Xmas in the Naki

My little All Black

Reports and X-Rays

Sophie and Max finished Kids Klub yesterday. Even thought it's going to be great having the kids home for three weeks - the two of them will certainly miss all their friends and teachers. The care-givers do a great job there for sure, as Soph and Max both came home with port folio's of all their work from throughout the year and report cards too!

(If you have trouble reading - click on each photo to enlarge)

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Ingrid's report card for the year: FAIL.

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Brad's report card for the year: FAIL

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The year that is 2009

Chillin' in the back yard on a summers day

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Well a post is long overdue, but there are very good reasons for it. The main one being that Brad and I would really like to forget that 2009 even exists! The only good thing that came out of this year is Max and he really has been an absolute delight and a baby that I would wish on everyone lucky enough to have children. The rest of the year however was cruising along – not great, but not bad either until Brad went out for a night to the fight of the century without the wife and kids and came home with a broken arm. Surgery and a few days in hospital followed along with some slow healing. After laughing at him for three weeks and being a meanie about the fact that he can’t be trusted to go out for a night without me I decide to attend another boxing match with him to make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble when low and behold I misplace my footing getting out of the car into the gutter and fall very awkwardly. What ensues is a loud crack and a munted ankle and foot that looks far from normal. In fact no normal foot should be facing the way mine was…so off to the emergency department at the hospital where I am informed after x-rays that I have dislocated my ankle and broken it in three places! WTF, talk about karma.

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I ended up staying at the hospital for just over a week waiting for the swelling to go down before they could operate. Finally they operate on 6th November and a couple of days later they kick me out. It was awesome to go home, but reality sets in that I can’t do anything. I can’t put my foot down on the floor and with crutches I can’t carry or lift anything including my kids. So ACC sends them off to daycare for the next six weeks. So here I am, stuck at home on the couch for most of the day with the kids gone and Brad at work and I can’t even carry a cup of tea! Now four weeks have passed and although I am still on crutches I can put a bit of weight on my broken foot and it’s getting a bit stronger every day. Brad has been an absolute trooper and has had to become the full time worker, house dad and cleaner, while his leper of a wife watches on and he has done all this with a broken arm. We really are not great role models for our kids are we! And all Max can do everything he sees me hobbling along on the crutches? He laughs like it is the funniest thing in the world! (Ingrid got bored and hasn't been back to update the story! - so I've jumped in)

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Anyhow - Max is crawling and into everything now - Sophie 99% of the time is a great big sister to Max and Ingrid is moving around a loot better now - she can at least drive a car and managed to get Max up and down the stairs yesterday - that's been the hardest part up till now - Ingrid couldn't put any weight on her foot so getting the kids out of bed and down the stairs has been impossible - but now there is light at the end of tunnel. My arm is getting better, but I still can't bend it very well - going to Physio once a week to get the strength and movement back in - worst part is shaking bloody hands! - In my job I do a lot of that and it nearly cripples me every time! - arhhh!

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On the go the little bugger!

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Max's first real meal - he's a complete hoover! - especially loves his meat - just like his old man!
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Sophie was a trooper when Ingrid was in hospital - she stepped up and almost ran the house - "here you go daddy, I baked a cake for you"
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Role models.
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Ouch...that's gotta hurt!...moments before 4 doctors pulled and twisted Ingrid's leg back into shape

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"Oh you have got to be joking...."

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Also check out Max crawling here in a video!

And Max laughing opening up a draw - video here

Bath-and scream-time!

Click here to see Sophie and Max playing and squealing together!

