At the beach

New years day at Rabbit Island. What a blast!!

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!

I hope this is the bestest year ever for everyone.

Really hoping Ryan has started the new year how he means to continue. He's just slept for 6 1/2hrs. Yay!

A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

SANTA BABY!

Have also added another smiley photo, 'cause i can't resist that dimple.

The family

Octogirl

Maggie is finally over her fever. Lasted a full 24hrs. Just hate it when your child is sick. Thank goodness Charlotte is old enough to be reasonably self reliant, but even so trying to deal with feeding a newborn and deal/comfort/cuddle with a sick 19mnth old has led me to the conclusion that i would like to be an octopus in my next life (not that i believe in next lives!). Eight arms could be soooo useful!

UGH! AAARGH! UGH!

How is it that a sick child (Maggie) can be up all night, but wake in the morning running around happy as larry and giggly, when the adults of the house who have been up with said sick child walk around feeling like trash that has been steam-rolled?!
Poor Maggie has been up a lot of the night with fever. Fortunately my dearest husband took her into bed with him, so i could get some sleep (in her bed), allowing that i had to get up to feed Ryan. He finally had had enough of her restlessness by 4.30am and i took over from there. There is however a payoff to his kindness. He doesn't deal well with lack of sleep and is now a big old grump (thankfully he's gone to work) and will be a big old grump for the next couple of days. Still at least i got a little sleep (enough to be able to function during the day!) And another huge thanks goes to my Mum, who has kindly taken Charlotte to swimming and is also planning on minding my three kids (yes this includes a newborn and a sick child) for a couple of hours tonight so i can go to Daryl's work do (at least for the meal). Lastly i would like to thank my adorable dear sweet son, who has had the most considerate timing thru all this and has waited till i have had Maggie settled each time before waking for feeding and has spent most of his normal wake time this morning sleeping, so i could spend focusable time on cuddling Maggie. She is now tucked back up in bed (very early nap) and Ryan has just woken for a feed.
What an awesome family i have and a refreshed respect for solo parents!

Say 'Cheese!'

Those ever wonderful first smiles! These have been very hard earned. I think Ryan might be a little camera shy, as he would smile plenty when the camera wasn't around, but the minute i had it out he would clam up. These are the results of a whole weeks hard work! Well worth it though! And check out that awesome dimple!

My little show pony

Charlotte had her dance recital yesterday. She was so terribly cute. I reckon her and her bestie were the best in her group. They danced in rainbow skirt to 'somewhere over the rainbow'. Mumma was terribly proud. Charlotte's bestie's mum even cried!
At the end of the show all the kids got back up to do the bird dance. Yep, very cute! You could pick the show ponies though who all kept fighting their way to the front of the stage and yep Charlotte was one of them!

Cotton wool kids

I would really love to be able to wrap my kids in cotton wool and keep them near me 24/7, just to know they're okay. Reality, i know i have to let them go and just hope for the best. So hard for the heart.
Mum is taking Maggie to Blenheim for the weekend. Her first trip away and i am very anxious. I am looking forward to the break from her. Charlotte is pretty independant now and Ryan being a baby just sleeps, so Maggie at 19mnths is at an age of being the most work currently, so will be nice to have the break, but she'll be so far away. Charlotte has done the trip before, which i was anxious about also, but has always made it home safe and sound. I just have to let them go, but it is so hard. Really not looking forward to them being late teenagers wanting to go to town or even worse wanting to do their OE! Yay for them. I really want them to experience those things, but it's gonna be tough on their Mum!

The Kids

Nice to no longer say 'the girls'. I now get to say 'my children'. (Tear in the eye - SOB!)
Ryan is now 2wks and has put on 400g in a week, PIGLET!

Dr GRRRR!

I had to take Maggie to the Dr the other day (she had a lovely case of hives). My Dr was away so i had to see his associate (who i've never been fond of) and the minute he saw Ryan he started commenting on his birth mark. How it would probably fade, but it would be very easy to give him plastic surgery when he's a little older to get rid of it etc. Really hurt my feelings. I know some people would probably be bothered by the birth mark (Daryl is a little), but i love it. Wouldn't have bothered me so much if i had asked about it, but i wasn't even there about Ryan, i didn't ask, i love it and he should just keep his views to himself! Some people want perfect babys, but to me the birth mark is what makes him perfect. If he wants to get rid of it later that will be his choice not mine.

Ryan and Family

Ryan has been awesome. He has slept 2 - 2 1/2 hr stints during the night. I am wrapt and have had some nice wee stints of sleep myself. It's 5.20am here now.

DDs adore him. DD#1 gives him lots of hugs and kisses, but she has been a little side-tracked from him as her cousin is here to play. DD#2 thinks he's her baby. Instead of being jealous (which i expected), she is possessive of him. Kinda cute, but she sometimes tries to rub his head a bit hard. She cuddles him and then tries to pick him up, so gotta watch her real close. She was cuddling him on me the first day and her cousin came over to look. DD#2 gave her such an evil look and hugged him tighter.
DH has been awesome with him too. He was great with DD#1 (first born), but with DD#2 he said been there done that, let me know when she's 5mnths. He reckons he's not a baby person and sure enough from when she was 5mnths he really started paying her attention. This time though he's quite happy to snuggle/ fall asleep with Ryan. Must be a first born boy thing.

