Rotorua Take 2

We've been to Rotorua once before. That day had been cold, grey and blustery. I didn't particularly feel like doing much looking around after my morning's exertions that time, so we decided we really should get back there. (Actually, I wanted to go somewhere, anywhere, and Rotorua seemed a good option!).
Anyway, we went to the Redwoods - part of a forest which was planted from about 1900. We went for a short loop walk and had a picnic lunch - the kids had lots of fun running around in the forest, hiding and generally being cute. That's about all we did - but seen as the kids enjoyed it so much (Ben specifically said we could come back!), we did too. More photos here.

Sick kids update.

Joanna ended up back at the Dr yesterday as she had finished her course of steroid, but her cough had seemed to get worse over the previous 24hrs. Dr didn't really know what to do, so just told me to try giving her some Dimatap instead of Demazin. I don't know if the change is making any difference at all as the active ingredients in exactly the same in both and in similar concentrations, but her cough has started improving again - she's not coughing as frequently.
Ben seems to be responding well to the medicine - he coughs a bit at night, but I don't think I've heard him cough at all today.

Relaxed Fairies...

On Sunday morning, the kids wanted to put their dress-up on from the party. Without the large group of people and other action going on, they were a lot more relaxed about having their photo taken.

Getting ready for spring...

After the warmer weather of the past week (daily maximum consistently 15C or so) and this being the last week of August and hence technically the last week of winter...I felt like getting ready for the start of spring.
So yesterday morning I changed the doona cover on the bed to the Summery fresh looking one that I'd picked up on sale over winter, and the sheets to our cool summer coloured ones.
I also packed away all Ben's size 2/3 summer clothes from last summer, to make room for the next size up.
Then in the afternoon, I planted a whole stack of seeds in containers to sit on the kitchen window sill and sprout over the next month. So when the last of the cold weather is gone, I'll have a nice collection of little seedlings to plant out in the garden and can enjoy some spring vegetables sooner than last year!
I'm now paying for all my productivity yesterday - I've got a sore back from all the bending over and have been feeling quite tired today(although this also has to do with having sick kids) - needed a sleep after lunch.

Sick kids...

Ben has now got the same cough as Joanna. It was so bad at breakfast this morning that he was nearly throwing up. Took him to the Dr first thing and he's now on the same steroid medication for the cough as Joanna - he isn't on antibiotics like Joanna as he doesn't have the temperature or enlarged tonsils that she had.
And at this stage I think Joanna might end up back at the Dr this week...she has only one dose left of the steroid medications and her cough doesn't seem to have improved at all in the last 24 hours.

Big girls sleep in big beds

So now that Joanna's a big 2, she's sleeping in her big bed in the same room as Ben. Neither of them had been sleeping particularly well for the past week or so (just waking up a little early and being tired the rest of the day), so we decided we may as well just carry on with the plan to put them in the same room. And I don't think we'll be going back - they slept for about an hour longer than they had been doing!

Sick girl...

Joanna is sick - the same wheezing thing she had just over a month ago. The Dr this time explained it is like a croup kind of thing, but she also had an enlarged tonsil on one side, so might have a bug as well. It was like deja vu...she was perfectly fine at church this morning, but went downhill quickly on the way home and by lunch time had a bad wheeze going, a temperature, and didn't want to eat any lunch. So I decided I'd rather take her up to the Drs right then and get the drugs so she could start feeling better. And like last time, the drugs have started to work and she's sounding a lot better, she had a large dinner to make up for the missed lunch. Now she just needs a good nights sleep to catch up on only having a short nap this afternoon.

Joanna's birthday party

Yesterday morning was Joanna's birthday party. We made it an angel/fairy theme and I made dress-ups for each of the kids to wear and take home with them (Thanks to Kathryn for the easy tutu design). It was a fairly small party, only 3 families, but it meant it was nice and relaxed. Joanna was excited about the party, but was a bit unsure when people started arriving. She soon got into the groove and enjoyed opening her presents and playing with some bubbles outside.