Eventful couple of weeks

Happy kids playing together

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Max 8 months now

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Sophie and Grantz playing 'Little Red Riding Hood'
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Ringside seats...what a view!
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that was quick...
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"Oooh that's gotta hurt!"
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I should have gone home at this point

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Initially it was a bit of a laugh – the first night away from the wife and kids in a long time – and I come home with a severe hangover, an empty wallet and a broken wrist.
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We (The Rock) sponsored the Tua v Cameron “Fight of the Century” in Hamilton and part of the deal included a ringside table valued at a whopping $15,000 and even though the fight was short and sweet– the atmosphere in the stadium justified the price-tag and some…nothing short of electrifying.
So after dining on fine food and free wine for over 7 hours a bunch of us headed into Hamilton City for the official after party – I knew I was getting a little tipsy that later on in the night when I found myself on stage in a bar…singing in a band …and it became abundantly clear, pretty quickly, that I was the only person in the bar that thought I sounded O for Awesome too– the rest of the evening was a bit of a blur – I do remember the kind gentle bouncer dragging me outside, I remember a few verbal pleasantries being exchanged…(apparently I can get a little cocky and arrogant when pissed, Ingrid says) and then I have vague flashbacks of me sliding down a wet footpath like a bowling ball on a slippery lane...
So after a politely thanking the bouncer for throwing me – I rounded the night off with a few games of pool, a couple more drinks and a long drunken walk back to the motel.
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I knew something wasn’t quite right when I jumped in the shower the following morning and felt sharp pains shooting through my wrist whiled I tried to wash my hair and by the time I got back to Auckland that afternoon, my hand had almost doubled in size and was really quite painful at this stage. Ingrid drove me to A&E and the docs confirmed that I had a broken my scaphoid in my right wrist - and shortly afterwards dropped the pleasant news that due to the severity of the break, I had to have surgery later on that week to get a couple of pins inserted…
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So after a couple of days of getting the piss taken by everyone at work – I headed into surgery. Thankfully I was first on the list for the day, so it was nice and early when I went into theatre – the operation took a couple of hours and after waking up and spending an hour in recovery, I was allowed to go home. Ingrid picked me up and we stopped for a coffee and some lunch – I was even talking about the Music Awards that night and feeling up to going! I still felt a little dazed from surgery so decided to have a bit of kip in the afternoon…I slept for about an hour and then woke with what felt like lightening bolts surging through arm – going from the tips of my fingers to the base of my elbow – I’ve never had surgery so I wasn’t sure if this was a normal reaction or if I was just being a bit of a soft-cock, so I downed a few pain killers. Instead of nullifying the pain, it seemed to increase it…I couldn’t touch my arm by this stage and was trembling, as white as a ghost and felt like throwing up – Ingrid rushed me back to Hospital and they admitted me straight away. As it turned out I had developed a rare reaction called R.N.S. (Regional Nerve Syndrome) – It happens sometimes when the anesthetic wears off too quickly and the nerves don’t have enough time to register or react properly – so then the nerve endings start freaking out a little and become extremely heightened and super sensitive– and believe me – having nerves that are freaking out to that point, ain’t pretty! I spent the next couple of days in hospital feasting on combinations of morphine drips, nerve pills and pretty sweet painkillers.
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Thankfully Nicci (Ingrid’s mum) had come to stay for the week which turned out to be a blessing as she became the built in care giver for the kids while Ingrid ran around looking after her leper husband…

I’ve had my arm re-cast since theatre and I have to attend hand physio a couple of times per week. I’ve only just started to move my fingers un-assisted the past couple of days, so I still can’t tie my shoe laces, change nappies, bath the kids or hold anything in my right hand…and to think, I thought it was kind of funny finding out I had broken my hand and not really remembering it…I know one thing for sure though, I sure won’t forget the days after breaking it…

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You can take the boy out of Hamilton...

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The only good part of hospitals...visits!

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Max happy to see his old man home

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You think Sophie likes her Ice-Cream?

Brad

Growing up fast

Fun with chalk

A natural at this game!

ps. Check out Sophie's first bike ride here

What's this - Ingrid does her first post since Max is born!

Well nothing like a bit of pressure! Brad said he refused to update until I had done one and the stalemate was getting a bit ridiculous, so I caved. However, now that it has been so long since an update was done I don’t really know where to start. So below is an outline.

