Old stuff, new stuff, fun stuff, stuff to do stuff.

Loads of stuff to tell and show... so it's a pain to be typing with one hand, but there's a cute boy asleep on the other so what can you do???

B is for baby and best laid plans which do not mix. Yesterday was huge! first full on supermarket shop just me and Will. He normally does a full on sleep in the morning so I figured that'd be the best time to go. Took the front pack as my back-up plan- he always sleeps when I squish him in there... no and no. Awake by the deli, front pack by cereal (aisle 4), breast feeding by cleaning (aisle 8). So many people commented on his pitiful wailing that I had to feed him. Then every second shopper said how I had my hands full. Fortunately he slept again by the checkout and we made it almost home before the wailing started again, I was extremely unpopular for putting the frozen's away before attending to his highness.

N is for naughty and nuisance sitting astride an inflatable ring. Happened to catch Ruby in the act as I was taking some pictures in the scrapbooking room. I did knock on the window to try and discourage her, but lets face it she's a cat she has a mind of her own. At least I know where to check for holes if it starts going down again. And of course Ruby will have nice clean insides as the water is chlorinated!



W is for wood and Will which featured strongly in my valentines day. Les gave me this (below) for Valentines day the left is the front and the dots are phillips head screws. He was going to paint it for me but figured I might want to alter it so he left it bare. This gift had been surreptitiously hyped leading up to Valentines day so when it was presented I was completely befuddled.


But it turns out it's the mount for this ....


Which is about 30cm high and SOLID brass. I collect G's this is one of my bigger and cooler ones... Les started the G thing when he gave me my favourite one a couple of years ago for my birthday.

Will joined us for Valentines evening...


And gave Les a present of his own making...



Y is for Yay and Yummy stuff to do awaiting me patiently on my scrapping table. That lot above arrived earlier in the week via Jacqui, trade me and Laserline. On top is a W for a monogram canvas for Will. And a caterpillar puzzle that I need to paint up, also obviously for Will. Under are a couple of words, of which the large Y is a part of, these will also be altered/decorated and you'll see them later in the year. Major fun when I prioritise the time to create! That will happen soon or I might burst.

From the same place I also got this for my collection...


And these which are also made of acrylic. There's 7 of them and I'm going to make them into a very cool album about our family.

P is for petite and perfect out on Patrols. Friday is my day that I have assigned to help at school. Kieran is on Patrols so I told Mr Hounsel that I'd do his patrol for the term if it's not raining. It was raining but we were organised so I did it anyway.

After then I went and grabbed the homework books from Merenia's class to mark for Mrs James. Merenia had a reliever today so I told the class they better be good or I'd tell Mrs James... they totally believed me.

Patrols was interesting today I hadn't seen Kieran do patrols before. It's very cool to see him understand the seriousness of the situation. But very surprising to see how nervous he is about it. He was calling today, which means he makes the judgment on traffic and says "Sign's Out". Unless the call was obvious he was quite hesitant, which is sort of a good thing, and sort of bad if he has already started to make the call and then changes his mind. It doesn't help at all that his partner feels the need to 'approve' all his calls, by checking to see if there is in fact someone crossing and whether he agrees on Kieran's timing for the Sign's out call. So it goes...

K: " s-s-s signs.... out"
J: "Um... yes... ok... signs out, wait please"
and so on...

Will on the other hand appears to be great at patrols see.....

T is for today and time to play and create and have fun... I hope.

Repackaged with love

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Happy Valentines Day to you too!

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Bad days no more?

Will tends to have an alternating cycle of bad and good days... I think on the good days he is simply catching up the sleep he lost while yelling his balls off the previous day. He doesn't cry all the time but he does cry more than K and M ever did and his happy spots are short... this baby spends precious little time on his playmat on any given day much preferring to be held and moving or drinking.
So on Monday I took Will to the Osteopath, not because there's anything particularly that we can find wrong with him but just because he's never 100% content or relaxed. He cries when he is awake a lot more than K and M ever did and never fully goes flippy floppy relaxed when he's asleep (which is a real pain when it comes to trimming his claws!). He never has that reaction of "Oh yay it's my Mum/Dad" when we pick him up after he wakes. And we think he's slow to smile- he just does those involuntary smiles... you know the "I'm pissed on breast milk" or the "I just farted in my sleep" smiles. I did say way back last month on the blog that he smiled at me but I think that was a fluke, you have no idea how many hours I have spent since then saying "Hello my Boy" and various other things in an infuriatingly annoying motherease type voice and smiling my Miss Universe pageant winning smile at him as he struggles to look anywhere but at me....

...Oooohhh maybe I just discovered his problem.

A rare smile captured on film (or is that digitally captured now?)

