Monday 30 January 2012

He's a walking boy!

Yup Auron started walking yesterday, bang on 10 months. I put him down on the floor while i went to do something in the kitchen and he just walked after me. He still prefers to crawl, i guess that's because he can do that faster but I'm sure that will change over the next few days and weeks.
It's been really hot here over the last week, it's been sticky and hard to sleep and to hot to go out and do much. I feel like we are wasting summer. It's cooled down today which is a nice change. We went to the pools on Saturday to cool down. it was PACKED. Even though Australia is such a hot place in summer we are still yet to see an impressive swimming complex. In NZ each city pretty much has really good places to swim, with waterslides, lazy rivers, spas, saunas, waterfalls, wave pools and diving boards etc. Here the pools are pretty much one big rectangle, with the the odd water slide. Why is that? And if anyone does know where the good pools are in Melbourne tell me!

Last Thursday was Australia Day. Aarahi had the day off and what better way to spend Australia day than with other Non-Australians!. We went to spend the day with my friend Kim and her boyfriend Chris. They made us a yummy lunch. Chris and Aarahi played playstation and their geeky card games all afternoon while Kim and I headed off to do some shopping and look around her neighborhood. We are planning a sleepover soon. The boys are going to play their games and Kim and I are going to cook and sew. It should be fun.

We had date night on wednesday night. We made donuts together and they were GOOOOOOD. Then watched a DVD. Thanks to my friend Anita who was selling her DVD collection when we were back home we have a good selection of new DVD's.

We've put Auron into cloth nappies. I'm LOVING it. We haven't bought nappies since we were home in NZ and that was only a 24 pack to use on holiday. They have almost already paid for themselves. We bought a few different brands but like peapods the best. You can get them at the Baby Factory in NZ if you are interested. We just picked up another 5 last week, now our collection is complete.










Sunday 22 January 2012

We are what we eat

A few weeks ago I was readying my brother in laws blog, which you can read here. In it he describes how its often the little things that can motivate us to change our lives for the better and live a healthier life. There is such an issue in this day and age with obesity and increasing health problems, especially in young people. But why are we suprised? Our lives have become so busy and and hectic it's easy to forgo the healthy meal and settle for takeaways a few nights a week, or rip open a box of pre packaged food because we are just too time poor.
As we did our weekly groceries this week I noticed the absurd amount of pre-packaged food crawling the shelves. If you take the time to look on the back of these convenient little boxes at the ingredients you will notice that much of the product is made up of numbers...additives preservative colourings and all sorts of other nasties. I have often bought them, as i'm sure everyone else has. I had a slight addiction to cheap homebrand juice, with so many numbers you would think it were a math problem. My new drug of choice is Charlies pure orange and mango juice no numbers at all.
My mum taught me that if you can make it easily you should. Growing up we didn't eat too much premade stuff. Things were made fresh. As kids we were required to cook. I was able to prepare dinner for a large family from the age of 10, my younger brother who is 11 can cook a meal and has been able to for many years. A year or so ago when he was accidently left home alone (long story) he invited all the neighbourhood kids over and cooked up a big meal of bacon, eggs, pancakes and all the extras and clean up after himself. We have also had the disasters when it comes to meals too the epic fail of a dish made by my brother Wane which he will never live down. In his attempt to make spaghetti he put EVERYTHING into one pot and boiled away. Yup in went the dry pasta, the water for the pasta, raw meat, pasta sauce, cheese, onions and some veges. It was revolting to say the least. He's a pretty good cook now though.
So back to the point of my story, teach your kids to cook you don't have to be the soldier or super mum or dad. Even a 5 year old can help in a significant way, it doesn't have to be a 5 star meal every nights but make it fresh avoid those packages laden with numbers! And what a gift to give to your kids, the ability to cook, and healthy eating habits. AND watch out for all those numbers in your food.

So on to the rest of our week.... Yesterday was our wedding anniversary. We spent the morning at the temple together. It was pure bliss. The afternoon was spent watching DVD's together and eating some yummy treats. Then we went out for dinner which was a nice end to a wonderful day. I love being married.

