Rainy Daze

K scampered off for his morning at Henry's as happy as a clam. The fact that he gets a small milo to take along may have something to do with his good cheer :) I plan to head off to the bedroom and have a nap- as Cameron is sleeping at the mo. Yesterday Suzie came over to visit. She brought over her sling for me to borrow (what a lifesaver!!) and some warmer clothing and a baby sleeping bag. Cam had a lovely toasty night last night. I still suck at winding him - poor little devil is moaning and wittering in his sleep due to wind...Sigh. So I spent nearly 2 hours this am at 4:15am trying to wind him - with indifferent success. Sleep - waaaah! I have elevated the snugglebed, and will begin to lug him around in the sling rather than flat on his back in the stroller or floor and see if that helps. Breastfeeding is going well. Cameron ramped it back up again after slowing down when we got home. I have the feeling that the milk supply failed to meet his expectations after that, so he is making sure that it flows like water. This is not an issue during the day, but at night!! A towel has now been placed on my side of the bed haha. K remains fascinated by the baby, which is all to the good but now seeks attention (and stories) from visitors, which he didn't do before. I can't wait until he sees the Gruffalo dvd (BBC) as that is still his favourite book - although The Wonky Donkey is a close second!! I need to come up with activities to do while housebound, in the rain too! Had the downstairs heater on yesterday - brrrr it was cold. Boy, our power bill is going to go through the roof in the next 3 months!! Sigh..

I miss sleep

Ya know, Cameron is a great kid. He eats well, he sleeps well - but hells bells, getting a mere 2 hours of consecutive sleep several times a night truly sucks... particularly when poor Chris suffers from an acute case of grumpiness when he doesn't get enough sleep :)

We pored through our copy of the destitute gourmet before planning out the fortnight's menu. So far K has eaten 1 dinner out of 2. He wouldn't even look at Chris's delicious kebabs - and they were yummy! Yesterday we took K to Motat with the free voucher. Once again he loved MOTAT, actually weeping when Chris dragged him out the gates. We will go again when I am a little more capable of hunting down the wee squeak. Poor Chris had to race around after K and was absolutely knackered, with a sore back afterwards. Healing is going well, with me on panadol a mere 1x a day. Hopefully I can begin driving in the next fortnight and that will allow K to get out the house and not go stir crazy. Today was gorgeous and sunny and Colin and Ros came over with homemade bagels, salmon and cream cheese for brunch. It was super yummy and so appreciated.

And two in the hand....

Wow, juggling toddler and baby needs is a bit of hard work! Especially when your toddler doesn't understand why you "won't" pick him up, is having disturbed nights and can't understand why um doesn't liked being crawled over when she is feeding the baby. Add in a sleep deprived husband and it gets even more exciting!

Kieran had a fabulous day yesterday - it was the last one with his Grammy. We decorated the Gingerbread men, and K decanted chocolate buttons happily while the decorating proceeded - eating the fruits of our labours too - the little devil! We also went for a walk to the local park - but they were replacing the tiles on the base so K couldn't play. Alas!!! Sue flew home last night and is already missed by Mr K. He had such a great time with his Grammy! I have got to get driving as the more activities K can go to the happier he will be!! When it is just us at home he notices how much less attention he gets - and this saddens him. But he is so very good, and gives the baby cuddles when Cameron squeaks, and kisses and tries to play with him... although this generally involves driving toys over Cameron :)

I must sit down this weekend and work out a 2 week schedule of what we will do in morning afternoon blocks for the boys as hopefully that will help with the attention needs. The Porse sessions are a lifesaver too - as it means K can do something different, and Cameron gets some attention.

Baby!! Baby!!

