles of milk at night. He pushed the boundaries too far alas. Just like his wanting many warmed bottles of milk - causing the great "it's cold or nothing baby" decision his greed has tipped into disaster. So thursday night was actually ok. There was a bit of chittering but K was willing to forgive me for one night's forgetfulness. The tantrums really started Friday night. Kicking, screaming, thrashing, the hurling of the bottle of water to the floor. You name it we experienced it. I say we, but Chris was forbidden to come anywhere the room. This is the last night I will be spending in there, and hopefully K has come to a resigned acceptance of the new status quo. One thing it has done is totally stuffed his day sleeps. He would normally enjoy some milk and peacefully slide into sleep. Now we have agonised weeping until he passes out from the effort. Sigh. It's all such a big deal at that age!! Tomorrow we see the midwife and I will ask her re the sciatic physio referral and the obs referral as I would have thought to have heard from either of these people by now. I also need to look at tickets for Chris to fly to Wgtn for Easter. K and I changed our tickets when it was decided to have K stay home with his daddy rather than head off to Wgtn and Palmerston North for my contact course. Naturally Chris completely forgot about the ticket situation, and now, 3 weeks out from Easter, is faced with a bit of a dilemma - whether to stay or go..... decisions, decisions :) Yeah, he's going. Not much of a dilemma really haha

There's a saboteur....

....in the house and his name is Chris. On the second night of the Great Milk Decline he placed the boy's bottles - with the lids on. Poor squeak managed to de-lid one, but the other resisted all his efforts and was flung to the ground. We did head out to the Glendale playground and fields and I ran the sass out of him. It only took an hour :) We headed up to the library and the shops as well. That afternoon he amused himself by trashing the house. He seems to have a sixth sense for when I have people coming over, am in pain, and have little time to scrub down counters, floors and cupboards...... Chris strolled in the door at 7:10 with people expected at 7:20pm, seething about the pitiful performance of the Western Line. Luckily I had managed to restore order to the house, cook dinner and feed the kidlet before running a bath. Today was my first day running the New Mothers coffeegroup. I had done lots of ringing around yesterday but only one person showed up. Oh well, she seemed to enjoy herself anyway. This morning was pretty busy. I cleaned and tidied the lounge, moved furniture around, and prepped some bread before heading up the road. I got home at ten past 12 and let K cavort while I made his bed and prepped his milk. He showed no inclination to climb the stairs so I headed up and waited. After a piercing crescendo of wails he made his way up the stairs, glared at me, flung himself onto the bed, and snatched his bottle from my hands :P I was desperate for a nap but was expecting the Porse woman so couldn't...sigh. She was LATE!!! I baked the bread, met with the Porse lady and then K awakened. We played, we read stories, we drew and then Isabelle dropped by with Esteban and Madison and K ran riot hehe. After that I prepped dinner while K stood on his chair and "supervised". He ate very little dinner - oh well. Tomorrow is coffeegroup and mention has been made of going to a park. We shall see :)

Sleep, glorious sleep

I have moved beyond knackered to zombification.

Last night was the first step in trying to cut K's nightly milk habit down to reasonable levels. Naturally he ate no dinner last night - not even 1 bite! He got put down with his usual bottle, fell asleep and I placed the other 2 bottles in there. These were consumed by 3am when he woke up and demanded more. I had previously sloped into the bedroom to retrieve the second bottle and press it to his lips as he seemed unable ti find it...in his arms! Sleep descended and then 3am rolled around, and thus began the great wakeathon. K crawled into the spare bed for a snuggle and a snooze - heavy on the snuggle and light on the snooze. At 6:10 I procured 50ml of milk for him and he lay on his bed and drank it, drifting off for around 40 minutes while I lay there and reflected bitterly on the fact that it was a babygym day. You know, up the hill, on the train, walk to WestWave, run around the gym like a maniac after K, walk to train, ride train and stagger in the door riddled with back pain and frantically trying to keep the kidlet awake.... what was worse was that I had the Plunket Lady arriving at 1:30 so I knew I couldn't have a nap - no matter how desperately I needed one. The day went as expected.... K went down like a dream. He was so tired he only drank half his bottle before he passed out. So the Plunket lady arrives and K wakes up wailing. Typical!! I haul him out of bed to discover that he has wet through his nappy, pants and sheet. Dragging him downstairs he coos gently at Naomi while I have large damp babywee patches spreading across my clothes. After the Plunket lady left I showered with Squeak, threw the mattress into the sunshine to bake, did a load of laundry and made some pizza dough for dinner tonight - the amount consumed by K was not much more than last night though he did eat a teeny K sized pizza - and, while it cooked, 3 rashers of bacon - and some grated cheese.... If I get enough sleep tonight I shall take him to Glendale Playground and fields and RUN THE SASS out of him. The pizza's were delicious (of course) and the family was very appreciative hehe. Chris is currently reading to K from the Adventures of Little Wombat... and I am typing this hurriedly before I slope off to bed. See above: Zombification :)

