3 week countdown

Yup, in three weeks time, on this day, Cameron will join Chez Seal. Kinda scary and kinda exciting :) I am certainly well over being pregnant!! I am tired of my many pilgrimages to the bathroom, the 3 hours of sleep - the rest of the time I get to toss and turn and try and get my swollen belly comfy - a futile aim!! Yesterday was the Plunket coffeegroup - which went well with a brand new person turning up, and another stopping outside and promising to come next week - yay!!

Today we headed out to babygym. K loves thursday because we pretty much eat breakfast, shower, dress, and flee the house for the train station. He LOVES trains. Just adores them. And on Thursdays he gets to ride on a train. TWICE!! And there is the baby gym session which he adores too. So he had a great morning. I on the other hand leapt out of bed, got bread on, got K fed (poorly) got dinner into slow cooker, kneaded the bread and set it out to rise, hung out the washing, showered and dressed self and K, and bolted out the house. It took ages to walk up the hill. It is actually really hard pushing just under 30kg's of baby and stroller up that steep hill when one is over 8 months pregnant. I need to win lotto so I can buy an automatic station wagon haha!! Once home K took over 2 hours to go to sleep. I was beside myself as my back pain had ebbed but not vanished and I wanted to lie down. Then after K woke up he was a horror. I was on the verge of throttling him when his father came home. Tomorrow we may stay home and visit Isabelle in the afternoon I think!!

Memory malfunction

Last night I idly chatted to Chris as I waited for sleep to claim me and was reminded that we had a midwife appointment this morning. Whoops! Not 3 hours earlier I had confirmed with Suzie my desire to have K and I ride to playgroup with her.... at 9:30am, co-incidentally the exact same time that we were meeting Bridget. A quick phone call in the morning sorted it all out and we met with Bridget before Chris dropped me, K and the carseat off at playgroup. K had a blast! I felt very guilty that I had not motivated myself to get him there before. I paid for 4 sessions which takes us up to the Monday - 3 days before Cameron is born. This also means that there are only 3 more sessions of babygym for K too, as I doubt I will be hopping out of my hospital bed to take him along on thursday. However, depending on how things work out, his father or grandmother may be able to whisk him off for the 50 minute session. It is 2 minutes drive from the hospital too - convenient or what!! He starts his Porse session next week too - every Tuesday and Friday. I also realised this morning that I need to find a dressy-ish top for Chris's graduation & photo session on Friday (1 week away!!! Eeeek!!). I really don't want to spend more than $50 (borrowing someones clothes would be even better haha) as I won't be wearing it again. I have been browsing online and am appalled at the (expensive) crimes against fashion perpetrated on pregnant women. Ai ai ai. I shall have to get Chris to drop me off at a mall and try and find something this weekend - sigh! Tomorrow is our free day - so K and I will probably head up to the library in the morning, and relax at home for the afternoon.

35 and counting

Aaaah what a great weekend! Nesting is finished - yes, that sound you hear is Chris's whoop of joy. I finished painting the picture I did for Kieran - the one he so helpfully slapped paint across necessitating an urgent repair job.... twice! He was so excited to see me painting it for him too haha. Then Chris popped picture hooks in the wall and I hung up some pics. Currently we have a rabbit in a boat, a crab and 2 aquatic dinosaurs. Also above K's head is his special K painting :)

Chris did a sterling job being a father and cooking this weekend, and I did a sterling job of cleaning up after him haha. Today we headed out to the Glendale Park to run the sass out of Kieran. We ran, we played ball, we looked at mushrooms, we waved bark around, and we had a blast. Afterwards we were all knackered and headed off home. Sky has been playing Toy Story and Toy Story 2 this weekend. I was thrilled by this as I don't own them - and wanted to get them for K. So we recorded them both and will buy the 3rd after it is released on DVD.

I feel absolutely HUGE at the moment - 35 weeks pregnant means a lot of toilet stops in the night and a lot of tossing and turning! The cat is on the verge of washing his paws of me, and going to sleep in the chicken instead. Poor wee creature! Tomorrow Suzie has very kindly agreed to give K and I a lift to playgroup. We haven't been for ages and I am sure K will love it! And finally, the new baby will be a Taurus. Yup, Cameron just squeaks in under the line with a planned birthday of May 20th. So Chez Seal will contain 1x Ram, 2x Goats and 1x Bull... can anyone see some fraught times ahead? :)

Calloo Callay

Oh, how I love the weekend! On thursday Ruth picked me uo and we headed off to see Alice in Wonderland - which I enjoyed very much! I had such a good time, and it had been such a long time since I last saw a movie (Ice Age 3!). Friday went well, with the Obstetrician asking us to come in 30 minutes early for our appointment. Naturally this meant that we were seen at the original appointment time haha. The obstetrician was very understanding as I reeled off my reasons for wanting a C Section and agreed that we could go ahead and book a section and tubal ligation. YAY!!!