But seriously, despite the C-section birth and beautiful head shape (none of that cone-head or flat spot stuff for a Stockley baby), he was a forceps delivery and so I feared he may have been a little squished and twisted. And Jill the Osteo seems to concur so he's heading back there to have another little cranial massage next week as well. Hopefully it won't take too long because even though Jill is VERY reasonably priced and I'm sure will be well worth the money we just don't have that much to go around. AND more to the point I would like a happy carefree, painfree little pickle boy sooner rather than later so we don't have anymore bad days.

It's funny you know because when I talk about Will's bad days I feel like a bit of a fraud. I have realised though the reason for this is that for me EVERYDAY with Will is a good day... because it means I have my own 3rd living child, and he is, for now at least, a gorgeous little baby to snuggle and enjoy, and I'm at HOME... not working, just enjoying life and trying to find some time to do the things I love... but hardly at all stressed that I haven't completed a scrapbook page this year (unheard of!!!).

I should also note here that before the Osteo we had a lovely catch up with Ma Rae (Will's surrogate Auckland Granny) and after with Miss Rae (aka Kieley, Will's surrogate Auckland Aunty). We went to the beach for lunch as Kieley's school is practically next door to the Osteopath and the appointment finished just as the lunch bell went. Hooray!

Single and loving it!

Ruby has been a slightly different cat since Jasper went to the farm.

And then we went away for the week and we had to lock her out of the house completely, as we were bug bombing it. And now she is a TOTALLY different cat. And we love it!

We were expecting when we got home from Te Aroha that she would race up when she heard the car and then do that whole aloof cat thing you know.... "Oh you're here, well I suppose you can feed me then." Instead we got...

"Oh yay! Yippeee! I'm so glad you are home, it's so nice to see you! I'm going to hang around all the time. I'm going to sleep on your bed and instead of scooting off after someone feeds me. I'm going to come back to bed and snuggle up, even though Will is in the bed. In fact what the heck I'm EVEN going climb up on MERENIA!"

And we are like, this is SO not our cat, but darn it we like it!

Will Friday

Why is it Will Friday? Because I am declaring a celebration, because this baby....

"Who me?"


Yes YOU!

"Ok then me.. what already?"

Slept 8 hours straight last night.

His mother of course woke at 3:30, 4:30 and 5:30 listening for breathing, with boobs like bloody rock melons and missing his royal snufflyness beside me. So when I woke at 5:30 I just got him... he was starting to stir anyway, I think. Then he went back to sleep till 7:40. What a baby!

Hale, halle halelu--- Yay!

Who invented the spelling of hallelujah anyway?

Yesterday we had a lovely last day of the holidays/Waitangi Day Holiday- we made a conscious decision to do nothing for ourselves and to do what ever the kids asked us that was within reason. For example the Buttermilk pancakes were out as so was the buttermilk... but normal pancakes with cream and maple syrup were in! The kids didn't know that we were going to say yes to everything, and they never figured it out either, which was great as it meant their demands were limited to nice normal stuff. We played cricket (Will and I 'spectated'), they went swimming, they had treat food and did some other bits and pieces and had pizza hutt pizza for dinner.

Today is a whole other day! The kids have gone!! Which is fantastic because we tried to throw them away yesterday and they just kept coming back....




This morning all the planets aligned for me; I got to go to the loo first thing without a baby crying in the background, I had breakfast well before my current standard of 9am!!! without a baby crying in the background, I got to leave the children at school and I got them there in time (8:20am for K to do patrols), after I left school I went to the cafe and the muffin flavour was raspberry (YUM!!), and they had Smoked Salmon and cream cheese bagels (MEGA YUM!!!), we drove home and Will was asleep and he stayed that way! Hello? Best Morning ever I'd say!

This photo is a representation only actual event may vary.

(Yeah my kids don't walk to school they walk to the car, which is up the drive- not down it... Yes I have started to manufacture scenes just for the blog now... it was bad enough when I was just a scrapbooker!)

One thousand one hundred and ninety nine

:-)

Yay! we finished it about 11pm last night. It got to the point where on one hand we just wanted to get the damn thing OFF the table and eat on there again. On the other hand there was NO WAY it was going to beat us. So we finished it -insert evil bad guy laugh- "ah-hahahahahaha ah-hahahahahaha foiled you big unicorn puzzle" .....

Yeah lets just never speak of this again, ok?

Carolann- thought you may like to try this next... do you like your unicorns separate or tossed together for extra challenge?

Scrapspiration

Can't you just see this as a plan for a scrapbook page? I so can! And I'm so going to do it!

If Will lets me.

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Composure

Here's what I mean, somethings just look a little better off center.

And not so close up either, they need some context....

Am I right?

Good Morning My Pretties

Here are some more photos from Te Aroha, just because I can....



Don't you think these look like dainty little butterflies?

I love the way these Hydrangeas (above) look, they are technically past their prime originally being a bright blue. But with age I think they look kind of vintage. They remind me of the sort of muted but pretty tones used on the beautiful ceramic flowers they used on graves in the good old days. You know the days when people gave their relatives soaring monuments of angels made from white marble and at their feet were a tenderly made bunch of flowers that look like the ones in this picture. I'm not happy with the picture though... it was the best of the bunch but it's not composed as well as I'd like that central flower needs to be a little less central.

