Snuggle!!

Our playdate over at Erins last week went very well - apart from Chunky soiling himself in a dramatic fashion :) We headed out to Kym's for a Wii date. Cheeky had a blast playing with Alex - and the vast collection of cars. Kym also lent me some clothes for Chunky. The weekend did not go so well. Not only did my email completely sh&t itself but the weather was wild, wet and stormy. Since Cheeky is terrified of rain and wind at night this meant minimal sleep for Chris and I. We wound up playing swap the beds as we navigated between our bed and the mattress in Cheeky's bedroom. I then had a Skype meeting on sunday. This went well as Chunky was happily snoozing on my lap for the duration. On monday Ruth called to say she was out West. Yay!! So I invited her out to playcenter, where the boys had a blast and then we headed back home where more playing occurred :) Tried to put Cheeky down for a nap but the wind scared him too much, and I took the boys up to the shops and library. Pausing only to rescue more ducklings we had a great time, despite the wind, and that evening I headed off to a Plunket meeting in the torrential wind and rain!!! Poor Chunky wasn't best impressed either! Ckeeky has headed off to PORSE this morning with his lovely madagascar tupperweare lunchbox and we will visit IKsabelle this afternoon. Good times :)

Post grr grr grr grr Gruffalo

Cheeky is still on a high after the Gruffalo patted him on the shoulder as he ran past..... whereas I am just relieved to be back home, smelling only slightly of second hand yoghurt.
Going to the Gruffalo was fun... but having the living daylights scared out of me by the police was not so much fun ;) Missing getting onto the western m/way due to said police was fairly sucky too :)
We arrived with one little boy happily playing with blocks and the other fast asleep. As always, Cheeky was viciously grumpy and weepy after a too-short nap - and it took a kinder surprise to make him a happy bunny again. He was in alt throughout the play, shrieking at the players, especially the snake Joachim - so called apparently because when people saw him in their houses they say Whak Heem Whack heem (I know! Groan!) but the best moment for him was when (as K puddled about by the stage) the Gruffalo ran past him and patted him on the shoulder. Chunky snacked through the show, leaping like a landed fish at particularly loud moments. Going home was going well until the sirens of a police car erupted directly behind me. Light flashing the whole hog. I was anervous wreck by the time I was ordered to pull over. Luckily they just wanted me to get out the way but I felt like Auckland's most notorious criminal. AND I missed the sodding entrance to the Westen motorway due to it and had to loop through Ponsonby to get back on the motorway. I did however manage to get an hours sleep out of Cheeky which was good going and then whisked both boys up to the library. Tomorrow we have a playdate with Erin, Georgia and Liam and on friday we have a Wii date with Kym. It will be good to see Alex and Bella again too :)

Pre Gruffalo

My god, it has been a while since my last blog entry, non? Let's see... on the monday after father's day Chunky laughed for the first time - a proper laugh that is!! Too cute for words. He is burbling away like anything, and when we peer into the cot in the morning we get a huge smile and these flailing limbs as he desperately emotes "free me!! cuddle me!!" and of course "FEED ME!!" After it, it is usually 8 hours since the last bout of snackin's and that boy has a powerful appetite! That tuesday PORSE was cancelled as Henry's daughter had a nasty tummy bug so I took Cheeky to the craft morning where he was exceptionally good :) It was only after we were home that he acted up, and made me want to disown him :) Steve (TCANZ) also dropped off a mass of survey forms for me to enter into surveymonkey. It was a pig of a job but hey - there's a $100 bucks towards the Christmas pressie fund :) On thursday I took K to Library storyime - and he loved it. We will def be doing that again. On friday I took both boys to the Wriggle and Rhyme session - and Cheeky had an absolute blast!!! So much so that I am enrolling him in dance classes :) Chunky just chilled. The weekend was just noodling about as far as I can remember :) On monday I took the boys to Playcentre where Cheeky just had such a wonderful time. It was a good decision to go there :). Yesterday I took Cheeky down to the library and the playground by the sports fields. He loved it, except that Chunky's backside erupted in a terrifying manner. Despite leaping into the car immediately, all 3 layers of Chunky's outfit were terribly stained. I have them soaking in Napisan but feel it is a forlorn hope. Chunky's outputs have a permanency that outdoor paint companies can only strive to emulate :) Isabelle came around with her 2 kids and they rampaged around the house - good fun. I offered her the 2 spare tickets to the Gruffalo play - and she accepted. Her little boy was taken by his daddy on the weekend and when I asked how her son had liked the play she said her husband had really enjoyed the play, and and, oh yes, her son did too :P So today I drive out to Manukau for the show - free tickets, woohoo!!! I have never been to the venue so am going to leave A LOT early in case of getting lost etc. The sun is shining, the kids are happy, bread has been baked, stew is set for dinner and life is good :)

Calloo Callay, it's Father's Day!!!

