We are staying at a little bay at the top of the South Island, randomly picked by what was still available. Coincidently we rented a place two doors down from fil's cousin, and they happened to have a family tree and it turns out one of my friends back at home is dh's 5th cousin lol. Small world! A and her daughter are friends at kindy.
Ferry trip back tomorrow with a bunch of tired but happy kids
Mp, yeah, we moved to the little school and it is a great fit for him. He is happy and doing well. So grown up now
Here i am tired...i think the big move, the new surroundings and meeting new people is catching up with me and i feel a bit run down.
that said, the kids are doing awesomely and really thriving with the space, the lifestyle and the copious amounts of fruit that grows in the garden. we have more plums than you can poke a stick at. we had a gorgeously laden almond tree but a flock of 50 ****atoos took care of that in about an hour...bloomin' heck! will have to net that one next year. the girls (and us!) are really excited by the amount of wildlife (except the snake...ewww). we have wild ducks, ****atoos, galahs, rosellas, lorikeets, finches, some random parakeets that i havent identified yet and kangaroos. it's pretty cool!
I can't believe Christmas is all done, another year has passed, and now we're getting ready for miss E's SECOND year of school (!) How did that happen?
Arte, how was W's first sleepover guest's stay? And how was your Chrissy trip away? Saw your photos on FB, looked like a gorgeous spot and the kids all looked like they were having a ball.
Cass, so glad The Big Move is behind you and you can get on with the business of enjoying your new stomping ground. And perfecting your plum-jam making technique ETA - 8km to school is no biggie. I drive nearly 15K every morning doing the double drop off, complete with traffic jams. BTW maybe Secret Santa IS a good idea for you - given your DH's track record for underwhelming gifts. At least in Secret Santa you'd had 50% chance of drawing your own name out .
Cally, is your sleep any better now? We're all out of whack here after too many late nights during the festive season (plus don't get me started on how blimmin WRONG the whole daylight savings thing is LOL). Miss E especially is a lady of leisure who likes her lie-ins these days so we'll have to fix that over the next few weeks.
MP - Hope your beach house trip was lovely. So lovely to hear how your boys are flourishing. Such a proud mumma and rightly so.
Well all good here. I'm back at work this week, DH is taking half a week off each week over the school hols to spare my sanity ... I mean, look after the kids LOL. DD1 turned into a right moody teen at some point during December, so it's FUN FOR ALL PLAYERS in our house right now. I'm not sure if I mentioned it at the time but a couple of months ago E popped out a weird looking rash that turns out to be a thing called molluscum. REVOLTING. Anyway it's a bit itchy and highly contagious but at this age they don't usually treat it because it (allegedly) goes away after several months and the treatment can be traumatic (they scratch, cut or freeze them or put irritants on them to try to trigger an immune response). Fast forward to now, and it's spreading all over the place with no signs of improving. So we're taking matters into our own hands with a regimen of epsom salts baths, betadine and sticking plasters. E has been pretty chipper about the whole thing, but it's a right pain going through the whole painting & dot-covering routine every night! The kid deserves a medal.
Ah, yes, we are leaving the silly season behind us as well and just chilling out and getting back into things again. we too are trying to bring bedtime hours under control! So many late nights are fun, but take their toll.
MD: well, Miss L is only 6 (SIX!!) and has turned up the volume on the attitude. I am flabbergasted! we get eye rolls, 'whatevers', back chat...it is driving me bonkers. I had a wee sob to DH about it last night that I cannot believe that i am raising a child that thinks that's ok. he then told me that she is just trying it out in the safety of family before heading back to school. he told me to let her get it out of her system here and then move on. i hope he's right man!
now i have to google molluscum...poor poppet, it sounds painful and annoying! will they let her go to school with it considering that it is highly contagious?
Arte: fabulous looking holiday! you live in one of those parts of the world that just photographs so beautifully. what an amazing place you get to call home! and those sheep at school....hahahahahahaha!
