This is a little post to say we are still here, we are still alive, and we are still planning to keep this blog up and running – if more as a diary and record of the days of our lives (literally, not the TV show) – but I’m accepting of the fact that the updates will likely be fewer than I might want…although hopefully more frequent than, what, quarterly?

In quick summary, the summer holidays are gone and we are well and truly back into full gear – David back at school, me back at work, and Sarah back at full time copying whatever David does or says, as well as trying to ‘help’ Christie however she can.

Maybe I’ll try bullet points as a way of covering major events from the last few months:

• We had a fantastic Christmas with time spent with both sets of grandparents and many presents and great food for the kids
• David proceeded to break his foot a few days into the summer break (no pun intended). That made for an interesting holiday up north to the Bay of Islands with Christie’s family. He managed to avoid a cast though, and is all healed up now, and we all had a great break regardless.
• Hannah has two lower teeth and is using them to good effect with her firs feed of solids this week! Time does fly
• it’s good to remember that this summer the weather has been very average and is only getting nice now that I’ve returned to work!

So, there you go. More updates (and photos) to come!

Or busy with birthdays, new-baby-stuff, new-job-stuff, and getting-ready-for-Christmas-stuff.

One of the two.

But in a renewed effort to breathe life back into the blog, and focus on at least monthly summary updates, here is a summary of the past three months, for posterity’s sake:

David

David is loving school. He is really taking to the schooling environment, and has already won a number of “being a good student” awards over the first two terms. He is reading to us at bedtime now, and his spelling, maths and drawing are really very impressive for a 5 year old! He does have an unfair advantage given that his mum is an accomplished education professional from way back, and I think that is definitely contributing to his success. He rides on his scooter down to school every day that it isn’t raining, with Christie pushing the girls in the pram behind him. He is loving his Lego and blocks, and still asks around 500 questions a day; favourite quote “Mummy, I told my teacher that you call me Question Boy.” Which we do. Because he is.

Sarah

Sarah is hitting her stride as a toddler, having turned 2 in October. She is oh-so-cute most of the time, and her vocab is growing at a rate of knots. Her pronunciation leaves a little to be desired though, with “bah-bah” meaning anything from “bubbles” to “today I went with mummy and Hannah to the shops”. She keeps me on my toes though! Sarah is a very good big sister to Hannah, and an only slightly annoying little sister to David. She loves playing games with him: be it dress-ups, blocks, lego – whatever is on offer! She pretty much worships the ground he walks on, and there’s nothing cuter than David getting his uniform on for school, saying “bye Daddy, I’m going to school”, and then a little strawberry-blonde following after him, shoes on the wrong feet, looking back over her shoulder saying “bah Daddyyyy! Er uh gooool!”.

Hannah

I have to say that I don’t recall either of Hannah’s older siblings being this smiley at such a young age. Seriously! Hannah started smiling – like, proper smiling, rather than wind-based smiling – at 4, maybe 5 weeks old! She seems to have one of two faces: oh-so-smiley, or whattheheckwasthat?!? The latter face has earned her the nickname “dramatic chipmunk” after a popular YouTube video, or “Hannah bannah” when we forget that one. She is doing very well overall – a testament again to Christie the supermum, who manages to keep the growing brood in check throughout the day with grace, poise and apparent ease.

Okay, maybe not the last one.

Christie and James

We’re…surviving. We’re finally coming out of the lack-of-sleep haze of those first few months of having a newborn – all the more hazy when you have two other children we’ve discovered! I have been promoted into a new job (same company) which has expanded accountabilities. That’s all great and everything, but it does mean I’m struggling to find the new best work/life balance. But with Advent starting tomorrow, I’m hoping Santa will give me an 8-day week all through next year; then everything will be fine.

I really want to pick up my game and get back into monthly posts, but I can’t make any promises. I know that we’re keeping most people up-to-date through other social media channels nowadays, but I do want to chronicle our family changes on this blog for as long as I can.

Let’s see how I do in December.

Regardless, let me introduce you to:

Hannah Christina

Born just after midnight, and weighing in at a little over 9lb, 2oz (4.14kg) and 51cm, the newest addition to our family is off to a small (by our standards) but very cute start. Snuffling away, she and her superhero mother – who delivered with no pain relief, save the gas! – are doing really well…for Day 1. Obviously there is more fun to follow, but we just give thanks to God again for His amazing gift in Hannah – a name which means “favoured by God”.

Happy. Exhausted. Excited. Going to bed.

In the meantime, the bags are packed, the grandparents are on standby, the batteries are charged, and the pre-birth jobs are (mostly) taken care of. Now, we play the waiting game.

Anyone reading this – please pray for a speedy, complication-free delivery soon. Sunday lunchtime would be great.

