5 Days lost in hospital

Lockie - awoken by me taking his photo as he lay dozing in his bed in the Children's Ward following admission for a partial bowel obstruction. Good timing [well sort of] as this all took place during the second week of the school holidays - less to cancel and work around as we juggled being there in the hospital with Lockie, and being at home for Bella.

Needless to say, Fraz and I only glimpsed each other briefly, in passing, during this time but we both pulled together when it counted and got through it. Lockie was in for 5 days [one of us stayed in each night beside him], and when he was 'going' again he bounced back quickly and we were out of there as fast as possible ;) During his stay he had a nasogastric tube fitted, and IV fluids to keep him going - nil by mouth for 4 days! The medical staff still can't decide the true cause of this problem so they gave us a BIG bottle of Lactulose to keep him going regularly and minimise blockages in the future - sorry if this grosses you out, reader!! All part of the fun of being the parent of a child with cf... Lockie was out in time for the new term of school and several days later it's all a distant memory. One good thing to come of it is that I intend to become a Volunteer to man the Ronald McDonald Family Room at the hospital - a wonderful peaceful haven for parents and family members of sick kids in the wards, where they can go for coffee and food, a shower, a nap, or a rest in a quiet atmosphere, away from the bleeping and constant noise of the wards.

when the sun won't shine...

Week one of the two-week school holidays is nearly over. We didn't care that the forecast sun never showed up, we were sick of sitting around the house so after lunch we ventured out and drove to the Botanical Gardens, Wellington, NZ. For the next 3 hours we wandered around the entire Gardens - although there were plenty of paths we chose to leave for next time. The kids loved exploring and posed for numerous photos very patiently! It sure beat watching dvds at home with the heater on and despite the 11 degrees outdoors we didn't feel the cold at all - it helps that the Gardens are very very hilly ;)
Hopefully my cherubs will sleep well tonight! [Have been invited to 2 birthday parties tomorrow - on top of two we went to a few days ago!]

Who's up for a party?

They may be smiling sweetly in this photo but my two darlings are normally busy annoying the c**p out of each other! And the next two weeks of school holidays are looming... Bella has been invited to 4 birthday parties of friends turning 5. Lockie is able to come along to two of them, which helped placate him as he was quite jealous!

The weather is a bit gloomy - we have forgotten what a sunny day looks like :( And it's quite cold, but you get that with Winter. I am planning to apply draught-stripping to the back door and bedroom windows today. And maybe do some baking - that's one way to warm the kitchen anyway. Boy is my life a bundle of laughs!!!

Budding Ballerina

At 4 1/2 years of age, Bella is very much into dancing so I started her off with ballet classes, four weeks ago and she just LOVES it. It helps that she goes to 'Fairy Ballet' and there is a lot of talk about fairies and the occasional brandishing of wands and wearing of fairy wings :)

In this picture she is wearing her ballet outfit for the first time as it took me a while to get organised and get all the various bits and pieces. As a kid I never thought much of dance as a discipline but even now I love to dance for hours [under the influence mainly] whenever I get the chance.

Lockie is understandably unimpressed with the attention she gets when she shows us the steps she has learned - the mums are discouraged from watching the class although I do peek when I can.

It is all so innocent and sweet, in a world where this is increasingly rare.

What happened to 2008?

Oops! It seems that I got a bit side-tracked in 2008 - damn you Bebo and double damn you Facebook!! Anyway, I have been inspired to jump back on the Blogger bandwagon by a friend [Kitchen 37B], whose lovely blog really touched me :)

Here are my lovely family whom I love to pieces, and who continue to enlighten me, frustrate me, delight me and surprise me. I took this pic on my husband's birthday at breakfast time.

I wonder if anyone remembers I am here? Who will read this... what will I write about to keep it interesting? Will now go sleep on it.

Happy families

Well, we all survived another Christmas and it was SO MUCH FUN having my two sisters, my bro and my Dad there to share it with us. And surprisingly stress-free! The food and drink were abundant, the conversation and laughter flowed and plenty of happy memories created. Also, we all took loads of photos to remind us of this rare time spent together.