So we now know Cameron's birth date. I will be heading into the hospital to arrive there at 7:30am and be scheduled for a 9:30am c-section. This is excellent as it gives me a full day hopped to the gills on morphine hehe. Then on Friday morning K will be at his PORSE house and Chris can have some special time with Cameron. Then it is the weekend and then I will check out the hospital on Monday morning. I believe checkout is 10 or 11am.

After Chris got home we headed into New Lynn so Chris could spend his birthday present from me (cold hard cash haha) and K played in the Lynn Mall Kiddies area while I enjoyed a half strength chai. Cameron still kicked like a startled bull when he got a sniff of it tho! Today K slept in until 8:15. I went into his room to see if everything was ok and he was chilling out in bed, licking biscuit crumbs off his lips. I brought him into the bed and he had a lovely romp with us before we headed downstairs and watched the Wiggles. We headed out around 10ish and did some shopping before coming back for a certain person's nap! After the nap we headed out to the library and then ran the wee one around the local playground. Then Chris made home made pasta and (at my insistence) raised the cot. So, we are looking good for Cameron. I will make up the cot a little closer to the birth, and install the snugglebed.

Chris also managed to get another ticket for graduation so Joy will be joining us. He was very relieved by this as he didn't have much hope that we would get another ticket since he already had 5. Tomorrow, we plan to take K off to the Glendale park for a proper play, and I hope to finish the picture I am making for K. We will also install the mobile of the solar system that we painted when K was still in utero and hang some pictures up. And then, nesting should be COMPLETE!!! I am sure Chris will be ecstatic to hear it. We will also buy K the book The Gruffalo's Child and the DVD of The Gruffalo from Amazon.co.uk as a You-have-a-new-brother gift :)

Too few hours in the night

Yawn, there are many questions I lie awake at night and ponder. Questions like: Why can my sodding belly not scrunch up so I can SLEEP, or Why am I not the world's best baker, or Why must the cat sleep right on my throat, or Why does Kieran have to come into the room 4 times in a night... OK, kidding on that last one. He only came in once... but it WAS at 4am, and since he was popped into bed, by his father, where he munched a biscuit (CRUMBS!! Crumbs in the BED!!) and noodled about until Chris (muttering profane comments under his breath) took him back to his bed. Then this morning we had fun and games under the tree in our garden. Bandit was perched halfway up it howling like an air raid siren, with K leaping about underneath like a kangaroo and screaming "Bandit!! Bandit!!"While high in the tree a half grown moggy howled its angst to the sky. Much havoc ensued, until we were able to get the cat de-treed, and my 2 boys cooped away from the action... and it hadn't even turned 8am!! K approves of his new bedroom layout - sans futon. He romps over the beanbag, and has a ball playing with his toys (when he is not throwing them down the stairs that is. Sigh). I trudged up the hill with K enjoying the sunshine for the new mothers coffeegroup. There was a new baby there - with both his parents - which was lovely to see. We mooched home and K tucked into the roast potatoes I got him for his lunch, disdaining the chicken. Sigh. However, I did hear back from Waitakere Hospital and we are seeing the Obstetrician on Friday morning - which is excellent news. I also discovered that the BBC made a 30 minute short film of The Gruffalo. Cunning investigation revealed that one can purchase this from the BBC so we may have to think about this as K just LOVES LOVES LOVES the Gruffalo book, and the sequal the Gruffalo's Child. We have to buy him the second one (TGC) as the library copy is looking a little tattered. I made fish for dinner - one of K's favourite meals -primarily cos I am a lazy tart who couldn't face the walk to the Mad Butcher for meat and the fish shop is on the way home from the Plunket rooms. Chicken kebabs will do for dinner tomorrow and then... the weekend, and Chris doing all the cooking! Yeehaa!!

Aaaaand Ruth and I are going to see Alice in Wonderland in 3D - Gosh, my first movie for 6 months!!! Weehee!!

