Sweet Memories

When I was in hospital for my surgery I made sure I took some nice shower gel with me as I knew that the soap they supplied could be yucky stuff, even if it was a private hospital.

Luckily a few days before going in I found a nice little gift sample package of mango shower gel and body lotion from the Body Shop in the back of my bathroom cabinet. Sure my Sister in Law must have gifted it too me a few years back when she worked there.
It was perfect to take with me, a nice refreshing fruity wash, just what I knew I would need in those first few days post surgery, and it worked too.

Mum stayed with Steve and the boys for the days I was in hospital, helping out, doing school runs and generally just being there so Steve had the freedom to come to the hospital to be with me if required without having to worry about the boys. It was a great help and we are eternally grateful that we have a Grandma that is such an important part of our sons lives.

On the Friday, mum brought the boys to the hospital to see me straight from school. She was leaving that afternoon and so we decided the boys could sit with me in the hospital for an hour or so, watching tv (obviously!) until Steve finished work and would collect them.
Alex looked like he had joined the mud wrestling team when he arrived at the hospital, so we decided to put him in the shower real quick. Joy of having your own private room, oh and the fact the nurses were leaving me alone as I could have actually gone home that day but decided to stay and have just one more day of rest before going home.

Now my 2 boys don't like showers, they love them.
They will happily while away 20-30 mins in the shower with the warm water running down and lots of bubbles from the shower gel.
Alex did just this at the hospital, it was a whole room shower with a wet floor, so we closed the door to the room and left him to it. Mum got a little concerned after 10 mins that he was taking so long having a 'quick shower' so she opened the door and all we got was this huge waft of hot sweet fruity mango come our way as Alex was happily having a shower covering himself in my shower gel.

He snuggled with me afterwards when he was all warm and sweet smelling, just a perfect snuggle to have whilst in hospital recovering.
Thanks Alex for the sweet memories.

Tooth Fairy

Alex is 7, in fact he turned 71/2 this week, and desperate to have some wobbly teeth.

In October we finally saw it happen. His first baby tooth started to wibble wobble.
However sadly a few weeks later he informed me that "hey mummy, did you know my new tooth is already coming through?"
So to avoid complications of tooth retention and have crooked front teeth we whipped him off to the dentist who kindly removed the offending over staying little tooth.

She mumbled at the time that there may be a high chance of it reoccurring with the other bottom front tooth, but as it was not wobbly at the time, she was loathed to remove it too!

He has gained 2 more wobbly teeth since that time, 1 on the top and 1 on the bottom.
On Monday I came home from a night out to be informed that "Hey mummy do you know my new tooth is coming through already!"
Just what the dentist suspected, another retained tooth.

Today he happily, he seemed happy about it, skipped off to the dental service and had the other bottom front tooth removed.

He had to have another injection to numb his teeth and he was so good about it. Not a flinch from him, mummy even got to assist with the suction, although the dentist said I was not a very good assistant as I kept kissing the patient! Apparently that is not allowed!!

So after tonight 2 teeth will have been collected by the Tooth Fairy and none of them have fallen out on their own. Let's hope the top wobbly one gets itself sorted and falls out naturally!

Scavenger Hunt Ending Soon

The Summer 2012 Scavenger Hunt is almost at an end. It finishes tomorrow Sept 21.
I still have a few to picture before then however I am not sure I will achieve all of them in that time, so I may have to cheat a little to at least have some form of picture available, although I may just confess all and accept defeat....we will see.

All I have left to find is the following:

• #3 A Border
• #7 Someone playing a musical instrument
• #12 A maze, labyrinth or trail
• #15 Someone dancing
• #16 A Bride
• #21 A picture of myself with something that symbolizes our nation

I guess I will finally give in and use the picture I took of the boys holiday programme teacher playing the electric keyboard at their breakup production back in July, I really was hoping to find something a little better but have seen nothing.

So that takes #7 Someone Playing a Musical Instrument off the list.

