Monday, 29 April 2013

Bits and bobs

We spent our weekend curled up in the lounge watching DVD's and being really lazy. Lili and I were both sick which meant Lili's sleeping has gone out the window, I have had probably 3-4 hours sleep in the last few days. I cleaned the house at 3am this morning while Lili played. It tired her out and she went back to sleep then Aarahi got up for work, then Auron woke up and our day starts again...actually it feels like the days NEVER END! Today is looking up though, Lili went down for her normal nap (first time in a week). I'm pretty sure she's just gone through a growth spurt. I bought her new onesies last month 6-12 month size and she is already almost too big crazy right? she is really tall.
Our bank account took a bit of a hit this week. We paid for insurance, car registration (which is ridiculously expensive here), flights back to NZ oh and a months worth of rent. I don't think I have ever spent so much money in one go! And all on dumb things...well a holiday isn't dumb but the rest are haha.
I was planning on going back to NZ for the weekend in July, to have a girls weekend up in Auckland, mum was coming up which is good. But now its going to end up being more like a month, not complaining about that! Although I will miss my husband terribly! Aarahi will join us August for a week to spend up at his parents in Tauranga. I think this will be a much more relaxing trip for him.
We don't mind coming back to NZ so much but sometimes it would be nice to go other places. We knew when we moved to Australia that we would have to make many many trips back to NZ for our kids. So that they would know where they came from, and develop a good relationship with their grandparents, aunties, uncles cousins etc. Haha and as much as people say "oh it doesn't cost that much to fly between Aussie and NZ" it's not exactly true. For us it usually costs at least $5-6k each time we fly over. But it's all worth it. We are excited for July. Auron is starting to recognise people now in photos. So far he knows who Lia and Teina and Khyber are and my mum.
The other day at church there was little boy that looks quite similar to Khyber and Auron just attached himslef to him. He followed him around until we went home. He kept calling him Khyber it was too cute.
We are having playgroup at our house tomorrow morning with the kids from church. It should be fun. I will have to make some more playdough this afternoon since Auron put the old stuff into the washing machine...and turned it on. Did I tell you my 2 year old can do the laundry?! yup that's right. I was hanging out the washing last week and when I was finished I went back to the laundry and the washing machine was on again. Auron had put a new load on, he even put the soap powder into the right part (and the right amount) and then turned it on.
Yesterday it was a little too quiet so I went to look for Auron. He was sitting on the toilet with the ipad (Aarahi's influence there) I said to him "come on bubba let's go" he then proceeded to wipe his bum..with his nappy still on then flushed the toilet and put his pants back on.
Lili is becoming quite attached to Auron this past week. He has been playing with her quite a bit and now she cries is he leaves the room with out her. Sometimes he pulls her by her feet to go with him but she kept getting a sore head on the tiles so I showed him how to put her on a blankie and pull her on that. Yesterday he was spraying her in the face with water which she loved haha strange child.


Friday, 26 April 2013

ANZAC day

Aarahi and I loved the talk given in General Conference about Marriage. I can't remember who gave it but I think it was a Sunday morning talk. Anyway, it talked about how marriages that last are ones in which both husband and wife view the marriage as priceless. It was with this in mind that we thought we would make more of an effort to work on our marriage. That's not to say that our marriage was in trouble or that we had issues, I think we're pretty good actually I can't even remember the last time we argued.
So twice in the last 2 weeks we have had a "romantic" dinner. Romantic in the sense that the kids were in bed asleep for the night. It was nice, I can't remember the last time we actually ate dinner by ourselves. We didn't even talk about kids, or household stuff or money. Just some nice adult conversation. Perfect. Everyone should try it. One night we had to wait til 1030pm and the other night we didn't eat til 930pm but it was worth it. 
The night before ANZAC day I started to come down with a cold so didn't sleep well (and of course this was the night that Lili wanted to be a little angel and sleep all night). I got up at 4am and watched the dawn service on TV. It was really good, we would love to go to Gallipoli one day, maybe when the kids are older and can appreciate it. Everyone else got up at 730am and we got to work getting ready to go out for the day. We purchased and Entertainment Book which has lots of vouchers in it so we planned to make use of it today. By 930 we were in the city and heading for the Aquarium! We haven't been before as it is quite expensive and we really couldn't justify the cost. BUT with a two for one voucher it was reasonable. We scored double time though because they gave us 2 free passes because one of the exhibits were closed. Maybe we will go back maybe we will just give them away. 
Auron was a bit freaked out by the big fish and sharks, but was happy to look at the little fish. He was in love with the penguins, he kept trying to feed it his food and telling it to come to him. There was one that stayed right next to him and would follow him, Auron thought that was pretty funny. 
After the Aquarium we hopped back on the tram and stopped off at a park for a picnic. We stayed there for a good 2 hours, laying in the sun, swinging on swings and sliding on slides. Back onto the tram to head back to the car. Auron and Liliana both fell asleep. It was a perfect day. 
We moved Liliana out of her hammock and into a cot. I was not ready for it. She just looks to little in it although she did look like a giant in her hammock. She slept really well, the best she has ever slept. I only had to feed her twice all up. Usually she is up at least 6 times a night. 
Oh yes Auron got a hair cut this week. Aarahi and I talked about it for about a week before we did it. Auron is traumatised by having his hair washed. Seriously if you wash his hair it takes him a good 90mins to calm him down after then we have bath issues for the next week. He is also a sweaty kid so his hair STINKS if it isn't washed regularly. So off go the curls. The next morning he woke up and he just looked so much older, my little baby is gone. My babies are growing up, it's hard...but not hard enough that I want another one any time soon. 

