little bites of happy

Little boy hand picked flowers just for me. Although I can't actually have them, they have live in his schoolbag (?)

Little girl offerings to the printer gods

She finally "got" toddler ballet and utterly loves it. Yes this is actually one of her ballet moves... it's called the "crouch down and spring up"...

Ice creams on the beach together on a rare sunny Auckland November Saturday (note drip on the chin- he just lurves "dalilla" ice cream!!)

Putting dolly and lion to sleep and then sleeping on top of them- Plunket would have a heart attack!

Happy weekend friends!!!

sold!

We sold our little house! We listed a week ago, had the first open home on Sunday afternoon and by 8pm that night it was signed, sealed and SOLD! I cried a little as this house is our first and holds so many memories.

The agent said the buyer fell in love with the house and made his offer as soon as he walked in. He's a single dad with a 13 year old son and so it's going to be a family home. Love that and love that he loves the house!

Can't believe it sold so fast and can't believe how insane the Auckland house market is. We plan to rent for a couple of years, sit on our nest egg (cluck cluck) and see what happens.

Happy days!

Exploding Blossom

pre-explosion...

My little nephew (he is known as the CUTEST small man, apart from mine) had a party. It was fabulous but for the incident.

I am still covering from the horror of it and those of you with a weak stomach may want to stop reading.

We are keeping Blossom away from dairy and we have started eating a diet that is free from most chemicals and preservatives. So when we arrived at a typical children's party with all the assorted children's party food on display, you would think alarm bells would go off in my head. Sadly no, and so Blossom tucked into orange chippies, chocolate cars and blue jelly beans among other tasty morsels.

A while later she came up to me and said said urgently "Mama, wee wee." I grabbed her and trotted inside to the toilet confident that her little pants could contain what could only be a wee. ON THE WAY she could not contain herself and exploded all over herself and me. I got to the toilet and put her down suddenly realizing that we were both covered in poo. I cried out for an adult. No-one came. I panicked quietly.

I popped her onto the toilet (still covered in poo), ran to the door and screamed for Dida in a poorly disguised panicky tone. The rest is history. We emerged about 15 minutes later leaving behind a scrubbed and sanitized bathroom and carrying a traumatised but freshly showered small person. I was now completely redressed in my sisters clothes with a bag of poo covered clothing and shoes under my arm. It was fantastic.

Lessons learned. 1. Blossom is not over her dairy intolerance. 2. She reacts to violently coloured party food. 3. Bring a change of clothes for yourself as well as the kids.

P.S. On a positive note the party was great and my nephew is super cute.
P.P.S. Not everybody noticed the incident. Mr Samoa asked Penny why I was wearing her top... Bless.

My Slap-Dash Musings

Inspired (and endlessly amused) by Gails Slap Dash Musings here is a list of my own:

♥ Mama is the bomb

No-one finds things like me, I mean, no-one. Buzz was looked for, yearned for and mourned. But I found him. There he is, HEY Buzz there under the pink sunhat! Could the hiding be from the fact his arms & hands have been chewed off my his owner???

♥ My Mac

(the ♥ is a bit of a stretch, should be on "maybe like") Moving from a windows PC to a Mac has been a NIGHTMARE. Mainly due to still having to use my super expensive windows based programs. There have been times where I have truly hated the Mac. Seriously. And we are not quite out of the woods yet.

♥ Her hair

I love it love it love it. I do plaits/ pony tails/ pig tails/ hair bands and clips. One at a time or a combination or multiples. Luckily Blossom loves having her hair brushed (phew!)

♥ Freakish-ly organized

As I now have a whole (albeit small) room to myself for an office, I have organized myself into a coma. Here are my new insides of my new white drawers. Be still my beating heart.

♥ Sweetpea and her Mum

No photos just a story. They came up to the Big Smoke yesterday and so we did the gelato run and came back to our place. Loved it. Just natural and very normal. We always thought that they had no idea how old we were. The adoption profile didn't say and we were terrified they would turn us down if they knew. In conversation I admitted my age yesterday. "Oh yes, we knew how old you are" came the reply. WHAT? Apparently they always knew and there we are tiptoeing around the topic for 3 1/2 years. Gotta love us,  we are utter dorks...!

simplify

It's been quiet here on the little blog. I have not been sure how to say what's on my heart. It's been too big, too massive and we are still learning (I am not pregnant BTW)

The last 4 months or so have been a God-journey. I firmly believe He's led us along a path. And here we are, students and beginners but at least I feel we have our feet firmly on the road. We are learning to simplify. The word seems too small to capture all that it means. We are awake. Awake to our surroundings, the world and what lies beyond.

