tacky but I like it!

Here is a cool video just for Charlotte all the way from the North Pole.

My boob out on the internet

It's OK Mum, it's just a breastfeeding photo competition.

http://www.breastfeedingnzphotos.org.nz/Gallery.aspx
Choose Wellington region and browse to find me on the beach at Scorching Bay!

Last year I was the baby Jesus

This year - the best angel EVER.

So while Sam is up in Auckland having the Best Time Ever, I am at home with Charlotte and a tummy bug. Bleurg.

What we've been up to recently

Took some more pics of the babe. Hasn't she grown!!

Tried on the Wedding dress to see if it still fits. Amazingly it does :)

Sam's anniversary present to me - tidying the 'spare' room.

Before: Magazines galore, a sewing cabinet, models and a
workbench for Sam, and a lot of detritus.

Charlotte helping sort the magazines.

After: Aah, that's better!

Oh yeah, a few weeks ago I got a medal from the Bishop of Wellington for service to the choir for 25 years. Guess that makes me old. (I think there's a reason the ribbon is grey!) Charlotte will probably get her medal in 24 years or so.

Looooook into my eyyyyyyeeeessss...

.... buy some peppeeeeeerrrrrr....

Where did that year go?

Charlotte is now one. It's been a challenging year, but also incredibly rewarding. We have been showered with love, baby clothes, help, advice, toys... and have recieved it all very gratefully (ok maybe not *all* the advice!).

She continues to improve with her eating and is now able to eat weetbix and porridge without it going through a sieve first. She can eat malt biscuits if she takes very small bites and chews well with her six teeth. She can eat the same food as us if you put it in the blender first, or do things like bite the end off the chip or piece of roast kumara and squeeze out all the yummy squishy stuff! She also likes cupcake icing.

She can swim under water, but needs someone to pull her up above the water at the end of her swim. She stands unaided and is *so* close to walking. She has taken a few steps between the two of us, but usually needs catching at the end to avoid a forehead bruise! She says Mama, Dad, Nana, up, hello, and seems to speak a language I can't understand the rest of the time.

She has grown about 20cm since being born and has put on about 5 kilos. Not much, but she is in proportion according to the Plunket Nurse. With parents like hers she was never going to be tall anyway :)

She still wears 3-6 month and 6-9 month clothes, and is the smallest baby in the antenatal group, but she definitely has the biggest place in my heart.

A year ago

Right now, a year ago, I rolled over in bed and silently thanked my Sister for suggesting I put a shower curtain under the bottom sheet.

Thanks Carol!

About an hour from now, a year ago, I was typing an email in between contractions.

"Hi John (and Andrew)

Might be a false alarm but I may be delivering a baby a little sooner than thought. Here's some relief just in case..."

About 4 hours from now, a year ago, K took this picture.

Happy Birthday little girl!!

Now face North...

Check out the clever baby!

rock and roll

Seems that being the sober driver is a kickable offence at the Southern Cross.

Yeah, so I was alseep in the corner of our booth. It was LATE (11pm) and I have a BABY dammit!

Blimmin' no sleeping policy. Whatever.

If I wasn't a school teacher...

I would run a costume hire place, making my own costumes, cos I love it :)

Today I completed something I have been meaning to do for aaages - transfer all my costumes from a bunch of boxes into an actual wardrobe! I have so much stuff I didn't realise it till I saw it all hanging up.

Here's the (complete I think!) list...

Fur stole and shoulder cape and coat (all 3 from Grandma)

Purple feather boa

Rock and roll petticoat. It's all full and flouncy. Vintage gear from Dad's first wife.

Wrap around old-school netball skirt.

Hutt Intermediate t-shirt.

Hutt High t-shirt.

Hutt High skirt, tie and jersey.

Gym Slip (my Ma's old uniform, or perhaps my Aunt's.)

Red boiler suit.

Nurse costume (actually a 60s housedress that I converted.)

Tuxedo shirt.

Flouncy pirate shirt.

White alb (that's a priesty churchy garment, or could double as a really old fashioned nightgown.)

Bumblebee striped singlet with wings (with matching striped 'rugby undies' I won at a quiz.)

Tiger suit (spraypainted white paper boiler suit like they put criminals in on the telly) complete with stuffed tail.

Tellytubby costume (red tracksuit with a shiny belly bit, and a hand stitched head piece.)

Unicorn hand stitched head piece plus white trousers (Wore it to Sophie's 'U' themed 21st, wow, 12 years ago!)

