Happy Halloween

We don't really celebrate halloween in New Zealand but we had these diaper covers so I thought what better time to try them on than Halloween!!!

Bam bam bam bam!!!

He thought they were hillarious, even enjoyed playing with them when he took them off. I might just put them in his toy box - is that weird?

He is back to sleeping 12 hours at night again - what a relief.

This week Lucas learned the hard 'g' sound and has been saying it all the time. I think he is trying to say good but sometimes is sounds more like car or gu! whatever gu is.

Haven't made much headway on the crawling front - he really wants to go places but his upper body is just to weak to hold up that giant head - has such a big brain he just can't get it off the ground, must be related to his uncle Kyle. (I mean on the big brain front, not that Kyle walks around dragging his head on the ground - that would be really silly)

Can you believe it is so close to Christmas - where has this year gone?

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?"