Ryan's birth

Our birth wasn't too bad other than getting a shock at his size (first two were 7lb6 and 7lb5). My labour was established at 11.30pm and he was born at 6.03am, so mw has said labour 6hrs 40min. Pretty happy with that! I had a show at 2am and called mw at 3.30am. She lives a fair while away, so arrived an HOUR later, took one look at me and said straight to the hosp. I didn't get too many stitches. And his birth mark isn't too bad. I did really well getting his head out, but his shoulders almost got stuck, so mw had to give a hard pull, which is when i got a little ripped. Not very deep, but the scarring was skew-whiff, so mw put a couple of stitches in to keep things tidy.(Bless her!) His birth mark is right on the hair-line, so will hopefully be mostly covered (although he has a cow-lick right beside it, unlucky kid). I actually love his birth mark. It's quite distinguished! (Daryl is already talking laser surgery though, LOL!)
The only other thing is that when i was pushing, i decided i didn't want to prolong it, so pushed with everything i had and now have some burst blood vessels in my eyes. Still it's not bothering me, just looks good.

I've actually already forgotton the pain of the labour. Not of the pregnancy though!!

Ryan Philip Bonis

Born 6.03am, November 6th, 2007. 4085g (9lb). Photo is at 2 days old.

The tacky belly bump pose

I never did this with the girls, so this time wanted to, being hopefully the last!
This was done using the self timer on the camera. 39wks 4days.

Teeth

My poor neglected Maggie. She has been really slow at getting her teeth and only had her last two front teeth poke thru yesterday. That's teeth number 7 and 8 which she should have got at approx 9mnths and she's 17mnths. Anyway thought i'd check today and see if there was any sign of her first molars now that her front teeth were all here and she has 3 that have broken thru (would've happened in the last 4 or so days, by the size of them) and her 4th one is any day. So in a week she has gone from 6 teeth to 11 teeth and i hadn't really noticed! She really hasn't been too bad though. A little clingy in the mornings, but that's about it.

Torture

I am really struggling with going to bed at nights at the moment! Bed is like a chinese torture for me. I'm so tired and bed seems so inviting, but once i'm in it i just lie there.... for hours!! Still there's always hope for tonight!
And as for tortures don't even start me on the toilet IYKWIM!!!!

Hypocrites

I am very annoyed at the All Blacks losing, not because they lost as such, but because of the scene the nation is displaying because they lost! We really are proving to be quite poor sports.
We are told to teach our children that it's not about winning or losing, it's about how you play the game and about having fun! Now our biggest and most famous national team has lost we have gone back on that and are rubbishing them, their training and the people who trained them. What are our kids supposed to think!?! This should be the time where we stand up and say 'Hey guys, good crack at it, you played fair and tried hard. That's all we can ask for, good job and maybe better luck next time!
GO THE MIGHTY BLACKS!!!

Fairie Princesses

Our two beautiful girls.

Charlotte the hairdresser

Poor Daddy!!

The girls updated

My spring chicken

Charlotte's first sleepover

Charlotte had her first sleepover with her friend Emma on Sat night. It went reasonably well. We put them to bed early so they could do their secretive whispers and still be asleep at a reasonable time, but they crashed almost immediately. We had to get up to them at 1.30 and 3 when we heard giggling (It's impossible for Charlotte to giggle quietly!), but when threatened with separation they went back to sleep and didn't wake till 6.45. They really had a great time together!

Charlotte, my higglytown heroine

I have just been to Invercargill for the annual Powerstore EXPO. Heaps of hard work, but also heaps of fun. However that is not quite the story i am wanting to tell right now.
I left Thur morning and while i was gone Daryl was off work looking after the kids. The first day Daryl got called into work as the computers had gone down, so off he went kids and all. Knowing he was going to be focused on the computers he asked one of his staff (who will be know as J) to watch the girls for him. He left them playing in the office (which is in the centre of the shop). A few minutes later he heard a hell of a lot of screaming, so he looked up. To his horror he saw Maggie right at the edge of the main road outside and Charlotte hanging on to the hood of her jacket for dear life screaming her head off for attention. My dearest most wonderful 4yr old had saved her little sisters life!! Needless to say we are very proud parents and Daddy took her shopping the next day for 'whatever she wanted' (Make-up). Also needless to say J got a very nasty mouthful of words from Daryl, who has sworn that a. he will never leave his kids in the care of others, not even for a little while. and b. next time work has a problem on his day off they will just have to call head office for help!

My two farm girls

photos of our house

Baby belly bump

Just as a keepsake thought i'd post a photo of my tummy bump. 30 weeks and 3 days.

Chemical free head lice cure

Just a quick post to let you all in on something we discovered tonight on the news. A new chemical free treatment for headlice! Just run a hair straightner thru your childs hair!!! One treatment and it even cooks/kills the lice in the eggs, then all you have to do is comb the dead things out! A young girl discovered it as a science project for school and has won quite a few awards (i say she deserves the nobel peace prize!!). It has been checked out and confirmed that it works, so tomorrow i am going to invest in a hair straightner!
DD#1 got it last season and it is so gross! She had to have three shampoo treatments (with the most natural product i could get and even then it was pretty potent) and then you have to sit and pick out all the lice and nits. A most horrid experience for any Mum and quite traumatic for the child too, so yay to chemical free cures!

