Ambury Farm Day

Pony rides, tractor rides, wood chopping and lots of animals. All at a free day out for the kids.

Apart from the weather that could have been slightly better, we all had a great time. Definitely made bed time easy that night as the kids just died!



This was great fun, as the drivers made sure you went over every bump available. All the kids had such fun, but then so did all the parents as well.




Ben decided he had to do the scout challenge. So with the help of a friendly scout who kept the rope steady, Ben successfully made the crossing with little help from me.


We were very proud of him.

Beautiful Ben

I am very proud of my big little boy, Ben.
Today we took him for his appointment with the Special Education - Speech Laungage Therapist. We were concerned because at 2 years old he had a total vocabulary of 10 words, everything you read says they will have 200 at that age!
Anyway, he had increased his vocabulary quite a lot in the last 4 months but still not enough for us to feel comfortable with him, so off for the appointment we went. (Alex stayed at home with my cousin, so we could totally focus on Ben)

The 2 ladies we saw were wonderful, making us feel at ease from the moment we walked in. They sat and talked to us about Ben and then watched him while he played with the toys around the room, all at the same time commenting to us and also interacting with Ben. They made comments like"does he always play so quietly?" and "that was a 6 word sentence he just spoke then"

Eventually they annouced to us that he was fine, yes he has limited vocabulary, but the vocabulary he does have, although he may not use the whole word, he used the words correctly and in the right context. They are happy with the amount of sentences he is coming out with, again he has a small amount of words but making sentences with what he has very well.
They gave us some super little tips on ways to encourage him to say things and how to repeat things he has said. And yes they want to do a follow up appointment in 6 months but they don't feel there will be anything to worry about, although if at the next appointment they find he still isn't prepared to use the whole word then speech therapy down the track may be of some assisstance.

At the end of the day Steve and I were relieved but glad we had followed through. As we said to each other " it was reassuring to know that everything is fine"

Although when that was all over we then had to go home to our other lovely little bundle of joy who was at home with a nice high temp of 38 deg.
As his eye got gunkier and gunkier over the day I made the decision to take him to the doctors, because I couldn't believe his gunky eye was the total cause of the high temps (highest being 39.1)
After a 35 minutes wait due to a very sick patient with the doctor, she had great pleasure in informing me that Alex has raging tonsillitis and needs anti bugs. So much for me thinking I could just dose him with Pamol and hugs, although apart from the added antibugs, that is all he is getting, although he does have mummy all to himself tommorrow as I will not be going to work.

So a typical day in the life of a young family really. Nothing happens for a while and then everything happens all at once.

Inside Play

Not much has happened over the last couple of weeks. Ben and Alex have just been discovering each other. They have now realised that they can play together and have lots of fun.

They push each other around the house having such fun.

Ben has also discovered that he can control Alex, mainly because Alex is like his little shadow! he will follow him almost anywhere.

Unfortunately the down side of this is that Alex was too eager on the climbing frame the other evening and landed head first on the deck! Yes there was screaming, no there wasn't any blood, just one very sore little boy with a dent in his forehead.
But to make matters worse, the next day in his eagerness to chase Ben in the lounge, Alex dropped the toy he was carrying, tripped on it and landed mouth first onto another toy on the floor. Again yes there was screaming , and yes there was blood, although luckily it was from a very little cut in his mouth, although the bruise on his chin matches the one on this head so well.
We will try not to get another bruise today or Daycare will think we have been attacking him all weekend.

The other thing my boys like is to climb. daddy was only putting something away and there they were, up the ladder before we knew it!
And all good mothers make their kids tents when it is wet and yucky outside. The boys had such fun with this, and it brought back lots of memories for me as well.

Wonderful Weekend

Sun shining and great to attend another birthday party.
Brought the boys a little garden bench that is so cute.

Alex got to taste his first lollipop at a birthday party this weekend.

On such a sunny weekend, where else would we be apart from the front deck soaking it all in?
Alex thinks the washing rack is for more than just washing!!
And at the end of a glorious weekend you have a lovely bath with daddy and then into pyjamers with a cup of milk before bedtime.

3rd Birthday

Last week was Ben's Birthday, so we held a little party. As you can see all the little friends had fun with the cake.

We gave Ben a train set for the special day, him and daddy have lots of fun putting tracks together when Alex is asleep and not disturbing them!

Ben's Swimming Lessons

Today was swimming lesson day. As you can see from the pictures Ben loves the water.

He is doing so well.

He has been doing his lessons for 6 months now and I can see a real improvement in his confidence with the water.

He will join in all the activities and put his head under the water.
When he has the noodle round him he floats on his own, so using a kicker board is great because he is floating and kicking at the same time.














From the big happy smiles and the giggles that come from him, I can tell he is having so much fun.

Latest Craze

The latest craze in our house is 'Choo's' or for everyone else this means 'Trains'

For the last couple of months this fasination has been getting stronger, although I am sure we assisted with this by getting a train set for Ben's 3rd Birthday last week. In fact it doesn't matter what type of train it is, any will do, it is the same with planes, although that has been assisted by the fact we live close to an airport and if the planes are landing on a particular runway then they fly over our house, nice and low and very clear 5 minutes before they land.

Isn't is amazing what holds the fascination of a 3 year old!

Welcome Back

It has been over a year since I last wrote anything on this site, man life sure does whizz past when you are not looking.
My gorgeous sons are now 3 and 15 months old, they drive us both mental everyday, but then they drive us insane with their cuteness and energy for life.



