Mowing

When we got home from work today, Steve went and finished mowing the remaining little sections in the garden ready for the Open Home tomorrow.

He had a little helper in this project, one who seems to love the mower!

So there is Alex with his own little mower, assisting daddy to the best of his ability, just such a shame his mower doesn't actually cut anything! Would be so helpful if it did.

It was so funny watching him help daddy, as everytime Steve turned the mower off to empty the catcher bin, Alex would stop as well and turn the knob on his mower, at the same time as announcing to daddy 'I turn mower off too' then he would help empty the bin into the bag and then help put the catcher back on the mower.

He helped daddy do the whole lawn out the back.

New Word

Ben has a new word, well he gets them occassionally.
The new word of the moment is 'but'!
It is used in just about every conversation you have with him now, he always manages to answer you with 'but mum' or 'but I' or even 'but this'

His other favorite word at present is 'just'
You ask him to do something and you will be greated with 'I just' as in 'I just do this' or 'I just got to'

Sometimes it is cute, othertimes it is so annoying, but then that is the life with a 4 year old.

Blogging

Everynow and then when I have finished posting, I will click the button at the top of the blog page that says 'next blog'
I have found some wonderful blogs by doing this.

My favourite would have to be The McNulty Quads, a wonderful couple who had quads May 2006, 3 girls and a boy. Their whole story is on the blog, so if you have the time it is a wonderful read.
Through keeping up to date with what the McNulty's are up to I came across another blog of a couple in Texas who has just had quads, The Steece's, although these little darlings were only born Aug 1, 2007, so at present are only 2 weeks old.
They have 3 boys and a girl. Again their whole story is on the blog and if you have the time is lovely to read.

So the next time you have nothing to do (yea right!) why not use the 'next blog' button at the top of the page and see where it takes you and what you might find.

Brushing Teeth

It seems to have taken forever to get the boys to really be into brushing their teeth.

Now I do realise that this will be an ongoing battle for the rest of their born life, whilst they live at home. I will always be nagging them about it, well, until they get girlfriends and then I will be for ever complaining that I can't get anytime in the bathroom!

Anyway, we are still having trouble getting them to brush their teeth twice a day, but at least we seem to have conquered bedtimes.

Photographer

On Tuesday the photographer came to the house from the Real Estate Agent.
I had of course spent the last 2 days running around trying to make the place look nice. Now I didn't want the place to look perfect (impossible) but I at least wanted it to look nice and welcoming. Seeing as people would look at these pictures to decide if they wanted to attend the Open Home.

I got a little stressed as the man arrived, but then I lost it completely when Steve pointed out to me that I didn't want to go into the boys room?! In the 5 minutes before the man got there they had decided to play Hide & Seek in their room! Consequently mummy had a momentary breakdown, threw Alex out the door and just sobbed.
I recovered quite quickly, but I was still not a happy person, so I followed the photographer around the house making sure he got some good shots of our house.

On Friday they let us know that it was now listed on the website. It was really weird listening to someone else promote your house.

Sick Boy!!!

Late Saturday night I went and checked the boys before going to bed myself.

And what do I find....a little man (Alex) with a raging temperature, 39.5 deg. So a quick whip out of bed, strip him off, give him panadol and lots of juice.

An hour later the temperature hadn't broken but he was nicely asleep in his bed and in fact that is where he stayed until about 4am, when he came to find mummy.

He snuggled in with me and then about 6am he was running a temp again, back up there in the 39's, so more stripping off, more panadol, more juice and more sitting with him.

He stayed quite active during the day, even though his temp never came down below about 38.2 deg. He even took a really nice nap in the afternoon.

But when he woke up he was not a happy chappy, and for 2 hours was grizzly, moaning and crying. He already had a lovely cough, which the doctor had said was viral and would just have to do its course on its own, but I had a feeling something else was bubbling in there somewhere. So I eventually decided to take him to the emergency doctor.

Now every mother will tell you, you don't take your child to the emergency doctor at 5pm on a Sunday night. Worst time of the week to go, but in fact it was really not bad, only about 3 other people waiting and when we had finished there was no one waiting!

Wish I could have said the same for the Chemist, seems it was the only open Chemist in the area and so everyone was going there to get their scripts filled.

But with raging ear infections in both ears, we had to be there. Needed those antibiotics!

We dosed him up at 6 when we got home and we woke him up at midnight to get more into him, by 7am today he was a different person, thank god for the power of antibiotics. Luckily that meant he was fine to go to Daycare. What a cruel mother I am.