The coolest seahorse around! Called a dragon. 


The cutest sting ray!


Shark!



Auron telling the fluffy penguin chick to come to him


Gosh isnt see just so YUMMY! cutest baby ever







Sunday, 21 April 2013

Auron turns two

Auron is now a big two year old, I can't believe he is already that big, the time has gone fast! He is such a spunky kid. He is good fun to hang out with and has an adorable personality. I wish that everyone got to see the "normal" Auron when we were back home, instead of the grumpy/apprehensive Auron he was a lot of the time.
For is birthday we had a party back in NZ with all his cousins and family, Mum made him some cute cookie monster cupcakes which he thought were awesome. We hired a bouncy castle for the weekend which was lots of fun. We had a go on it before everyone arrived...its been a loooong time since I jumped in one of them. It made me kinda sick, I must be getting old or something.
On his actual birthday Chris and Kim came over and we spent the day at home playing with his new presents. We bought him a wooden play kitchen and some big Lego's. He loves his little kitchen he spent the entire day playing with it. Later that night we had his favourite food for dinner, butter chicken and homemade naan bread. I think he had an enjoyable day.
We have started home preschool this month, so far it is going well. We do 2-3 days a week depending on what else we have on. Auron is enjoying all the fun things we do. I try to keep it fun for him. He is really enjoying puzzles at the moment. His cousins Asjanae and Jaren gave him some cool wooden puzzles for his birthday which are his favourite ones to do.
Both the babies had their check ups with the health nurse this past week. Lili is doing good she is double her birth weight and compared to Auron at her age she is much bigger. I find this strange because I remember when Auron was fitting the same size clothes as Lili wears now and I thought he was so big but I still think Lili is just little. We have had concerns over Aurons speech so the Nurse has organised a hearing test and special play group run by speech therapists for us to go to. He is also on the waiting list for speech therapy, the waiting list is 12 months so he may not need it in a year's time but it's good to be on in just in case. Over the last week or so his speech has started to take off so we will see how we go.
We have spent some time rearranging our house, so as to make more space so we can avoid moving. Its worked really well and I think I can live with this arrangement a while longer. If we can stay here until we move back to NZ that would be good but who knows. It's a pretty "humble" home but it's in a good location for us and serves its purpose and most of all it's cheap with allows us to save a large portion of our income towards buying a house that we actually like and only ending up with a tiny/if any mortgage.
Aarahi is still working hard, he likes his job, actually what he likes is his hours. He enjoys being able to come home early to spend the majority of the day with us. We like having him home by lunch time too!
Well till next time!

A play before everyone comes

Cookie monster cupcakes



Playing with cloud dough. This stuff is awesome. 2c flour 1/4c baby oil. It has the consistency of wet sand Auron played with this for a full hour. 


Shameless selfies while waiting for daddy for finish his singing practice


Morning tea while we waited for the library to open


Reorganising Aurons room. We haven't put his room back together properly ever since we got new carpet  over a year ago. 

MUCH better!


Isn't she yummy!

He's had a fascination with hair ties lately


We added a special corner for auron in our dining room. It has a little cupboard with all his crafy stuff in and his little table and chair. It's working really well. He loves to sit down and do his own thing. He really enjoys that he can reach everthing by himself. Auron is also really good at keeping it tidy making sure everything goes back into the right container when he's finished. 



