The mount

We are trying to make the best of the time we have, before Malachi turns 5 and goes to school, where we can do stuff during the day.  So we made a day trip over to the mount.  We started by hiking to the top of the mount.  It was much more vertical then Tui would have liked, but it was a great way to start the day.

 

Super pumped and ready to go!


Just some random sheep along the way - I love living in NZ!!

 
Now is that a view, or is that a view?

 Tui carried Vili most of the way and I carried Lani, and Malachi the trooper walked up himself.  So many people commented about how amazing it was that he walked the whole way, because it was NOT an easy walk up.

Then we headed to the beach for a play  (and a lie down, for those of us who were exhausted).  Malachi swam and played rugby with Daddy, Vili dug to china, and Lani ate a few cupfuls of sand.

Lani thought it would be funny to lie in the sand, regarless of the consequences (actually I think the consequence of having a sandy face made it even more exciting for her. She is so left field some times.)She thought it was hilarious.

 

 

An icecream to end the day.  

I love that my kids love the beach.  And I love that this summer has been long and warm and awesome.  I'm so sad for it to end.  But this was just one of those awesome, awesome, summer days to remember for a long time.

8 Month old Girl

(Poor baby is so neglected when it comes to my record keeping, this was written 2 months ago and has sat in the drafts folder (along with 6 other posts), waiting for mummy to finish it.)

With both of the boys my favorite baby age was about 4 months, but right now is by far my favorite time with this girl.  She's so much fun! She cracks us up all the time.

New years day she started to crawl (7 months).  It was such a funny experience.  We'd been trying to get her to crawl for weeks with no success.  Then new years day Malachi dropped a piece of cookie on the ground, Lani saw it, and she was away!  It took her about a week to figure out that crawling is not only a way to get things you want, but also a mode of transportation.  And now the sky's the limit.  Baby gates are up, doors are closed, and we vacuum twice a day. Hoi!  But I just love having a little person crawl into the room, or come looking for me.  I love finding her in random places (she especially loves being under things), and she looooooves being chased around the house.

 

A couple of weeks after she started crawling, she started pulling herself up on things - which also means she started falling off things.  Poor chicky.  Luckily the falling part didn't last long and mostly now she just makes a mess.  She loves pulling the DVD's off the shelf, and is now tall enough to reach the tissue box.  We've had to blockade the bookshelf because she did some damage there.  It's funny, it's like you JUST get over that stage with one child, just to have another one start up.

 

She loooooooves to eat.  Only self-feeding will do for her, we stopped bothering to even buy baby food ages ago because it just got thrown out (or Vili ate it).  She loves everything and anything she can get her hands on.  And she's figured out that if she crawls under the table she's bound to find the remnants of someones meal.  Gross.

 

 

Lani is talking so much more, especially when I'm growling talking to the boys, she yells at them just like me.  And she mimicks sounds too, she'll copy you if you say muma or dada or rara or baba.

 

She has this cheeky face that she makes, if she's done something silly or made us laugh.  It is hilarious.  She is such a clown.

Lani is by far the chubbiest baby we've had.  She started wearing size 1 clothes at about 7 months, not because she's particularly tall, but because she's just chubby!  She has this big belly and HUMONGOUS thighs and butt.  It makes me laugh because her brothers are such bean polls and she's this chunk.  She wears bigger nappies then Vili. I even got a picture of the 2 of them, showing how vastly bigger then him she is, even though he's 2 years older.

 

She's also our cuddliest baby.  We've never had a baby that snuggles into your neck or chest.  The boys would do it when they were tired, but she does it almost every time you pick her up, especially if you've been away.  And she is really good about being away from Mummy (so long as it's Daddy or Grandma looking after her).  I only feed her when she's going to sleep at night or for her naps, but even then, she's happy for Daddy to just rock her to sleep without it.  It's meant that I can be away from her for longer periods of time, to go hiking, or to the Temple (!!!!!!), or do stuff with just the boys.

She's taking 2 naps still, 1hr around 9.30am and 2hrs around 1pm.  She's still waking at least once in the night (no surprise there, both of her brothers did til after they were 1), but she quickly goes back to sleep once I feed her.  Still a tummy sleeper, and with her fat cheeks, it makes me wanna take a picture of her every time she's sleeping.

I feel like I could write forever about her.  I feel like I wanna capture every detail of her little life.  This girl just brings us, me, so much JOY.  

And I love her to pieces.

Christmas 2012

(This post is late. Sooooo late.  But like they say, "Better late then never!!")

I loooooooooove Christmas.  I love how everyone seems to smile more, give more, be a little kinder, a bit more patient, more willing to serve, more like Christ I guess.  I love it.  And I love that I can now pass my obsession with love of Christmas on to my kids.  We spent the month before Christmas talking constantly about Christ, and how he was born, and why he was born, and how he lived, and why he lived, and how we can be more like him.  It was the best month ever.  I don't know why we need a season to suddenly make it ok to talk about Christ constantly.  But I am already counting down to next Christmas!