Sleeping

I can't say that we did anything really wild yesterday. Ben had an unexpected play date with his little friend Kaitlyn, but that was about all.

So after dinner, whilst watching the news, Ben snuggled with me and consequently fell a sleep.

Kindergarten

In New Zealand kids can go to Kindergarten sometime after they turn 3, now the age that they actually get to go can vary varstly between suburbs within one town, just by how many children in the area are registered for Kindy.
You can register children at 2, and so we did with Ben. We just have with Alex as well.

Now we always knew that the chances of Ben ever actually attending a Kindy in Auckland was very slim as I currently work 3 days a week and they like you to commit to at least 3 afternoons, usually between 12.15 and 2.45.
Thus the problem, because of the times and with me working, he was never going to go because it was not convenient, but with moving to Hamilton we are pretty sure that he will attend down there because I won't be working to begin with and therefore he won't be attending daycare, and I really want him to have something to do, mainly for my sanity, I don't think I will survive with both of them at home 24/7!

Well the Kindy that we have been registered at, has changed the age, due to huge numbers enrolling and Ben is still not in there yet, YET being the word.
Here we are, just under 10 weeks until we are all totally moved and now the Kindy have got in touch to say would we like Ben to go 3 afternoons a week? As of next week!
Talk about notice, they call on Friday and ask if I would like him to go on Tuesday.

Of course we have had to decline the position, but considering we have been waiting since January for a place, I just knew it would come up just as we moved!

Hamilton

So it is all go for our wild expedition to Hamilton. The house is listed with a Real Estate, link coming soon.
Steve has been fixing the house ready for the photographer to visit next week.
I have been checking out Hamilton and you can too right here

So if you find anything interesting on the site, then let me know so I can check it out when I am there.

Ben's New Friends

Steve's brother, Pete came down today to help Steve change some weather boards on the house.

Of course that meant his 2 little companions came with him.Jamie and Tilly

Alex was none too pleased at this, as when they arrived he wasn't prepared for the 2 little monsters to come running in the door, and I think this spooked him for the rest of the day! He was not a happy chappy when they were around, although by the time bedtime came round, he was a little calmer with them and they didn't seem to bother him so much.

Ben on the other hand thought this was great and kept wanting them to come into his bedroom and play with him, which of course they wouldn't! But that didn't stop him talking to them all day and constantly looking after them. He had a ball with them and thought the dogs were great. Was always asking where Tilly and Jamie were if he couldn't see them.

This is Jamie. She is 10 and a lovely placid dog

This is Tilly, she is 2, Jamie is her mum. She is just like her mother, but very mischievious just like a little child, into everything, wants to see everything and definitely thinks she is missing something the whole time.

Looks like we might have to think about a pet when we get to Hamilton, or at least when we buy our own place down there. We had thought of a new pet, ever since Ferris passed in May 05, but what with Alex arriving 4 weeks after Ferris left us, we decided that 2 small kids under 2 was enough for now, but that we would look at it again perhaps when they were a little older to appreciate a pet.

Looks like that time may have arrived.

Friendship

This came through to me in an email. Have read it before but as I am a firm believer in keeping in touch, and reaching out to people, I felt it was appropriate to post this.

One day, when I was in high school, I saw a kid from my class walking home from school.
His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd."
As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about three metres from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes My heart went out to him.

I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him his glasses I said, "Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives." He looked at me and said, "Thanks." There was a big smile on his face.
It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I helped him pick up his books and asked him where he lived. As it turned out he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to a private school before now.

I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends. We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.
Monday morning came and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, "Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!" He just laughed and handed me half the books.

Over the years Kyle and I became best friends.

Kyle was dux of our school. I teased him all the time about being a nerd.
He had to prepare a speech. I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him. Boy, sometimes I was jealous!
Today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So I smacked him on the back and said, "Hey, big guy, you'll be great!" He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled. "Thanks," he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began: "Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, but mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story."

I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mum wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile. "Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable."
I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment.

I saw his Mum and Dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile.
Not until that moment did I realise it's depth.

Never underestimate the power of your actions.
With one small gesture you can change a person's life.
For better or for worse.

Share this with a friend, pass it on.

I never realised how much a small gesture can change a persons life.
Send that email, birthday card or make that call. It may have been months since you last spoke or got in touch, but you never know how important your reaching out may be to someone.

