Waikato's World 2009

It's that time of year again...show time! You might remember us going to this last year - and how we thought it was nice, but nothing exciting. Well we went again this year, mainly for 2 reasons:
1. So my parents could experience the local version of the 'Ekka'.
2. There is no entry fee this year - so you can go in and see all the animals, competitions etc. and only had to pay for rides.

We got to see horse judging , sheep dog competition, farrier competition, pigs, cows, goats (including South African Boerbokke), sheep and alpacas. There was also a small baby farm animals enclosure where we could go in and the kids could pat the animals. Ben was keen on this and patted a few sheep, goats, very hairy cows (obviously from somewhere in the highlands); Joanna is going through the 'afraid of going near any animals' stage (which Ben was going through this time last year), so she didn't pat anything, although she did like looking at all the animals.

The rides etc. were the same as last year - except you had to pay for them this year (as opposed to paying an entry fee and the rides being free like last year). So we let the kids have one turn on the Jumping Castle - which they thoroughly enjoyed (little kids are easy to please!).

Overall we enjoyed our Waikato's World experience much more this year than last. Mainly for a couple of reasons:
1. The weather - it was nice and sunny and warm this year, compared to last year where it was overcast, windy and cold.
2. Last year we were in the middle of a failed attempt at toilet training with Ben.
3. We had some idea of what to expect, so our own expectations were more aligned with what was experienced.

And Naomi has now been to her first annual show! (at the young age of 1 week and 2 days old)

1 week old

Naomi was 1 week old yesterday...The midwife came and completed her 1 week health check, which she passed with flying colours (well except for looking a bit yellow). She has already passed her birth weight and now weighs 2890g (10g heavier than birth weight), so she is obviously eating well.

And then there were 7...

My parents arrived last night, after a marathon 3 days of travelling for them (they came all the way from Denmark - where they had been visiting my sister). They are staying with us for 5 weeks, so there is now 4 adults and 3 children in the house. The plan had been that they were to be here a couple of weeks before I had Naomi, but as you all know, Naomi had different ideas. Ben and Joanna are excited about being able to play with Granny and Grandpa B while they are here.

The story of the birth...

Once upon time, a long long time ago (last Thursday), it was a normal day, just like any other day. I rode to work, as usual, at around 8am. Once I got to work, I checked my email and so on. And then Mel rang me... saying she thought her waters had broken. She wasn't sure, so she was going to see the midwife to see what she needed to do. She dropped the kids off at Lisa's (a friend from playgroup) and then headed to the hospital, where Val the midwife was attending to another birth. Val decided that yes, it was Mel's waters that had broken, and yes, baby was coming soon. So Mel rang me and got me to ride to the hospital. I arrive about 11h30. After being there for a little while, contractions got a little more frequent and intense, and a little girl popped out, at 14h54. All rather quick really.
Because Naomi was techinally premature by 9 hours, the doctors wanted to make sure her blood sugar levels were satisfactory before letting her out. So, rather than letting her transfer to a nice comfortable birthing centre, she got to sleep in a noisy, old hospital instead. That wasn't the most comfortable, so they both came home the next day - Friday. Her blood sugar levels were fine.
And that's the story of the birth.
The End.

Three peas in a pod...

We've been thinking that our three kids look pretty similar to each other as babies... people have also been asking if Ben and Joanna had dark hair when they were born. So, I've dug up photos of each of them when they were 2 days old... to see just how similar they are. There's an odd one out - but only a little bit different. Which is which?

Naomi Jayne Waldeck

Was born this afternoon (at 14h54, 2880g). Mel was 36 weeks and 6 days, so little Miss Naomi was technically a few hours premature. But that's OK - she's fine and Mel's fine too. Anyway, there's another few photos on flickr, and more details etc will be up here in due course!(Apologies for the slightly funny colour on the photos... our desktop computer is currently not operational, so I had to do a bit of a hack job from our netbook to get these up...)
(EDIT: Replaced the dodgy-colour photo...)

Furniture for summer...

We bought some secondhand outdoor furniture about 4 months ago for our wedding anniversary (which was in February)... the idea was that we'd get something more affordable that we could restore to being nice again. I'd been attempting to sand it all back by hand, which was a very slow process. I eventually gave in and borrowed a couple of sanders from Tony and the job only took another couple of hours. The kids helped to oil the table last weekend and the chairs this weekend. This is the result... nice outdoor furniture - even if it is a little late as an anniversary present, it's just in time for summer!

The weather is looking up...

After a few days of constant rain this week and my despair about having to get the thermals out again during the school holidays...the weather seems to be finally warming up. The yesterday and today have been beautiful sunny days, with the maximum reaching above the teens (ok...so it got to 20C - that's warm over here). We have dug out our T-shirts and some of us (Peter) have got out shorts too!