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Growing fast

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Family outing down the park

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Max

He is now almost seven months old and I really have no idea where the time has gone. I am trying really hard to just soak up every minute of the day as he is growing so quickly and does something new everyday. But with time flying by he seems to be leaving his babyhood behind so quickly. He is a really good little boy. A great feeder (loves his solids) and sleeper and is pretty chilled out most of the time – as long as his belly is full he will pretty much entertain himself. He ADORES Sophie and just sits and grins at her and just watches everything she does. He has two bottom teeth which popped through about three weeks ago and gave him a bit of hell – he’s certainly a boy when it comes to sickness or pain!

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Sitting up quite nicely by himself now

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The two of them playing togther in the blow-up boat
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Sophie
Loves her brother and totally mothers him, making sure he has his favourite toy in his hands at all times and picks up after him when he drops something. She can get a bit rough with him, but I guess that is just because she is bigger and isn’t aware she is being a bit boisterous. Her vocabulary is coming along really well and has a lovely sense of humour which is really sweet to see and is a really good girl most of time. She still goes to Kids Klub and is now one of the big girls who gets to boss around the littlies (although she likes to mother them all too really). Her bottom has been good now for about six weeks (in fact ever since we moved from the last house), so it has been such a relief for Brad and I. She has a ‘boy’ friend called Isaac who goes to her Kids Klub and she says he is her ‘best’ friend! They are really sweet together and he too has red hair!

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Birthday party at her best friend Issac's house
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Showing off her beautiful 'strawberry blond' locks
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Swing time!
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Great idea - making trains from boxes and chew-chewing arounds all day
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Fiji
Thanks so much to Christine and Nicky who looked after Max and Sophie while Brad and I selfishly went off sunning ourselves in Fiji. We stayed at the Hilton on Denerau and just had the most beautiful time. We relaxed and slept and drank and swam and walked and basically forgot for a couple of days that we had the responsibility of children. (Although we did miss them dreadfully), But by all accounts they didn’t really miss us and were very well behaved.

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On the Bula Bus - cruising the resorts...life was very tough for 4 days..
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What we did most of...yip - bugger all!- justing chilling at the pool...

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View from our room...arh, I wish we were back there!

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Brad and I

Brad is busy as at work with survey and I am busy at home running the house and cleaning up after a family! I guess at some stage I will probably have to look for another job – but at least I have a good excuse at the moment to stay at home and look after my babies and that is that the employment market is pretty lean on the ground at the moment! So that is about it at the moment. To my friends that have been emailing me. I am so sorry I haven’t replied for ages, but have been having problems with my email and haven’t been able to get anything sent – hopefully by the end of next week I will be able to get in touch.

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Last night in Fiji - we even ran into freinds and ended up having dinner on the beach!

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Nana did a sensational job!

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Ingrid xx

Waiting for Ingrid to update...Come on woman!

video of max

Alton Ave

Max 6 Months old and now sleeping from 6:30pm - 6:30am and enjoying his solids - growing fast

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Hanging out to walk already

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The little actress up front
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Cook the bloody man some eggs woman! - The new kitchen

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Dining room

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(Small) backyard

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Side of the house

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View from our room

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Moving in

quick post - just got back from indoor cricket and about to feed Max - the move went pretty smoothly - Ingrid dropped Max off at daycare with Sophie on the big day (Sophie was proud as punch telling everyone at Kids Klub that she was Max's big sister)

No Photos of the inside just yet - as there's still boxes of crap everywhere...but a couple of the outside and some shots of the kids - will update properly later on in the week

The Front - Internal access...you beauty!

Happy kids (most of the time...)

the day before the move..."Bye old house"

Moving on out

Max and Soph's parents...a couple of nut jobs!.

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In less than 10 days we will be gone and we haven't even started packing yet! We've decided to rent a house for 6 months or so, or until we find a place that ticks all the boxes (to be fair, there are bugger all properties on the market at the moment, so no wonder we got a good offer on ours).

