Sunny days chasing the clouds away....

 
This week's title is, of course, taken from the tune of the Sesame Street song, but feels appropriate. We've had some lovely weather this week and have been able to get out in the gardens most evenings to water our precious plants.

Noah seems to have really enjoyed his first week back in full-time daycare and has been very happy and settled each night when we've picked him up. His wound continues to heal slowly, at times this week it has looked rather nasty but we think this is just as a result of the wound trying to form a scab and heal which when you consider that he is always on the go and it doesn't get much air-time it is hardly surprising that it is taking such a long time. We're keeping a close eye on it but are encouraged by the fact he doesn't seem in any pain or discomfort with it for now.

This weekend was kicked off by a fantastic breakfast at the Maranui Surf Cafe in Lyall Bay with our friends Guy and Shannon who were treating themselves to the weekend off from all the preparations for opening their new furniture store. The food was fantastic, the company great and Noah was in his element watching all the planes take off (as it was a roaring southerly). That's twice in two weekends we have managed to find great venues for breakfast AND plane spotting all at once! Then it was off to the Warehouse where we finally managed to find a plastic clamshell sandpit as we have been after one for a while...now we just have to find some sand! We spent the rest of the day hanging out at home together doing painting..which was fun if a little messy so the bathroom is definitely the best venue, and other household chores.









I then went out to a friend's hens night which included a pole dancing lesson of all things! It was actually great fun if a little hard on the muscles (as I ache in my shoulders and arms something chronic today!).

Today we went to a dedication for our friend Marissa and Keryn's son Magnus. It was a gorgeous sunny afternoon out in Plimmerton and their house has fantastic views towards Mana Island and the South Island, it was just lovely to be part of their special day. Noah amused himself quite well independently for most of the time, going off on his own for short bouts of time, playing with various toys and wandering round the garden. We also noticed today that when he was playing with his blocks he was trying to put one interlocking block on top of the other so is showing real signs of learning and developing with his play.

After a frustrating weekend where our wireless router appears to have died and I spent a fair bit of time trying to fix it and locate the source of the problem, we're now back to the good old days of plugging in a network cable and have taken the router in for repair, let's hope it gets fixed quickly as not having the wireless connection is a tad inconvenient.

The shot of this week has to be the photo of Noah tasting his first Nutella sandwich....classic!

A lovely long weekend

Well we've just enjoyed NZ's first long weekend since June, and were blessed with some lovely weather to boot (which after the wind and rain we've had recently was a nice change). But more on the weekend later....

This week has seen Noah bounce back remarkably well from his operation. Monday was his last day with nanny Michelle, and then I took the day off on Tuesday to pick up Mum from the airport and we spent a nice afternoon reacquainting Nana and Noah.

Then it was Nana daycare Wed - Fri and by all accounts a lovely time was had by both. Noah enjoyed lots of book reading, cuddles, playing with Murphy, spying the wind turbine from various windows and chilling out watching Baby Einstein DVDs - all of which has aided his recovery no end. We have also noticed how many new words Noah is trying to say, tractor - 'takta', spider - 'pieda', cheese - 'shees' and doing the sign for milk whilst saying 'mmmuhh' and wanting to knock on things whilst saying 'noh noh'. Too cute and nice for Nana to hear them first hand too.



  

On Saturday morning, the four of us went to Chocolate Frog for brunch and the seat we chose just happened to have a fantastic view of ALL the planes taking off from the airport. Noah was in seventh heaven every few minutes when one flew right past the window.

Strangely, he had thrown up in the night which usually signals him needing to get something out of his system, and as it turned out it sparked a sudden change in his eating, as he had been incredibly fussy with his food for the past few weeks. However, Saturday morning it was like he had a new lease of life after getting rid of whatever was in his system, and he proceeded to eat like a horse all Saturday and in fact has been much more the Noah of old for the rest of the weekend! Yay. You could have knocked me down with a feather that this included a packet of raisins on Saturday afternoon, and then 2 whole bananas and 2 packets of dried apricots/apples over the course of the weekend. For a boy who doesn't eat fruit it was somewhat of a breakthrough! Small steps...

