If you read this ...

You are among the first to find out that we have a name for Baby Cthulhu and it is ......
......
......
......
.....
..... Baby Cassidy Jacob Reeve

But shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ;-)

It's a boy!

We found out on Monday that this baby is a boy! and he looks to be perfect.

I love my boys but there are a few things that I feel like I will miss out on.
No pink frills, no girlie toys, no girls birthday parties, no little skirts with tights underneath, no sharing my favorite (ultra girlie) books, no mother of the bride .... And so on.

So I adore boys and at least I know what to do with them :D but a part of me mourns what could have been.

I was hanging the washing up yesterday and realized I am destined to have a line full of brown, gray, red and blue!

Meanwhile we think we have found a name that we love for this little guy.

My big boy

Is turning 6 in April. Harrison's birthday is not only in the middle of the school holidays but it is also on Good Friday this year so instead the party will be on April 9th.
He has requested a "bug" party, so even though I abhor all things creepy and crawly I will do my duty as a good mummy and put on a party fit for a Queen Bee (or in this case a King Bee!)

For Harrison's first birthday we went to the zoo and I made a monkey cake.
Second we had it at home and had a fish cake (not a fish cake but a fish themed cake! Haha)
Third was at home and it was a pirate party complete with pirate themed cake of a ship in water and a treasure island.
Fourth was at the in-laws and was a magic part with a magician, castle decorations and a Wizard's castle cake.
Fifth we took him to Wellington so we just had a family dinner at Denny's and a "cowboy snowman" cake.

So back to a big party this year, I have a million ideas buzzing (hehehe) around in my head and google has definitely been my friend again!

I sit and knit

A scarf to fit Harrison!

Last night I managed to sort through about 8 boxes and got them into one box of craft stuff, 1/2 a box of miscellany stuff to keep, one box of electrical type stuff and then paper recycling, rubbish and stuff to sell.
Meanwhile I found my knitting and my 1/3 finished scarf for Harrison that I started last Autumn and never got finished. So I have started knitting again. I am a very VERY learner knitter but I love the idea so I want to get better!

Books!

My family LOVES books! My mum, dad, older sister and I are avid readers and have been for as long as I can remember. My mum taught me to read before I started school and there is a photo of me, at the age of 7, reading a novel. I quickly read my way out of picture books and into paperbacks, rather ahead of most others. I remember being at school and being given a book to read and reading it that night, then I would have to wait through the excruciating weeks it would take for my classmates to get through it.
I am a bit of a book slut, I will read ANYTHING!

Harrison loves to read, he has taken to it like a duck to water (or me to a shoe sale). He has been at school for roughly 30 weeks all up and it is amazing what his little brain has absorbed in that time, he reads books, signs, adverts, papers ... And just astounds us each time with his skills.

My mother recently bought 1600+ second hand books on TM, so far we have rescued a banana box full for our little family, mostly kids stuff, but also some well worn picture books that I will craft with. The idea is that we will all take what we want then sell/donate the rest.

Of course my favorite books are cook books. I love them so much. I love retro cook books the most (again we will get a camera soon so I can add photos of my favorites). I love to scour op shops for old cookbooks, actually I would love to do that today but we ar still carless!

And, one last non-book related item, my mum is flying down to Christchuch to help with emergency benefits, etc for work. She may be gone for 2 weeks and I just want her to come home safely <3

What have I been doing?

On Wednesday, 2 weeks ago, I came out of the supermarket to find that a Paper Reclaim truck had backed into the front of my car. After a lot of back and forth finally something is being done but it means we are carless until at least the end of this week.
We need a new car as 3 carseats will not fit in our car so yesterday Dylan and I left the kids with Grandma, borrowed her car and went shopping! And we found one. It is a 2002 Nissan Liberty. It is 8 seater but not gigantic, it looks more like a station wagon than a van, and it's a lovely light bluey-green colour.
Now we just have to wait for the checks to be done and then it will be all ours! :)

Yesterday I also started sorting out my fabric stash. I bought a massive bag at the school fair last year so I emptied that out and folded and piled all the bits up on a set of shelves we have that work perfectly fo fabric storage.

