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!)

Baby has a name!

Aaah the trials and tribulations of mothering a toddler!! On Monday we headed out to the library in the stroller... that is to say two fat heavy weighty little boys rode in the stroller, one of them urging his mother on with cries of "faster faster", and one of us pushed the stroller :P Kieran had a lovely time up at the library and we got several exciting books out. He has taken love of reading to a whole new level haha. Mornings start these days with at least 3 stories before breakfast. I tend to wake up as K patters into the room. Depending on how settled C is I leave him lying on my chest (where he has been since his last feed at either 5 or 6am) and we read stories, or I pop him into the cot and K and I go into his room.... and read stories. I can now quote the Gruffalo, its sequal, all the Hairy Mclairy tales and the Wonky Donkey :P That afternoon the weather was sunny (yet cold) soI whisked the boys off to the playground. K had a blast, C not so much... the is probably due to the fact that it is too cold to breastfeed in the playground, especially when the house is 3 doors away :) I then finished off the day by baking some biscuits and a loaf of bread.

On Tuesday we headed over to Isabelle's for a playdough playdate.... we arrived and K played on her couch with a car brought from home... no playdough for him, thank you very much. I tried to tempt him with my exquisite depictions of octopusses/pi?, seahorses, plam trees etc but he wasn't having a bar of it. That night he was almost turfed out onto the doorstep to wait for his father to come home after the conference dinner as he woke the baby not once but twice after I had just got him to sleep. Result: Irate mother and a baby who finally fell asleep after 5 hours of effort on my part at 11pm!!! And all this because someone got out of bed and bellowed down the stairs for attention.... well, he got it, and he didn't like it haha.

Today I whisked the boys up to coffeegroup. Both enjoyed themselves and it was nice to spend time in a nice heated room. Aan today when I asked Kieran what his brother's name was - usually met with a blank stare - I was told that his name was Cam'rin - and he gave C a kiss. The tantrums have tapered off too, and the positive reinforcement tempered with timeouts in his bedroom seem to be working! Tomorrow I catch up with Ruth and Rachel and their offspring. We will do that at the rooms as 6 wee ones might cause my house to burst at the seams! Friday morning has been set aside as a painting day. Hopefully K musters more enthusiasm for it than he showed for the playdough!

What time is it.... storytime!!

We had a busy week frantically making the most of the time before school holidays begin. Alas, the next 2 weeks stretch before us like a PORSE and activity free desert.... woe, woe. Due to K's incredible meltdowns we have amended our PORSE programme to have Henry pick K up to see if that changed his general glum demeanour and hysterics. Oh boy, did it ever. The boy skipped out to Henry's car with a twinkle in his eye and a song in his heart on both Tuesday and Thursday and had a wonderful 2 mornings. Henry and I were thrilled by this. We have now arranged that Henry will collect K in the future and I will get him from Henry's at noon. This week's coffeegroup was a bit of a bust. We headed out there and only Erin turned up. I wasn't fussed - after all, I got to leave the house and sit in a nice warm room with lots of toys for K to play with but hopefully this coming wednesday will be better... with school holidays I am sure it will be. I saw the doctor on tuesday and am a 2 week course of antibiotics. The wound is responding very well to this and should be completely healed by the time the drugs are completed. K's sleeping is still all over the place which is rather annoying but C is sleeping like a champ! We are getting 3 to 4 hours at a time from him so he is doing great! He had his immunisations on thursday - which he did NOT appreciate - and so he was a wee bit scratchy and feverish Thursday night. Isabelle brought her 2 kids over for a visit on Friday...the one day that K decided to have a three hour sleep... had I KNOWN we were getting a three hour sleep from BOTH boys I would have had a nap myself... sadly, my future foretelling abilities seem to be nonexistent! Dangnabbit!! K has also picked up a new trick which is to look like he has gone to sleep, then sneaking out of his bedroom after Chris heads into the PC room and heading into my bedroom where I am feeding Cameron. He hops onto the bed, book in hand, and we get a story while I yell for Chris. It was particularly funny last night when Chris flung open the bedroom door after sitting in k's room for 40 minutes and saying "The little beggar's FINALLY asleep!" just as K scuttled past him, book in hand, and hopped onto the bed. Heeheehee. Silly old dad. Lots of others things happened during the week but I can't remember any of them :P Baby brain you know! Next week I plan to enrol K on the Glen Eden Kindy waiting list as they have a 6 month waiting list at the moment. Still, he can't start until he's three anyway so we have 6 months to spare.. I am also planning a painting day on Friday which should be messy, a cleaning and baking day on Monday and a few library trips for the rest of the week :)