International Day of the Child

Indeed it was, and to celebrate we headed out to Toddler's Day out at the Trusts Stadium. Through vicious chivvying I got us out of the house by 10:05. Not bad, considering the event started at 10am. Chris, as usual, would have been perfectly happy to stay at home and watch Sky and play on his pc. However, we owe a duty to the kidlet to get him out and about to new places haha even if his father is stiff and sore and wants to relax at home! His mood was not improved by us having to park miles from the venue. Once we arrived we went straight to the petting zoo. Due to the early hour there was shade and water - unlike our previous trip at the end of the day. However, there was no check on the number of people allowed in the enclosure at any time and the animals were becoming stressed - after a mere 40 minutes of being exposed to squillions of toddlers. Poor devils had another 5 hours of hell to go :( K admired the cows, stroked a sheep, gazed at chickens and fled from a piglet. He was unsure about the goat. After a scintillating 6 minutes we left the enclosure - and those poor animals. Once inside the main venue K was very unsure, what with the crowds and all. However, when he saw the setup from his baby gym session (they had an area set up in the centre) there was no stopping him. He leapt and crawled and danced. He ran the length of the venue, pausing to cavort on exercise equipment and playdough, crisscrossing it as he danced with delight. We trotted gamely after him, keeping him in our sights. And Chris got crosser and crosser. Aaah, these are the memories we will treasure in following years :P I saw at least 3 models of the stroller I want - the one which is NOT SOLD IN NZ!! Sigh, we need to find someone in the states to post it out methinks! We left at 11:30am and K was in high spirits. Didn't do much for the rest of the day - a little napping, a little babywrangling and I mopped the downstairs floor as it was FILTHY. I reckon if I did it at night then my back can recover while I sleep. Tomorrow morning we have babygym. This means we are up, eating and bathed, watch the Wiggles then race up to the train, have the train trip there and back, kidlet thrashing himself to exhaustion in the babygym session (and taking me down with him hehe) and then the Plunket lady is coming to get me to sign the contract. I am going to be the new mothers coffee group host for the next 2 months. We will do this instead of mainly music - it's a shorter walk, and they pay me - works for me :) K has a number of cute habits, one of the cuter ones is where he plays a little game with me called Little Ghost where he snabbles one of my sarongs and runs around the house with it over his head, pretending he is a ghost. He thinks this is the best game ever haha. He also likes to pat my tummy - but shrieks and leaps away if Cameron pats back :P Good times haha. Tuesday is our day off and I will take K to the Glendale Road Park by the library and let him run cos, boy, does he need it!!

6 months pregnant

Friday was a lazy day :) Well, kinda. Chris had left the oven a syrupy shambles the night before but had promised to clean it. Taking him at his word I prepared a loaf of bread for baking before we headed out for our morning walk. I took K up to the shops and to Wriggle and Rhyme. He had a blast haha. Once home I prepared to heat the oven before my narrowed gaze informed me that it had NOT in fact been cleaned. I scrubbed out the oven with K assisting, a little like a nurse in a theatre. He happily passed me sponges and dibbled his fingers in the soapy water. I managed to lure him outside with a bucket of water and his milk bottles where he cavorted briefly. By that time I had the oven heated and the bread placed to bake so whisked him upstairs where he fell asleep just after noon. I made a bunch of Plunket phone calls and just as I was about to lie down for a nap guess who came running into the room. Sigh. We had a nice relaxed afternoon, reading book, after book, after book. I make K pay with kisses for stories these days. It seems only fair. I prepared a delicious chicken dinner and then Chris sat with K while he fell asleep. What did I do? I slept. K is a bundle of energy these days. He loves to help in the kitchen and drags his chair in as a subtle sign that he's like to be involved :) Today he helped Chris make treacle tart and a cup of tea - very impressive. He also knows all of the alphabet, bar 4 letters, and wanders around the house announcing letters as he looks at puzzles, boardgames, books, dvd's etc. He also enlivens us with many a counting game :)

Tomorrow is the Toddlers Day Out and we are heading off to be there when it opens at 10am. Hopefully K enjoys it :) I am sure he shall hehe.

I am 28 weeks pregnant now and if Cameron was born tomorrow he would survive. So, I am now completely relaxed about my pregnancy. I have been quietly concerned the entire time that something would go wrong. The miscarriage and the early bleeding really shook my confidence - but everything should be good from here on in. I am as big as a house, practically live in the toilet and am fast running out of clothes!! Aaah, all the "perks" of pregnancy. And in a couple of months we get to cope with a jealous tot and Siamese, and a new baby on very little sleep. Chris is already looking forward to getting back to work after the birth - and we haven't even had the baby yet!!

Pestilence Palace

Oh my god I am tired. I am BEYOND tired.

