Hooray for Christmas Day

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

Silenced seedlings

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

Weekend frivolity..

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

The sound of one hand clapping

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

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

Baby led weaning

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

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

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

A Bumbo

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

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

I want to RUN!!

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

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