26 August 2007

Someone's Nearly Walking......


 

This week we were consumed by the prospect of trying to find alternative daycare options for Noah. We had a couple of options come to light at 2 different daycare centres, one would have been ideal offering a full-time place by early November but for the fact it's in Karori and would mean a massive change in routine for us all (not walking into town together which is an hour of the day that we really treasure and wouldn't want to give up), not to mention the fact that it is a fair bit more costly in the long run. Our other option and the one we're going for is 2 days at a different daycare in town combined with 3 days nanny care at home. We met the nanny Michelle this afternoon (Mark works with her sister), and are really pleased that it's someone we know. The manager at the daycare centre has said that the 2 days should increase to full-time by the end of January at the latest so we just have to hope that we pick up some additional days along the way in the meantime. It's going to make things a little challenging for us in the short term, but we fully believe that God would not put us in a worse off position financially, nor would he put Noah in a situation where his care was less than ideal, so we have to believe that all things will come together for good.

Having said that, it will still be incredibly sad to see PPK close its doors in two weeks, affecting not just us, but 25 other families and 10 teachers, so the consequences will be quite far reaching into the community as other parents may have to give up work if they don't find alternatives. Noah has been so settled and happy there and he has formed some really strong bonds with the wonderful teachers, but he is adaptable and resilient and we are sure that he will be equally as happy in the new centre.

Now for an update on this weekend's activities...

Shopping as usual, and then down to the waterfront for a Mojo coffee, a 2-hour nap for Noah (nice one!), a cup of tea and catch up with Marissa and Magnus, some gardening, and then a walk down to our favourite weekend spot...the duckpond! We caught up our friends Hamish, Judith and their little girl Grace for a few minutes on the way home from the gardens. A nice quiet evening in, which was the first Saturday in about 4 weeks we've both been home! Today, Mark and Noah went to the duckpond again (I told you it was our favourite place) whilst I helped out at church with a New People's lunch. Later this afternoon we met Michelle and went up to the play park.




 


This weekend we've been noticing Noah is closer than ever to walking on his own, he will quite happily walk with a minimal grip on just one of our hands and is very steady on his standing, so we're sure that those first unaided steps are just days away.


We hired two new toys from the toy library this week, a cool red car and a whole kitchen unit complete with sink, microwave, stove top (complete with bubbling and frying noises), and fridge complete with spaces to pop shapes into and a button to make them pop out of again. Noah has been completely fascinated by it for the last few days, and it didn't take him long to figure out how to push the button to make the shapes pop back out!





The weather has been beautifully mild and sunny this weekend, so we have been able to get out into the courtyard and Noah has had fun pushing his trolley up and down. Being able to open up the doors and let the sun shine in has reminded us just why we fell in love with this place. We can't wait to be able to get outside more often as the weather keeps improving, and Spring is only days away now.




20 August 2007

Feedin the ducks (or should that be Noah?)





Well what a week....but we'll come to that later!! All in all, Meghan and Noah did really well all week as I was away in Australia for two days tending to business. Lucky Mark I can hear you all say....not really!! The meetings I had were split between Melbourne and Sydney so early morning flights, lots of travelling, heaps of breakfasts, lunches and snacks (with all the lounges, meals on the aeroplanes etc etc etc....!!) and then came the meetings. Melbourne went really well, but Sydney was a joke....the person I was meeting was late, and then proceded to keep me in a very stuffy room for 5 hours without a break or offering a drink (rude....) plus he managed to grill me, and create heaps more work for the coming weeks!! And if that wasn't enough I had a really bad head cold, that made me feel pants!!!!! That being said, I did get to catch up with Nic (Meghan's brother) for a meal at Wagamama and a few cheeky beers. It was really good to see Nic and I got the feeling he was really enjoying his time in Sydney.