Kieran is happy to see me home. He is also pleased that Baby!Baby! came with me. He is being very gentle with Cameron, and there is a lot of gentle stroking of the baby, counting his fingers and pointing out objects of interest (Head! Ear!). What he is not coping so well with is the lack of me picking him up. Bed and couch based cuddles just aren't the same. He is def enjoying having his daddy and Grammy around, although I suspect both of them will return to work looking forward to the relief from babywrangling :) Today K is at Henry's for the morning and we plan a baking session of "Man's!" also known as Gingerbread men this afternoon. A trip up to the library or the playground is also on the cards. I am chilling out this morning, as Cameron is being very good... eating and sleeping the way he is supposed to ;P

Yesterday we took K out for a walk to the playground in the drizzle. It was that or have all 3 of us go stir crazy. He ran us ragged - and we were mooching along at my invalid's pace too! Healing is going well, with a sharp twinge here and there reminding me not to overdo it.

Looks like we will do "The Mans"tomorrow morning with a potential trip to the library depending on the weather - Aaaah rain, sweet rain....

We're baaaaack!

Gosh, it's good to be home!! We headed into the hospital at the crack of dawn on Thursday. Everyone (except me) enjoyed a breakfast of crumpets. They processed us quickly and we were good to go at 8:50am... except Chris had not got back from dropping K off at Henry's. So, the surgical team sat around and waited for him to return :) The surgery went well, with the staff expressing some surprise at my enthusiasm to get started....and once again I vomited. At least this time it was at the beginning of the procedure so I got to enjoy the last bit of it and look at Cameron. He was hauled into the world at 9:53am, and his devoted father hied off to "do baby things". He is a bit smaller than Kieran - 3.2 to Kieran's 3.5kg's but is already a better feeder haha. I am recovering nicely from the surgery and the staff were just lovely - made the stay a good one. The catering service for the maternity ward however should be taken out and shot. Each meal was worse than the one before, with the coup de gras being the honey soy chicken with wedges. The chicken has been cooked so long the cartilage in the legs had turned to mush. The "wedges" were 2 whole boiled potatoes.. and the corn had been cooked for so long that it was gummy once you bit through the skin. A delightful meal :) It was so nice being home and I particularly look forward to not hearing the chime calling Nurses to a room going every 5 minutes, or hungry babies howling like timberwolves. Cameron has at least learned to peep his requests :) And now, it's off for some drugs and thence to bed!

Hello Cameron

Hi All. It's Chris here. I don't normally write blog entries but today is a special day so I'm making an exception :). Today we welcome Cameron Eoin Seal to the family. Cameron was safely delivered by cesarean at 9:53, weighing 3.21 kg (7 pound 1 ounce in the old currency). Both he and Shan are doing well.

Shannon is due out of hospital on Monday, all things going according to plan, and will no doubt update you all on how things are then.

Cheers

Chris

24 hours and counting

Sunday was a lovely lazy day and we enjoyed it immensely! On Monday K and I were collected by the lovely Suzie and headed out to Olympic Park for the Playgroup trip. K ran around like a maniac and had a wonderful time. I discovered that I was so pregnant that I could not do more than walk slowly after him, as fast walking was quite painful. Luckily there were many people present to give me the fishy eye and intimate that I was not all I could be as a parent. Naturally, just as Suzie rose to leave K literally sprinted for the hills and I would up standing there waving "bye bye" at him until he pathetically dragged his tearful self back. I grabbed his arm just as he began to turn to run away again - but still got the "bad mother" scowls from those watching. And yet, if I had chased him, I would never have caught up and..... aaaargh!!

On tuesday I drove K to his PORSE session... or at least to the top of the hill, where, as I pressed on the accelerator to pull out into traffic the car's engine just died. Pandemonium reigned. I would up pushing the car out of traffic all by myself (nope, no-one stopped to help!), which was rather tricky as I didn't want the car to whistle back down the hill with K in it!!. I fished K out and staggered down the hill where I called Henry to collect K. We got the car started once K was in Henry's car, and it behaved itself when I picked K up that afternoon. (problem with cold morning and choke) HOWEVER. I must have pulled or strained every muscle in my back, stomach and groin and the pain has been excruciating!! It has finally improved to the point where I can walk without active pain, though I spent much of today terrified that I was going into labour. Chris came home today and took me to get my bloods done at the hospital. I amused myself this morning by baking bread, doing dishes and laundry, packing my hospital bag, playing with K and having a nap. The house is pristine - or it was after I finished preparing dinner!! I have had a lovely bath with my son, shaved my legs while fighting off his offers of assistance and am about to go to bed... after all, tomorrow is a big day!