When we went to the cemetery to get a picture of an angel statue, I was telling the boys what I had left to find.

Alex asked who I was going to take a picture of dancing? I explained that I wasn't sure. So he proceeded to dance for me in the street and kept telling me to take a picture of him doing it, then I would have completed another challenge.

I took the pictures because he was making me laugh so much with his silly ways, but I think I will submit then for #15 Someone Dancing anyway......

He did all this whilst singing very loudly to himself so he had music to dance by!

I really wish I had found a couple or dance troop to picture but I smile every time I think of Alex dancing in the street for me.

Unfortunately due to it being winter here whilst I am undertaking this hunt, it means that we have not had any weddings to see. Well there have been weddings, I know they take place at this time of year as today is my 4th wedding anniversary, so some people are mad enough to get married in Spring here in New Zealand

And yes, before you ask my husband did remember to wish me Happy Anniversary this morning!

However this does not help much with the scavenger hunt as I have been unsuccessful in finding a bride to picture. I do however have an amusing story to tell about this and will enlighten you all more tomorrow on the official last day of the scavenger hunt.

Have to go now as I need to find a border, a maze and something that symbolizes our nation to have my picture taken next to.

Birthdays

Last month was Alex's 7th birthday.
I can't believe he has been at school for 2 years now?

We have a rule in this house that you get a party for the following birthdays 5th, 6th, 10th & 15th. Then we will review the situation.
We decided that they do not need a party every year and so on the years inbetween then they get to invite 2-3 friends to join them for an activitity.
Alex chose Bowling, 10 pin bowling.

Birthday boy

all watching how it is truely done!

having the right ball makes all the difference when getting those pins down!

Proving that we were still smiling after an hour of bowling with 4 kids under 8!

This was followed by the typical meal that all kids love...Burger King

Birthday Time

As mentioned here, we have just had a long weekend here in New Zealand, and it really wasn't much of a relaxing weekend for us! We had so much to do. Mainly all for the boys, looks like their life has finally gotten more exciting taken over our life!!

Birthday
Monday was our youngest son Alex's 7th birthday. How he has ever got to this age I just don't know? But he managed so let's just hope he can make it to 8! Mischievous little monkey that he is!
He didn't seem to remember that it was his day because he went and watched tv in the morning with his brother, letting mum and dad have a small lie in. It was actually his brother that asked if Alex could now open his presents! Isn't it great having big brothers!
So we had a fluster of activity in the dining room whilst he opened his presents. He was a very lucky little boy, however the best present by his admission that he got was his new dressing gown.

Yes we are cruel parents who have absolutely no worries about giving our children practical needed gifts on their birthdays etc.

This gown stayed on him all day, and he was even dressed under it, almost like it was his smoking jacket! He looked so cute all wrapped up for the whole day.

It was on whilst he helped me decorate his cake

And it was even on after lunch when we had cake

His god mother and her partner came for lunch as they were passing through and she thought it was so cute he wanted to live in his gown all day.
The only time he took it off was when he told me we were going to the shops so he could spend the money he had received! Talk about being eager.

Shopping for gifts
Grandma sent him money to buy a soccer ball because it was too difficult to send through the post. So he wanted to buy it immediately.

We had to call into K-mart whilst in town and he found something he wanted too, so he used the remainder of his birthday money and some from his money box and brought himself a Sidley Jet (part of the characters from Cars 2)

Funny thing was that when we got home from the shops he immediately went upstairs, got his money from his money box and came and gave it to me, telling me that he would need change as this was a $20 note and that he only owed me $10!
I just about fell over. Ben would never have done that, but then neither would I have done that as a child either, I would just keep quiet and hope that mum and dad forgot that I owed them money! Maybe I have instilled so good qualities in this mad little monkey after all.
There is hope for him, looks like he might just see that 8th birthday after all....but then we do still have 364 to go! Keep watching this space

Soccer

For us the sport that has just started this season is soccer.
Ben played last year but Alex declined to play, that was until  about 3-4 weeks into the season when he decided he wanted to play! However he was too late to join a team, so had to settle with just practicing each week with Ben's team.