It's been a while

In between being sick, dealing with school holidays (and the fighting that goes with them) and life in general my blog writing has deteriorated so I pledge to try my best to keep updating!
I am now about 17 weeks pregnant, baby #3 (or baby Cthulhu as he/she is affectionately known around here) is due August 3rd (ish).
Meanwhile I am convinced it is another boy, which I expected to feel a little disappointment about but actually I think I would be perfectly happy with 3 boys. I have been buying baby clothes, some gender neutral but many more with a boy vibe, I am that convinced. Only 2 - 3 weeks before we should, hopefully, find out for sure.

My main goal (on my good days) is to start sorting out all our excess stuff and selling/donating/dumping it. We have too much stuff and it is cluttering our home and my brain!
So I will try and come up with a new project each day/week to accomplish.

This weeks goal is to get our books all unpacked and on the shelf, and also to sell or donate to Hospice the ones we don't need or want anymore (I even went through my cookbooks, some went to my mum, one to a GF friend and the rest to go on Trade Me).

Today

Is the last day of November. So that means it is time to start advent calendars tomorrow.

Which would be fine if I had remembered to buy any!

So later today I will buy some, then tonight I will wrap them and in the morning I will put them outside the door and the will ge a surprise from Santa to start the Xmas season.

Meanwhile I am already feeling a bit crap in the mornings, but I can deal with it. I have an appt with a midwife consultant on Thursday and she will help me decide on the best course of care for my pregnancy. Sadly I can't find my old midwife, I was really hoping to have her again but she has left North Shore Hospital and google searches have come up a bit empty :(

Bun in the oven

I am cooking a new playmate for the boys.

To Do List

At the moment I feel I have a to do list a mile long and no time to do it in, Christmas is fast approaching and we seem to have at least one thing on each weekend for the next 2 months!

So i need to make the time I guess!

So in no particular order ....

Sort out the kids toys, sell excess!
Sort out the kids clothes.
Sort out my clothes.
Tidy (and finally) unpack the books and get them all put away.
Fix and clean up the castle (Xmas present)
Wrap other presents
Finish Xmas shopping!
Find boy's stockings or buy new ones (H needs a new one anyway as his other one has a teddy on it and he is a big boy now!)
Tidy kitchen cupboards

...

...

there is more but that should keep me busy for a while I think!
I depserately want the office/spare room/pile of crap room sorted out but it seems like an overwhelming job at the moment!

My baby

is about to turn 2.

He is soo cute and yet, so evil at the same time.
He is known as Mr J, The J, demon baby and monkey man.
He decided that the kitchen needed redecorating and painted the cupboard doors using a bottle brush and a tub of margarine.
He has started saying "thank you much".
He has very definate likes and dislikes.
He adores Blue's Clues and would watch it nonstop if possible.
He likes to play with cars.
He likes to roll and throw balls.
He plays with the little people and makes them talk to each other.
He sings to himself in bed, in the car and just randomly during the day.
He has recently given up his dummy and it wasn't even a fight.
He is funny and smart and a joy to live with (most of the time!)

I love my baby boy xxx

Wow I'm so bad at this

I keep forgetting to blog, and since we hot an iPad I have been particularly slack.

So we are extra busy in November with mr j's bday party on the 6th, with a very cool Mickey Mouse theme, then the next weekend I have my friend Claire's hen party, followed by her wedding the next weekend. So it is off to Napier for a weekend away for that.

And also Taste of Auckland on that Thursday night, which we are really looking forward to. Not only did dylan get some tickets through his work but I also managed to win some!