AFM: feeling pretty fabulous as Emilia has been sleeping a bit easier the last two nights. i think she was going through so serious wonderweek action as she was up almost hourly for about 2 weeks there. it was horrendous. i have been 99.9% zombie MD lol.
we have all been enjoying the move up here. there are moments of desperation on my part when i miss my house in the city and my friends, but in reality, here is just sublime and we are making friends left right and centre. i guess the problem is that i am resenting starting out again ITMS. i dont want to have new friendships... i want them to already be close and awesome and not awkward lol.
that said, we have now met the neighbours who are moving to their 100 acre property in the next few weeks and we will now have a good source for rabbit and hare and farm-kill meat there's a plus hahahaha!
MD, the sleepover guest went well. Hoping to have the reciprocal arrangement shortly Christmas holiday was good. Was nice to catch up with everyone and for the kids to spend actual time with them rather than FaceTime. I think Christmas day was the best it has ever been. These are the years that it is awesome, when the kids are old enough to understand it and super excited but not too old to be all...teenagery about it. Yay for your DH taking time off - wish DH and I could tag team on the holidays - been home for 7 days now and it is p.a.i.n.f.u.l.
Cass, I have been loving the photos of your new country adventure. Looks so serene and spacious. Bummer about the hourly wake ups - just the mention of it brings back that feeling of complete exhaustion! That is great you can get access to homekill - our half cow seems to last the best part of a year but I do buy chicken and occasional chops as well.
MD, with the molluscum, I would be very tempted to try salicylic acid (found in wart treatments), particularly if you are painting and plastering anyway. I hope it clears up quickly for her though, can't be very nice
So Erin seems to be mostly toilet trained - been in knickers for two weeks now and has had the last three days accident free. I have also dropped her day nap to get her to go to sleep earlier which is working, but confines us to the house in the afternoon because if we go anywhere she will fall asleep in the car/pram/carried. I have also stopped cuddling her to sleep in the lounge. Poor kid got the last of her babyhood ripped away from her in the last couple of weeks lol
Cass, wise words from your DH. And I remember similar moving-based angst every time you've been anywhere, and yet you attract friends everywhere you go.
Arte - LOL at your painful return home. I don't think there's a mother alive who hasn't thought that at some point about the summer holidays. They are so darn long here, and we spend a lot of that cooped up inside because it's sunburn/heatstroke conditions outside. I wish they would just shorten it and give us an extra week during spring and autumn when the weather is perfect and you *really* need a break!!! I would even take an extra week in winter, if I had to. Christmas here was pretty awesome as well. Kids (and adults) behaved beautifully and enjoyed the anticipation as well as the actual happenings. BTW - Go, Team Erin!!
Yes, back to school with molluscum, no exclusions at all. Which makes sense because it tends to hang around for a long time (ie months+++). But I'm stocking up on some navy bike shorts so they'll all be covered by clothing (which is presumably more consideration than shown by whichever kid she caught it off at school)! Anyway, we did a recount last night and about 20% of them have disappeared completely and most of the others look well on the way to healing so hopefully we'll be on top of it completely in a few weeks' time.
ETA - re the salicylate - I tried the liquid bandage stuff (apparently that is effective too) but she screamed blue murder and the shredding effect on my nerves was not worth it. The baths-betadine-hypafix seems to be getting results without discomfort or drama. However, I do have a suspicious itchy spot on my finger so if it develops in that direction I will turn to the salicylate.
Now I just have to marshall my wits about me for the school supplies shopping - I forgot to put the orders in before Christmas, not sure if it's too late to get them now. I'm glad now that I bought the re-usable book covers because they've all come home in lovely condition, just need to re-label them.
LOL MD, I am pretty flexible on all things that are going to result in that sanity ripping screech. A in particular knows the exact frequency to get right into my brain. So every once in a while if it looks like something is going to set her off I just let it go. They don't need to brush teeth every night do they....
From the sounds of the thread on BB, it seems that buying the school books is a major drama over there? Here the book shop packages up the books and stationary for each class and you just walk in and buy a pre packed bag of everything that was on the list.
DH has taken A out camping tonight and I can see huge black clouds rolling over the mountain. I hope they are alright. W is going away for a sleepover tomorrow night, went to bed totally excited
Re: Babies Born ~ September 2007 #74
love it!
ETA - 8km to school is no biggie. I drive nearly 15K every morning doing the double drop off, complete with traffic jams. BTW maybe Secret Santa IS a good idea for you - given your DH's track record for underwhelming gifts. At least in Secret Santa you'd had 50% chance of drawing your own name out 
.
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