Driving in the Country

Living here in Cambridge, we are missing McDonalds.

So it was my husbands birthday the other day, we we decided that we would drive to Te Awamutu for a birthday dinner at McDs.

So we were driving in the country, in the dark, with no street lights.

My four year old son started crying and was really distressed about the darkness. He wanted to go home. We managed to distract him.

But it was the first time that he had driven in the dark country, without any street lights. What a city slicker!!

Resemblance

All the people that see my kids, always tell me how much like my husband they look. They both look like miniature versions of him.

But check out this photo that my eldest son and I took together. Baby is not in the photo, we should have lined him up too. We three have the same blue eyes.

Their dad has hazel eyes.

Blue Eyes

The other thing that I want to remind myself about...Nearly everyone, or maybe it is everyone, who meets my kids will comment on their gorgeous blue eyes. They get these from me. They also get their gentleness from me, and they have my toes. Thats it. Everything else is an exact replica of my husband. So we have 1 Big B, and 2 mini-B's.

Here is a photo that my 4 year old took of himself. Its a great shot of his eyes. I dont know if he was blinded by the flash - but it was the only photo of his eyes that i found on the memory card

Ginga

My husband often comments on baby's hair and he says that it is red, or ginger ("ginga"). It is a light blondy colour but I do admit that sometimes it looks almost ginger, or strawberry blonde. This photo taken by my 4 year old son, confirms clearly in photographic evidence that his hair is blonde. So far.

Or he might turn out ginga like his Aunty La.

That would be okay too!

ys

Teething

So my baby has been a bit grizzly this week. No wonder, he just cut 3 teeth in a week.

I tried to get this photo, to show you how sore one of the holes looks, just wear the new tooth is poking through. Its red and looks bloody, but no blood comes out.

I am using a teething necklace for him, and I think it helps.

He has 7 teeth so far. Age 10 months.

Boys Growing Up

Three things that have happened today that made me realise my son is growing up.

1. I walked into the lounge after having a shower and using a new tube of Avon moisturiser on my legs. He told me that I smelled nice. That is the first time he has given me a compliment all by himself.

2. He now calls them Lemonade iceblocks, rather than "white iceblocks" that we always used to say.

3. He can say elevator rather than alligator.



1 Thing I Noticed today to Show Baby Is Growing Up:
1. He persistently crawled over to the cat biscuits in the garage, and sat there picking them up trying to eat them. I must have moved him away a squillion times, and he kept trying. He must have eaten a few. This angel 9month old baby even managed to get his older brother to eat TWO biscuits. I thought the 4 year old might have tried one and spat it out, but he ate two. Mustn't taste too bad, as the 4 year old is the pickiest eater.

mental note to move the cat biscuits onto the workbench tomorrow. The lazy cat will just have to jump up to eat.

Boys

I like it that my children play non-gender specific games. Here is a photo of my two sons, playing "mums" with baby dolls. My son Angus is playing with my old cabbage patch kid, my most precious toy when I was a child. I used to think it was a shame that I dont have a daughter to pass her down too, and my neices would probably never treasure her enough, but my son treasures her!

Make me a heart

Its been about 6 weeks now since Aunty La passed away

Tonight Angus said to me, as we were looking at the moon and the stars in the twilight

"Aunty La is on a girl star aye mum?"
"she's going to make me a heart and throw it down to me, because she loves me".
"i love Aunty la mum, i like playing games with her. But she's not gonna come back so i wont be able to play games with her mum".

The hardest thing I have had to deal with, is how quickly life goes on. Everyone around me seems to be coping alright. It is so sad that there is not much left to show of her life. I got a bag of her clothes given to me from MIL yesterday. Gorgeous clothes, wonderful fabrics and stuff. Only about 2 things fit me, and are what i would wear. I never saw her wearing these clothes, and we both did love opshopping so I dont feel funny about taking them. The clothes just remind me exactly what size she used to be (big bust - the halter tops look so empty on me!) and that makes me sad when i think of the little old granny lying on the bed dying. i also got given her watches - we have the exact same size wrists. I even fasten the band on the same "hole". Though its a DKNY watch so doesnt have holes it has a fancy clip thing to fasten.

http://breastmates-nz.blogspot.com/2008/11/twinkle-star-shining-bright.html

Extended Breastfeeding Already

So I was at the doctor today...... He just flipped a random question in "and are you still doing any feeds for baby". I replied that yes I was still breastfeeding him, and that he was not having any formula yet.