I have recently got in touch with some people from way back and the feeling of memories that I have been having in the last week or two have been wonderful.
I even made friends with someone I didn't even know, but our connection........we went to the same school for at least 1 year and now we live in the same town.

New Life

Steve has got a new job with Hamilton Hospital. He has known about the job for about 18 months, but it has only just now become available.
So we are on the move, he starts his new job on Monday 1st October.
I will join him there at the end of October as I have a contract for a project until 19th October and can't really skip out on the last 3 weeks of the project.
So we are putting are house on the market and move lock stock and barrel about 120 kms south of Auckland.
Hamilton is a nice town, with a population of about 132,000. So much smaller than Auckland, but then that is what I like about it.
You can keep up to date with our move as it is happening, just click here

Alex Knows His Name

Both the boys have placemats at the table with their name on it.
Yesterday whilst having lunch, we asked Alex if he knew what his name was? He replied "Alex" well it actually sounded like "Alis" but hey he has the gist of it.

Ben on the other hand with tell you his name is Benjamin Twotter, which is pretty good too.

Lessons on Life

There was a man who had four sons.
He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly.
So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.
When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.
The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.
The second son said no it was covered with green buds and full of promise.
The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so
beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.
The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit,
full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's Life.

He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that can come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.

Moral: Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.
Don't judge life by one difficult season.
Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come some time or later.

Be sensitive to the feelings of others.

I got sent this at work, don't know where it came from, but I liked it, so wanted to share it around.

The Price of Milk

A current affairs programme here in NZ covered a story last night about the cost of milk.

Seems that in many countries the price of 2 litres of milk has risen more than anyone predicted.

Why is this so controversial, the goverment here have just started a campaign aimed at parents called "Feeding our Future" giving everyday tips on how to build happier healthy children.

One of their campaigns is that you do not need to give children sugary drinks, water and milk is sufficient.

This is great, but as a family of 5 showed, the price of the shopping bill was way beyond their means when mum allowed their kids to drink more than a glass of milk a day including breakfast cereal.

Her arguement was why does 2 litres of Coke cost nearly half as less as 2 litres of milk?

I can see her point, the amount of shopping trolleys I see at the supermarket ladened with Fizzy drinks because it is on 99c special for 1.5lt, compared to nearly $4 for 2lt of milk is huge.

With my two little monsters I have just got into the milk issue, Ben wasn't much of a milk drinker, like me, but Alex thinks milk is great and wants to try and help himself to milk when ever the opportunity arises.

So as you can see, my shopping bill is going to start rising significantly if Alex keeps on the way he is going.

Manners

Tonight after dinner Ben and Alex sat at the table eating mandarins whilst mummy and daddy cleared up the kitchen.
I commented to them that "They were very good for sitting there so quietly eating" to which I got the reply "you're welcome" from Ben.

Don't know where he got that from, but so cute :)

Breakfast on Sunday

What better way to start Sunday morning than with a nice breakfast in bed with daddy. Mummy made eggs for daddy and the boys decided they wanted to sit with him and eat their toast.

Winter Time is Here

If you are lucky enough to live in the southern hemisphere, then you will know that winter has finally got here.

Well at least the rain and wind has got here to the North Island of New Zealand, if you are in the South Island then you have got the rain, the wind and unfortunately the snow as well.

So what do you do with 2 small boys when the weather is so awful outside..........?

You give them a cardboard box to play with.......

Or get daddy to pretend to be a horse!

Dummy Connoisseur

We have in our mids a person with such a fine nose for dummies! He knows the colour, shape and smell of each one and even knows all the pictures on them.

After his bath each night he gets a clean one and he even tells you which one he would like today. Maybe the lion one, the giraffe one or even go all out and have the teddy bear one.

Who knows, but his most wonderful moment is when he manages to get 2 at the same time, then he is in dummy heaven!!

2nd Birthday

Alex has just had his 2nd birthday. What a big boy he is now. We had a lovely day with presents in the morning, a trip to see the butterflies at lunchtime and a small party in the afternoon for cake and drinks.

Alex was lucky enough to have a Barney cake, mummy was very lucky to find a cake that had Alex's favourite character on it.
Alex was very lucky to get a new car for his birthday. Every little boy dreams of a new car.
We had a family outing for Alex's birthday to Butterfly Creek wonderful place full of butterflies and fish, a petting zoo for the children and a small train to ride on. As you can see Ben loved the guinea pigs, but he also liked the little baby rabbits as well.