This looks way cooler in real life!


This one's for you Kieley, pinky-splinky!

HRH Miss Popularity

M: (With coins in hand) Who is this on the back of here?
K: Queen Elizabeth
M: (indignantly) Oh God! What makes Queen Elizabeth so popular she's on the back of EVERY coin????

Merenia 30/01/08 in the car after Waiorongomai

Edited Highlights

So here are a selection of photos from our week in Te Aroha... I should really take some time and fix them up first... but I don't have any time so you gets what you get...

This is a sneak peek for Kieley from her soon to be made Power point Presentation... it all goes down hill from here babe... see how those ducks are screaming out of there??



Les was sick when we first got to Te A so he promptly went to bed. Will was just sick of sleeping in his carseat.


The days were spent at Helens (Les' sister) pretty much like this....


I should send this to L's Mum she didn't believe that he was really painting the house. She said on about day 3. "I thought the house painting was finished." And I'm thinking if it's finished then what the heck has Les been doing the last 3 days and why are we still in this damn place!!. It didn't help that Les went home clean and tidy each day without a hint of the days work other than the ginger way that he was walking... but she wouldn't notice that. Too busy considering conspiracy theories as to what we were doing all day and why we had to hide it from her. IT was probably something to do with 'they' because we ALL know what THEY say and how THEY work.... I guess I'm not one of ALL because I don't know about THEY or THEM.

When they were around the kids spent a lot of time doing this....



Kieran in particular... yes I did pack; bubbles, sidewalk chalk, ball games, books and art gear but it was, for the most part, forsaken for the god known as TV. They worshiped the box often and got pouty if we had to drive 'to or from' when Spongebob or The Simpsons were on. The summer sport didn't help my cause for outside play all that much either... I mean you don't want to miss the Lawn Bowls!! Do you?

And my days were spent a lot like this...


Although I did; write letters, cover school books; put together last years school memory book and a get through 3 Next magazines- I'm almost caught-up.

Other times there was.... Will meeting Aunty Brace and Mike, who were passing through on their way back down the island, Nana Stockley, Aunties Kathy, Helen, and Mary, Uncle Geoff and briefly Cousin Michelle, Uncle Jimmy did a 'bike by' but he didn't stop as he was working (postman). He did almost fall off his bike though when the kids yelled "HI UNCLE JIMMY"- he doesn't get that very much. Pictured is Aunty Brace...


This is Waiorongomai Loop. Which Kieran desribed as the best place he's ever been. It was mighty cool and the water wasn't too cool... I love river swimming it's so much nicer than the beach!





After Wairongomai it was very cool to catch up with Aunty Liane, as well as Courtney, Shannon and Darren.


This is one of Ruby's (the cats) newest nieces (She has 4 and 1 nephew). Note the illustration of that well known concept for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.


Did you see it? Merenia's eyes say "Can I take him home?" The kitten's eyes say "Please god oh no, don't let it happen!" It didn't happen.

Here's where I curse goggles and scuba masks... there are no good photos of the kids who went in the pool they all look like complete dorks (don't worry I'll scrap them any way but honestly...) So you'll have to be content with the one who didn't swim.


The pools are at the domain and part of Te Aroha's Mineral Spa complex.... very nice! The hot private spa without the kids is even better... sometime I'd like one without Les as he's a temperature wuss and I like it HOT, sizzling HOT!

I'll finish this little tour with Will. Because I can.

"What da hell ya talkin' 'bout Nana?"

Complete, a return to civilisation?

The house is finished it has a lovely fresh new coat all over it. Les did a happy dance on the roof in celebration... if I didn't really need to grab a shower in this window of opportunity I would have strung all the photos together here but I do so... you'll just have to settle for this one...



So we are back to civilised society... just kidding there's nothing civilised about our place... but we are home and happy about it.
I read an article on one of my days at Helen about doing things that honour what you value. And after I read that I didn't feel at all bad about hiding out in the bedroom at the MIL's house. I value my privacy, my self-esteem and self-confidence and she doesn't so if I wanna look after myself I'd best stay away as much as I can.

So maybe now I will make some progress here....



But it seems unlikely as all my attention gets drawn here....


I know I post lots of photos of him sleeping but when he's not sleeping he is too close to take a photo of and he's ether attached to me or crying cause I haven't quite got him attached yet.

Kieley come on over I'm getting in the shower now by the time you get here I'll be good to go!

The day after

I love our camera... I believe I have said that before. One of the things I most like taking pictures of would have to be flora... flowers, buds, leaves, seeds you name it. I figured these things were seed pods.



The very next day I changed my mind.... what a cool way to become a flower and what a very cool flower to become.