family pic

It's no Leeyen.

But it was free....

PS. And if it looks a bit weird (and Malachi's foot's cut off) it's coz I ILLEGALY scanned it.

HA!

Take that pixifoto.

That's what you get for charging people an arm and a leg for mediocre pictures with zero creativity...

A little while back

Before our big trip up to Turangi, Hamiton, Auckland etc, I had surgery.  Wasn't so bad.  After care was hell.  Having my dressing changed hurt worse then labor, no doubt.  So we had to consider not going on our trip.  Malachi was already so excited about going to the snow and seeing his cousins that Mum and Dad, bless their hearts, offered to take him instead.  We did end up joining them later, but they took him for the first couple of days.  As part of their road trip, they stopped in at Ohakea, the airforce base that we lived on for 10 years.  I was a little jealous that Malachi got to go there and I didn't.  But it was awesome that he got to experience it all.  Here are some pictures from his little adventure.

In the hangers with some of the helicopters.

Sitting inside the cockpit of one of them - if you know my son, you know how much of a BIG DEAL this was to him.

Driving one of the little carts round the hanger

Ok so this one almost brought me to tears.  This is the playground on the airforce base.  I used to play on this tractor when I was like 8.  I think that's awesome that my son got to play on it too.

On the playground

With mum, if you look to the top left, that house behind the trees is where we lived.

Feeding fish with Grandad, Aunty Amy, Uncle John and Hannah

At the trout farm with the family.

And after this day we joined them and so you've seen all the rest of the photos. 

 I'm so grateful for my parents taking him, he had a blast. 

Potty Training day 2, 3 4....

Day 2
Frustrating.  I know he's just little, but part of me felt really frustrated that he didn't just get it straight away.  Dumb, I know.  Didn't help that SOMEONE sabotaged the whole process by putting him in pullups so he didn't have to take him to the toilet....thanks babe....  Tried my sister-in-laws tips about asking every 10 minutes if he's dry and giving him a treat if he is.  It worked at first, and then he started asking us to check him every 5 seconds so that he could have a treat.  Totally not the point son.
5 wet pants.

Day 3
So much better!! We altered the plan, adapted some of Kelly Andersons advice.  Asked him every 15 minutes if he's dry, if he is, give him a treat, and then every 2nd time (30 minutes) take him and sit him on the toilet, and every time we had "results".  There seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel.
Only 1 pair of wet pants - yey!!

Day 4
Did the same as yesterday, check every 15 minutes, toilet every 30 minutes, pullups for nap and night.  He still says he doesn't need to go every time, and he still does something every time.  So we haven't quite got it down pack yet.  But the good thing was....NO WET PANTS TODAY!!!

Today is Day 5, Sunday, didn't want to risk any accidents at church just yet, so pull-ups it is.  But I'm feeling so much better about it all. Those first fews days, after changing all those pants, and feeling like he just wasn't getting it, I wanted to throw in the towel and not bother. But man am I glad we stuck with it.  That's $40 a month we won't have to fork out for nappies for him any more.  That's like $500 a year.  Think of all the clothes I get instead..... :)

But good job Malachi, he's been such a good sport.  Bribbing him with lollies didn't hurt....but now my big boys a real big boy.

Mission Potty - Day 1

I'm sick of buying two sets of nappies.  I was determined to never have two kids in nappies, and I would have potty trained Malachi earlier.  But we were moving and I didn't want to get it right, then move and have to start all over again.  So then we got here and its cold, so cold.  Idealy I'd potty train him when he could run round in the nude outside to save me washing clothes and cleaning the floor.  But summer seems so far away.....and he's so ready, has been for a while.  So today was the day. (Well, yesterday actually.)

We woke him up, went and bought undies and pull-ups for night time (car movie OF COURSE). I called my sister for some advice and encouragement. We showed him the potty, filled him full of juice and sat him there.  Took 20 minutes but he eventually did something.  We jumped and screamed and yelled for joy, which made him very excited.  And, he got a treat (a potty bear (gummy bear), one for wees and two for poos.).  Then I watched him like a hawke, and every time I saw him get still, I'd whip him off to the potty.  A couple of times he'd tell me he needed to go, after the fact.  Pull ups for naps and night.  The day wasn't so bad.

Day 1 stats - 7 sets of wet pants, bummer.  Luckily though I chose his thickest pants so there weren't any messes on the ground to clean up.  7 sucessful potty visits, 2 of them were "solid", which is meant to be the hardest.  So that was a positive.  I'm hoping tomorrow's stats are different, less pants to wash.....

If anyone has any tips or ideas, especially for boys, then let me know!!

“Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine, and earthquake cannot happen here. Those who believe this are either not acquainted with the revelations of the Lord, or they do not believe them. Those who smugly think these calamities will not happen, that they somehow will be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion.”

 - Ezra Taft Benson

I'm guilty of this.  Not consciously, but always having in the back of my mind, "It'll never happen to me."

 

So many things happen around me, and recently it feels like they're happening closer and closer to home.

 

This week marks the 1 year anniversary of the lose of a dear friend, Amanda.  That rocked me to the core.  She was faithful, pregnant, had a daughter, somehow in my mind I'd decided that Heavenly Father didn't take people like that, because they had a reason to be here.  I was wrong.

 

Last week a devastating earthquake hit NZ.  Haiti, Chile, Pakistan, they're all so far away. 

Christchurch, not so far.

 

I'm so grateful for Prophets who warn and caution us to be prepared.

Physically.

Emotionally.

Spiritually.

 

Because as much as I hate to admit it, as much as it terrifies me, we have no control over what happens, when it happens, and who it happens to.

 

All we can control is how prepared we are for it.

 

I resolve, in memory of Amanda, to be a little more prepared.

Painting the town

Well, actually just my Dad's garage.

While Tui is STILL looking for work, he's been put to work by my Dad doing stuff around the house.  Last week was painting.  Malachi OF COURSE helped (and by helped I mean climbed the ladder, painted the window and mummy's pants, and rubbed himself all over the fresh paint), and I OF COURSE took pictures of them, (not so easy when you're holding a sleeping baby).

Good work guys.

Such hard work, huh son.

You missed a spot.

Happy little helper.

Brothers

When malachi was born, it was obvious that he didn't look like either of us; he had tui's nose, but other then that, he could have been anyones kid.  So waiting for Vili to be born, we wondered if he would look like me, or like Tui, or like Malachi, or different all together.  Turns out he has more of my colouring (poor kid) but looks a whole lot like his brother.  I personally couldn't see it until I looked at the pictures.

(Top is Vili, 2 months old, bottom is Malachi, 1 month old, could you tell?)

But I think that even if they didn't look like each other, they'd still love each other just as much.