Fathers Day 2013

We celebrated Fathers Day in New Zealand this past Sunday which also happened to be the first day of Spring, September 1st.

Darian had made a card for Daddy at school and they also baked Ginger cookies for all dads which was really cool. They had arranged a packed lunch for all dads for the Friday before but Cameron had a 7:30am meeting and couldn't drop Darian off at school so he missed out on that.

Saturday we headed to the park so Darian could let off some energy. He enjoyed playing in the sunshine. We took his ball as well so him & dad played with the ball on the grass which they both enjoyed. As usual, Darian found a steering wheel, which was nailed into the jungle gym and once he saw that, that was all he wanted to play with. We've decided we have to find him a steering wheel he can play with at home, cos no matter which park we go to, he finds something with a steering wheel, a car or a boat and stays there for the duration of our visit.

On Sunday we had a lazy morning. Darian gave Daddy his gift (a ear, nose and eye brow hair trimmer) and after a home cooked Fathers Day breakfast we got ready for church. Darian played a bit while we got ready and we got him dressed in his baseball shirt that uncle Bradley & aunty Shamini bought for him last Christmas and finally fits him. He looked so cool, and dad was super chuffed with his gorgeous boy on Fathers Day.

After church we got home and Darian had a nap. I intended on going to the Zoo for the afternoon but my boys decided they wanted to stay home for the afternoon and have family time.

We then headed to Ponsonby for an early dinner at Thai Classic.

It was a great Fathers Day weekend. I said to Cameron that for the rest of his life he will always have a celebration on Fathers Day and his response, "and the gifts can only get better as Darian gets older". Don't know what that meant but you can draw your own conclusions! LOL!

We are very grateful for such an amazing man that is the head of our home. God has truly blessed us with a strong man of integrity to lead our family. I'm so blessed that my boy has such a wonderful role-model. I love you honey! Happy Fathers Day!

My 30th Birthday weekend

Well the big 30 has finally arrived. I still feel like I'm the 19 year old Cameron met but sadly. Where has the time gone? I would say I was sad to turn 30 but I wasn't, I think the thought of it did get to me as saying "I'm 30" just didn't seem plausible. I cannot believe how fast time has gone. Now with Darian in our lives, time is flying by even faster.

Cameron has been talking up my birthday weekend for months now and had so much planned but sadly his dad fell ill about 2 weeks before my birthday and Cameron & Bradley decided on the spur of the moment to go to South Africa. Dad had triple bypass surgery on Saturday the 20th of July. Bradley & Cameron were able to arrive in South Africa on Friday the 19th and were able to see dad before he went into surgery which was awesome. They spent 2 weeks in South Africa (well 10 days) and got back to this side of the world on Thursday the 1st of August. Cameron was adamant he would be home for my birthday and he was. BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT EVER! I can't express how hard it was without him. Both Darian & I pined away for him and were both super excited when he got home.

Needless to say he was very jet-lagged when he got home but still insisted we celebrate as best we could. At midnight he surprised me with my birthday gift, a beautiful peridot ring, which is my birthstone and my favourite colour too....

 I had taken my birthday off so we took Darian to school that morning and headed to the Stamford Plaza for breakfast. It was a nice, relaxing morning.

We then picked Darian up from school and headed back home so my dear husband could have a bit of a sleep.

On Saturday our friends Premika & Lenny came over with their daughter Kajal and CAKE! So they sang happy birthday and we got some Nando's for dinner.

It was a great evening and I'm so glad I got to celebrate with our friends.

On Sunday we headed out to dinner at Y-Not on Princes Wharf. We had a lovely time, just the three of us. 

All in all it was a wonderful birthday celebration. I can't complain about being in my thirties, I have an amazing husband and son and life is just perfect! What else could I ask for.

Darian's 15 month check up

Today we visited Plunket for Darian's 15 month visit. We've gone so many months without a plunket visit that it felt so strange driving into the car park at the clinic. Although I have to say I've been eager to see exactly how big he's gone.

He was a very happy little chap and "chatted" away to the nurse and played with all the toys. She was very happy with him and was very impressed by his social skills and the fact that he was so energetic and boisterous.

Darian's 15 month Stats:

Height: 79cm
Weight: 10.86kg's

The nurse's notes:
Progress: "What an awesome big boy. Very active, some words. Eating and drinking well"
Examination: "16 teeth; clear skin"
Comments: "Continue to brush twice a day; Remember safety with an active toddler; consider trying milk again; Keep up the great work!"

