I don’t really want to go into it…
But Tim has been away for the longest we have ever been apart since Cooper was born. It was rough, Cooper decided to stop eating properly and wake often in the night. It was wonderful when Tim got home.
This week will be better I hope.
Here is the week that was…
Sunday – Family night dinner. Catch up with everyone.
Monday – Playcentre. A fine day so Cooper and the other kids got to play outside.
Tuesday – a chill out day. House work and the likes
Wednesday – Toy Library in the morning. Cooper got an awesome keyboard, Truck and Trailer unit with Cars and the Dora van again. Wednesday afternoon we picked up Tim to take him to a meeting in Lower Hutt so went and played at Avalon Park. He ran and ran and ran. He also climbed up into one of those high tubes off the ground. Very impressive.
Thursday – Home for the morning. Then at lunch time a friend dropped off a slide for Cooper. After Cooper’s nap we headed off to do groceries. Once home Cooper saw his new slide and loved it. Up and down.
Friday – Swimming lessons. Cooper did fabulously with his kicking and paddling. And even managed to blow a few bubbles. After swimming, a quick dash home then off to Palmerston North for the weekend. Cooper got a great present of a truck and digger from Kate and Tony.
Saturday – a wonderful day with Toni and Kate. A bit of shopping for Cooper (2 new jumpers) and then back for a nap. Then off to see Tim’s Grandad and Step-Grandmother… Or Cooper’s Great-Grandad and Great-Ouma… We caught up with family that had come all the way from Greece to meet all the new additions and catch up with the old family. It was really great. Cooper got to play with his cousins (though it was a shame that not all could make it) but great none-the-less.
Sunday – Now I don’t normally write about Sunday’s until a week later… but today we were still in Palmerston North so it would be a nice way to tie off the weekend. Up after a good nights sleep and packing up to come home. We got to catch up with Alex and his lovely friend for breakfast. Tried to get photos of Cooper and Alex (as it was the first time he had seen Cooper in person since he was a wee sprite) but Cooper was a wriggle bum and none of the pics came out. Chilled out with Al for a couple of hours then packed the last of the things into the truck and headed home. A really smooth journey home but into the rain. Tonight, it’s cruddy outside but we have a fun week ahead 
Okay, so here is the week.
Sunday – Family dinner night.
Monday – Playcentre then a chill out afternoon (from memory). Cooper loved his first session back at Playcentre. They had a bucket of water out with some scrubbing brushes so that they could role play cleaning in the enclosed area. The only problem was Cooper showed them how much he loved water… but getting into the bucket and SITTING DOWN!
Tuesday – Builder is almost done. Homemade salmon sushi for lunch. Takeout Tuesday for dinner and homemade pizza for Cooper.
Wednesday – Building is done and Cooper gets to play outside. He loved it! (pics here, here and here). Unfortunately in the afternoon I had some bad news. My step-grandfather had passed away on Monday. Unfortunately his side of the family had trouble finding Mum’s contact details so we didn’t find out until now. Suck. It was very hard and I was torn immensely about making the trip up to Tauranga for the funeral. A quick check of airfares found that only one airline flies into Tga and boy do they milk that monopoly… So it meant that flying up was very difficult. And driving up with Cooper would be just as hard. So I made the difficult decision to not go.
Thursday – A busy day. Housework, Newpaper collection (notice was in the paper for Pop) and Baby Cafe at Stokes Valley Plunket. It was great. Lots of Mums. And we will be heading back in two weeks time. Home for lunch and then a nap for Cooper. After that down to Lower Hutt to get two new tyres on the truck. Then back to Upper Hutt to get groceries. Man – was glad to sit down at the end of this day! Also, Cooper turned 19 months old. Oh and I was cooking dinner and some oil splashed up onto my face and burnt it. Nasty.
Friday – Pop’s funeral day. Cooper first swimming lesson of the term. A long day.
Saturday – Stayed home today. Did some work around home. Then to Tim’s nana’s to fix her roof. All in all a pretty crap week but Cooper has made it bearable…
And the school holidays have finally ended. Yay!
So to cap off the week.
Sunday – Family dinner night. Roast pork.
Monday – A cold start to the day but a day at home.
Tuesday – Another cold start and another day at home
Wednesday – Toy Library. We got a tea set, two action men and a shapes castle. Also returned the DVD’s to the library from the previous week. A present arrived from Mum.
Thursday – Groceries – boring
Friday – Builder arrived. Went for a swim but got turned away. The children’s pool had experienced a small accident and had to shut down for cleaning.
Saturday – a haircut! markets, builder here again, Porirua… yep…
All in all a boring week really but back into our normal routine on Monday. Yay!
Now I know that this is a night late but we had a little incident with the laptop yesterday afternoon that stopped me from using it… The incident with a cup of water and my laptop.