Okay everyone can stop itching now!!! LMAO!

Chocolate

To all those choccy-holics out there i have just discovered a new one. It is in the Cadbury desserts range. BOYSENBERRY SHORTCAKE! Yum! (Picture now Homer doing his drool thing and that's pretty much me!)

100% Bought

Okay, i know we said we would wait a few months and see what the market does, but the right house came along at the right price, soooooo.....yes, we bought it.
For those who know Nelson it is at the end of Douglas Road, Annesbrook (on the hill side). It has 5 double bedrooms and a swimming pool. We also still have a sea view when standing in the lounge. And our mortgage is less than 1/4 of what it was. We should have it paid off in about 2yrs, then we will do some updating work on the new house.
We still have the contract where we have to rent our old house for 6mnths, but that's cool as who wants to move while quite pregnant or with a new new baby, but the bonus is that the people in our new house are willing to rent of us till we are ready to move in which will be mid March.
We are planning on staying in the new house for a long time, but it really has the potential to grow with the family (in age not in size). The pool will never grow out of fashion no matter what age the kids get to (or the adults!!). There are two bedrooms downstairs that will suit older kids (don't want to be too close to Mum and Dad) and the laundry down there has a loo at the moment, but we will turn it into a second bathroom (teenage girls!). The garage is huuuuggge!, so will accomodate the laundry being put in there.
When i get a chance i will try to get some photos.

100% SOLD

Yay! Absolutely, completely, totally, sold on the sign, SOLD! If they pull out now they get seriously sued!
It feels so good to finally have it over and to no longer be in limbo. Still we will be here for another 6 months as we are renting off the new owners for a while. Gives me time to concentrate on having baby and gives us a chance to see what the market is going to do. The ultimate plan is to buy an older house now and be mortgage free, enjoy life and kids, and have some wonderful experiences (holidays etc).

On another note Maggie has got a nasty virus at the moment. Glands are up, fever is up and a bright red ear. Poor thing, but it's the first decent one for the winter. It was about this time last year her 4 mnths of illness started, so hoping that we aren't going to be going thru that again. She is coping really well with this one as long as she is pamoled up. Dr said if she was improving before Wed/Thur she was doing well, so it's gonna be a quiet few days around home.

Also waved goodbye to my brother and his partner at the airport this morning. They are heading on a 3mnth holiday around Europe and are terribly excited. They are due home 4 days after Ryan is due, so hopefully will be meeting them at the airport with a new little bubba in my arms. Will be getting upset if not. I don't do overdue!

Ceiling Vs Sealant?

Quite an odd title huh? When in writing it's quite hard to mistake them you would think. We are having issues with the sale of our home. The building inspector came thru a few weeks ago and we fixed all the things he mentioned to us straight away, but via lawyers the prospective owners have come back with other things for us to fix. And to be honest they are being very picky! One of the items on the lawyers list was to fix a 'pinhole in the ceiling above the bath'. We looked and looked and looked and couldn't find any pinholes above the bath. There were a couple of fly poop spots or did the inspector have a mark on his glasses? Even so REALLY!?! They want us to fix a "pinhole" in the ceiling! As it turns out when we got a copy of the builders report it's not a pinhole in the ceiling above the bath, but is actually a pinhole in the SEALANT around the bath. Quite different and slightly more acceptable, but still rather picky! Honestly do they want the house or not!!!

More hours in the day!

For once i am not complaining! I LOVE MORNING KINDY!!!
With Charlotte going to morning kindy, somehow i seem to get so much more done (easily), which includes spending more one on one time with Maggie. I am really relishing that! She is such a giggly bundle of joy, still a lot of trouble, but so much fun! With the extra alone time with her i am finding myself doing a lot more of the learning stuff with her that i used to do with Charlotte at a similar age, so all around morning kindy is great!

I'm a big girl now and i can do whatever i want!

Charlotte's official 4yr old photo.

The big bed!

Maggie's first official nap in her big bed!

Why pay rates?

Why should we pay rates to a council that is useless? Firstly they had sold our Right of Way to an idiot, who thinks because he owns it he has all the rights to it regardless of law, now we find out that the inspector who signed off our code of compliance signed off things that shouldn't have been. As part of the sale of our house the potential new owners got a building inspector in. It turns out that there is a strip of pink batts missing from in the ceiling, We only have one overflow on our deck instead of two and some of the toilet pipes outside weren't bolted down properly. All these things are easily fixed, but really should have been done before we got code of compliance. Grrr!

Magic

Charlotte's 4th birthday party was a blast. We had Andre the magician put on a show and he was fantastic. The kids loved him and the adults were entertained by the kids participation. His finale was the best. He made a cake by putting whole eggs into a tin, sugar with the spoon, flower petals and brown paint (to make chocolate cake), then lit it on fire and waalaa - a lovely chocolate cake... with a spoon sticking out of the middle. Charlotte was so amazed! They also loved it when he put 3 doves into a box, but when he lifted the box a white rabbit jumped out at them.