This year is a different story.
Here is our little soccer wanna be....

Unfortunately we have a small predicament with him playing this year.
Alex is about to turn 7, therefore he belongs in 7th grade soccer.
However this year at school they didn't have many 6-7yr old kids come forward for soccer but they did have a nice amount of 5-6yr old kids who should be 6th grade.
So they decided that the 2 who should be 7th grade would remain at this level but everyone else would join them. So now we have a team of lovely beginners and Alex!
Even though I cheer him on every week, it is difficult not too, it can also get embarrassing as he is too good. Well not that he is too good just that compared to the rest of the team he looks like a saint at this sport. He has ball skills and control, he has skills that the rest of the team can't even work out.
This has come from the fact he has been practicing with his big brothers team who are 2 grades higher for the last year and he has taken it all in.

So our predicament is:

1. Do we leave him in this team, which is the right age and grade for him, even though he way outshines all his team mates etc
2. Do we move him to the next grade where he will play with kids a year older but on a better par of skill to him?

If he had more kids his age to play in a team with then I know this wouldn't be a problem as they would all have the attention span required, however at present Alex comes off the field exhausted as he has generally run the entire length more times than we can count just so the team actually stays with the ball.

If he moves to the 8th grade team he will be small compared to some of those players but at least he will enjoy the game more as he will have people to pass to, people who will back him when he has the ball and people who will be there at the same level as him.

We should find out after the weekend if our request has been accepted by the school.

Hopefully the numbers in other teams are sufficient for this move to happen but at least it is only week 4 in the season so should be a simple move and easy for him to settle in a new team quickly.

I will keep you posted.

Excuse Me....!

When school finished at the end of last year, all the artwork for the year came home.
We usually go through it all and decide on the good pieces and this then gets pride of place on the notice board in the dining room for all to see.

However this year I didn't manage to get through the bag of art until we came back from holiday.
Alex had created a star in the classroom which was obviously the childrens way of saying that they are awesome little stars in their own right and these are some of the wonderful things I can do.

Alex's was very well done and looks so cute.
I read all the sayings on the back with eager enthusiasm.

• I am good at playing soccer
• I like reading
• I am good at Judo
• I like playing on my playstation....... excuse me...!

Back the bus up a little.....I enjoy playing on my playstation....
Playstation, what playstation? We don't own a playstation!!

Is this his way of informing us that he would like one? Or did he just follow what others were writing in the class?
The powerful mind of a 6 yr old. I will never try to understand it.

Toilet Training

I know, I know you are wondering why I am discussing such a topic when I have school age boys who are both toilet trained...?
Well they are both daytime trained but we still have issues with night time.
I am one who has never been worried about night time training, I know it is a process we have to go through but I also know that their body has to have the ability to wake them in order for them to know they need to go when a sleep.
If their body doesn't wake them then how can you growl and scream at them for yet another accident or even how can you run a rewards chart for every morning they are dry and then punish them for the mornings they are not??

Ben was close to 6 when he was stopped wearing pullups, Grandma noticed that when staying with her he would immediately use the toilet when waking and his pullup was dry. So off came the pull up and no worries since. We have had the odd accident but nothing to write home about. In fact it was an amazing feeling when he appeared at the bottom of the stairs one night over a year ago and annouced he needed to wee.
I sat there thinking "thank you, at least now he wakes when needing to go, problem solved"

Alex on the other hand, well he is the child that announced when 3 that he was no longer wearing nappies during the day, 2 weeks later he was dry (took us 5 months with Ben). He would also have loved to have gone nappyless at night but I wasn't ready for that just then.
Several times he announced that he was no longer wearing pullups at night and several times after trying for 5 nights and having been wet for 3 of them then we have said no, we will wait a little longer.
He was always wet at different times as well, sometimes I would find him in a wet bed at 10.30pm sound asleep, very difficult to night train someone who manages to sleep through it all.
Othertimes it would be 3am or 5am that he would wake us to say he was wet.

