26 October 2008

Flips, Flops and Jumps!

We are enjoying the last long weekend of the year before Christmas which is (eek!) less than 2 months away now! Noah has continued to do well on the potty this week (even going for some wees on the toilet at daycare). At home we have been encouraging (read: bribing) him with an M&M for doing a wee and a chocolate fish for poos (we've handed out two of those so far!).




 

I've been off all week studying, and odd though it sounds it has actually been great to have the whole day to focus on the exam uninterrupted. Not that I didn't take a few breaks along the way, however, and went for a couple of runs and a bike ride...for me it was a litle dangling of the carrot for what I can get up to as soon as I'm not studying! This week hasn't been without its hazards as I managed give myself a jolly good slice through the finger with a knife on Wednesday - it didn't stop bleeding for an hour and is still pretty sore now, and then I choked on a grape Thursday and couldn't catch my breath from coughing for a good few minutes... just goes to show that too much study really is bad for you!



 

Saturday morning we enjoyed having Becky, Jonny and Brooke over for brunch (pancakes, banana & bacon), and after a nap Daddy took Noah swimming while I went to work to do yet more printing and binding of exam notes (I am SO sorry to all the trees!). Last night, we had fun in another homemade cave complete with tunnel entrance, then we turned the tunnel into a wiggly worm, and just before bathtime, Noah found some new found confidence to jump off the couch (a first!) which we captured on video.



 

Sunday morning it was off to church, home for lunch, and then a trip to the shops as the weather was still too cold and blowy after the overnight southerly to do too much else. We got a present for Maya's birthday (his little girlfriend at daycare is turning 3 on Saturday....takes after his daddy likin older women!), and also bought Noah's first bike. It's called Glide2Ride and hopefully it means we can skip the trike, then training wheels then bike and just have one bike that does the lot! Although he might be too little for it for a wee while yet.

 

This week, I enjoyed one of my most precious moments yet with Noah, when he came up close to me as I was down on the floor with him and said 'You're beautiful, you have beautiful eyes'. My heart just melted on the spot. Mark was quick to give me a reality check and said that it was only cupboard love as he was about to get an M&M for another successful wee on the toilet, but I prefer to believe it was because he was just being gorgeous and cute! And as Ann-Marie said when we were chatting on Facebook about it in the week, in this family they do know how to woo the ladies!

A couple of other funny videos from last weekend, the first one is entitled Noah Flips and the second one Noah Flops.






Monday night update: we have had a lovely long weekend, the weather finally came right this morning, meaning Mark could take Noah to the ducks/park so I could do some study, Noah and Daddy cooked corn fritters which we enjoyed eating in the sunshine for lunch, and we then headed to the zoo this afternoon for a catch up with all Noah's favourite friends. But the absolute best news is that we put Noah in normal cotton (Scooby Doo!) undies this morning and he had a completely dry day!! This was even though he was out for over an hour with Dad at the ducks this morning and at the zoo this afternoon - and he was happy to go for a wee on a big toilet with Mummy's assistance whilst we were there. Go Noah...you little legend.

Less than 70 hours to go until the exam to end all exams is over! Bring it on!

19 October 2008

Gone potty......


 

This week has seen us making some great progress in the potty training department, albeit with a fair few bribes along the ways - Ice Age animals, Toy Story figures, and a sticker chart on the fridge, but whatever works right! This weekend Noah has gone for a wee on the potty about ten times, and he even managed a poo on the potty tonight to earn the last two Toy Story figures Buzz and Woody. It'll be interesting to see how he goes at daycare this week, we'll send him in with some pull up pants and ask the teachers to continue encouraging him to use the toilet.

Even though we didn't have much planned this weekend we ended up doing quite a bit and seeing a few people. Saturday morning we spent a little extra time than usual watching the planes as there was no wind and we were fortunate to watch three 737's take off in a row. We enjoyed some spaghetti bacon cheese rolls outside in the still calm air for lunch and then made a dash up to the park after Noah's sleep as the weather was looking like turning into the southerly that had been predicted. Our friend Judith from antenatal and Grace (same age as Noah) met us up there for a runaround, then came back home for a cuppa, and it was nice to catch up with them for the first time in a while.


 

Sunday we had Mark's friend from work Jared, his girlfriend Carrie and her little girl Charlotte (2 and a half) around for morning tea (brezels, croissants and Mark's chocolate brownie). This afternoon we went up to the park again, and enjoyed running around once more. Noah is actually getting quite good at catching a rugby ball and in the first shot he looks like it'll be next stop hooker for the All Blacks!




Short and sweet this week, but a few photos to enjoy nonetheless. I'm now off on study leave until the exam. I'm (sadly!) looking forward to having the dedicated time, i.e. all day to focus on study, rather than cramming in an hour before work before running in, or trying to stay awake and focused in the evenings after a long day's work. And only 11 days till freedom...to be able to say it in days now is RATHER hard to believe.