Auron has moved into his own room into his own single bed. He likes it better than his cot and sleeps much better in it. Which is nice for EVERYONE. The better sleeps make him a much more plesent baby to be around during the day, not that he was ever bad but he did get grumpy sometimes and cry now not so much.




Saturday 14 January 2012

It's a Daddy thing

Our nightly routine as of the past week. 8pm Auron goes to bed, 10pm Auron wakes up to come into bed with us and quickly goes back to sleep, 3am Aarahi wakes up for work, Auron wakes up and tries to get out of bed to go with Daddy, I try and get him to go back to sleep to no avail so kick him out of bed and he wanders off down the hallway crying for Daddy. Eventually Aarahi has to actually leave the house so  he brings baby back and the screaming starts again. I take him out to the lounge and he packs an even bigger tantrum and crawls over to the front door and starts to bang on it crying away to himself. He doesn't want me to pick him up and cuddle him so I let him sit there. Eventually he calms down but he still wont move from the door. Finally I go pick him up and he starts crying as we head off to the room but hes exhausted himself and falls asleep only to awake every hour until 8am.

So yeah don't really know what to do about it.

Friday came and I finally got knocked down by the cold the boys have had. I thought I had escaped but sadly no. Aarahi's been a good nurse though catering to my every need. I feel a bit better tonight, well enough to make dinner anyway. Saw some homemade chicken sausages on tv earlier in the week that I wanted to try. The sausages here are mediocre to say the least, even when you do buy the more expensive ones. I like the ones from the shop in Otaki, the pork, fennel and apple ones...mmm yum.

Poor Auron has his first really noticable injury, a scraped up little nose. I think i'm going to have to put some make up on him tomorrow for church hahaha...maybe. He looks a bit like Rudolf the red nose reindeer at the moment. Not that he cares.

We booked and paid for all our hotels this week for our holiday coming up which is really exciting! There are lots of exciting things we can't wait to do and see. It will definatly be a special trip.

Aarahi scared the life out of me earlier this week. Usually he gets home from work between 12 and 1pm but on this particular day it was moving on in the afternoon and I was getting worried at about 5pm I was really starting to freak out. I couldn't get hold of him because he left his phone at the airport when we went to NZ and we still haven't bothered to replace it. I had checked all the motorways and news for any accidents but nothing...phew relief. My friend Kim was getting ready to come over to help me go looking for him. Anyhow at 540pm he drives up the driveway. I burst into tears but oh so relieved. Turns out he stayed on to help out with some deliveries and it took way longer than expected. Lesson learnt from now on he's going to take my phone to work..until we replace his.



I think this photo is RIDICULOUSLY cute!

Have been to sick tired and grumpy to get the camera out this week sorry

Sunday 8 January 2012

Reality

I read this quote last week which is exactly how I feel about my life right now. It's by Dr Suess (he's a pretty smart guy" and it goes...

"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because finally your reality is better than your dreams"

I love my life, and how could I not? A wonderful husband who works hard and loves me to death despite my many many flaws, a super cute and wonderful baby, and the ability to live the life I've always dreamed as a wife and mother. There is nothing I would want more or would rather be doing. 

How am I not the luckiest girl in the world?


