Valentines Day 2015 - Week 17

So this week we celebrated Valentines Day, the 12th V-Day as a couple! Gosh time flies! It was a very unorganised celebration as we've both been so busy at work that planning anything was just totally not in our thoughts. However, we did manage to organise Ashley to come round and babysit Darian. When she arrived we thought, ok, now what! LOL! We thought we'd just do dinner and a movie, like old times, but when we realised the movie times and the time we needed to be back, it just wasn't going to work out. So a last minute plan to go to Nando's for dinner was the only thing we thought of. After dinner we thought, let's just take a drive to Mission Bay, grab an ice-cream and a walk on the beach, as the sun was still out, thanks to daylight savings. So we did, and on the way, we passed a mini golf course and thought, perfect, let's do that. It was quite fun. We haven't played mini golf since I was pregnant with Darian and we went on our babymoon to Tauranga.

After that we stopped at Movenpick in Mission Bay and had an ice-cream before a casual walk on the beach, by which time the sun had set but it was still bustling with people and families. Which did make us feel quite guilty for leaving our little boy with a babysitter. We hardly get time alone, just the 2 of us so even though we felt slightly guilty, we enjoyed just being a couple again. 

We got home a little after 10pm, by which time Darian was fast asleep. All in all, even though it was unplanned, we had a great time on our impromptu Valentines Day date.

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

16 week update

So today we had our 16 week check up with Renee. It was the first appointment for this pregnancy Cameron was able to get to, as he's been so busy the last few months. I was super excited that he was there though, and we got to hear baby's heartbeat, my second, Cameron's first. Renee was happy and says it sounds strong and typical of a healthy, active baby! What more could I ask for. The heartbeat was between 130-150 beats per minute, depending on when baby moved or rested. If old wives tales are anything to go by, the heart rate shows it's a boy. Well, we'll see. We have an anatomy scan at 20 weeks, which is just short of a month from today and this is when we'll find out the gender. That's hoping baby doesn't cross his/her legs and not show us!

Renee is referring me to a Physio as I've been battling with aches and pains especially in my back. She says they will also give me a belly belt free of charge too so that's a saving, as we were going to buy one today. She says that the aches I've been feeling are all normal and is just ligament pain but I should watch out for any pain that doesn't go away with panadol (paracetamol) and/or rest, and of course if there is any bleeding.

We see her in another month, March 10th.

I just wanted to share a picture of Renee as I'm not sure I've done this before.

We also covered pain relief options today and I finally found my old notes from my pregnancy with Darian which I was able to share with Renee. She was quite shocked to see that Debbie was our midwife with Darian, as she works with Debbie now in her new role in Diabetes Support.

I can't believe that we are almost halfway. Time is really ticking by fast.

This is me at 16 weeks, 3 days (today).

Our Aussie Holiday

Found some of our pics from our holiday and thought I better upload these before they are lost or forgotten about.

Us on the plan from Auckland to Sydney. Darian loves flying so he is super excited to be on the "air-wo-plane".

The two cousins having a stand off while watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

That's all we seemed to watched!

Not that Darian seemed to mind...

They loved spending time with each other

Some cousin love

No words for these two anymore...

A day at the park...

This is actually a nice shot of the neighbourhood, Brads & Sham live just up the road.

like I said, no words... LOL!

Pa and Darian

Family pic

Pa and his boys

Nana, Darian & Pa

Darian up to no good as usual, with uncle Bradley and cousin watching over

Darian and Xavier

Our little growing family

Family pic

Grandparents and their grandsons

Pa & Darian getting ready to say goodbye at Sydney International

Pa, Bradley & Nana

Our 33 month old

It's hard to believe our little boy is almost 3 and as we begin the journey of adding to our little family I think it's only fair to have a catch up on how our little me has been fairing these last few months.

I've been a little concerned about Darian's language development but after hearing from my mother in law that Cameron was also a delayed talker I feel assured my boy is doing ok. I've also read up on some language milestones and Darian is actually on par with where he needs to be.

