Darian's Dedication

This past weekend was Labour Weekend here in New Zealand. Finally a long weekend after 4 months of nothing, previous weekend was Queen's birthday weekend in June.Anyway, we also celebrated Darian's dedication on Sunday. We had him dedicated at Life Central (http://lifenz.org/) during the 11am service by Pastor Scott. He was the life of the party, kicking and smiling and talking and laughing and clapping his hands during the dedication, so much so that the camera stayed fixed on him throughout the prayer and service. And he was one of 4 kids being dedicated! Needless to say, he takes after his dad, who loves the camera! Sadly we didn't get to take pics at church but Lenny did take a video. But once we got home we managed to take a few shots here & there. We had a few people home for lunch after. Lenny & Premika with Kajal, Cherie & Peter, Joash & Betty all came home for lunch however uncle Mogie, Aunty Poobie and Nesh couldn't make it for lunch as well as Evelyn, Api & Zivah. Although they all attended the service. Here's some pics taken: His dedication certificate

His Bible

Lenny, Darian & Joash

Daddy & Darian

Play time

Family Pics

Darian with Betty

It was a wonderful day and went off without a hitch so I am very happy & very proud of my boy!

Darian's first day at Daycare

Well this dreaded day has arrived. Today Darian started his first day at First Steps Parnell (http://www.kidicorp.co.nz/Home.aspx) and I have to say that this is the HARDEST thing I've ever had to do. We spent most of yesterday getting him organised, we went and bought him new clothes and whatever else we needed for him to get him ready for day care. And last night I got his bag packed, got all his bottles, formula and whatever else he needed together. And tried hard to get my head & heart in line cos they were both feeling and saying different things. In my head I know that he is going to be fine, I know that he will adapt & this is the best thing for him but my heart says he is my baby, a little boy who will think mum's abandoned him and left him with these strangers. Everytime I think of that my eyes well up! This is so unfair! Can't we fast forward to a week from now when he's used to this and in a routine and we're both ok with this arrangement? I know Darian is an adaptable & resilient boy and I'm sure he will excel and develop in leaps & bounds being in day care and his teahcers are amazing. They are so good with babies, and watching them with him assures me that he is in good hands, I guess it's only natural to feel this way. This morning he woke up at about 6.30am and I got him all ready and changed for the day ahead. Mum then took him to give him breakfast while Cam & I got ready. We then hit the road by 7.40am. He was good in the car until we got into traffic, the minute the car slowed down he got all grizzly. I managed to give him his dummy and he settled down. But then he started playing and "talking" to his toys and the dummy fell out of his mouth and out of his reach. He was unable to get it and I was unable to reach it so he cried for the last 5 minutes of the drive, although it seemed like an hour. There is nothing worse than not being able to comfort your baby. Eventually we got there and when we walked in he was all smiles and his usual self. He started playing with the toys and they had a book open on the floor which he darted for and wanted to play with. His teacher took him and played with him and he was fine, so I thought that would be the perfect time to leave. I gave her a run down of his routine, gave her his formula and nappies and bag, etc and started to leave. At that moment, he started to cry, for no reason! He went from happy-go-lucky to "snot-en-trane" (Afrikaans for snot & tears). I told her that he may be tired and want to sleep as it was his morning nap time, so she should try giving him his bottle and if that doesn't work his dummy. He settled down once he saw her grab his bottle so I thought before I start crying I better leave. I have never walked out of anywhere faster in all my life. I didn't want to look anyone in the eye and I didn't want to talk to anyone for fear of bursting into tears. I got into the car and broke down! I cried all the way to work and called Cameron in tears. I had to then call mum cos she gave me strict instruction to call once I was at work to give her a run down of the morning's events, but that didn't help either. Friends of our's, Dan & Emma Trotman have their son, Alex at the same day care. When we got in Alex was there already so it was a bit of a relief knowing that people we know trust the caregivers and teachers there. And Emma, knowing it was Darian's first day, contacted me to give me some more assurance that he would be fine. All in all, I know (in my head) that this is not doing him any harm but will only help him in his development and social skills but as a mum, this is tearing my heart in two. I just want to be there with him so he knows it's ok and mummy still loves him. Here are some pics of his first day... I picked him up at about 5pm that afternoon and he was all smiles and having a jolly old time. (I called about 3 times during the day and it took every ounce of self-control to not run to the day care at lunch time just to check up on him.) The reports were exceptional, one of the centre supervisors (Stephanie) could only tell me good things. She was amazed at how happy & smiley he is and how he adapted so quickly. One of his teachers (Mai-Lin) told me that he was very good except at nap time, she said she battled but he eventually went down for a nap in the morning and after lunch but hadn't had his afternoon nap. Needless to say, by the time we got into the car he was fast asleep and slept all the way home. When we got home he was his usual happy self so I know for a fact that he is well taken care of and happy at day care. Such a relief to know my boy is doing so good. Speaking to his teachers, I hear he had an amazing day