Tuesday 3 January 2012

NZ trip part 2

So we left sunny Tauranga and set off for Palmy. Auron was a little trooper slept all the way to Taupo. When i got him out I realised he was saturated...note to self, it is not a good idea to leave baby in swimming nappies! He didn't seem to mind though. So quick change of nappies and off to Burger Fuel for dinner, another item ticked off our to do list.
Auron started getting a bit grumpy at about Hunterville so stop to play in the park at 1030pm. On our way again and Auron SCREAMED the last 10mins of the trip and was inconsolable once we stopped. Oh well he soon got over it and and was a happy chappy. 
The next morning our family set off for the airport to welcome home our brother Elder Whaanga from his mission. He looks pretty much the same just fatter. He has a few plans for his future up his sleeve so it will be exciting to see him embarking on this next phase of his life. For those you who know Kevin he was probably one of the least likely Young Men to serve a mission. I don't think it was ever really it his life plan, but it just shows you that you never know what is around the corner. On another mission note my other brother Wane got his mission call the day after Kev got home. He's off to Adelaide in April. Well done Wane its been a LONG time coming! So in the next few months he will be able to go through the temple and be sealed to the rest of us. Hopefully Teina will be able to be sealed to us now too. Mum's looking into it I think.
Anyhow the rest of our time in Palmy was spent eating at all the yummy places we miss, annual sports at the park I however didn't participate unless you count the swimming that followed, in the rain no less. We headed over to Masterton for the morning to catch up with some more family. Um got a hair cut at my old hairdressers, my hairdresser is a little crazy and weird but does a decent job and does it fast.
Aarahi and I went out on a double "date" thing with my brother and his Girlfriend. We even left Auron with Teuila and Manasseh to babysit. We were about to head out and realised that our intended restaurant was already swarming with all the adults of the family (tonight we were kids). So we ended up at a really nice Thai place instead.
New years was spent at the Taratoa's. The theme was opshop and everyone made the effort to dress up. Aarahi Auron and I went as old people...well auron just went as an old fashion baby. SUPER cute though. The winners of the night were hands down Aarahi's brother and his family who dressed up as the Incredibles!

New years day we drove back to tauranga the off to auckland to catch our plane home the next day

A few extra notes:


Auron did really well meeting everyone, despite getting 2 teeth and having cold while we away. Not to mention the crazy bed times, not being fed whenever he wanted, and being in strange places with strange people, being dropped dragged around being put in and out of carseats, prams, constantly being woken up and having to sit still on the plane.

If you are ever thinking of flying Emirates is an AWESOME airline. Pay the little extra and go with them and I bet you wont regret it. We wont be flying with anyone else now if we can help it.







Don't they look AWESOME!


Welcome home Elder Whaanga


My family

Auron and his Cousin Ollie, they're about 4 months apart


Aunty Mei


Nanny Mary and Auron


Tearai and Emily. 


My Family 

The 5 of us



Playing with Uncle at midnight


My sister and Grandparaents




Love this photo...a little concerned about what Teuila is doing though


We managed to squeeze him into the bassinette on the plane

Uncle Teina gave Auron his breakfast every morning

Teina Auron and our cousin Joel

Uncle Richard

We went to say a hello to Aunty Jeanette at work

Then off to see our cousins Teina Auron Shilo and Claire


Home at last and exhausted





Monday 2 January 2012

This is our Family: NZ trip part 1

So we are home from our whirlwind trip back to New Zealand. It was AMAZING but so so so busy so will have to break the holiday down into two posts I think.

We will start with Tauranga and Christmas. Uncle Jasen picked up from the airport and we hit the road for Tauranga which is where Aarahi is from. We arrived at the homestead late afternoon and were met by hoards of children and aunties and uncles. All but one of Aarahis eight siblings and their families were home for christmas. His youngest brother is still serving a mission in the Philippines.

Christmas eve was the night for presents as we had church in the morning and the house was sure to be chaotic with that many people trying to get ready. Following church on Christmas day we headed over to a big hall to have our christmas dinner. It was deliecious i must say. I was then a mad rush to clean up and get back to the house in time to skype Elder Matthews. He was allowed to video skype this year which was a real treat. He's looking good although he's picked up a terrible american accent which I'm sure he will lose...I hope. We talked for about 2 hours there were a lot of us to get through!

The rest of our time in Tauranga was spent relaxing and enjoying our family, on the last day we all headed off to the beach. It was a PERFECT beach day. The water was warm, the waves good, and not too crowded.

And now off we go to Palmerston North.

All 21 grandkids at the Marae
The 3 oldest with the 3 youngest



Nanny Kaye and Cumorah with Auron and Aarahi



ooo Someone found the big boys toys


Aarahi and Jaran
My two little helpers drying the dishes

Fun at the beach
Szharei and DiAhman building castles






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