Indian bodice, skirt and scarf. My dancing dress :)

Black and glitter saree and bodice top. Was a wedding gift from a workmate.

Two other sarees from an Indian fair.

Grass skirt and about 6 leis. Not sure how I got so many leis...

3 sulus (sarongs) from Fiji.

German-Oktoberfest-barmaid kind of dress. My Ma made this in the 70s (remember Burda patterns? No?) and actually wore it as an everyday outfit! Mad.

Ripped (not just small but tiny!) t-shirt from when Sam was the Incredible Hulk a few years ago.

Black dress that was my Ma's nice black dress in the 80 but is really dated and I'm hanging onto it in case it comes into fashion again.

80s towelling jumpsuit a'la Flashdance. Sweat bands optional.

60s velvet A line dress - paisley, Noice. Matching handbag.

Three floaty flowery 70s dresses in yellow, green and blue. My fave is the green one. They all have matching handbags too. These were all Ma's.

Academic gown. Scored for free from my Great Aunt, who was in the Association of University

Women or some such (they handle gown rentals for prizegivings etc.)

Long white shift dress. The actual under dress for Ma's wedding dress. She apparently cut the dress proper up and made nighties with the fabric?!! Double mad!

Princess Leia dress. Ma and I made this using a church robe pattern, modified from looking at many screen shots of Carrie Fisher.

3 pairs of camo pants, nicked when I left the Cadet Unit :)

1 camo shirt, ditto.

Green army shirt.

Scrim (green netty stuff that makes a nice headscarf or sweatband or whatever.)

Camo face paint.

Silver bridesmaid dress from Sister's wedding.

Green ball dress from 6th form ball.

Wedding dress, used once :)

Black sheet - Sam's ghost costume.

White sheet, cut in half and sewn back together to make a long strip for easy toga tying. Length is the key, in case you didnt know.

Assorted ties, glasses, belts, braces, wigs, hats, wings, tiaras, wands, jewellery, face paint.

Headbands with ears/antennae/devil horns.

A long cigarette holder for stylish lady smokers.

Handcuffs. Don't ask ;)

Handmade poi from a tangata whenua costume.

A ball and chain, made for Sister's Hen's night.

Mum's knee high hand made boots from Singapore.

Doc boots.

Army boots.

Anyone wanna borrow anything? Ask away!

Dressing babies up is fun, honest!

Omg - here is the funniest thing I just found! Love the pea pod :)

Winner

Well done to Cal who figured out what the mirror thing was. It is indeed for seeing bub in a rear facing car seat. Here's my one, modelled by my beautiful assistant :)

This is what it looks like when you turn in the front seat and look backwards:

And this is the driver's view in the rear view mirror. Sometimes I forget to look at the road :)

more craftiness

"What's that?" you all ask.

It's a pressie for my Sister from Cassie's leftover fabric, a mirror and some old bra straps.

Answer later this week. Maybe I'll organise a prize for correct guesses? (except Carol, Kirsten and Sarah, who already know).

The pics below reflect someone else's craftiness:

We got this cute wee hoodie in the post last week, courtesy of my Cousin Nicole. So cute! Thanks babe :) Charlotte was kinda wriggly when I took these with the cellphone, so she's a bit blurry.

Being Crafty

I have been in a bit of a lazy funk recently, and have had all sorts of things planned in my head to do "when I get round to it", so this week I decided to bloody "get round to it"!

Here's the jobs so far:

1. Make chair thingy for Cassie's mate's new baby. Here's my version, but hers is blue with monkeys and lions and elephants all over it.












2. Turn wasted cupboard under the stairs into coat cupboard.


I took two bits of 2 by 4 and an iron bar from Dads' shed (good thing he was a hoarder or I might have had to spend money), chatted up the woodwork teacher, who drilled a couple of big holes, and stuck it all together in the cupboard. Voila - coat cupboard!






3. Get next tattoo organised.



I've had this picture (the left one) for years, and last night I had a dream that I finally got it onto my arm. The pic is by Escher, but I want to modify it slightly. The purple fish are upside down, but I see no reason why they can's have eyes too. It's going to wrap in an armband on my big huge muscly bicep.







Here's a badly edited version showing what I mean.

In my dream it got all messed up though. The ends met in a bad place and stuffed up the pattern, and the colours were wrong, and it got distorted so the ends were different sizes. It didn't hurt in my dream though :)







4. Make a hole in a wall.

Our kitchen is at the back of the house and a completely separate room, which feels quite isolated. I want to make a window through into the dining space so I can watch the bub without having to have her on the kitchen floor where I might drop hot food/knives/heavy stuff on her. Haven't done this yet. Times like this I miss my Dad. And Leon. :)


5. Garden.

The side garden is a weed (no not that kind of weed...) heaven, but should be a nice courtyard.

