#@*!!*#

I am not very happy today - I took a carload of clothes/shoes/toys, etc to the Johnsonville Sally Army Family Store and was treated with disdain... the two young women behind the counter were interested when I said I had a load of things to donate - until I mentioned that a few of the toys were left over from a recent garage sale. I was told 'we don't take ex-garage-sale stuff as it is mainly poor quality and we have to end up dumping it'. They seemed to presume I was giving them a carload of junk apparently. This was insulting to say the least! Sure, the toys were a bit the worse for wear and I was happy to chuck them myself, but most of the things I wanted to give them were clothes culled from my wardrobe, and clothes and shoes the kids had grown out of...not stuff I would consider junk. I decided to leave - I told them I would not be back to their store and they smirked bemusedly - and I went to the Mary Potter Hospice Shop in Tawa instead where I was greeted with smiles and delight by the dear little old ladies who worked there. They helped me take the things from the car and thanked me sweetly. I recommend this place!!

Unfortunately I still have a bad taste in my mouth from those Sally Army tarts, hence I am blogging my frustrations out. I have since heard from another friend who had poor customer service from the same place. Sorry about the whinging, people!!

Hello Lilli

Bella is saying Hello to her cousin Lilli, in Boston. Although it was actually late at night in that part of the world and little Lilli was in bed - she's a few weeks older than Bella. Fraz doesn't catch up with his little bro much so this phonecall was a welcome one.

Today I had my Garage Sale. The weather was pretty dreary and it rained on and off all morning. The first punters only arrived half an hour before the advertised time and carted off $40 of stuff straight off so I was happy with that. A friend came over to help me out and Lockie was dropped at another friend's house as Fraz went to work - so it was just the 3 girls doing the biz. Bella pottered around the garage and got a bit underfoot at times - she just said 'sorry' a lot, very cutely, and nobody minded. We must have had at least 70 people come through over the next three hours and sold quite a bit. I made about what I expected, so it was all good. The rest of the stuff will be given to charity next week, and the de-cluttering will be complete! Feels good. Now I just have to go out in the cold to remove the signs I posted around the streets...brrrrrrr. 

Queen of the Castle

Here's Bella at a friend's house. She adored this castle at the bottom of the garden, built by my friend's father, for the kids. A step up from your regular cubbyhouse! The picture doesn't show but it really looks like a castle.

This morning I looked out the window to see our front lawn littered with much of our neighbours' recycling, released from its green bins by a helpful stormy night...yuck. That's the trouble with living at the very end of a cul-de-sac - the wind blows rubbish into our garden on a daily basis. At least the rest of the street looks clean... On a brighter note, the recycling collectors actually did clear much of the stuff off our lawn.

Bella appears to have fallen for one of The Wiggles - Murray. Maybe he's just the easiest to say - she calls the yellow one Egg, although most of us would know him as Greg.

Thinking aloud

Somebody wants to read my thoughts! Thanks Jess :)

Yesterday I had a cord of firewood delivered and spent a while stacking it into the garage. A friend came over and helped - although I wasn't keen for her to help as she is pregnant. Later in the night Fraz and I finished off the job and he even got the axe out and had a chop - 'just to see what it's like' - come on love, it's wood...what do you expect? Feel smug now that we will stay warm and cosy this winter, and even fed the fire last night way more than it needed...

I am part-way through the list I had of jobs to do for Lockie's health - Day 1 of the Food Diary is complete [and what a crappy diet he has - not a fruit or veg in sight!], and we have handed over a sputum sample for luck, although still haven't tackled the other end one. Have also managed to miss only one dose of his Augmentin in the last week - he even takes a tablet to school for lunch. They are BIG tabs but he's such a trooper - I know some adults who would have trouble swallowing pills this big, but not our Locks.

I am one step closer to the Garage Sale - Lockie will go to his Nana's in Otaki for the night [or two], so now I need to book a newspaper ad, or maybe just make a big cardboard sign to hang near the shopping mall - seems to be the done thing around here.