The doctor was very surprised by this. ?!!?!??!?? He said like "oh really, oh goodness, well, indeed, that is very good, well done". My baby is only 8 months.

I thought I was normal, most people breastfeed their baby this long don't they. I felt like he considered me an extended breastfeeder. But my baby is only 8 months? I just don't get the doctor. In my definition, extended breastfeeding is anything passed about 18 months really.

The doctor went on to say, that babies "really only need breastmilk for the first few months, the first 3 months are the most important. Most mothers stop at around 6 months. You don't see many babies breastfed after 1 year."

I can't quite remember everything else that he said. But basically, he thought I had already fed my baby long enough. And i certainly don't think he was endorsing breastfeeding for any longer.

He is usually such a great family-doctor-guy but his comments really surprised me.

It seems when you have a newborn baby, everyone wants you to breastfeed, and there is a lot of pressure on mums to do this. But once the baby gets a bit older (but is definitely still a baby) then there is pressure to hurry up and stop feeding! Talk about mixed messages.

Christmas Crafts

Angus and I put up the Christmas tree, and boy it does look grand. He just loved decorating it and arranging the ornaments. And I am proud to say that it doesnt bother me how it looks, this year is the first year that I have "let go" of having the perfectly arranged Christmas tree. Why did I use to be so anal about things like that?

Angus knows that we have to put on the Christmas lights, as that is how Santa will find our house. Its his job to turn them on in the evening. He likes looking for all the Santa ornaments.

Lochie, not yet crawling, can wriggle on his tummy to under the tree. He likes the mirror ball things.

While decorating the tree, I was reminded of how much spare time I used to have. I have so many decorations that I had hand made, a few years ago BC (before Children). They are all hand stitched. I've got angels, beaded ribboned christmas mini-trees, santa hats with glitter, stockings, felted balls, felted snowmen. Heaps of stuff. These are all hand stitched.

I must have had so much spare time?!

This photo is a selection - all the other ones are hidden on the tree somewhere as decorated by Angus.

Today I think they are a bit tacky, but I'm still pleased with my handmade efforts from BC.

Look at my little Lochie Monster.

How did he get so big already!?









age 6.5 months

For the first time

Its been a long time since Angus has seen something for the first time, we have covered most things in his 4 years of life so far.

But last night, he just happened to be out of bed. It was 9.30pm. It was very dark outside. Neighbours were letting off fireworks at the school at the end of our street.

The sheer amazement on his face was delightful as for the first time he got to see fireworks in all their glory.

The previous 4 years on Guy Fawkes night, he has been in bed, fast asleep since his 7pm bed time. But last night he was awake and he enjoyed it.

We sat at the lounge window, him and I , watching the sky light up. Actually, he was watching the sky for the coloured flashes. I was watching his reflection in the glass and enjoying every minute next to him.

Have Employed a New Photographer

The other day I mentioned in a blog post that my son likes taking photos: http://breastmates-nz.blogspot.com/2008/10/check-out-this-great-photo-that-my-4.html

Well, he did get a camera for his birthday. At first I thought it was too "flash" of a present to give to a 4 year old (excuse the bad pun), but he has had so much fun with it. It was only a cheapie camera so it doesnt have an LCD screen to preview the shots, but it does take digital photos that I can download onto my computer.

This was a funny one, he liked it when we took photos of each other!

Ben 10 Cake

So Angus is a huge fan of the cartoon Ben10. Aunty La brought him a cool Ben10 watch for his birthday which makes all the noises of all the aliens etc. It doesnt actually tell you the time, but it does allow you to turn into ten different aliens!! (http://www.ben10.com/)

He asked me to make him a Ben10 cake. So I just made one that was the same pattern as the Ben10 Omnitrix Watch. If I was a better mum, I would have made on like one of the aliens or something.

I spent aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages at the supermarket trying to find a bottle of Green food colouring for the icing. Then I realised that you have to buy Blue and Yellow food colouring and mix them yourself to make green. Duh! That is a good way for the food company to double their sales volumes!