I need to:
Remove the grass and weeds, make it level, super saturate the ground with nasty plant killing stuff, weed mat it, and cover it with big slabs of concrete/pebbles in a chequerboard fashion cos I think it would look cool.

This will be a summer job methinks. I feel a working bee coming on. Watch this space!

So, I went to the foot specialist, and he says that I am a candidate for surgery to remove the extra bony stuff from my foot.

There is a 70% chance that this will solve my problems (constant pain, lingering weakness, limited range of motion).
However there is a 20% chance of it not fixing anything and 10% chance it will get MORE painful (due to increased range of movement aggravating the arthritis there).

So for now, I am to see a man about an orthotic insole and see if that helps first. I've waited 16 years so I can wait a little longer!


********

A bunch of us did a bike ride for Motor Neurone Disease awareness on Monday. It was supposed to be Sunday but the weather had other plans. I got a baby bike seat fitted and Charlotte did about 6km of the ride with me before we jumped back in the car and followed the riders the rest of the way in warmth and comfort.
Sam has pics on Facebook, but here's one that Miri took. CYOOT!


Sam and the others did well in not so pleasant conditions, and I gather Maria collected about a grand in donations, so yay us :)

*******

Seniors have exams at the moment (hence why I have the time to update my blog at work!). I have each of my senior classes for a 2 hour slot - one today, one tomorrow and one Friday. Nice and cruisy now, but then I have a bunch of marking to do. It's always so intimidating and I procrastinate my ass off. Funnily enough, once I actually start it's not so bad.

Spot the difference

One is a normal foot, one is mine.

Guess which is which!

Turns out that one of the times I sprained my left ankle, I actually broke my foot. I have to go see a specialist and possibly have surgery/bits of metal/moonboot/crutches etc. So now I am awaiting paperwork from ACC so I can figure out which time I did it, and if I can claim ACC and go private. Otherwise I have to go public and wait who knows how long.

Here are the three contenders:

1) 1991 - Confidence course, Linton Army Camp. Jumped off a 3m high bit of the confidence course and rolled the ankle as I landed. Went to the Medics, where they iced it, strapped it and said it was sprained.

2) 1996-ish - Vic Uni carpark. Tripped and rolled my ankle on my way to the car. Definitely heard an audible snap here. Had to be carried up all those stairs to Student Health (embarrasing!), where they iced it, strapped it and said it was sprained.

3) 2001 - UHC field. On lunch duty, walking across the field. Fell over my own feet, I think. Also wearing stupid sandals so that my heel slipped off to the side and twisted my ankle. Definitely claimed ACC for this one, as I remember being told off for not putting this in the workplace accident register. Oops! Iced and strapped it myself (pretty good at strapping ankles by now!), and the physio I went to said it was sprained.

My money is on number 1.

Posting FRENZY!

Wow - nothing for ages, then an edit and two new posts all in the space of an hour! Sam's at netball and Charlotte is fast asleep, so you gotta do stuff when you can.

Speaking of the Most Beautiful Baby Ever, please vote for her in the Treasures Coverbaby Competition!

Search for Charlotte Hall on this site, and exercise your democratic right to vote for the one I tell you to vote for.

Cheers to those who have voted already - I am quietly confident :)

Exercisey stuff

I did a tri 2 weekends ago...

...and a duathlon last weekend.

I have no events till October.

I'm gonna have some ice cream :P

We interrupt your regular programme for this Important News Flash.

Kelly Anna Mansfield was born at 10am yesterday. Both Carol and Kelly are fine.

Yaaaaayyy!!!!!

long time no blog!

If anyone listens to 90FM in the mornings (I have to, my car stereo only goes up to 90!), you might know that Camille (breakfast host) has been talked into doing a women's duathlon in April. I sent a text to the radio on the day she agreed to do it, saying something along the lines of: "Well done, great way to get fit after baby, see you there cos I'm doing it too". Or something.

I was chuffed when they read my text out on air, but even more chuffed when Camille herself called me back and asked if I wanted to be part of a team she was putting together so that we can train together and motivate each other! So we are getting a training plan each from some person at Les Mills, and free t shirts and stuff. Cool. I think the du is in April. That's after the second tri of my scheduled three this year (March 22nd) so I should be sweet.


