Naomi update...

Naomi is now just over 4 weeks old, so this can be a slightly late 4 week update or a slightly early 1 month update - you choose! She's still a pretty sleepy little girl... she decides to wake up and be a little grumpy right about the time we sit down for dinner, and right about the time we want to go to bed. But other than that, we can't really complain - she's really pretty good!
Ben and Joanna still love her lots - we get lots of comments from Ben about how he loves her and how cute she is etc.
Anyway, here's a shot of each of them at as close to one month as we have: see if it's any easier to pick which is which!

Internet grocery shopping - post script

I forgot to add that most times I also receive a bag of sample goodies along with my order, which usually has a value of at least the $5 extra I pay for the person to do the shopping for me. For example, today I received 5 Select brand newborn nappies; 5 sachets of formula; 12 green tea teabags; 4 sachets of baby food fruit puree (which don't expire until after Naomi will be starting solids, so will be used); and a fridge magnet.

Internet grocery shopping - Even better!

I posted earlier this year about how I loved internet grocery shopping as it was convenient to do while doing other stuff at home. Well it is now even better!

About 2 months ago they added the option of pick-up from the local supermarket that is just at the end of our street. This means instead of paying $13 for delivery, I now have the option of just paying $5 and going and picking it up and bringing it home myself. At the moment with 3 kids under 5 and a very young baby (plus people staying), I think that paying $5 for somebody to walk down the aisles of the supermarket and putting all the items I want into the trolley and packing it all into bags (a task that would take me at least 1 hour), is value for money.

It means that instead of trying to get Naomi to sleep in the trolley or baby carrier, she can be sleeping in her own bed, while I do my shopping order on the computer. And instead of having to keep the other two under control in the supermarket, they can be playing happily at home, while I do the order.

Now I know that the children learn many helpful life skills by going on grocery shopping trips, but I think it is best done on shorter little trips to the shops at this point in time (mainly for my sanity and their enjoyment) - and this happens fairly frequently as we pass through the shopping centre on our walk to and from kindy each day.

Not my problem...

Peter found this article today, where a study finds: "The average British mother relies on just nine different meals to feed her family," and "Nine in 10 mothers polled admitted cooking the same meals over and over again while one in four made the same meals on the same day of the week."

Now I already know that I'm not the norm when it comes to my cooking habits - I like trying new recipes all the time, so usually at least 1/2 the meals I cook in a week, I've never tried before. And it is a rare occurrence for a recipe to be cooked twice. I would get bored if I cooked the same meals all the time and especially cooking the same meals on the same days of the week! Trying out new recipes all the time keeps me motivated to get into the kitchen each night to cook dinner. I also enjoy sitting down and looking through recipe books and magazines to find new recipes to try - it's quite relaxing.

Understanding underwear...

Thanks to this article I now know why I'm the one that has to go out and buy new undies when the others are getting too worn-out and hole-ly, that I can't stand the sight of them anymore. (This is the point at which they get put in the rag bag and the kids use them to help wash the car!)

Home sweet home...

We just got home from a weekend away - I took today off work to make a long weekend. We headed to Taupo... and popped up to Whakapapa, went to the AC Baths in Taupo, Huka Falls and Orakei Korako. More details and many photos to come...

Sculpture park

On Monday, I took Mum and Dad to Waitakaruru Arboretum and Sculpture Park to look at the RE:FRACTION Outdoor Glass Sculpture Exhibition. I'd never been to the sculpture park before, although I have had the brochure for it stuck to our notice board since last year.

It was a bit of a walk from the carpark to the area of the park where the glass sculptures were, but the kids seemed to cope really well - it helped that there was other interesting sculptures to stop and look at on the way. The actual glass exhibition was a little smaller than I imagined it would be, but there was still a number of sculptures for me to take some photos of, although it would have been nice to have a little sunshine (the weather was overcast, with a cold wind and frequent scuds of showers/drizzle). We took a picnic lunch which we sat and ate amongst the glass sculptures before heading back to the car and home again.

To early for Christmas?

I used to always think that shops were jumping the gun if they had Christmas decorations etc. in store before my birthday (26th November), as I thought 1 month was plenty of time in advance to prepare for Christmas.

Well this year I have changed my view. As I mentioned last month, I've been thinking about what traditions we can begin as a family to teach our children about God. And Christmas is an obvious time for God-focused traditions, so we are wanting to do some Advent stuff leading up to Christmas. As we want our kids to learn the real meaning of Christmas, and think a little a bit about it each day, to balance out all the stuff they will hear about Santa etc. during this time. So this means, I need to start organising this now - early/mid November - so it is ready for starting on the 1st of December. Which means I'm already looking for Christmas things in the shops - Nativity scene, some little gifts for the Advent calendar to make it fun, Christmas decorations that are related to the real meaning of Christmas (ie. no Santas, snowmen, reindeer etc.), etc. I know some of the stuff that I'm looking out for this year, will be one off purchases that will be able to be reused in subsequent years, so I might not have to start so early with my looking out for Christmas stuff in the shops next year.

Ahoy there, matey!

Today we had Ben's birthday party. It was a 'Pirate party' complete with a Pirate ship, treasure chest present storer, fishing game, treasure chest craft, and pirate bandannas, eye patches and jewels to take home.

For food I made:

• Blue jelly cups with chocolate fish swimming in them,
• Mini hotdog pirate boats (cocktail sausage with puff pastry wrapped around and toothpick flag),
• Fish shaped fish fingers - a favourite with the kids,
  
• Jammy jewels,
• Sticky chicken nibbles - a favourite with the adults.

The cake was a Island with hidden treasure - complete with a red 'X' marking the spot, which Ben had to smash open/dig to find the buried treasure. This was a highlight for all the kids who all dived in for their share of the treasure once Ben had discovered it.

While Ben was opening his presents, he surprised both Peter and I with his appropriate use of present opening etiquette/manners (without us reminding him about it at all): thanking each child for their present before opening it; reading the cards before opening the presents; and then at the end involving all the kids in a group hug to say thank you for his presents (we would have loved a photo of this, as it was really cute, but it was totally spontaneous and unexpected that nobody had their camera before it was over).

Naomi update: 10 days

Time for an update on how Waldeck jnr #3 is going: Naomi is now 10 days old. There's no particular reason for choosing 10 days as time for an update other than that I have time now! Naomi is doing well - she's been a little jaundiced, but nothing bad enough to be particularly concerned about. She sleeps like a dream still... let's hope that continues! Yesterday afternoon we finally got around to giving her a bath - she loved it, just like Joanna did.
Nothing much else to report really - she's cute and we all love her lots!