Which is good, given that yesterday he was up at 6am to go and get grommets put in. The operation…or is it a procedure?…went very well, and despite having to go under a general anaesthetic, his only real comment on the event was that he got an iceblock and ice cream and jelly when he awoke. That and, when in recovery, he turned to me and said “I can hear you now, Daddy”. So…success!

Sarah is still battling with the sniffles, but is oh so cute! She is very cuddly at the moment, mainly because she is a little unwell, but we’re not complaining about all the cuddles. Well, I’m not complaining…but I don’t have her clinging to me all day, nor am I trying to hold her with a 36 week pregnant belly! So, fair to say, it’s wearing a bit thin on Christie at the moment, but she’s on the mend so that is good.

With her growing vocab, the little princess is becoming quite adept at getting her point put across with as few syllables as possible. “Buh-bai” (“goodbye”), “aiy-oh” (“hello”), “dock” (“socks”), “murl” (“milk”), “di-dot” (“apricot”), “date” (“date”) and “date” (“cake”) are frequently heard about the house nowadays, with different levels of punctuation and force!

As for the grown-ups, we just enjoyed a great babymoon in Waipu this last weekend, thanks to the brave babysitting skills of Nanny and Poppa (and ably assisted by various aunties and uncles). I say “brave” because they took on a couple of kids for not one but two nights, when both were under the weather! But we really enjoyed the time away and are eternally grateful for the help provided by said family members.

So, we’re on the home stretch now – with David starting school on Monday, the next big event is Baby #3 at the end of August. Stay tuned for more details closer to the time (prayers and good thoughts appreciated)!

Anyway, as for an update, we’ve had a rough couple of months to be frank! Chalk it up to the change in the season, but the kids (and sometimes Christie and I) have been feeling under the weather, with coughs and colds aplenty. These translate to broken nights’ sleep, which in turn contributes to grumpy children and parents, and the whole thing just spirals down in some sort of crazy spiral of spiralling gloom and doom. All the Vicks and honey and cough syrup in the world doesn’t make any difference when you’re running on 3 hours sleep!

But – and I say this tentatively – things are starting to look up. We finally seem to be making some progress with all the nesting that has been required to get things in order for #3, and we’ve found that Davey’s poor hearing of late (which I just thought was him being a 4-year old and ignoring me when I tell him to do something!) is actually related to all the colds etc. and that he needs grommets. Not that that’s a positive thing, but it is good to know that we can hope for an improvement once we get that all sorted.

Preferably before August, as that is when the little munchkin starts school! It’s all very exciting, and surreal as, even with my birthday this weekend, I still don’t think I’m old enough to have a child at school! My darling wife (and extended family…and workmates…and the postman) reminds me that I am not that young any more, and that I should just come to terms with that reality. Fat chance!

His behaviour overall (save for his poor hearing) has been quite good, with flashes of angelic tendencies. Like the other day when he instructed his mother “no Mummy – you sit down on the couch. I’ll tidy up the blocks by myself.”

Sarah continues to grow at a pace that is a trifle concerning. Her vocab is extending by the day, and I now come home to a little voice, as she stands at the top of the stairs, saying “ay-oh Dah-dee” (“Hello Father dearest, how was your day – it’s good to have you home” ). She has definitely got the word “no” down pat, and she has no problems telling us what she wants, or doesn’t want for that matter!

Family members’ names are of particular interest to her, and she will often be heard walking around the house saying “PoppaNannyPoppaDehDehNanaPoppaNannyPoppa” – rolling all four grandparents into a mantra that she recites as naturally as breathing. Oh, and when I say “walking around”, I really mean “walking around in circles” as she loves to do that, for reasons that escape us. That’s also how she dances, although bobbing her torso or head also counts.

Speaking of her head, one of her cuter mannerisms at the moment is the way she seeks permission. If she wants to take something, she’ll walk up to it, look back at Christie or I, lower her head so as to be looking over her spectacles (if she was wearing them – it’s the best way to describe it) and nod her head saying “ah-duh?” – meaning “yes? I can have this thing that I want?” Words really don’t do it justice – it is super cute!

Christie is doing the hard graft that is growing one of our children in utero. Even while exhausted, she still seems able to run the house, look after the kids, help with kindy and playdates, keep me sane and look amazing – I don’t know how she does it.

As for me? I’m just along for the ride.

So, this time around, it has meant buying a new highchair and a miniature table and chairs set for the kids, all made out of sustainable (and sturdy) beech wood. The timing couldn’t have been better as the kids need some sturdy surfaces to carry activities out on as we start the second week of “holidays” from kindy. I don’t know who the holidays are for…the teachers maybe?…because it basically just means more work for us, but them’s the breaks!

