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

On the mend

Dressed and ready for another birthday party.

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Sophie has improved since the last blog, we hope never to go through that again...she isn't 100% right, but is certainly on the mend. The paediatrician is a little baffled as to why she got so inflamed and red and was a quite pissed at the docs for not taking swabs when she was at her worst. Sophie is booked in for kidney scans next week and they're doing tests on her number 2's...I'll let you know what the tests say next week.

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Ingrid is off to the Naki next week for a few days to help mum out while she recovers from Hip surgery - She's going to fly down with Max on Wednesday and come back on Sunday - so it'll be the Soph and Daddy show here for a few days...Soph and I have got into a pretty good routine - I drop her off each morning at Kids Klub and get to work just after 8:30 which isn't too bad considering Auckland traffic - I'll just need to finish an hour earlier or so next week so she's not stuck there all day long (although I don't think she'll mind that much...she still loves going there!)

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Max is doing very well too - I can't get over how chilled out he is - I guess it's because we're not in his face every second like we were with Soph when she was born - take dinner for example, Ingrid and I wouldn't have dreamt of scoffing our faces and leaving Sophie to fend for herself on the mat or in her rocking chair, but we do with Max every night and he simply looks up and gives us all big gummy grins and stupid laughs...my boy is pretty cool indeed. (Video Here)

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Soph and her buddies (kids of the anti-natal group we went to over 3 years ago!)

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Sophie and her food fixation...after the other kids have finished she wants to clean up their plates too!
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The proud big sister
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Brad

Quickie

Quick post - here's a vid of Max talking

Photograph

"PHOTOGRAPH"

by NICKELBACK

"Look at this photograph

Every time I do it makes me laugh

How did her hair get so red

And what the hell is on Sophie's head?"

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Ouch...another bump on the head...the third in three days! - Next time look Sophie before running into the wall

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The past few days have been horrific. Sophie's on and off battle with constipation finally lead the docs to giving her an 'enema' on Friday - but unfortunately it made things worse and Saturday onwards - turned into "Nightmare on King Street" - The Enema reacted terribly with Soph, causing what could only be described as the nearest thing to 3rd degree burns on and in her backside - and without going into gory details - it made number 2's and cleaning up near impossible - Ingrid and I were waiting for 'SIFS' to arrive at one point - we thought the neighbours were going to report child abuse as a result of the sounds of hysterical screaming coming out of the house all weekend.

We're pretty close to opening up a pharmacy now too with all the different types of creams and lotions we've been prescribed! - The docs and the A&E dept have been as useful as tits on a bull too - "it will heal" and "put more cream on" have been their inspired words of wisdom. Sophie's booked into the pediatrician again early next week - but at least now after 4 days - she can actually sit down and walk properly...yip, it's been an awful few days which I hope we never have to experience again.

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Brad

The Birthday Girl

Sophie turns 3 tomorrow, but we celebrated her birthday today. We weren't sure what the weather was going to do, so Ingrid found a place online called The Fairy Shop Sophie invited a bunch of friends along and they all had a ball - It was a Cinderella theme (one of Sophie's new favourite characters) and Auntie Nic brought along a long a groovy cake too.

Sophie was inn fine form today and very spoilt indeed...we've saved a few presents from people to open tomorrow too - thanks to everyone for the goodies and if you couldn't make it along - enjoy the photos and video's below.

- The bithday girl with straight hair and a new outfit

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Check that hair out!
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The first present of the day
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Even Max is stoked it's Sophie's birthday!
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"Wow is that Cinderella? "

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Bubbles...always a crowd pleaser

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Sophie in her special Birthday seat

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Big cuddles with Auntie Nic

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A table fit for a (3-year old) King...

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Spunky Mummy and Max enjoying the Birthday celebrations too

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Nice work on the cake Sis!

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Sugar overload...

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Video of Singing Happy Birthday here

Video of Cinderella doing her thing here

Brad

The Kings

First family photo!

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Quick update on the past couple of weeks in the King household

• Max is sleeping through the night from 10:30/11:00pm - 7:00am (he has the occasional wake up at 4am but a quick dummy in his gob and a re-wrap and he's back asleep)
• Ingrid had her 37th birthday yesterday - we had little cup-cakes after Kids Klub which Sophie LOVED! - and Soph also made Mummy a nice big heart present too.
• Ingrid got pretty crook last weekend so Nic took Sophie out to her place for the day and night - thanks sis - a life-saver.
• Sophie has only fallen out of her new bed twice so far.
• Soph's flaming nappy-rash has come back with a vengeance...the past couple of nights dealing with this mixed in with 'number 2's' have been nothing short of soul destroying...the docs seem to have no answer as to why it re-appears so often.
• Max is talking (well, goo-ing and garr-ing) a lot more and cracking more smiles - and he still loves his baths with his big sister...and Soph loves 'em too!
• Sophie turns 3 on Monday - we're having a party with heaps of her friends from Kids Klub and a few from Coffee Group - the party is Cinderella themed - and Sophie is pretty damned excited about it!
• Check out a Little video of Max King (smiling too) here!

Shucks...