At the moment he repeats almost everything we say, the new word of the day is "mazing" or amazing. It's so cute, he'll say, "wow mummy, mazing" for almost anything, even just waking up and going into the lounge. He's learned to pull an angry face and say, "Darian angwy" while crossing his arms. He still loves his cartoons and requests them the minute he opens his eyes. They include Mickey mouse clubhouse (which had a renewed interest after our holiday in Australia when "cousin" watched his daily dose of Mickey), Team UmiZoomi, Paw Patrol, Henry Hugglemonster and of course his all time favourite, Dora the Explorer. 

Darian is also interested in lawn mowers, even though he is still petrified of them. It's the one thing that keeps him out of lthe garage when he realises that that's where daddy keeps his "mawnmower".

He asks lots of questions, like, "whatchu" eating", "what's dis", "where daddy". He is quite unamused that the lawn is overgrown and keeps saying "grass too long" with deep concern on his face. He loves seeing the horses at the little paddock in our area, we have to pass the horses to get onto the motorway and looks for them all the time. He loves the construction on the motorway with all the diggers and cranes. Much to civil engineer daddy's delight.  

He is utterly obsessed with trains. Gets super excited when he sees one go by at school as the train line runs past the daycare. Loves his train set that he got from his uncle and aunty at Christmas as well as the Lego set Cameron's friend Poovi got for him when we were in SA last year. He loves playing with his daddy and waits for daddy to get home from work everyday and then won't leave him alone until they've played either "soccer" outside, or with the train set, or with his blocks which must be built into whatever he asks for. Daddy must do everything and he is constantly running around the house screaming "Daddy, daddy". Daddy has even taken over bedtime now so he gets extra time with his daddy which he seems to be thoroughly enjoying. 

He still loves to read and his favourite book at the moment is Green Eggs and Ham. He did like One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish but has since moved on. At school his favourite book is the Berenstein Bears, Bears in the night. 

His imagination has taken off and you will constantly find him engaged in some kind of imaginary play. "Dragon coming" he screams as he runs around, "water for fire" to put the fire which the dragon has caused, out. 

He also still loves his music. His favourite band is Of Monsters and Men. He has lived them since he was an infant when their first single, Little talks was released. Or as Darian refers to as "Hey"! The new song of he moment is their Dirty Paws, or "flag" as he calls it as the lyric video is a huge bear like animal walking in the snow carrying a flag. He spends hours running around outside with the only flag we own, the South African flag, with the song playing in the background.

He still enjoys Bruno Mars and Pharrell too but at the moment it's all about "flag".

He loves to sing and will be found singing baa baa black sheep, twinkle twinkle, ABC song or any random song he can think of, he is good with picking up lyrics but can also be heard singing, la la la to any tune he is familiar with.

The eating is not the best. He'll eat his weetbix in the mornings and loves apples, bananas and oranges. But eating anything other than peanut butter sandwiches is out of the question. On the odd occasion he'll spice things up and eat rice, mashed up with potatoes and some meat and butter or ask for fries. Carbo loading which is probably why he is so energetic. He loves water and is recently interested in Tea. So we make a very weak, milky cup of tea for him which he loves.

He loves going to daycare and gone are the days of crying for mummy every morning when I drop him off and now he waves goodbye to me and off he runs to play. His "best fwiend" is a little Iranian girl, Rianna or "Anna" as Darian calls her. 

He is still in nappies unfortunately and is not showing any interest in using the potty. At times he will want to get onto the potty but of course doesn't do anything on the potty. But we encourage him to go often. He doesn't seem too phased by a dirty nappy and he's times are always unpredictable so trying to get him into the potty at 'his time' is near impossible. He still wets his nappies at night showing he has no bladder control either so there's a lot showing me that he's just not ready. So we are not pushing, he'll use it when he's ready. 