After dropping Mum back at the airport on Saturday night, I enjoyed a girl's dinner out with my girlfriends from lifegroup at One Red Dog. As well as a general catchup with the other girls, it was a lovely chance to see Vinnie who I hadn't seen since Christmas and who was just down for a few days from Tauranga. Noah and I went to church together on Sunday morning, dropped Vinnie at the airport, did some gardening, and then caught up with Tracey & Dayne & kids for afternoon tea before Mark then popped out to watch Wellington Phoenix play football at the stadium.

Today we hung out together at the park this morning when it was bitterly cold as a brief southerly blew through, and then this afternoon we took advantage of a gorgeous sunny afternoon, planting some Italian & cherry tomato plants and rocket lettuce in the garden (to help fulfil Mark's dream of becoming Jamie Oliver down under!) Noah loved 'helping' with his plastic trowel getting stuck into whatever dirt he could find whilst we endeavoured to keep one step ahead of him, popping the seedlings into the garden and pots for growing. We're hoping seeing them grow will encourage Noah's interest in eating vegetables too. Now if we can just keep that pesky cat Murphy from digging around the new seedlings we'll be doing well...it's certainly not for lack of staking all the freshly dug areas that's for sure.

Unfortunately we have been a bit slack with the camera this week (we didn't even manage a photo of Nana and Noah together which was very remiss of us), and today when we remembered to take some photos the batteries ran out... so all we have to show for our efforts are a couple from our expedition to the park and a few shots of what the garden is looking like.. oh well it is something different for a change!


 

 

Tomorrow Noah starts daycare full-time, and hasn't that come around nice and quickly!

Our brave wee man

Well we are through and out the other side of Noah's operation day...and to be honest as a parent you question why given the choice would you put your child through an operation like this!! Of course you do as it is for the 'greater good' but the trauma isn't easy on child or parents.

Firstly, on Thursday (a day before the op) Meghan recieved a call that Noah's operation time had been bought forward to 8am. This was great news, as it meant we didn't need to worry about starving him during the morning, but instead could take him straight to the hospital.

We got to hospital at 7.30am, but unfortunately the operation had been delayed for a few hours due to a another baby needing more urgent treatment (this included a specialist surgeon flying up from Chirstchurch to perform the procedure). Noah was magic....he didn't complain once about not having his 7am bottle of milk or weetbix, but instead amused himself and kept our minds off the job in hand. The 2 hour delay turned into 3 hours and luckily Noah decided a sleep was in order, so when we got the call from the anaesthetist he was still fast asleep and needed to be woken up. Meghan had the horrible task of being with him until the final moment as he went under, and returned to me a little tearful.



 
The longest 45 minutes of our lives past and we had the call to go and get him....you've never seen two parents move so quickly!!! We met him in the recovery room and all he wanted was George (the monkey) and Mum....both were there to give him the love he needed. A few bubbles later (long story, but one of the theatre staff had some bubbles!!) we hopped on the bed and had an orderly take us back down to our room, where we had to wait for a minimum of two hours and a wee wee from Noah!!

As expected, Noah drank and drank and drank (and slept), but no wee for four hours!! This meant our day at Wellington hospital was a very, very long one, and one we will want to forget in a hurry!!

He was very sore when we got home, and managed a few half hearted smiles (and a flex of the muscles....one of the new things he likes to do) but a quick shower, a bottle and some drugs saw him sleep for a full 12 and a 1/2 hours.....what a boy!! Must have been something his little body needed.