12 October 2008

Lovely beyond any singing of it

'There is a lovely road that runs from Ixopo into the hills. These hills are grass-covered and rolling, and they are lovely beyond any singing of it'...these are the opening words to my favourite book 'Cry The Beloved Country'. And this weekend could easily be described as lovely beyond any singing of it.

The weather was absolutely stunning, Noah was in fantastic spirits and we have had a ball. Mark went off to do a multi-sport challenge bright and early at 6.30am on Saturday morning, and he did an awesome job of his 7.5km off-road hill run completing it in 37 minutes, beating his other work team's runner (who has run marathons) by 3 minutes and was also only 3 minutes behind the race leaders.

Noah and I took advantage of the beautiful morning leaving the house at 8am, enjoying a 3-hr excursion to the botanical gardens to feed the ducks, glory in the beauty of the spring tulips, and then it was up to the play park to let off some mega steam. I could NOT believe that we had the park completely to ourselves for the first 20 minutes, we had great fun driving the fire engine and pretending that a shark was coming to bite our feet so we had to keep jumping back onto the fire engine to stay safe. Then we had fun running up and down a steep hill, Noah was very concerned for my safety and kept saying 'careful Mummy - slow down'. Bless him. Sadly I didn't check the camera batteries before leaving the house and only managed a few rushed shots before the camera died completely, and I was pretty annoyed at myself given how lovely the tulips were looking!






Just as I was thinking it was about time to head home, Noah discovered some newfound courage and decided we should go down the big slides - and they are big - I was actually a little nervous as I hadn't been down them before, that's usually Daddy's job! But if Noah was game who was I to chicken out? It was a lot of fun, apart from the electric shocks I kept getting through my jeans every time I went over a ridge in the plastic! I went through a stage in my twenties where I was completely paranoid about getting electric shocks off car doors in the summer and it got to the stage where I would do anything possible not to have to shut a car door, usually I got around it by pushing the door closed using the window instead. Thankfully, I'm over that now but it still wasn't the nicest of sensations getting an electric shock in one's bottom half a dozen times in a few short seconds... the things we do for our kids! Then it was home for a fluffy and a coffee which we enjoyed sitting out in the brilliant sunshine.



What do you look like Noah! Various hilarious get ups we found him in on Saturday, the hat/necklace/gumboot and plunger combination is my favourite though!

Later in the afternoon, we took a trip back to the plant centre to pick up a lemon tree (thanks for the early Christmas present Nana and Poppa), some wood stain so we can redo the outdoor furniture and more potting mix to finish off potting the last of the plants we bought. Then we picked up my friend Jackie from the train station as she came to stay the night and babysit Noah so we could enjoy an adults only daycare catchup with the parents from daycare. Noah loved having Jackie over to visit and was a right little show off running around the house dancing to Wiggles songs, playing football and generally enjoying her company. It was not only nice to have a meal out together, but also to get to know the parents of the kids that Noah has become really good friends with of late. Sadly his current 'best' little friend Maya is turning 3 at the end of the month and is transitioning over to the 'big kids' side of daycare. Two of his other friends Phoebe and Beck who are both 2 1/2 (so six months older than him) will be around for a bit longer, so we are hoping that Noah might go over at the same time as them.



Hopefully we can manage to keep this one alive, I am positive more TLC early in the piece will have the desired effect. I made sure I gave it pep talk today once it was in position and it is bound to be the most loved lemon tree in Wellington, knowing how keen we are to get some home grown lemons on the go again. We still desperately miss the tree in Norway Street, and it is positively galling to walk past and look down and see the tree literally dripping in lemons that go unwanted....grrr.


Today we went to church in the morning, then Marissa, Keryn and their boys Magnus (18 months) and Bronson (3 months) came over for afternoon tea. We were able to sit outside the whole time as it was warm and incredibly there was not a breath of wind. Magnus and Noah had a great time playing happily together in the sandpit, watching snails in the garden and building towers, and even had a lovely kiss for each other when it was time for Magnus to go.






How bout a kiss boys!


Tonight we broke out the BBQ (aka babatoo in Noah language) for the first time this summer. It was surreal, and almost too delicious to speak of to be able to sit out together enjoying good food and good company. This is especially so when you consider that the weather on Tuesday was one of the most dire days we've had in Wellington yet, with the winds reaching over 130 km/hr in town. The wind was so strong in fact that although we count ourselves as stalwarts of the walk into work every morning, we actually drove on Tuesday because it was ludicrous to have been out in the wind, particularly with a stroller.




