Sunny Days

Oops, there goes January...flying past at the speed of light. This pic is taken at the beach beside Freyberg Pool, at Oriental Bay. A sanitised version of the kind of beach we frequented as kids; totally man-made, and freshly swept and sifted as we arrived in the carpark nearby. But it was also Bella's first introduction to sand as not confined to a sandpit. Yes, I am a slack mother, not to have taken her to a beach before the age of 2! It's not as if we are not surrounded by multitudes of beaches here, it's just that we never got around to it. She had a ball anyway, and is still talking about it, days later. Lockie enjoyed himself too, and he and a friend dug a deep hole that had many of the other kids on the beach wandering over for an curious look.

Today we picked up a set of bunks for Lockie's room, that I bought from Trademe. Lockie insisted he would sleep on the top bunk tonight, but I just found him transferring himself to the bottom bunk, 90 minutes after I turned out his light!

Today Bella decided to forgo her nap - although she did spend an hour and a half in her cot at naptime! I could hear her singing and chatting to her toys the whole time, as I willed her to go to sleep from the next room. Funny kid. I finally went in and rescued her and she announced 'it's morning!'

This morning Bella became convinced that her Aunty Meg was here - she spotted me lying in bed after breakfast, having sneaked in to see Fraz as he slept in. She must have thought I was Meg then, because she looked at me and said "you're daddy's friend" and then ran out calling "Aunty Meggie's here!" That was pretty funny, and even though I told her I was her Mummy, she didn't believe me!! Later I got up and she asked me to come and find where Meggie had gone. We went outside and saw a Qantas plane passing overhead - I said Meg was on it, going home. Not the first time I've been mistaken for my twin but the first time my child had insisted she was right!

Fun and games

This afternoon we had friends over to play - we've known this family since shortly after moving to Johnsonville more than 5 years ago, when both our sons were small and starting Playcentre. Now we live in different suburbs and our kids attend different schools but there's still the great connection you have with great friends, even when we don't catch up very often anymore. The boys put a silly show on for us Mums and Bella, who clapped and laughed appropriately at their hilarious antics. Later, when they had gone home, Bella decided to dress-up too. She shed her fairy clothes just minutes after I snapped this photo though.

Oops

Feeling a bit twitchy tonight. It turns out that when we went with broadband a month ago, we didn't anticipate the increased usage that would happen as we thrilled to the speed and convenience of it all... now we are way over our monthly limit and I am nervous about connecting at all! Too bad though, it's been so long since I blogged that I find myself feeling a bit shy about it all.

Well, Christmas was a blast, with my two sisters and father staying for several days, and much food and booze consumed by all. Loads of lovely pressies opened and enjoyed, especially by the kids whose bedrooms need to be rearranged to accommodate the large amount of loot they received from generous rellies. Everyone remained well-behaved [except for me having a couple of PMT-inspired meltdowns in the lead-up to Christmas Day!]. The weather has been, for the most part, absolutely atrocious and practically wintery, very ho-hum. Still, when there's a break in the weather on any given day, you'll find Lockie zipping outdoors and playing on his trampoline - until he gets too cold that is.

Bella has been unwell - viral gastroenteritis no less, since a few days before Chrissy, and for a week after also. Poor mite. And poor me having to change so many disgusting nappies. She's all good now, which is lucky as she decided to undress herself for her bath this evening, including a poo-laden nappy... in Lockie's bedroom for unknown reasons... oh boy. I cleaned up the mess and later told him about it - he announced then that his room 'smelled of dung'. Great. He thinks his sister is a horse/cow/sheep.

Back to work tomorrow, and Lockie possibly to his Nana's in Otaki for a couple of nights. Ahh, peace. I may even go in early to work and help with the huge backload of 'returns' that will be piling up over the long weekend. I will also be setting up a display in the Adult Fiction section, of 'Banned and Challenged Books'. Hope people will borrow them... I haven't done many displays so have some credibilty to build there ;)