Disappearing photos

I'm having some issues in that pictures in previous blog posts are disappearing for no apparent reason... so if you are reading back through the posts and something seems amiss then it probably is. When I have some time to figure out what has gone from where I'll fix it up.
Grrrrrrr....
Edited 17/3 I have now restored all the photos.

More Progress

I completed the digital part of the V8 album about 2 minutes ago. The plan now is to get it printed on paper and then I'm going to make a plain card album to mount the pictures in. And then I have an old metal movie film canister which is going to get all 'Holdened' up to store the album in... yippeee. I'm making the album for my sister-in-law Mary to give to her son Logan. Logan was given the V8 Experience for Christmas (I think by Trudy). And they just got engaged last weekend... which is very cool!
Pretty much spent every spare moment of this weekend working on the album... so not too much else to tell.
Tomorrow we am off to meet Miss Lily (Will's other girlfriend) so expect some cute babe pictures for sure. And then I need to start an altogether different digital album.

Milestone 2 and a discovery

Today's post is entirely Will because today he made the most incredible discovery, he has....



HANDS! and he knows how to use use them (in a limited but entirely entertaining manner).

AND


He rolled over from back to front all on his very own! (And then he got grumpy so I had to roll him back- but such is life at 12 weeks old!)

All that of course makes for...


One very proud Mama. Who is now heading back to Girl's night in. (As opposed to boys night at the Rugby).

Go the Force!...
the what???
The force!
You were born in Auckland!!??
So? I don't like the Blues.

Progress

I'm not quite moving at the pace of a V8 but I am actually getting somewhere today! Will and I hit the shops early and on the way we went to the Holden dealer. The guy was really lovely and I got some cool pics of a V8. Wheelers bookstore are having a sale (thanks Carolann) so we headed there next. We got a few books but not the one I really wanted so we also went to Paper Plus and Whitcoulls, but were once again unsucessful. This afternoon my sweet boy finally had a decent sleep on his own so I got started on Logan's V8 Experience album. I'm doing the whole thing digitally and it'll be a circle album. Here's the cover which I am most pleased with and the first 6 pages... not so happy with the last two.

Bah Humbug!

The scanner broke (no digital scrapping for me), I didn't get to install the courier's package let alone play with it, nor reply to the good email before the baby awoke by 10:30 (and for all intents and purposes stayed that way till around 6pm).

Thank goodness for Pizza Hutt.

Sshhhh...

It's not even 9 o'clock. The kids are at school. The babe is a-sleeping. The courier dude has been and gone with exciting treasure. This mornings emails have brought vindication and recognition. I have a super plan for a digital scrapbook. Yesterday evening a super new little person came into the world. Welcome Cameron Gordon McDonald Harrison! Congratulations Mike and Macchi! Can't wait to meet him!
Another post later. It's Time to Focus.

Maths, dentistry and other conflicts.

Today I was reminded of a funny short story that I had intended to Blog. ..
After his appointment which was just to clean his teeth (the filling comes in another 2 weeks) we were trying to schedule Kieran an appointment for next time.
Tuesday mornings aren't so good because of ICT... Monday was an option but clashed with easter. Can't do Wednesday because of Maths and the absolute (his mental health depends on it) need to defend his times tables record time thingee. This is what reminded me of the story... Just a tiny tale, but significant.
We were watching TV and an advert came on. It was an ad for a 'day'... you know like Quit day, or cancer day or world vege day.
"WOOO WHO!" Kieran jubilantly shouted.
Only my son... I'm sure he was the one kid in New Zealand gleefully anticipating the joy that is WORLD MATHS DAY. Hmmm why couldn't we get the normal children huh? (Just kidding of course).
We scheduled the appointment for a Thursday at 8:30am so we could miss the least amount of school.
Of course it clashed with road patrol... so Kieran will just have to get a reliever to fulfill this one of the many important tasks in his busy life. Ahhh it's tough being 10.

Miracles Abound

Over the course of this year I'm going to make my 'Happy12' Mini Album. Basically 12 things that I am grateful for. For example the thing I was grateful for in February was the option to be able to be at home with ma'boy. Some of the months are planned eg; July=Les and other such obvious things. Whatever it is the whole project has me thinking with more care. So a short list of small miracles for which I am grateful from the past few days...