In this picture, taken yesterday, we had taken a train into the city and walked along the sunny waterfront before heading into the city for lunch and then, on a whim, we went to the movies together. Bella had never been to the movies but was really really good and we all enjoyed the Bee Movie. Then we had ice creams and walked back to the Railway Station, stopping at Frank Kitts Park for a slide and a swing, etc. We had missed the train so opted for a bus back home - although it was at this point that Bella got a bit screamy/tantrumy in the bus and deafened everybody thoroughly as she became more and more hysterical, until we finally got back to Johnsonville - the longest 10 minute journey I've endured in a while! It was getting late and she was just really tired after a full-on day I think, but the other passengers probably didn't appreciate that...

Hanging in there...

I am starting to feel the strain! B***** power company is breathing down our necks just cos we are a teensy bit late with our bill - and at Christmas too - have they no Christmas spirit?? Stressful. Trying not to think about it too much. Much more fun things to be done! Have wrapped oodles of pressies for under the tree, baked gingerbread and shortbread stars and christmas tree bikkies, and checked with Santa that he will be bringing stockings-full of goodies for the kids.

We are set! My twin sis arrives late tonight, and my brother and Dad arrive Sunday, followed by another sis flying in from London on Christmas Eve - it's gonna be O for Awesome!!!!

If the worst comes to the worst, we will still have our gas bbq to fall back on in case of power blackout...

Oh yeah, big earthquake up Gisborne way last night. Only felt the smallest of tremors here in Welly and in fact, barely noticed it and wouldn't have known it was an earthquake at all if I hadn't seen it on the news and made the connection between the tinkling sound I heard [probably light fittings shaking] and the timing of it. I hear that 15 people had minor injuries and one old woman died of a heart attack soon after. Loads of damage to property though. Need to think about updating our Earthquake Kit. Can never decide quite where to store it - in the garage which is UNDER the house, or in the house itself...hmmm.

Watch out!!

Have you ever come across anything that puts such heebie jeebies in you that every tiny hair on your body stands on end... like this fine example of NZ wildlife which confronted me in the kitchen recently, to my horror. The New Zealand weta looks rather menacing - check out those waving spiky legs and the LARGE stinger thingy... but I do believe they are relatively harmless. I didn't ask it though - I just removed it as quickly as poss to the great outdoors where it belonged, and managed [very bravely I thought] not to scream loud enough to alarm the kids who were playing outside and remained oblivious to my distress - or indeed the distress of the poor weta. Once removed, I calmed down and reflected on where it may have come from, as I had been doing stuff in the kitchen for ages before I noticed it, bold as brass, on the stove top, possibly with its front leg stuck in the element.

Oooh, I am sitting here shuddering about it still, and this happened 5 days ago! What a wuss I am :)

How to Spend A Summer's Day

Bella was delighted when I stopped at a local park for a play today. She has the urge to be spun around til she can't walk straight on a regular basis!
We love our 'Mummy and Bella' Days and she's the ideal companion for shopping and cafe breaks! We met our new neighbours at the park today and we were shocked to see the mess that the toddler area was in - clearly some local high school kids had trashed their school text books and spread them everywhere, along with a whole lot of other rubbish... I actually gathered some of it up, including the parts of the books with school library barcodes on them, and returned them to the high school and even showed the office staff photos of the awful mess... call me a busybody but I was really
pissed off. Not fair for the little kids to have to play around such garbage.

Anyway, enough of my ranting. We had a lovely day today generally. Time now for the final episode of the latest series of my fave homegrown TV show: Outrageous Fortune.

Whew!! So hot today. The hottest this summer so far I reckon [considering Summer officially started a week ago!] I think we got to around 27 degrees Celsius. Anyway, as usual being Sunday, we headed to the beach, only the car trip was pretty roasty and it took a paddle in the sea to cool us down - a rather icy cold sea too, although that didn't deter the surfers today. Fraz had to work today but we didn't really notice his absence as he usually just naps in the car or on the beach anyway! On the way home, eating ice creams, the kids and I decided we would try out some other beaches on our Sundays in the future, like Hataitai Beach, and Balaena Bay, both spotted on our way home from Kilbirnie, via Oriental Bay. Roll on summer daze!!