He is not sleeping through the night but wakes up and comes to our bed in the middle of the night. Although some nights we'll wake to find he has slept in his bed all night. 

We have so enjoyed our little boy. And he is growing well. I couldn't ask for a better child, even though at times he tries our patience and wears us out. But he is a typical little boy who loves being active and loves being centre of attention. I look forward to watching him become a big brother and enjoying him as he grows. I'm truly blessed.

Pregnancy update - 14 weeks

So we're finally at 14 weeks and into the second trimester.

The first trimester was full of tiredness and nausea, the usual symptoms. And even though we went for a scan at 8 weeks, I just didn't feel pregnant throughout the first trimester. There was none of the usual excitement and apprehension that comes with a new pregnancy. And I guess that all boils down to the fact that Darian takes all my attention. He is so full on and demanding that it's hard to have a moment to just relish in the new life growing inside of me. When we got back from our Aussie holiday I went for my 12 week blood tests and Renee warned that my iron levels were just on the cusp, and I needed to just be aware of that. And weirdly my Rubella antibodies were low, which means, once again I have to avoid any one with measles or mumps. I find both those results so strange because I've been on iron supplements since preparing for the pregnancy, so probably since about July last year and in the same month went for an MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) immunisation. So took all the steps I needed to ensure that this pregnancy would be healthy yet I am faced with the same issues as my pregnancy with Darian. Anyway, it is what it is and there's no sense stressing over what I can't change.

So I also needed to have a NT (Nuchal-Translucency) scan between weeks 11 & 13 but as I was on holiday left it for when we got back only to ring Horizon Radiology and be told they are fully booked so was booked on the very last day that it was possible for me to have the scan done, Tuesday the 20th of Jan. Which made me about 13 weeks and 3 days or so. At the scan the sonographer was unable to measure the skin behind baby's neck and therefore unable to do the NT scanning. This scan is to check for any chromosomal abnormalities like Down syndrome, spina bifida, etc. Although she did say to me that baby was formed very well and was looking good. Baby needed to be no bigger than 8cm to do the scan successfully and at the date of the scan this little peanut was just over 9cm. So, Renee had to send me for another round of blood tests, which will be able to tell if there are any abnormalities. I'm very confident that baby is healthy and from the scans we can see that s/he is developing well.

This baby, just like his/her brother, wouldn't keep still the whole scan long. It's so weird how you see the baby moving on the screen but can't feel anything. Although I feel tiny flutter every now and then but my midwife is convinced that I won't feel anything til about 16 weeks. Anyway, I think I know what baby movements feel like and I've felt them. Not continuously and not all the time, but definitely every now and then, especially if I drink something cold or move onto my side.

So I went for my blood tests yesterday and will wait to hear back from Renee if there's any cause for concern and what the next step is. And go for my next check up in 2 weeks (Feb 10th).

I've been very bad with belly pics this pregnancy, but here are some that I've taken at 9, 10 & 11 weeks.

Family Holiday - Christmas and New Year

So as I mentioned in our last post we're on holiday in Australia visiting Brads and Sham and little Xavier. The in laws arrived on Christmas Eve. Darian was stunned when he saw his Pa and couldn't believe that Pa was actually here.

Needless to say he hasn't left Pa's side since he arrived, but I don't know who's enjoying it more. We were planning on going to the Christmas lights display, as we did last year, but the in laws were quite jet lagged and we decided to best leave it for another day.

Christmas morning we opened presents and watching Darian open his gifts and of course the amazing gift from his aunty and uncle, a huge train set, was the highlight of the day. He hasn't worried about anything else since it was opened. Cameron and Bradley had to do a bit of a mad dash to find a shop that was opened as we realised once the set was opened, that it needed batteries. Anyway, two trips later they had all the batteries needed to get the train set ready for play. Once that was set up, that was Darian for the rest of Christmas day. He absolutely loves it and they couldn't have bought a better present.

Love this pic of mum & dad with their 4 boys

Cousins

Xavier opening his first Christmas present

Cameron loved his Raiders cap that Brads & Sham bought him. 