1. Will slept a LONG time yesterday.
2. I threw out/recycled 3 bags worth of stuff and got my filing cabinet and teaching resources truly organised over the weekend it feels great.
3. My Mum (Sylvia) cut her arm on some glass in the weekend... not good that she did it- but VERY good that she didn't injure herself any worse than it is.
4. Libraries- Yum need I say more!
5. I finished another page for Caitlin.
6. Being able to afford to take Will to the Osteopath and get him whatever health care he needs to sort him out. (He's been really good the last few days).
7. I'm going to the Doctor today to get drugs for my sore toe (it's only been sore for 4 weeks)

8. That my kids give me a different perspective of the world.

9. ACC- for paying for Kieran's dental appointment today.
10. Getting a new print head for my A3 printer so I can finally use it for it's intended purpose.
11. New old photos- I dropped 3 films into get processed finally! (2 of them are special B & W films and therefore cost a bit extra to process).
12. Not being the parent that went on the beach trip on the rainiest day we've had recently.
13. Trade-me... an opportunity to get rid of excess stuff make some money and score cool stuff... can't say what it's someones surprise.
14. A husband who scores me good scrapbooking stuff from the bargain bin at the Warehouse.
15. The giggle of a small baby when I 'num num num' his tummy. (How kissable are those lips)
16. That my girl is sweet and kind even if she can't keep or room tidy.
17. That my big boy is passionate about stuff even if it means he's gets *very* upset about missing ICT, and I have to listen to Rugby stuff all the time.
18. The stuff I have learned about parenting, particularly from Gymbaroo.
19. Good Friends, hanging with Kieley at school and meeting Room 20.
20. That this is the view from my bed most nights. (Always with the hand out the side!)

And while I'm talking about small miracles... I absolutely had to ring Les on Sunday to interrupt his day flying- and you know it's lucky he was sitting down... because the news was absolutely shocking... the neighbour, after 6+ years, finally trimmed his own hedge. Admittedly it was the most gash hedge trim I have ever seen- but I wouldn't expect any less from our neighbour- but you know he did do it. And this is the type of guy the Airforce promotes to officer?


And 21.... I've got a cute boy waiting for me in my bed....

.... so I gotta run.

reading about reading about reading

A hodge podge post today...

First up books the upside of being stuck on the couch with a gorgeous boy (other than the obvious) is quite a bit of reading done. In the last week I have finished two books which every prospective parent should read and in fact most teachers should read them as well.

The first was given to me by a friend when Merenia was born and I started it at the time but didn't get a chance to finish it. Brainy Babies By Robin Fancourt can be tough going at times but I think it's well worth it (and it probably wouldn't be tough if I didn't already have the baby :-) )
This book explains exactly why laying down good foundations in a childs first years of life is so seriously essential. It also gives the what and the how as well- an excellent book although it does make you want to adopt as many 'at risk' kids as you can get your hands on!

The second book, and a much easier read, is Reading Magic by Mem Fox. And it is awesome!



That's pretty much what I would expect from Mem anyway as she writes awesome childrens books as well. Our faves would be 'Time for Bed', 'Wilfred Gordon MacDonald Partridge', 'Boo to a Goose', 'Tough Boris' and 'Whoever you are'. Reading Magic is like the dummies guide for reading aloud to your children, lots of good ideas for super reading fun.

While we are on the subject of books check out the book Kal wrote 'Cargo and Woot Eat Beets' I haven't read the book... but I have faith in Kal and when I have money I'll be getting me a copy for sure!

Last night I got a call from Les' sister asking me to make a scrapbook for her as a gift. This is something I would never have expected. And the subject is also something I would never have expected to be scrapbooking- My nephew Logan's V8 Experience - so I am about to make a full on, hard out, grunty, 8 cylinder HOLDEN scrapbook. (lucky for me I don't have any allegiances either way for ford or holden). Just how do you do that I ask?? No idea! I guess I will figure it out though.

Yesterday was swimming day. We go to the base pool straight from school, on a good day the kids are in the pool by 5 past 3 how cool is that. Even cooler is the fact that if Will is already asleep he stays asleep because of the constant white noise. And if he's awake we sit on the side and I dangle my feet (and occasionally his) and we (I) sing nursery rhymes and become mesmerised by the ripples (him). The kids in the meantime preform all sorts of acrobatic feats and play various games for an hour or so.

That's Elliot he comes over after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Peaches, I'm not usually big on fresh peaches- I do like them but I can't handle the furryness. BUT I was tempted by the sign outside the fruit and vege shop... Coconut Ice Peaches... so I got some. And left them on the bench to ripen up. And then I ate them. Oh my god. They ARE. GOOD. Really good. Like 'who cares that I feel like I'm eating a cat' good. They are white and pink on the outside and also white and pink on the inside, hence the name I guess. They are juicy but not excessively so and they are sweet but not sickly just luscious. They taste like what I think Sweet pea flowers would taste like (if you could eat them).


Finally String. It is amazing the joy a piece of string can bring. This is the string that ties the sunshade to the handle on Will's carseat. It is apparently one of the most amusing things in Will's life. What I find amusing is when he goes cross eyed looking at it.