And to celebrate I let Chris cook a roast dinner, complete with dessert. It was delicious!!! This morning, as he cuddled his 2 boys, I handed him the present that CheekyChops and ChunkyMunky had laboured so hard over. It was a trying time getting that present, so trying that a trip to the orphanage to deposit a certain toddler almost occurred. However, disaster was averted and Chris liked his painting of little boy hands (or at least he said he did, which is good enough for me) - and a bar of chocolate. Yesterday we headed out to ye olde North Shore to collect the exersaucer that I bought cheap on TradeMe. Chunky will be glad of it in a month or so. What else, Friday I went to Playcentre where CheekyChops made his father a Father's Day card and cavorted upon the gym equipment, climbing structures and sandpit. Oh boy, how he loves that sandpit. Next fortnight we sill start buying peapod nappies for him in our bid to begin toilet training :)
Just a short entry today as I am braindead from typing minutes between trying to persuade a wee boy that he is not starving and that he won't be left out on a hillside for the wolfies...., and not looking forward to a frantic morning of cleaning house tomorrow :P

An "interesting" week

Where has the time gone? ChunkyMunky is growing in leaps and bounds, and looks just like CheekyChops did...including his desperate desire to be held/cuddled all the time. CheekyChops celebrated this week by demonstrating his new habit - hitting people. This has severely reduced his popularity in the household as you can well imagine. Monday went well, We didn't go to Playcentre - that is a treat for tomorrow - but chilled out instead. On tuesday CheekyChops had a ball at PORSE, and we visited Isabelle etc in the afternoon. Bandit accompanied us and, upon being denied entrance, prowled about the domicile like a ravenous vampire at a church. This thrilled the kids no end, as you can imagine!!!! Wednesday was stunning - blue skies bathed in sunshine. We took the stroller and hit the library and plunket coffeegroup (where Erin very kindly lent me some clothes for ChunkyMunky... as my jokes about him going naked this Spring were not entirely in jest), before heading home. We had only been home for about 20 minutes when a great wailing and howling arose outside where the rubbish truck rumbled opposite the house. Struck by the level and range of profanity I ventured out (leaving K noodling about in the garden) thinking a dog had been run over by the truck and its owner was going apeshit at the truck when I saw the rubbish man lying on the ground, clutching his lower leg and screaming in agony. An ambulance was phoned and I headed insside for a blanket, towel and bag of frozen veges. I then made the poor lads life a living hell by taking off his shoe, and insisting on icing his leg. It took the ambulance 40 minutes to arrive..... oy vey!!! Between you and me he seemed a bit of a wuss :P It seemed mere moments later that it was 5:30 and time to prepare for dinner. I turned on the oven and gave ChunkyMunky a quick feed. An odd smell began to emanate from the kitchen. Peering into the smoky depths of the (recently cleaned!!!) oven I was horrified to see a thick red substance oozing gently down through the trays. I turned off the oven and frantically tried to remember what red toys we had. Luckily Chris arrived home at this point and the dance of the fire alarms began..... he removing trays and haring off into the garden, smoke trailing in his wake like a noxious comet, and me fanning away the noxious fumes filling the house with a tea towel. I am sure the neighbours marvelled at our antics, with every door and window open to fill the house with icy damp breezes and the 2 of us peering mournfully at the nigh unrecognisable carcass of K's Lightning McQueen lunchbox, while CheekyChops cavorted by the barbeque. It was at this point that I realised that I would not be making the Plunket meeting that night. Indeed, by the time the oven was cleaned, dinner made, kidlets bathed and put to bed I was knackered!!! Today was wet, and cold, and yucky. Both kidlets were little gobshites and I thought fondly of leaving them on an orphanage doorstep. I was able to get them both involved in making a Fathers Day present for this sunday - a Herculean task!!! Tomorrow is Playcentre and on saturday we collect our bought-cheap-on-trade-me-far-cheaper-than-hiring-one exersaucer. I have also fallen deeply in love with Wii and yearn for a console of my own. However at a price tag of NZ$400 this seems some distance away..... Roll on Xmas and birthday presents I say!!!!