Busy week ahead, with our cars booked in for warrants, etc - I feel like they are sitting exams and hold my breath that they will pass without it costing us an arm and a leg! Especially this close to Chrissy...wish me luck!

'Old MacDonald Had A Farm...'

Last week 'Old MacDonald's Farm' came to Bella's Monday morning playgroup! There is a small grassy driveway outside the door and they tied up several small goats, a miniature horse, a lamb, a small pig and an aloof alpaca, and inside they had some rabbits and a chicken. I'm sure lots of the small kids had never seen animals such as these, in the flesh, and there was great excitement. Bella loved the 'big horsie' [about 4 feet tall!] called Dusty Rose, and we helped feed milk to the goats and pig. We really like this playgroup, it's the best in our area I reckon and is very popular, yet never too full that people are turned away. I know loads of the parents who bring their kids there and try to meet a new one each week too. [And at a mere 50cents a week, it's completely affordable!]

Lockie was writing something after breakfast this morning and I sneaked a peek at it later - it was a Christmas wish list and all I could see were the $$$ signs!!! Oh boy. Bella's wishes are a lot simpler - she really wants a blue ball. Yesterday, on a girls' day out [ie shopping and lunch at a mall], we visited the mall Santa, and he spent several minutes chatting to her [despite a restless queue] about eating her veges each night and having Mum report back to Santa that she was being good! She took all this on board, and last night ate several more veges than usual. Thanks Santa!!! If only that logic would work on Lockie...

Christmas is coming...

Oops...have been a very slack blogger... have switched my allegiance to Facebook and Bebo and BADLY neglected my blog [again]. C'est la vie.

Here are my crazy yet cute kids, posing by our newly erected Christmas tree. We defied our family tradition of not doing things too early and actually put our tree up on 1st December. Shock, horror. So, here we are, 3 days later and it has only been tipped over once. My fault for balancing it precariously on a small table I guess. Sure gave Bella a nasty surprise - no-one else was in the room and we can only guess as to what she was doing when it fell, just missing her. Her screams had me going for a minute - I thought she was underneath it and then realised she was under the dining table, hiding. Anyway, no harm done and it sits on the floor now :)

This morning my friends' gorgeous burmese kitten was the victim of a hit and run outside their home. RIP tiny Tosh - you were the cutest and cuddliest kitten ever. Brought back memories of Hemi and his demise six months ago. We were really distraught at his loss and he was kinda old. Still, you do get quite attached to family pets that have been around 10+ years.

I am so excited about all the family who are making their way to Wellington to be with us this Christmas! The consumerism is annoying to say the least and the kids are easily sucked into it all but what better excuse to get the family together, right? Christmas rules!!!!!

Blogging along...

This week scooted by too fast! There has been coughs and sniffles to medicate and nurture, life insurance to sort out, end-of-winter sales shopping to do, work, school, daycare, blah blah blah... All good in the end :)

Bella's toilet training is continuing and she is going well, although 'number twos' are still a minor issue [I refuse to make them a Major Issue!] as she prefers to just go in her overnight nappy or her undies... hmmm. Yucky. Unfortunately she doesn't think it's as yucky as I do!

Stormy weather approaching this weekend so we will be hunkering down and staying in mostly. Brrrr.

And Lord Lucan most definitely does not live in Marton, NZ! That's just a stupid prank by a disgruntled neighbour who has been sparring with some poor old guy for years. He's not even the same age or height - yet TV and newspapers have made a field day of the story. Hahaha. Good for a laugh I s'pose.