Simplify.

My word for 2012 but I think it's the word that will define me and my life for many years to come. It's so exciting, this new journey. We are listening and considering and praying and researching. My whole mind set has changed. This city dweller, apartheid child who only knew about happiness bound in consumerism and restrictions is learning. God is reforming my mind.

Our eyes are open and our ears hear. God is at work in our lives and I want to be on board. This is our chance to simplify and I don't want to miss it.

I feel like I have said it all and said nothing at the same time. Sorry. Maybe I am simplifying my words too, ha! I hope that it will unfold over time and make more sense...

ashamed

***UPDATED***
The social services went to the little girls house straight after the call. They had the little girl examined and there was no evidence of rape. Thank God!! There are still huge issues with the family but at least that did not happen. I am super impressed with CYFs' response and they are now trying to work out what happened and what to do from here.
****

Most times its so good to be a New Zealander. But sometimes, very rarely, it's not. Today I am ashamed.

We have one of the poorest records for looking after our children in the developed world. We neglect, beat and kill our children. Sorry to be harsh, but those are the facts.

Needless to say I have zero tolerance for any of the above. So today, I found the number of Child Youth and Family, the government agency for looking after the welfare of our children, sat my nanny down and gave her the phone.

She knows a family through her nannying that she still has contact with. The mum of this family sometimes uses my nanny for babysitting. And Friday night was of these times.

After bathing the 3 year old (this makes me feel sick), she noticed the little girl was bleeding. Yes, from the place that no little girl should bleed from. She told the mum who promised she would take the little girl to the doctor. And, you guessed it, no such trip was made. So today the usual nanny told my nanny that the little girl had not been taken to the doctor. So I handed the phone to my nanny who made the call (she made the call gladly, btw)

Why do we do this? It makes me so mad. This family has a history of neglecting their kids. Lack of food, toys and a safe environment. I have provided food on occasion anonymously but at some point there needs to be intervention.

I am so ashamed that in this nation right now, children are suffering. A little boy was killed by someone who lives in his house in the last week. In my city. And this happens time after time after time.

I need to go and pray. Only God can make a difference. But may I say, that today I am ashamed of our child abuse record.

Fail

I failed in seeing and acting on a beautiful collision God set up for me last night. And I am utterly gutted. Not condemned, just gutted.

I did the groceries last night round 7pm. As I was walking around the supermarket I kept noticing this duo. A teenager boy and a younger boy. They were obviously not well off and really loud. You know how kids can sometimes be. Obnoxiously loud, banging into things with their empty trolleys and generally being a pain. I tried to avoid them but kept bumping into them.

I noticed the older boy holding frozen chicken and banging it against the cabinet. They had almost nothing in their trolley. I slid my trolley away from the noise quickly and went the other way.

Oh my heart just breaks writing these words and I can't help crying. They had NO money and I think the older boy was trying to buy food for them. Why didn't I open my judgemental heart and truly SEE?

They "landed" (hello God) up behind me in the checkout queue. I tried not to make eye contact. As my groceries were tallied up the younger boy came right into my space so he would see my total on the screen. He kept saying things like "Wow, that's a lot!", then "Look it's getting higher!" etc. All in a really loud voice and I was so embarrassed.

I wanted to pay for their groceries but what did I do? Stay embarrassed and kept quiet. I KNEW I should have done it but didn't. Funnily enough I had cash in my purse and I never do as we are a cashless culture. I thought about offering them the cash but what did I do? A big fat nothing.

I left and felt physically ill on the way home. This is my life's call. To provide for the fatherless, the husband-less and the poor. And I knew that this was a beautiful collision set up for me to provide for two of God's beloved boys. And I failed. I am beyond gutted.

I am sharing this not to get comforting comments back. But to be accountable. If I can't SEE with the little I have now, I won't be trusted to see with much.

I know that God is the God of the second chances but this was my moment. To see beyond my embarrassment and open my heart. And I didn't.



;

The Day of Doom

I am facing a huge birthday in 4 days time. And I am not prepared. Part of it is that I am used to hiding my age. Funny but true. We waited so long for kiddies that when we met Sweetpea and J we didn't mention our ages because we were scared they wouldn't pick us. The reality is that we were closer to their parents age than theirs, ha! New Zealand's "political correctness" meant that our age was never listed on any documentation. We just acted really young and hip. Or tried to! And sort of carried it on from there.....

So anyway.

In my attempt to come to terms with the Day of Doom I have decided a few things. I realise that all of these things are connected to the way I look but I only left myself 3 months to make the changes. And trying to learn a new language, study a masters and memorise the bible takes slightly longer.