The Week that was

And what a week it's been.I was looking forward to a queit, relaxing week as it was school holidays so I knew traffic would be minimal and the office would be queit with all the parents of school-going kids away. Perfect time to get things done that I wouldn't necessarily have the time to do in between meetings and deadlines. The week started off fine, quiet but good. But on Wednesday it all changed. I woke up and it was just a normal morning until I got out the shower. Getting ready I bent down and felt the sharpest pain down my neck & into my right shoulder. I screamed in agony and when Cameron turned round to ask waht was wrong I couldn't look him in the eye, I could barely move. I don't know what I did or how I did it but my back had cuaght and I was in agony. Cameron helped me onto the bed and tried to rub my back and ease the pain at least but with him just touching me and moving me I was in tears. I still tried to get dressed and get to work cos I knew I couldn't miss it as it was month end and everyone knows that's the busiest time in any business. But no sooner had I got dressed I realised I was in shape to drive, I couldn't even lift my arms to brush my hair or put on make-up. My mum had to help me undress and get into bed too so it was just never gonna happen! Anyway, I spent the rest of the morning in bed and tried to sleep so that I could at least escape from the pain but when I woke up it felt worse. My neck & shoulders had tensed up so bad I couldn't turn my head in any direction and couldn't look down. Darian kept stretching out for me to pick him up and would look at me with a huge smile to say, mum let's play, but I couldn't. My heart broke cos he wouldn't take his eyes off me and I knew he was wondering what was going on. That afternoon when Cameron got home he took me to the osteopath and he was literally shocked at the state of me. He told me that he could see this had been buidling up for ages and that it was all a combination of the nature of work I do (sitting at a computer all day) and the effects of having a new baby. The constant lifting and carrying, the breastfeeding, broken sleep, etc. He managed to realign my spine but when he got into my neck I couldn't bear the pain any further. After a 45 minute consultation I felt somewhat better but not anywhere near 100%. Thankfully mum was here to take care of Darian and cook dinner, etc and Cameron took over at nights to wake up for Darain's feeds and changes. I really felt hopeless and helpless. Thursday morning I decided I had to go into the office but only lasted til lunchtime and then headed off. One of the wonderful women I work with, Ricki, saw me and instantly knew what was going on. She had had issues with her neck & shoulders after she had her little girl a year ago and instantly called her husband to get him to bring her neck brace and hot packs, etc to help me. Friday I didn't go to work either but stayed home and tried to relax. By Saturday I was at least able to hold Darian but couldn't pick him up or carry him around. My neck had some movement but I was still very uncomfortbale. By Sunday I still had limited movement but the pain subsided condiserably. I was able to carry Darian around, change his nappy and pick him up when he reached out for me. I'm back at work now and worked a full day all Monday & Tuesday and although I am still very uncomfortable I am moving freely. I'm hoping I get this sorted soon. Although I had been going to an acupunturist since Darian was born I feel it's not doing much good if I'm getting this immobilising pain so will try the osteopath for now. Although my husband says all I need is a good massage! Hope I get one of those too...

And through all this, Darian is still the ray of sunshine he has always been and knows exactly how to get mummy to smile!

Spring Forward

You know summer is almost here once the clock changes! Today we had to spring forward an hour in time with the start of daylight savings. Not good when you lose an hour but lovely when you realise that this means the days are longer and that summer is on it's way. The weather hasn't been kind ot us though (typical Auckland weather) but on Sunday we took the opportunity to play in the sunshine while it lasted. We went to church in the morning and got Darian all dressed up in his shorts and golf shirt and trainers, he looked so adorable. Once we got home and after his nap, Cameron decided he would go cut the grass. Darian was very intrigued about what dad was doing so I took him outside and made him sit on the lawn. His first experience with grass, and he wasn't surprised or scared, but looked at me like to say, mum whats the big deal!

