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