Better go wake the kids - I hear Bella chatting to the toys in her cot but Lockie is bound to be sleeping in - what a great idea...it is Saturday after all. Sigh. Today we are hanging out with a friend who is a single mum with a son in Lockie's class. Not sure what we'll do - Lockie suggested we could 'go to The Warehouse and then McDonalds', but I'm sure we can do better than that. [These are activities that Fraz sometimes does with him on a Sunday and it's win-win for Lockie!]

A few thoughts

I am reading a very interesting book called 'Rare Moments', by Jeanette Wilson, a medium who moved from the UK to NZ a few years back and published this book last year, following her first book, 'Medium Rare' which I have yet to read. It is fascinating stuff and extremely good for the soul - she doesn't believe in 'death' and says our loved ones who have 'passed on' are around us and often may appear to us in our dreams, to let us know they are alright. I love the thought of my Mum and grandparents being close by me; it's really comforting. Read this book yourself if you think I've lost the plot, and you decide... Jeanette is a very spiritual person but freely admits she was a sceptic for much of her life, until 10 years ago. She has recently published another book named after her TV series of 2005, called 'Dare To Believe'.

Lockie and I went to his 3-monthly checkup at the hospital today, and, after parking halfway up a curb [kerb?] in the parking lot, owing to the severe lack of parking spaces - like about 50 other cars incidentally - we were seen straight away and very thoroughly. We had the usual 5 other medical people in the room, along with the paediatrician, but Lockie is used to this and performed ably. I sometimes feel I should take notes as we are often there for a good 45 minutes and a lot is said and discussed. I have three tasks to complete over the next 3 months - get a stool sample from Lockie to be tested [my least favourite task!], keep a food diary for 3 days and send to the dietician to analyse [this is just a drag], and call the paediatrician after two weeks of Lockie being on a new course of antibiotics to tell him how it's going. Game on.

I think I'll have a Garage Sale. Not sure what I will be making cash for but there are a few options. I spent a couple of hours this morning clearing clothes and toys out of wardrobes in all the bedrooms, and put them in the garage [funnily enough]. Quite a 'cleansing' experience really. But I can see that I will have to lose Lockie on the day of the sale as he will not part easily with his old toys. I will have to rope in a few friends to help me.

Today I cuddled a sleeping newborn boy [birthweight was 8lb 14oz incidentally!] for nearly an hour - my neighbour's third child. He is 8 days old and as he dozed in my arms I briefly imagined I was holding my new niece instead. His mum didn't mind! Later when I was sorting stuff for the garage sale I took a few useful baby items over to her and they were well-received.

Whew this is getting long! Last thing to mention is that I took my car for a WOF today [it's been a BUSY DAY], and it failed because of one tyre needing replacing. Just gotta find the locking nut so they can remove the wheel now... My WOF ticket was so faded I didn't notice the date and see now it expired nearly 3 weeks ago...oops.

Water water water!

I took Lockie to the Karori Pool this morning and he had a great time. He practised doing somersaults underwater for ages. Bella and I didn't go in the water as she has a cold. The place was full of littlies and way more Dads than Mums in the pool. No harm done there for spectators like me!

We came home for lunch and Bella was just down for a nap when a friend turned up and offered to take Lockie swimming at J'Ville Pool with her granddaughter! He was keen so headed off with them for the afternoon and I had a nap myself :) Aaah, bliss. 

Funny faces

Bella and Lockie were making 'beds' on the lounge floor this evening. Lockie likes to sleep in his sleeping bag at night occasionally, although he rarely lasts more than an hour before slipping into his bed!

Another rainy bleak Wellington day. We went out for a bit, we got wet. End of story.  

Shock! Horror!

Once I reached page 200 of my book I discovered that the heroine [Anna] is actually a widow - she's 33 and was married for less than a year. So now I'm depressed. Marian Keyes does that though: she writes with a hilarious quirky Irish style and throws 'serious life issues' into every one of her books...but I still like her stuff anyway. Just not sure if it's really 'chick lit'.