So the week…
Monday – trip out to Days Bay. A fantastic day and an awesome trip. We made saw lots and explored heaps. Then… Cooper ran into the water and sat down! The coveralls worked surprisingly well and when I stripped him down his socks were still dry! But the outside of his coveralls were very wet.
Tuesday – A trip on the train. Cooper’s first train ride (well with the exception of the Silverstream Railway ride). The trains were running a little late so we had to wait at the station. We got on the train and off we went… He wasn’t too sure to start with and we got our tickets from the train guard. Once he realised that he could see out the windows he got a bit more excited. We went from Silverstream to Upper Hutt. Once in Upper Hutt we got a Mr Potato Head toy for Cooper (he was very interested after Toy Story 1). We met Tim at the train to catch it back after Tim had finished work. The trip back was a lot better, he spent quite some time showing Tim the new toy and got quite cocky about the ride back.
Wednesday – Library day. We got three DVD’s on loan for Cooper which he is enjoying immensly.
Thursday – Housework and Groceries day. One cute thing that Cooper did was put his Teddy’s down for a sleep. He is really starting to become a proper little boy that plays and everything.
Friday – a trip over to Ness’s house to see Ness and Ella then back home for a sleep. After that we headed to Upper Hutt to go to H2O extreme (a first for Cooper and I). It was quite heavily chlorinated (more than Huia) but Cooper loved it so much he was still eager to play after 45 minutes in the water.. but alas, it was time to hop out, get changed and meet Daddy after work.
Saturday – Markets then home for the morning as it was pretty darn cold. In the afternoon we headed out to KMart in Porirua to have a look around. We came away with $6 worth of plastic animals (a bargain for 32 pieces) which Cooper has really enjoyed playing with.
I would like to point out Cooper’s cute word of the week is “cool” – everything is cool! And his repeating back to you what you have said is getting better and better. I am really impressed. He is also really getting into kisses (giving and blowing) as well as hugs. He even gives his teddies kisses when they have sleeps. The other thing that he has become very aware of is clocks. He makes the noise (similar to a horse though) and points to his wrist. He even pointed out the clock at the swimming pools on Friday. Here he is wearing Reg’s watch just to show how “cool” he is.
So to recap on our week…
Sunday, was Sunday – an awful day. But I don’t need to write about that again. But Cooper did get to meet chuck (and made friends) and went to visit Pia and Jeff.
Monday – Playcentre. Lots of fun. Cooper loved the slide! And everyone got to make teddy bear cookies for end of term. Chomp chomp chomp…
Tuesday -
Wednesday – Toy Library and then a trip up to see Margi.
Thursday – A VERY busy day. Housework in the morning, Deployment at 1pm for work, Upper Hutt for some groceries and then off to have Cooper’s hair cut. Here is the before pic… The first snip… and the end result.
Friday – we were going to go swimming, then just as Cooper wakes up… his present arrives (that we ordered a few days ago)… and, well, he couldn’t leave it. So we played for the rest of the afternoon…
Saturday – today, well, we were up at our normal time and down to the markets. From there to LV Martin to get a part for the dishwasher, then home for some yummo lunch. This afternoon, chilling, watched Toy Story for the first time ever (with Cooper of course), then down to Lower Hutt for curry take out. Yum! Cooper love love love loved it! And now the week ahead – first week of the school holidays… fun times to come.
So I am only going to post about the last couple of days… So…
Friday – no swimming because Huia Pool is closed. Was going to go to Stokes Valley Pool but Cooper slept for 2 hours so I left it for the day. Maybe next week…
Saturday (today) – up at the normal time, ready early and off to the markets. Arrived at the markets at 9am (I know!) where it started raining- ick. Quick shopping stop, a whole $12.20 later and we were home by 9.30am. Super quick but it was gross out there! Bacon, Eggs, Sausages and Hash Brown Buttons for lunch and Cooper went down for a nap.
Just mucked around for the rest of the afternoon…
Words of the week – we have stopped doing this because the number of words he has been coming out with have been too hard to keep up with.
That is about it….
It has been just over a week since I last posted. I have been busy with work so I haven’t had a chance to post.
We have had much the normal week last week really… Monday was Playcentre, Tuesday into town for a meeting at StarNow, Wednesday into the Toy Library, Thursday at home and Friday was the last swimming lesson for the term…
This week… Monday was Playcentre, Tuesday into town to have the truck fixed (they replaced the hose that controls the back windscreen wiper) and a stop in to see Sarah to give her the gifts we had made for her/bubs, Wednesday was Library… and here we are on Thursday – Grocery day and a day at home.
Work – busy busy busy… Have done over a week solid nights (even worked Sat/Sun last week). Almost done now. 1 more bug to fix.
Tired though. Lots of catch up on due to working so many nights in a row…
Right, straight into it…
Sunday – Family dinner and balloons. We celebrated Tim’s birthday a day early with dinner with the family. Just before dinner, Reg turned up with 4 helium balloons for Tim (but really for Cooper). Cooper loved them! And wanted to play with them all evening (and has continued to play with them all week). Cooper also learnt a new word (due to excessive squeals from excitement due to the balloons)… Shhh! And it included the finger to the lips action.