It was also so cool to be a part of Xavier's first Christmas. He may not fully understand what all the fuss is about, but having this time with him and Darian, and the family is just so amazing.

We ended the gift opening with a very special gift for Pa and Nana.

Their reactions are priceless. And they are super excited to be grandparents again.

We then got about cooking Christmas dinner. Brad made his yummy Roast lamb, along with creamy chicken and veg pie. I made Italian Chicken Bake, but forgot the olives and needless to say it wasn't as yummy as it normally is. That went with some garlic bread and Sham made some veggies as well. We had intended for it to be Christmas lunch but it turned out to be an early dinner.

Our Christmas Table

We spent the rest of the day just lounging around as it was way too hot to do anything else.

These two cousins watching the Train go round and round

On Boxing Day we decided to go to the beach. A fun idea and a fun time that ended with me doing something totally stupid. In my excitement to get into the water and my dash to not let Darian notice I was leaving him with his grandparents, I ran into the water and dove head first with my specs on. Not the brightest moment but in that one single moment, my glasses were gone forever. A pricey mistake that I'll never repeat! Bradley took pity on me and lent me a pair of his old glasses, better than me being totally without sight for the whole holiday. So anyway, a nice relaxing afternoon ruined by my moment of not thinking!

It's been extremely hot here in Newcastle, I am so not used to this kind of heat anymore. Too acclimatised to New Zealand's cooler weather. Although Auckland does get quite hot in summer, there's always a nice, cool breeze to help you out. We always compare Auckland's summer to Durban's spring. Hot but bearable. So, yeah we haven't been getting out of the house much, as it's just too hot to do anything. Don't want to spend too much time in the sun with the kids so when we do go to the beach we try to go after 4pm, when the UV danger subsides. But looked at the weather the other day and the UV danger was between like 8.15am and 5.45pm! I was gobsmacked! Only in Australia... that's why Aus & NZ have the highest number of skin cancer patients in the world! It's insane. So we've been trying to keep out of the sun most days, thankfully Brads' house has airconditioning. The boys took their parents to Hillsongs in Sydney on the Sunday between Christmas and New Year and left us mums with our baby boys at home. It's a 2 hour drive to Sydney from Newcastle and we didn't want to take 2 cars so we stayed home with the kids. It was quite a treat for Cam's parents.

For New Years we took a drive to Hunter Valley to see the Christmas lights. Darian thoroughly enjoyed it, especially the firework display.

When we got home, Darian was asleep and we got on with our New Years celebrations. Sham battled with Xavier a bit and he eventually slept about 11pm. The boys were busy bbq'ing and of course getting into the New Years spirit. Drinks were up and the music system was set up on the verandah and the party was on. They were having a fabulous time. We eventually ate and waited for the countdown.