Friends and fun

Well, I met up with a few ex-classmates [from 25 years ago] this week, for drinks at a bar in town after work. This was an interesting venture, but just when I was warming up to it I had to scoot over to the movies to meet a friend who had free tickets to 'Because I Said So' [Diane Keaton, Mandy Moore] and needed me to come with her. A fun feel-good girly flick. We were given free perfume samples and choccy pud on the way in too! Can't complain about that... and Fraz certainly didn't when I bravely gave him the pud when I got home, despite having only consumed beer and popcorn since lunchtime and being ravenously hungry. I broke out a frozen packet dinner and it was utter crap. Sigh. If only I was the organised sort with a freezer full of meals ready to be heated and eaten... hahaha.

This morning I had some of my old PIN [Plunket In the Neighbourhood] Group over for a play. Two mums and 4 kids came and we had a lovely time. Bella proved very good at sharing with so many kids [she often surprises me] but things started getting a little hairy closer to lunchtime and a few tears later, they left. Two of the kids are identical twins, who are only two days younger than B. She tends to call them the 'pink one' and the 'blue one' [depending on their clothing of course] - and I too have trouble telling them apart.

Toilet training is going well, with only one or two accidents per day. A bit stressful for me though, having to remember to plonk Bells on the loo every hour and planning outings carefully too - short and sweet as she is not keen on public toilets. She'll be right, mate.

After school today we are having more friends over to play. I hope Bella survives more kids rifling through her possessions again! She is waking in the night regularly at 3am, crying and talking about 'bad dreams', and then she's up bright as a button at 6:15am... oh boy. Can't wait for a newer [and easier] sleep pattern to develop, as it invariably will :) Anyway, by late afternoon she can be a bit wilt-y and weary and prone to tears for no good reason... Fingers crossed she'll behave.

Catch Up

I have been a naughty girl... abandoning my blog without a word. Sorry to anybody who has been checking in vain to see my latest musings... I'm back now and will try to be good.

In the past six weeks: Bella has moved out of her cot into a 'big girl bed' - [and her cot was sold in record time on Trademe], and now she is in the middle of toilet training. Next she'll be getting her driver's licence... hahaha. Here she is at our Monday playgroup - just as much fun for the Mums as for the kids!

Lockie is going well at school - last night I went to a meeting with his teacher to discuss his progress and it was pretty glowing. He is the Best Speller in his class and is doing exceptionally well at Maths too. His teacher says he has a great work ethic and a logical brain.

Recently, on school holidays, I took the kids up to Wanganui for a couple of nights. My Dad was away but we stayed at his house and hung with the cats anyway. Weather was a bit wintery but we got lots done and really enjoyed it. We will go for longer next time. The whole two weeks of holidays were rather wet but I'm glad we got away for even as short time :)

I took Lockie to see The Simpsons Movie last weekend - we laughed our heads off. He is a big fan of the yellow family - especially Homer. It was a fun time, and we bussed and trained home after that - more fun!

Have booked a trip to Sydney to stay with Meg and attend a two-day conference in October. Can't wait.

Busy weekend

Saturday! We packed up the car and drove to Palmerston North for a stay at the PNth Holiday Park. Not probably the best place to stay in winter [maybe we'll visit again in summer], but we took plenty of warm bedding and a spare heater - just as well as the one in the cabin crapped out on us. The weather was dodgy but we managed to get out and about between showers and Bella and I took a ride on the miniature railway through the Esplanade - a lovely scenic [but freeeezing!] trip. Lockie and Fraz were off elsewhere when we did this and I never heard the end of it from young L who was completely devastated that we had gone on the train without him. The railway only opened for a few hours on the weekends so he will have to experience that pleasure another trip. Bella and Lockie shared a bedroom and B slept in a 'big girl bed' for the first time ever - she loved it. The real reason we were there was for Fraz who had gigs on Friday and Saturday nights. So he was pretty knackered by Sunday...

Sunday! We were home by around 2pm, after popping in to see Nana's new house in Waikanae Beach on the way, with both kids asleep in the backseat [one in each car as we took two]. Then later, after dinner, I went off to Avalon Studios with a friend and watched the live filming of 'Pop's Ultimate Star', a TV2 NZ Idol spin-off, as the contestants are mostly from past NZ Idol series. There's even one from a past Australian Idol series, Emily, who is very very good. It was really fun and I hope to take Lockie next week to the next filming. There were lots of kids there and they seemed to really enjoy their foray into tv land.