Saturday, 6 April 2013

Holiday Part Two

Wow it's taking me ages to get all this done. We've been home almost a month now! I have other things I want to blog about, we started preschool this past week, and Auron turned TWO!

Ok now on with this holiday...

We left Friday afternoon to head to Taupo, which is about a 2 hour drive. We planned to stop there the night just to break up the trip a bit for the babies and give us a chance to have some time together as just our little family. We went to Taupo for our Honeymoon, this trip was nothing like that haha.
Lili screamed the last 20mins of the trip nothing we did could calm her down (this was becoming quite a regular thing the last 3 days...more on that later) we finally got to our hotel and they had upgraded us to a family suite which was LOVELY. The babies and I jumped in the mineral hot tub outside. The water is pumped up from a thermal spring under the hotel so you just fill it up when you need it. While we did that Aarahi went to get us Burger Fuel! (one of the foods on our "must eat when we are back home" list)
The next morning we left for Palmy to make it in time for Nana's 80th Birthday party. Lili screamed the last 30mins of that trip. We made numerous stops to get her out, calm her down, feed her but in the end we figured we would just try get there as fast as we could...without breaking any road rules.
We arrived in time for the party Mum and my sister we busy with all the food preparations. It was so good to be HOME finally. Home with my mum and siblings. My sister and I both have kids the same age so we got to swap our little ones over to meet for the first time.
Our neighbours were away so we house sat their house. The often go away and we house sit so their house feels just like home too.
The party was fantastic we got to see lots of people and family we haven't seen in ages. Aarahi and my sister Eleanor sung for Nana and our little brother played her a song on the piano. (I have no musical talent whatsoever)
The rest of our time in Palmy was spent catching up with family and friends, swimming and eating....oh my gosh the eating we totally put on so much weight while we were away.
Lili continued to scream every time she was in her carseat, enough was enough it was driving us crazy and she was miserable sowent and bought a new one SUCCESS! best $400 I have ever spent. I got the most comfortable looking one their was.
After a week in Palmy we left at 5am for Hamilton to make it in time to see our friend Nadia come out of the temple. She was going through to receive her endowments so we wanted to see her on her special day. Lili didn't cry once on the 6 hour drive.
We saw quite a few others up at the temple as it was their temple week so that was a bonus. We settled into our hotel for awhile and the babies and I slept while Aarahi went to see one of his old mission companions who we went out for dinner with later that night.
Sunday morning we left early again for Auckland. We stopped in Pokeno for ice cream. It's this tiny little town...don't even know if it is a town it is so tiny but it's famous for its icecreams. We guessed about 40 different flavours.
We arrived at my families house, they left for church and we went to see Aarahi's brother. His wife is expecting a baby in September which is exciting, it's their first one so a whole new adventure for them.
We were in Auckland three days, we didn't do much, which was perfect, just spending time with family, I miss them. The kids were both sick by this time.
We left for the airport at 5am. Auron and Lili both slept on the plane. Auron is so used to planes and airports now he knows the drill and what to do. I counted this had been his 16th plane trip. How crazy is that, and not once have we really had any issues at all, not even on the 16 hour trips to USA.

Well thats it for the trips, sorry it was so long.

Dressing up as Uncle Teina

Bouncy Castle all set up

A trip to Woodville for Yummy Mummy Cheesecakes. Reminiscent of our dating days

Icecream! Banana and something...

I suitcase full of New Zealand treats to bring home

New car seat = one VERY happy baby.

First taste of icecream

Cuddles with Uncle Khyber

Mum's four grand babies. Auron and Ensign are only a few months apart and Lili and Grayson are only 3 months apart too...crazy stuff. Whats even stranger was that both older ones weighed exactly the same and same with the two little ones!

Family picnic in the park


Seeing great great Aunty Nancy off at the bus

Big boys in the pool. 

Great nana and Auron

Teina flipping off the diving boards...i remember when I used to be cool like that

A quick play before everyone arrives

Sariah Teina and Mosiah 

Claire Lili and I. Claire is the youngest out of all my siblings she's just turned 10

Esther Auron and Sariah

Evie

Cookie Cupcakes for the Birthday boy

Lili with her 3rd set of grandparents. Lucky girl. 

5 generations

Boys doing their thing

Lili and Aunty Teuila

A bit of late night mischief

Auron and Aunty Emily

Finally heading home. Relaxing with breakfast in the Air NZ lounge

Lili and Aunty Mei. This is who Lili was named after. Lili's first name is Liliana-Mei

Watching a bit of ELLEN while waiting for our flight


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