Insidious Infants

Aaah it's been high jinks at Chez Seal let me tell you. The great weekend clean up has been and gone and the house looks great. Well, great apart from the box of inorganic stuff sitting out on the lawn..... The inside looks good though, although the floor desperately needs a mop. Somehow I find myself completely unmotivated to perform this chore! On Monday I decided all the tag ends from the cleanup needed to be addressed and vital tasks (like rearranging the medicine chest) undertaken. Yes, I am in the throes of nesting fever, why do you ask? :) So K and I stayed home on Monday. It was a happy day as K visited the naughty step again and again - and for the same, oft repeated, action - yup, throwing things down the stairs. I do not love him very much when I take 2 steps up and have to duck a mega blocks truck as it hurtles towards me! I am also putting together a rainy day activity box, and just need to convince people to give me their old wrapping paper, unused stickers and greeting cards. I have bought some card stock, glue, glitter, stickers and hope this will see us through the early days of Cameron. I baked some Chia bread today and it turned out very nicely. Next time I may add some more salt to the mixture. I have also trimmed the wee ones hair. It had become sort of a reverse mullet after the last trim, now it was all party at the front and business at the back - as you can see in the pic :) He looks just lovely now :)

We had the growth/position ultrasound today and the little swine has turned out of breech position - truly, this child does not know how to please his mother! As soon as we got home I hastened to the phone to call Waitakere hospital. As I am no longer breech I don't get an automatic c-section - terrible news I know!! It was good I called as they had no record of the midwife's referral. So I called Bridget next and she will sort it out when she heads into Waitakere hospital tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is my Plunket coffeegroup so we will be out and about for that and then I am heading off to babygym on thursday.

Saturday approacheth!

I didn't do much this week. After all, there was the overflow into the house and garden from the great garage clean-out. It has taken me all week to get this into a fit state to have people round :) The weather hasn't been too grotty - but it is definitely not summer anymore haha. On wednesday I did my usual Plunket coffeegroup. Numbers haven't increased but the women coming along seem to enjoy themselves. I forgot to get my timesheet in by Weds afternoon though so that will only go through the next pay run. We still haven't heard from the Obs tho I guess it pays to wait and see what Tuesday's ultrasound shows before I get too concerned haha. Thursday was a stay at home day as I had sold stuff on Trademe that was being collected. We are slowly getting though it - and I sold the Futon. Yay. I am so happy!! That afternoon I went over to Isabelle's (the lovely neighbour who feeds Bandit when we are away) and K cavorted with her 2 moppets. Today we went up to the library and then to the Plunket rooms where Suzie and I assembled some mothers day gift baskets for the mothers day raffle that is going to be run. They are pretty awesome - I am going to buy some tickets myself and hope that I win! Tomorrow Chris has a sleep in and I and K get to catch-up with Ruth. Then later tomorrow morning I am off to the warehouse as I desperately need another pair of pants. A top for Chris's graduation would be good too - and of course Crocs for Kieran!. I shall have to see what is on offer. I found a great Infantino puzzle on trademe too - a colours/textures one - for $15. Score!!! I just love the Infantino puzzles. And now all we need to be totally set for Cameron's arrival is a raincover for the Graco Duo stroller. Isabelle incredibly kindly gave us an Evenflow capsule which fits the stroller - so we don't have to buy one. We are really fortunate!!

Wahey baby!

Chris rose on Saturday with a song on his lips and joy in his heart. Why? It was the day that we cleaned up the dump, um, hellhole, I mean the garage. So keen was he that he carried his breakfast into the stygian and fetid depths while K and I watched kids TV on the couch (and ate breakfast haha). His enthusiasm was matched only by his ferocity and eagerness to shed ourselves of all belongings that were no longer used, were broken, were unwanted etc etc. In fact, there were an amazing number of these! K had a blast. The garage is forbidden territory - sealed off with a babygate and he romped, and climbed, and danced and had a fantastic time!! Dishes were washed, load of load of clothes fished from storage were washed and by the time we downed tools at 6pm the garage looked, quite simply, amazing! The house and garden where the overflow resided on the other hand.... um, let's just say I am glad our house inspection has just been. On Sunday I had promised Chris a sleep in and the afternoon off as a reward for his labours. I can only imagine his thoughts as he was roused at 8am by his heavily pregnant wife racing up the stairs to vomit with immense vigour in the toilet for some time. Though I initially felt better after this I succumbed to the lure of the bed at 9am - leaving Chris to babywrangle - and this set the tone for the day. Poor Chris! I revived enough by 3pm that I could sit on the couch and supervise K, while Chris had a break. I was also ordered to place items on TradeMe - which I did. So much stuff needs to go! It is pretty much there at bargain prices as we just want to get rid of it. I also contacted a metal recyclers and booked Chris's graduation photos. This morning we had our midwife appointment. Luckily I came right overnight - although it was a fairly sleepless one. I did the usual check for protein in my urine - a small trace but nothing to worry about, and have booked an appointment for a growth/presentation at Horizon on the 20th. I am still somewhat stunned by the fact that I am 33 weeks preggers and that we will have Cameron joining us in the next 6 weeks!! Tonight I cooked steak for dinner, and K helped me make a pumpkin pie. Yummy yummy!!

