Some things about my son

I'm having a hugely bad day and I'm unwell... but instead of spreading my misery here I'm going to talk about some wonderful stuff I love about our son.



He went through a stage recently where he would only want to wear his monster all in one polar fleece PJs instead of pants.  I would tie the arms around his waist to form a sort of belt so they wouldn't fall down. I didn't care so much but it was the middle of summer so I can't imagine polar fleece was very comfortable. Each to their own though.

He has a bit of an obsession with cats. He likes to get books with pictures of animals in and says 'Nooo' and shakes his head at every animal in every picture until he gets to a cat. Every other animal is called 'no'. Cats are 'dats'. He tries to call our cats by waving his arm in the air and rubbing his thumb and forefinger together like hes trying to click and then yelling 'ddaaaAAAHHaaaat!'.

He calls his father 'Dad Dii'.
I am 'Daddaa'. Like a lesser, more inferior version of his father. (which technically, in his eyes, is probably true)
We play this game every day where I say "can you say ..Nose!" and he repeats the word, usually pretty well if he knows them (as in he knows what it means, what it does and how he can take it apart with a screwdriver). Try and get him to say 'Mama' or 'mummy' and its 'Daddaa'.
Needless to say, he hasn't really mastered the english language yet.

He says 'oh no!' at least 219407324 times a day. Sometimes he drops things on purpose  just to say it, I swear.

Before bed he has to kiss everyone goodnight. He runs around the room going 'mmmmmm!' and poking his face out, lips puckered. If you take too long to respond his MmMmMMs get louder and louder and he starts pointing at you frustratedly.
If he can possibly get away with it, he will pretend hes forgotten that he has already kissed everyone goodnight and do another round. Hes got good stalling tactics.

Sometimes he is such a little douchebag to his sister and other times hes so so kind. He will fetch her a rattle and shake it in front of her before handing it over. Then he will get a burp cloth and wipe her drool/spill up (all the while saying in his little concerned voice 'oh no! OOH NO!')  and he will pat her head affectionately.

I love the way he can sleep. Sometimes if we have put him to bed and hes decided its not time for sleep he will be a monster and destroy his bed. He will pull all the sheets and mattress protector up, sometimes throwing it all out of the cot but usually he will pile it up in the middle with all his soft toys and you can tell he was laying over it screaming before suddenly just falling asleep, atop the pile.
I go in there at night and remake the bed underneath him, tuck him in and kiss his head. He NEVER wakes up.

<3

Happy mardi gras

The other day I was feeling nostalgic, as I'm want to do at this time of the year, so I pulled out my huge bag of mardi gras beads from under the bed.

This is what happened.








Happy mardi gras everyone!
And to my New Orleans loved ones? I miss you. Have a daiquiri for me ok?

Zander, Amelia & Heidi. Kicking it with the Ipod touch.

Zander picked up how to unlock the Touch in about 3 seconds. Now our iphones and ipods are all doomed. Amelia actually has one of her own anyway (well that she has to share with her sister), so she shows him how its done.


Heidi actually wasn't about to hit him, it just looks that way. She does however enjoy being boss when hes around, the poor girl is usually at the bottom of the heap.


Everytime the girls see a camera stuck in their face they yell 'cheeeeeeese!'
Almost near on impossible to get candid shots of these two.


But then the ipod touch became more interesting again. Apparently my brother has some app where the girls can trace letters or something so it helps them learn. Seriously ...Technology.



Oh, my heart, be still! these kids are just so freaking awesome. Also Zander is about 39745329843% more behaved when they are around :D

My baby, today he is two.

My first image of him.
I still remember laying in recovery, clutching onto this little polariod and being so so scared, wondering if I will get to hold him, get to feel his skin against mine, wondering if he would be ok. No one told me anything except he was in NICU and no I had to stay here for a while before I could go see him. 'where is everyone' i had asked ' where is my baby?''. 'Your husband and mother have left, your baby is in intensive care'.

But, I'm glad I was asleep with tubes stuffed down my own throat when they finally struggled to get him out of me. And thankful (oh so thankful) I wasn't awake to panic while they worked to resuscitate him, or while they worried over his agpar levels. While they shoved tubes down his tiny throat, and hooked him up to machines in the incubator.

But nothing I am more thankful for is him. And what he has done to me. How he made us a family and how I have been privileged to watch him grow, and learn and throw massive tantrums and put on The Cute.

Oh my baby, I'm so thankful for you.

One day

six fifteen am
Waking up to Evie. She slept in today to just before 6. This is awesome.


six thirty nine am
After the shower, out the window.


Seven fifteen am
Time to get ZJ up.


seven forty eight am
I love this view as I come down the road into St Heliers. 


eight thirty eight am
Cris, being... Cris.


eleven twenty six am
Processing requests, for the third hour of the day.


one oh seven pm
Stopping by to say hello to some of the protestors down the road. I'm in the 'don't really care' camp about them knocking the houses down and i think whats being built is going to be kind of beautiful BUT, i get where they are coming from and alot of them a regular library patrons (and a couple of ex workers!).



one fifteen pm
Lunch.


three forty eight pm
Learning Maori in my breaks.


five oh four pm
Work done for the day and the court has ruled the houses won't be saved. Demo crew moves in.


six oh four pm
Home to a toddler tantrum.


eight oh one pm
Dishes, cleaning up the house after the Toddler hurricane has gone through. 


eight thirty four pm
Me.

Bed Hair

At the park

Zander was in one of his screamy monster moods, so I took him for one on one time at the park. We played 'lets try and do self potraits while balancing the camera on some dirt' and then had a go on the seesaw and slide. He crawled through a tunnel and attempted to climb up the jungle gym.

Sometimes I look at him and my heart almost explodes. I made him. How could I make something so beautiful, something so worth every bit of stress and happiness i can muster up?

What is that quote about when you have children you heart is permanently on the outside? Thats me these days.

2010, a recap.

2010 has been a big one.
I celebrated the first birthday of my first child, saw him take his first steps and develop into a fabulous little boy with uber personality. I gave birth to my second child, a beautiful little girl who smiles at every chance she gets. I will always remember my first snuggles with her - the days i spent in hospital where she lived in my bed whenever a nurse wasn't looking and we would snooze and snuggle and wonder.

Theres been downs emotionally, loosing Simon's grandmother (who is ZJs namesake), his father and also my grandmother all in a matter of a month or two. 2010 saw the fifth anniversary of my nephew's (and ZJ's other namesake) death which was horrid and opened up emotions I had thought I had managed to tuck away. The bullying in hospital. Theres been lows financially too but I have no images to mark those and in 10 years time those nights I spent sobbing in the shower wondering how the hell am I going to continue feeding my family will all be a blur.

I would say I will remember 2010 as being hard, but also one of the best. I'm happier than I have ever been. I'm in love, I have beautiful children that amaze me every day and full my days with every emotion possible. I have fantastic friends who have my back completely and deserve a better friend than i make! I have my health (more or less, ha!) and we are going to be ok.

Zander wants the camera

He wants it, and he wants it now!


Screaming and pointing doesnt work, lets take it up a notch.


What about begging?


Pretending to cry?


Nope, back to screaming.


Might also point out he was standing and stomping on the coffee table during this little display of stubbornarsetoddlerness.