We eventually got into bed about 3am. Darian was up by 7am, as usual. Spent New Years Day baking in the Aussie heat. About lunchtime I had to go throw a dirty diaper in the bin outside. On route to said bin, I noticed something in the corner of my eye, low and behold, a red-bellied-black snake was curled up in the shade next to the garage door. Talk about worst nightmares coming to life. The hands on reptile park they took me to last year had nothing on this sighting. It was like looking into the eyes of pure evil. One of the most scariest moments of my life. I slowly backed away before it noticed me and ran into the house saying "snake" over and over! Cameron jumped to it and so did Brad and they were off hunting this snake. It must have been about 70-80cm long so just a baby. So we were quite worried the mother was around and that would be worse, theses snakes can grow up to 2.5m long. I'm not going to google a picture of these things, you can do that at your own risk. But they are ugly! And scary! You do not want to see these things in real life! Everyone was shocked that I was so calm but I wasn't. I felt so yucky and creepy after that and was never going to set foot out of the house and neither was Darian. While Brads & Cam hunted for the snake who had now disappeared, Sham rang animal control. It is illegal to kill snakes in Australia, all you can do is contain them. So we had to ring animal control to come try to capture this snake, but as it was a public holiday, their call out fee was AU$150 so we decided we, I mean the boys, would try to do this on their own. Let me just mention that these snakes are one of the most deadliest snakes in the world, and I think in the top 5 in Australia. They are not to be messed with. Thankfully everytime Cam & Brad would find it, it would make a quick escape. They can flatten themselves to slide under impossible gaps, which they saw for themselves. At one time it even got into strike mode when Cameron approached it, thank God it found an escape before Cameron got too close. Eventually it escaped into the neighbours yard and after that we have no idea where it went. The next day Cameron heard some commotion in one of the big trees down the road and we assumed the snake was in the tree that caused the birds to make such a ruckus. They have yet to find the snake. A few days later Sham showed me a news report of a King Brown Snake (the second or third most deadliest snake in Australia and the most deadliest in New South Wales) that had emerged from sea at a nearby beach, politely slithered to the lifeguard stand and sat in the shade for up to 2 hours and then very casually went back into the surf. Needless to say we did not go back to the beach at all! Gotta love Aus, between the dangerous creatures and the extreme heat, it sure is paradise! LOL! Seriously, how do people survive there I don't know! I love my little New Zealand, with no dangerous creatures, well besides the white tail spider, and cool, bearable summers. Ok, so it rains 9 months a year, so what! LOL!

Eventually we did leave the house. On Sunday we went to Brads and Sham's church, the Newcastle branch of Hillsongs. After church we went and had lunch at a hotel downtown. Later that evening the boys took their folks to the casino for a few hours of fun. And then on Monday, Sham, myself and mother in law took the bus to Charlestown mall. We had such a lovely time, just the 3 of us as we left the babies with their daddies and grandpa. It was the first time the 3 of us had ever been shopping together. In SA I used to go shopping with my mother in law all the time, as we worked together and we used to go to the mall in our lunch breaks, so going with her 2 daughter in laws was something to be cherished. We had a really good time, did some shopping and then had some lunch before catching the bus to get home.

Mother in law really spoiled us all though this holiday with all the yummy food. Every day was something we haven't had in years, including dhal ghos, masala biryani, sugar beans and roti, even braised spinach and other veggies for her pregnant daughter in law who couldn't stand the sight of meat. Brads even made me my favourite food of all, crab curry! It was so yum! And of course my darling father in law made his famous prawn chutney for us too. What a treat, no wonder I look like I'm about 5 months pregnant and I'm only 3 months! LOL!

So far the pregnancy is going well, I'm 12 weeks now and starting to feel a bit more human. The nausea is subsiding and food aversions slowly dissipating. I went for my 12 week blood test this morning and go for a scan in the next week or so. Also visit Renee on Tuesday.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We left for Auckland on Friday the 9th. A very sad departure. Brads & Sham head to SA in April and we don't know when we will see the folks again. We are hoping that they will come to NZ in the next year or so to meet the new addition but we can't rely on that. It's way to expensive a trip to make annually. So we'll see. Cam's dad came along with us for the drive to Sydney and to keep Brads company on the way back. While Sham, mother in law and Xavier stayed home. It was, as usual, a very tearful goodbye. Darian was very excited to get on the plane so couldn't fully understand that he wouldn't see Pa and "uncle Brag-ly" for a long time. He was a champ on the flight home as he was going to Sydney. As he gets older he appreciates the flight more and more. We got into Auckland just after 11pm and eventually got home about 1am. It is quite sad to get home and know our holiday is over but nice to be back in our own space. Very bitter sweet. As it always is.

A lot to look forward to in 2015 with the arrival of our new baby so I'm glad we have that distracting us from the sadness of being away from family. It's times like these that we are hit hard by the sheer fact that we are far away from our family but on the other hand it makes our time together so very good.

So here's to 2015. 2014 was a good year for us and I know 2015 is going to bring even better things to us.

Happy new year!