These boots were made for walking...

Well, Chris's birthday went well. I got up late and staggered downstairs where K and his father awaited me. K had made sure that Chris enjoyed as much of his birthday as possible... I believe he scurried over to Chris's side of the bed around 5am. As I said,I don't know for sure cos I buried my face in the cat's fur and went back to sleep :) Once up I made the boys pikelets for breakfast, then baked bread, biscuits and 2 chocolate cakes for Chris to take into work. In between this frenzy of activity I spent some time with my child, tidied the house and did dishes and laundry.. you know, the usual. On wednesday Chris stared at the icing free cakes and said they looked a little bare. I looked blank and indicated the wealth of icing/decorating options available to him. The cakes went into work naked :P. Alas, on wednesday, K started the day by leaping upon my belly while I lay on my back. I was in agony. Added to that I came down with some sort of tummy bug I was feeling beyond wretched. Poor Chris got to look after K pretty much from the moment he got home Wed and Thurs while I laired up in the bathroom. The only relief was finding some anti nausea medication on Weds afternoon - especially as there were no doctor appointments available at the local clinic. Yesterday I felt like death and staggered off to bed at 7am where I moaned like a sick cow for a few hours, pattering out every 10 minutes or so to visit the bathroom. O happy times. K helped out with another couple of disturbed nights- cause god knows we don't need sleep!!! And then this morning I woke up and thought for one crazy moment that I wasn't pregnant... the seemingly steel band around my belly had vanished - and boy, the relief from the pain was amazing!!I felt like bouncing around this morning - no dodgy tummy, no nausea, no painful belly - life was good! So this morning I did dishes, made breakfast, scrubbed down countertops and appliances, did dishes and laundry - all before 9am, hung out a wash in the sunshine and whisked lil squeak off to the library. K of course helped out by: "washing"the dishes, then ransacked the counter, upending the notepaper, mucked around with the microwave (now unplugged at the wall) and generally trashed the place. I removed him, popped his boots on and kicked him outside. I did the dishes then heard suspicious noises from the garage - he was running his fingers luxuriously thru the washing powder that I had decanted - and which he had poured out on the not-so-clean floor. He got kicked out into the garden again and the garage door locked while I swept up the washing powder and re-decanted it. Then the washing was done. He hurried out after me as I carried the basket and flung it out across the garden with enthusiasm and I got to pick it off the ground and hang it up as he pranced about with the laundry basket on his head. If Chris finds grass in his undies.... It's not MY fault!

He had a ball at the library showing off all his new words - he is just brimming with language and it is wonderful watching him try to communicate ;) He just loves his wee boots too - and has learned how to put them on himself. He has also fallen in love with the Easter present from his Auntie Jennie and I have had The Gruffalo brought to me to be read many many times over the past 3 days. And today at the library he saw a picture of the Wonky Donkey and wouldn't stop hee - hawing. Just so cute!! I took him home via the Barnea playground. I was going to take him to the Glendale one - but couldn't face the thought of the hill!!! So steep - not cool! I also took him to the playground this afternoon - after the Wiggles finished of course haha. Can't miss the Wiggles!! I have told Chris that we are clearing out the garage tomorrow and he is just so excited!!!!

It's raining, it's Auckland

Gosh, it feels good to be back home! The long weekend is over, and Chris's 35th birthday is tomorrow. Where did the weekend go?!!

