Little Lani

(Written 2 weeks ago.)
This girl is such a sweetheart (except for the screaming at me when she's hungry, which is pretty much every second she's awake).  She's 3 weeks old now, which is insane, but at the same time, it feels like she's always been with us.  The boys just adoooooooooooooore her, and she loooooooooooves watching them play.  I'm pretty sure Malachi is her favourite person.  She will sit and look at him and listen to him singing to her or reading her books or telling her stories about his cars for ages, longer then she's entertained by me that's for sure.  She is a tummy sleeper, just like Malachi was, but only in the day.  At night she wants to sleep on her back or side.  (Hey, whatever works!)  She already takes a bottle, halelujah.  And just like both her brothers, no spit up, ever, double halelujah!!  She makes the funniest faces, gives us the stink eye all the time, and makes an ooooooo shape with her mouth just like her Daddy did as a baby.  I think she looks the most like Tui out of the 3 of them.  Most people say its the other way round and she looks the most like me.  Her hair is darker then the boys was, and her eyes are lighter.  She's a champ feeder, a real Tongan.  And last week she weighed 9lb 6oz, Vili's birth weight.  She's still got a while to go before she reaches Malachi's birth weight.  Maybe by 7 or 8 weeks I reckon.  Her cheeks are losing their chub which makes me sad.  But she's so precious, I just love her to pieces.

Having 3 kids hasn't turned out to be so hard. (Touch wood.)  Going from 1 to 2 was a struggle, I didn't go out on my own with them til Vili was about 5 months old.  But this time it doesn't feel like such a big deal.  (That's probably due to the fact that Malachi is such a big help and takes care of himself and Vili so really I'm just looking after Lani.)  I don't feel as tired as the last 2 times.  But I feel way fatter and getting dressed the worst part of my day.  But she was worth it, and I'd do it all over again.....in 2+ years. :)

Her first bath. She loved it, little water baby.

Loves with her brothers.

 

Her ooooooo face.

A full tummy = a happy, sleepy baby.

Gorgeous hat made by aunty Amy.

Pretty dress from Aunty Nana and headband made by Aunty jessie - such a spoilt girl!

Reading books with malachi

Blue steele

#3 failed attempt at a photo shoot of our beautiful little girl

Vili's 2.....help!!!

Little Vili is now officially a 2 year old.

Happy Birthday Vili!! 

He told me he wanted "a fishy party" so I made him a fish cake and we had a fish n chips lunch with his cousins.  It was so fun.  I'm so glad our kids have cousins living close enough to be their friends.

Birthday pancakes

The fishy cake - I have to give props to Tui for the rainbow scales, it took you forever but it meant that I didn't have to do it, so thanks!

Presents

He wanted a scooter, just like Malachi.

Vili is such a little character.  He wants to be Mr Independant, every other sentance is "No Mummy! Vili do it!!", and if we ever limit his independence, the world ends in a giant ball of tears and screaming.  He climbs and touches and yells and explores and jumps all day long.  As parents we've had to re-evaluate our parenting techniques, because Malachi was just never like that.  He didn't put his toast in his milk, or rub glitter glue all over his face, or jump off the table, or pull all the DVD's out of their cases.  But Vili does.  And I'm sure I'd go insane at him, except for the fact that he's so sweet and loving and cuddly and cheeky and funny to me.  He reminds me so much of my youngest brother.  A little love monkey who just oozes with warm fuzzie, who turns into the devil when things don't go to plan. Bi-polar almost.  (If my brothers were reading this they'd say "Just like his Mum".lol.)  He's a clever little kid, he has a thing for puzzles, especially matching ones.  And although he never sings along at prayers or FHE or in nursery, I hear him singing word for word 'I am a Child of God' and 'Follow the Prophet' and a ton of other songs when he's by himself.  About 2 months ago, he suddenly started counting to 20 on his own (him and Malachi were playing hide and seek and usually he would say "1, 2, here I come!" but this time he started counting and just didn't stop til he got to 20).  He speaks in 5-6 word sentances, and will copy anything you say, well, attempt it anyway.  He knows all his colors and shapes (his favourite color is yellow and his favourite shape is an oval....don't ask me why....). He loooooooooooves fruit, and he can often be found climbing onto the table to get something from the fruit bowl.  He feeds himself with a fork better then Malachi does, and is learning to use a knife (I guess he sees us doing it and wants in).  We discovered last year that he had an intolerance for lactose, makes him produce too much mucus which means he has a constant runny nose when we give him milk or cheese etc, which means he drinks soy milk instead.  He's on a waiting list to have his adnoids removed, which I'm looking forward too so he doesn't snore any more, and it'll mean he can actually breathe through his nose.  He also is seeing a specialist next month because he was born with a lazy eye which we think is affecting his vision.  Poor kid.  Vili is an early bird if ever I saw one.  And when I say early, I means EARLY.  If he sleeps past 6am, that's a blessing.  It's terrible and we have tried everything from growling him to bribing him, to toys in his bed, to him being in our bed, but nothing get him to stay in bed and stay asleep.   And once Vili's awake, the rest of the house is awake. (He enjoys using his outside voice much more then his inside voice....).  Vili is already a master of manipulation, if I say no when he asks for something, he just walks right over to Daddy and asks him.  And he'll keep going between adults until he gets what he wants from someone.  Cheeky kid.  But oh how we love him.  He will act out so bad, then come and say sorry, give you a big ol' snuggle, and then make a silly face at you until you laugh.  That's Vili is a nutshell.  And we wouldn't change him (except for maybe turning his volume down, keeping him in bed longer in the mornings and removing the word "no" from his vocab :). )