We had a lovely day with great friends and family. Charlotte was overwhelmed and loved all the attention!

99% SOLD

Well.... SOLD, 99% at least. We have sold our house, but it is conditional at the moment on lim reports, which shouldn't be a problem. Unless they go unconditional we have to wait 20 working days till it's official, but we're reasonably confident now. YAY! Even better is it's an older couple from another town who want to retire here in two years, so we have put it in the contract that we are going to rent our house from them for 6mnths, with the option then of renewing for another six months. Now we don't have to hurry the next step and i don't have to worry about shifting while pregnant or with a new new bubs. Really cool!

My dear loving husband got up to Maggie this morning (who woke at 6am), kindly leaving my to sleep in. However he then left the tv up loud (the lounge is even at the other end of the house) and decided to leave the lounge door open so my dear lovely grizzly Maggie could go and play in her room (right next to ours). Needless to say there really wasn't much sleeping in happening and i was up at 7am. As it turns out Maggie (who has had a snot nose for a few days now) isn't so well. She had a bit of a fever this morning (Pamol has it under control) and she is a bit pale. Hopefully nothing too major.

By the way what is with this blog at the moment? My last two blogs it hasn't let me put in a title. Very annoying.

Charlotte got to go on a little horse ride today for her best friends birthday. They had an awesome time. Charlotte rode on a little pony named Leroy. They went for a little 10 minute trek with someone walking the ponies.

Toy sales

Why must all the toy sales be in school holidays? I know they think they're being smart and kids will do the demand thing and they'll make more sales... but really it's just plain annoying. Who wants to take their kids along when they are toy shopping.

I have started my Christmas shopping. Wahoo! I figure i'm not going to be walking the streets then, considering i will have just had my insides dropped out with birth, so am starting now. Toy sales on time! It's just a matter of finding people to watch Charlotte, so i can do santa shopping in safety. It's a long way away i know, but that girl has one heck of a memory!

Road Rage

I am so angry at someone. We were planning on a lovely long weekend family vacation to Chch. Charlotte was looking forward to the petting zoo and i was looking forward to shopping (of course). Being we had the nasty cold snap and we wanted to go the inland route, i meticulously checked every source i could think of to make sure the road was okay. Nothing mentioned on the news or anywhere i could find on the internet (AA road service and metservice). The only one that even mentioned Lewis Pass was the metservice and it said 'No snow warning'. Sweet, off we went at 7am. Kids and car packed up. Two hours later we arrived in Murchison to see a big sign flashing "Hanmer Junction - chains essential". Grrr. Okay, we had some morning tea checked around Murchison to find that noone there sells chains, but we were able to get the phone number for the garage at Springs Junction. Yep we sell chains $110. So off we went. An hour later arrived at Springs (snow starting to fall to Charlotte's delight) to be told 'oh woops, we've sold out of your size chains'. Grrrrrr! The only option being at that point to go home. A huge number of other people we met on our travels had also meticulously checked the road reports, so we weren't the only ones caught out (One poor women we met in Murch had come all the way from Golden Bay), so who please is in charge of the road report for Lewis Pass and why did they not put up warnings on the news or net till two days two late for poor people like us? (It was on the news Sat morning that the road was closed.).
We couldn't even slip thru St Arnaud to Blenheim and down the coastal way as that too was closed and i'll be darned if i was going to drive back thru Nelson and down the coast with two small kids. From now on we only go south in the summer!!!

Ryan Philip

19weeks 5days. (head circumference 21wk4dys - Ouch!)

The colour BLUE

Yay, we are having a boy! Had our scan today and bubs is very healthy. The ultrasound lady said there is NO doubt on the sex. You could very easily see all the boy bits. Pink is out and blue is in! The pressure is off for having to go thru another pregnancy. Pretty much the first thing Daryl said was 'Yay, i can have the snip now'. Just got to get thru the next 20 odd weeks and we'll be a happy little slightly more evenly sexed family!

My babys all growed up!

A little sad this morning. My baby is growing up, Sob! Charlotte usually wakes in the night to go toilet and then comes to wake us to take her. This morning we heard her door go, the hall light went on, short time later toilet flushed, hall light out and her door again. She doesn't need Mummy and Daddy anymore. I think Daryl felt sad too as he got up soon after to see if she wanted to come in for a cuddle. 'No Daddy, i'm happy in my bed'. My babys all growed up, Sob. (What am i going to be like when she starts school? A big slobbering mess probably!)
Also Maggie is growing up fast. She is walking around with big sis' toy phone to her ear, saying 'Hello, hello' (She has just learned hello the last few days. It's really her first real word).
It's a good thing i'm having another babe, otherwise how would i cope!

Tickers - so cute

The dangers of Milo. (If you're squeamish - look away)!