On wednesday we headed off to Mainly Music in the rain.... yup, looks like Autumn is here :) Cooler evenings and drizzly days :) We stopped in briefly at the library on the way there. Briefly, as some strange, unkempt child obviously had a sore tummy and voided his bowels in the kids area. He was around 6 so no nappy, and the smell!!!!! We left. Quickly. And walked sedately to Mainly Music. In the rain. K had a blast while there - which is all good, and tried to fall asleep in the stroller - not so good. That evening I told Chris I could not be arsed cooking and that I would meet him at the fish and chip shop. Oh, how our vices come back to bite us! I dragged K up the road. Every time he made the attempt to sprint off he tripped so I wound up carrying him .....sigh. We got to the fish shop and it was seething!! I eventually packed Chris and K off home, placed our order and proceeded to wait an eternity for it. 40 minutes all up!!!!! I shall not cave in to dinner laziness again - I have been taught my lesson hahaha. K awoke this morning at 4:30 and pattered into the bedroom to breathe heavily into his fathers ear. Chris took this amiss and I dragged K back off to his bed to try and settle him. It did not go well. Chris popped in just before 6 and I tossed in the towel and crawled back to bed for some sleep. I got maybe 40 minutes before Chris popped in to tell me that K was making like Old Faithful out of his rear. Joy. Naturally, as a concerned mother I hopped out of bed to care for my ailing, and wailing child. I did not. I lay in bed, and imagined this situation with TWO kidlets out for the count. K was brought to the bed for s snuggle fresh from the shower. This lasted 30 minutes before he woke, wittered, and vomited.....over our bedding, over my shoulder, over me, over the carpet as I trudged off to the shower..... After a shower Chris whisked K off for a nappy change and a new set of clothes while I washed myself. I then staggered downstairs, settled K, and put on the first of 3 loads of washing. I had some toast for breakfast which K revived enough to steal, then thought wistfully of babygym. No, I did not take my sick scrog to babygym. Hours passed cuddling the kid, and interspersed with periods of hanging out washing and doing another load. I believe snacks happened too. I put K down at 11:30 and he was out in minutes and slept for 2 hours. He has bounced back over the course of the day as I have sagged and deflated, like an aged balloon. I prepared dinner, washed the child and sat with him until he slept. I formally announce that I am done! Once this blog entry is done I am off to bed. Neither ninjas nor pirates could keep me from it tonight!!

Devil child

Sadly, Chris's genes are beginning to rear their pernicious heads and my angel baby is becoming an imp :(

On Sunday he decided that he preferred to leap around the bed like a monkey on crack - despite being incredibly tired. Normally this would be only mildly annoying but I was supposed to head out to a TCANZ meeting - as the oh so wonderful minuter haha - and so time ticking on began to stress Chris and I. I eventually contacted Steve and was added into the meeting via Skype. This was a Good Thing as the kidlet went down at 1:30 and the meeting started at 2! Much merriment ensued and at 3:15 I logged off and stared at the minutes. I have to admit that, coming fresh from typing up the Plunket minutes, I felt no inclination at all to type them up :) Does that make me a bad person ;) I headed downstairs in search of my husband - as I had ascertained that my child was lying on his bed for all the world like a dead cockroach (legs propped on the wall, arms akimbo) but could not find him. After a moment of searching for him I found him lazing about on the bed. With the cat. Ai ai ai. I whipped downstairs and hung out a load of washing. Chris has a sweetly naive belief that washing fairies infest our house..... They do not. We headed out shopping where the need for a whip and leash for K became sadly apparent. Once home we initiated the new time out routine. K has an unfortunate habit of running after Bandit and either bodyslamming him (only works when B taken by surprise), tugging on his tail, or dragging him around by a paw. The cat has been more than gracious but has taken to growling, lightly biting K, and finally on the weekend scratching him. None of these, or our exhortations to treat Bandit gently and our gentle explanations of how Bandit is only little, have deterred K. He experienced timeout on the naughty step 3x! In 10 minutes! Between tears (not mine!) I watched Chris prepare dinner hehehe. This cooking on the weekend lark is good fun. Well, it is for me anyway. After the wee one succumbed to sleep I did a little minuting then headed off to bed. On Monday I could not be arsed heading to Playgroup. K did not provide us with a restful night and I felt knackered. Instead we headed up to the library and I did some calling around for Plunket. I sourced some fish for dinner - astounded as always by the price - $29/kg for Gurnard! I just ask for $8 worth each time and try not to cringe at how little there seems to be. Today was a bit of a 'mare. K behaved beautifully right up until he was being settle down for his nap at noon. At 2:25 he finally succumbed to sleep, leaving me pacing around the room and muttering evilly to myself. I destressed by frantically typing minutes, calling around for bits and pieces and imagining how good alcohol would taste! So of course K only wakes up at 4.... has a late dinner, then throws a LARGE glass of juice all over the futon so I have to strip all the bedding from that - this when guests are literally walking towards the door (I was incandescent with rage and had to practise some breathing techniques), has a bath at 7:30, and finally slides into sleep at 9pm. Which is why I am typing this then heading to bed. After all, tomorrow is another hot, sticky 30 minute walk to Mainly Music and then the long slog home.... sigh. The things I do for the wee scrog!! At least the minutes are done however - this is something that always makes me happy!