Today: Patrols, homework marking, and then who knows what adventures the day will bring. :-)

What's in a name?

I've been thinking about this post for a couple of days now, mainly because Will hasn't let me post it. And now I am spending precious sleeping time writing it.

On Monday I did some web research because there were some things bothering me. Namely the fact that Will has a little fold in his ear


and he his little fingers curve inwards.


In general we worry about him a bit anyway. There are three possible reasons for this

1. It's a long time since we hung with a little baby and our memory of it may be foggy.
2. We already buried one baby, we're known to be paranoid.
3. There could really be something wrong.

I was feeling 'ok' about all this on Monday until I did the research and then I put a name to these things; pinna (the ear thing) and Clinodactyl (the finger thing). Why is it that a name can make so much difference? It can make something seem nicer or it can make something so much worse. The more I looked the more crazy names I came across Clinodactyl is a symptom of Treacher-Collins syndrome and Silver-Russell syndrome (Will most likely has neither of those). But it did all have me worrying that maybe he did have something genetic and that maybe Saskia had it too only worse and that's why she died.

I took him to the Dr on Tuesday for those and other unrelated things. Including Sandifer's Syndrome which is another scary sounding name. And in this case he does have it because all it refers to is the way he throws back and off to the side his cute little head. And why does he do that? Because he most likely has reflux. So now my 11 week old baby is on drugs! Ranitidine to be exact or Zantac if you like brand names. I'm not really happy about that and there are some other things I need to try. In fact I have probably done things the wrong way around but at least trying the Zantac should tell us to a reasonable certainty that it is reflux. Once that is confirmed then we'll try a Chiro. And I will try cutting out dairy as lactose intolerance is very common in babies that have reflux. Cutting out dairy is going to be extremely hard. I know because I tried on Monday and Tuesday after I read it and there is dairy in a whole bunch of stuff. I could loose some serious weight this way though because I have a limited diet at the moment as it is, owing to the fact that daytime food needs to be quick to 'prepare' and eat or able to be done one handed.

By the way the Dr wasn't at all concerned with his ear or fingers and, I can't remember which kid now- or maybe it was both, but at least one of them also has clinodactyl so maybe that's just the way we make them, because there sure as heck ain't much wrong with either of the big ones.

Also on the subject of names on TUESDAY which is when I hoped to write this post (WILLLIE!!!) someone I love had a birthday. When I wrote his card I wrote "Pa, Brian, Grandad" and I found that really tricky. Why is that? Why, because when I was little and not so little my mother (the one who gave birth to me) made me call her Mummy and him Daddy. She didn't like Mum and Dad at all ever thank-you very much! This meant that I had to refer to them as Mummy and Daddy at home. And Mum and Dad at school because I was smart enough to know what a dork I was going to sound like. It became even harder when they split because now there were other people in the mix. Daddy was sounding sillier by the day to me and I'm sure everyone else but for 12 odd years I had called him Daddy and I had it drilled into me. So for a long time I called him Pa (or Paw because that's how we said it). When talking to my Mum (the cool one I like) I often said 'My Dad' because I just couldn't bring myself to just say Dad. 'My Dad' is more like an object like 'my car' or 'my pen' rather than a name, like 'Dad'. These days Pa sounds weird, I so wouldn't say Daddy and after 34 years to start saying Dad is really hard. So I don't know what to call him, and I don't really get to talk to him all that much, and I really miss him and I hope the card arrived on the day because I didn't get a chance to phone before it got too late him and I really love him so I hope he had a good day... Happy Birthday father dude.

Thats me and him (I look like Will).

If you think the photo looks a little bad it does because it had a hard life and I tried to fix it when I was still on the steeper part of the Photoshop learning curve. I need to try again and fix it properly.

Just so you know, our Hero Les (and I mean that seriously because come July when he's in Turkey soaking up the rays and checking out all the hot Euro girls and I'm back here in the cold with my hot little LuveyDub I will be seriously grateful) and his Assistant Merenia (and there's no seriousness in that at all) got ALL of that stack of stumps split and stacked (try saying that 6 times fast).

See ...

Awesome...

Gratuitous Baby photo...

He's really growing up (slow down baby slow down!!)

Today; Well it's 10:41 and I have turned the page on the calendar (yesterday 7:30pm ish), had breakfast (yesterday 11:30ish), hung almost 2 ( ran out of pegs) loads of washing (yesterday didn't even get to turn the machine on), written this post (yesterday wahahahahahaha) and now am contemplating making a banana cake (yesterday lots of contemplating, only contemplating). Will's been asleep IN BED for 1hr 43 min (yesterday 10mins tops when not in my arms). So it's looking great already! Yay!!!!