Hi all, just a wee story of an eventful evening.
What a night we have had! I was at A&E with Charlotte till midnight. A bit of a story, but i'll keep it as short as possible. Charlotte went to stay at Nana's farm for the weekend (a good half hour out of town)Yay!, but at 7.30 we got a ph call to say she had burnt her arm. (They had been making milo at the bench. As Nana brought the jug around Charlotte brought her arm up - BANG! - she wore the water). I jumped straight in the car and raced out. As soon as i saw it i thought A&E. It is about the size of a very lg orange and was blistered and weeping and clever Nana had put a plaster on it (right over the middle of the wound). Of course we picked a busy night to go to A&E. The nurse took one look at the plaster and said he wasn't touching it! Finally they got us a room with a bed at 11pm, so i was able to settle Charlotte down for a sleep. She is a deep sleeper thankfully so when the Dr and nurse came she slept thru the whole procedure of pulling the plaster off (and some of the skin with it) and having it dressed. They have said it is a nasty surface wound, but at least over time it should heal completely without scarring. Charlotte seems okay this morning. I think Nana is more traumitised than her. She was on the ph to Daryl last night in tears while i was at the hosp. Still it really was a simple accident that could have happened to anyone. Charlotte is enjoying the attention and Daryl has said she can have tv today and whatever movie she wants! We are also going to bake (one of her favourite things to do). Drama though and am somewhat tired today. Maggie was up at 6.30am and i let Daryl sleep in as he had work. I get to sleep in 2morrow.Could be another rough night though as Maggie has been sneezing all morning and seems to be developing a runny nose. Hopefully it will just be a minor cold. Bring on the Pamol!

Our first family photo

Mmmmmm!

I just finished eating some cookies and cream ice-cream sandwiched between two wafers.
It was GOOOOOOOD!

Take that!

I get to stay at home while hubby goes to work. This deep down bothers him and therefore he frequently comments on it, mostly in a joking manner, but still it comes up a lot. It means i cannot complain about my day as i always get the comment of "Well you go to work then and i'll stay home!".
Well the other day i finally had enough so i called him on it. I said to him 'fine, you find me a job and i will go and work at it'. "But you can't work, you've got another baby on the way" was the reply. 'Exactly, but i'm sick of hearing about it. I love being at home with the girls, but there are times when i need a break or have a bad day and i don't get to whinge about it because you always comment that i should go to work and you'll stay home. I'm sick of it, so you find me a job and i'll go work at it.' He then mumbled a reply of "I guess you should stay home till the kids are at school". And i have not had another comment about it!

Boy or Girl?

I decided that with this pregnancy i wouldn't get into the 'is it a boy or girl' zone as it just does your head in. However it is really really hard not to speculate. This pregnancy is so different, you can't help but wonder why or hope. With the girls i had morning sickness for three months, this time i had all day sickness for only 9 weeks. The girls i felt very early. Charlotte at 12 weeks and Maggie at 9, this time it has taken a lot longer. I have only been feeling the baby for the last few days and i am 16 weeks today. I am breaking out with pimples this time and with the girls had no issues along those lines. I could go on, i'm really hoping it means something, but i know that every pregnancy can be different. My sister-in-laws second pregnancy was so different from her first that when her second was born she didn't believe them when they told her it was another girl. Also a lady i was talking to the other day had three girls and then a boy had thought that with her last it was another girl as her pregnancy was exactly the same as with her girls.
I had my midwife yesterday and we heard the heartbeat which was 160 bpm, which is quite high indicating a girl, but then my nephew had some high and some low heartbeats (Charlotte actually did too) and the same midwife initially thought he was going to be a girl.
I have my scan booked for June 18th, so am really looking forward to it and hopefully finding out what sex, but what's the bet baby says uh-uh Mum i'm gonna keep my legs crossed! Needless to say i will be gutted if i have to wait till bubs is born. (A little part of me though would love the excitement again of giving birth and then finding out what our precious bundle is - we didn't find out with Charlotte and it was lovely. We did find out with Maggie and it was kinda nice, but then there was no hype left for the rest of the pregnancy, but at the same time i'm not a terribly patient person and hate the suspence of waiting for a surprise.)

A Simply amazing cough cure

Maggie has had an ongoing night-time cough since her last cold about two months ago. It was just settling down and we have all come afoul of another cold, so she has really been suffering with a nasty cough again, that keeps her awake at night. My dear, lovely neighbour said the best cure, even though it seems odd, is to cut an onion in half and put either side of their pillow.
At three this morning with Maggie coughing and hacking and getting quite upset about it all, i decided to do just that. Within two minutes she had finished coughing and was sound asleep. Wow! Simple, cheap and very effective. Long live the onion!

Part two - Nasty Neighbour!