Saturday was a very relaxed day, although we took him shopping and then in the afternoon out to Lower Hutt to the shopping Mall. We managed to keep him busy and stationary, as the position in his stroller seemed to suit his bruising etc. He even started walking in the afternoon....no mean feat if you see the size of his scrotum and how black and blue it actually is, but Noah is Noah and nothing was keeping him down. However, most of his time at home was sitting/lying on his 'Bob the builder' couch/bed, probably the most comfortable position for him. Mum and Dad tended to him with toys and food/drink.


 

 
Another 11 hours of sleep, and Sunday morning was a little different. A lot sorer and a little more agitated unfortunately, but none the less a smile, laugh and flex of the muscles saw Noah help Daddy cheer on England to the final of the world cup!!! (get in there my son....) He didn't want to eat or drink for most of the day, which was really hard work. At times I think it made me and Meghan lose sight of what he has actually been through over the last 48 hours, as we were complaining about how fussy he has become with his food, when really we should realise that his body will take time to heal/recover and when he is hungry, he will let us know. He couldn't stop wanting to walk around the house, helping both Mum and Dad with various cleaning activities, but you could see he was pushing himself a little too far sometimes!!

What a trooper we have, and we are both praying that he continues his recovery over the next week and somewhere along the way finds his appetite as well.....


 

Wild wild weather

The weather this weekend has been odd to say the least. As you will see from all our photos, it was a pretty sunny day Saturday (if a little windy as it has been all week) and we were able to get out and about to do the shopping, enjoy a spot of brunch - bacon, banana and maple syrup pancakes at Eva Dixon cafe in Miramar.



 

Then we parked up near the runway to do a bit of plane spotting for the wee man (which he loved and not quite so frightened of the big 737s taking off this time as the spot we had was further down the runway and they came past already in the air).





In the afternoon, we got Noah out into his paddling pool for a brief play, although he was more interested in spotting planes flying over the house as you can see from the picture!




We then took a long walk down to Thorndon to check out our friends' new warehouse where they will be opening an exotic furniture business in the next couple of months. Then it was home via the duckpond and the playground (a must-see stop on the way home).


 
Last night, the weather took a turn for the worse and during the night it was actually hard to sleep as the wind gusts were so severe that I actually felt the bed was shaking at points (Mark was sleeping downstairs to get up for the 2am England v Australia quarterfinal rugby match). I guess with our room being up in the roof space so to speak, its hardly surprising that when the wind blows up there, it really blows. Having said that, we felt pretty lucky moving in here that we don't really get the north-westerly wind which is prevailing but this week has been an exception, as about the last 3 nights we have endured wind gusts over 100km/h (reminiscent of our wedding day!).

Add to the wind a pretty violent thunderstorm for about an hour this evening with about 30 lightning flashes and thunder claps (a couple almost overhead), and torrential rain, and there you have the weather... wild and weird! We're just hoping that our supposedly mended roof will hold up to the onslaught.

This week we have Noah's operation on Friday to get through which will be our utmost priority, it is bound to be a pretty difficult day for us all so we will be praying for God's protection on us as a family and in particular for Noah to recover quickly from the procedure.



This weekend Noah has started to try and walk and carry around multiple things at once, i.e. always one George, his little plane and a big bouncy ball if he can manage them all. It is quite hilarious that he thinks he can manage them all but he won't put any of them down..oh no. He has also started standing up without having to use anything for support, i.e. just puts his bum in the air and pushes off with his hands which is pretty clever, hard to believe he's only been walking 4 weeks!

This last pic is just to show Noah's absolute favourite toys at the moment, he hasn't lost an ounce of his fascination with planes, helicopters and the wind turbine this week. We have to be a little bit careful of him with the metal one as it is quite sharp but he loves zooming it around the room so much that we're just making sure we monitor his play with it whilst he still has the potential to fall over relatively easily. It has been a bit of a shame that the wind turbine has been either stopped (due to the crazy wind) or not visible (due to low cloud) at various points this week, but when it has been viewable, Noah exclaims in excitement 'ra ra' translation: round and round with finger motions to accompany...it is so sweet how the simple things are a child's greatest joy.