Vroom vroom!!

Friday, despite being forecast for rain, was lovely and sunny. I decided that K and I would go up to the library in the stroller. K took some coaxing as he was feeling in the mood for a nap (at 10am!!) Sadly, he had no real choice in the matter and was bundled into the stroller. It was a lovely walk - even if I did have to stop 3 times on the hill haha. He then had a massive 2 and a half hour sleep that afternoon. However I was shattered afterwards!!I had me a nap too though - I seem to be napping a lot these days :P

Isabelle came over with her 2 kids and K cavorted merrily. When they left he pleaded to go to the playground. This caused pandemonium as Isabelle's 2, still outside the door, decided that the playground was where they needed to be as well!! We ran the sass out of all 3 of them and I returned K to the domicile 20 minutes later with SOME of the sass run out of him! I made shepherds pie for dinner and it was tres yummy. Today was exciting! We collected the car - the car I CAN DRIVE!!!! Yes, I AM excited/thrilled/over the moon - why do you ask :P Chris headed into town on the train at 9am to catch the 10:08 train from town to Sylvia Park. I thought that having nearly 30 minutes between arrival at Britomart and the Southern train departure would be ample. Apparently not. The train stopped in the tunnels just before Britomart where Chris could not get off. After calling the lovely sellers and explaining the situation they kindly drove the car into town, met Chris at the University and he got home, in the pouring rain, at 12:30. Not a bad morning's work! I had spent the time packing up stuff, cleaning the bathroom, baking, doing a load of laundry and vacuuming under the bed (while K drew on the cot and windowsill with crayon - grrr!). After K's nap we headed out to MOTAT - as it was free for Waitakere residents. The rain had completely dried up and the sky was blue and clear. Perfect weather for dashing about MOTAT. We met up with Ruth and co. Finn chose to recline in his stroller and view the sights from there - he was in a chilling mood obviously. I still have a voucher so that Chris and Sue can take K again while I am in hospital. OMG!! K did not stop. He ran, he squealed, he shrieked his joy at seeing trucks and trains and cars and tractors. He leaped off haybales, investigated plasma balls, cranked levers and ran, ran, ran for the 2 hours we were there. There was a station there where you could make hot air balloons by cutting out the paper basket, then attaching it to a helium balloon. FREE!! I cut it out, took one look at the instructions and allocated the task to an engineer while I (literally) ran after a toddler for 10 minutes. I could not help but notice that Ruth, complete with miniature hot air balloon tied to her stroller, joined me at the Woolshed set where K was frisking through the straw, a good 6 minutes before the engineer arrived with his balloon in tow :P Chris and I feel quite fragile now - and definitely in need of our beds! K ate a HUGE dinner and was asleep by 7:30... a whole hour earlier than normal! Tomorrow I have planned.... nothing. It is our lazy day - and lord knows we need one!

1 week and counting

Aaah today was yet another PORSE session where K scampered off without a backwards glance! I must be doing something right. Casting my gaze floorwards I recoiled in horror and was soon scrubbing the kitchen floor - on my hands and knees! with an actual scrubbing brush! And then performed a similar job in the toilet - blech!! I stopped after that and had a refreshing shower. After that I made some bread and baked some scones. Suzie came over with Amanda and we had a good natter. Alas, motherhood had inveigled Rachel away as it does to us all, so it was just Suzie and I. Still, at least my toilet was clean!! My back and right shoulder are really sore now - dangnabbit! This afternoon we headed over to the local playground and then to Isabelle's which K enjoyed mightily! Tonight I am heading off to the Plunket meeting which will occupy a few hours (and then the minuting, aaah, sweet lord, the minuting!!). Tomorrow is our stay at home day... but I think that we might head up to the library. K could do with an outing and I need a book!! The Gruffalo just doesn't cut it for me hehe. On saturday we head out to pick up the car, and then we head into MOTAT after K's nap. He is going to have a blast! Today's picture is of Cameron's cot quilt - isn't it gorgeous!!

I am torn between wanting him here already so I can stop being preggers - and waiting a little bit longer... but I am definitely weighing in more on the here! now! let's not wait side of the argument haha.

Miserable Morning

We checked out the car on sunday and it was good. I called Vania on Monday to say that we would take the car if it passed the WOF - which is did with flying colours. Yay!! Now all we have to do is collect it - oh, and pay for it too!!

Monday playgroup went swimmingly! K had an absolute blast and slept fantastically well. Tuesday we had the PORSE session again, and once again my little munchkin raced out of the house Henrywards. Obviously this PORSE thing is working out great in terms of personality fit haha :)

Today is my second to last Plunket Coffee Group session - wow, everything will be coming to a screeching halt shortly! K is still asleep and it is nearly 8am!! It must be cos the morning has dawned dark and ominous. I fear rain shortly. Woe. I shall have to go in and wake him shortly as we have to leave the house by 9ish so I can take all my documentation into WINZ to apply for the childcare subsidy. No plans for this afternoon as I need to clean the house as coffeegroup is at my place tomorrow. Then tomorrow night is the Plunket meeting.... busy busy busy!!

Went into WINZ and discovered that Wednesday is the only day they open at 9:30am rather than 9am... typical!! However, they processed everything very quickly when I handed it over so that is good! Then I headed into the rooms to set up for the coffeegroup. I shifted the couches around to allow breastfeeding mothers the option NOT to be perved at through the door and found truckloads of papers and SKIP/PEPE material stashed all over the place. Methinks I need to speak with Suzie as the rooms are very quickly becoming a glorified storeroom for all this other literature - and that's not what they are there for! I was fair knackered by the time the session finished and I struggled home. In the POURING RAIN and WIND. Yup, winter's arrived :( K got home and wittered for his milk and bed and I obliged him. I am about to poour my drenched cold self into bed too. Mmmmm, bed!

Dr Seal I presume

Well, Friday went swimmingly. We were up at the crack of dawn so that Chris could attend the graduate champagne breakfast. I got showered and dressed and got little Squeak fed and dressed. Henry arrived 5 minutes early and K dashed from the house towards his car. I had to carry him back to the house to press the bottle of chocolate milk upon him. Once in the car he urged me to do up the carseat straps so that he could be off. I was pleased by this of course ... but what happened to those tears? We leapt into the car and headed into town at breakneck speed (haha...not! Gotta love Auckland traffic!) Once we finally got into town we hared off to the appropriate hill for the 9am procession.... and waited, and waited and waited. A mere 25 minutes after the scheduled start Auckland Uni's finest traipsed down the hill, the wail of bagpipes swirling through the air. I spotted Colin, Ros and Mike but couldn't spot Bryony before everyone whipped on past. I have never seen such a big smile on Chris' face as he sauntered down the hill. I had taken the precaution of standing on a bench so he could see where we were - after all, how many 37 week preggers women were likely to be there right? We then scurried off down the hill after the graduates and headed into the Town Hall for the graduation ceremony. Chris looked very somber as he strutted across the stage, and practically sprinted down the stairs on the other side. We amused ourselves for the 2 hours plus prior to this moment by looking through the service sheet and picking out the hard, or exceptionally long names, hoping to hear the Chancellor stumble over them. We were very impressed by the nimble manner in which he skimmed over some very tricky ones! BUT, CHRIS GRADUATED!!!! Anyway, they need to sell snacks before the start of the ceremony let me tell you! I was ravenous by the time we left, and forced Chris to take me to Wendy's :) I was then cruelly forced to walk up to Albert Park/University - puffing like a beached whale at high noon - before we headed off to collect Kieran. Kieran was not best pleased to be removed from Henry's where he was having a blast! Once home he was popped into bed for 40 minutes before we headed off to the photo shoot. Kieran was very well behaved there (for a 2 year old!) and this continued for the 2 hour drive home. TWO HOURS!! Trucks were pointed out to us, and we were urged to go "Faster! Faster!" We got home at 6:30 and my feet were so swollen that I could hardly get my boots off. I scarfed down some tea then headed across the road to babysit Madison and Esteban. On Saturday we headed off to the Cock and Bull as Joy was shouting us all a graduation lunch - which was very generous of her! We ran the sass out of the 3 boys in the playground prior to sitting down for lunch, and K had a blast... even if he did spend much of the time peering suspiciously at the twins. Nix brought down a big black sack of baby clothes (just the first 3 months worth as I requested) so that was excellent! We headed home where Chris prepared a delicious dinner of slow roasted pork belly, with roasted veges and creme brulee, and I made apple and blackberry pie. Very yummy! Today was mothers day and we watched my mothers day pressie from K- Planet 51 - with much hilarity ;) Chris made breakfast then headed upstairs to work on a postdoc application while I spent time with my son. I hung out the laundry and started some bread before I whisked him off to the local playground - sunny weather you know - which we left after a mere 15 minutes as a little boy had been sent to the playground by his father when he saw K and I going there. As we left I saw the father grudgingly leaving the house so he could supervise his child - who had begged me to pay attention to him, push him on the swings, listen to him sing etc etc the whole time I was there with K. Nice parenting skills there! I have begun sorting through the black sack of clothes and have washed some so that we are ready for action! Yeeha! This afternoon we are heading out Botany way to look at a car and then a playground session for K - to make up for this morning!