I love you honey. Oxo

MOTAT

So while we were in Auckland dropping Grandma Mele off at the airport (tear!) we went to MOTAT (museum of transport and technology).  Got a vouchure to get in free, saving us $65, yey!  It required a full day, and all we could offer was 3 hours.  But the boys loved every minute we were there.  The place was huge and we barely scratched the surface.  It was so big there was a tram that ran between exhibitions, which we spent most of our time on, rode it 4 times.  There was an aeroplane section which stunned and amazed them; they ran around (literally) saying "Whoa!! Whoa!! Whoa!!!", and a classic car section that recieved an equal amount of enthusiasim, especially the old firetruck.  And then there a ton of science museumy type stuff that was a little over their heads really but they still enjoyed mucking around with.  Tui and Malachi went in this space ship simulation that looked really fun (I stayed outside with the under 4's who weren't allowed - luckily Malachi had just turned 4!!).  Lani slept the entire time, good girl.  And the boys had a blast.  I would totally reccomend going there, if you have boys.

Lani slept through her first road trip - what a good girl!

And the boys sang the whole way there.

The tram that took up most of our time. Vili held on to his little ticket for days afterwards.

Vili is obsessed with anything yellow, so he was thrilled to find a yellow plane!

By far their favourite part.

Such a fun day!

Malachi visits the dentist

I feel so old writing about taking my kid to the dentist.  I was so scared for him (the dentist was never my favourite place to go) I'm sure I made him nervous, despite my falsified efforts to tell him how awesome the dentist is.  But he was brave and loved all the attention.  And I have never met nicer dentists EVER!!!  They said he has fantastic teeth, no problems.  And  made him a balloon boy out of a rubber glove.

Whew, no issues.

But I have a feeling that Vili's visit is NOT going to be so easy breezey.....

Malachi turns 4.

I've said it before and I'll probably say it again next year, but I CAN'T BELIEVE MY BABY IS 4!!!  Although he acts so big it was weird saying he was only 3.

So the day before his birthday he got to do 'The birthday walk' at preschool.  They talk to the kids about what a year is, and how the earth moves around the sun and that makes a year.  Then they light a candle to be the sun, hold a globe, and while the teacher reads out a little history of each of their years (written by us), he walked around the sun.  The whole thing is a little ritualistic for me, but it makes the kids feel special and that's what matters.

Then the day of his birthday he had his traditional pancake breakfast (it's the only time they get chocolate pancakes with icecream).  And he got to open his present from us - a scooter that he's been talking about for months.  And so we had to go to the lake for him to try it out.

Then the next day we had his party.  There were so many people and we were so busy trying to say hi to everyone that I didn't get to take any pictures.  Luckily my sister grabbed the camera and took pictures of the presents and cake.  Malachi had such a great time that we didn't mind the absolute caos that 50 people in a little house can create.

He wanted a digger cake.  And with a 1 week old baby, this was what Mummy came up with.  My brothers thought I'd used real dirt (it's actually crushed up oreos), so I guess I did a good job.

When I think about Malachi the 4 year old and everything he's becoming it makes me cry.  I am so incredibly proud to be his mother, and feel overwhelmingly blessed that he is my son.  I know everyone thinks they have the greatest kids, but he is so easy to have that I swear I totally lucked out.  The sort of stuff we have to "growl" him for is things like not shutting all the curtains when he was asked to, or forgetting to bring his reading books home from school.  We have no issues from this boy.  He's the best big brother a kid could ask for, often voluntering to stay home from stuff so that he can help me with the baby.  He's so bright and so eager to learn and know things.  I am constantly in awe of how much he can do, and how hard he tries when he can't do something.  But before I start turning this into a list of his achievements (which would go on forever), let me just say that I know that if as his parents we don't screw him up, we can expect great things from this kid.  The Lord truely has saved the best for last.

I love you Malachi, more then you know and probably more then I show. 
Happy Birthday son. Oxo