Chasing the wind.......turbine

 
This week Noah introduced us to his new passion... the Wind Turbine. Although it is quite far on the horizon viewable from our house (we estimate about 3km away), Noah can see it through the trees from his bedroom, just above the fence from the garage, and the best spot of all from our bedroom window.

All this week Noah has been pointing at the wind turbine and making the motion of the turbine arms going round and round, and if we even so much as hint we're going upstairs he is desperate to come up to our bedroom so he can see it too. Every morning, the first thing he wants to do as soon as the curtain is up in his room is peek out to see if he can spot it turning away in the distance.

So yesterday we thought we'd give our precious boy a close-up and took a walk right up to the wind turbine. It's about a half hour walk each way along the possum fence dirt track which borders Karori Sanctuary. It's pretty steep in places, but Markie didn't complain a bit about the extra 11kg on his back! Every time we caught a glimpse of the turbine at various points as we got closer, you couldn't mistake the excitement in Noah's voice as he pointed to it.

We started Daylight Savings overnight so we had been a little worried about how Noah would cope with the hour's change in routine but so far so good? We only let him have one sleep both yesterday and today and put him to bed half an hour earlier last night before it started and another half an hour earlier again tonight so fingers crossed he'll get used to going to bed in the light pretty quickly.







This week Noah has also been interested in learning parts of the face and body (eyes, nose and right down to the toes) so the Head Shoulders Knees & Toes song has come in quite handy. He will gently touch our eyelids when we ask where our eyes are, it's very sweet. He has also taken quite an interest in helping to brush Murphy who is losing his winter coat as he does at this time every year and is pretty gentle with him in the process.

We had Noah's pre-assessement for his operation on Tuesday morning, now that the operation is only 2 weeks away it is feeling a little more scary and real. At this stage it is booked in for Friday 12 October in the afternoon, the procedure itself is less than an hour, and even though it won't be till about 1pm we would hopefully expect to be able to be home again later in the afternoon. We also need to pray that his cough and cold will clear up in the next week as he needs to be physically fit in order to have the operation. I have to admit I hadn't thought too much about his recovery afterwards but the doctors have said we will have to limit his physical activity for a few days as he will have a few stitches to recover from. Mum is scheduled to come down for a few days the following week Tuesday till Saturday so she has agreed (although hope you know what you're in for Mum!) to look after Noah for a couple of days. If he bounces back quickly we would hope he might be able to go to daycare on the Friday before Labour Weekend, as he will then start full-time there on the Tuesday which we're really looking forward to.




He has seemed so happy and settled at his new daycare that our minds are really at ease about our decision to go there, because we did agonise over it at the time. The teachers are wonderful and have welcomed both him and us so warmly, and Noah has been right in the thick of things amongst all the other children when we have been to pick him up so it really does give us a great deal of joy and relief to see him so happy in his new environment.




And so into another week...

Family Fun

This week has been a hundred times better than last so we are quite relieved! Noah seemed a lot more relaxed and in better spirits this week, partly we are sure due to feeling so much better with the course of antibiotics taking effect, but also due to getting into the swing of his new routines. It was his first full day at day-care on Wednesday which went superbly by all accounts and he seemed totally contented and happy when we picked him up at 5pm.

He was due to go all day again on Friday, but unfortunately wasn’t able to go for the second Friday in a row as he developed an all over body rash on Friday morning which we suspected might be hand, foot and mouth again, but the doctor was fairly sure it wasn’t and thankfully it hasn’t developed into anything more serious over the weekend.

This week it was my turn to take the day off and it couldn’t have been a more gorgeous day to have to take a sick day, so much so that we spent the morning outside playing with his new toy library toy – a set of plastic canals that can be filled with water, and then the afternoon was spent at Lyall Bay beach watching the planes landing and playing in the sand. It could have easily been a summer’s day, with very little wind and calm seas. I can envisage us spending many more happy days at the beach this summer as a family, and I’m already looking forward to it!