Day 2

This morning I took the boys to the mall - exciting, I know!
They had a play in the playground and we happened to be there at the same time as one of H's old kindy friends so they had some fun! Then we got some Dunkin' Donut Munchkins for the boys to share and had a little look around a couple of shops.

Then to get some petrol (running on the E!!!) and to the supermarket for some supplies!

Now the J is having a nap and later this afternoon H is going off to Grandma's for a play date.

Day 1

Obviously the day is not over yet but so far we have done a few things!

This morning we hopped in the car and headed over to Milford for a play - the boys had a run around on the beach and picked up and discarded a few shells/rocks/bits of gross seaweed. Joshua decided that lying down on the damp sand was fun.
We went over to the playground (through the long, wet grass) but it was a bit wet and slippery so we headed back to the car.
We went to the shopping centre and went to visit Aunty Jessamine at work where she helped Harrison pick a new book and we got one for Joshua too as he was quite vocal on that!
Then the boys and I headed back to the mall for some ice creams and then it was back home and nap time for Joshua.
Now I should really be doing some housework while J sleeps!

Activities

So basically we have 10 days of holiday when it is just me and the boys at home - so I need at least 10 activities
So far we have:
Butterfly Creek
Maybe some friends to visit
Making sushi
Collages
Bike riding (need to find H's helmet for that!)
Painting
Play Dough
Making and decorating cookies
Collecting shells at the beach

I want to make sure I spend as much time with the boys so I need to tidy the house up well this weekend and try to do a quick clean up every night

Now lets all cross our fingers for some nice weather!!!!

Holidays

So the school holidays are upon us once again and this time I vow to be more organised and do more activities with the kidlets.
I shall be attempting an activity a day with the boys.

I don't quite have all the ideas together yet but will try to update every night with photos and the "activity of the day"

stay tuned!

Dead Fish

(long time, no sea)

It has been many a day since I have been here - sorry!!!!!!

Life is moving along at it's usual pace - pretty soon Mr J will have his second birthday - which is to have a Mickey Mouse theme, should be fun. I have just come back from a 3 night trip to Wellington which was a lot of fun and should be repeated in the future. We are planning a trip to Melbourne with H next year so money should be being saved which reminds me I need to make a new budget.
This is Dylan's last week at TVNZ and now I have to go because it is hard to type whilst being sat on by a cat and a toddler!

Photos of Rashy

these were taken about 30 minutes ago - this morning his rash was basically gone and then this afternoon Dylan went out for about 3/4 hour. When he left H had a few spots - when he came back this is what he looked like.
you can almost see it spreading while you watch.

People

I am adding another resolution - it is to spend more time with people I like and no time with the people I don't actually like!
There isn't a lot of them (the dislikees) but I find it really draining on my time and energy.

Also I need to find more activities for me and the J to do - he has boundless energy (and enthusiasm) so I would like to get into some local groups to tire him out!

In other news Harrison has a delightful viral rash - which we thought was an allergic reaction but after 2 trips to the hospital yesterday we have the diagnosis. He is fine except for a cold and a giant rash all over him!

Mid-year Resolutions

New house, new resolutions!

1: Budget and then spend wisely, saving as much $$ as possible (while still enjoying life!)
2: Declutter the massive amount of stuff we have which has taken over our home.
3: Eat healthier (which also includes my being gluten free)

In the near future we are hoping to be able to buy our own place but first I would like to have little or no debt. So if we can pay stuff off and then get some savings I will be a very happy camper.

We desperately need to declutter and if that means taking massive amounts of stuff to Hospice then so be it. I would prefer to try and get some $ for some of the stuff but if not then I'd rather it made $ for a worthwhile cause and stopped taking up precious space in our home!

I am feeling a bit better about my food but still find it hard to not binge eat when I am stressed! I even know exactly when I am doing it so it seems silly that I can't do something else instead. Perhaps when I feel the urge then it should be time to get out the pushchair and take the J for a walk.

So lets see how these all go then!!!