I made all the food for the party including: 'Snow white slice', 'Crown cupcakes', 'Fluffy cloud mousse', 'Cheese puff stars', 'Apple puff stars', 'Ham and cheese squares' and Banana and Apple with honey yoghurt dipping sauce. The cake was a cloud with angel/fairy on top. The actual cake was a very dense and rich chocolate cake.

Joanna's a big girl...

She turned two today. She didn't really know what a birthday was all about, but I think she has a better idea now - presents and cake! More photos at flickr.(She's having a party on Saturday, so there'll be more photos then...)

For lovers of dark chocolate...

Tried the new Nestle Kit Kat Dark for the first time today. In the last couple of years I've developed a liking for dark chocolate...I would say I probably now prefer it to normal milk chocolate. The problem is that in the 'chocolate bar' selection, most are made with milk chocolate, so if you want something in your dark chocolate, you have to buy a block. Some dark chocolate enthusiasts might argue this is because putting anything in the chocolate spoils the whole thing. Well I like the variety of having various flavours/textures with my dark chocolate at times (including chilli!) and the new Kit Kat fulfills this need in the 'chocolate bar' department.

I notice on the Nestle website, they market it as 'Try KIT KAT Dark – the combination of wafer and dark chocolate makes it a light enjoyment for those who usually find dark chocolate too bitter', but I would disagree with this, I still think most people who don't like dark chocolate will think the dark chocolate spoils a perfectly good chocolate bar (ie. Kit Kat original).

So in summary, if you like dark chocolate, give the new Kit Kat Dark a try!

Next generation...

The only childhood memories I have of my mother getting out her Kenwood Mixmaster and using it, is when she was baking our yearly birthday cakes. The recipe usually came from the Woman's Weekly birthday cake book or some other magazine and we would be banished from the kitchen while she was doing it.
Well today I started the tradition with Joanna. Using exactly the same mixer (I swapped my smaller one with my mum's larger one before we moved to NZ), I am in the process of making Joanna's 2nd birthday cake.

Look what I got...

Hit the wall...

After all the cleaning last week and over the weekend and a busy day on Monday, I started to hit the wall yesterday. I'm feeling pretty tired, with not much energy...doing tasks is wearing me out quicker than they would normally. I even went to bed early last night and had a big sleep, but I think I need many more hours of rest. Unfortunately life goes on and there are things that I just have to do (such as cooking and washing etc.), which doesn't leave much time for resting. I guess I'll just have to grab it when I can.

Cleaning update...

I've spent a total of 7 hours cleaning vertical blinds. In that time I've managed to do all the full length ones...I've decided not to do the 22 little 1/3 length ones at the moment, they aren't noticeably dirty, there's no mould on them and they are in a slightly awkward place to get to.

On Friday morning I had a couple of girls from church come over and help clean for 3 hrs (ie. 6hrs worth of cleaning labour). I'm very thankful for their help and hard work, I don't know how I would have got everything done by Monday without them.

Mould seems to be an issue in Hamilton...on the walls behind furniture and in corners, along skirting boards, around windows. So as I've been cleaning it off, I've been wiping the surfaces with the Oil of Cloves solution to try and help prevent it's return.

The more I clean and tidy stuff, the more things I notice need cleaning or tidying. Marks on walls to wipe off, piles of papers/books that need sorting and organising etc. It's also hard work keeping everything spotlessly clean.

I feel like I have been spring cleaning all week - and it's only August!

Injury update...

Time for an update on my arm:
I went back to see another doctor on Thursday to see if I would need a cast or not. He had a look at the X-rays and said I could choose whether or not I wanted a cast. I didn't really want a cast, so I tried just having it in a sling. Thursday night was rather painful - any movement at all was very very sore. So I was back at the doctor on Friday morning to get a cast put on. And back again yesterday morning to get the cast checked. It's a lot more comfortable with the cast on, but that means I end up trying to do too much and hurting it.
Here's an X-ray - see if you can spot where the fracture is (click here to go to flickr - the fracture's marked there)

John 1:1-18

We were looking at John 1 in my mums bible study group this week. When we were reading through these first eighteen verses, we noticed how many different aspects of theology were brought up and repeated with slightly different wording. At the time I thought it would make a perfect chunk to make a wordle out of, to get a more visual representation of our observation (I'm a bit of a visual learner so I like these kinds of things - thanks to Simone whose post I got the idea from).