 

In other cute moments this week, Noah has been telling us 'that was fun' when he's enjoyed something, as we left the park yesterday he said 'that was fun Mummy' and we got it again tonight after the BBQ. Tonight after we put him to bed, we had a sneaky listen to him on the baby monitor and he was saying 'My Daddy's Mark, my Mummy's Mee-gin' which has been a conversation we've been having on the way home in the evenings this week...too cute.

This week is hopefully just a fairly normal one, it is my last week of work before the exam. I'll be on study/annual leave from Monday 20th till the exam on Thursday 30th, so my focus this week is trying to get through two Board reports and ensuring our annual insurance policy documents are completed, and that way I can forget about work after Friday and fully focus on the exam. Amongst the many things I am looking forward to, being able to read for pleasure (including the chance to re-read a book as moving as Cry The Beloved Country) is high on my wishlist. And less than 3 weeks to go now till freedom!

05 October 2008

My favourite is...marshmellows

Slightly odd title for the week, but we will explain. On Wednesday night, we had musamun curry lined up for Noah for dinner. All the way home we kept saying 'what's Daddy made you for dinner, Noah, musamun.....' to which he said 'currrrrry'. He really loves it so he was more than happy to keep the game going and going.

However, when we got home and as I was lifting him into his chair, I said 'Hey Noah, look it's your favourite, what is it?', expecting him to say 'musamun currrrrrrry'. Instead, he said 'it's marshmellows'. Tee hee, got ya Mum, I know what my favourite is!

This week has been fairly uneventful, I took Tuesday afternoon off work to go and spend with my good friend Becky and her baby Brooke (5 weeks old). Brooke was a really good girl for me, and let me take her out for a big walk around Johnsonville, so her mummy could get some much needed sleep for an hour and a half.


 

Saturday morning Noah and Daddy did a quick whizz round the supermarket while I managed to get all the vacuuming and bathrooms cleaned while they were out. Then our friends Linda, Andrew and wee Oliver (now not so wee at 18 months old!) came over for brunch..pancakes, with bacon and banana...ala Markie..yum. Then it was onto business, and we went out into the gusty wind to scope out the backyard, as we are hoping Andrew will be able to do some landscaping for us, putting in a fence, a gate and helping us turn our yard back from river stones back to lawn for us to enjoy over the summer.

Later in the afternoon we braved the fierce wind and drizzle and took a trip out to a garden centre and bought tomatoes, lettuce, peas and herbs for our burgeoning vege garden. Sunday morning, we were up bright and early and found some time to put all our purchases into the garden before Mark took Noah off to the Splash Pool in Kilbirnie for a swim while I did a spot of study.

After lunch and a nap, Noah and I went to watch the planes, buy some more plants (flowers and more rocket lettuce), and then pick Daddy up after his netball game. While waiting for Daddy, we stopped into the supermarket to pick up a few bits and saw one of Noah's lovely daycare teachers, Hermione. Noah got all shy and wouldn't look at her to start with but gave her a lovely wave when she said goodbye. As were going around the supermarket, without any prompting he said 'I got a bit shy with Hermione'...bless him. I said 'yes you did'.

It was another one of the teachers last day on Friday as she is going off to have her second baby so they had a pyjama party to farewell her, and it was cute seeing him go off to daycare in his pyjamas, and even cuter to see him and all the others still in their pyjamas running around outside at 5pm when I picked him up!

Then home for a cuppa and a visit from Jonny and Brooke, I enjoyed holding Brooke for about half an hour bouncing her to sleep on the swiss ball and then sitting with her asleep in my arms on the couch. Mark rustled up a risotto in record time and sent Jonny home with enough for him and Becky for dinner, we wolfed ours down, and then it was back outdoors to finish putting in all the rest of the veges we bought this afternoon. We bought some netting to put over our new babies (mostly to keep the Murphster from thinking it looks like an attractive new toilet site!). Hopefully the shade cloth we bought will still let enough light in to get our budding plants to grow safely from any prying claws! Once the plants are established, we should be able to take it off again, but we're not taking any chances after spending so much time, effort and money getting the garden going!


 

This week, a fairly uneventful one in the making other than Mark doing an 8km hill run in a corporate team multi-sport challenge on Saturday morning. We are enjoying the longer evenings, even tonight it was great to be able to go back outside after dinner to catch the last of the light.

Not too many photos this week, but a few cute ones of Noah being a 'BIG' boy, a few nights this week we have put undies (Scooby Doo ones sent by Grandma & Grandad) on between dinner and bathtime as he was quite excited by the thought of being like his good friend Maya at daycare. Makes me think that potty training can't be far away...just got to get this exam out the way and then will have more time and energy to think about such things....also need to take the sides of Noah's cot too....definitely heading for big boy territory!


LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails