So Tired

I have been wanting to write the BLOG for the last few days but I have been so tired that I have not gotten around to it. I am also finding that teaching on Saturdays has made me a lot busier than I expected. The teaching is not difficult and everything is already planned for me but I still need to prepare and mark so that takes some of my BLOGging time. Really just excuses for slacking off.

My 2 sick boys wore me out!!!

Finally everyone is healthy again - I think. Not looking forward to that happening again. Now I am trying to get Lucas back to sleeping through the night since he has gotten used to getting up for some food. It is a vicious circle with us and sleep.

I am excited for gymbaROO today with Lucas, I feel like we have been in isolation for the last week.

Lucas is back on track with his eating and is finishing most of his meals now (finally) I was getting worried. He still does not like banana though - even without it being mashed up he turns up his nose.He is working on eating on his own with some things - he seems to have mastered toast but is still struggling with other foods. I thought he had done really well with pieces of broccoli the other day but when I took him out of his chair I found he had just been picking it up and putting it underneath himself - saving it for later I guess.

Sprague and Sandra are doing well with their little one, James. Although I have to say I am extremely jealous. The little guy is feeding about every 4 hours during the day and is sleeping 8 hours at night. I took Lucas over there yesterday to see if James could teach him a thing or two about sleeping. No suck luck Lucas got up at 4 o'clock this morning. Thank goodness Peter was nice enough to get up with him this time.

Ridiculously Long Sickness

Peter and Lucas are STILL sick!!! Peter even took 3 days off work he was that sick. Lucas and I have been stuck inside for the better part of the week trying to get him over the cold but that hasn't seemed to help so today we went out and got some sunshine. I was a bout to go crazy with boredum being inside isolated from the outside world and all the friends that I ahve with kids so that we didnt pass our sickness on to everyone else. Hopefully this week coming brings some healthy boys.

I tell you it is hard work when a baby is sick, so much clinginess!!

Call In Reinforcements

So I have survived my first day of work. I call it a day, really it was only 3 hours but you have to start somewhere. It was good. Not too difficult and the kids were pretty good. The hardest part was leaving Lucas, which for some reason was really tough. I have left him with Peter before for more than 3 hours but for some reason going to work was a lot harder. All went well though so next week should be much easier.

Peter had an action packed morning with Lucas though. He called in Elissa and Downie to spend the time with him. They took Sarah and Lucas to see the horses around the corner from us and then went swimming. Raced home and Aunt Elissa fed Lucas his lunch, no problems this time. Lucas had a nap and than I came home. When I got home Lucas woke up and we had lots of hugs and cuddles, some kisses probably too.

That afternoon we went to the hospital to visit the new baby. James David Barclay. Proud parents Sandra and Ryan seriously lacking sleep but otherwise doing good. Sandra went through a lot during the birth. Ended in a C-Section but James is healthy and happy and Sandra is recovering in Auckland Hospital. It was so nice to see the little guy he is so cute and hard to believe that only 7 months ago Lucas was that fragile and helpless. We are looking forward to getting to know James. Lucas is going to have to show him the ropes in the big wide world.

Unfortuantely Lucas has got his first cold. Runny nose and sleepy and grumpy. Poor little guy just wants to sleep but seems to be having problems breathing since his nose is all stuffed up and he ends up waking up before he has slept enough but doesnt go back to sleep so just gets himself more and more tied. He did get to have a lot of 'pants off' time today. He loves being naked. He seems to have all kinds of confidence and tries new things. Today he was rolling over and pulling his legs up underneath himself as if he wanted to crawl, problem is he doesnt have enough strength to hold up his upper body so his face is jammed into the carpet. He will get it one of these days and then look out Mom and Dad he will be into everything.

On Thursday afternoons Lucas and I have started GymbaROO. Lots of fun and so much exercise for the little man that he fell asleep on me after his bottle, he hasn't done that in a long time. Poor little guy all worn out!

Back in the Work Force

After looking at the budget and gizzling a lot we decided I needed to some kind of paid employment. I then started to look into child care and discovered that I would not make enough money to go back to work - after child care I would take home about $10 a day - not really worth my time. So I started to look for jobs in the evenings and weekends. Never thought I would get anything of value but believe it or not there are schools open on Saturdays. So I will be teaching for 3 hours every Saturday morning until December. I am really looking forward to it. Will be nice to do something with my brain for a while and I think Peter will be happy to have some 'alone time' with Lucas without me hovering over him all the time. This Saturday will be the test to see if I am cut out for it or not. It is a higher level than I was teaching before but should be a good challenge. If nothing else I am sure Peter is looking forward to more 'teacher talk', I know he misses it.

Lucas' has a second tooth it pushed its way through the gums this morning. He is still grumpy and drooly so I dont think it is quite finished coming in. Other than that he is doing well.

We started a new routine (I use that term very loosely). We are trying to stretch him out to 4 hours between bottles as he was not finishing it all at 3 hours so hopefully this will work. It means he has a bottle and then an hour later he has his solids and then he has a nap which hopefully lasts for at least an hour and then the process starts again. Today is day 3 so we are still adjusting but he seems to be able to get more play time this way which is better for all of us.

He has been drinking quite a bit of water - I think he thinks it is a treat but I am going to have to slow him down as he seems to pee through all of his layers lately. Yesterday I think we had outfits on, a little ridiculous I think.

Lucas is getting to know his family through pictures - we had to laminate them because he would not stop giving everyone kisses!

I finally ran out of excuses

Lucas is no longer breast feeding. He is normally sleeping through the night. I am no longer pregnant. I have to get back into some sort of shape – and I don’t mean round.

Today was the day. I decided I would take a look at my bike and see how it had been for the last 19 months (maybe longer) and see if it needed any fine tuning to get it onto the road. I pumped up the tires and adjusted the seat and put a bit of grease on the chain. Not making any promises that it was going to see the light of day just thought I would pay it a visit. While silly me did all the prep work while Peter was at home so it meant I ‘had’ to go for a ride soon or I would not stop feeling guilty about it.

Lucas went to sleep and I dug my sports clothes out of the cupboard, luckily (I think) they weren’t mouldy because that would have been enough right there to stop me from taking the plunge. They still fit – curse!!! So I put them on and fill up an extra large water bottle knowing that I would probably guzzle the whole thing in my short little ride on my bike.

The ride begins and where I thought I was going to ride quickly became too difficult. Our street was like a mountain that my lungs would not let me climb so I changed the route and found a somewhat smaller hill and a little more flat area – although if you know Auckland at all there is not much flat anything. So I got a good route chosen and then decided to do it again because I was not gone long enough to go home yet.

Well it was definitely a hard ride and I feel good for having started a bit of exercise but after all of that I have to admit I was exhausted and my legs were sore as soon as I got off the bike – can’t imagine what I will feel like tomorrow. All that for a 15 minute bike ride. No where near ready for a spin class with Luke.

Some more time spent in the sand on the beach. He did much better this time he didn't eat the sand until he had been playing for at least 5 minutes.

Fun times at the park on the swings and slide.

Lucas cover up for the camera.

A Sad Day

It is official, Lucas does not want to breast feed anymore. I wasn't expecting that to happen so soon so it is a little bit sad for me but it is also very freeing. Now Peter can feed him and I can have some time off. Today I slept in until 9. What an amazing feeling. I love getting up and being with Lucas but I have to say that sleep this morning was so good I felt like a new person. Thanks Peter!!!

Lucas and I went on a hike yesterday in the Waitaks with Emily and Sarah. Lots of fun. Lucas cried almost the entire drive there and then he cried most of the way in on the hike. As you can see by the picture he really isnt a happy guy. We stopped for lunch and he was fine and then he was good for almost the whole way out of the hike and he slept all the way home so I guess I can't complain for half of the day being a great success. We had originally planned to climb Rangitoto but the weather was not looking promising so decided on a shorter hike with a longer drive. Have to say we were glad for the weather forecast as I don't think we would have been able to do Rangitoto - too much with an extra weight on your back.

Friday morning Peter and Lucas did their hair together - Lucas sporting the 'show hawk' Kiwi As!

Then they brushed their teeth together - lots of bonding time with Dad. Notice Peter thinks it is very cold with his coat on in the house.

Lucas practising brushing his teeth with his new toothbrush from Aunt Elissa. You have to take good care of those teeth they caused a lot of pain coming in!

Another great thing to do just before bed - read the magazines!! "There are some interesting things in here Mom have you read this?"

Let the good times roll!

Rolling around so much he knocks himself into the side of his crib. Seems to roll with the punches though and starts to roll the other way.

Kind of a bum view! Trying to get his legs up underneath himself but really just cant figure it out yet. Instead he usually decides to roll over since he isnt sure what he should do after he has his knees up.

Having a great time playing with his dump truck. He can now push it to make the music go and likes to take the blocks out of the back and shake them around.

Having some good times with Ollie the Octopus - he has lots of legs to chew on.

Peter is starting him early on the beer. Feels good on his gums as well.

Super fan!!!

Taking a break from trying to learn to crawl. These fingers are just too tempting he can't keep them out of his mouth for very long.

And when he doesnt have his fingers in his mouth he has whatever else in reach. I don't think you can fit the whole thing in your mouth Lucas.

No this picture isnt upside down, Lucas is. This is the way we find him in his bed after most naps and sleeps. He loves to turn himself around in his crib. Doesnt matter which way you start him sleeping he always spins himself around. Most of the time when he is spinning he is singing away. He is always so proud of himself when you go in to pick him up - huge smile.

Lucas and Pee Wee his favourite Monkey

Falling Behind

We are still here and still doing good. Lucas is busy trying to chew his way through all of his toys. one of these days another tooth will pop through I am sure.

Today lots of screaming and chewing of course. I finally got him to sleep at 10, which is when we were supposed to go out. He had been up since 6 this morning. He had a dose of Bonjela (teething gel) and a dose of pamol (I think like childrens tylenol) and second feed. Finally calmed himself down enough to go to sleep. Poor little guy we even had real tears. He should be drugged up enough to sleep at least an hour, fingers crossed.

Not much development on the crawling front, still likes to sit in one place. He can roll over back and forth but doesnt always do it, he is also able to pull his legs up underneath his belly when on his tummy but most of the time I think that happens by accident so not sure he knows how to do that yet.

My parents have big news - they have bought a house ready to build on their property up north!! Looks awesome - will attach a link when the computer/internet is cooperating.

Sorry for some reason I have not been able to load up pictures today so I will have to catch up later.

Every day is a surprise

We have bought an 'umbrella stroller' (basically a buggy that folds up like an umbrella) for our trip back to Canada and I am trying to get Lucas used to the new buggy and hoping he will be able to sleep in it during our lay overs and other possible delays in airports as we travel back home. So today was the second time he had been out in it and no such luck with the sleeping. It lays down almost flat, it is the same colour as the mountain buggy, I have a shade over it so it is dark just like the other one and I go walkies just like the other one but no sleep - come on here give me a break kid what more can I do?

So since he didn't sleep in his buggy while we were out he fell asleep in the car on the way home. Great timing as I was just pulling into the driveway. Of course the car stops and he wakes up they he thinks his 5 minute shut eye was an actual nap so do you think he will go back to sleep, no way he is up and ready to play even though he actually has bags under his eyes and the fact that he needs to rub his eyes every couple of seconds keeps getting in the way of his playing he doesnt care he still thinks he doesnt need to sleep so no matter how much I try we had no sleep today he woke up early from his first nap at 8:45 and finally went back to sleep at 3:30 after his bath. hopefully that doesnt make him unable to sleep tonight be 'as they say' "sleep begets sleep!!!" I really hate that saying, I wish it werent true.

While I am on a rant I might as well continue last night didnt go to sleep until 9:30, we started at 6:30. Little greedy guts needed another bottle to finally calm himself down enough to close his cute little eyes.

On a more positive note, every once in a while Elissa comes over and makes us dinner - nice treat and last night she was here and made the most amazing hamburgers with all the fixins so much so it was hard to get your mouth around them, um um good. To use some Kiwi talk - 'they were beautiful'

Back on to Lucas but in a good way he is now trying to hold 2 different toys at once. He can actually get them into his hands but can't quite figure out how to continue to hold both so he will drop the first one and concentrate on the second. Once he realizes he has dropped that on he picks it back up and the cycle starts again. Funny to watch, you would think he would get frustrated but he doesnt seem to.

He is itchin to get moving although he does not know how and instead just does some leg pumps and shakes a lot but goes not where. That being said he thinks his crib is a jungle gym and barely ever stays where we put him. He spins himself around and pushes lots with his legs until he is either all the way at the top or the bottom. So far it hasnt seemed to change his sleeping habits (see above they were never good anyway)

Soon enough Sprague is going to have a little one of these guys, not going to be long now.

"Mommy what is this doing in my bowl full of blocks?"