We had Christmas dinner with my family the week before Christmas (coz that's when everyone was going to be around).  We did our 2nd annual Nativity play, which was totally awesome and the best part of the day by far.  I think as the kids get older and less crazy, the play won't be as awesome.

This year Malachi was Joseph, Vili was a shepherd, and Lani was meant to be a sheep, but she didn't co-operate (typical babies....) 

 

It was so good to have all the kiddies together again, even if it was just for a little while.

Christmas day we opened presents and ate breakfast. It's fun to see the kids develop in their understanding of presents. Malachi was excited about what was in them and who they came from, Vili was just excited to open a present (and took his time doing it, he caaaaaarefully pulled a tiny bit of paper at a time, and screamed if we tried to hurry or help him), and Lani just loved the paper. We have decided not do make Santa a part of our Christmas. The kids will get enough of it everywhere else, but we wanted to make Christmas in our home about Christ and about family, and so the kids knew that their presents came from Mummy and Daddy and Grandparents etc. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love that this was Lani's first Christmas, and I loved seeing how she took the whole day in and feed off everyone's energy and excitement.

  

Christmas Breakfast!!

  

 

And then we headed to Cooks beach for a few days.  I love Christmas at the beach, that IS Christmas to me.  The weather wasn't the best so we cut our trip short, but it was so great being with family and just hanging out.

  

 

 

 Merry Christmas every one!!!!

 

Frankton Gala

I love school gala's.  I love the family atmosphere, I love that all the proceeds are going to help a school, I love all the food.  This was the first time the boys had been to a gala.  It was not as big as I had expected, but still really great.  I'm so glad that it worked out that Tui would be home that night to come with us.

The boys got to ride on a mini Ferris Wheel.  We're so lucky that Malachi is such a great brother, coz there is no way Vili would have gone on it without him.  It was so cute, every time they went around they SCREAMED at us "Hi!!! Can you see me??!!! I'm up here!!! Whooo hoooo!!".  It was so cute.

 

We did a few carnival games, but only the ones where everyone wins a prize. :)

 

Each of the classes had to set up and run their own game or stall, so Malachi played a few of their games too, like the frisby toss.  He won a bottle of water.  He could not have been more proud of his water.

The boys got their faces painted.  Malachi wanted to be a boy butterfly, and Vili is a tiger. It was the first time that Vili was brave enough to let someone paint his face. 

 

 

 

They were going to have hot air balloon rides but it was too windy, so instead they just let the kids run around inside the balloon, which they still thought was really cool.

They also had the Super XV trophey on display, which the boys were underwhelmed by.

And of course, there was lots of yummy stuff to eat.

 

We topped it all off with a picnic for dinner and called it a great night.

Toilet Training Vili

I had been dreading this process for a while.  Malachi was generally a placid, obedient kid, no real drama from him, so potty training was drama-free.  Vili, however, is a lot more ''spirited'' and I was worried toilet training would be opening a can of worms.  So we spent a week prepping him, telling him he was going to wear big boy undies, that he'd go to the toilet like Malachi, that he'd get treats when he went etc.  Him and I went on a special outing together to choose his undies and his reward treats.  We dusted off the ol' potty and we were ready to go.

Monday - He wet through every pair of pants and shorts he owned, didn't have a single success.  In fact, I would have him sitting on the toilet for about 20minutes, nothing, the second he got off and got his pants back on, wet.  Over, and over, and over again.  And he would SCREAM that he hates the toilet, he don't like the toilet, and I'd have to hold him down to sit on it.  So by about 10.30am, with no more pants to wear, he was back in nappies.

Tuesday - I wasn't game enough to try again.

Wednesday - A total repeat of Monday, accident after accident, except he did have ONE sucess.  By 1pm all 18 pairs of his pants and shorts were wet and he was back in undies.

Thursday - I hadn't done the washing so there was no pants for him to wear so we took a break.

Friday - I decided this would be my last try.  If he wasn't ready then we'd just try again in a few months.  Vili wakes up and says to me "Mummy, I need to go toilet", very much to my surprise.  So I take him, sit him down, and he goes, just like that.  I'm astonished.  I cautiously put on his pants.  About 20 minutes later he tells me again "Mummy, I need to go to the toilet".  It took Malachi about 6 months to get to the point where he would initiate the going to the toilet, so this was a big deal to me.  That day he had only 1 accident.

 In the 6 weeks since we started, he has had 6 accidents total, none of those in the last 2 weeks.  He is also dry during naps and at night (although I'm not brave enough to let him sleep in undies so he still sleeps in a nappy).  We've been on road trips, to the movies, and still he's dry.  It's totally flabbergasted me, that of all the children to be a super easy potty trainee, it's Vili.  Don't get me wrong, I'm EXTREMELY grateful, he's now saving us about $15 a week.  I'm pretty proud of my 3 day wonder boy.  And he's pretty proud of himself too.