Last week Monday we visited the Mobile Dentist unit in Te Atatu and the dentist was very impressed with his teeth. She said that I would be surprised at how many kids his age have cavities and rotting teeth, all because parents don't pay close attention to good oral health in their kids. That was actually quite sad. Darian brushes twice a day and loves brushing his teeth, although teaching him to spit is the trick! But we'll get there soon enough. At that time he had 14 teeth and two were cutting through, this week they're all out and he has 16 in total.

Tomorrow he is booked in for hi 15 month immunisations which I am not looking forward to at all.
Here's hoping he'll surprise me and be a strong little boy!

Play time at the park

Today we took Darian to play in the park for a bit. On weekends he gets really bored and so we thought it would be a good chance for him to run around a bit and use up some of that energy.

He & I have gone previously but today was the first time he had gone with dad and he thoroughly enjoyed, I guess mummy doesn't run around with him and make it as much fun as daddy does.

He had so much fun on the slide with his daddy and playing in his favourite thing at the park, the little blue boat. He loves turning the steering wheel and then he loves running around after all the birds and being in the open space!

Mothers Day Celebrations

Well this Mother's Day it was just me and my boys. We decided to celebrate on Saturday evening instead of Sunday because everything is so overpriced on the actual day and well everywhere is so busy on Mothers day so we got out & about on Saturday. We went to Mecca Stonehouse for a five course dinner, which was super cool. 

Darian was well behaved up until the third course so we rushed through the last 2 courses and got him home. He was just over excited and wanted to run around the restuarant instead of sitting in the high chair.

We had an amazing evening, here are a few pics we took at home before dinner.

On Sunday we went to church for the Mother's Day service, which is always a delight at LIFE. We then invited some friends over for a BBQ and spent the afternoon relaxing and enjoying some sunshine.

Was a good Mothers Day weekend. Can't get any better than just me & my boys!

Our little boy turns one

Guess who's turned one!

Darian's first birthday celebrations have been quite full on, not that he would notice!

On his actual birthday on Tuesday, we took a cake to school, where he's friends and teachers took some out to celebrate his big day. I baked a rainbow cake which the kids really loved supposedly. I went through to the school at afternoon tea time when they sang happy birthday to him and shared some cake. He obviously had no idea what the whole thing was for and just wanted to clap and eat cake!

 

 

 

 

It's been a rollercoaster of a year and all I can do is give God thanks for this blessing of a child. He is an amazing litle boy and I'm so blessed to be his mummy.

 

We've been planning Darian's first birthday for weeks and decided a few weeks ago that we would do a Jungle Safari Theme. We found some designs on Etsy (thanks to my gorgeous friend Veryll for helping me out) and after weeks of searching for a venue managed to book a beautiful church hall at Te Atatu Baptist Church, on Te Atatu Road, 5 minutes from home. We had his birthday party on Saturday 20th April and invited a few of our closest friends and family in NZ. Bradley and Shamini arrived the day before his party so we were so happy he got to celebrated his day with family.

 



 You can find all the birthday pictures on my Facebook page, so I won't upload all, but here are a few shots of the day.

The cake was the highlight for me so we managed to make it the centrepiece on all the pics. I absolutely loved the lady who put it together for us. All I did was find a pic of what I wanted online and sent it to her and she created something so much better than what I had imagined. I was very impressed and she is now my go to baker fo all and any occassions. You can find Maria's details here.

We didn't have much time to set up the church cos we had booked and paid for a few hours only, so I was slightly disappointed with the look of the room, but it was an amazing party, all the kids loved it, the food was amazing (thanks to everyone who contributed) and my boy had a blast, and that's all that matters.All the late nights putting decorations and party packs and organising and such was all worth it.

Shamini was the lucky one who got to entertain the kids and she thoroughly enjoyed it, I don't know who enjoyed it more, her or the kids but she did so well. We had a little play area set up for the kids, with a colouring in station and games like "pin the tail on the donkey" and such. She managed to keep them entertained quite well and they all had such a blast!

We didn't do a full on meal but had nibbles like samoosa's, spring rolls, pies, fairy bread, etc (thanks to aunty Lallie, aunty Rekha & Sash for the yummy samoosa's) and I had made toffee apples (a bit nostalgic) which was a HUGE hit with kids and adults alike! Most of which asked me for the recipe which I was quite chuffed over.

Ella did an amazing job on the photo's as well, although I was slightly sad that she didn't capture the photo collage I'd made of Darian over his first 12 months, but that's a small hiccup in the greater scheme of things.

The weather wasn't great unfortunately, typical Auckland weather. The sun wasn't sure whether or not to come out at all and just as we got into the hall to set up there was a huge downpour. But when it cleared Ella grabbed us and did a few family shots outside. Darian loved the camera and the pics she took were incredible.

After all the partying we headed home and a few of our friends came over so mummy & daddy could also celebrate surviving the first 12 months! Darian was so exhausted with all the excitement going on around him, although he slept from about 5pm, he was wide awake at about midnight. Thankfully his uncle & aunty were there to tire him out so he fell asleep again about an hour later.

I'm so grateful to everyone who helped us out on the day with setting up, clearing up, catering and everything else. The day would not have been such a success without any of you.

I cannot believe how fast the year has gone. When I think that it was just the other day we brought this little bundle home and had no idea what to do with him but knew that we would love him unconditionally and with our whole hearts for the rest of our lives.

Darian you are such a wonderful little boy and such a blessing to us. Mummy & daddy love you lots and Thank God every day that He chose us to be your parents. Love you my baby, to the moon and back!

Weekend Update

It was a wonderful weekend for us.

On Saturday we were invited over to our friends Astrid & Lukas' place for a BBQ for their housewarming. We were up early on Saturday morning with Darian, who seems to think that it's better waking up at 6am on a Saturday but during the week wants to sleep in and we have to guiltily wake him (as was the case this beautiful Monday morning). Nonetheless, Cameron asked me to bake a ham to take along with us which I had done on Friday night but I also had a grand idea to bake a cake that morning to take along with us, so I baked a yummy chocolate cake too. Both went down as a great hit which I just have to add (no modesty here... LOL)! We finally got to Astrid & Lukas' place that afternoon and had a wonderful time with our friends whom we haven't seen in ages. Nessa & Sean are busy planning their wedding (July in Ireland), Jess & Josh are enjoying their relationship and have since moved in together, Astrid & Lukas seem to be on the verge of starting a family (that was all the talk on Saturday) and Adam & Helen are loving their growing family with Charlie now 3 and Lily at 6 months. We haven't seen this group of people in such a long time so it was good to catch up.

Astrid & Lukas have a lovely new home with a swimming pool and a spa so they asked us to come with out togs ready for a swim. After a good catch up and lovely BBQ lunch we had all the kids in the pool and cos it was a bit cool we put the littlies in the spa pool. Darian loved every minute of it. He was splashing around and having the time of his life in the pool. We just have to get our little water baby into the pool more often and I seriously have to get him swimming lessons as soon as he is of age. He thought it was just the best thing ever and thoroughly enjoyed playing with little Charlie. He chuckled and squealed everytime Charlie would play and splash about with him.



He was such a joy and everyone was totally enamoured with him. He was so tired that he konked out on the way home in the car and went from his car seat to the cot, totally undisturbed. All that splashing about did him good.

On Sunday we headed to church and afterwards went to do some grocery shopping. When mum was with us we would leave Darian with her and just go to the store on our own but now we've got to take him with us, and this is the second time we've done a full grocery shop with him and all I can say is, Darian is a handful. He is so full of energy that he can't stay strapped into the trolley for too long and just wants to grab everything. By the time we got home we were so exhausted from the shopping trip and he was still bouncing off the walls.

When it was time for bed I decided I will try something different. You see mum spoiled Darian by rocking him to sleep every night and it's been a battle to get him out of that habit. So last night I decided I would just put him in his cot and keep him there until he fell asleep. It took 45 minutes (from 8pm to 8:45pm) but he fell asleep on his own, in his cot, without any rocking for the first time in his life! Needless to say I was totally knackered by then but I have to keep reminding myself that it's for the best, for him & me in the long run. Everytime he would get up I would put him right back, cover him and say "it's sleep time now" so he can understand that "sleep time" means close your eyes and sleep! LOL! Oh well, we'll learn for next time! Granny totally spoiled this little munchkin!

It was a wonderful weekend spent with friends and my gorgeous two guys, I couldn't have asked for a better weekend.

On a side note: I've got Cherie's wedding coming up in just under 5 weeks and I'm on a mission to lose a few kg's so I can look my best on the day. I'm on week 2 of Weightwatchers and today started my pilates again. Last week I started going for lunchtime walks on the waterfront and lost a total of 2.6kg's so far. I have to keep at it otherwise I'll be the fat bridesmaid, and no one wants that.  My goal is to get back to at least pre-pregnancy weight by then, I'm sure if I keep this up for the next 5 weeks I'll get there. I just have 6kg's to lose to get there so.... Wish me luck guys!

Valentines Day 2013

Happy Valentine's Day...

Here is the card Darian got from his teachers for Valentines Day. It's too cute not to share...

Darian painted the card himself and they added the note and the pic...

My sweet Valentine's... the men in my life...