Friday was fairly exciting what with my frenziedly packing and then being driven to the airport by my harried hubby. The plane ride went well on Friday until we descended towards Wellington. As the plane bounced gently up and down K gazed at me and gently vomited all over himself and his carseat. Yay! I mopped him up with copious numbers of wet wipes, wiped down the seat as best I could and changed the little devil into a spare outfit I "just happened" to have with me :) Once at Sue and Kingsley's the car seat was wiped down and washable parts washed. It is now fresher smelling than when I collected it! K had a ball at his Grammy and Grumpy's. He chased dogs, romped about and even got taken down to the beach. That last bit was a bit chilly but he didn't mind at all! However, eating didn't really happen on the trip and he had some really nasty nappies today after 2 days of no output. I decreed that as Chris was the one looking for poo's, Chris could take care of the poo's. Lucky Chris! Poor old Chris was feeling very much under the weather this trip, but enjoyed the lovely weather and the family catchup too. We also had a great trip to Moore Wilson's - gosh, their toy department was great - and well cheaper than Auckland shops!! Sue did some awesome work with Cameron's Bazoople cot quilt. We didn't get it finished but we will see them (and it) on May 7th - when Chris GRADUATES!!!! Yes, I get excited every time I think about it!!K waved goodbye to his Grumpy with vigour - and even the thought of seeing Bandit again didn't cheer him up after realising that we were leaving Grumpy behind :)The flight back was lovely - but K was obviously affected by the turbulence that he experienced on the flight out. He spent the majority of the flight snuggled against his daddy like a baby possum :) He has learned a bunch of new words, and had a lovely chat with me as we waited for Chris to collect the car. He pointed out a hawk, the clouds and related his thoughts on the flight - so sweet! Alas, we arrived home to discover the cupboard bare. I started baking some bread so dinner is about an hour away for us, K had some Boston baked beans, some hard boiled egg, and lashings of custard. He is a fiend for the custard!

So, I sit here, the washing machine rewashing the clothes that I found festering in the washing machine, and waiting for the bread to finish baking so we can have dinner ;)

Cries in the night

I smell of vomit. Indeed, the whole house is redolent of it! This is not surprising as K roused us, his loving parents, three times in the night. Yup, wails filled Chez Seal at 12:40, 3:20 and 5:40. Only at the last call in was there a lack of vomit. He trotted in a little later at 7:30am, but that was just for a snuggle - and he fell asleep between Chris and I. What fun it is the night before you are due to get onto a plane (and haven't packed) to strip a child's bedding, wash said child free of detritus, remake the bed, put on the washing machine and and soothe said child into slumber... aaah the joys of parenthood. He seemed more chipper this morning scarfing down some chocolate porridge - and bringing it back up all over me an hour later. Another shower and he and I cuddled on the couch for the remainder of the morning wearing only our dressing gowns. K crashed at 11am and is curled on his bed, wearing his dressing gown and snuggled under my white fluffy one :).

Chris meanwhile slept like the dead. Unsurprising, as he only got to bed around 4:40am!!!

Good times I say, and roll on Easter!!

gym gymini gym gymini

I took K along to babygym today. It is the last session until they start up again in mid April. Everything was going well - beam walking, trampoline leaping etc, and he was having a blast until they inflated a bouncy castle. Every other child shrieked with delight and raced towards it. My boy shrieked in terror, clung to me limpet like and filled his pants due to the ferocity of his meltdown.... Good times. He did settle down eventually - thank god!! Rache came in and said hi to the others before we hoppd in the car and headed off to the Plunket car hire place. She is such a legend!! The carseat was duly procured (way lighter than ours!!) and we headed home. I had to threaten no milk to keep K awake as he was shattered after the morning's excitement. He slept quite well - an hour and a half - and then we headed off downstairs. He was a grizzly, grumpy monster - hunger has that effect on him - so I scrambled us 2 eggs and plonked him on my lap to "share". He ate it all, and a home made roll to boot. This was excellent. I then noted that a package from England had arrived filled with goodies - thanks Dad :) K is always interested in the mail, and persists in the belief that everything that comes to the house is for his perusal. Sadly, he ate very little dinner tonight... oh well!! I prepped the fixings for dinner on the counter (toad in the hole as per Chris's request) and headed out to the garden to try and find Bandit. I wanted to lure him inside, as Chris was due home in 5 mins and I needed to cage the fiend so he was ready to go. I lured the cat onto the bbq where he got the brushing of his life then looked into the house. I was initially startled (then horrified) to see K standing in billowing white clouds. That would have been the seasoned flour mixture for dinner. Snarling to myself, and making my way across the (now filthy!!) floor I noted that he had a death grip on the (now cracked) egg. I retrieved said egg, and sent him outside to count the number of balls scattered across the grass (5). I swiftly bundled the unsuspecting cat into his carrier and plonked it down by the door before I began to try and clean the flour off the floors, walls and counters. At this fortuitious moment Chris walked in the door. I loaded the cat in the car before he had a chance to drop his bag on the floor :) and off they went to the vets. Bandit is in fine fettle apparently which is all good. Tomorrow I fly down to Wellington, with Chris flying 3 hours after me. I am wondering if I need the wheelchair as the new carseat is a LOT lighter than ours. I do want to hit the Warehouse and buy K a little Easter set of Disney Cars melamine plate, cup etc with easter eggs. They are only $20. And he would LOVE it.