The new place isn't too far from where we are now- but that's where the similarities end - The rental is brand spanking new (in fact it's still not quite finished yet) - it's 2 stories, has 3 bedrooms and a study, not a great deal of land, but there is grass and enough of it for Sophie to play outside - but the best part...the neighbourhood is very quiet and the place is nowhere near a main road!

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The kids are well - hard to believe Max is already 5 months! - Gonna start him on solids when he gets to 6 months and hopefully by then we can drop the 10pm dream feed. We've tried dropping it now, but he's not quite ready - so better to feed him at that time and have him sleep though night, than wake up at 3am starving.

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As you can see in the photo at the top of the page, Ingrid and I got dressed up and headed out to a themed Rockstar/Popstar night. It was a mate from works' 30th and pretty much the first night we've been out for longer than a quick meal since Max's was born - so thanks again sis for babysitting!

We had a great night too - I went along as the gay construction worker frm the Village People and Ingrid was decked out like Cher - I ever won a meat pack for my costume! The venue was a private bar in the middle of Aucklands's CDB...in one of the more seedy areas of town - so you could imagine how strange we both looked leaving the place well after midnight...still in full coustume (and a little light on the feet by that stage) I was also lugging a huge box of meat on my shoulder, and we were on our way, walking towards a cab when a police car pulled up besdide us - as they slowed down we could see the coppers inside pissing themselves!...cheeky buggers...

Brad

Homeless

It still seems a surreal - in a little over three weeks we may be homeless...

Yip, we sold the house yesterday and the funny thing is, the place wasn't even on the market! Secondly, we weren't even thinking of selling at the moment...I think someone spiked our drinks and we went loopy for a 24 hours...

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Could this be us in three weeks? - the new owners move in on July 31 and we haven't even started looking at other properties yet...just as well our Holden is comfy I suppose...

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We told Max we sold the house...his look said it all.
"You've got to be joking right?"
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Brad

Things that go bump in the night

Ooh no my kid has turned EMO! Max cutting himself up, the result of long fingernails combined with getting out of his wrap.

We managed to get both kids off to bed nice and early last night – it was my Birthday so Ingrid and I settled in for a nice relaxing dinner and evening together…but later on that night things changed…
A little after 2am, I woke suddenly to a series of loud crashes and what sounded like cupboard doors banging in the kitchen...then came the piercing scream that sent shivers down my spine.

I jumped up, ran into the living room and switched on the lights…there it was; Charlie, standing slap bang in the middle of the kitchen…holding a RAT the size of Texas in his murderous jaws. I froze, while Charlie just stared at me - his killer-cat eyes locked onto mine, and then, just like a scene out of a bad horror movie, the rat let out another ear splitting scream (I guess I'd scream too if razor sharp teeth were punctured deep into me) ...and if there weren't enough drama's already...Sophie decided to get out of bed and stare down at us from the top of stairs - she was clearly frightened and very upset - she then started to cry. I quickly grabbed Charlie, (being careful to wrap both hands around his enormous guts) and headed towards the back door…and that’s when it happened - the rat (that could've been mistaken for a small horse) dropped to the floor…and ran straight under the couch…

Ingrid was out of bed at this stage and seemed to be enjoying the freak-show unfolding in the lounge, so I got her to keep an eye on the couch to make sure nothing came out, while I ran upstairs to put Sophie back into bed. After tending to Soph, we formulated a plan to trap the rat…Ingrid lifted one side of the couch, and I stood there ready to pounce…the look on both our faces said it all...the rat wasn't there.

After an extensive CSI search of the house I spent the next couple of hours wide awake in bed, adrenalin pumping, while images of a half eaten killer rat running loose in the house, were going through my mind…awesome.
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I had to laugh - I found this old photo from 10 years ago and showed Sophie

"Look Soph, here's a photo of Daddy when he used to have a life"

Her reply: "Where did your life go Daddy?"