2 weeks to go

Yes, by this time in 2 weeks Cameron will have been born. Very scary/exciting thought. I will be distinctly happy to no longer be pregnant tho! I keep banging into walls and doorframes cos I am misjudging my size and walking up the hill now qualifies as a mission. Well, today was the last session of babygym for the next little while. Yup, no more flying up the hill, hopping on the train, trotting along to WestWave, and repeating in reverse - yay!! This is a bit of a shame as K loves it so much but we will be back for the beginning of the next term. Today K rode majestically in his stroller towards WestWave and said "I like babygym!" We had a ball but I forgot my camera (head:desk!) so I can't prove this! Racing back to the train station I was ousted from the lift by a pair of fat smooching drunks who almost made me miss the train as they rode slowly up in the ONLY lift. I saw the train pull into the station when I hadn't even got into the lift to go down onto the platform! I literally sprinted out of the lift waving at the conductor who very nicely held the train for me. Well, one would hope so :) This afternoon K helped me bake bread then we watched the Wiggles and headed out to the local playground, before returning home to make K pizza for dinner.

Wednesday's coffeegroup went well, with another new person turning up!! Yay. Numbers still seem to sit at 2 or 3 people per session tho. K enlivened proceedings by slamming his fingers in the door he was asked repeatedly to leave alone so it was a pretty depressing afternoon as he kept bursting into tears and begging for cuddles.

Tomorrow is Chris's graduation so I spent the evening baking bread, cooking dinner, and ironing shirts and pants.... yup, good times :) I have also got everything ready for K's PORSE session tomorrow so tomorrow should go smoothly :) Fingers crossed anyway.

Firsts

It was a day of firsts here at Chez Seal. It was Kieran's forst PORSE morning and he got to take along his first packed lunch. He woke up bright and cheery at 7:10am this morning and called out to me as I sauntered out of the bathroom. He bumbled around happily until Henry arrived and Kieran figured out that he was going in the car.... and I wasn't. So there I stood, in my dressing gown - oddly, I had not managed to get dressed as I had planned, as my crying child was driven away. I have to admit to shedding a tear or two myself. I also know that he will have a lovely time at Henry's, playing with the chickens and rabbits, and digging in the sandpit. But still, I feel quite melancholy at the moment. His next session is this Friday, when Chris graduates. After that, he will go every Tuesday and Thursday morning.