'Tis raining and bleak this afternoon. Spent much of the morning sipping tea and chatting at a neighbour's house, with another neighbour who is awaiting the birth of her third child - she's a week off her due date. Our 3 littlies played together nicely [mostly]. Bella was thrilled to get her hands on a full-on wooden Thomas the Tank Engine set-up, although she pretty much demolished it. The owner [aged 3] was very good about it. He wants his Mum to have a baby girl so was very sweet to Bella.

Red in the morning

I took this photo around 7:20am today, as I wanted my family to see it too, only I was the first one up. Had to mix the pancake batter you see. We always have pancakes on Sunday mornings and I could mix them with my eyes closed - sometimes I nearly do.

This morning was Lockie's second time at soccer, and once more he excelled in enthusiasm and even kicked the ball a few times. I even nipped away for 20 minutes in the middle to go to the shops - don't worry, I put a team member's grandparents in the picture first, and I'd told Lockie I'd be doing this - he didn't notice I was gone anyway. I had to book a haircut for him as the shaggy dog look was getting beyond a joke. So we trotted down to the mall after soccer, and left a short while later for home, one of us looking very trim and tidy, and the other looking windblown and a bit scruffy [me]. Spent the rest of the day pottering around the house - Bella is so good at doing her own thing, which is lovely as I can do my own thing too, and we are each comfortable with that. She comes and goes from the room, often pushing a doll in a buggy, or in a shopping trolley, with a bag over her arm, waving goodbye as she passes through. Cute as.

I am reading the latest Marian Keyes novel ['Anybody Out There'] and I am worried I'll be unable to get through it before it's due back at the library. I waited several weeks to get it on reserve so cannot return it late as someone else will be waiting for it. In my defense, it is nearly 600 pages long and the fattest book I've read in a long while. BTW, its main character is called Anna. Nice.

Watched 'Narnia' again tonight on DVD with Fraz. Not as powerful on a TV screen but still a gorgeous movie. Lucy is so adorable. We borrowed it from new friends we have made. They are fresh to Wellington from New Plymouth so I'm going to help them find their feet in the area if I can. They have two boys and a baby on the way. The eldest boy is a week younger than Lockie. They've played together and may become friends hopefully. A pity they go to different schools though. 

Big Red Car

Here's Bella in her Big Red Car, checking out the stamp on her hand that she got at Story Time at the library this morning. Today a good friend gave us this Cozy Coupe car with its top missing and quite a bit of scuffing and fading, and she LOVES it. As I write this, Lockie is pushing her around the house endlessly - she hasn't figured out how to push it along herself, Flintstone-style. He really wants to drive it himself, but I am trying to convince him that he is just too big.

Fraz is away tonight in Auckland at a managers' conference, and he has given Lockie the role of 'Boss of the House'. Funnily enough, Lockie realised this was a thankless task only 5 minutes in and handed the power back to me... No, but seriously, I had a lovely Mothers' Day on Sunday, with chocolates and a tiny glass Guardian Angel from the kids, and a gorgeous dinner from Frazer. And Lockie and I hung out all morning at a special viewing of 'Narnia' at The Penthouse, and then picnic-lunched at Mt Vic Lookout, although we had to eat in the car as icy rain was falling at the time. A great day! 

WELCOME TO OUR WORLD

I wanted to be the first aunty to blog about my brand-new niece! She is a beautiful baby girl, named Elizabeth and she lives far away in sunny(?) London, and was born on 9 May. Hearty congrats to my awesome big sis and her lovely hubby and Elizabeth's big sis too. Have heard no details so am waiting in anticipation of them, as we mums must stick together in sharing our birth stories with each other!

Fraz's Bday Drama

What a man! Here's my Dad, perched high in the mountains of Nepal, looking quite comfortable in these snowy surroundings. This picture was taken on a recent trip there with a bunch of like-minded NZers. I have yet to hear all the stories but I'm looking forward to that. My Dad is awesome!