The story continues with GM parking his old (missing a window) unwarranted, unregistered caravan in the bottom of our cul-de-sac. It looks awful (especially for a couple of us trying to sell our homes), it hinders the neighbours at the bottom of the cul-de-sac from getting into their drive properly and it means people can't turn around properly. The bottom neighbour actually at one point pushed the caravan back onto GMs property only to then be confronted by him ranting and raving. the street is his property and he can do as he likes. He also parks his ute and trailer long ways down one of our passing bays (we did used to think they were parking bays, but after talking to the council it turns out not), so no one else can get in and it is right in front of our neighbours opposite who are trying to sell their house. We have been to the council a few times only to be told that they can't do anything. Yes, it's a passing bay and he shouldn't park their, but they only make the rules, they don't govern them (useless council), it is a legal matter so you will have to go to lawyers.
Of course as we are not children, we are not going to sit back and be bullyed, so the whole neighbourhood got together and have all put in for a lawyer. It turns out that while, yes GM does own the right of way, we have more rights than he thinks. As it is still a roadway, nobody (including GM) can park on the road way, hindering traffic etc. The lawyer wrote up a letter explaining this to him and giving him 7 days to remove his vehicles or after that we can do it for him forwarding on the costs to him (including our lawyer costs). The police were due to deliver this letter to him yesterday, so things could get interesting over the next week or so. Daryl and the neighbour are both in Chch tonight, so i have to say both myself and the female neighbour are a bit nervous, but if GM even steps onto my property i will be calling the police. I think surely he will be smart enough not to go making things worse for himself at this point, as long as he is not pshycotic!
Anyway just as a little extra he is building a fence along the bottom of our properties, which it now turns out it is going to be an old rusty corrugated iron fence. Yuk. We have paint brushes at the ready and are going to buy some trees to hide it, but it is sad that we have to go to that. He is putting the fence in about 10cm inside his boundary so we can have no say.
Needless to say there are some real w!@#ers in this world!

Part one - Neighbour from Hell!

Time to tell of our nasty neighbour. I don't know that it would be right to name him on here, so I will just use his initials of GM. He doesn't even actually live here, but owns a section in behind our houses and his drive (to be) runs down below past the bottom of our sections.
Okay so the story begins about six months ago when GM showed up for the first time and started to dig his driveway below our sections. Our neighbour in front wasn't happy as he was trying to sell our house. Our neighbour behind was concerned as when they had leveled off the bottom of their section they had had to dig out and refill and get permits etc, so we all rang the council just to find out what the deal was. Apparantly GM had not bothered to get any permits, so the council was up here quick smart to put a stop work on him. War begins. He blames us for losing him money (forget the fact that if he had have gone down the right channels and got a permit at the beginning there would have been no problem). Anyway over the last six months he has had a run in with every neighbour down our cul-de-sac and also the neighbours actually behind his section (approx 12 neighbours in total + a few real estate agents trying to sell houses in the area). He is a strange and scary man! At one point near the beginning he knocked on my door while Daryl was out and started ranting and raving which resulted in me laying a police complaint the next day (i'm sorry, but i am not taking his bullying lying down).
As it turns out the story gets even better. It turns out that when the council sold him the land part of it was also ownership of our right of way. He cannot stop us from getting to our properties, but other than that he thinks he can run our little street. As this is a long story i will keep that chapter for part two.

Maggie aged One

Happy Birthday Maggie Moo

We had Maggie's first birthday party this weekend. It was a lovely day. She enjoyed herself just as she enjoys every day, but for the rest of us it was something special to remember. Loads of family and friends together celebrating. Maggie was horrifically spoilt, but our favourite gift was the cow outfit hubbys sister made for her (it was a cow themed birthday, her nickname being Moo). So cute as you will see and the amazing thing was that she happily kept the hood on. She refuses to wear hats and even manages to pull off the ones that tie under the chin.

Daddy Daycare

On Sunday and Monday of this week i worked helping gear up for stocktake, so Daddy got left with both girls for the first time. I was really looking forward to the time out, but even more looking forward to hubby experiencing running after the two girls all day, as he thinks i sit on my butt all day and watch tv.
Sunday he took them out to his Mum on the farm, where they had a lovely time running around, feeding the chooks etc. He admitted to only forgetting about Maggie once, not too bad. He also managed to do a lot of washing, but two days later it was all still sitting there waiting for me to fold away. Still effort appreciated. However day one i arrived home and Daryl had to go to a street meeting (about a neighbour from Hell - a whole nother blog story i will get around to one day), so i was still left, after working all day, to feed Maggie, and prepare and cook tea. At this point he arrived home, but it was still left to me to bathe Maggie and prepare her for bed. He did put Charlotte to bed, 1/2 an hour early with no toothbrushing or story (admittedly she was falling asleep on the couch, but it's still a normal day thing that he didn't get to experience). I did at this point refuse to do the dishes, so these were still sitting on the bench when i got up in the morning, after having been the one to still get up to Maggie in the night (she has a cough.). He also stayed in bed for a mini sleep in while i fed the kids and got ready for work. At this point he also had to take Maggie for swimming lessons (a normal occurrence). My Mum went along to watch Charlotte. (Ooh just forgot to mention that when i arrived home on Sunday the kids were running around outside near naked while he mowed the lawn. I don't have a problem with naked kids except when it is pretty cold and Maggie has had a nasty cough at nights for over a month!)
I finished work early on Monday and arrived home just after lunch. Managed to give Daryl a fright who when i shut the garage door thought it was the sound of Maggie falling out of the high chair, that he hadn't strapped her into. I did still make him take Charlotte to and from kindy and cook tea that night, but i really don't think he got the full experience. I really need to plan a few days away by myself, so he is stuck with the girls completely for a whole few days without being able to fall back on me. Then he might finally get it!

I demand a recount!

An awful study this morning on the news claims that men and women work approximately the same amount of hours as men and that women sleep for longer. Yeah right. I bet the men lied in the survey. As for sleeping more, which child midnight wake up call was that between?