Dump shop bargains...

Had to go to south-west Hamilton today to pick-up something from the couriers and on the way back I realised that my route conveniently took me past the recycle shop next to the dump. So I stopped in to have a quick look around. I ended up picking up:

1. A pair of plastic racquets for the kids - Ben has made passing comments in the past that we don't have any sort of racquets to play with at home.
2. A soft toy sheep - I've just started wanting to get things together to create a collection of nativity/Christmas story dress-up/pretend play items for the kids to play with in the lead up to Christmas.
3. A large picture frame including glass - cheap way to get glass for Peter to use in one of his home made frames.

= $6

And the most exciting and best bargain...

4. A Sunbeam Ice Shaver for $8! So now I'll be able to make nice cold summer drinks.

Hit the wall...

This week, I've seemed to hit the wall as far as energy levels go. I think it just end of pregnancy tiredness (I'm 35 weeks now). Usual everyday tasks tire me out and by lunch time I'm really ready for an afternoon nap which I don't want to get up from.

Lost and found...

Lost a library book 'Spot goes camping' back in August. I looked everywhere for it, but couldn't find it anywhere. This was very frustrating as library books don't leave the house, so I couldn't understand why I couldn't find it. So before we went back to Brisbane we had to pay the library for the book - about $18 (I found it rather annoying having to pay money for a book that we don't get to keep). Anyway, was changing the sheets on Ben's bed the other morning and there it was sitting on the slats in between the base and the mattress! Some little boy had obviously crawled under the bed (as he sometimes does to play) and 'posted' the book between the slats and forgotten about it (under his bed had been one of the places searched on numerous occasions). We didn't know what the library policy was if you found and returned a book after you had payed the replacement fee. The final outcome/good news is they accepted the found book and refunded the replacement fee! And now under the kids mattresses will go on the list of places to look for lost books.

Boxercise classes...

This is what bump #3 like to participate in most evenings. Either while I'm sitting on the couch, watching TV, or when I'm reading my book in bed. While I'm not an active participant in these classes, it is still tiring for me, especially when I'm trying relax and have a bit of a rest.

Thinking about traditions...

I'm currently reading Diciplines of a Godly Family by Kent and Barbara Hughes; as well as Treasuring God in our traditions by Noel Piper (also available for free here). Both of these have got me thinking more about intentional traditions for our family - what the purpose is, what they will look like etc. Being significantly separated from both our families, living here in NZ, I think is a perfect time to assess what we have done, what we should do etc. Now some of you (especially if you haven't read either of the above mentioned books), might think this is just about creating a warm, fuzzy feeling for our family. But as Noel Piper emphasises it is a bit deeper than that:

The things we do regularly that help us in our deepest being to know and love and want God, the things that help our lives to be infiltrated with God—those things are tradition. And then if there are children in our lives, to pass these God-focused activities to the next generation—that’s what tradition is for a Christian. (p. 25)

So I'm therefore thinking specifically about traditions that will help Peter and I teach our children about God. Now I haven't really started thinking about specifics yet, although Peter and I have had a couple of discussions about the different traditions our families had when we were kids. So obviously there is a lot more thinking to be done, but I am excited about putting some more intentional thought into it.

Lack of posts...

Caused by lack of energy, school holidays and busyness getting ready in case bubs #3 comes early.

I've needed to sleep more lately - so when Joanna's sleeping in the afternoon, I am sleeping too. I think it's caused by the poor quality of sleep I'm getting at night, feeling uncomfortable and having to change position often.

School holidays has meant we've been catching up with lots of people - play dates and birthday parties of Ben's kindy friends.

Also doing extra loads of washing and cleaning various baby items (such as the basinett) to get them ready for use. I'm 34 weeks now, so it is possibly only 3 weeks until bubs #3 arrives. We therefore would like to have ready: somewhere for them to sleep, some clothes to dress them in and wraps etc. to keep them warm. It also is only 3 weeks until my parents arrive, so need to do a couple of things to get ready for that too.

Just when I thought I could pack the thermals away...

It is very cold, breezy and non-stop raining. It's currently 6C at midday - it's forecast to get to 10C, but I doubt it will get there.

Little Dorothy...

Joanna used her Dorothy the Dinosaur raincoat for the first time today. (It was a present for her 1st birthday, but is a size 2-3). She loves it!

Working...