We are almost back to full health in our house and not a day too soon I say. A few boxes of tissues and several days later, Bella and I are nearly over our colds and coughs, and this week should hopefully be a 'normal' one, with me going to work and Bella to childcare, etc - unlike last week.

This morning I took Lockie along to his first session with the North Wellington Junior Soccer Club - he is in the Nursery Grade [!?] in a team called The Wolves, and was all kitted out with soccer boots [cleats!], shinpads [compulsory], and long thick socks to keep out the pre-winter chill. It was a drizzly morning with icy winds so it was with some trepidation that I went along. Contrary to my expectations Lockie had a great time and we parents had lots of laughs watching the kids gang up on the ball as they had a couple of 10-minute 'games', and a couple of sets of 'ball skills' [happy feet was a cute one]. Frazer had lit the fire at home so I was able to thaw out eventually. Not surprisingly, Lockie wasn't cold at all after all that racing around. I was delighted to find we can recoup all our costs for Lockie's sports from Breath4cf.

Yesterday some b****** broke into Frazer's car while he was at work, smashing a window and rifling through the glovebox. It was parked in a parking building in Lower Hutt, where he always parks. [This happened last year too, in a nearby caprpark.] What is it with the Hutt? Anyway, it's more a nuisance as nothing of value was taken, and insurance covers the smashed window. Ironically, it meant Fraz got home late from work, and this delayed his BIRTHDAY DINNER celebrations. What bad luck to have this happen on his birthday!

Cherub

Today I took a walk in my lunchbreak, through a park next to my work. It was sunny, but I could smell a familiar dampness emanating from the bush that signified that rain had recently fallen. The gravel crunched pleasingly under my sneakers and several tuis were warbling busily. I watched as one sang on, the cottonwool quivering beneath its beak, oblivious to my presence for a moment, before spying me and flitting to the safety of a further branch. To complete the tranquility, a hidden stream merrily babbled, as streams do. Felt quite meditative. I don't often do this without my children and it was refreshing to not speak to anyone.

It has been a while since I managed to get myself sorted to blog. I have celebrated our birthday since then, and my dear twin has spent 10 days here with me - oh what shopping we did do! Unfortunately for her, the last 5 days of her holiday Bella was ill with gastroenteritis and this consumed a lot of my time and energy [cleaning up all the vomit and poo...]. My twin was extremely good about that and just the most helpful person I could have asked for. A BIG THANK YOU!!! Now she has returned to the land of Oz and I am planning my trip to go visit her there later in the year. I have a few misgivings about leaving the kids alone with their Dad for a week though. Shall just have to get over it - what's the worst he can do??!?! [Don't answer that - I don't want to know!]

BTW, when I show Bella this photo of herself she calls it 'bubba' and looks quite bemused when I tell her it is herself! 

Counting down the days

Bella has survived her first week at daycare [all two days of it!] and I feel hopeful that she will be good from now on. Not that I don't expect angst from her at drop-off time of course. I'm sure she feels it is her duty to make me feel guilty at dumping her while I swan off on my own and do adult stuff.

Anyway I am hanging out to hang out with my Sydney sis - and she'll be flying in in only a few more days...yippee! Bella said her name quite clearly yesterday so that's cool. Bella is popping out all sorts of words now - she learned 'shadow' and now pipes up with this every time she spots her own one. So clever. I love the way toddlers have unique personalities - this never fails to fascinate and surprise me, cos they are so little and barely speaking [English that is] and yet they have so many little 'ways' already. Bella cocks her head to one side and raises her hands in a questioning gesture as if she requires an answer from me. People who don't know her often comment on how clever she is to be walking, etc, as if she is a lot younger than her 18 months. I know she's little, but not that little surely!?

Keeping Bell Happy

In a few days Bella will start officially at a local childcare centre, for two days a week [their minimum]. She has spent a few half-days there over the last week, to help settle her in, at which time she refused to eat the lunches they offered, nor sleep for very long. Not a promising start, but it can only get better, right?!? She was really pissed off with me when I left her each time, but was notably happier when I returned to collect her. Helps assuage my guilt at dumping her there and scurrying off to the gym... of course I'll be scurrying off to work instead this week.