Monday – Queens Birthday, Tim’s Birthday, No Playcentre… the beginning of a very long week. Lorraine and Kevin stopped in to see Cooper and say Hello. Tim and I watched Shutter Island with Leonardo DiCaprio. Quite a good movie if you ask me.
Tuesday – An at home day. A VERY VERY COLD DAY… So much so that it was snowing on the hills behind Upper Hutt when we went to collect Tim from work that afternoon.
Wednesday – A quiet morning. We waited until after Cooper’s nap before heading into Lower Hutt. We headed to Bond and Bond to see what they had in the way of vertical freezers. We managed to find a reasonably priced Mitsubishi one which we purchased and set to have delivered. After that we headed around (in our buggy and blankets) to the Library. A visit to the Children’s floor in the library and six books later, I had a happy little boy who was ready to head home. Oh – one of the books we got was Pooh bear and we have since had the word “pooh” added to his vocab.
Thursday – Cabin fever has set in. We had the freezer delivered and did the groceries. We started to get a very cranky boy who was getting tired of being stuck inside the house.
Friday – Swimming. Good kicking again. A short nap then a trip down to the courier depot to get a parcel that wasn’t delivered to us. From Lower Hutt to Avalon park to have a run around. Cooper wore his waterproof pants and splashed in the puddles, played on the slides, see-saw (first time too) and generally had a lot of fun. Oh Cooper also ran around in his baby legs for the morning. Here he is showing me where the bus is on them…
Today – a very busy day. No markets this morning though which is a shame. I had to get fruit and veges from the supermarket (quality is considerably less and so much more expensive). Anywho, we were up at the normal time and got ready to head out. Off we went at 9.30am on a trip into town to Junglerama for Brooke’s 2nd Birthday Party. Cooper absolutely enjoyed himself. He played on the giant inflatable slide, on the bouncy castle with Dad, played the games, Boogied on down with the octopus, played in the little houses, the ball pit, made music and ate some awesome treats! After that we headed home for a nap (albeit a short one) then out again to see Damian, Lauren, Zach and Tyler. Cooper enjoyed playing with them too – had a great time.
Next week, I have a new list of things for the boy to keep him entertained in the event of another bout of cabin fever.
Words of the week: Shh, GaGa, Pooh, Eyes, Thereya
Wow, the week just seems to have disappeared.
Sunday, we headed off to do some shopping and family dinner. Nothing exciting really.
Monday, Playcentre. We turned up slightly late (but before session started) but no one else turned up for another 40 minutes. But Cooper loved it. It was our first inside session and Cooper did swimmingly. He got to know the indoor slide really well and loved it (and don’t worry it’s glitter around his mouth). But he painted a couple of pictures which was good. We also got a profile book which I have covered. This book is kept at the Playcentre where you stick pictures and paintings and write short stories about Cooper and his interactions at Playcentre. Monday was also housework day… dusting, vacuuming, mopping, washing – very domestic.
Tuesday – an at home day. Just hanging around home. Not a lot you can do when it is pouring.
Wednesday… Toy Library Day. We headed down and returned out previous toys and returned with a truck, a remote control car (that doesn’t work) and a slide! Cooper loves the slide…. Loves loves loves it! And everything must go down it. Also finished repairing Ness’s jeans. Her maternity jeans has a material piece which had worn out (like mine did) so I made a new band and sewed it on. Oh Cooper also started undressing himself. We still have to help with sleeves and buttons but he can pull shirts over his head and pull/push his pants down… such a clever boy!
Thursday was another day at home. Boring really but Cooper wasn’t too happy – his teeth (the six that he is cutting right now) is giving him a little bit of grief.
Friday was swimming day. A short nap but the instructors were again very happy with Cooper’s kicking. He wasn’t too keen on blowing bubbles and drank a little too much water (over chlorinated for a kids pool) which ended up in a small upchuck in the pool. I guess there is the other reason it is over chlorinated.
Today has been super busy. For us. Markets for fruit and veges, Glasses for Tim, Bed, Bath & Beyond for some wicked fleece ponchos for Cooper, Plastic Box for some shampoo cases, Bunnings for a security light, Potting my new kowhai tree, Drains dug out after all the rain – yuk!, Washing and Folding, Windows cleaned, Lunch – yum!, Sorting and Tidying general stuff, Family arriving, Airing out the house on our beautiful sunny day today.
Words of the week: We haven’t had many but after last week we are not surprise. We got “please” which was nice as well as a lot of repeat words from previous weeks which is nice to see.
Work for me – finally finished and deployed my projects which was great to finally do. Phew! Good that it is out as is my bill but man I had a small taste of a tiny amount of stress which was tricky to work out with associated parental stuff…
I think that is it. Tony and Kate are here so I am going to stop typing and talk with them now… 