Netball trials this afternoon. Definitely NOT coaching this year; just want to focus on my own game for a season.


Carol's baby is still chilling out on the inside. Due very soon though, so not long now.


Sarah and Ron's baby Heath is 5 weeks old, now home and doing well. Here's him at 3 weeks (and C at 4 months 3 weeks. Yes, they are the same size. He is HUUUGE!)



Charlotte is positively thriving. Finally hit 5kg last week, possibly because she is now completely formula fed. Seems that Stressful job + Breastfeeding only morning and night = No/poor milk. Never mind, I made it to 5 months, and I had a feeling it would be much harder when I went back to work. C had a check up with the hospital paediatrician last week and he gave the all clear. Just need a kidney scan twice a year for a couple of years to monitor a slight enlargement. So YAY. Here's some photo goodness cos I haven't put any pics up for a while.

Starting her early on the reading music thing.

So pretty when she's asleep. And awake. :)




Oh yeah, she was baptised a couple of weeks ago. Here's all the Godparents (and nibling Eleanor).

Weekend roundup

Went to Palmy to visit Carol and Megan. Murray was in Taupo with a helicopter crew doing the Air Force thing. And perving on chicks in bikinis no doubt. I tried to help Carol rest by doing some jobs for her and minding Megan so she could nap. Her baby is due in 7 weeks and she is thoroughly sick of waiting now.

Came back in time for the Wedding of the Year. Or Civil Union actually. Saw an old ex; confirmed I made the right choice there. I don't think I have been in one place and seen so many pregnant or recently sprogged people. Except maybe my antenatal class. Drank a bit, fed bub from a bottle for the next feed :) Ate, danced and made merry. Danced onto a piece of glass but only bled a little. Got back on the floor and shook my Scottish dance thang with Sam and others. Disappointed that a particular person completely snubbed me when the appropriate music was played for other kinds of dancing, but danced lots with Sam instead, who seems to have lost all dance inhibition. Way to go babe :)

my best bud had her baby on Saturday afternoon, having had her waters break on Thursday and then nothing happened till they induced her on Saturday morning. Heath Patrick is a big boy... 4.02kg and with HUGE hands and feet. Currently on ice in neonates while they monitor his brain (he had a lack of oxygen for his first minute or so of life). Was kind of weird going back into the very same room Charlotte was in, but to see someone else's baby. Deja vu... Poor Sarah is doing the milking cow routine as i did, and going down in the lift to see bubs when she can. Good thing she's getting lots of care and help from the nurses and her midwife. Mine never even came in to see C, and only met her at 4 weeks old! (bitter much? lol)

Back to school tomorrow; got a pow wow with the Hillary House leaders to plan another victorious year. We are the only house so far to have won twice in a row and are now going for three! Wednesday is course confirmation day, so I am there in an official Deaning capacity, and then Teacher Only days on Thurs/Fri. Then it's all on from Monday. Still not totally guilt free about leaving Charlotte, even though she'll be in great hands with my Ma. But the fact remains that to be a stay-at-home mum we would have to sell the house and buy a bedsit in Taita. Damn mortgage.

Not that there's anything wrong with Taita - eh Leon?!

Clever baby!

... excuse the bare bum ;)

New Year

So another new year is upon us. Time to make some more resolutions.

Firstly, three triathlons again. I didn't do them justice in 08, as I didn't push myself due to being either pregnant or just post baby. My best time: 1h 44 in February. Worst time: 1h 59 in December. The first one of 09 is on the 19th and my goal is to beat the December time by at least ten minutes.

Secondly, eat less, exercise more, blah blah blah. I bet everone tries this and never sticks to it, just like me. This year will be different though. Yeah right. :)

Thirdly, brush my teeth more often. Far too often I get into bed and then remember I haven't done it. Euuu.

Now for some for other people:

M: Clean out the pantry. And by pantry I mean the space that is the same size as my *entire kitchen*. It's full of things you no longer need or use and needs to be tidied out big time!

S: Finish what you start. You know what I mean, Mr "I'll put it back later". :P

K: Exercise every day, including 2x swim a week with fishy, to make sure she goes too.

R: Make chocolate slice for fishy but only let her have one piece per day cos it's too yummy!

K and D: Learn how to REPLY to text messages! You know who you are.

A K and P: Make sure fishy stays in touch despite no longer being a lady of leisure.

L: Save save save - be really tight so when you come to NZ you can spend up large!


Anyone else want to be on the list? :)