In this photo she is clutching a bowl that she was banging with a spoon and nearby is her bucket which she fills with toys and carts around the house. She is nearly 18 months old now, and still has only 5 teeth...I look every day for more but no luck so far. A friend has pointed out [on more than one occasion] that she has quite large teeth, to which I reply that they fit her perfectly. When you think about it, a baby's teeth need to be a bit largish as they keep them for several years and a big 6-year-old with tiny teeth looks a bit odd. 

Sunday Fun Day

Lockie kindly let me photograph him on his brand new physio table. It's a massage table too, as the guy who made it mentioned when he dropped it off last week. That explains the face hole at one end [Lockie thinks it's pretty funny!]

He was real keen to have his physio for the first few days, and even wanted it more than twice a day. Of course, this hasn't lasted and he is back to moaning about it like normal. It folds up neatly and we leave it in the hall, although today Bella managed to pull it over on herself which gave her quite a fright. It's pretty heavy so I squeezed her limbs to feel for broken bones but luckily she was fine. Apparently babies are born with 300 bones, and by adulthood they only have 206. [Thanks to Libra for this handy info.]

Today Lockie's school had a fair ["Fun Day"] and he and I cruised down there and had a great time. He tried out several of the attractions - lucky dip, 10-pin bowling, merry-go-round, bouncy castle, gumboot toss, candle-dipping, jeeps [he drove and I helped and we both giggled a lot!], and tile smash - he knocked down all 4 plates and got several small prizes and was very very proud of himself. Later we had saussies from a BBQ and fudge from a sweet stall. All typical Kiwi school gala stuff and I only spent $20! Not that we came away with much, but it was loads of fun for both of us.

Later today Fraz took Lockie out for tea and they came home with "Maybe Tomorrow" single from Goldenhorse on CD. Lockie's school is learning this song and he sings it at home often. Now Fraz is going to teach him how to play it on his guitar. Gotta feeling Lockie is going to follow in his Dad's musical footsteps...  

Swashbuckler

Here's Lockie on his way to a friend's pirate birthday party today. The eye-patch was removed in the car a few minutes later, but the bandana stayed put for hours. He had a great time, and later in the day Frazer taught him another chord on his guitar, so that's 3 he can play now - enough for a tune! He looks so little behind his guitar, despite it being a half-size model.

Last night I went to see Bic Runga at MFC with my friend Judi. We got there a bit late and caught the last song from hilarious support act 'The Flight of the Conchords' and wished we could have seen more. But then Bic and her studio band came onstage and blew us away. She sang all the songs from her new album 'Birds', and many more familiar songs too, finishing with my favourite, "Drive". I can't say enough good things about Bic - she has such a unique, almost haunting voice and her songs are just beautiful. A multi-talented woman - she can even cut hair - namely my littlest sister's!

It was sunny today - this is noteworthy only because it's rained every day for the past week [at least] and everyone's been grumbling about Winter arriving early, etc. The rain is supposed to return tomorrow. Typical.

Morning After

I actually went out on St Patricks Day last night!!! This is rare for me and I had a groovy time on the sticky dancefloor of JJ Murphys with 2 friends whom I first met exactly 8 years ago, at a gig of Frazer's then band, Zoo Station. I don't see much of them these days but we'll always be friends. It was worth the half hour queue to get in and all the bright green clothes people seemed to feel obliged to wear. I actually forgot the occasion so was dressed more demurely [what an old fart!]
My boots were great though, and Bella loves them. Yawn, am a bit sleep deprived now. Hopefully I can get away with a quiet Saturday today.

I'm finding this blog thing more of a chore than I should, and I feel absurdly guilty about it. I mean, it's pretty self-indulgent to rattle on about my kids, my complaints, and books I read! But that's just the nature of it I guess. Once I do get around to it it's fun. And I occasionally get a comment from a friend about how much they enjoy reading it and this makes it all worthwhile.