Kids...

Brad

Tell me why?

I feel like I’m in a confessional.
”Forgive me followers of the blog…yes; it’s been well over three weeks since my last written post…my apologies"
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First up, Sophie’s constipation is still here unfortunately – Ingrid kept her home for most of last week so she could keep a close eye on her ‘movements’ and what food she consumed each day. Thankfully, the really red burning aspect has gone for now (touch wood) but it does seem to have a nasty streak of flaring up every 2-3 weeks. We’ve got another pediatrician to see in the next fortnight - but we’re both resigned to the fact that she’s simply going to have to ride it out.

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"Mmm...I wonder how long it will take me tonight to get out of my wrap..."

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Sophie has recently learnt the one word we have been dreading her understanding for ages…Why”...here's how a typical conversation rolls out -The following transcript is taken word for word from this morning (I took Sophie down to Mitre 10 to pick up a new shower hose)
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"Daddy where are we going?"
"To a big shop to buy a new hose for the shower"
"Why?"
"Because the old hose is broken Sophie"
"Why is it broken?"
"Because it was very old"
"Why was it very old?"
"Because it has been there for a long time"
"Why was it there for a long time?"
"Arhhh…because it just was Sophie"
"Why?"
"Because it was old!"
"You already said it was old daddy – why was it old?"
"Um…look over there Sophie – I can see a cat..."
"Ooh!""

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Max is in pretty good form now too. He’s giggling and laughing shitloads and is responding to a stack of things – he now looks at you when you call his name, and he loves books being read to him, (just like his big sis.) He’s a strong little bugger too, we wrap him up in a very complex straight jacket-baby-wrap-type thing before each sleep – but the little Houdini can break out of it before we’re even out the bloody door! – I’m sure he thinks it’s a game and he tries to beat his previous record every night…

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Haha...told you I would get my hands out!

Little Miss growing up way-to-fast...check out her gorgeous hair do
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Lastest Video of Max here

Brad

Max's new bed

Quiet time - Sophie...a book...and a carton of toliet rolls to sit on

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Happy kids!
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Check out the new bed for Max...spot the proud big sis watching over him too "hey that was my bed a few weeks ago"
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Uncle Steve had his bithday last week - so Sophie celebrated it today with a cup cake and sang Happy Birthday to him

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We had a nice visit last week from Mike and Carol for a few days

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Waiheki

Sophie and Daddy have been fending for ourselves for the past few days after Mummy and Max headed down to the Naki on Wednesday...and just quietly...we've missed them heaps

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Today we decided to head to Waiheke Island for a day trip - first stop a Devenport fluffy

"Oh come on already - the blimen ferry's about to go!"

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Quick snapshot before the ferry left - a nice friendly woman offered to take the photo...then she started god bothering to us and wouldn't leave! - I was scared, so we split...real fast.

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A few minutes to kill before the ferry ride...Sophie keeping an eye out for the God squad
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"This boat trip rocks!"
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Sophie couldn't care less about taking photos of the beautiful scenery on the Island...she made a beeline straight towards the bus!..."Ooh look Daddy, there's another bus outside the window!"
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"Daddy was mean and made us have lunch...I wanted to stay on the bus...I like the bus..."
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After lunch, you guessed it - we got on another bus and headed...arhh...umm...arhh...daddy had no idea where we were going - but we did find this cool park to play at...somewhere on the island...
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After 3 hours on the Island, (most of the time was spent on the bus, which was Sophie's highlight of course- that and a chocolate ice-cream...) - we headed back to the ferry (on a bus...naturally) and got ready for the return trip home
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"Bye bus..."
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Great timing - as soon as we got off the ferry it started hosing down! - so we ran to the car - and before I had even got into the drivers seat...Sophie had crashed...she was knackered after a very long, but hopefully enjoyable day with her dad.
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Brad