The first one was to lose my pregnancy and beyond weight. Done. The diet of torture does work.

The second one was to style my hair every time I wash it. Most of you do this automatically but having very straight hair meant I could get away with air drying. I did have to wear a pony tail a LOT but was too lazy to change. The Day of Doom has changed that. So, done.

I am getting real with skin care. I now boast an array of creams with names like "age defy", "renew" & "repair". Fabulous, not. So again, done.

I feel a bit guilty freaking out when some of my bloggy friends are facing massive life stuff, but I am being real. I don't wanna enter that decade!

(sniffle)

One for the Mamas

[Dislaimer: I am not being judgmental in this post. If it comes across that way, it's not intended. And I am not saying how fabulously hot I am either. ]

Last night I was invited to the International Rugby Board awards dinner. Wasn't that keen to be honest but it was a NIGHT OUT. Without kids and in a dress. Woop!


Anyone who knows me knows that I am a bit modest in dress style. Don't like anything too clingy, short or low. It's just the way I roll. So I arrive in a black flowy dress- complete with top part pinned making the cleavage less obvious, ha! The rest of the table arrives. Yikes. The women, bar one, are young and very on show. Like "poured into the dress, barely holding onto one's bits" on show. I felt frumpy and old. Luckily I was near to the other lady who had a full dress on too and seemed to be similar in age to me.

So we are near the bar and alcohol seems to be a magnet for rugby players. The french team soon make it their base. Well, they had to drown their sorrows after LOSING to the All Black champions didn't they? The young half-dress women at the table are blowing kisses and winking at the french players. Gag. The full dress woman and I start talking, we both have small children, are married. I like her.

Soon the french players start wandering over to see the half-dress women. I kid you not, one of them flashes her cleavage at them. Double gag.

They sit down. Where? NEXT TO US, full dress woman and I! This one sat next to me...(click if you want his name, I don't want a million dodgy hits on this post)


Turns out he's a nice boy. Missing home and devastated after the loss to the All Blacks. While the "flashing cleavage" girl feeds her dessert to this guy seated next to Max, he chats to us. We say that we are mothers and this is a night out for us. He stayed for ages and when he got up to leave, he says to me "Bye hot mummy!" to me....

Yeah man, you can still be hot fully clothed and over 30. Nice to know.

Black Out!

The 24 year drought is over and the cup is back where it belongs...in OUR trophy cabinet! We won the rugby world cup! Woop!

As a nation we needed this. After the pike river coal tragedy, two earthquakes and now an oil spill, a positive like this was just what the doctor ordered. Yes, this is just a sport but it's our national game and we love our rugby. This little island is tired today but absolutely buzzing!

The man of the house was super excited yesterday getting ready for THE MATCH

There was a fan trail for the match watchers (the cousins and us)

The house was decorated man-style, outside...

and in!

Every person, big and small was in full support

And we needed lots of energy releasing for the small people

And at the end of the night, this was the face that said it all!

beautiful chaos

My life is chaos. But it's a beautiful chaos. And I am learning to let go. Chaos is just fine right now.

The days are a balancing act. They are teaching me that living big means living fluid. And I don't do fluid all that well yet.

I am learning to preserve the pockets of time that matter. The afternoons with my babies matter. No phone calls, no emails and no computer. Just us. And the breakfast run matters. Chats with my honeys over oatmeal are more important at that moment than anything else.

I am learning slowly to let go. Of trying to fit it all in. Some things slip out of my small life container, no matter how hard I try to fit them in. Life has to become simpler and clearer. And that takes a bit of learning and many mistakes.

This was a pocket of time that mattered today, time at the park. This photo of sibling closeness is adorable. But really Rupi is squashing Blossom and she's objecting loudly- very deceiving, ha!





Happy weekend!

sucker punched

It's been 5 days since I last posted and I still feel uber yucky. This flu bug is from the devil, I tell ya.

So because I don't have anything deep or moving or scintillating, here's my day in pictures....

Oats for brekkie, she's getting her appetite back. I gave her the lurgy, poor mite.

Every morning at breakfast, Rupi waves the neighbour off to work. The neighbour loves it.

Supervising me while I dress and playing with my makeup (her) and toy cars (him). Stereotypical much?

Dropping Rupi at school. He always looks this thrilled to be going.

In between meetings checking my email at my second office. My dodgy state of body is not allowing caffeine at this point (argh!)

Afternoon shopping with smallies in tow, stocking up on vitamins. The kids love these, thank goodness as we really need to kick our constant trend of illness.