From the Saturday to Wednesday I was working each day marking QCS short response papers. I did this last year and enjoyed having a change of pace for a few days, that I decided to do it again - plus the money I earn doing it pays for the airfares.
I was fortunate again to be given my first preference for the unit I wanted to mark. It was a question about Fire Service Medals - maths based question. It was a nice fast unit to mark, only taking 15-20 mintues per folder (24 papers per folder). Hence all the marking for the unit was finished by 5pm Wednesday (each paper gets marked twice and then gets a 3rd/referee marking if the first 2 marking disagree too much).
The food again was also really nice - morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. Over the 5 days I ate dishes including: vegetarian lasagnea, thai curry, chinese, cupcakes, cookies, fruit, and rocky road.

While I was off working each day, Peter's parents looked after the kids. They did things like catching the train to Roma St Parklands; visiting Linda and cousins; and going to the Colin Buchanan concert with Kathryn, Rohan and Xavier.

Now I wouldn't choose to work full-time all the time - especially if I had to do all the other day-to-day house keeping tasks (cooking, washing cleaning), that Peter's parents were also doing for me. But it is nice for a short change of pace and does allow for us to see grandparents etc.

Since marking finished early (it could have kept going until the Friday), it meant I got to have a couple of extra days holidays. So these were filled making another visit to Rocks Riverside Park with Peter's mum and Linda and her kids on the Thursday - and the water was on this time, so we got to have our play in the water play stuff after all. And on the Friday we caught the train to Indooroopilly (the kids really enjoyed the train ride the other day, so I thought I'd do it again, seeing as it isn't something we can do in Hamilton), and had morning tea at Breathing Space cafe - which was unusually very quite for a school holiday morning.

Saturday was spent visiting the Rocklea markets, where the kids got to ride on the mini Ferris wheel and doing other logistical organisation for flying back to NZ the next day. In the afternoon/evening we had a Birthday party for Peter's mum (a bit of deja vu from previous saturday), so the cousins got their final chance to play together (and Joanna got her final chance to dote on baby Amy).

The flight home went well - well except for the 1.5 hr departure delay in Brisbane - the kids spent the 2.5hr flight watching stuff on the in-flight entertainment and eating. And we were all very happy to see Dad again at the airport.

Catching up with friends and family...

The main aim of our first week back in Brisbane was to catch up with family and friends, so this meant spending each morning catching up with various people.

Saturday involved a family afternoon/dinner with Peter's parents and the Colyer's to celebrate Linda's birthday. It also included a visit from Peter's cousin Matthew (who I had never met before). Ben and Joanna both enjoyed playing with their cousins and we all got to meet baby Amy (the latest addition to the Colyer's) for the first time.

Sunday we caught up with our Unichurch family at the morning service. Ben is old enough now that he remembers people and places, so he enjoyed seeing his friends again and getting to spend time with them in Kids church and playing afterwards. This also meant I was also able to chat to a number of people afterwards.

Monday we spent the morning with Dania, Sofia and Owen - our old Kenmore neighbours. It was the first time we had met Owen and it was good to see how Sofia had grown up. Dania was also able to fill me in on all the baby news from Kenmore mother's group. Ben and Sophia had great fun playing ball together.

We caught up with Linda, Matthew and Amy again on Tuesday morning. Joanna enjoyed being a big girl, looking after/watching baby Amy. We also got the added bonus of seeing and patting some farm animals that were making a visit to the playgroup at the church next door. Ben had a tomato sauce, tuna, and cheese sandwich for lunch - because his cousin was having a straight tomato sauce sandwich.
It was great to catch up with Ben's mothers group on Wednesday - we hadn't seen them for a whole year. The kids have all certainly grown up and it was interesting to watch them all play and interact together a whole lot more. Ben seemed to decide that Felicity was his special friend and wanted to do everything with her. It was also good to be able to celebrate Joshua's 4th birthday at the same time.

We spent the day with Kathryn, Rohan and Xavier on Thursday. Firstly at Rocks Riverside Park, where we had planned to play in the water. But unfortunately the council had decided to do maintenance on it that day (before school holidays started), so the water was turned off . The kids still had great fun playing in the sand, going on the flying fox and attempting to climb the spider's web (with a rather dramatic moment where Xavier was hanging on, legs dangling in mid-air - half way up - waiting to be rescued after his feet had slipped off the ropes). We then went back to their place for lunch, sleep/DVD watching, playing and dinner before I took 2 tired kids home. Ben and Joanna really enjoyed playing with Rohan and Xavier and wanted to spend more time with them.

Friday morning was time to catch up with mum's and kids from Unichurch. As I arrived at the park early (our old park just down the road from our old house), I was able to fit in catching up with Jo (from Kenmore mother's group) and meeting her 2 week old baby girl (which was suppose to be a boy). It was good to be able to sit down and chat with friends while the kids were having fun off playing on the play equipment. We also got to meet the latest addition to the Avery girls.