When I got back to Wellington, Meghan attended a meeting at PPK (Noah's day care centre) which really shocked everyone....we thought it was a meeting concerning the imminent move to the new centre and the raising of fees (which part of it was), but ultimately it was about something completely different!! Basically, to cut a long story short Meghan got told that the new building costs had risen (by $200,000) and if this money was not found in one week, the centre was closing!!! As you can imagine the news came as a massive shock to everyone, as the thought of having to try and find $200,000 and the knock on effects if this didn't happen i.e. having to try and find another day care centre in one week scared the hell out of us!!! (Finding a good day care centre in Wellington is tough when you've got 1 year, let alone a week). At this stage (Monday) we have no idea if any efforts made will have managed to save the centre, but we have tapped all sources we know of and have also rung around other day care centres to see if it does go belly up whether there are any part or full-time places).....but I think we will wait until next week's post until we know exactly what is happening before we divulge more...........





Anyway, on to the man of the moment, Mr Noah George. Well, Noah has been oblivious to this weeks happenings (as you would expect) and loved his time with just mum for a couple of days, but of course was even happier when Dad got back from his travels. We tried to put the weeks happenings behind us during the weekend so we could enjoy time with our little man.

This started with the usual shopping trip to Pak 'n' Save (and a sneaky Mojo coffee on the way home as our coffee machine is currently being fixed!!) and then two walks on Saturday afternoon. The first walk was for the purpose of going to see the ducks in the botanical gardens and Noah absolutely loved it. You can tell when Noah is fully engrossed in something as he gives it his full attention and he almost forgets he's a baby and starts doing things he doesn't normally do (like standing up unaided!!). We took some bread with us to feed the ducks, but because it was later in the day, I think most of them had pretty full tummies from all the other bread they had been fed. Noah also had a full tummy as every piece of bread we gave him to feed the ducks managed to find its way into his mouth! So much for going to feed the ducks.




The next walk was to get a little more sleep into Noah (although he had already slept for two hours) so it actually turned into a walk to the play park so we could all enjoy a swing, slide and see-saw. We rushed to get Noah to bed that evening, and enjoyed a night out together for Meghan's work do at the St John's bar.

Sunday was a little less busy (or more which ever way you look at it) Meghan spent all morning and all evening at church on hospitality, so Noah endured a bit of daddy day care during these times. Otherwise another afternoon walk and some playing with Noah in the house pretty much took care of our weekend.

Lets hope this week goes well for PPK and that what ever the outcome is, it is the best for all of the kids, families and teachers involved....until then, good night and good luck.




12 August 2007

Just the 3 of us....

Thankfully it was a quiet weekend just the 3 of us, after the excitement and busyness of last weekend. We had a few issues getting the little monkey (yes that's you Noah) to sleep for any length of time, Mark managed to manufacture a longer sleep yesterday by going out for a really long walk as we needed Noah to be awake and on top form for a wedding we had to go to at 4.30pm. Since we hadn't managed to sort out a babysitter, Noah and I then came home at 5.30 and left Mark to it for the night.

Today we all went to church together for the first time in months, and Mark and Noah spent time in the creche with some of the other kiddies. Now that Noah is heading for later sleeps - he is often awake till after midday, it may mean we can actually go together as a family more regularly which would be nice. It's been a bit hard up until now as church has always been right in the middle of his morning sleep time and when daytime sleep is as is elusive as it has been for us, we have felt it was important for us to ensure at least one decent daytime sleep into the wee fella.



We've had fun playing with a new toy library toy - as in the picture its a rainbow cascade wooden toy, you put a golf ball at the top and it winds its way down and around the spiral making different lower and lower pitched noises on its way, Noah got the hang of it really quickly and delighted in placing the golf ball in the spiral himself and seeing it pop out the other end and retrieving it to do it all over again. There was also fun to be had playing in the tents and tunnel (although I think Murphy actually commandeered it for most of the weekend) and lots of peek-a-boo and giggling at mummy and daddy sneezing and trying to copy us (even though we think you probably gave us the cold in the first place Noah!).