About 2 months ago we noticed that just about every morning his pullup was dry, so we instigated a no pull up rule and away we went. I expected a few accidents along the way but every 5-6 days is hard work.
Again it is always at different times, 11pm, 3am, 4am, 5.30am.
I am not sure if he wakes because he is wetting or if he is waking because he is wet?

We have tried limiting his fluid intake after a certain time.
We ensure he wees prior to going to bed.
But so far we can find no rhyme or reason for this continual wetting that seems to be happening apart from the fact he is on school holidays and getting a lot of fresh air and obviously is just so tired each night that he is sleeping so soundly!

However we are now at the stage where we have to perserve and just go with it.
The lucky part of it all at present is that we are in the middle of summer and getting the washing done each time is easy.

If you have any suggestions or tips then we would love to hear them.....?

Babies

Alex is our nuturing and caring one in the family, well after me that is.
He loves babies.
If we had gone on to have a 3rd child I would have had a mother's helper from day 1, in fact I probably would have had to fight him for the baby sometimes.

He patiently waited 2 days to manage to get a snuggle with Dylan whilst in Nelson!

There was always someone else getting a snuggle before him (not always me) or because Dylan was only 6 weeks old he was tired, grouchy or even hungry and screamed the moment Alex had hold of him.
Finally on the Sunday, there was hardly anyone around, he had had a good sleep followed by a good feed and we managed to catch 15 minutes for Alex to have him

He was in his element snuggled there with Dylan and happily sat for ages snuggling him.

So cute.

Little Boys

Boys will be boys and I love that.
So here is a recipe for little boys to have fun with....

1) Take 1 dirt pile

2) Add 1 little boy

Watch the fun last for hours!

Boys and dirt...they are just drawn together!

Stealing Posts

My mother's favourite line in her blogs is always "here is something my daughter had over on her blog, so I have stolen it....!"

So now I am doing it back to her.
She posted about Alex staying with her and seeing as she had the pictures then I have just stolen borrowed them for here as well.

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This is Alex's master piece ... I traced a picture from a colouring book of Lightening McQueen from Cars movie ... (now come on, own up, I bet you have all seen it at some time?)

He actually stitched it using a frame hows that for good training from the word go he also had good tension and stitch length.

Well he has finished it and here it is all framed ready to take home

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He was very proud of himself when he got home here, already to show daddy what he had been doing at Grandma's.

Thank you Grandma he had a great time with you and can't wait until he can come and play again.

Mail and Children

Today I managed to get my first piece of snail mail sent off.

I even went so far as to use mail art on it, ok nothing too fancy, just a little decoration, stickers and transfers.
It was an acceptance card to our niece's upcoming wedding in the middle of November.

On the subject of children, well I am now 1 child down.
Yea that's right, I sold him to the gypsy's!
No he has gone to Grandma's, on his own and he was so excited.
He wanted to pack his bag before we had even left the house this morning at 8am to take Steve to work!
As it was, we needed to go and buy new bags for everyone so we all have our own space when going away for days to the caravan and for long weekends.
The boys are growing and even though we don't have to take half the stuff we use to, they do still have alot of stuff, so they now need their own bags.

So he is now all settled at Grandma's.

Quitting

Yes that does say quit not quilt, and no I am not quitting quilting.
Alex however decided the other day that he was quitting school!
I, wanting him to accept the consequences for his own actions, agreed with him however I did have specifications to go with it....
He had to inform his teachers.

He was a little taken back by this and asked me to explain. I simply told him that I was happy for him (my 6yr old) to quit school but that he had to go to school and tell his 2 teachers why he was quitting and then he also had to go to the Principle and tell him as well.
I then said that I was happy for him to leave school.

He thought this over for a few minutes and then happily annouced to me that he had changed his mind and would continue to attend school.