The PORSE lady was over yesterday and filled in her part of the WINZ documentation. This is good as we will receive a subsidy towards K's care - almost half the cost!! I will drop the forms off to WINZ tomorrow, before I head off to the Plunket coffee group.

Mother's day is this Sunday and I have given Chris a list of items I would like. Whether I will get more than a kiss in the morning is the real acid test though :)

Bast*rd battery

The weather was gorgeous on Friday. K and I had an at home day where I did 3 loads of washing, baked bread, read stories, drew pictures, went to the local playground and had a nice relaxing day. We even popped off to the playground again that afternoon. The only downside to the day? Chris having the car battery die on him that morning. As I saw the car sitting there, silent and unmoving, I flung my paws in the air and wailed my angst to the skies. Well, if you want to get technical it was the ceiling ;) Why? Because the cost of the new battery meant that I could not go out and buy a new top for Chris's graduation and the photo session that followed. Sniff. Sniff, sniff. I also tried on the bag of clothes that Rache lent me - and there was nothing there that looked good with the bump. Dangnabbit. So on saturday morning - instead of volunteering at the Oratia Farmers Market for Plunket - Chris, Kieran and I walked up the hill to the train station and caught the train to New Lynn. We then hiked off to Repco in intermittent showers and purchased a battery. At this point K was retrieved from the stroller and the battery sited in his place. K made this a lot easier (not!) by deciding that walking was for peasants and insisting on his father carrying him. We then headed off to New World to do a quick shop for some urgent bits and pieces, then headed into Lynn Mall where K had a play in the kiddie area while Chris bolted off to lighting direct for bulbs for the bathroom. While bathing in the cool moonlight has its charms - it's not THAT charming :) We met Emma while I wrangled K towards the playground and were able to say a quick Hi! Then Chris dashed back, crying his notice that the train was due in 10 minutes and so we collected K, bought him a balloon octopus and galloped madly off to the station. While initially suspicious of the octopus K warmed up to the beast as we rode back to Glen Eden. Back in good old Glen Eden we headed into the library and the petstore. K is very fond of the pet store and thrilled to the sights of kittens, rabbits and rainbow lorikeets. Easily pleased works for me haha. We then trudged our weary way home with repeated cries of "Octopus, octopus, octopus!!" ringing in our ears. By the time we got home I realised that being 36 weeks preggers is harder that I remembered, and that I need to SLOW DOWN. That afternoon we headed out in the FIXED!! FIXED!! car and got the rest of the groceries. Then Chris made pasta with my able assistance and we tucked K into bed. I promptly threw myself into a bath and was in bed by 7:45pm. Tragic I know!! Today was lovely and sunny. Bandit woke us up by vomiting several times under our bed, finishing up with a final biscuity purge under the cot. Joy! After the morning snuggle with the Squeak we bustled about entertaining the child, and in my case frantically digging through all my stored clothes to try and find something to wear to Chris's graduation on Friday. I think I have found something that will work. It's not so flash, but hey, at this point I am desperate ;) We then headed out to Henry's to sign the PORSE contract. K had a ball. He fed toast to the 2 chickens and was encouraged to carry an egg inside. He carried it to me instead, luckily a mere 4 steps away. He then made free with the toy chest in the lounge and had a fantastic time. We headed home and tidied the house as Colin and Ros were coming over for lunch. They arrived bearing roast potatoes and a roast pork. I made a pumpkin pie - which turned out quite well. Maybe because Kieran helped with the spicing of the pie ;P After Colin and Ros left K cavorted in the playground with us and Bandit, enjoying the sunshine. He headed home and poor Chris looked at me in a tragic fashion as he staggered about like a zombie starved of brains. I packed him off upstairs and washed dishes, hung out laundry and made pizza dough for dinner while K played with his trains. I popped upstairs to check on Chris and he was sprawled out on the bed, fast asleep. K helped us make stars and moons from pizza dough as I got everyone's dinner out. K was also knackered, and fell asleep at 7pm - a far cry from his usual 8:30pm! Tomorrow is playgroup and then Tuesday is the first time K will be at Henry's. How exciting!!