Lightning crashes....

and it certainly did last night! Around 4:30am a noise like a gigantic bell being rung followed by an immense rumbling sound filled the air in the crescent. Chris and I were woken by it and were unsure whether the skip at the building site had been hit by a car or what had happened. The humongous noise was followed by torrential rain - so loud, with raindrops so large they sounded like hail, along with lightning and thunder. It was at this point that we realised we had experienced a lighting strike directly above us. Yowsa!!! Poor CheekyChops was awakened and afrightened, but ChuckyMunky slept blissfully on :) In other news I am in the long slow process of transferring all my files and email across onto the laptop - but was able to tear myself away to watch The Proposal with Sandra Bullock. I enjoyed it :) The weather continues truckloads of rain.....yippee :( and I have fallen in love with Wii. Alas, the cheapest one I could find was $400 Aiiieeeee, oh well, nevermind :P ChunkyMunky has bounced back from his immunisations, and was grinning and chortling like a loon today.
Tomorrow is going to be a quite day at home, as I have a Plunket meeting in the evening. Tuesday is PORSE, wednesday is the Plunket coffeegroup and thursday is free. Friday will be Playcentre - yippee!! Mind you, there is a fair bit of phone calling re the coffeegroup that I have to do - sux to be me!!

Raider of the lost lunchbox.....

CheekyChops has a lovely Lighning McQueen lunchbox which he adores. This is hardly surprising as he is a fan of all things CARS. Anyway, on tuesday morning as I packed the last few items into his lunchbox he watched with some interest before wandering off to watch the WOTWOTS on tv. I gave him his breakfast of which he ate all of 3 teaspoons worth. Sigh. A few minutes later he scurried over to his little train backpack and pulled out his lunchbox which he carried off to his highchair. Placing it on the tray he opened the lunchbox and selected a salami stick and an oaty slice for his breakfast. Using the lunchbox as the container for all meals seems to have promoted a better appetite for CheekyChops. Go the lunchbox!! He had a lovely time at Henry's - and as I arrived he was happily playing Henry's piano :) My craft morning went well - apart from ChunkyMunky pulling a surprise poonami on me. I used all my wipes..... Oy vey! On wednesday CheekyChops was in high spirits and had a blast at the Plunket coffeegroup. After I got home he puddled around while I developed the mother of all migraines. ChunkyMunky kept crying whenever I put him down and eventually, after the big one was put to bed I took ChunkyMunky up to bed with me. I had a nice 30 minute nap, and afterwards some panadol which seemed to take care of the headache. Upstairs 2 little boys slept, all snug and warm, while I frantically cooked a pork, apple and caramelised onion pie, in a caramelised onion pastry crust. I thought it turned out ok :) Then I drove out to the coffeegroup dinner with my pie. It was a lovely evening apart from my headache coming back - at one stage I honestly thought I was going to throw up.. luckily Suzie has some panadol etc that I was able to take :) It was a lovely evening and as I drove veeeeery slowly home (the lights were killers, and the rain did not aid my driving) ChunkyMunky chilled in the back. He was a very good date for the dinner - calm and quiet haha. I got in the house and fed the kidlet and poured myself into bed. It was 11pm after all :) On thursday CheekyChops headed off to Henry's and ChunkyMunky got to take a ride in the stroller up to the doctor's where he had his 3 month immunisations. He lay on the table and cooed and gooed at us - I felt like such a traitor knowing what was coming. He did have a shriek but it was over quickly and he settlerd down for a cuddle and some snackin's. We picked up CheekyChops and I had a chat with Henry. We will only have PORSE on a tuesday from here on in. ChunkyMunky was fairly lethargic thursday afternoon - and so was I. We had the Plunket nurse visit and K woke up just as she was leaving. Afterwards I really struggled to stay awake. All ChunkyMunky wanted was to cuddle down on me and sleep. His big brother wanted cuddles ansd stories too. Thursday night was a difficult one for Chris - and not because of Chunky, who woek every 4 hours in need of a cuddle and a feed - but because K kept coming into the bedroom every 20 minutes from 2am until Chris got up at 4am. Needless to say he was not in the cheeriest of moods!! Today is rainy and I have a very sad little baby so will stay home and cosset him :)