But, strangely, it is possible to purchase Black food colouring.

I think this will be the first and last cake that I make that has black icing - or maybe this is the norm for mothers of boys.

Anyway, it was a nice chocolate cake underneath all that icing and we had a great birthday celebration with his Cousin's Sarah and Esther my sister Kath's kids. And a party at Nana's house with Aunty La, Paul and Poppa.

Shop Photos - Bras

Check out this great photo that my 4 year old took. I like the angle and random-ness of it. I like taking photos but I have trouble taking ones at random angles that show the beauty of things. All my photos are perfectly centred and orderly.

My son loves taking photos, he is getting a kids camera for his birthday on Sunday. I just have to leave the house and buy it.

I don't know why he took photos of these Hot Milk Lingerie bras - these are the Ablaze with Azure nursing style bras. On sale at the moment for $50 click here to see: http://www.breastmates.co.nz/hot_milk_lingerie_blue_satin.html

My two sons are going to know a lot about bras!

Smart Baby is Rejecting Bottle

So I have the Auckland Parent and Child show fast approaching next week, and I have been a busy beaver getting myself organised. This will be my busiest weekend of the year. I will take some photos to show you my great ideas for the display (but only after it is over).

One of the tasks to organise is childcare for Mr 4 and baby 6 months. Hubby wont be able to do it, as he will be with me at the show doing pamphlets and running around etc. No he wont be directly selling lingerie and breast pumps hahah i don't think people would want to buy them from big bad Bruce!)

So anyway, my darling parents are coming up from down country to look after my children for four days. My Dad was recently diagnosed with Prostate Cancer but we wont know any more news until 4 November. So they are still coming up , and we will just pretend that we don't know anything about this cancer and that everything is fine. They will really enjoy spending this time with the kids it will distract their minds a little. Angus will be fine, he will help and he knows what to do and when. But I am a bit worried about baby.

I have been expressing breast milk for a while now and have a huge stack of breast milk stored in freezer. One of the perks about having a breastfeeding business is the products I get to use (albeit only while I have a baby in the baby age).

But this is a smart baby, he is not having the bottle. I'm trying to give him the bottle at lunch time, but you should see his sad face and he wont swallow it. I think I will need hubby to give him the bottle for me. He had a few bottles when he was a baby, but then I got lazy and just breast fed him. Its so much easier just getting out the boob - less work. Remember I am a lazy mum. With boob there is no heating, checking temperature, mixing, washing, storing, cleaning etc!!

At least I have a few different type of baby bottles to choose from, I have high hopes for the Adiri bottle as it has been designed for fussy babies.

..... but if it all goes wrong.... then at the Parent and Child show..... would it be okay to have a "breastfeeding demonstration with real baby"... perhaps I could market it like that....it could be a real feature.... only when baby is so distressed and hungry that someone will have to drive him to me at the show.... (only 5 minutes down the road).... It could work I suppose...... but its not something i really want to do.....oh deary me.

Olympics

We have enrolled my 4 year old at our local athletics club. We have been for 3 nights now. The children in this age group just do 50m and 100m races, it is very cute. They all have a number on their singlet and their placings are recorded (!) Its good fun, nice families, a nice thing for children to do and for us to be involved in the local community.

My son calls it the Olympics. (this word sounds very similar to athletics which is where the confusion started, plus he was a big olympics watcher when it was in Beijing earlier in the year).

I'm not correcting his pro-nouce-i-ation. I like that he calls it Olympics. Does this fit with the laws of positive attraction and optimistic thinking. Yes.

Christmas Songs Started Already

On Saturday Angus found a random CD on the bookcase and wanted to listen to it. It was Christmas Music that our old neighbours the VDM's had made for us 3 years ago. A melody of classic Christmas tunes.

So although the date is on 20th October, we already have Christmas tunes playing. Angus loves them and was really boogying. I am not sure how long he will enjoy listen to this, hopefully the novelty will wear off soon.

But this son of mine tends to have an obsessive characteristics, I think the CD will be in the player for at least another 4 months. I'm sure the neighbours are going to enjoy it too!!