I'm remembering today where I was 5 years ago and it seems weird to think I was in a hotel room in Hong Kong on holiday. A totally different world from where I am today.

This week has been very busy with Birthday parties, as everyone from my coffee group has just had a 3 year old party. We took some friends for a train ride, something different. I think it was a perfect thing for a party that may not be remembered.

Parenting Books

Why is it you find a book on parenting skills in the library after you kids have done things!?
I found a very simple book that explains so much, and now I totally understand my down moment and now also understand some of what my son does and why, even though he is still only 2, what will life be like when he is 14?

MY DOWN MOMENT

I have a fridge magnet that says "Try to think of it as a short time in your child's life when they need you a lot"

This I understand, but it sometimes doesn't make it easy. IT is frustrating and makes me feel inadequate!

I love my sons dearly, but then I feel so sorry for my partner who comes home at the end of the day and I still haven't managed to clear up the lounge or the bedroom. I worked out the other day at 3am as feeding my youngest son, that 1 pair of shoes had been out of the wardrobe for nearly 6 weeks, since I has last worn them. Why hadn't I put them away earlier I hear you all cry? Well I have never had the time to get in the bedroom and sort them out, that is, without my 2 year old coming with me, touching everything, reorganizing the pile of washing I have just folded and generally making it impossible to do anything.

The same thing happened today. My baby son was a sleep in his bassinet in our room, my 2 year old was playing with his colour pencils in the lounge and I thought I would take this 2 minute opportunity to fold the washing from the rack in the hall. I could see the 2 year old and hear the baby, but what happened....My 2 year old came into the hall way, screamed at me loudly, woke the baby and pulled all the washing I had folded onto the floor, thus putting me back where I had started, but now with his brother a wake after only 20 minutes of a nap!

Some days I just don't bother, but it still makes me feel totally inadequate all the time.

Winter

This whole week has been fabulous. Blue sky's and sun shining. What more could you want in the middle of winter with a 2 year old at home!
What makes it even better is my 12 week old is now sleeping longer at night, so I am getting a 4-5 hour block of sleep each night. Yea, there is life again.

Winter

Today was one of those beautiful winter days in New Zealand, where the sun is shining and the sky is blue. If I hadn't known better I would have sworn it was summer.
So what did we do, we had a family day in the garden. General tidy up and digging up. Everyone had a ball and the garden now looks clean and tidy again.
Tomorrow we are taking the boys to the zoo. Ben should really enjoy this for an hour as he loves animals. I can see it now, all we will hear all the time is "Oh Wow" as he discovers something else to look at!

Birthdays and Life

Today is my cousin's 20th birthday. It is amazing how different the 2 of us see life, but then what would you expect when there is almost 15 years between us?
The following sums it up very nicely:-

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The majority of students in universities today were born in 1983 or after.....
They are called youth.

They have never heard of We are the World, We are the Children...and the Uptown Girl they know is by West Life not Billy Joel.

They have never heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama, Nena or Belinda Carlisle.
For them, there has always been one Germany and one Vietnam.
AIDS has exsisted since they were born.
CD's have exsisted since they were born.
Michael Jackson has always been white!
To them John Travolta has always been round in shape and they can't imagine how this fat guy could be a god of dance!
They believe Charlie's Angels and Mission Impossible are just new films out last year.

They think that N-Trance "Set me Free" is an Old Skool Song.
They can never imagine life before computers.
They've never heard of Pac-Man or Space Invaders or BBC computers that have Bat n Ball games!
They'll never have thought Jazz was the sexiest aftershave ever.
They'll never have pretended to be the A Team, Red Hand Gang or the Famous Five.
They'll never have applied to be on Jim'll Fix It or Why Don't You.
They can't believe a black and white television ever exsisted and don't even know how to switch on a tv without a remote control.
And they will never understand how we could leave the house without a mobile phone.

So you are now feeling very old!! Let's just see how old....

1. You understand what was written above and you smile.
2. You need to sleep more, usually until the afternoon, after a night out.
3. Your friends are getting married for the 2nd time.
4. You are always surprised to see small children playing comfortable with computers.
5. When you see teenagers with mobile phones, you shake your head.
6. You've developed more and more feelings for your work. It's now your life.
7. You spend less and less time talking on the phone with your friends daily.
8. You meet your friends from time to time, talking about the good old days, repeating again and again all funny stories you have experienced together.
9. Having read this, you are thinking of all those people you know that would enjoy reading it too......

Yes, you're definetely getting older.

Bad for Health

Blogging is bad for the health! There I was at 3am feeding my son and all I was thinking about was what I could write in my profile. How bad is that?
Well my oldest son who is about to turn 2 has an appointment with the dental nurse today. Should be interesting seeing as he won't open his mouth to let us see his teeth. Will let you know how it goes.
So I have added some stuff to my profile, my interests are added, not that I get much time to do any of them. If I have a spare 5 minutes then I am usually checking my e-mails or sleeping!! Breastfeeding every 3 hours does sort of change your life for a while. Not that I would have it any other way, I know it is the best for my son and it also is not for ever. Life will return.

The Start

First blog on my site. Not 100% sure of what I am doing. Learning as I go along.
Things may seem a bit odd to begin with, but give me a couple of days or weeks depending on how often the kids let me at the computer! and I might just get the hang of what I am suppose to be doing :)