One highlight of the holidays so far was Davey going on the ferry with Christie and Gemma and the Ward boys to see the Wiggles in concert in the city. He has seen them before, but every time is special and seems to set off year another level of creativity. This is then exhibited for weeks following through “shows” and dress-ups at home, with the lights turned off, of course, so as to set the correct theatre ambience. Sarah gets right into it as well: she’s not entirely clear what is going on, but it’s as good a reason as any to get dressed up in her pink princess dress and spin around on one foot clapping her hands until she falls down, dizzy.

It has been a good, if somewhat wet and drizzly, Easter, and we’ve enjoyed the time together as a family – especially since I had Thursday off as well (note to self for future reference, great idea!) Now, as autumn kicks in to high gear, and winter waits around the corner, we’re going to have plenty of more playing indoors I guess.

Best to check the home and contents insurance coverage.

Oh? We already told you that? Yeah, well we can’t tell you much more because when we went in for the scan, the little beggar kept his or her legs shut and we don’t know the gender! I find this highly amusing; Christie…not so much.

But we’re all trucking along here pretty well. Christie is finally starting to feel a little less nauseous, and will hopefully be feeling more than just supremely tired any day now. David and Sarah have been having a great time over the last few weeks, culminating in David going to a birthday party today for his friend Jack which was a Star Wars theme. Not knowing much about the franchise (yet – I’ll indoctrinate him when he’s a little older), he didn’t really know the characters or the story, and it was left to Mummy to explain.

The cake was a Darth Vader cake, and Christie had to explain the Jedi Knights were the “goodies” and they fought the baddies. A confused little munchkin then asked “so, the Jedis fight the Tornado?” “Tornado?” came the reply from Christie, “What tornado?”
“That guy on the cake.”

I suppose if you’ve never heard Darth Vader, it might sound a little bit like Tornado.

Sarah has a little bit of a cold at the moment – change of season and all that – but has been in generally fine form. She’s definitely got “da-da” and “mum-ma” down pat, proven this morning when Daylight Savings ended and she was calling for us at some ungodly hour!

Well, it’s all relative. Come August, we’ll be redefining civilised hours again I would think!

Christie is pregnant!

That’s right, working to our maxim that you can’t have too much of a good thing, Christie and I are expecting #3 in August this year. Very exciting…and a bit trying on poor Christie who is having a hard time with the ol’ morning sickness…and afternoon sickness….and evening sickness. Seriously, sucks to be the girl when it comes to having a baby.

Doesn’t help that we’ve just replaced the carpet downstairs. Why is that bad? Well, it means that the last two weeks have been spent with us sleeping in the lounge, Sarah in the office, and David in the living room. Fun times, when surrounded with drawers of clothes, shoes, towels, toys, beds and general mess. Not fun. But we’ll move back in this weekend, and then I get my office back!

Other than that, things have been ticking along nicely. David is loving kindy and having a great time there. Sarah is starting to try an talk more – which has her mimicking the tone of what we say. So, “bed time” becomes “meh my”.

I’ll aim to update you all with more again soon.

Yep, it’s been a busy January/February to be fair. I headed over to Melbourne for Alex (aka Quizzy) and Robyn’s wedding the weekend before last. Not only was it a brilliant wedding, but it was also a great opportunity to catch up with heaps of friends that went over – including Bex who came over from Taiwan!

It was a great trip…well, great for me. Christie was the one stuck at home with the kids while I gallivanted around Victoria! So, to make it up to her, we headed down to Napier last weekend to catch Sting in concert – which was also great! Quite frankly, Sting could have been awful (yeah, right!) and it still would have been a weekend away together. Not wanting to badmouth our little munchkins, but it’s fair to say that time away without them is a precious rarity…ahem, that just makes us appreciate them all the more when we get home.

Ahem.

Speaking of the little people, things are ticking along nicely. I’ve been making notes as the days (and weeks) rolled by of funny stories with the kids that I could post on the blog when I next got to sit down at my desk. My favourite quotable quote from David came a few weeks ago. When asking question number 1,000 of that particular half hour, we had the following conversation:

Me: “You know Davey, you don’t have to ask questions about everything! Sometimes, when Daddy says something, you can just say ‘okay Daddy’.”

David: “But Daddy, I’m just a small boy – I have to ask questions ‘coz I’m learning.”

Me: “…” (I mean, what can I say to that?)

So cute. Especially when he looks up at you with those big eyes!

Sarah continues to grow at pace. She’s now at the stage that when one of us says “Sarah, no!” – usually when on approach to the edge of the stairs/road/nearby cliff, her response (of course) is to run/waddle in the desired direction as fast as possible, all the while giggling until we catch her and she bursts out laughing. Funny, ‘cept when there are cars involved.

So, let’s see if I can set a better benchmark for the rest of February in terms of providing more regular updates. Anyone taking bets?