  


Otherwise its a busy week ahead, Mark with netball tomorrow night, then off to Sydney and Melbourne to work for 2 days (and hoping to catch up with Uncle Nic whilst in Sydney for a beer and Wagamama), then it's our daycare parents' meeting on Thursday night to hear all about the new daycare centre which we think they'll be moving into in the next month or so, then it's Meg's annual staff party on Saturday and church hospitality duties for Meg most of Sunday...phew...just as well we had a quiet one this weekend then really!

05 August 2007

Someone's Turning One!


  


Our beautiful baby boy is a baby no more, we really cannot believe where this year has gone, it has been the best and most challenging year of our lives. On his actual birthday (2nd August) we went to work as usual and Noah to daycare, and then at 3pm we went to daycare and shared afternoon tea with the other kiddies. Mark had baked fairy cakes and we also took in Twisties, Pineapple and Grapes for the kids. After that, I drove out to the airport with Noah to pick up Nana and Poppa who were flying down from Hamilton for the weekend. Thursday was quite an emotional day for us remembering the day of Noah's birth this time last year, I certainly watched the clock for most of the morning thinking back to the moment at 10.54am when our beautiful Noah was finally placed in my arms in the birthing pool. Both Mark and I commented this week that once you're a parent, the whole concept of celebrating a birthday becomes so much more than it just being about the individual turning a year older, as it now feels as much a day for us to reflect back on and celebrate the actual day Noah arrived into the world.

On Friday I took the day off work to spend with Noah, Nana and Poppa and the four of us went to the zoo, Noah was quite fascinated with the giraffes, sun bear and birds but as he was in the stroller it was a bit hard for him to see over some of the fences. Nevertheless it was fun to share Noah's first zoo experience with my mum and dad.


  

Saturday morning was a bit of a rush as we got ready for the big P.A.R.T.Y! Mark took it upon himself to set the standard high by making THE most amazing 1st birthday cake, the Jolly Roger (I have asked him how he thinks he will ever be able to top it next year!). Nana helped with the icing, and preparing food for the party while Poppa was kept busy with vacuuming, sweeping and blowing up lots of balloons!

Noah decided to throw a spanner in the works by refusing to go to sleep before the party (albeit we were being a bit optimistic in attempting a nap an hour earlier than usual) so it was Poppa to the rescue and out they went for an hour's walk in the stroller so that Noah would be fresh for the party. Thanks Poppa!

  
  

At around midday 30 odd people descended on us including seven babies... eek! Luckily we had some people arrive earlier and some later but for about an hour it was pretty chaotic but fun all the same! Noah was given lots of very cool presents and it was so very special to share his 365th day on the planet with all the people who mean the most to us here in NZ.

Sunday morning dawned lovely and clear so we went to the duckpond with Nana and Poppa and Noah was totally in his element. We took some bread crusts (left over from the fairy bread from the party) to feed the ducks but apparently we weren't the only ones so the ducks weren't too interested in eating.... Noah on the other hand made quick work of the crust we gave him to throw to the ducks, at least it got put to good use!

    

This afternoon we were debating whether or not to give Noah one of his birthday presents that we hadn't gotten around to opening yet. We bought him a 2 tent/tunnel contraption that you can crawl between. Well he absolutely loved it, and a great afternoon was had by all!

At the moment Noah can't get enough of Hairy McLary and Scarface Claw (which we gave him for his birthday). He will actually go to the bookcase full of his books and specifically pick out those two books to be read to. And not just once, you have to read them over and over. Poppa suggested hiding them for a month as I think he got a bit sick of hearing the same two stories all weekend but I think I actually quite like the fact Noah's got his favourite books, it's real cute!

Well where to from here? What will the next year bring for us and Noah? Without a doubt there will be joy, challenges, fun, learning, laughter, and tears but more than anything I will be praying that we continue to share precious and memorable family times together... we can't ask for more than that!

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