Not a very "exciting" day but I've learned that when you have a baby it's the little things that count and make your day! And just playing in the grass happens to be just that!

Weekend fun

This weekend we had a really good time at home, that sounds like a contradiction of terms to most, I'm sure! But we spent the entire weekend bonding with our little boy and it doesn't get any better than that! On Friday his new high chair arrived so we got that set up and he loved it. He was very happy to "test" it out and I am so pleased he loves it cos it was getting quite difficult trying to feed him in anything else. We tried everything, his little rocker chair, his bumbo seat, his pram, he would just turn to look at everything and would end up messing anything & everything. Now he can mess all he wants and we just wipe it down! Awesome! LOL!Saturday morning we were up early and got everything done, the cleaning, the yard and then headed to Nando's for lunch. Our little man was amazing as usual and behaved so well, although after about 10 minutes in the kiddies chair got quite irritable so he eventually sat in between Cameron & I and played with his toys while we ate. We then headed off to Westfield West City and got a few things we needed for him. With all the summer clothing out now it was so nice going to buy him new clothes. We got 2 pairs of shorts and a polo shirt for him, can't wait to get him into that! I love that it's starting to warm up now, bring on Summer!Sunday we spent the day just relaxing at home, I was so tired that we gave church a miss this week. Darian was not sleeping for long bouts this weekend for some reason, instead was waking up every 2 hours so I didn't get as much sleep as I intended to. So Sunday was a lazy day, but we spent the afternoon playing with Darian. Which was the highlight of my entire weekend. He is learning to crawl now so it's so much fun with him trying to move around to grab his toys, etc. And I must say he does get around. He gets up on his knees and arms and rocks back & forth before flinging himself towards whatever it is he is after so before you know it he is on the opposite side of where you've left him. It's only a matter of days I'm sure before he gets this crawling business down pact. I hope I'm able to upload some video's of him crawling as I am uploading from my iPhone. If not, here are just some pics from this weekend.

Garage Conversion

For the past few weeks Cameron has been diligently and adamantly bidding, buying and haggling his way to get the best gym equipment so that he can convert our garage to a home gym. Needless to say his persistence has paid off and this weekend we finally put the last touches to the garage and can finally call it a home-gym. He started off with getting the carpet laid (all by himself, my DIY man, then assembling every bit of equipment and finally he got some shelving for the rest of his garage stuff and we put that up on Saturday. So now we have a full-fledged home-gym. We've pretty much converted only half the garage and the other half includes our laundry & storage space.All in all he did an amazing job and I am so proud of him. He has proved once again that he is the type of man who, when he puts his mind to something makes sure he does it to the best of his ability.