Old friends from YEARS ago

The other day I got an email from an old school friend inviting me to drinks at a pub in town, a few weeks from now. My two years at Wanganui Intermediate School were probably my fave time at any of my schools. We had a class reunion in Wanganui back in 2002 which was really fun, although obviously not everyone could be there and indeed two of our class members had died a few years before. So it seems several of the class of '81/'82 will be meeting for after-work drinkies and I am really looking forward to catching up again. Will be weird though. 25 years on!!! Bound to be a few wrinkles and grey hairs creeping in... ha ha!

Pink pancakes and Dreams

It's Sunday morning and I've been up for nearly an hour, owing to my darling husband snoring VERY LOUDLY, dead to the world, having gotten to bed after 5am... so I braved the cold house and made some pink pancake mix in preparation for our normal Sunday brekkie[Teletubbies have a bit to answer for there], and a cup of tea and now I sit before the computer in my jammies and new purple slippers, musing about silly things:

'Last night I had the strangest dream - I sailed a ship to China'... nah, I dreamt I was walking down the street in Welly and bumped into my sis Aud and her friend. Aud was looking really glum, wearing a pretty sunfrock and cardy [this was extremely weird for starters], and sporting a bulging middle. She said she was pregnant [another weird thing as she prefers girls]. Where do these kind of odd dreams come from??? Maybe this was my conscience reminding me that I really don't know what she gets up to in her spare time and should be in touch more. Maybe it is to do with the fact that tomorrow my youngest sister leaves our fair Aotearoa for a long time and I will suddenly be the only sister [out of 5] left in NZ. A lonely feeling indeed.

What to do with daylight...

I know what to do with moonlight - sleep sleep sleep. Boy,do I love to SLEEP! Of course, I'm lucky to get enough of it, as you do when you have small kids around the house. And the bloody gym that opens at 5:30am doesn't help either. I had such a good workout yesterday and my muscles are reminding me today that they are there - good to know! I have to resolve to not sleep in so much and get there more often... A possible barrier [oh and there are lots of possibles!] is that I have told Bella I will take the side off her cot this weekend, so she will be able to get up whenever her little heart desires, and she can open her door these days too. Fraz is NOT a morning person and if I am absent [at gym] and she happens to decide she wants to be up at 6am.... I won't be a popular person with my bloke. Tough! [Now that she has given up her day sleeps she does tend to sleep in until after 7am so it may be OK.]

Some of you may be surprised to hear that Bell still sleeps in a cot, but she fits it, so, there. She is only a fairly tiny person still - yesterday we walked down to collect Lockie from school and we saw a small boy with his mum - the lad was the same height as Bella - he was actually 20 months old as opposed to Bella's 32 months...

Recently Lockie and I had his class's Zoo Sleepover and we had a great time. The weather was drizzly and cold in the morning when we walked around the zoo with our guide, but the evening before was divine and very informative. We were able to go behind the scenes and learned a lot more than you learn when you trek around the zoo on your own. We slept in a large function room, on mattresses [marae-style] but 32 kids aged 7 and 8 are quite excitable in a herd like this and it was a wakeful night for we parents [6 mums and 1 teacher]. We did enjoy it but enjoyed getting home and drying out too.

Pretty

As Bella has just pointed out to me - this is HER tree, at least it is the only tree right outside her bedroom window. Such a gorgeous Autumnal sight. We think it is a fruit tree but have no idea what fruit it may bear.

We invited the kids' Nana to dinner for Mothers Day, and Lockie has carefully wrapped her present and written in her card... I could have won big time if I had bet that she wouldn't come and there we go... still, she has a busy life. It will have to be all about ME instead! We are going to see a human circus in the morning - 'Circus Quirkus' - which should be fun. And I may even get dinner cooked for me [or ordered via a telephone!], so that will be pleasant. I feel absurdly cheated that I have no Mum to buy a pressie for this Mothers Day - commercialism ingrained in my head it seems!