Too much to catch up on

Ok, so I thought I would back track and update the blog on all that's happened with individual posts but looking back there's way too much to talk about! So I'm doing it all in one, concise little post!

Since my last post, we've been to Sydney over Christmas, our little boy has grown exponentially and we're in the middle of planning a trip back home. Work has also been quite busy for both of Cameron & I and we've been trying to tidy up the house, well Cameron has. He's been water blasting and staining the deck and fence so that it's all neat and tidy. And has done a remarkable job so far.

It's been a beautiful summer in Auckland so far and we're dreading the end of it, with the end of summer comes cold, wet, dreary weather so we have to take advantage of this as much as we can.

To start our wonderful summer holidays we had our annual Ports of Auckland Christmas Family day at ASB Showgrounds and Darian had his face painted for the first time and got to play on bouncy castles which was much to his excitement.

Darian's daycare also had an awesome Christmas party but all the pics are hazy and distorted cos mr didn't stop dancing and had a massive tantrum when it was time to go home!

Over Christmas we headed over the ditch to see Bradley & Shamini. It was a wonderful two weeks of holiday that ended way too quickly. We visited the Australian Reptile Park, where no one took pity on me, who was a blubbering mess looking at all the snakes, reptiles, spider and other dangerous creatures in the Aussie wild.

Darian had a wonderful time playing at the beach, park and other exciting places we visited.

And on Christmas Day we got to spend a relaxing day at home, eating all kinds of yummy food and enjoying each other's company.

New Years was a quiet one for us. For the first time in a long time. We ended 2013 finding out Shamini is pregnant. She had a positive HPT on December 31st and another one on New Years Day. She then had a subsequent appointment with her GP who confirmed her pregnancy that Thursday, the day before we left. So our holiday ended on a massive high!

I promise to blog pics as her pregnancy progresses. 2014 is a baby boom year for the Pillay/Subban Family. Not only will Bead & Sham have their first in late August, but Cam's cousin, Kremalin & his wife Reena are expecting a week before Brads & Sham and Nicole, Cameron's cousin in Cape Town and her hubby are expecting their first at the end of May. Darian will have heaps of cousins by the end of 2014 and won't be the only one in his generation anymore!

On a sad note, at the end of 2013 we also lost the "Father" of our nation, South Africa. Nelson Mandela passed away on December 5th 2013. It was a sad day for all South Africans and was felt all across the globe. I happened to be in the office when the news broke, and one of my colleagues walked out of his office and announced it. I had to then google it to see if it was true. I spent the rest of the day reading up on all the good works and the life of this remarkable man and what he meant to me, as a South African. I also started reading his book, A Long Walk to Freedom.

So far, 2014 has been a busy year for us. Darian is now 22 months old and growing like a weed. He loves daycare and loves helping mum & dad around the house. Whether it be daddy in the garden or mum in the kitchen, he is always around saying, "help, help". He is such a joy and even though we're in the middle of tantrum season, we love every minute of parenthood. He is starting to mimic all we do and repeat all we say. Soon we will have to start censoring our vocab. He loves animals and thoroughly enjoys visiting the zoo. He's favourite animals are the seals and can spend hours just watching them play in the "Ta" (water). He is also loving his stuffed animals at the moment, including the "mama" (monkey - which is not funny that he has the same word for both mum and monkey), the "popo" (Hippo), pig and frog. He is still very much into his musical instruments and we are considering getting him a drumset but weighing up the noise factor against whether he will really enjoy it or not! And have decided once he turns 3 he'll start piano lessons, hoping his interest is still musically inclined by then.

We are planning a trip back to SA in April/May so that we can have Darian's second birthday party there so I'm in planning mode again. Lots to plan for with catching up with family & friends. It's super exciting!

So, I've tried to catch up as much as I can. I need to plan a day every week to update the blog so that I keep to it! Harder than it seems, keeping a blog updated!

So that's it from me for now. See you on the flip side!