Darian at 5 months

Yesterday Darian had his 5 month check up with Plunket as well as his 5 month immunisations. Because it was so full on I decided to take the day off so that I could be with my boy and not leave him, in case he needed his mama!! Or maybe it was in case I wanted to believe that he needed me! LOL! His Plunket appointment was at 10am so he & I headed off to visit Megan, the nurse. He was such a joy, He went to Megan and played with her as if he had known her forever. Maybe he is used to her considering she's been part of his life since he was about 7 weeks old. Anyway, we chatted about his development and she was very impressed by him. This is what we discussed: - He is starting to sit up on his own - Starting to roll over - Moves backward on all fours instead of forward, something she says all babies do and it's just a matter of time til he realises he can move forward - On solids now, has his cereal in the mornings, veggies at lunch then some fruit in the afternoon and laps it all up. He has about 4 200ml bottles a day and she's encouraged me to get him a sippy cup or trainer cup so that he can learn to drink on his own and have more water now that he is on solids. She noted that he will progressively drink less now that he is on solids. - He loves playing with his toys - He loves cooing and "talking" and can say "ma-ma" & "da-da", even though he probably doesn't realise what it means, although mum & dad are stoked!! - Mimicks everything we say, or at least tries to - He recognises our faces and voices- He is teething so does get grizzly but is a joy 99% of the time - Still not sleeping through the night and wakes up for a feed but does have between 4-7 hour stints of sleep at night, which give mummy some sleep at night!She was very happy with him and how he is developing and also had to ensure that mummy is also happy & content. We then went on to measure and weigh him and well, our boy is getting way too big way too fast. He is now 7.7kg's, so he has put on 700g since his last visit and is in the 90th percentile for boys his age. He is a tall boy, measuring at 77cm, which could not even be measured on the graph so he is taller than 100% of kids his age! He has grown 15cm since his last visit. He also got a little gift from Plunket, his first toothbrush & toothpaste and a non-slip bath mat. His appointment with Dr. Bishop was at 2pm so we headed off to his offices then, mum came along too because I think we both needed her support! At his 6 week check up Dr Bishop noted a slight (systolic) heart murmur which I wanted to check out. It's all gone. He was very happy with Darian and was amazed at how active he is. Darian would not stop moving, kicking and talking and smiling and grabbing the stethoscope. Dr Bishop had to give him something to play with try to calm him down so he could actually get a decent chance and listening to his heartbeat. That didn't work and we resorted to his dummy which did the trick. They were both very intrigued with each other! I made note of Darian's breathing and constant blocked nose so Dr Bishop had a check. He listened to his lungs and made note that there wasn't anything wrong but when he checked his ears he did note some liquid on Darian's eardrum, or Bilateral Ear effusions. He explained that this (WORST CASE) could lead to Darian needing grommets later on but he wants to monitor it to see if it is needed. He told me not to worry as it is seen in alot of kids his age and most of them never lead to surgery. He has said that he may need some Audiology testing as if it gets worse his speech development may be slow. For now his hearing is fine as he is alert and recognises voices and stuff and understands you but he noted from 1-2 years, when they learn the phonetics of word through hearing it may cause problems. So we'll send him for some hearing tests but like he said with everything else, he is giving me the worst case scenario and he doesn't think it will come to this but he is giving me the full picture only. He also noted that he has "adenoidal breathing" which means that his adenoids are quite enlarged and because of this the breathing passage is narrow so it sounds like he is pushing air out of his nostrils, hence the heavy breathing. He noted that as Darian gets bigger and his skull gets bigger the breathing will just correct itself, if not he'll have to get his adenoids out. So we will have another check with Dr Bishop in 3 months and as always we are believing God that it will all work out and Darian will be healthy & whole. It's been my prayer for him since I found out I was pregnant (and before that) so I am not deterred by this, I know my boy is healthy & strong and I know God will be true to his promises! After Dr Bishop we had to see the nurses at the Medical Centre and he got his immunisations. He was such a pleasure, talkign and smiling at everyone and being his usual cheerful self then he flet that needle go into him and, oh boy, did he scream! It broke my heart. As he is getting older his reactions to the jabs are getting worse. And the worse part, he got 2! One on each thigh! My poor boy! Needless to say he got tonnes of cuddles from mum who also almost broke down in tears. I then gave him to my mum so she could give him a bottle and try to calm him down. But he wouldn't have it, he needed and wanted his mummy and although we stopped breastfeeding over a month ago he wanted his boobies and well, I felt the pulling and knew there was something for him there! And well, after that he was good! When we got home he slept and when he woke up he was just his usual happy self! The night wasn't too good though, he kept moaning and groaning in his sleep and when he woke up for his feed he battled to go back to sleep. He kept tossing and turning and moaned and groaned until he eventually fell asleep in mummy's arms and was quite content just laying there. We thank God for our little boy everyday! As he gets older & bigger we realise just how amazing he is and how blessed we are to be his parents. Best moment yesterday was when Cameron got home from work and he played with Darian for a bit before he started his work-out. WhenCam handed him over to my mum and left the room, Darian cried bitterly! He wanted his daddy and only his daddy. When Cam walked back into the room, he smiled and when Cam put his arms out to pick him up he got all excited and started kicking and laughing! Too clever that one! Knows exactly what buttons to push with us! Here are some pics I took yesterday. We tried on his shoes which he got as gift when he was born and they finally fit! He got the Nikes from our friends Ashveer (Ratie), Wesley & Deryil (Raunch) in South Africa and the black & white "Vans" from Bradley & Shamini. Isn't he so cute and uber-stylish???