 

 


Then Saturday morning, the three of us journeyed up to New Plymouth to spend the weekend with Mum, Dad and Granma. Long journeys are always a bit of an unknown for our boy who is not known for his ability to sleep during the day, but he proved to be remarkably settled and the journey passed very uneventfully. Again it was a very warm day, and once at Granma’s we all got into cooler clothes and spent the late afternoon sitting outside listening to the birdsong and enjoying the fresh air. Of all the times we have come to visit Granma, I can’t say I have ever before sat out in the back garden and just appreciated nature like that, and I pondered it’s one of the ways God keeps us child-like, to make us take time out of our otherwise busy lives and see things through our children’s eyes, the pure unadulterated joy in seeing the moon in the sky, the blossoms on the trees, and the feel of grass underfoot.


 

 
Noah’s walking has continued to gain in both speed and confidence, at times this weekend he has almost been trotting along at a fair pace, and he seems very steady on his feet and able to turn himself around and bend over to pick things up all the while tootling along.

Sunday we spent a quiet morning in at home, and then we went out for lunch to a most fantastic winery café called Okurukuru on the coast between New Plymouth and Oakura. The setting is just stunning, a cliff-top location with views back to Paratutu and the Sugar Loaf volcanic islands, rolling hills of planted vines and the obligatory New Zealand cattle in nearby paddocks. It is also totally child friendly with a large playground area and children’s menu. The food was gorgeous and incredibly reasonably priced, and a lovely time was had by us all. Noah took it all in his stride helping to eat all of Daddy’s mushrooms (and it was his first time ever trying them) as well as some of Mummy’s risotto, not to mention having a Fluffy all to himself!



One of the many cute things Noah did for the first time this weekend, was to start fluttering his eyes at people. It is a very distinct blink and smile at the same time and he spent the whole weekend practising it on everyone at every opportunity. We also spent time teaching him Nana, Poppa and Gee Gee (our new name for Great Granma – “GG” which we thought would be easier to learn), and he definitely knew them all by the end of the weekend. He was also quite fascinated by ‘Diddy’ aka Panda (Granma’s cat). Diddy is his name for Murphy and he was very excited to have a new friend to follow around all weekend. He is incredibly gentle with the cats, and only wants to briefly touch their fur.

Late Sunday afternoon, the three of us took a walk down the Te Henui walkway, reminiscent of the same walk we did this time last year when Mark’s mum was also with us when we discovered hidden dells and avenues of gorgeous spring colour. I had high hopes of seeing the beautiful spring blossoms again (magnolia, Awanui cherry, apple blossom, camellia and rhododendron) and was not at all disappointed. Noah even took an interest in the blossoms and carried a particularly pretty sprig home with him in the stroller.


 
Today was our long journey home (4.5 hours with no breaks but about 7 hours with a break at both Wanganui and Otaki. During our stop at Wanganui we managed to fit in some grocery shopping to get our cheap petrol discount, and then we drove back up to Virginia Lake to sit by the lake to eat our lunch as we spotted lots of ducks on our way past and knew Noah would enjoy this. As it turned out, the best bit of all was a sweet little bird aviary we were able to go inside at the lake, Noah was in seventh heaven, there was so much to see that he didn’t know where to look or point at next!



  
Unfortunately the rain set in as we were finishing our lunch so we didn’t actually get to go down to the lakeside to see the ducks, so it was back on the road for us. Noah obviously hadn’t let off quite enough steam, so was awake all the way to Otaki where we stopped for another hour to let him walk and walk and walk and walk to try and tire him out enough for another sleep (well we managed about 15 minutes before a coughing fit woke him up!). And so home finally at 4.30! What a wonderful few days spent together as a family, it really has been a special time and so nice to have a few days without worry about nannies, daycare and routines where we could enjoy the company of our beautiful little boy whose personality is blossoming more each day.