Round three

We are currently just over 11weeks into round three of the baby game. Not sure what we were thinking! After Maggie i just didn't feel finished and Daryl said okay, it might be nice to try for a boy. Being that it took us 15months to fall pregnant both times with the girls we thought we would start straight away. Well i have only had one period since having Maggie. It was a bit of a shock and my initial reaction was 'No, I'm not ready!'. Still, things are calming down now that i am over the all day morning sickness (In the past i have only suffered morning sickness).
We are now at the point of having to hunt for a new car with a wider back seat so we can fit three car seats. Daryl is extremely anti people movers, so it is not an easy task.
Charlotte is pretty excited, although i am a bit worried about Maggie getting jealous. She is such a Mummy's girl and even gets a bit jealous when Charlotte gives me cuddles. Still she will be 19mnths by then, so hopefully she might be ready to assert a bit more independence anyway.
We are due in early November. In fact a good possibility baby will arrive on Daryl's birthday.
We are of course hoping for a boy (Daryl keeps threatening to give it away if it's a girl), but ultimately the two girls we have are pretty great, so it won't bother us if we have another one. Daryl is also threatening that if it is a girl we have to try again. I'm not so sure on that idea. Four kids is a bit beyond my ability to imagine and the way i had been feeling at the beginning of this pregnancy i really don't want to do this again (although i'm sure i remember saying that when pregnant with Maggie).

Gone fishing!

We have just spent a lovely couple of days down Duncan Bay. It was pretty cold, but we had an awful lot of fun. We took Charlotte fishing off the Jetty. Didn't catch much of anything, but she had fun and we had to take one little fish home to cook and eat (very boney). Maggie also had a great first fishing experience. Wish i could post a video clip. There was a little fish flipping about in the bucket which she thought was hilarious. She ended up picking it up, cackling furiously, and having a suck on it's tail. I really wish we still had NZ funniest home videos. Time was also spent down collecting cockles which hubby had a huge feast on (sadly i couldn't partake, i could only watch and drool - See blog to come later today).

Photo updates

Husbands/ Housework - both start with H

I had a very frustrating morning today. It was open home day, so full on house-cleaning required. Daryl was home today to help for the first, which at first i was quite relieved about, but while yes he did help, it was a bit awry. He had the house beautifully vacuumed (before i had even wiped down the bench and the table. The bathroom cleaned before we had all had showers and brushed our teeth etc. I think even though i hate having to do it all myself i do have a routine and i know it's done right. Next time i think i will try to con him into taking the kids away somewhere for the morning and just leaving me to it. (although it was nice to not have to mop the floors - my most hated job).

Round and round and round she goes

Maggie is so loving walking now. It really is the only mode of manual transport she wishes to use. She just wanders around and around the lounge just because she can. It's so cute and she does it all with the hugest smile. Every now and then she will come over for a cuddle and then she is off again.
Charlotte is still mostly good with her, but we have started to have a few little upsets over not wanting Maggie to play with her stuff or where she is playing. She is learning though to go to her room to play and Maggie is not allowed in there.
Housework is a whole new ball game too with Maggie chasing me and the vacuum cleaner round the house. Which brings me too 'I am soooo over open homes'. Last week we had two occasions where the real estate agent rang wanting to bring people through plus the open home on Sunday. I'd like to say my house is sooo clean because of that, but with a husband a preschooler and a toddler it only takes one day for the house to look like a bomb shelter (where the bomb has gone off inside).

First tooth

Also Maggie finally had her first tooth break through yesterday at 10 1/2mnths old.

Sooo Tired!

Maggie has a nasty cold (her first illness in about four mnths) and we had a rather sleepless night, or rather i had a rather sleepless night (Daryl put his ear plugs in and slept). I ended up staying in her room and i think we finally slept from about 4am till 6.30am. She doesn't have a fever or anything serious, mostly just a very snotty nose. As she usually sucks her thumb to self-soothe to sleep, a snotty nose is a major sleeping upset. I tried some baby balm, karvol and having her bed on an angle, but nothing really helped. She has even struggled to have an afternoon nap this afternoon. Ended up exhaustedly falling asleep while having her bottle and sleeping on me for approx 3/4 of an hour.
All this is really hard when i'm so tired anyway.

Gabble

Nothing really exciting to say, just at the point again where i felt i was neglecting my blog.
Our house is on the market at the moment, but that is the only thing out of the ordinary that is happening the rest is just the usual. The only thing out of the ordinary about the house on the market is that i have to do extra cleaning each week for the open homes, so until we have a nice big fat offer on paper there is really nothing special to say there either. There are currently a couple of people genuinly interested in the house (according to the real estate agent), but i'm not getting excited until there is something on paper.
Maggie is slowly getting steadier on her feet, but walking is still not yet her preferred mode of transport. She has also discovered an extreme love of high pitched squealling, which is extremely painful.

Walking

Maggie took her first steps tonight (six of them) and then stopped to clap. She was so proud of herself (as were Mummy and Daddy).

Can babies smell fear?

Maggie has become a bit of a clingaling over the last week and most of the time will have an upset if i leave her view. If she is tired i can't even put her down.
Last night she woke (approx 1.30am) which is quite unusual, and she was crying quite heartily so i got up to her. She seemed a bit shaken (second question: Can 10 month old babies have nightmares?), but seemed to come right with a cuddle. Put her back down and she started crying very heartily again. Being unnerved because it was very unusual i started to second guess that maybe something was wrong, but there was no fever, she wasn't tugging at ears or anything. Gave her some pamol just in case and back to bed. Had a little cry and then went quiet. By now i'm kind've on edge and thinking she's gone back to sleep i'll just check on her (to make myself feel better) and then i can go back to sleep. She wasn't asleep and the moment she saw me she was away again. Gave her a snuggle on the bed with me and she was fine, so put her back to bed, screams again, but by this time i decided she had to be playing me (with only a little bit of doubt - tiredness at this point beat out the doubt however), so i let her cry a little while and she went to sleep fine. This time i also didn't make the mistake of going to check her and she woke up this morning good as gold. Little Monster!

EEEEEWWWW!

I have just spent three hours picking nits and lice out of Charlotte's hair. It sends chills down my spine. She had swimming lessons this morning and Daryl was changing her afterwards while we waited outside. He then came running out 'we've got a problem'. I always knew that one day we'd probably have to deal with them, but i was ever hopeful. Charlotte was so good and ever so patient with me pulling and picking thru her hair. Thank goodness for cartoon network!
Definitely not something i hope to have to do again though.

Opera in the park

They had opera in the park last night. We could just hear it from our house. It was kinda neat though to sit outside in the dark and listen and then of course there were the fireworks at the end. Always a great sight. Very magical.

Our life, currently.

Well i've only just started blogging and i'm already feeling neglectful of it. Sadly though i just don't seem to have too much to say on here at the moment (makes life seem somewhat mundane huh!?!). Mon, Tues, and Thur afternoons are kindy, Wed afternoons are Charlotte's dance classes, Friday is housework and the rest of the time is spent trying to keep things organised for these things. It seems that there is a lot of planning needed to be able to function with two small kids to plan around. Still i wouldn't give any of it up, although hubby would dearly love me to, so he can have a turn. I love being at home with the girls.
We have also finally almost finished the back yard and gardens. The house will be advertised on the market from next weekend, which i'm kindv'e dreading as i'll have to kick the organisation/tidy thing up another notch, but it's kind've exciting too. I'm really excited about the idea of building again too. We've learnt so much from the first two houses and i have some lovely ideas of what i really want now, the big thing is convincing hubby who has quite different tastes to me. I'm also looking forward to moving back to the flat for the kids. The view on the hill is fantastic and will be missed, but the practicality of indoor/outdoor playing for the girls will be so much better with a flat section and single storey house, especially now with Maggie crawling.

Snap happy

Here area some lovely photos of Maggie enjoying a strawberry.

I have just changed my profile name too. I am pretty trigger happy with the camera and have decided that this blog will probably end up being a bit of a photo showcase.

Two princesses

This photo of the two girls was taken today.

One door opens, another closes

Very sadly I got my rag back for the first time a couple of weeks ago since having Maggie. The worst thing is that the hormones somehow seem to have affected my milk which has taken a nose dive, so i am having to go to first and last feed only. I hate it when choices are taken away from me. For about two weeks Maggie has been waking in the night, i was kinda thinking maybe a growth spurt or perhaps teething, but the other night i feed her as usual and put her down, but she wasn't that keen on bed, so i got her back up and thought maybe i might just try to top her up with a bottle. She drank the whole bottle and then slept the whole night. Yesterday was the first day of bottle and with our night out last night it has really been nearly 24 hours since our last feed and i am only just full now. So sad!

A night off!

I did it. Charlotte went with Nana P and Maggie went with Nana G and hubby and i had a lovely night out. (With a bit of forethought though we should have found a babysitter for the dogs too, then the night would have been really good). We had a lovely meal out and then went to the movies. I was mostly pretty good. I had a couple of moments during the movie of separation anxiety, but they passed. I will own up to texting Mum after the movie though, just to check all was okay.
Movie was great. Dreamgirls (who knew Eddie Murphy could sing!). There was one or two moments where there was too much singing (yes i know it was a musical), but there was just a few occasions where the song shouldv'e finished five minutes ago. Still they were very good singers and i had a few goosebump moments.

A night off?

Can i deal with a night of no kids? It should really seem like such a lovely idea, but the whole separation anxiety would be a lot to deal with. One kid away i can cope with okay, but worrying about both at once i don't know that i would really get a chance to enjoy myself. Charlotte is heading down to Okiwi bay for the weekend with Nana, Aunts, Uncles and cousins. It's a long way away, which is a bit nerve racking, even though i know she is in great hands. Hubby and i thought it might be nice to use the opportunity to go to the movies together (something i haven't done in an awful long time). I asked my Mum to watch Maggie and she has offered to have her for the night. Do I, don't I? It's only one night and it's only down the road, sounds simple, but emotionally is huge.

My Girls

Charlotte is 3 1/2 and Maggie is 9mnths although this photo was taken just over a month ago. I will get an updated photo of the two of them soon.