BTW, I read a good book recently - The Children Of The Dust, can't remember the author. A woman I work with said she had studied it in 3rd form English, so I thought it might be worth a try. It's set over 55 years and chronicles several generations of Britons, starting with the nuclear war that all but destroyed the entire world. It's really hopeful at the end though. I couldn't help thinking that it would make a great mini-series....OMG I am a product of too much TV viewing... 

Guitar Man

Here's my boy - Mr Guitar Man! Well, Fraz has finally succumbed to pressure and bought his son a geetar. It's a half-size model and I forget the brand. Anyway, Frazer and Lockie have worked their way through 2 music theory books to get to the stage of actually handling a real live guitar, and Lockie is so proud of it! Not that this makes him any more likely to practise it, although he has told a friend of mine that he prefers to practise his guitar over watching Playhouse Disney channel on TV...yeah right. He's lost a couple of picks already down into the soundhole so it rattles a bit. [He won't accept help to get them out]. To those who are astute enough to notice, it's a left-handed model, because the poor kid takes after both his parents in that respect. It's a bloody bugger to get hold of decent left-handed electric guitars apparently, or so Fraz would tell it, and he should know, having played guitar for about 26 years now.

I like to think Bella may also be musical - she chimes in quite tunefully when I sing 'Five Little Ducks Went Swimming One Day'. And she too is handy with a guitar pick - when I can persuade her to keep it out of her mouth...

Today I took Bella over to the house of the new woman who will be minding her one day each week. She has a daughter a few weeks older [but several cm taller], and loads of lovely toys. Bella was interested in the place but only if I was in view. I sure hope it works out OK as Bella was so settled at the last caregiver's but that only lasted 6 months. I have put her name on the waiting list at a few childcare centres but at least two of them were reluctant to even put her name down - as if their current waiting list was miles long and I would never get a place! I insisted anyway. Apparently next year the Govt. has decreed that we can get 20 hours free childcare per week. Sounds good, but I've been advised to get Bella's name down at as many places as practical to ensure she gets a place somewhere. Hmmm. Seems quite political.

Lockie saw his paediatrician a couple of days ago and he has given him on a course of antibiotics [to kick a persistent cough] that requires me to wake him at 6am to take a pill, and for his teacher at school to administer two doses also - they've gotta be on an empty stomach which is actually quite hard to work out. It seems he normally eats a lot more frequently than fits the prescription needs. 3 weeks of this better be worth it...

At least the check-up was a good one. There's a new treatment for CF pioneered in Australia [hypertonic saline] that is being discussed at the next NZ CF Conference in Christchurch in May and Lockie's paediatrician is very interested in this subject and the possibility of good benefits for young CF sufferers like Lockie. Sounds good. 

Big Girl now

The smile on her face says it all - Bella loves her new stroller very much. She never used to look twice at the doll [bought for Lockie a few years back] but now it serves a purpose! After I took this photo she tried to climb into the stroller and suck on baby's head... Turned out she wanted a breastfeed. Easy mistake to make?

Bell has been unwell for over a week now, with nappy woes and a short temper being the main symptoms. Also, waking in the night has been a regular thing lately [yawn!], but the last couple of nights she's pulled it together and slept through. I dropped into the doctor's surgery with a poo sample for testing last Friday but it turned out it went missing [like who would possibly want to take it??!?!] so we did another one this morning. She's got a bit of upheaval coming up over the next couple of weeks as her Thursday caregiver is [sob sob] having to call it quits as her own work hours have changed. So it's the last day with Fiona this week, and next week a day with another friend, and then hopefully I can settle her in with yet another friend on a temporary basis until I can get a place sorted at a local childcare centre. It's enough to make me want to give up work but as Jo pointed out - I really do love going to work, so will persevere and hope for the best.

Yikes just noticed it's after 2 and Bella is still napping, so will need to wake her and shovel some lunch in before the school pickup...