Exercise your way to mental health

Went for a quick visit to the gym before bible study this morning in the interest of mental health. Unlike many people who go to the gym to lose weight or keep fit, one of the biggest reasons I go is for my mental health. I find that when I'm exercising regularly, that I am less stressed, more organised and am better able to cope with all the curve balls life throws at me.
I haven't done any exercise at the gym for a couple of weeks because I've been so busy with the events of last week and this week. I have visited the gym a few times, but just to drop the kids off and pick them up from the creche, while I've gone off and run errands that needed doing - the temptation that exists because the creche is set up as a limited hours, occasional care facility (ie. I don't have to stay on the premises). But after thinking about yesterday's self assessment, I decided I should make it a priority to get to the gym and do some exercise.
While I've been cleaning this week, I've been thinking, well this is a type of exercise (which many publications are at pains to convince busy mums that it is). But for me the incidental exercise I do (cleaning, walking Ben to/from kindy, gardening etc.) doesn't have the same effect on my mental health as devoting a chunk of time to intentional exercise (exercise for the sake of exercise).

Monster mum...

That's what I feel like this week. I seem to be frequently roaring at the kids for doing the wrong thing, bugging me, getting in the way. I also don't have much (if any) time to play with them or do other stuff together. I know it is a result of me having so much to get done this week and hence being stressed and tired (which I was already from having to do all the extra stuff last week because of Peter's broken arm). But still don't have a solution.

85 Vertical blinds on the windows!

That's how many I have to clean and 2/3 of them are full length to the floor. I've spent 3.5 hours cleaning them so far and have not yet got halfway! I've posted on my other blog the cheap and environmentally friendly method I'm using, which seems to be making easy work of it - it's just there is so many to do!

Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning

Cleaning is a major part of my life this week. We got a letter on Monday from our property manager saying they had noticed some mould on our vertical blinds and could we arrange for them to be cleaned. Then on Tuesday we get a letter from them saying they are coming to do an inspection next Monday! So not only do I have the usual stuff to clean for the inspection - bathroom, toilet, shower, kitchen, vaccum carpets - but the addded quite large job of cleaning every single individual vertical blind (I'll let you know a number when I've counted them all). The big problem is that Peter really can't help out at all (the bathroom is normally his job), so I'm getting a couple of the teenage girls from church to come over on Friday to help out.

Very sore back...

is what I have right now. But too much to do to be able to rest it.

Week in review...

As I said yesterday, I've been a bit busy to post this week, but there is stuff that has happened (apart from the obvious event) that I have thought about blogging about, but haven't got around to it. So I thought I'd give a brief summary here:

• It was my turn to provide morning tea for mothers at playgroup this week. Cooked the brownies and choc chip, marshmallow cookies from the latest Donna Hay kids magazine - the mums loved both.
• Ben enjoyed having Dad come to kindy each day this week, so Dad breaking his arm was a good thing for him I think.
• Excitement on Thursday afternoon when we had cops and baddies running through our yard and hopping over the back fence.
• Had a really nice time as a family going to the park by the lake on Friday morning - it was a lot less busy than on the weekends, Peter got to try out the new cafe (which does great savoury scones and sausage rolls), kids had fun on the play equipment and also got to feed the ducks.
• Went to the first week of the Farmer's markets in their new location and took Ben with me. Ben enjoyed tasting everything, and there were a few extra stalls to look at.
  

Too busy to blog...

This week has been extra busy for me because of Peter's accident. It has meant I've had to pick up doing all his jobs at home, such as: bathing the kids, washing the dishes, dealing with the rubbish, cooking on the weekend. As well as helping him to do many of his personal care tasks, such as: getting dressed/undressed, washing his hair, spreading stuff on his toast etc. Thankfully his left wrist is feeling a little better so he has been able to do more things again, such as: bathing the kids, doing some of the cooking (with a fair bit of help), mostly getting dressed/undressed by himself. Unfortunately the extra work during the week has been a bit draining on my energy stores and today I feel like I've hit the wall and have felt exhausted all day.