Bath time! Rupi is leaning over, his puku is not as large as it appears here!

Nanny dropped in for cuddles just before bed time.

That's me and mine today. Happy Wednesday everyone!

germy

I have been absent for a while... I have been sick. No, I AM sick. And this is the week and weekend that my huge (0verwhelming and giant) project completes. The client is moving into their new space this weekend. And I have a very nit-picky IT man calling me every 5 minutes. Like repeatedly at 9.30pm last night while I was trying to die quietly in my bed.

I have the best husband ever. He took Thursday off work to help me label 4 million items of furniture for relocation. I could barely put one foot in front of another and the furniture HAD to be labelled as it was being moved the following day. Good times.

It's a piggy of a flu bug and I am on my second packet of cold/ flu tablets.

I would end this post with something chirpy but really I got nothing. And no pretty photos either. If I had the energy I would spend it on living rather than taking photos.

The IT person just called again. Bless him, Jesus, bless him. As I am helping on site tomorrow I will try and gift him with some germs...

Switched on

The power cable to our house blew bright and early on Sat morning. I was out the whole day and so poor Dida coped with the lot. At one stage he was on the phone to the electrician with Blossom in the cot screaming, Reuben running wild outside in the rain and at the same time trying to hand a power cord over the fence to a neighbour. Drama.

The power company checked the power to the road. All good. And the switchboard in the house is fine too. Which means the fault was somewhere between the road and the house.....which has a fat concrete driveway in the way.

So Dida got to work. He is incredible in emergencies. Those close to us already have plans in place to come to our place in case of a natural disaster. He is like Bear Grylls (without eating the gross things!) and much better looking.

Yesterday morning he had an electrician scanning the driveway looking for the underground fault. And found it. 10cm away from the edge of the driveway- woop! Dida and one of his workers spent the afternoon cutting a trench around the blown cable. This meant cutting and moving a giant tree out the way. I stayed inside warm and dry and made them cups of coffee. Essential work.

Today they finished off the trench and the electrician came back to replace the cable. The power company flicked the switch again and we now have power. Bliss.

Who knew how essential power could be. Oh yes, most of Christchurch does. I am NOT complaining about the experience at all. We had a power cord to the neighbours on either side so we had limited power. We picked and chose what appliances get power and it's not been too cold. We do not have a house with cracks and holes through the middle of winter and no power at all- like people in Christchurch did. We were ok.

But I am REALLY glad to have power back. Ahhhh electricity, I ♥ you.

Backing Black

It's so good to be a Kiwi right now! We are hosting the Rugby World Cup and it seems like the whole world is here. There are flags on cars and houses and we are feeling utterly patriotic. I just think it's wonderful to be united by something other than war. This is our national sport and we love it!

For all of you non-rugby people out there, here's an explanation.
...

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century.^[2] One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. It is played with an oval-shaped ball on a field up to 100 metres (330 ft) long and 70 metres (230 ft) wide with H-shaped goal posts on each goal line.

And here is the greatest team in the world- the mighty All Blacks! [And yes, because we dress in black!]



C'mon Black!!!!

So anyway, Auckland is putting on a party for the World Cup and all the visitors. We decided on the spur of the moment to go down to the waterfront on Saturday morning. This was the morning after the opening ceremony and the first game (which the All Black's won, thank you muchly)

The waterfront was a disaster zone the night before when 200,000 people descended on the area to party and celebrate. The city authorities were expecting 60,000. A slight shortfall in planning. Public transport failed and it was a mess. People missed the game and were very hot and bothered. When we arrived on Saturday morning bright and early there was a full scale clean up in place and the waterfront was being restored.

We had a wonderful time. I am biased but Auckland is lovely! We ate ice creams and wandered around all the new development and World Cup temporary structures. Rupi loved watching the boats and running everywhere. He also fell down multiple times and we resolved to start packing a first aid kit. Blossom charmed the public at large and the sun shone and life was good!

Please note that the explanation of the photos below is mostly for Gail. It won't make much sense to anyone else and I thought she might like to know the ins and outs. And I love her....

The newly developed North Wharf on Wynyard Quarter- where the fuel tanks containers used to be...

Walking towards the new bridge connecting the Viaduct to North Wharf (where Rupi fell about 1ooo times and scraped every inch of his knees)

Party Central on Queen's wharf (beside the ferry)- in front of the temporary "Cloud" structure

Blossom being super cute walking back on Queen's Wharf towards Quay Street.

At the entry to Queen's wharf

May I say one more time...GO THE ALL BLACKS!!